#Its a good exercise for me to draw characters better

[nothingbizzare]

Drew some characters for the first time !

Feel free to request some characters from mp100 that i could try to draw them for the first time !

[splankie]

guys i got called in for yuri duty

[httpvomitello]

Helloooo, can I request something for the 2018 turtles (ROTTMNT)? The reader arrives with the guys to show them the softshell turtle they got as a gift at a school science fair. Since they're not very sure how to take care of it, they go to the guys for help. And the turtle... it looks just like the one from The Amazing World of Gumball. I just think it would be fun to see the turtles (especially Donnie) interacting with the evil turtle haha 😭

OMG NOT THAT FREAKING TURTLE 😭😭 When I learned that Donnie is a softshell turtle, my mind immediately went to that turtle from Gumball. Like... Seriously??? That turtle is the reincarnation of evil, that's for sure. Anyways ~ i hope you like it! ♡♡♡♡

Leo is so pumped when you show up with a turtle

He’s already imagining the epic sibling turtle bonding he’ll all have, and he’s definitely scheming ways to turn your new buddy into his own personal sidekick

But as he leans in to get a better look, he catches the turtle giving him a super intense, villainous stare

"Uh, why is he looking at me like that?" Leo laughs nervously, tapping the glass of its little tank

The turtle does not break eye contact

In fact, it somehow looks like it’s plotting something

After a long, intense staring contest (which Leo loses), Leo's more hyped than ever

“Oh, we’re keeping him. This little guy’s got edge.”

He decides to call it something like "Sidekick Jr", and he tries to train it to glare on command, thinking it’ll be perfect to bring it to battle with him

Obviously you don't let that happen.

Raph’s eyebrows shoot up the second he sees the turtle

“Whoa. That turtle is… cute.”

Lying is not Raph's focus

He is all in for helping you take care of it

But as soon as he leans in, the turtle levels him with a stare so intense that Raph is slightly taken aback

“This guy looks like he could plan a heist,” he jokes, but he’s half-serious

He’s convinced the turtle has some secret agenda and will not let it out of his sight

Raph takes pride in helping you build a “fortified tank” to protect it from any “potential escape attempts.”

He even draws up “exercise drills” to help it “build character.”

He ends up calling it something like “Lil’ Warrior”

The turtle's name is Bob

And he spends a suspicious amount of time training it to recognize commands, because “A turtle like this needs discipline.”

Donnie’s reaction is extreme caution

Like... wtf? How is this turtle so ugly?

(He completely forgot that he is also a softshell turtle)

He’s thrilled you came to him about turtle care, especially because this guy is a fellow softshell

But then he notices the turtle’s… ominous glare

For the next ten minutes, Donnie just stares back, analyzing every detail

The turtle doesn’t blink

It feels like a showdown

"This isn’t just any turtle, you know," he mutters, more to himself

He immediately runs diagnostics on it, pulling out his tools to test its temperament and intelligence level, just in case

Donnie takes the turtle care seriously, sets up the perfect tank, gets the optimal UV lamp, and is constantly researching enrichment activities, but he still doesn’t entirely trust it

You catch him putting up tiny lasers around the tank "just in case."

And he insists on renaming it something like “Professor Menace” because, in his words

“Look at that face—he’s clearly up to something.”

Mikey’s reaction is pure delight. “Aw! Look at the lil’ guy!”

He immediately wants to hold it, but as soon as he picks it up, the turtle gives him a side-eye that could curdle milk

Yes, the turtle is judging Michelangelo

He tries everything

Offering lettuce, sweet-talking it, giving it little pets, but the turtle just stares, expression unreadable but somehow… sinister

“Why does he keep looking at me like that?” Mikey wonders, confused but determined to win the turtle’s affection

He’s convinced it just needs a bit of “good vibes,” so he tries playing calming music, talking to it about his day, and even painting a little flower on the tank

Despite the turtle’s apparent indifference

(And slightly ominous glare)

Mikey’s convinced they’re best friends

He starts calling it “Lil’ Grump,” swearing it’ll warm up eventually.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Winter's King 21

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include dark content such as noncon/dubcon, cheating, violence, and possible untagged elements. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This is a dark!fic and explicit. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You are a maid to the Duke of Debray, a lord of the Summer Kingdom. That is, until the king of Winter appears with his particular air of coldness. (Medieval AU)

Characters: Geralt of Rivia

Note: I am very tired.

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

As promised, the king acquires you a full outfit to face the cold. A fur trimmed hat to replace your standard linen cap, a pair of lined hide gloves, and thick boots that go to your knees. He has bolstered you to face the elements but you are wholly unprepared to face the corridors as the glances of soldiers and servants meet you with a new glint of judgement.  

You wear the king’s cloak as before. You keep your head low under the hood as he walks ahead of you. It is a farce. A poorly acted charade. How naive you’d been for so long not see through it all. You were the perfect fool for an intent audience. 

You descend and come out to the west of the castle, through a door beneath a sharply peaked arch. The snow continues to heap over the land though the winds have relented. The king pauses as you emerge and reaches to take you by the wrist, as if he fears you might be lost in the powder. 

He walks you across the yard towards the stables built across a flat of land nestled along a curved rock wall. The doors creaks as he pushes through and the heat of braziers and horses’ bodies greets you within. Sniffs, snorts, and knickers rise in the air as you walk between the stalls. There is one in which a single horse resides, the rest crowded in pairs and trios. 

You look up at the steed’s dark snout, it’s eyes even bleaker as it snuffs out harshly. It’s nostrils flair at your approach and the king clicks his tongue at the beast. It raises its nose then shakes its head. It’s ebony iris fixates on you as its master touches its braided mane. 

“Roach,” you murmur into the dry air. 

“You remember,” he comments gently. 

“Yes,” you watch the horse as it watches you. It bows its head, nose coming close to yours, fuming hot breath around you. It sniffs the trim of your hood. 

“Let the animal see you,” the king advises. 

You bring your hands up and push back the hood, letting it hang over your shoulders. You stare at the dark eyes. Roach continues to twitch his nose in your direction then further dips his head, pressing against your chest. Uncertain, you bring your hands to touch his soft ears. 

“Ah,” the king sighs, “Roach is rarely partial to any but me. Even I receive a nip or too from the curmudgeon.” He chuckles and touches the horse’s thick neck. “others have nearly lost a finger and even sacrificed garment or two.” 

“A creature so volatile, he makes a good war horse?” 

“She,” he corrects you. 

“Oh, apologies.” 

“I doubt she minds,” he muses and pets her long nose as she raises her head. “She is restless. She would do good for the exercise.” 

He lowers his hand and unclasps the stall door. He pulls it out as you step out of the way. The horse clomps through, kicking impatiently as it blows through its lips. The king moves parallel to you and draws you before him. Before you or Roach can react, he has you aloft, urging you onto the horse’s unsaddled back. 

“Hold tight,” he girds and puts his hands to the horse’s shoulder, “come, Roach.” 

The horse starts and you press your hands to her back, clamping on with your thighs. You rock with her motion to keep from slipping. You duck with the mount as she bends through the door the king holds open. The winter snows dusts down on you as you emerge. 

The king drags his palm along the horse’s side and swings himself up with little effort. He sit behind you, Roach not missing a step or buckling at his ascent. He pulls you snug to him, tugging up your hood as the chill nips at your cheeks. He wraps his arms around you and clutches a swathe of the horse’s braids. He whistles and leans, guiding the horse away from the castle. 

“She is obedient,” you remark at her agile response. 

“I prefer mares for that reason,” he returns. You wonder if it is a quip meant for the queen or yourself. Perhaps both. “It isn’t very far, though the path is steep.” 

You nod and stare at the white expanse, a few jutting rocks pocking out above the carpet of snow, leafless branches reaching out here and there. The horse carries you to a ledge, narrow and treacherous, and you lean back into the King Geralt as the edge has you dizzy. He slips his hand beneath your cloak to squeeze your hip. 

“I have you, treasure, you needn’t fear,” he assures.” 

“Yes, your highness, thank you,” you touch his knuckles and shiver. 

“Sweet summer maid,” he purrs as he draws you snugger. “This winter is harsh but I will keep you warm.” 

You shudder and hang your head. For so much comfort as he offers, you find little. It isn’t only the snow which chills you. 

You ride on, the impact of hooves softened by the layers below, the air hollow and biting as it seeps beneath your hood. The sky ripples grey and seems to darken as you descend the curling path along the cliff’s edge. At once, you are plunged into thick blackness. 

The world levels out and the king shifts, sliding off the mount to land on his feet. You peek over your shoulder and see the grim light through the mouth of the cave. The king touches your leg and you turn, letting him help you from the height. Roach kicks and spits. 

The king frames your waist before he releases you. You listen to his steps as he moves through the dim. There’s is a scratch as he strikes flint and flame illuminates his shadow. He bends and takes something from the ground. He pauses and works with one hand, wrapping something around the thick stick. He lights the length of linen around the wood’s tip, a torch to see you along. 

“She will stay, she is not keen on confinement, especially underground,” he girds and removes his own cloak, draping it over the horses back, “the air enlivens me, I shouldn’t need that much.” 

He wears a leather coat, sewn of thick strips of black and studded with silver. He approaches you and bends his arm, offering it gallantly as a gentleman might with a lady. You hesitate and hook your arm through it, hugging his elbow as he leads you deeper, the torch flickering with each step. 

You enter a tunnel with rocky tendrils stretching from top to bottom, encased in layers of ice and frost. The flame illuminates the frozen layers. Deeper and deeper you go, quiet as your curiosity mingles with concern. Where are you going? 

Your boot slips on a slippery patch but the king keeps you upright. You thank him and bring your other arm across to steady yourself on his bicep. You feel his muscle bulging beneath. You do not doubt his promises. He will keep you safe. Down here, but you doubt what he might do without. 

He raises the torch as the air thins and you the cave opens up. You look around as the walls lay beyond the breadth of the torches glow. Your eyes are drawn by the icy fingers hanging from the ceiling. There is one close to you. You reach to touch its pointed tip. 

“Icicles,” the king says, “be careful of the thin ones, they might fall.” 

He moves the torch to show more, all around you, light fangs the line the cave, lining the edges. The flame sparkles on their eerie translucence. Then the king lowers the light and you look down beneath your feet. You’re stand on ice! 

“Your highness,” you instinctively pull yourself closer to him, your soles sliding as you try to walk further. 

“It will not break,” he assures you as he urges you on, “this cave never thaws, even in the warmer months. They call it the Moth’s Den.” He leads you across the ice and your eyes catch on the icicles, thick and thin, some pointed, some reach to touch the floor. You hear an odd hum, almost a buzz, and he sweeps the torch before you. 

You stop to gape at the wall before you. It looks soft and fluffy, almost like fur. Then you lean closer and see the wings. Pale silver moths, fluttering in place, clinging to the wall. Their fuzzy bodies line every morsel of the space. 

“Snow moths. Harmless creatures. Unlike their summer counterparts, the detest the light,” he extends his arm and a circle along the icy wall is sudden bare as the moths move to avoid the glare. “When I was a boy, I always wanted to have one as a pet. I could never get one past the entrance before it escaped and flew back to the depths.” 

You blink and lower your hand from his arm, though you stay hooked onto him, “I didn’t think this was your home.” 

“As a boy it was. At least, that’s how I saw it. My father, king of the day, sent me here to train with Lord Vesemir. As much to keep me out of trouble. I am not unaware of myself. I was not the best behaved. Vesemir took me in and he bides no mischief,” King Geralt explains, “though he does not rule without compassion. He taught me many things more than discipline. He taught me,” the king peers over at you, “that my heart should be heard just as plainly as my mind. If you do not balance them, then it will all topple.” 

You look back at him. Your chest aches deeply. Doesn’t he know you don’t have that privilege? Can he not see that you do not get that choice? Even for a king. 

You might never had cared for Lady Rezlyn and her gossip. You think it cruel and unkind. Often you wonder if she spoke less of others, if she might gain more friends. You never engaged much in Merinda’s whispers either. But you heard them and you know what becomes of mistresses. 

The other woman. That’s what you’ll become. A whore. A name to be spat. A figure to be avoided. A maid might be ignored but she neither favoured or despised. She just is. She has her purpose. A mistress only has the stain put upon her. The one who taints who my walk away, but she never will. 

“The ice becomes you, treasure. The cold it... pales to your beauty,” he smiles down at you. His gold eyes are vibrant and his fine features are even more admirable in the limn of the flame. 

He lifts his chin and takes steady steps away from the wall and leads you towards a jutting stone at the other end of the cavern. He bends to plant the torches base in the crevice at its foot. The torch leans but stands on its own. 

He faces you, untangling from your arm, and puts his hands on your shoulders, “I want to know what you think. Tell me. Do you like my homeland? Do you like the winter?” 

Your lips part and you glance up. Your eyes wander around the space and you turn your head. You raise your hands to touch the king’s leather gloves. 

“I think I do,” you answer. You can’t deny the beauty even if it is deadly. “I might think differently should I meet a bear or a wolf.” 

“It is why you must stay close, treasure, I would never let a beast get anywhere near,” he avows, “I refer to all beasts. Be it man or animal. You will always have me. You needn’t be afraid.” 

You lower your eyes. You can’t say the truth. He knows it but he refuses it. His is a king, he might bend even the world to his whim. You let your hands trails down his forearms. He drops his hands and takes yours. 

“Will you tell me more? About when you were a boy?” You ask, hoping to forget the present a little longer. You are intrigued to think of this man as just a child. It is a rather impossible concept. 

“Hm, well,” he lets go of you and moves around you. He comes behind you and presses himself to your back. He rocks you as he turns you to admire the cave, “I would come to these caves and talk to myself...” he laughs rockily, “you see, if you holler loud enough, your voice bounces back at you. Lord Vesemir, he is not always in the mind for conversation and horses can be just as finicky.” 

He continues to turn you with him. Even without his cloak, his warmth seeps into you. 

“And I would gather bouquets of frostwart and white willowrods for they are the closest to flowers that grow here. I would put the bunches all around, as if I was too be coronated. I was told every day I would be king and I wanted to be ready, but mostly, I’d pretend I was at tourney. I would have my practice sword and I would parry with the air. The air was not so mean as Vesemir with his jabs.” 

You listen, closing your eyes, trying to see it in your head. A white-haired boy with his golden eyes and flowers and swords. Now a man who’s marched through blood and dirt. How time changes more than the seasons, it transforms all. 

“What of you, maid? I want to know of you. When you were a child, did you frolic with the rabbits and the squirrels?” 

You go rigid. You try to pull away but he has you caught. You lean back and exhale heavily. 

“The life of a maid isn’t very interesting,” your murmur. 

“You were always a maid? Even when you were young?” 

“Always,” you affirm. “I emptied pots, brought Lord Dustan his boots, though at times, Lady Jazlene required a playmate...” 

He’s quiet at the mention of his wife. You feel the crack in your heart. Your nose is numb and tingling. 

“Yet, how did you become a maid? Before that, was there nothing?” He asks. 

“Please, your highness--” 

“I bid you call me by my name.” 

“Geralt,” you utter, “please, I beg you, I wouldn’t speak of before.” 

“Did you have parents? Siblings--” 

“None of it,” you hiss and elbow away from him, throwing your arms out to keep balance. You spin and shake your head, “please. My parents are dead. Long gone. And the memories I have of them are nothing more than that. They’ve only ever been dead to me.” 

He is taken aback, his face pale and cheeks tight, “treasure, forgive me, I only... I want to know everything of you--” 

“You know what I am. I am a maid. That is it. That is all I can ever be. I am not a lady, not a wife, not a queen,” you clap your hands together, the impact softened by your mittens, “you cannot make me anything different, king as you may be. I will only ever serve, and you will only ever command.” 

His lips part and he steps towards you, “that isn’t true.” 

“It’s what must be true,” you look to your feet, “might I make a request?” 

“Anything,” he says. 

“Take me back to the castle,” you raise your eyes.  

He nods solemnly and reaches for you, “as you wish.” 

[bacchuschucklefuck]

as an artist who just wants to get to drawing the pretty clothes and is terrible at posing i am forever enamoured by your poses..... they have so much energy and movement!!!

was this via art study, a general knack for anatomy or do you just enjoy posing specifically? and do you have any tips?

(i was just wondering bc your pose work is always so dynamic :D (your lighting also slaps /pos))

this is one case where it's a secret fourth thing lol. I have never successfully studied a single thing in my life, I am not at all a naturally "gifted" artist (and as well I reject the idea altogether), and posing has never jumped out to me as its own task in drawing at all! the way I do anything art-related, and posing specifically, is a lot more mechanistic than how it's perceived I think; I've just assumed this came as a function of how narrative-forward I see art, and how much I focus on comic work.

what folks talk about as "posing" I usually think of in two terms: composition and character acting. composition is how the figures fit into the intended frame, and character acting is the actual motion that'll be portrayed. you can see how that logically works itself out! there are more words than stars in the sky written about composition already, I honestly don't think there's anything I can say that'd be more useful than words from artists like thomas romain. character acting is itself more a matter of writing than visual art to me; you've got a guy and they probably do things, you draw them do those things, that's really it. the rest of it is just, figuring out weights and accenting in a scene, shape language, line flow, discipline-specific stuff like that; since no matter what I'm drawing I always mentally think of it as a comic thing, I usually try to insist on the strong points of that medium, one of which is colloquializing shapes to imply the entirety of a movement through a single panel. I don't always succeed at this! I hope to do better in the future. but it's how I approach this matter.

I think sitting down with your art to think about like, how you're approaching it and what you're in it for would help with troubleshooting a lot of the times. it's helped me before! I'm a completely hedonistic artist, I don't draw what I don't want to draw. what is it exactly about posing that's giving you a hard time? is it something you can do without? usually it is. if it's the thinking up a pose part, you can copy poses from high fashion magazines and sewing pattern models and just photos you find. if it's the fitting a pose into a nice looking complete picture part, don't make it a nice looking complete picture, do it sketchbook style, collage a buncha stuff together. if you never want to think about posing ever again, that's what stock bases are for! make urself some or get some from an artist and just draw the nice clothes.

if ur committed to figuring out posing and wanna ease urself into it, I find prompt lists are pretty good for giving ur brain a ground to build on top of and start asking questions. it's also a good exercise to sit down before drawing a thing to ask urself what u want it to be like, genre-wise: is it gonna be a comic cover, or a family photo, or a professional photoshoot, etc. these things have their own visual languages, and keeping that in mind will direct u on how to frame and choose the movements for ur piece. or, if that's overwhelming, drawing characters running is always good! there's plenty of character acting involved in there, it shows off the physicality of the clothes nicely, and it's decently easy to frame.

(I am similarly mechanistic about pretty much every other aspect of drawing lol, lighting/shading included. fully a case of "if it looks alright I put it in, if it doesn't I don't do it". I still struggle with it every time I do colors, but what can ya do. if the piece asks for it that's what it'll get. thank you very much for the nice ask!)

[indignantlemur]

Hello lovelies! Who wants a nice, cozy kitchen scene? I'm not back up to snuff, but as part of my physiotherapy I've been encouraged to draw and write and generally give my arm and hand a good work out with all kinds of horrible contortions and exercises. I'm far from at my previous level, and I can't tolerate the kind of shading I preferred before my injury, so for this piece I experimented with a more cell-shading like style this time. I think it turned out alright! A bit rough, sure, but not bad for a first attempt!

I still can't draw a smooth lines without leaning pretty heavily on stabilizers, but I am improving a little more every day. While I'm not completely happy with parts of the overall piece, I think I managed to more or less hit the target!

Detail shot and rambling below the cut, as per usual!

So the main idea behind all of this was a series of slice of life snapshots that felt cozy and comfortable, focusing heavily on the interactions between characters over drama and big scenes. I didn't have a particular location in mind with this one, but I have always thought that Dagmar's Andoria apartment would be conspicuously corporate-bland, the way a lot of common spaces are in Star Trek - and probably the most common examples Andorian architects would draw from without knowing any better.

In the background, we have Dagmar's little notes and reminders, as she's always struck me as the sort of person who uses her fridge like a personal calendar and organizer rather than a showcase for sentimental things.

Transcribed, they read:

[To Do: - Groceries!!! - New books ] [Language Lessons - High Vulcan!!! (<-Email Comm Lorik @ embassy again) - Coridanese - Refresh Klingon - Aenar dialect?] [DRINK WATER - NOT coffee] [Appointment w/ Miraal @ [indecipherable]]

Food in all its varieties has been a big part of Emigre from the very beginning, and I thought in particular that it would be nice to capture a scene with Dagmar and Thelen focused around that point. After all, if Thelen can teach Dagmar the ins and outs of Andorian cooking, why can't Dagmar return the favour?

So, working off of that, I wanted to try for a scene that feels mostly familiar. As much as I wanted to feature familiar objects and tools, owing to Dagmar's past origins and preferences, I also wanted to add little things that are just a tiny bit alien, too. We have the half-drunk drinks of familiar blue ale; the datapad, forgotten, going into screen-saver mode; the cream tarts in unusual shades; and even some odd little fruits that look like cherry tomatoes and come in dull Skittle colours, for example. Then, there's the ulu-style knife just at the edge of the frame. It's an unusual choice over a standard santoku knife or any other perfectly serviceable kitchen knife, but given its resemblance to a ushaan-tor it feels oddly appropriate. Providing my recovery continues to go well, I'm hoping to do a few more cozy scenes, but I can't promise anything just yet!

[ckret2]

3rd times the charm (writing this i lost what i wrote 2 times already) questions/related for/to goldilocks bill 

1 is mabel adhd and or some neurodivergent cuz of hw/grade thoughts/feeling /comments made/referenced and was this me being delusional/implied and will only be implied in the story/foreshadow something or just 

2 can bill hid his cycle long term and who restocks mables pads cuz if its her what does she think of a huge chunk going missing and if not how long and with mable in ca and melody maybe moving out what would he do what are his thoughts on having to ask for menstrual products like asking would be humiliating on a scale of 1 to 10 who would he ask most to least likely what beliefs/knowledge/feeling do the other characters have on periods 

3 would he have any thoughts/preference on different menstrual products like pads/tampons/cups/other items i don't know or it the theme/art the only difference 

4 sorry if this is gross (S&P would never approve) but would bill if he had period blood at the time gone for round 3 of battle of hygiene used the period blood like his stink and the sink incident as bargaining/negotiations chips for something cuz i hate how messy period blood is in my experience and just experience with so many peoiple being so repulsed by it (would he possibly think its funny like blood haha and the blood clots like slipe)

5 why did he get one so soon like his body is 2 weeks old ( i think i'm bad with time(time is and illusion anyway)) but anxiety, depression, sudden weight loss/gain, being under/over weight, extreme exercise, and poor nutrition are some of the relevant things that can make you miss your period and bills got oodles of poor nutrition depression anxiety and maybe (going on only sooses comment so far) sudden weight loss (for me just eating 2 to 1 meals (1 school lunch the other fast food) a day for a long time meant i didn't get a period for like 6 months) but is it the fact it's so new and axolotl set to easy thats he got one (also i don't mean to be rude i have no knowledge of what you do/dont know about periods and stuff)

6 for the kryptos gang Maybe when the accident happens bill rips holes in the dimension of accident and only they are lucky/unlucky enough to fall and get translated though not knowing it was bill and not in bills view/doesn't know/thinks that killed them? And end up stranded in an extremely unknown place worried about the shit going down in the dimension and latter get rumors it was destroyed and they grieve But that way bill is  alone in the aftermath and people spread no survivors present and these shapes are standed  he meets/collects them that way he can promise them something better would them not knowing erase or amplify the guilt or would them know bill did it make more sense sorry if this is bad i know that i don't articulate myself well disclaimer i have not read the book of bill (im :,( broke rn).i have seen some of the website but would this work with cannon and your story i also don't know how the dimension stuff would go would they up or down a dimension maybe the axolotl translated them cuz reason idk or bill accidently did it when the holes ripped open

god that's a lot of text to lose twice I'm so sorry lmao

1. Yes, I write Mabel as ADHD. I don't know if it will ever be directly stated in the fic, primarily because I doubt she's gonna get a diagnosis; but I'm drawing on the experiences of family, friends, & myself to write her.

2. Mabel thinks "hmmm... I used those a lot faster than I expected... but I've been using these less than a year, maybe I just don't have a good sense of how fast I use them yet."

Bill wouldn't consider asking for them any more or less humiliating than having to ask his captors for food access, shower access, or sunlight access. He has no taboos or shame associated with bleeding out of a hole for most of a week, being ashamed of that is a human cultural thing; but he is consistently humiliated by needing to ask his captors to please let him have the basic resources he needs for his stupid body maintenance.

But remember he just got a room with a fridge and permission from Soos to stick whatever he wants on the household grocery list. He doesn't need to specifically ask his captors for period supplies. He can just... put it on the grocery list. Now it's Soos's problem. Maybe Abuelita's, I feel like she might prefer to do the shopping if it's not too strenuous for her yet.

3. Tampons can kill you so Bill thinks humans are pretty dumb to use them. He doesn't much care beyond that. He's used exactly one product.

4. I can't think of a reason he wouldn't but I'm not interested in exploring weaponized hygiene more than I already have.

5. He's been in his body over five weeks. He got the one period he's had so far almost 4 weeks in, giving him a cycle only slightly longer than average. (Even if he HAD gotten one two weeks in—how do you know his body wasn't just created already halfway through a cycle?) He's had a shit month but he started off in good enough health for it not to immediately matter and the shittiest most physically & mentally grueling part of the month (the eclipse + execution) came after he'd bled.

6. begs a lot of questions—"how" "why them" "where were they" "why didn't Bill find out sooner" "why DID he find out". Doesn't feel airtight enough to me. Plus, I already know EXACTLY how Bill's dimension is destroyed, and random rips in the dimension aren't part of it.

[squishranger]

AT LAST SEVERAL MONTHS OF BRAINROT COME TO FRUITION

here's a carrd for all tptmers who want to meet some Fun New Girls That I Made (it defaults you to the first girl, but the button leading to the second one is at the bottom... and at the bottom of the second girl's page... is a button leading back to the first! careful not to get stuck in an infinite loop.)

EDIT: OH GOD ITS SO UGLY ON MOBILE. USE YOUR COMPUTER PLEASE

the full designs, transcripts and screenshots of the carrd for mobile users, and other such ramblings are under the cut

REVERIE GIRL , she/they/cloud/dream/star/whatever suits your fancy, wants the world to spin both faster and slower than it does... if she had the gumption, they'd have everything she wanted by now, but they tend to only have the energy to lay in bed and think about lost times. she's a nostalgiacore girlie and she has little else to go off of in terms of defining who she is. (star's... basically just a self-insert.)

PAGE:

JOURNAL TRANSCRIPT: ohhhh my god what am i doing . i cant keep living like this. like its not even living im not even doing anything every morning i wake up and i regret i regret waking up i dont want to wake up but how am i ever supposed to live if i cant do anything other than stare at the ceiling and pretend things are better than they are ??? at this point i'd rather give up. live in my daydream forever with my friends and my cat whos been dead for like two years now i think but i wanna go back to her i wanna go somewhere else. i havent given a shit about reality in fucking forever im so done with it but some part of me wants to live. maybe even get out of my fucking parents house. get a job learn to drive be a person or something. but i'm so stuck. i just hurt all the time. i dont know what part of my heart to follow. i dont know what to do. i can't just go back to bed this time i can't…. i can't…. i always tell myself that and then i do. i need to make up my mind.

CARRIER GIRL, she/he/they/it, has been abandoned by everyone who ever loved her. though she lives a generally stable life, it's a distinctly lonely one, and it isn't enough for her. there is something yet to be fulfilled. some kind of desire. she only wants to feel as loved as she once was.

PAGE:

JOURNAL TRANSCRIPT: hello blog!! i got myself an iced matcha latte from my favorite local cafe today! it was really good. but it like, it got me thinking… will any little treat i buy myself ever make me feel better about how freakin' lonely i am?? man, i dunno why i started thinking like that… i get matcha all the dang time. so often they're starting to feel more like breadcrumbs. i think it'd taste like something again if i shared it with someone. i think i peaked in high school. that was when i had friends and before all that awful stuff happened and yeah maybe i wasn't doing great but i had people. and then they all went to college or got married or had babies or something and… augh!! i can't be bitter!! they're living their best life… just… without me. and now every time i reach out i get brushed off, pushed away… i want someone who won't leave me. will i ever have someone who won't leave me? maybe i won't. maybe i should just accept that. everyone always leaves. i've been nothing but kind to people, i really think that, so what am I doing wrong? ohh boy this one really spiraled outta control didn't it… sorry ;-; i'm just gonna save it and go think for a bittt….

THIS WAS A VERY FUN EXERCISE for character design and branching out with my art style (i did in fact draw both of these characters.. it's probably pretty obvious but i tried to make them look like they were sorta drawn in different styles like the canon girls bc it's cool i think. if that makes sense JSDFJSDF) and coming up with metaphors, i actually had so many other girl ideas that got scrapped for one reason or another, and only two came out unscathed... there may be more... in the future... as for songs, i don't know if that'll ever happen. i have most of the tools, aside from voice synth, so i'd probably just use my own voice. which might be CRINGEEE (ironic statement) so we'll see how that goes!! ^^' don't... don't count on it...

[dross-the-fish]

Warning you that this’ll be worded weirdly in advance (I’m not good with wording)

I don’t know how to describe the phenomenon but how do you avoid art style envy? Or keep motivation when your art style isn’t where you want it to be?

(Because I feel as though I need to justify everything here’s an explanation) I often use your art as a reference because I like the style and it helps me get a basic idea of the anatomy of some characters (Adam, Jekyll, Hyde, Erik, for example) and then I get art block because it doesn’t look good to me (and then I remember your twice my age)

Sorry the wordings weird and sorry if it’s long

Honestly I think the reason I manage not to get wrapped up in my art not being where I want it to be is down to the fact that as I've gotten older I've started giving less fucks about drawing for an audience. I like to draw, and even if there are people significantly younger who are a lot better I'm drawing primarily for my own enjoyment, not to compete with other people. I also try to be kind to myself, I drew pretty irregularly over the years and went through long dry spells and if you'd seen my tumblr pre 2022 I have maybe 5-6 drawings per year and now that I'm drawing on at least a weekly basis I'm seeing rapid improvements in much shorter spans of time. Practice will pay off. You just have to commit to it and let it do its thing. There's no deadline to get good at something, some people pick up a skill right out of the gate and others don't discover how passionate they are about hobbies until they're older and everyone learns at their own pace. Don't stress over your art being perfect or "measuring up" and even if your drawings don't turn out great at first keep practicing. A hobby that brings you joy can be a wonderful and fulfilling thing regardless of skill level. When I was probably close to your age my own art looked like this. this is a drawing from a really old sketchbook and as an exercise I sometimes go through and redraw old art just as a fun way to test my skills. Seeing your own improvement is a good way to get out of feeling discouraged.

I have learned a LOT about drawing since I was in high school and so will you. I promise.

[rusty-courage]

Hi, I love your work and art style, it is so cool. I was just wondering what animation program you use? and any tips for beginner animators or artists?

Hi, thank you! I work in ToonBoom Harmony.

I get asked a lot to give advice for beginners, and there's a lot of different skills that need to be developed to be an animator.

The first one is just a general skill in drawing. Drawing from life (looking at an object in real life and getting its likeness down on paper) is one of the biggest ways to learn. If you want to be a character animator, that means drawing people. Over and over and over and over again. In different poses, different body shapes, different mannerisms, etc. There are websites that give you figure drawing references that are super helpful. Challenge yourself- try to get down difficult poses. draw those hands.

(And when I say draw from life, I mean either irl or images of irl things. Learning from life is much much better for your foundational skills than trying to draw based on other people's drawings. However when you have achieved the basics and are looking to cultivate your style, looking at other artist's styles and their depiction of people can be useful to help find yours.)

When I was in college I took a figure drawing class that had us sit in a theater with a model on stage who constantly changed poses for us to draw. We would do timed challenges: Draw their pose in 5 minutes. Their next pose, draw it in 2. Then 1. Then get their pose drawn in 30 seconds. 15 seconds. 10. 5. And then start over.

I think doing that exercise was one of the best ways I learned personally. Because it taught me not to hesitate, to not overthink what I'm doing, and to put down lines with confidence. I also drew with a pen so I couldn't erase anything. Building drawing confidence will make your projects look better.

After gaining foundations in drawing people, the next step would be to research the principles of animation. Here's a good reference video that explains them better than I could: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4

In my opinion, the most important principle is the slow in and slow out, explained at 11:17 in the video. While the other principles are still important, I find myself always falling back on this one. Having a character's movements ease in and out is crutial to making something really come to life. Otherwise things look very mechanical.

And of course, practice practice practice. It will be bad at first. That's normal. But keep going. I have a folder full of old animations from before I got to college and learned the principles, and it made a world of difference.

Good luck!

[tmgefan]

Love your art <3! Do you have any tips to share with us? You’re a big inspiration so I’ll take what I can get lol. Have a great day ❤️

Thank you! It means a lot to me that I may be someone's inspiration.

As for the tips I find it hard to come up with something out of my mind (i usually provide tips with specific topic) so this post will be quite random

How I learn muscle anatomy when Im bored (or when nothing is drawing out properly

Here's a file for a random study with some heavylifter that i was turning brim into. I never got to actually draw it and i still dunno if i ever will, but his musculature will help me make a couple of points

When i start a study drawing the first thing i do is finding the spine of the person (taking that i am making a study of a character ofc) sometimes it doesnt matter much, but as an exercise to see through something its a good thing.

*Vsauce voice* But what if... You have no idea how to see through something?

In this situation when even I can struggle I decide to make a fast set up with a model (here I used web version of Magic Poser, there's also an app)

You set the model to the pose from the ref as close as you can and then try to understand how their spine works. Honestly, in general if you even already have a ref, sometimes its good to make a model set up for it to get multiple angles and full understanding of shapes. Even better if you have models irl, but those quite expensive. Add. info - I started college this year and its my first ever year to sculpt with clay and i found out that if you try to sculpt anatomy YOU immediately get a better understanding of where what should be after a couple of tries to make an arm or maybe a face (shocker). Its another great exercise. Anyway

The next thing i'd do is to make a kind of a stickman model over the photo, to get a better understanding of simpe shapes like the tubes for arms

Dont get scared because i skipped a lot. but Its really not that much. What I like to do is to trace the silhoutte of the character and then provide myself with references for muscle, so after that i can also look at the photo and try to make pathways of the muscle tissue over what is already drawn. Tracing like this helps a lot to understand how musles work. At this point you can also stop and maybe move on some other study.

I also recommend using brushes that react to pressure you apply to the stylus both in shape and transparensy. Take any picture with pronounced muscle and just try to make out every shape you see and seperate them from each other.

also dont ever underestimate drawing when you're bored on paper. Just drawing your own hand sometimes will help you understand a lot about the way how skin works, or how muscle tense, etc.

[tothepointofinsanity]

Out of curiousity wut is op's thoughts on Kyoko considering u love Sayaka so much? (Also i love ur art its a visual blessing everytime good lord)

Today, I can finally give a proper answer on my thoughts about Kyoko. Someone had a similar ask back then, and I felt as though I answered that half-assed, missing a lot of integral parts of her character, but overtime I actually got very attached to her and came to be fond of her. There are many things to like about Kyoko.

She is very cool. I like that she always walks with a certain confidence and has plenty of skills and experience to back up her casual attitude. Her weapon is unique and I remember it caught me off guard when I first watched the show because what is That. Her character design while at first did not stand out to me then actually appeals to my senses now. I like the flow of her long hair and dress being juxtaposed by the solid clunkiness of what she wields.

Secondly, her character is interesting as she was written to directly click with Sayaka despite being opposites. It’s true that she’s very combative and often has outrageous ideas, but it’s just her exercising her freedom so that she won’t have to disappoint herself by being entangled in others’ affairs. She cares for other magical girls in her own way, and isn’t an unreasonable person, just a realistic one. The way she reverts back to having hope for Sayaka instead of directly driving herself to despair in the face of a new reality [that Witches are born from magical girls] also demonstrates the strength of her will, refusing to succumb to simply accepting things the way they are if they get in the way of her beliefs. <- Infected by Sayakaschisms. Instead of just sitting there and hoping things get better, she takes on the challenge to try and change the situation herself even if the odds were not in her favour. She and Sayaka essentially switch places in terms of how they act at the premier of Oktavia.

To be honest Kyoko is just like me fr. She liked Sayaka so much that her own witch was named Ophelia just to symbolise the Shakespearean tragedy of a relationship that she had with the former. Kyoko balances Sayaka’s impulsive tendencies and Sayaka gives Kyoko hope. That aside, Kyoko herself even in general is very cute, but is one of the more underrated characters. Always happy to hear her name mentioned in my inboxes.

My only problem is that I don’t draw her along with Sayaka all that much u_u

Thank you for the ask and kind words 🙇‍♂️🙇‍♂️!!

[loganrestarts]

My DIY Art Degree

Some people think there’s an arbitrary marker where you’re finally a self-taught artist, that you eventually reach a point where you’re done with your art education. But I think we spend our whole lives learning, so my goal for my 37th year on earth is to start being a committed self-teaching artist. 

I have so many interests I want to improve and learn that I can’t predict what my progress or end result will look like, but some of the things I want to explore are:

Sketching and drawing

Coloring techniques and color theory

Painting with watercolor and gouache

Painting on the Procreate app

Creative Journaling

Handwriting, hand lettering, and calligraphy

So I dug up a bunch of books and videos to make up a curriculum and planned out my own DIY art degree to start learning them all! 

Each month has its own focus:

Learning About Learning Art 

Mark-making, Sketching, & Basic Shapes 

Perspective

Figure Drawing & Anatomy 

Gesture Drawing 

Character Design

Color & Light 

Composition 

Landscapes & Environmental Design

Using Markers & Colored Pencils 

Painting with Gouache & Watercolor 

Digital Art

I don’t have a syllabus for the full year planned out yet, but here’s a rough draft of the materials and activities I want to try out for Quarter 1:

❄️ January ❄️

✨January Focus: Learning About Learning Art✨

📚 January Materials 📚

Drawabox.com: Lesson 0

[Book] Art & Fear by David Bayles

[Book] Debt Free Art Degree. Foundations in Drawing by Marco Bucci: Chapters: 1

[Book] Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

[Book] How to Keep a Sketch Journal by Marisa Lewis

[Book] Sketching from the Imagination: An Insight into Creative Drawing by 3DTotal Publishing

[Book] Art Fundamentals: Theory in Practice by 3DTotal Publishing. Chapters: Fundamentals & Critical Thinking

[YouTube] Veritasium: The 4 Things it Takes to Be an Expert

[YouTube] Ian Roberts: 5 Principles to Master Anything

[YouTube] Proko: Getting Better Faster - Painting with 80/20 Rule

[YouTube] Proko: How to Hold and Control Your Pencil

[YouTube] Sycra: Iterative Drawing

[YouTube] Love Life Drawing: 10 Stages of Learning Any Art Skill

[YouTube] Love Life Drawing: Practice Like a Pro - How Steve Rude Improves

[YouTube] Sinix: Art Theory Tutorials Playlist

[YouTube] Sinix: Art Warm Up & Exercises

[YouTube] belartsy: the “right” way to start learning how to draw

[YouTube] Paintable: Sketching For Beginners

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: How to Draw Anything - The 7 Fundamentals

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: How to Draw Good Lineart

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: Stop Learning to Draw the Wrong Way

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: The Most Important Art Skill

[LinkedIn Learning] Drawing Foundations: Fundamentals

[Gumroad] moderndayjames: Intro to Dynamic Sketching ($8)

[Reddit] r/ArtistLounge: How to get better at observing the world around me?

✍️ January Activities ✍️

Set a baseline by making whatever I want

(I know January has already passed; I'll post an update with what I actually managed to get through.)

💝 February 💝

✨ February Focus: Mark-making, Sketching, & Basic Shapes ✨

📚 February Materials 📚

[Book] How to Draw and Think Like a True Artist by Warren Martin. Days 1-5

[Book] Drawing for the Absolute Beginner by Mark and Mary Willenbrink. Chapters 1-2

[Book] You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler. Lessons 1-7; 10-13; 15; 19

[Book] Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling. Chapters 1-8

[Book] Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition by 3DTotal Publishing. Chapter: Perspective & Depth

[Book] Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

[Book] Debt Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing by Marco Bucci. Chapters: 1, 3

[Book] How to Draw by Scott Robertson. Chapters 1-2

[Reference Pictures] Fundamentals: Shiny Forms

[Reference Pictures] Fundamentals: Basic Forms

[YouTube] Uncomfortable: Drawabox Videos Playlist (Lesson 1)

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 1

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 2

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 6

[YouTube] The Art of Nemo: The ONLY Box Rotation Exercise That’s ACTUALLY Useful

[LinkedIn Learning] Drawing 2-Point Perspective

✍️ February Activities ✍️

drawabox.com 

Lesson 1 & Homework

250 Box Challenge

🍀 March 🍀

✨March Focus: Perspective ✨

📚 March Materials 📚

[Book] Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling. Chapters 9-18

[Book] Drawing for the Absolute Beginner by Mark and Mary Willenbrink. Chapters 2; 5

[Book] You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler. Lessons 22-27

[Book] How to Draw and Think like a True Artist by Warren Martin. Days 6-14

[Book] How to Draw by Scott Robertson. Chapters 2-7

[Book] Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition by 3DTotal Publishing. Chapters: Perspective & Depth

[Book] Framed Perspective I - Marco Mateu-Mestre. Chapter: 1

[Book] Debt Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing by Marco Bucci. Chapters: 3

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 3

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 4

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 5

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Visual Library I 

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Visual Library II 

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Visual Library III

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching I 

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching II

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching III

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching IV

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Sketching Figures in Extreme Perspective

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Emulating Even Amundsen Series

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Becoming a Gi Series

✍️ March Activities ✍️

drawabox.com: Lesson 2 & Homework, 250 Cylinder Challenge, Begin 25 Texture Challenge

100 Rotated Objects - based on moderndayjames Visual Library videos

100 Unique Studies (machinery, vehicles, plants, animals)

🖌️ Some Ongoing Activities 🖌️

50/50 Rule: 50% studying, 50% funsies

[Book] 30 Days of Creativity by Johanna Basford

[Book] 2025 Johanna Basford Wall Calendar

[Book] The Lost Art of Handwriting by Brenna Jordan

[Book] Spencerian Handwriting: The Complete Collection of Theory and Practical Workbooks for Perfect Cursive and Hand Lettering by Platts Roger Spencer

[Workbook] New Spencerian Compendium Plate 2 Practice Sheets (Found on PDF Drive)

Hand lettering worksheets I made in Canva

This is by no means a comprehensive education, but I feel like I came up with a good introduction to the things I’m interested in. I’m not going to learn everything about all of these topics in just a year, and I know I'm not going to get through all the resources I found.

I also want to make this process as cheap as possible, so I’m using a lot of free stuff from YouTube and my local libraries. Many of the resources came from radiorunner’s Curriculum for the Solo Artist and suggestions I found through the almighty social media algorithms. 

If your libraries can’t get the books on order or Inter-Library Loan, or if you’d rather just buy them to keep, I’m including Amazon affiliate links. (Many can be found as PDFs through other free methods but I definitely don’t recommend looking for the books on Demonoid, Mobilism, or PDF Drive.)

What do you think I'm missing? What do you think is too extra?

Learning is a life-long process, so even though I gave myself a year to restart, it’s just that: my restart. 

[psychagoguedigitalmusical]

My way in - Analysis and Concrete Action Plans

Anyone can be inspired by art. But can anyone create art?

I think that's a complicated question. Generally speaking, of course anyone can pick up a paper & pencil and draw something, or type out some poetry from their stream-of-consciousness. But is the artist in this scenario satisfied with what they've put out into the world? I wouldn't be. The artistic inspiration often comes paired with a clarity of purpose. And when our own lack of technical skill prevents us from matching the clarity we have inside, it feels helpless. Like there's some sort of "skilled artists" club out there in the world, and somehow they all got the mysterious membership card somehow, and it's just a gulf that can't be crossed. "Man, it would be cool, but I just don't have the stuff." It wasn't until last year when I completed the first project I was ever truly proud of creating that I realized that the gulf is crossable.

Basically, what I'm saying is that before I can make art that I am proud of, I need to understand my current limitations and learn my tools.

I have some music experience and some theatre experience, but I primarily studied a STEM subject in school. My experience with the arts has been enough to dabble, but not enough to express, and basically everything is hard. Tag urself in this meme, I'm both people

So what's my plan for dealing with this?

First: What skills will I need in order to create a project on the scale of Epic?

Writing (Plots)

Writing (Characters)

Writing (Lyrics)

Music (Composition)

Music (Singing)

Music (Production)

(There's other stuff like social media, advertising, etc. but I'm intentionally choosing to ignore other necessary aspects unrelated to the creative process, because honestly a lot of that stuff is interchangeable and can be figured out as it comes up. No use overplanning. The most I'll do for now until I've got something to show is to keep up these blog posts and crosspost to other sites. Hi Instagram!)

I have done minimal creative writing before. I know just enough music theory to play the trumpet, but I can't improvise my way out of a paper bag and don't know a chord progression from a lydian triad. I don't even feel comfortable right now singing in general, even by myself. And even if I did, I doubt I'd be good at it, and my space at home isn't exactly conducive to practice mush of anything loud. Lots of challenges, but with the confidence that even these large gulfs can be crossed, it feels not quite so overwhelming as it might have to me as a younger man.

Second: What are the concrete actions within my power to start to cross the skill gap?

Writing - I'm going to make a spreadsheet. I will start with systematically analyzing each song from Epic, laser targeting some basic information from the text (starting with lyrics only, musical analysis later once I have a better idea of what I'm doing). I will be focusing on identifying how the situations, characters, philosophies, and relationships are communicated through the lyrics. After I get through everything in Epic, I'll probably do a similar exercise for some of the other seminal works of musical theatre, and even non-musical theatre. If I want to make a competent contribution to the artistic conversation, I need a solid foundation of artistic context.

Parallel to this, I will map out the narrative shape of Epic and other stories I'm drawing inspiration from. By discovering patterns, I can reverse engineer what Morvic's journey through the Realm of Shades could look like.

I am also personally taking notes whenever specific ideas about Psychagogue, its characters, situations, and its themes come to me.

Music - I'm less certain about this one. At the very least, I'll sign up for a singing class and emphasize that musical theatre is the style of singing I would like to focus on. Music theory and composition is currently looking like the actual most difficult part to me right now. At this point, I'm honestly struggling to find appropriate resources for learning music theory and production that will stick with me this time. But I also was never able to consistently work out until about a year ago when I found a sustainable way in, so if it's possible for that, it's possible for this. It'll just take more time. I have some tentative ideas for what this might end up looking like, but I'm keeping the horse before the cart on this one.

Ramble over.

Next post, I'll show off initial progress on the spreadsheet and what kind of progress I've made on learning music.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I just wanna let you know that you have given me the confidence to write and post an Miguel x OC fic. Thank you for that cuz without this blog it probably would stay in my notes app till I die

Thank you so much!! IM SO HYPE FOR YOU!!

I saw this as I was taking a break from drawing Moche & Miguel (because it's free and better than therapy)

And for anyone in the same position - I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT

I LOVE OCs. I think they add so much to fandom - and like even as a writing exercise, they're amazingly useful!

Writing OCs help you explore sides of characters that aren't shown often - giving them new and challenging/comforting dynamics. It helps explore large parts of the media/lore that are usually overlooked.

Teaches things like how to follow worldbuilding rules, SO MUCH MORE

OCs are awesome.

If you wanna write OC x Hobie or OC x Miguel GO FOR IT.

Like GO FOR IT NOW. Even if you've never done it or never drawn GO FOR IT.

Don't worry about it being self-indulgent, romance is suppose to be!! Don't be afraid to make your Spidersona super powerful or OP! No such thing! - they're in the spider-society for a reason!! Don't be afraid to make them a 'Mary-Sue'! NO SUCH THING!!

It makes you feel good, is great practice, and its FUN. Like, it makes you feel way better than you'd imagine.

Have them kiss, give them a long elaborate dramatic storyline, let them have kids if they way, let them be cute and cuddle, and be in love or best friends or whatever you want!!

Nothing cringy about it, in fact I think it shows a real confidence in one's work and love for the story because they take so much creativity!

It's great practice. Before two months ago, I'd NEVER drawn anything especially digitally, and I started just to draw Diane and Hobie. And I did that like everyday for weeks lol

If you have a OC that's dating Hobie or Miguel by OCs are friend with them. They're all dating them in their own specific ways and we all hang out mhmm

More OCS MORE MIGUEL X OC MORE MORE MORE

[seeingteacupsindragons]

I’ve got another question, if that’s alright—do you have any advice for varying sentence structure? I feel like it’s a skill that is mostly natural / unconscious and I’ve been wondering if there’s a good way to deliberately practice it, apart from my current method of writing as usual and revising with a specific eye on sentence structure

You given me war flashbacks to my tenth grade English teacher and her"sentence starter" worksheet with 10 different opening phrase types for English, and we had to use at least 8 of them in every essay we wrote.

I do not recommend this approach. Most of them did not sound natural or fluid at all. At the end of the day, the vast majority of English sentences are going to start subject-verb because that's just the way English syntax is at its most natural and least stressed. And yet, neither that sentence nor this one did.

Ultimately, sentence structure varying is important not so that it varies, but because varying it has different effects.

Short sentences feel quick and choppy and adding them to short paragraphs feels a lot like movie cuts switching every few seconds. Good sometimes, but you don't want the whole movie filmed that way, either.

Longer sentences will feel slower, drawing out a moment to linger on it and connect things together. A lot of them together can be used to really highlight a character's spiraling mental state.

A lot of knowing which to use is just practice and developing a knack for which part of the book needs what.

And different people talk differently. Yes, they use different vocabulary, but they also structure their sentences differently. "I really wasn't thinking about home," could also be, "Wasn't really thinking about home, you know?" and they mean mostly the same thing but the sentence structures are different.

So it might be a good idea to do some warmups or exercise also focused on character voice.

I pulled out this section from Ceiling Fan to see if I could dissect it for you to show how and why sentences varied, but I actually...ran out of highlight colors because the sentences are all really quite different.

That second-to-last paragraph is all fragments. Long fragments, mostly, but none of them are actually complete thoughts on their own. They're punctuated like that because functionally, they're each their own points of emphasis.

I also have asides to sentences in both parentheses and em-dashes. But they serve different purposes. The parens basically reduce the "probably" to a muttered, under the breath note. The em-dashes are spoken at an equal volume, but it wouldn't otherwise fit into the sentence. Cameron is basically interrupting himself with dashes.

The second sentence starts with a gerund noun phrase because it sounds better than "It was only half the exam to study the formulas"--more natural, and it puts actual concretes upfront instead of a meaningless pronoun.

There's an ellipsis where Cam trails off a thought, searching for words before picking up with the next paragraph and sentence with an interjection.

There's a lot of variety in this...half a page if you look, and I did almost none of it while thinking about it or caring at all about sentence structure. This is just what felt natural when I was writing someone talking. This is what made Cam sound the way I wanted Cam to sound.

I picked up these instincts from reading, mostly--I saw what was impacting me and gave me what tones--so reading with an eye for structure and then writing to capture voice really well, I think, are my strongest recommendations. And then on making sure the pacing flows.

It's hard for me to give advice on how to achieve a means to an end, I think--the means are often different for everyone. You want the goal, and the goal isn't "interesting sentence arrangements." The goal is to make Cam sound like Cam (fill in your own characters here lol) and the pacing and focus to be where they need to be.