#I'm probably also sick anyway

[nicecrumbart]

Keep thinking about that one scene in secret life

[moodyskeletonart]

Goodnight 👍🌙♥️

[buttercupshands]

So.

Act 5, huh?

Oh, and that.

"You can start breakdown now."

Finished the game couple of days ago and had some thoughts I needed to process a little. Like. Yes.

So anyway I actually didn't plan this and just wanted to redraw some sprites to just make sure I understand how to draw Siffrin correctly (still working on that!)

What did I learn from this? How fun it it to draw on a canvas that literally doesn't let you draw with colors without some layer cheating when necessary. Never tried it.

The beans. Sleeping beans.

Basically what happens when you want to sleep AND draw. Draw characters sleeping on your behalf.

Doesn't help, but at least it's cute.

I have no idea what was going on in my mind as I drew this. Feels like a fever dream of 'I want to sleep' at 4 am and 'Hm...' of thinking random things

Also that phone craft sign. Still too funny to imagine. I had to.

[introspectivememories]

[icewindandboringhorror]

Little bright colored outfit with a fun vest ~

(shoes from ebay like 10 years ago. everything else is thrifted)

[kirby-the-gorb]

[toxicwrench]

hbd clown boy sorry for being almost a week late or whatever

[halo-lll-odst]

good morning and merry christmas. i love you. please meet me on the other side.

[wardingshout]

Hi!! I just wanted to say that the way you draw characters/use colors in your art is an absolute dream, I've never seen anything prettier. Do you have a specific way you pick/use colors, or any advice for coloring? You inspire my art so much, and I'd love to learn how to color like you someday :)

@braventheninth gonna reply to both of you here hope that's cool!

aaaah thank you so much I'm really honoured to hear you both like it and that it inspires you anon !! ;v; I don't actually know much about art theory-wise, aside from very basic colour theory that I always forget so most of my choices are pretty instinctual and based on my own preferences!

i can do my best to explain my thought process though! uuh it is. lots of text though just as a warning.

one thing I tend to do with almost everything is pick what kind of colour mood I'm going for! usually, since I love orange and also warm feelings, I'll aim for some kind of warm tone and when doing that I try to slide every colour I pick towards the warm end of the colour wheel. Blacks and whites are especially good for this! As a general thing I almost fully avoid picking any colours along those edges of the colour picker

instead I'll move all my colour choices a nudge into the square for the colours towards the tone I want (in this case warm) (the white is there be warm too I just forgor to type it).

and since I wanted warm colours for this drawing I desaturated the blue of Brain's pants so it would fit in better. I once heard someone say you should always pick one main colour and saturate fully and the further away from it on the colour wheel you got, the more desaturated your colours should be. I don't really do that bc I like my colours to stay bright but I do keep it in mind to mess around with sometimes.

I'm not always great at keeping this consistent, but I think it usually makes for pretty decent results... Other things I keep in mind are that when I pick the colour for my shadows I always make a little slide on the colour wheel towards the opposite tone of what I based my main colours on. oh and picking the right base colours ?? no clue tbh I always put every colour on it's own layer and then I spend a couple minutes adjusting them all seperately until I feel like they go well enough together. I usually avoid the bottom to right section of the square fully, bc I find they often get oversaturated and muddy, but that's just a personal preference I guess.

also since I enjoy the way coloured lineart works for my stuff I tend to mess around with layer settings for my lineart! usually the end results will look something like this:

where the clipped layer is clipped on to my colours folder. lineart is the only place where I just use plain black since I'm gonna change it with these layer settings later. it often still shows up as black for darker colours (and especially blues?) but it keeps a slightly coloured edge that I enjoy. if the blacks of the end result don't look good, messing around with the layer opacity usually changes stuff up. sometimes I'll also erase part of the lineart from one of the layers as a way to adjust.

I think what might be more relevant though, is the way I've been picking my colours for most of my recent posts though, which is. very differently. and also quite dependant on the fact I've been drawing on Tegaki! Tegaki has a limited colour palette that looks like this

only the 6 colour slots next to the bottom greyscale can be replaced by your own colours. As shown here I only bothered to add something to half of them; mainly the beige-ish colour I like to use for whites, a brown that I never use bc it's ugly with everything else here and a purple? that I only Think I added. both the brown and purple suffer from being too desaturated for the rest of the palette, which makes them stand out in a pretty bad way when used tbh.

I have. absolutely no idea what I'm doing with colours on this site though ngl. I think it just automatically pushes you to be a little more chaotic with the choices? a simple example is the green I picked for Link's tunic here doesn't really have any good, easy choice for shading imo. most of the "darker" green tones just feel more saturated, and it sticks out pretty bad as a shading colour for the more muted green I picked for the tunic. Removing those, the choice was either a mossy green or a blue.

and while the mossy green is still green, it feels far too dark a shading colour compared to what I picked as shading for the rest of the drawing. The blue has the added bonus of being closer to the purple I used for the black-ish parts.

I think my point is that it's really easy to push yourself to make some fun new choices when the tools you're using limit you a bit in a way? Looking at it now, I'm also seeing that the hands were lined with very different colours. I remember just thinking that I couldn't be bothered to find the exact same purple I used for the first hand so I just went with the first thing I landed on, that being a pink. But now I think it works pretty well since the one hand is lifted a bit more into the light and that goes well for a bright colour like pink. happy accidents and all that right ?

I am fully just yapping at this point 🧍 but the point still goes for most things drawn on this site.

like there was no reason to add the blues or reds or pinks to the heather here but I only had so many purple shades to work with. it might be less realistic but I don't think it would've come out as well if I had stuck to only the purple shades from my reference photo.

This ended up way way too long and I have no idea if any of it made sense or was helpful at all, but it was surprisingly fun to reflect on my own choices a bit more! especially since I often just do whatever I feel like I think it's helpful to sit back and consider what instinct actually tells me it's the right thing to do.

in an attempt to do something actually helpful uuh I recommend messing around with 2 specific things and switching around with them a bit; namely limited colour palettes (like 1 or 2 main tones imo) and then just going absolutely ham and just using whatever colour for everything (make them orange! put some blue and purple on the bark! leaves can be blue if they want to! (go more ham than I did tbh))

I think just messing around does so much for making some kind of sense of colours even without Knowing how they work. it's easy to say we should all study, but personally I'm pretty bad at it and it's more fun to just trial and error it... errors do happen a lot though omg do they happen, but that's helpful for figuring stuff out too!

[astracora]

A Mandated Holiday Break - Chapter 10

Characters: Sylus x gn!mc (poly lads)

Warnings: Suggestive

Word Count: 1630

Written: 23rd December 2024

Notes: Post-relationship Sylus/MC-centric but poly LADs, with my personal pov of the game and lil headcanons littered in.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Masterlist AO3

Sylus isn't used to people touching him. If anyone does, it's often sharp, and jagged and with intent to harm or kill. No matter how far back he thinks, he's known very little contact that hasn't come at a price. It's normally paid in blood. It's not always his blood...

His first time re-meeting you, had been just as sharp... and drenched in regret.

If he could go the rest of his life never seeing disgust in your eyes, and never hurting you again like a callous fool, he'd be satisfied. Not happy, but it's a low bar for survival, he thinks.

He meets so many of his experiences with kindness and affection with you. You open doors he has kept closed for a long time. You pull him into light, and not the kind that burns or mutes his evol. Through you, Sylus experiences what life can be like. When he lives, and doesn't just survive.

It is... perfect, in the way that imperfections are. A sign of real living.

After slaking his thirst with you for the first time, though it had stayed a dull throb because truly there was no absolution for his need, he had been unsure what to do next. A part of him had wondered, worried, if you would leave, straight after, with no use for him. Or worse even, full of regret, that ended you in his arms.

He had reached for you, pulling you close, wavering on the edge of shattering, but you had curled into him, and gladly shared the glow with him.

Making no move to leave, no indication of disappointment, no feeling of regret. Simply tired and sated and clingy. In the best of ways.

Since then, he has mastered the art of caring for you. His role, he thinks, to tend to you after. He has to keep your joy and comfort, he has to be there to ease, so he never loses you.

It takes you time before you realise that he has placed it on himself, a self assigned repayment for sins he cannot explain to you, and a need to justify your love for him. Until the day it clicks, and you soothe the ache in his body with your hands. He fights for a moment, unsure how to accept, unused to it. How is he to repay it? But you are determined and you are full of love you give freely, and he cannot fight against a torrent.

He has eased since then, you share now. Who is more ready, who needs it more in the moment, whose edges require tending quickest.

Sylus has come face to face with the way he views your connection. He does not need to fulfil every desire, though he still wants to, and he does not need to give and give and never take. When he talks about being used and using, he means to be joined together, but you flinch at the wording and he has to reevaluate. He wants what you offer. Unconditional and precious. He offers you his heart, his soul, his body in return. There is no requirement or bar to clear.

Truly he would still wear your leash, but if your hand trembles to put it on him, he does not need it. If you would not gleefully devour his heart with your teeth, he will keep it in his chest to beat for you. If there is no weapon he can be that satisfies a need for vengeance you no longer seem to hold, then he will be your companion. Sylus will adapt and learn.

As long as you tell him that you love him and want him, he will learn true joy, and true living.

For the flower of his life blooms only in your arms, and he sees no other garden by your soul. It is a peaceful thing, and he knows so little of peace, that it is always a marvel.

You soothe the muscles in his arms, hand drifting patterns into his face, over his throat, down his chest, over his arm, and back. A cycle of drifting touches. You draw infinity, hearts, and flowers on his skin. He is purring happily without control.

Yet it is just you here, and if he would cut his chest open for you, then he can allow you to see him purr and keen for every touch you offer. Even if it does cause his cheeks to redden.

And you lay kisses there too.

The afterglow is his favourite. He thinks. Existence in a space between hunger and satisfaction. He can watch the highs come down slowly, and breathe in the relief and warmth of you steadying.

He holds you, and you touch him without reason, though maybe you don't need a reason. He certainly doesn't, captivated by every part of you. Tucking you closer against himself. It's never close enough, like he's chasing the sensation of his soul melded with yours forever.

He hopes when everything does end, you join once more, and disappear together.

You reach hands out to pull him closer, on top of you, and he does so gladly. Carefully pressing his weight down, grounding you with himself, his body, his heart, his arms around you. Protective and possessive and hoping to carve himself into you.

Your fingers trace patterns into his back now, soothing across his sides and over his hips, one follows a slow ascend into his hair, drifting short nails like you're fussing a cat.

He'd make a comment about insult, but his body jerks into you, hips rolling, and moaning into where he's buried his face into your neck. Taking long, pulling inhales of you. Sweaty and satisfied.

Your laugh earns a pinch at the side, but it's not harsh enough and you kiss the side of his head in 'apology', and return to your affections.

Sylus is used to sleeping light, or not sleeping at all. To be caught unawares would be a great insult, and he hasn't survived so long just on his ties to the sword in your soul. He does not relax easily, and even the first times spent with you, he barely slept. Or slept oddly.

Feeling like a guard more than a partner.

The longer he spent, being soothed, being loved, the easier it had gotten to drift off. To trust you as his watchman. To let his eyes close and body ease.

As he falls asleep, held and loved by you, he hears you whisper against his hair, "Goodnight Beloved." and he gladly eases into dreams he knows will be filled with you.

[thedreadvampy]

sometimes I forget that my experience has been. um. not 'your experiences are not universal' vibes but more like 'your experiences are EXTREMELY atypical'

[shima-draws]

Anyway speaking of poly trios. Have any of you considered Lawlusan because MANNNN.

[silusvesuius]

n*loth not being able to bag anyone over the (human term) age of 25-30 at most is the only logical and real conclusion to me because it can be just explained away as him wanting to prove and control everything and anyone (Cus he's a man!) but being stuck in that demographic because his unbearable and vile personality is a force that nobody can look past once they've outgrown the possible fear and idolization period of anyone but also n*loth in particular.

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

yeah but what if the reason I've been having those single isolated heartbeats that feel especially hard or weird more often the last couple days is because I've taken frickin nsaids more this summer than I ever have before (<- girl whose sleep schedule is so fucked up because she's been taking care of other people's animals, working a part time job, and working on renovating a house with almost no breaks)

[pardonmydelays]

.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

I just got to reading a translation of "The wooing of Emer" online. Why is no-one (especially the online encyclopedias) talking about the fact Emer is fomorian?

why aren't the online encyclopaedias talking about it: bc they are not that useful for medieval irish literature most of the time, tbh, being heavily simplified and reliant on secondary sources that are often themselves not particularly reliable (although there have been efforts to improve some pages inc. wikipedia pages). loads of fun details missing from them, always

why isn't anyone else talking about it: eh. probably two main reasons

there's a lot of it around. cú chulainn's got a fomorian grandma (on lug's side) and no one ever really talks about that either. it's not that big a deal. i'm sure he's not the only one; can't throw a rock around here without hitting someone with a fomorian uncle or something. there's a lot more overlap / interaction between them and the tuatha dé danann than a simple oppositional binary would suggest, and family trees get fucky in general. being related to the fomoire doesn't automatically = being fomorian yourself bc belonging and kin-groups and stuff are a bit more complicated than that

i'm pretty sure it's only mentioned in tochmarc emire and only in passing and not directly in relation to emer herself, so it's easily overlooked even if you're dealing with that text and a lot of people will be dealing with other texts. it's also only in the later, longer redaction of the text and not in the earliest one, although so are a lot of things. if the authors thought it was important as part of her heritage -- whether they saw it as a good or a bad thing -- they would bring it up more often, but TE seems to be the only one that bothers to give background information about forgall's family tree, so mostly it looks like they think it's not that relevant. (although as it is not a particular focus of mine, it's entirely possible it comes up somewhere else and i just haven't noticed)

e.g. you might expect it to come up in fled bricrenn but it doesn't

sidenote: why the fuck henderson translations "ben ind fir as dech" as "wife of the best wight" i have no idea. it's just "fer"! it's just man! why are you trying to make cú chulainn sound even weirder than usual! it's a mystery to me. other than the fact it's from 1899 and people did whatever they wanted at that point tbh

(the parenthetical explaining the meaning of "Manach" is also editorial and not in the Irish; the meaning "tricky" may be more suitable bc it might have something to do with clessa, but that's getting into my friend emmet's in-progress research so i won't delve deeper there)

also, tethra, who is supposedly forgall's uncle in TE and who is described in the text as a "king of the fomoire" is a bit of a weird one iirc and there's potentially more going on with him than that phrasing suggests, although i can't remember the details and that's getting into cath maige tuired territory, at which point you're better off asking @margridarnauds bc it's not a topic i know a huge amount about

finally i'll be honest another factor is probably that there hasn't been a huge amount written about emer as a character. there's been a lot written about texts that she's in and her function there, but less on her just like, as a person (bc medieval celtic studies is a very small field, there are a lot of texts and characters, and there hasn't been that much written about anyone really). so lots of things don't get talked about. doesn't mean they're not worth talking about. just means nobody's got around to it yet.