#It’s so fun seeing people stylize these two

[arcanegifs]

Here's more comparisons of Arcane Gifs before and after I color and sharpen em!

[sskk-manifesto]

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[bluerosefox]

Invites

"OMA, kill meeeee" Ellie, aka Wrath complained as she allowed her head to 'thunk' on the cafeteria table in the Watchtower she phased into in order to sit in next to a boy dressed in red, yellow, and green.

"Aren't you already halfway there?" Came Robin's response as he took a drink of his water, eyeing his teammate with a raised eyebrow, though it was difficult to tell with his mask in place.

"OMA?" Asked Superboy on the other side of the boy.

"Shush you." She said towards Robin before answering Superboy "Oh my Ancients, it's like OMG but like for us ghosties."

"Tt" "Oh!" Came both their responses.

"So..." began Superboy after a few minutes of silence between them as he looked at Ellie like a confused puppy "Why?"

Ellie groaned and just stayed slumped on the table as she said "Da's dumb Observants council is hosting another dumb ball to try to get him or me hitched again, and like always I'm forced to attend because I'm Da's heir. We both hate it with a passion, most are just stuck up, power hungry, social climbers trying to get into our pants for the royal titles... Espcially if they become our Forevermores."

"Tt, why not just get rid of them? Or simply have your Father dismiss the ball." Robin said, his eye twitching in annoyance just at the thought of it. A ball sounded even more annoying than the gala parties he is made to go to.

"Sounds stressful... Also Forevermores?" Superboy asked, he was always curious of Ellie and her ghost culture but never knew what could be asked or not, he had been warned to never ask how a ghost died after all and that question is normally asked in every ghost hunter video on the internet.

"Forevermores is our term for the ONE. The one and only we will ever be with. Till our final end takes us we are always to be with them only. We are core creatures and bonding on that level is like sacred, we don't rush into bonding like that though. But everyone in the Realms hopes to be either become mine or Da's. And the ball is their best chance at meeting us on neutral grounds." Ellie explained as best as she could for Jon, it was hard trying to explain the type of level a Forevermore was "And to answer you Robin, Da can't. The Observants, despite how annoying they can get with their dumb demands, are part of the system council for the Realms, they're sadly needed to keep things in check hence their name. Da and his friends are still trying to find a loophole to get rid of them though. They were only created when they put Tyrant King to sleep and they still sadly have some backings from other powerful ghosts in the Realms, even an Ancient or two and in order to fully dismiss them we need all Ancients on board. And the ball keeps a lot of ghosts, especially the more powerful ones, errr I guess happy? Most just use it to gossip on neutral grounds, others just like to dance, network, or other junk like that. Basically, when it's not about them trying to get mine or Da's hand in ghost marriage, it's fun so Da can't dismiss it, it'll ruffle to many feathers."

"Wow..." "Tt." Were the response from her teammates.

"Yeah. Da really isn't happy because someone suggested inviting powerful people from a few Mortal Realms this time. Somehow it got approved. So... here." She said as she reached into her own chest, phasing her hand in, and pulled out two green envelopes and placed them on the table in front of them. Both boys stared in surprise to see their names written in dark purple ink and the stylized DP on it.

"CW let me invite you guys personally. Everyone else should be getting theirs in about a few minutes complete with a blaze of green fire and spooky vibes." Ellie said with a strained smile, both happy to invite them but also dreading the questions she'll no doubt have to answer once the invites were sent.

[arrimorr]

got the idea for this around two weeks ago when i snooping around in the textures for the balatro crossovers, so i decided to make some of my own but for tginf! if i had known when your birthday was i wouldve finished it up sooner lol. consider it a late birthday gift!

WHAT

Im sorry WHAT THIS IS INSANE GOD THIS IS SO MUCH WORK AND EFFORT YOU LITTERALY DID THE ENTIRE MAIN CAST OHHHHH OHHHHH WHAT

THANK YOU THANK YOU THIS IS SO COOL MY JAW DROPPED oooo I love them all so much 😭😭😭😭😭 You stylized them into pixel art so nicely, it's also generally fascinating to see what colors people imagine for some of the guys. OH THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CHARMING. A huge fan of the way you drew Pr Agent 121 (the second one) keep going back to stare at her again and again. AND OH TIME SELLER ONE IS GENUINELY CREEPY. Ohhh what an amazing stuff. Pr Agent 117 holding his little suitcase is so 😭😭😭😭🤲🤲🤲🤲🤲 Also really like the visual of said suitcase being mirrored and merging on both top and bottom of the card. THE TENANT WITH HIS WALLET IM TRASHING AND KICKING. AND OHHH THE MINE ONE IS SO MESMERIZING. I really like the color pallet, something something her blue eyes visually connecting her to the rest of Feudals in your cards. AND THE OXYGEN TURNED OUT SO CHARMING I CANT. She looks so giddy 😭😭😭😭🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺. AND THE KING THE KING ONE IS SO PRETTY IM EATING CEMENT. The Dummy looks so silly and fun this card needs to be cherished.

KDLSLALDLA GRR GRRR BARK BARK THANK YOU SO MUCH IM SHOCKED THIS IS SO COOL THANK YOU

[hansoeii]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day/night! I absolutely adore your art, you are one of my favourite artists. I love the way you shade and do backrounds. Also everytime I get into a new show I immediately see your art for it??

I was wondering if you had any advice on drawing more realistically (backrounds, anatomy etc) but still keeping a style?

Hey hey!

Thank you so much!

I have a pretty good understanding of facial structures, because before I got into drawing more semi-realisticly, I heavily focused on realistic portraits. Here are some example, these are from around 2019!

(yes, I was really into danmei and kpop back then, haha)

I just always loved drawing/painting faces and it was all I did. But at some point I realized that I wanted to do more than that because just portraits felt super restricting. So it took me around 2-3 years to somewhat find my style. Thought it would be fun to show a little timeline! Advice will follow afterwards :)

2020

I began working on my OCs in 2020 and since I didn't have an exact reference to work off of, I struggled a lot. My art from this year is super wonky.

2021

Still wonky, but the Lokius obsession was the jumpstart into finding my style! My work from this year is all over the place haha, I was experimenting a lot.

2022

This first ofmd piece is pretty much the first drawing where you can see where my style is gonna go, which I think is pretty cool! This is the year I made the biggest progress cos I was drawing SO much. These two pieces are only six months apart. The one on the right was the first time I gave drawing a background a proper go, too! It was a good year.

2023

And this is where I am now! I'm still constantly learning and improving, but I'd say I have a style you can recognize now!

Now here comes some actual advice, haha:

What I highly recommend you to do is to study your favorite artists as much as you can! I have like 5 A4 sketchbooks all from 2020 that I filled with sooooo many studies, where basically all I did was look at artists I like and copy how they draw stuff, to try and figure out how to stylize certain things. Some of my favorite artists are Ami Thompson, Velinxi and TB Choi. But I also liked to just scroll through pinterest and study all the art I came across that I liked! For example, if I saw a really great drawing of a pair of pants I would copy it many times in my sketchbook and try to learn how they stylized the folds. Doing this for a prolongued period of time will naturally improve your own work! It'll be difficult at first, but you gotta push through, it's gonna be worth it!

I also highly recommend studying unique faces to try and avoid the same-face syndrome. Find some cool looking people and try to draw them as simple as you can! Maybe even draw a little timeline where you first draw them as cartoon-y as you can, and keep going until you end up with a more detailed, realistic drawing. Maybe in the middle of it you find a step that feels the most fun to you, so you can try to build on that! It's a great way to figure out what kind of style might be the best for you.

Here are some cool faces I found on pinterest!

I have a pinterest board with many more!

One REALLY important part of learning how to draw all kinds of things is to understand forms and shapes and how to manipulate them. I have so many pages in my sketchbook filled with just shapes that I drew from all kinds of angles without any references.

This is a great video on it:

6 Ways to Draw Anything by Proko

Learning how to do this is so crucial! Young artists often think they first have to learn all kinds of detailed anatomy before doing anything else, but all that's gonna do is make you tired and hate drawing. Shapes are where it's at! Once you understand how shapes work and which ones to use for certain parts of bodies or objects, drawing is gonna get so much easier! Once you understand them, you can get into details such as muscles and bones!

And honestly the most important point is to just absolutely love what you're doing! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that I get extreme hyperfixations on certain media that turn me into some kind of beast where I can suddenly draw 10 detailed illustrations a week, haha. Just be passionate about what you do, find something you REALLY love and go crazy!

I really hope this was somewhat helpful! My inbox is always open if there's any more questions :)

[froggybogwitch]

Well then. Buckle up, folks, I went down a design rabbit hole. Somewhat inspired by the eternal question of "How do illyrian's wear shirts?" Which, honestly, has a much easier answer that what I came up with. Like a couple extra buttons would have done the trick, but where's the fun in that? I decided to add some flair on it, and by that, i mean a good chunk of a cultural fashion system. Everybody say thank you to Cassian for modelling.

So, starting off with the base layers and underwear, we've got a loincloth and a contraption that I've been calling the under harness, which was my answer to their funky double shoulders. Most other things I could think of ran into the problem that wind is a little thieving bastard and bc of the shape of their wings, form fitting garments like flying leathers can't easily pass under them, so they needed additional attachment points, hence the harness. Basically every single upper body garment I've created connects to this harness, keeping everything completely secure during flight. The only other thing to really note here are the two piercings around the wing's main knuckle. This shouldn't actually impede flying, according to the damage that real bats can fly with. These are both achor points for light weight armor, and also decoration. In the next image, we got the basic fabric base layer. Not much to say about the pants, they're pants. The shirt is more interesting. So it comes in two pieces, the front and back are entirely seperate pieces of fabric, both suspended from the under harness. The edges of the front piece are stiffened with steel boning or hardened leather, to help the garment keep it's form fitted shape. The back piece is a long strip of red fabric which I imagined to hold some sort of meaning as a highly stylized "bloodline." They could have been highly embroided with sigils, or family trees or something. Cassian's is blank for obvious reasons.

Next up, flying leathers and armor. I don't honestly have much to say about these, they're pretty well described in the books and the only thing i had to add was the armor around the knuckle claw. It seems crazy to me that these people wouldn't have figured out how to use their wings as deadly weapons so, a bit of hardened leather, some metal spikes if ur feeing extra spicy, and there, two extra striking weapons.

And now my favorite part, warmer clothes. I think this is where we'd really get to see illyrian fibercraft shine. Ombre dying, tassles, lace netting, embroidery, all of that. This is where they get to peacock about and be all bright and colourful. The cloak is made up of five long sections of fabric, two fall down the chest, two behind the shoulders but in front of the wings, and on wide one down the back. It can be worn loose or with the front most pieces of fabring tied underneath the wings for extra security during flight.

The mantle is the last bit I've developped, and it's just as decorated and fancy as the cloak, and sometimes even more so. It's a short cloak like garment that's worn over the shoulder and has open sleeves for both arms and wings. It's often fur linned and could be quilted for exra warmth. It could be worn with or without a cloak but usually they're worn together.

anyway, I have so many thoughts about the illyrian culture, bc what Sarah gave us ... doesn't really make much sense, and also makes me feel extremely icky. I'd much rather close my eyes and imagine a world where they aren't treated as a one dimentional culture that has done nothing but make it's members lives miserable.

[droidsdoodles]

In Defense of Eduardo

Before posting this, a new short was produced that features the fandom's least favorites, Eduardo and Mark! While enjoying the short time we had with them, my dissolved brain noticed something kind of interesting regarding Eduardo and his behavior. Now, this thread is just for headcanon/story-telling fun. If that's not your thing, then click off because it gets whacky. Pretty much I'm annoyed at how were given a character who is both complex and simple at the same time and the fandom doesn't see it.

Alright, from the start! There always been a hazy line between eps, comics and shorts of what is and isn't canon. If you go off "comics aren't canon", then Eduardo and Laurel never dated (No. 195 Ex- Girlfriend) . Which is boring because that takes away a fun aspect to explore with him. Artist x Artist. Or his obsession behavior he has toward Edd (No. 164- Info). This leading to people hc his future self is a detective. So I'm just gonna say it. We don't care. Any material given can be used for hc/story telling. For me, The End happen. If they recon it, then this is all an AU. Back into the short. Its very brief short about Edd throwing away trash in his own Edd way of doing things. The neighbors (minus Jon) are shown observing Edd. Mark is observing alongside Eduardo, but Eduardo is where this gets interesting. Eduardo has some form of depression in Beyond Era. Over the loss of what we assume is Jon. Jon has not made a living appearance yet to this date (3/13/2025). It could be a stylized choice but I say, he not taking care of himself. His hair in other eras, had spikey volume to it.

Now it's drawn downwards. Perhaps he not washing it as often so the build up of mats and oil. Another change are his eyes. Eduardo has always had darken eyebags. But now, they are really darker than before. Lack of sleep, racing thoughts, it all weighing him down. And this is from my own life with depression and anxiety, that I'm pulling examples from.

That out of the way, he holding himself too. Once again, animation and style besides, were gonna add depth for fun. He could be self soothing, by holding his bicep. His facial expression is muted compare to Mark's high eyebrow arch. He looks tired, not really there to mock Edd. Cause he doesn't. Eduardo always says something, does something when Edd is messing around. But here, nothing. Instead, he shakes his head, grits his teeth, AND shuts his eyes. That's very odd if you aren't on the Eduardo is the most emotional man alive train like I am. I could make another thread all about how loud his mind and heart is to have a real-event ocd flashback. The stress line and gritting his teeth, you know he really wants to say something, but he has enough restraint now to hold it back and just rub his bicep and calm down.

Edit: 4:40pm In Laurel's Comic with Eduardo, we see a depressed Eduardo. He might not know Laurel is dead (she too has not made a living appearance yet in Beyond) but we can see that he does not take breakups or death very well. He is ruminating. To repeating dwell or think about something in your past, trying to find answers, reason, anything about the event. This can be due to the sudden departure of Laurel, Eduardo wonders if he did something. If there was any signs she was leaving, not enjoying their relationship. Jon seems to know Eduardo does this as he tries to cheer him up in his own way.

In the most recent comic of the two, Mark attempts to cheer him up, be it more physical to which Eduardo DOES NOT LIKE. It could be for various reasons: he scared he going to hurt Mark, he gonna drop him, that he messing with Eduardo or gay panic. Even that Mark is quite strong and he didn't expect that. But his friends are aware that Eduardo can get quite down on himself and do their best to kick start him back into gear. And this is just a few instances where we seen Eduardo like this. The first big ep, Beaster Bunny. I to this day, don't get how we can make multiple stories about the main 4 (Edd, Tom, Matt and Tord) with various things regarding mental health but don't show an ounce of that to the show current depressed character. Beaster Bunny involved a giant chocolate rabbit terrorizing the easter celebration. Eduardo and Mark show up mid-way. Mark saying "You see, isn't it nice to get out of the house? You can get some fresh air-". Do I need to say anymore? EDUARDO HAS NOT LEFT THE HOUSE IN GOD KNOWS HOW LONG. These are signs he is not feeling that great. He doesn't find joy in leaving his home or joy in events. As they're walking. He once again, holding his bicep. Closed off as he trying to possibly self-soothe, sulk? He doesn't even say anything at Mark line, not even a glance. The rabbit shows up, triggering Mark fear of rabbits who runs away. Eduardo is face to face with something that could kill him. What does he do?

He attempts to go along with the nonsense but he can't even say a funny line. He then APLOGIZES TO THE RABBIT! Because he knows he suppose to act this way, that's what he always done. But his heart isn't there for it. He admits it so. Maybe it what he wanted to say to Mark but didn't want to hurt his friend's feelings. The rabbit not going to say anything either. He then turns and leaves.

Once again WHAT ARE WE DOING!? WHY AREN'T WE LOOKING AT THIS. There is so much potential just from the few seconds we have of him so far. And I'm about to strike gold rn. I went back to The End part 2. To see where that egocentric man finally strikes out and the tower comes crashing down. When he holding Jon, he cries more, there more tears.

And then look at his eyes. I never want to hear that he has no feelings FROM ANYONE. That man is going through all the stages of fear and grief. But it gets worse.

Look at Eduardo's hand placement. One supported Jon's head, the other, cover the wound. I never caught this till today, but he could be applying pressure to the wound. He is trying to keep Jon's blood in his chest as a last ditch effort. When Jon lets out his last breath, he probably felt both his heartbeat stop and his chest stop rising. Signaling Jon had pass. His body pulls back and he just stares down at Jon. Eduardo's eyes tear up, he overwhelmed with emotion and he shuts his eyes and puts his bloody hand on Jon shoulder. You could see this motion as him pulling Jon's body close to HIS OWN CHEST. Probably because his HEART IS SHATTER. So why is it, that nobody wants to write him in future arcs. This man held a dying man, his friend, to his very last breath. Gave us the most emotional reaction to death in the show history. Crickets. He just the grumpy hispanic dude in the corner for yall. And I'm not done. The last part. The patreon Animatic of The End Part 2.

There is a little reversal when Jon passes. Jon used the last of his strength to comfort Eduardo by holding his hand. Their hands just pass each other OR Eduardo pulled his hand back. Either way, that speaks volumes on the two friendship. The show depicted Eduardo as quite mean or bullyish to Jon. But Jon's last moments were to comfort his friend with a poorly timed joke AND to hold his hand right before he pass. Eduardo also visibly cried here. I mean, guys what the fuck.. Eduardo you can argue is currently going through a big character arc. He starts off as bullish and mean to the main 3 and his friend Jon. But PowerEdd shows, this is all a front. He was bullied first and something twisted in him, a trauma response to inflict that same pain onto others. When Edd apologized to him, that was enough for him to switch sides and help Edd. I've ranted about this in another thread if yall are interested. Closing things off, use Eduardo. USE EDUARDO! I feel its a disservice to him as a character not too. He really interesting once you review his behavior and see what makes him act in certain ways. His anger is a front that the fandom still is falling for. A mask, pull it back and you got something pretty compelling to work with in stories and art. Of course, with respect to those with mental illness, do your research so you aren't depicting outdated stereotypes. Tag serious stories or art with triggers if need be. I hope yall enjoy my ramblings. I'm more than happy to discuss Eduardo or the neighbors in general.

[translatingpostsintoitalian]

What free or paid apps would you recommend to learning Italian?

Disclaimer: the following are just general app recommendations, they're not specific to Italian because I have never had to learn Italian (bc I'm native) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So take them with a grain of salt

First and foremost. My most beloved, the light of my life, the apple of my eye, the diamond in the rough, the one and only, the I've run out of flattering phrases... WordReference. No ads, completely free, extremely high quality content, lists all meanings of a word with at least one example for each meaning, also has phrases, AND has a forum.

I really liked using the free version of Clozemaster a couple years back (IM PRAYING that it stood the same and that they didn't add 728237 AI features. PRAYING). I *think* it was ad-free. I fell in love with the learning method and the UI stripped down to its bare essentials. It had no extra stuff that distracts you, no gems, no streaks that I recall, nothing of the sort. Just vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary. I think it's worth it to pay for the VIP version, but *only* when it's 90% (IIRC) discounted which happens for sure on Black Friday, and maybe some other times of the year; otherwise I find it expensive. Or you could just get the cracked APK for free hehehe

The biggest disadvantage for me was that in the free version you couldn't skip to a certain knowledge level, you could only start from the basics. For me it ended up being tiresome because my level was already intermediate and I really didn't want to "learn" basic words again. But if you're a beginner then it sounds good to me.

As I said, it's only for vocabulary, not for grammar or pronunciation. Italian grammar is very complex and I'm not sure if there exists an app that tackles grammar out there. Maybe one of the people reading this can help me on this one!

Polygloss is a nifty little app that I would recommend as halfway between beginner and intermediate. Basically you match with a totally random person, and you take turns doing a little game. The game is: you pick a stylized picture, describe it (with as little or as many words as you want, though you're encouraged to use many). Then the opponent sees 4 pictures and your description, and must guess which picture you were talking about. That's it. That's the whole app. But it's very fun and the comment/correct function is very fun to use. You can correct a sentence the opponent has said, and/or you can give them a little award for being creative, funny, and stuff.

Beelinguapp is one step higher in that it presents you with full texts. The main thing about Beelinguapp is all the texts are bilingual, so in two languages. So you're being shown the same text in Italian and English (I don't know if there are other options for the "home" language other than English), and also the texts are read aloud and the sentences light up as the speaker reads them (so you're practicing listening as well as reading!!!). You can stop the speaker at any time and, in the paid (or *cough cough* cracked) version, quickly highlight and annotate a new word that you don't know, before resuming. I find it terrific.

Tandem is a great app in general, it's basically a chatting app but tailored to match people who are learning each other's native language. I didn't like the pressure it gave me though, and I wouldn't recommend it to girls and femmes because some people treat it as a dating app... Ugh. But it's still fun and worth trying in my opinion.

Sorry for getting so verbose lol

[cringefaecompilation]

okay since i have felt i've been really negative i am going to be positive and talk about something near and dear to my heart. fanart redesigns!

this design of braius by @phi-guy is delightful, including the mustache variant. i'm not a big fan of him as a character, but this is a great compromise with the holstein patterns on his humanoid face that previously left a few furries disappointed.

fcg is a very tough character to stylize, given the whole... aeormaton of it all and that they're so intricately designed that any attempts to move any part of their body around tend to make things they do in-game not make sense. the blades of grass emblem being revealed as bloody fingerstreaks, for one. but this design by hugo cardenas strikes a good balance between canon and fanon where you don't have to sacrifice accuracy for imagination or vice versa

imogen sadly doesn't receive a lot of redesigns in fandom and even got hate (?!) for people putting glasses on her. but for the people that do a little more than that, i would have to give my favorite design to @rokiie! it's subtle, but i love that she's musclechubby and mixed, and her curly hair and ponytail is adorable. @jadequarze also has a nice looking mog, though theirs is more angular than bulky.

ashton is another character hard to redesign... because his original design is so damned complex it feels like a downgrade to change it. so not a lot of people do and focus more on his outfit and body type. so that's why these two, by @magscherer and @ladysantos are so great! little tweaks that make him fat or simplify him are so nice

@lyadrielle has the most complex chet redesign i've ever seen. i love how in-depth it is, and even if full head of hair chet isn't canon, i still adore the fluffiness of it. also quick shout out to @colealexart giving chetney a mustache because i love it.

conversely from her girlfriend, people love to redesign laudna, if not just to pump up her creepy factor over her "bizzarely beautiful" factor. @astoriacolumnstaircase and @paragonraptors do this in a fun-scary way! i love how spindly they make her, like a praying mantis. for a more scary-scary way, @cpprcoyote's laudnas are stunningly creepy and lovely. @galacticjonah's take on her is also very cute with her billowing fabrics surrounding her like a security blanket. good stuff!

being the mixed orym truther guy, naturally i love art that makes him a man of color, and this art by @therosecleric hits the mark for how i see him in my head. i love his curls, his jaw, and his strong nose, and it's always good to give him muscles in a way that don't make him look like a tween who powerlifts. the previously mentioned @magscherer's art of him is a bit more hobbit-y but still scratches the same itch. love me a brown eyed orym. @jennydolfen also gets points for her terrific hobbit/halfling proportions

@jam-etc's critical role redesigns might not be for everyone, but i love 'em all. dorian here looks so friendly and seeing his native culture depicted so overtly in his outfit is awesome! no whitewashed dorians allowed. on the same token, here's a repeat of @therosecleric's dorian art because it also is great to see him with curly hair and a wide nose. this design by @caitmayart with dark cloudy speckles on his body is incredibly nice as well.

and of goddamn course fearne gets the most art. it's fearne! there are so many good pieces of her i could not choose one. i love ones that play up her goat-y nature, like @willowbirds, @rainbow-roll-art, and @phi-guy again. and i love fat fearnes, like these two by @marmadelin and @countslimeula. this one by @maluspumilaa is so beautiful, making her a little more fey and extremely animalistic. all fearnes is good fearnes

[tomhockstetter7-111]

Highest Form of Empathy - Chapter 2

2k+ words

Logan X Empath!Reader

It's a blessing and a curse, feeling other's pain. More so when you can take it away, albeit at the expense of your own peace. One-night stands were a usual for you. That's all this was supposed to be. But, seeing someone in so much pain, you couldn't leave him like that. You just couldn't. Besides, it's not like you'd ever see him again.....

CW: N/A

Masterlist

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Late December, 2005

Calgary, Alberta

Waking to the sound of your alarm, you shut it down and stare at the ceiling. Your brain feels…empty. No noise, no anxieties, no urgencies? Just an ominous, heavy quiet.

'Deal with it later,' you told yourself. Well, now is later, and you don’t even know where to start.

You lay in bed, arm slung over your eyes when your second alarm breaks the deafening silence.

It’s not until you drag yourself out from under the covers and swing your legs over the edge of the bed, placing your feet on the icy floor, that you realize the weight of your body. You want to cry. But, why? Screwing your eyes shut, you spend the better part of ten minutes staring at the wood floor as you try to pull yourself together. You still see his eyes, no longer pools to get lost in, but two voids threatening to swallow you whole. All that pain wrapped in one person…you thought you could handle it.

Walking into work, you’re approached by blonde hair pulled into a stylized ponytail waving cheerfully at you. Amber. You met during lunch break on her first day of work two years ago. She seemed so excited to be here, introducing herself despite the prickly exterior you surrounded yourself in. Try as you did to push her away, her clinginess paired with her cheerful disposition making you recoil, you couldn’t find it in yourself to push her away. Soon enough, the two of you settled into a weekly routine of Friday night drinks. She often jokes that she adopted you that first day, but she was more a lost puppy following you home in the rain. And, what monster kicks the puppy? You never let her too close, though. You learned long ago about the safety of arm’s length.

She wraps you in a friendly side hug and you try not to tense under her touch. “You look like hell.”

"Thanks?" You give an awkward smile.

"Just calling it like it is." 

You shrug her off as you approach the break room.

"So, what was his name?" She asks the question in a high sing-song tone.

"Pardon?" 

She throws a smirk your way. "I'm not dumb. I know that look."

You knit your eyebrows together. What look? Your "look" was a practiced, neutral meant to keep nosy people at bay. Still, you decide to entertain her. "Actually, I don't know." You watch in amusement as her expression turns into one of frustration.

"You need to stop doing that. It's not healthy, you know."

"Why?" You grab your water from the fridge and shut the door a little too firmly. “I’m still young. Let me have fun.”

"You know that's not what I meant. Drinking and sleeping your sorrows away after every hard day. It's gonna affect your work. Not to mention put you in an early grave." 

You brushed off her comments with an eye roll. What did she know? What did anyone know, really? They didn't have to work so hard to block out others' emotions and they certainly didn't know what it was like needing to hide what you are all the time.

"Amber, I've told you time and time again." You put a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. "I'll be fine."

She shoots you an incredulous look. “I’m allowed to worry.”

“I’m not a patient, Amber,” you say as you head towards the door. “Besides, I’ve lasted this long.”

“Not sustainable. If I let my child die, it ruins my track record.”

“Your child’s a grown ass adult. She’ll be fine.” You make your way down the hall leaving no more room for argument. 

~~

Sitting in your office you drum a pen on your desk and stare at the wall. A patient canceled, so, now, you have an hour and fifteen to kill. Unfortunately, you've already lost half of it staring at the wall. 

Your power had a cool down rate, kind of like a video game power up. Depending on emotional intensity and the amount you absorb, it could take between two to twenty-four hours for your brain to return to baseline. Still, you would feel the severeness lessen over time. But, for whatever reason, this round is taking its sweet damn time. It didn’t help that you spent so much of your time wondering what would have caused those feelings. Was he a veteran? Abused, maybe? Shit, maybe his mom or spouse had just fucking died or something.

"The fuck did I get myself into?" You mumble to the air. 

Emotional trade-offs are something you avoid for this exact reason. It’s self destructive, ego stroking, and, frankly, not your fucking job. Therapists are meant to help work through emotions and find avenues for healing, not give a quick fix that disappears after a few days. As tempting as it was to just take away a client's despair during a spiral, it would do more harm than good in the long run. 

On top of that, it just wouldn’t do well to expose yourself like that. You could see the headlines now. "Mutant Therapist Uses Mind Control Powers to Gain Access to Classified Government Files" or “Rogue Mutant Turns Canadian Leader to Human Puppet - Wants Full Control” or some shit. 

Then again, who knows? Maybe they would raise your pay grade if they knew just how valuable an asset you were. You'd always been told you were so easy to talk to, always sitting there quietly as people spilled their woes. Maybe it was a passive effect of your power? You never bothered to look further. It certainly made it easier to empathize with others, though. You could think of a few clients that could benefit looking through someone else’s eyes.

The ring of your office's landline snaps you away from your thoughts. You rush to pick it up. You greet the voice on the other line with your best customer service voice stating both the company's name and that they’ve reached your office.

"Brilliant! I’ve been looking to reach you. How are you today?" He asks.

You blink slowly. "Doing fine. How about yourself?" Isn't it your job to ask how others are?

"Lovely, my dear, thank you. My name is Charles Xavier. I run a school in New York state for gifted children. We're looking to hire a general health teacher and counselor for the students."

"Oh, um...my apologies, sir. But, I'm not trained to work with minors." And, you aren’t. You specifically work with adults because the emotional regulation is so much better than with teenagers. Usually, anyway. Not to mention you know how abysmal teacher pay was.

"I assure you, that won't be a problem. Those attending the school are very well behaved. Furthermore, they really could use someone to talk to that understands their struggle."

"Sorry. I'm not sure I understand. Why is that me specifically?" There was a short silence on the other line. "Hello?"

"I know what you are."

Your heart dropped, hands running cold. "Sorry, I don’t know what you mean.”

"No, I think you do. Trust, everyone here is much like you, myself included. I’m merely calling to make an offer. You work with us, help the students, and I can help you to refine your abilities. You have more than you're using." It’s an appealing offer. But, you’re skeptical. The last thing you need is to move back home, or worse, run and avoid any sort of danger. Just because the world seems to be opening up to mutants doesn't mean it is. Plenty of the public are still very much afraid. You know that much by proxy of your job.

You sigh. "How do I know I can trust you? I've built a life for myself here, and I've worked very hard to keep myself safe. I won't leave it behind just to walk into a fire."

"I assure you, you won't.” His voice is calm from the other end and seems genuinely sincere. “I don't expect an answer now. But, if you change your mind, I’m happy to give you my number."

There’s a long pause as you digest his words. "When you say 'gifted children’, do you mean..." you trail off, not trusting your voice.

"I run a school where children and staff with mutations can thrive in a place they feel accepted. We teach the students valid skills like science and literature along with scenario simulations to refine their powers. But…” He hesitates, “these children are still human. Thus, they have the minds of such and require proper guidance."

"How do you even know who I am?" You snap.

"I have several connections around the world. I’ve used them many times to reach out to those who could benefit from our space. That said, I can assure you I mean you no harm. You may reject the offer if you like, and you shan't hear from me again. I only wish to offer an opportunity."

You stare out the window as he talks. Maybe this could be good for you. Having cut off contact with your mother, and with no one to leave behind, except Amber, — you can’t decide if that’s good or bad — what do you have to lose?  "You said there was a number I could call back?"

~~

Friday came and went. You and Amber hit up the bar, the same one from Wednesday, but you spent it mostly in a daze, listening to Amber drone on about clients and work drama while you stirred your drink. A part of you couldn't help but wish the stranger would come back and find you again. Something about him kept you in a chokehold, and it was starting to piss you off. It made everything else seem dull by comparison. You counted two men, both decent enough, who approached you, trying to flirt and offer a good time. But, you could still feel his glare burn into your back, still feel his muscles under your nails, still feel his distress. You just couldn't be bothered. They didn't interest you. Nothing interested you. Not with this pit in your stomach.

"Ok, what happened?" Amber demands the following Monday, having had enough of dull hums every conversation. "You've been off since last week. Don’t tell me it’s that guy."

"Just got a lot on my mind." You deadpan. You sit in the breakroom picking at your salad, cold coffee next to you. You look up at her and can tell she’s not convinced. “I’m fine.”

"I think I liked you better when you were fucking everything that moved." She mutters as she disappears out the door.

"Rude!" You call down the hall before your gaze drifts to the TV, sound lowered. It's tuned to a news channel that seems to be covering a story titled "Cure for Mutation in the Works". Your face contorts in confusion. Yes, you had figured there were people out there who might not want their powers. All those trips to doctors as a child haunted you, constantly sent to be someone else’s problem and treated like you were paranoid or troubled, regardless of the fact you were completely right. They never believed you when you tried telling them about your abilities. They certainly never understood you. No one did. And, how could they? You always wished you could see someone just like you. It’s what led you to pursue psych work in the first place because wouldn't someone with a window into the person's mind be the perfect doctor? It became a blessing. But, the way they talked on the segment sounded as if a cure was a necessity to life. What if someone threw away their talents before they knew how special they really were?

Your mind drifts off to those kids at the school. What had they been through? Do they see their powers as curses, too? Could that change? Moreover, what of the mutants from back in 2000? You vaguely remembered hearing your classmates talk about it back in university. Some guy called Magnetism or something. What had he been through? You couldn’t remember exactly what he had done, or tried to do, all of it a distant memory. But, your roommate told you it would’ve killed a lot of people. It made you shudder. What could motivate something like that? Maybe it could’ve been stopped, nipped in the bud as a child.

With a sigh, you stand from the table and head to your office, abandoning your salad in the trash.

Upon entering, you glance down at the paper left on your desk from last week. It occurs to you. Even therapists have therapists, and you weren’t without your own traumas. Maybe this Charles Xavier, or perhaps one of his connections, could help you with that. At the very least, maybe he could understand.

You grab your personal phone from your pocket and dial the number.

~~

"I must extend my humblest apologies, but you'll be arriving during trying times. I neglected to tell you we recently lost a valued member of our staff in an accident. Tensions are still high." Charles explains.

"Oh my God. I'm so sorry," you give condolences, hoping it translates over the phone. You could understand him neglecting to tell you the first time, not knowing if you’d accept and all. But, it still sounded so heavy.

"It's quite alright, dear. We're managing as best we can. May I ask, what changed your mind?"

"Well…” You stand to look out the window, arms crossed, “After some thinking, I figured the assistance I could provide might be…important. Growing up wasn’t easy for me. I never had anyone I could talk to. Besides, I see other people’s powers and I have to wonder what their lives would be like if things were a little different. If there's any way I can help, I’d really love to."

"Oh, rest assured. There's plenty to be done here, and plenty more coming, I'm sure. If you’d feel comfortable getting to remain with your age bracket, we do have some graduates staying at the mansion that are open to therapy as well.”

“Anything I can do to help. I’ve never worked with openly mutant adults, but I’ll do my best.”

“I’m sure the understanding will be appreciated. It’s long overdue for some. But, I do have one more request for you. But, feel free to tell me if it's too daunting."

"More daunting than working with teenagers?" you joke.

"Yes. Well, the staff here is also part of a defense task force. Think of it as a last resort military extension. Again, it's no obligation. But, I would like to extend the offer to participate. I think you could be a valuable asset."

You chew your bottom lip and tap your shoe against the floor. "What does it involve?"

"You would be practicing teamwork in disaster simulations with members of the force in addition to sparring and combat training with coworkers. Based on your CV, and given your abilities and range of movement, you would be going against our top fighter, Logan."

“Do I get a briefing before I get in the ring?” You half joke.

“Of course. I’m not interested in killing you.” Charles chuckles from the other side of the line. “We only want everyone in top shape should the need arise, and stamina is a priority.” You stare out the window, weighing your options when the voice chimes back in. "Again, it's no obligation. Having you here to look after the children would be far more than I could ask for."

You consider what this could mean. Again, it didn’t sound like there was much to lose. Besides regular trips to the gym, it had been a while since you’ve let off some proper steam. Your last martial arts class feels like ages ago. Maybe a few months, but still. Close combat could be a good refresher. Although, should a real emergency arise...but, you can't think of a single emergency that could come from working in a school, mutant exclusive or not.

"Actually, I think I'd be happy to join. I just hope you know I may not be there until-"

"I can take care of your visa. I know several great lawyers. You're more than welcome to come now and we can have the paperwork done by the end of the month." 

"Oh wow. You don’t have to do that.” You smile awkwardly to yourself.

“Please. It’s the least I could do.”

You sigh. “Ok. Well, I guess I'll get organized. I appreciate the offer. Really, I do."

"Of course. I'm sure the children will appreciate you just as much."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Chapter 2 and already an author's note? What is the world coming to? Sorry for putting this up so late. God struck me with diet AO3 curse. I'm fine though.

I'll try not to keep you guys waiting for the next one

[saguette]

What do you think Johnny's art looked like before he was stripped of his powers? This is something that bugs me a lot, and I'm curious about what you think.

ok i needed to draw a few shitty pictures to demonstrate cuz i wanted to talk about more than just his previous art but his art journey in general IDC if there's some canon tweet that proves something i said wrong or out of timeline these are my headcanons and projections so you either like it or not.. anyways I think his style pre-pre-JTHM (lets say 15-18) depicted many things, He was good at realism and fluctuated just fine between stylized art and big hefty works with a lot of detail. His stylized works looking similar to Jhonens and the whole 2000's artstyle cuz its fitting.

Of course he's like, a late teenager around this time so its GOOD but not perfect. If you pulled up a few of his drawings from this time he would probably be embarrassed by all the disproportionate limbs and goth girls he sketched and thought were badass. He probably has old sketches of friends in his style regardless if they asked to be drawn or not since his art was something he was proud of and people around him made him feel proud of. His old art also feels like it'd have anime elements unintentionally to add to that amateur artist swag. Johnny doesn't like anime copies but stuff he rips inspo from was anime inspired so it rubbed off on his work too. Moving onto PRE-JTHM (18-20) Is when his art started to get more serious and complex. In his happy era he took to drawing lovecraftian horror sometimes but it was always the secondary focus of any drawing.

Moving out and growing up was around the time his mental state started to worsen and he started using art to cope with emotions rather than just use it for fun, drawing complex monsters was a subconscious way to depict underlying mental illness that's out of his hands. He cant depict what he doesn't know he has, he can only scribble things that feel someone close to him because there is no physical appearance to emotions. He never liked his art around this time because it always felt unfinished or wrong or like it just didn't interpret what he wanted right. Overtime his art lost coherent appearance, quality, and meaning which made it feel worthless. It wouldn't be all that bad but it reached a point not even he knew what it was trying to be and it was frustrating. How can your own art not make sense to you? Its weird to let your hands go and do their own and you not recognize what they're trying to say. Which leads to SHORTLY BEFORE JTHM-and later.. Johnnys NEW preferred method for art currently is a little abstract, it became two extremes of the same thing; nothing. his art lost alot of what it used to be so he says he cant draw anymore.

Johnnys lovecraftian horror art slowly engulfed itself over time and always becomes an abstract mess. Its purposely made to be incomprehensible by having too much, regardless if its creation is poetic, an outside view not being able to tell what it is or how much work went into it is on purpose. its metaphorical or whatever.. Johnnys fucked up or something.. Whereas Noodleboy i imagine was made by him drawing a stickfigure one day to see if he can still "draw" and overtime gave him his features like angry eyes and that big hair, creating his own sort of vent sona to replace the sketchy abstract art he used before. Noodleboys chaoticness is too sporadic to rip any meaning off of, he also purposely represents nothing. His existence uses up paper the same way, just without all the extra effort. SORRRYYYY long tangent thats probably super messy i just winged it. but i cant help myself ive thought about this for a while ik i didnt strictly answer the question but i had so much more to say

[runwayrunway]

id be interested in seeing you rank plane emojis from different platforms (by their livery, or by whatever else) just for fun, if you want!

You're right. I WILL do this for fun, because this is fun. Not based on livery, since they're mostly white with blue wings - just how much I like them. I'll be adding a rating out of 10 for each one because I think that's the tradition for this sort of thing.

Apple - 4/10

I mean, because I have an iPhone this is my default conception of an airplane emoji - I think it's fine, I just find it a bit offputting how they model the individual flaps and cockpit windows but the rest of it is a white airbrushed tube. It's a weird contrast.

It's fine, I think. Acceptable. I maybe think emojis by default aren't the most aesthetically pleasing.

Google Noto Color Emoji - 4.5/10

I think this is a slight improvement over the Apple version because of the more consistent stylization. It's also a little more contemporary, since most airliners that are flying now have two engines. I like that they added a few windows and highlights to keep the cabin interesting, and I think it's a bit...something that they took off the flaps but added flap track fairings. Cockpit windows look awful though.

Samsung - 2/10

This is a bit more of a realistic shape for an airplane but for some reason I don't like it. Maybe it's the fact that you can barely recognize that there's a tailfin at all, or the cockpit window looking weirdly...shiny? I think what gets me the most, though, is that those engines look like Super Mario pipes.

Microsoft - 1/10

She's a little...phallic somehow. I just think a top-down view of an airplane is almost always going to look worse if you make it super round and blobby. On the bright side, it's still recognizable as a plane.

WhatsApp - 7.5/10

I really like the way this one is red. Way to stand out in a crowd. It's also quite realistic without giving up on being stylized. My one issue is with the cockpit windows, which look a bit out-of-place and weird. This seems to be a common point of failure for this sort of emoji. Also, I'm unsure if this is meant to be a two-engined 747, but if it is points off for those not existing.

Twitter - 6/10

I hate to ever hand it to Twitter but this is just solid. That's an airplane, just a very simplified and round one. Even the cockpit windows on this one look okay.

Facebook - 3.5/10

Maybe airplane emojis with airbrush shading just look bad to me. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the shape of this but I don't think they differentiated the tailfin from the fuselage enough. It looks like a stub. Also, what is up with that miserably short wing chord?

Telegram - 7/10

I mean, it looks like a 3D version of the Apple one, but it's surprising how much making it 3D improves it. Plus, gotta hand it to them deciding their emoji was being flown by Tex Johnston. I admire that sort of verve.

Microsoft Teams - 0/10

On the flipside, animating this one and making it 3D makes it so much worse! It looks like it was made right when people just figured out that 3D animation was a thing that was possible to do, back in the 50s or something. And boy are those pixels crunchy - I wouldn't mind this if it weren't already heinous. Seriously, how is that tailfin even attached?

Skype - 10/10

Now this I really like. Most of these are impossible to assign a model to but this distinctly looks to me like one of the earlier, stubbier 737s, just really short with a pointy nose, and she's waving at you. Crisp, nice smooth animation, just fantastic.

Twitter Emoji Stickers - 0/10

Looks bad. One of the few of these which are very easy to recognize as a specific model of airplane - this is clearly a 747, based on the inclusion of the hump. There is a reason basically none of the others are trying to be a 747. Adding a weird lump to the front of your emoji doesn't really make it any less weird-looking, and rendering a plane from above tends to be weird-looking already. It looks like she was stung by a bee.

JoyPixels - 6.5/10

As with the WhatsApp red, I appreciate anything setting itself aside in color, so I have to compliment the choice of this sort of toothpastey green. This is one of the better simplified airplanes we've gone over today, and the only thing I really dislike is that it has the same issues with the tailfin Facebook does.

Toss Face - 0/10

I can barely tell this is supposed to be an airplane. It makes me want to, excuse the mental image, toss face.

JoyPixels Animations - 10/10

Now THIS is what I'm talking about! Just a nice little pixel aircraft, doing the same sort of smooth wriggling as the Skype airplane - no criticisms.

Sony PlayStation - small/10

Adequate, but too small to really assess further - but the fact that I don't dislike anything about it is honestly a credit at this point.

Noto Emoji Font - 3.5/10

This just looks like the Samsung emoji but rendered with plain lines. Removing detail from these tends to improve them.

OpenMoji - 0/10

Oh, no, I take it back! Too few details! It's like a torpedo with wings awkwardly stapled on. A really phallic one at that.

emojidex - what the hell/10

I think this more or less looks fine, and the livery it has also looks fine, but I'm so thrown off by the fact that I don't think this is a real airplane. I am obviously not an authority on every model of airplane ever built but I'm reasonably sure this isn't a real one. It most resembles a BAe 146/Avro RJ, the only four-engined t-tail plane intended for passengers rather than heavy cargo. But the 146/RJ has high wings, located above the cabin windows, so...what is this airplane? What does emojidex know that they're not telling us?

Messenger - 7/10

While not ugly per se, it's a bit futuristic for my taste. Still, the choice to model it from a position other than directly from the top avoids a lot of the pitfalls that make many of these so bad to look at.

LG - 4/10

Boring? Yeah, without question. But this is just a good representation of an airplane, and at this point I'll accept that. Does the tail thing, though.

HTC - 3/10

Something about the way this is shaped makes this look more like a rocketship than an airplane. Or a Convair Pogo.

SoftBank - 5/10

A decent pictoral representation of an airplane. See: LG. Fixes the tail thing.

Docomo - 5.5/10

Also a decent pictoral representation of an airplane, but I think rendering it in silhouette gets rid of many of the pitfalls associated with airplane emojis. No details to mess up, just the shape of an airplane. Why do the majority of these have four engines? Seriously, there are only three four-engine airliners in passenger service right now. Have the people designing these not flown since the early aughts?

au by KDDI - 2.5/10

Okay, I know I've been saying being a good representation of an airplane is good enough but this is just simplifying too far. This isn't an emoji, it's a unicode character.

Mozilla - 1/10

Why pointy but only sometimes? Why does the tail pinch in like that? It's ugly, Mozilla, you made an ugly one.

[jeannereames]

I saw someone asking here about Alexander grieving his father's death. That brought this question on my mind. Do you think Alexander openly grieved Philip's passing? What I can think of is, it was Hephaestion to whom he opened up. I can imagine him crying his heart out in Hephaestion's arms when they were alone together. I am not sure if he would even open up much to Olympias, though he was pretty close to his mother. What do you think?

Alexander Mourning Philip

For the ancient Greeks, Real Men Cry.

To a point.

Quite specific gender differences existed for male and female mourning in ancient Greece. If men swayed too close to women’s mourning, it was a problem. That was key to criticisms of Alexander’s mourning for Hephaistion. Essentially, he couldn’t control his grief, so he was “too girly.” But a failure to show any emotion—the proverbial “stiff upper lip”—would have been impious, not just “girly.”

Mourning was a religious expectation for any Greek. And Macedonian kings were duty-bound to bury their predecessor. Even Kassandros had to bury Arrhidaios and Alexander IV, no matter what he actually thought of them. At least in public, proper mourning behavior was expected.

That public mourning would involve the recitation of a goös, or formal elegy. Stylized mourning included loud calling out, a hand tearing at the hair, and possibly dirt on the head. Tears would be expected, as long as he wasn’t crying like a garden hose—or wailing “like a woman.” Note that, in the Iliad, Patroklos is made fun of by Achilles for “crying like a little girl” over the death of so many Greeks when the Trojans reached the Greek ships. There were limits, even as some expression of grief was not only allowed by expected.

As for Alexander’s mourning in private, I expect it was complicated, but I don’t think he would have kept it to himself except for Hephaistion. That’s not a very Greek view, imo. He’d have vacillated between anger at whoever killed Philip, and grief, and a need to learn what happened and punish the assassin. This was also a political act. Remember they did not know who did it, and it was entirely possible Alexander was the next target. (No, I don’t think Alexander had anything to do with his father’s death.) Even if he wasn’t, he’d still have been a target for his cousin Amyntas. Either he took the throne and lived (and Amyntas died), or Amyntas took the throne and Alexander died. That was the way of Macedonian inheritance with two viable Argead candidates, even with Alexander as designated heir. The next king waded to the throne through the blood of his competing relatives.

So a lot of pragmatic political matters would have impacted normal expressions of mourning. That’s independent of Alexander’s personal feelings about his father, which are difficult to know.

IMO, the popular image of Alexander and Philip at constant odds is exaggerated. In fact, if I were writing the novels today, I’d probably tone it down even more. But note that in DwtL, their relationship goes up and down. Sometimes they get along rather well; other times, not so much. Partly, that owes to Alexander being a teenager, when boys fight with their fathers anyway. But I think it also owed to the fact raising children was seen as a woman’s job and Philip was busy running a kingdom. He wasn’t present in Alexander’s life until he reached an age to be trained as an heir. Philip was that father with a high-powered occupation who sends his kid off to boarding school—literally, with Aristotle. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t interested, but he didn’t see himself as a father first. For one thing, he didn’t himself have exposure to good fathering. This is one of my novel’s themes, with the foiling between Philippos and Amyntor.

As for the real people, we’d need to know more about the state of their relationship when Philip was killed, and we just don’t have enough information because our sources for that period suck, honestly. Justin can’t at all be trusted, Plutarch has an agenda, and Diodoros is abbreviated to the point he stops making sense sometimes, but he might also be the least biased. As for Plutarch’s agenda, Philip is a barbarian king while Alexander is properly Hellenized due to his proper Greek education (via Aristotle), so he contrasts his father—until he falls under the sway of Corrupt Persian (Barbarian) Luxury and loses his Greek card. We must read all the Alexander-Philip conflict in Plutarch's Life in that fashion. Diodoros suggests things weren’t as dire as they appear in Plutarch, never mind Justin.

So I expect Alexander did mourn for his father, both in the ways expected of an Argead royal successor, but also as a son for his father. And not only in private with Hephaistion.

[theoldspark]

Not the anon who criticized Skybound on the confessions blog, but I saw your reply so I thought I'd send an ask. I'm a fan of Skybound but I can see a lot of valid criticisms wrt pacing (mostly action), a large cast with many characters that don't get enough page time (tho it isn't even That large yet so it's kinda more a TF problem in general imo...), subplots that take a long time to get addressed/resolved (tho I am reserving final judgement on this until #24 comes out which will be the end of DWJ's time as the writer of the series. I started reading Skybound around #14, imo as a binge read it's fine, but having to wait half a year or more for something to get resolved is killer. I never read traditional serialized American comics before the Energon Universe so I don't know if this is typical.) More specific criticisms would require spoilers.

I think whether you'd like it or not depends on personal taste, it isn't perfect but it's fun and the art is gorgeous. If nothing else is peak, the art absolutely is. The contrast between the super stylized and saturated G1 designs next to the super detailed humans and environments is crazy. The preview of the cover by DWJ for #20 (not out yet) is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Jorge Corona's penciling is also wonderful, the "skinned alive"/tortured Autobot in #8 is SO visceral and expressive. The issue that introduced Beachcomber was similarly breathtaking. The fight scenes are also incredibly dynamic (thanks to DWJ's background with wrestling). Reading it in hand is worth it for the spreads alone. Despite what I said about characters lacking pagetime, characterization is still strong - YMMV but it definitely has one of the best Optimus Prime's, and I'm a HUGE fan of their take on Elita. The humans are also done well! They actively add something to the story.

I guess the main thing is that when I try to think about what Skybound is doing NEW I kind of come up with a blank. Mostly small things so far. It hasn't lasted long enough to do anything crazy yet because it was committed to starting from ground zero. We only got Megatron in issue #18! And #19 was a flashback, so that's over a year and a half before Megatron became an active character. The war on Earth not immediately involving Megatron was very cool (especially if you like Starscream being petty and murderous) but the plot moves slowly. I've only read a bit of IDW so I unfortunately can't compare between the two of them. Idk how far IDW1 had gotten story-wise after the first 19~ issues they published. BUT...if you (general you) enjoy G1 (especially Sunbow G1 which is the "Bible" DWJ is using), there's really no reason why you wouldn't like Skybound? FWIW I only got into Transformers within the last year and watched all of G1 as an adult and loved it, so it's not a nostalgia thing for me, but it's def the closest retread of G1 done in years. Which I personally appreciate, since there's actually a lot of really interesting G1 stuff that never got touched again!.....but that's why I actually slightly prefer Void Rivals, which has the most "Season 3"/scifi stuff in it so far, including Hot Rod in the last few issues. (yay!) We're even getting Wreck-Gar this month.

Apologies for the super long ask! But I hope this was useful.

Thank you so much, anon! I appreciate you taking the time to answer something I commented elsewhere.

To be honest, whether it is said to be good or bad, I always prefer to judge for myself after I've consumed the actual source material and not just people's opinions that may very well be biased.

However, it did seem curious to me that many fans seemed to only have good things to say about Skybound, so I was intrigued by the anon ask that said the opposite.

Reading your ask, I'll say that Skybound sounds like something I would enjoy. Plus G1 (although I haven't watched it all) is one of my favorite Transformers series, so anything closely based on it gets kudos from me. But I do see where the other anon was coming from with the criticism. Slow-paced stories don't always work, especially when you only have 24 issues to tell it. And one thing I'm not sure I'll be a fan of that I've heard of is 'Optimus puts Earth before Cybertron' once again. I've never liked that trope, but to be fair it's not anything new for Optimus Prime's character.

Overall, for the things I know, it's a story worth giving it a chance. It may not be perfect, but hardly anything is in this fandom.

[smashwolfen]

I'm here to yell and love Okami all over again!!!! I LOVE OKAMI VERY MUCH AND AM SO EXCITED SHES COMING BACK BABEYYYYYYY!!!!!

(that okami case is in fact bought from a blockbuster its that old XD)

I didn't start playing Okami back when it released on the playstation but when it had come to the Wii I was instantly hooked. The artstyle, the story and just being able to run around as a DOGGO was amazing for my young teen brain!! It got me into looking up myths and legends when I was in school and now I love reading about them still to this day, its fascinating seeing what was used in the game and seeing other instances of the real myths in other games thanks to Okami getting the ball rolling for me! Then of course Okamiden came out and THAT IS THE ORIGINAL OKAMI 2 WE CANNOT FORGET ABOUT THE LIL OUPPY HIMSELF CHIBI!!! I'll admit I may have only played thru Okamiden once.... only because I HAD a complete file and lent the game for a family friend to play on... and they deleted the file and I had been so discouraged to replay it again, maybe with the new game being teased I may play thru it again along with OG okami as well to 100%

Back when I first played Okami initially, I managed to make 2 things just because I loved the game so so much, first being this old clay figure I made. Its missing a leg sadly but I'm still so dang proud of how well younger me managed to even get it so well shaped! Her mirror is a lil worse for wear too but its flames are hanging on by a thread (its removable too!)

Then I forget WHEN I made this but I think I just wanted to paint something small on this tiny canvas I found at the time, and tiny it was! Again probably to broaden my skills as a kid XD

And then in 2019 during one my sisters batchelorette outings we did for fun, we went to this ceramics cafe where we could pick something and just go buck wild and paint whatever we wanted on it. I decided to make the coolest mug ever, and of course did Ammy! Itty bitty Issun to boot XD

Now something cool folks may not have seen that I gots! I didn't use the internet like crazy as a kid so I didn't know about looking things up for games and whatnot, so how did young me even stumble onto Okami to begin with? Well with THESE two books right here!!

NINTENDO POWER BABEYYYYYY!!!!! Back when I had been getting a subscription, these were my introductions to Okami! The One with Sonic on it was the original one that had this section for Okami in the issue, and man when I saw the art for it I fell so hard in love adsfsgdhfj

LOOK AT THEM ARTS IMAGINE HOW COOL THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN TO SEE AS A KID XD

Then the Kingdom hearts one was the one that told me about Okamiden!

I had to go digging for those when I remembered I had them at all, the only other cool things I owned that I didn't make or was the game themselves XD

I'm so hyped Okami is getting a third game and from the trailer alone it's gonna look amazinnnngggg. With how far graphics have gotten today, who knows how much stylization were gonna get that's essentially what they wanted from the original, how far can they push the Sumi-e now that we have the graphic capabilities? I can't wait for news and PRAY it comes to the next gen nintendo console, we got the other two for the nintendo, one being a DS exclusive, so it would be insane if it didn't come to nintendo again.

We must wait and seeeeeeee

Time to continue to be deranged and look at peoples pretty asf art, OKAMI RESURGENCE LETS FRICKING GO FELLAS!!!!

[blueskittlesart]

What advice would you give beginner artists?

it's fine to want to do more stylized art, but nothing will help you improve quickly like studying from life. even if you want to draw very stylized figures, life drawing is still going to help you understand how the human body works and then you can build your stylization off of that understanding. I also recommend studying specifically things you're looking to improve--if you feel like your poses aren't dynamic, ask your model to do some quick (1-2 min) dynamic poses and work on getting the gesture down. if you're looking for anatomy, ask for longer, more static poses and really study the contours of the body. this also applies for portraiture and character art--my expressions and facial structure improved like CRAZY when i started doing portrait studies from life! (note: i know live model sessions aren't accessible for everyone. i'm a huge advocate for nude models, if you can find a studio nearby that's affordable to you that offers sessions, that's the best you're gonna get. however, there are sites that will give you photos of nude models to draw from, too, or you can even just ask friends or family to pose for you when they aren't busy, that's what i did before i started getting model sessions from my school!)

materials are not everything but sometimes a good material can make a difference. it's important to know what's worth it and what isn't for your skill level. invest in some decent-quality supplies or a good art program, but understand that you're still going to need to work to understand your materials and use them to their fullest potential. (if you're a digital artist buy csp. trust me on this. get it on sale. it will change your life. also do not fucking use photoshop)

tracing is ok. listen to me. TRACING. IS. OK. tracing is how you learn. don't trace other people's art and pass it off as your own, obviously, but there is literally no problem with tracing real-life reference photos. I routinely trace references for backgrounds and the like. there is no reason for you to kill yourself trying to make complex perspective and shit up from your head when you can very easily just overlay a photo and get what you need.

in that same vein, USE REFERENCE PHOTOS. find pics online or take pics of yourself and USE THEM to see how your poses work. it makes it SO SO SO much easier. the understanding that you need to create a pose out of nowhere will come with time but you're not going to get that skill unless you have a foundation of understanding how the real human body works, and the easiest way to get that understanding is by copying photos of real people.

last but not least, there's generally a sort of 'rulebook' that new artists are expected to go by, especially online, when it comes to digital art. when i was first learning, it was all about lineart and cell shading, two things that I didn't really like. Nowadays it seems to be all about rendering. the single most important thing i can tell you is if it sucks you don't have to do it. if you hate lineart just color your sketches. if you hate shading don't shade, or find a different way to shade that you enjoy more. if rendering is annoying or difficult for you DON'T BOTHER!! art is supposed to be fun. if part of your process is annoying or upsetting to you, cut it the fuck out. don't torture yourself just to do art the "right" way. i guarantee your art will look better when you're having fun making it anyway!