#My art style just dudes hanging out is that anything

[dooblebrain]

I CANT DRAW THE HEV SUIT ༼ ༎ຶ ෴ ༎ຶ༽ Here’s a preliminary procreate designs for freemind and feetman for the road

I might make them look more similar but who knows i like goofing around

(Plus pre-preliminary sketches and OG Gordon below)

This is how I plan character designs its awesome isn’t it /s

also an older doodle of Gordon and Barney pre everything going wrong (they just blew up a lasagna in the microwave together)

[comicaurora]

This is probably a weird question, but what are some tips you could give on character design? I've been trying to feel confident with my own designs, but they feel kind of bland... what kinds of things would you suggest to help make designs stand out more?

Hoo boy. Hm. I feel like I am not the right person to ask about this because objectively I do almost nothing you're "supposed" to, but if it's working I guess that means I might be onto something?

A lot of my design considerations are practical. I don't want to give anybody a design that's going to be a nightmare to draw over and over again. I've done enough commissions in my time to know when somebody is overdesigned and therefore hugely annoying to draw, and that's a no-no. So I tend to stick with simple patterns at most, not too many layers, no need for five million belts, no need for incredibly intricate hairstyles, etc. This is a practical consideration for the medium of comic art, but other mediums have different considerations - 3D-modeled art, for instance, can overdesign the characters as much as they want because they only need to model them once, and a lot of visual novel characters are limited to a very small handful of poses and some interchangeable expressions, meaning it isn't prohibitively complicated to make them a little Extra. The most time-consuming and frustrating commissions I've ever done were for characters who were frankly never designed to be drawn more than once. A quick sampling of highlights for the design features I swore to myself I would never deal with again-

So on a basic level, if you're designing a character to draw over and over again, it needs to be something you're willing and able to draw over again. Intricate patterns, a lot of interlocking plates, anything with lace - those are all things I try to avoid.

I've often seen the advice that character silhouettes should be super visually distinct, that characters should be very strongly shaped like different things. I think that's great if your style is that flexible, but if you kind of want everybody to be shaped like a human being with a skeleton, this advice is not very useful.

I think a diversity of body shapes is great, but the style I favor requires the anatomy to at least sort of makes sense, which means while there can still be a lot of variation in the distribution of muscle and fat, everyone's bones are gonna be in roughly the same place. I can't just draw a square and fill it with a dude. So instead I try and distinguish my character silhouettes in other ways.

Everyone's hair is different, and because most characters have big hair, this plays a large part in their silhouette. Falst and Erin both have short hair, but Falst's is a bristling mane while Erin's is usually more swept and soft-looking. Dainix and Kendal both have long hair, but even when Dainix's hair is loose it doesn't hang or flow the same way Kendal's does - it gets in the way, drapes in front of his face and overall doesn't move the same. Alinua's hair is bouncy curls. On top of that, everyone's outfits are fairly simple, but no two of them are exactly the same - Erin has a monopoly on poofy sleeves, Kendal has cuffed boots and the back-slung sword, Dainix has the poncho and the poofier pants, Alinua has the v-neck top with slightly pauldron-y shoulders and the slippers, Falst's clothing is ragged at the edges, etc. Even without getting into their distinct color palettes, everyone's at least a little bit distinct.

And this is another place where I purposefully try to avoid overdesigning. If everyone has too much going on it can circle around to being hard to tell the characters apart, because too much is happening. Who can pay attention to the fact that one character is sleeveless and one has asymmetrical boots and one has a mullet when everybody is wearing eight layers of embroidered fabric with four belts and half a breastplate on top?

Avoiding same-face is hard, and I'm not very good at it. But I do try to make sure everyone's face shape, nose and eyes are at least slightly different from everyone else's. It might not show from a distance and it might not be as extreme as a pixar design sheet, but it's something.

Ultimately the main consideration I keep in mind when designing characters is - perhaps a bit redundantly - their character. Who they are as people, and how that will impact the way they look. Everybody stands differently, and shifts their weight differently when a situation is changing.

Despite both being short, lightweight guys with short hair, Falst and Erin are wildly different people and are not going to dress the same, make the same facial expressions or hold themselves the same way. Despite both being tall, long-haired, generally friendly warrior badasses, Kendal and Dainix carry themselves very differently and react to things in very distinct ways. Tess and Erin have the exact same haircut and nobody noticed for ages because of everything else.

The designs aren't complicated, and compared to some, they aren't even that distinct. But I try to make sure that their personality is visible in every aspect of their design. Every "why?" in their design has an in-character answer, and since they're all quite different on the inside, keeping things simple means that starts showing through on the outside.

This is also how I can visually distinguish between Vash and Kendal, who have the exact same body and clothes.

we can never underestimate the importance of ✨body language✨

[paynomindtotheinsanity]

I love your art so much, you’re part of the reason I started drawing again. Your old art is cool, and your new art just has so much emotion and detail in it, it deserves so much praise. Do you have any advice on how you upskilled so well into the amazing art you do today? I really want to learn to be skilled like you are and improve to your level

Dude, thank you so much. I'm super flattered but also have major Impostor Syndrome right now lol.

The biggest thing that helped me was getting a drawing tablet and learning how to use digital art programs like Canvas or Procreate. I am a very messy artist - my traditional sketchbooks were always a nightmare because of how often I erase shit, so being able to use programs where I can simply undo or reposition a line was a game-changer.

I'm also incredibly indecisive and struggle with linework, but I found some great brushes that mimic the effects of ink pens and watercolor so I can achieve the messy, painted look. (This Sketchbook set and lineart set are the two I use the most)

Use as many references as you need! Gather a bunch of base poses to get the hang of proportions and anatomy (my go-to artist is Mellon_Soup. Screenshots from movies and shows work great too)

Try out posing tools like this one

A fun exercise that helps me is to paste a photo or drawing on one layer, and then on the layer above, sketch the main aspects in 30 seconds. Delete the first layer and then work solely off of the sketch (and yes it will absolutely look spooky and/or silly). If you need more time at first, start with 60 seconds and work your way down as you get the hang of it:

Take pictures of yourself in the poses you want to draw

Find artists with a style that resonates with you and study their work

The Multiply tool on Procreate is AMAZING for adding depth to artwork. I use this on almost everything. Add a slightly darker color on top of the whole set of layers, switch it to Multiply, and then go in with the eraser to mark the areas where the light hits

Keep practicing, no matter how shitty you think it looks! Just keep going!!

Uh I think that's it? I'll add more if I remember anything else.

I wish you the best of luck on your art journey! <3

[blair-the-juggalho]

Hey this is my first time requesting😭i love your work could you do Ericsons group with reader who is really good at drawing if you haven’t already?

Ofc! and tysm lovely!<<<3333 I hope you enjoy! Sorry if any of these are short </3 and that it took awhile :p!!

TWDG Ericsson kids with a reader who’s a good drawer

Violet

She thinks your so amazingly talented!

And if you ever draw her anything she will keep every drawing

She’ll also make silly request that she doesn’t actually expect you to do but once you do them you manage to get this girl all emotional 🥲

She’d subtly encourage tenn to hang out with you more as you two are the only one who can draw at Ericsson’s lmao

Mitch

He thinks you and your drawings are sick!

He will also “jokingly” request that you draw him as some big badass dude on a motorcycle holding up a grenade with flames in the background

However if you do it you have this man actually bouncing his leg with excitement and giving you a compliment or two 🤫

That is going up on his wall along with any other drawings you’ve done

When your drawing, him and Willy will leave you be if you want to be alone

However they will come up to you a lot because they’re nosy and want to see what your up too lmao

Marlon

He thinks your talent is totally cool!

He will also proudly display any of your drawing all over his office and the school

He will try to encourage you to show off your talent more!

And he is your No1 hype man fr fr!

Also if you can draw animals, and you draw a picture of Rosie you know this man is gonna start tearing up

Louis

He will constantly hype you up!

He will boast about any drawing you did of him too

“Guess who was (names) lates model? Spoiler! It was me, I was (names) lates model.:)”

He will also make lots of silly requests that he never expects you do actually do

but if you do do them he’s jumping up n down like a mad man

He will also get you to draw him and his dream house (plus everyone in his “future band” lmao)

Your know ‘the head of any future music covers’

Tenn

Little dude is so exited that there’s another person who can draw!

You two always trade tips, drawing, and you always do silly drawing challenges together

He’s also always open to polite criticism and is definitely always willing to take a few drawing lessons from you

Everyone considers you the artist of the school and rightfully so

He will also look up to you and admire your work like a lot a lot!

Willy

He thought it was super awesome!

And little dude also wants some super cool drawing of him

Maybe even as a superhero or a swashbuckling pirate!

He will brag about all the drawings you’ve done of him lmao

He’s never been good at drawing since it was never his thing

However he’s always down to sit with you and do some silly doodles next to you

Aasim

He really respects your talent!

Sometimes he likes to sit next to you while you draw!

He wont say much but that’s because he’s to busy watching you lmao

He’s never really been one to draw but he totally wants to know how you learned and how you got that good!

He finds it very oddly satisfying to watch you draw

Omar

He really respects your talent too!

He thinks it’s very cool and low-key wants you to teach him a few things lmao

He also loves watching you draw its very calming!

He won’t make any requests but if you did draw him something, the dudes tearing up lmao

Ruby

She loves it when you draw

It’s all a sense of normality to her yk!

Whenever she sees you drawing she’ll just leave you too it but when your done she’s begging you to take a look lmao

And you should already know that she will always compliment you and your work lmao

“Wow (name) your gonna be the next da vinchi!”

Your art style is probably nothing like his but you get the idea lmao

Also I feel like she wouldn’t follow art anyway and she just said any famous artist she could think off

Brody

She really appreciate your skill!

She also finds it super relaxing to watch you draw

She’d never pressure you to draw anything or to show your drawings too her

However if you do this girl will feel so honoured

She’s never really been into drawing she would do small amateurish doodles now and again

She’d sit and draw next to you sometimes, if you where ok with that :)

[iantimony]

twosday

we've got a two-weeker! last week I kept going "ah, I should write my Tuesdaypost", and then it was Saturday. so. ah well.

listening: back on an Astonishing Legends kick! listened to the 2 parters on bloodfalls and The Entity(tm).

Hypoxia - Thomas Giles and the album 'Pulse' that it's on.

the album 'I Will Write Your Song' by Matt Duncan. I should have listened to 'Soft Times' because the songs I have listened to that I like are both on there.

my roommate (listen, I don't live with her any more, but we share pieces of each other's souls so I am going to keep referring to her that way) also got me on these two songs that are major bops. good for Moving and Grooving.

Vois sur ton chemin techno remix by BENNETT

Pedro by Jaxomy

reading: literally so many academic papers. see the misc section.

watching: did a lot of youtube the past two weeks, just gonna post some highlights. a bunch of swell entertainment, not gonna post any one of her vids in specific.

how I reduced my screentime by 80% by reysu: something I've been grappling with is Ough, Too Much Screen, especially considering my day-to-day work is all on the computer too. did implement some of these tips, not sure how much it has helped me considering most of my screentime is on discord and messenger which I don't really want to totally disconnect myself from the same way I have on instagram/fb/etc without too much issue.

the importance of real things by Ted Kutina: I love you physical media

you can't fit your personality in an airport tray by Katie Robinson: some commentary on Style and Personality. not sure if it's just the period of time I grew up in or just something about me inherently or what but I never really had too much issue or thought with the idea of Finding My Style, I just don't buy clothes if they don't spark some joy or serve some purpose.

home organization for chaotic people by Caroline Winkler: found her channel as I overthink exactly where I want to hang up my wall art. she's an interior designer type but I was uncomfortably called out about how she talks about how she used to save every little scrap of anything that someone she loved may have touched out of a sense of guilt. I never really connected that to guilt, but, like, yeah. el oh el. made me think about some of the things I keep around and why.

fall reset guide (that'll actually help get your life together) by morgan Evelyn Cook: really loved the idea of a "morning menu" to replace the idea of a morning routine with.

playing: the biweekly dnd as usual. I have dropped the in-person game I've been playing in for now just because I am stretched too thin. I know this doesn't count but boy have I been thinking about minecraft. need her fr

making: I volunteered to do some drawings for an event my university is hosting in January that I will not be sharing on here because it will make me even more doxxable than normal. this has taken longer than I thought! I am more out of practice painting than I'd assumed so that hurted a bit, and one of the drawings was originally going to be a block print but I rapidly realized that an ink drawing would probably be easier and faster. neither of them are done yet but I have til Friday I think.

anyways I am back in pottery!!! I have made Two ramekins, Two failed ramekins that are teacups now, and a plate! I have never done a plate so that was a cool new thing to do. the real trick was to throw it on a bat and then put the bat in direct sunlight for like an hour before cutting it off.

eating: uhhhhhhh nothing notable really, lots of easy food and trader joes frozens right now because ough. oh wait I tried this bean soup that someone recommended. I forget who. it was. fine. idk it's just beans and garlic so it was just kinda underwhelming. I did get to use my immersion blender tho so that's fun. I have a different bean soup that I will hopefully make and try this week.

misc: dude writing my prelim document is SO SCARY. the introduction specifically is kicking my ass because it's like, "synthesize these papers you've read (and some of which you haven't, oops) into a coherent backstory for why the work you're doing makes sense and is important, for a field you're not technically trained in. also don't make it sound too similar to the thesis of the guy who was working on this project before you. good luck!!"

here is some astronomical happenings in The Corn. see you next week

[equation-daycare]

Awww all the little kids are just adorable!

(This is for the kids or Two and J if they also want to answer) What are some of your favourite things/or activities to do?

Three: I really like playing catch! And you know what I dont like? WHEN DUMB PEOPLE DONT CATCH!

Four: I LOVE WATCHING BFDI!! But I also like hanging out with X! And lately I've been kinda helping J and Two with cooking! I really like it! And math, and teaching others stuff! But my favoritest thing is watching BFDI! And rewatching it! And telling people facts about BFDI!

X: Oh.. I don't know. All the things I like, I like them because I learn them or do them with someone. I think all I do by myself is draw, but also I play and watch Four and the caretakers do cooking, I wish I could help them, because food is so so tasty! And I like taking care of plants, and thinking of stories.. but I dont know my favorite thing.. Oh! I also like weaving baskets! I like baskets a lot.

Y: I like making things! Sometimes Five helps me make them because he knows a lot of stuff, or Six helps designing them! I love making useful things, and reading. And making sure my siblings dont get into trouble..

Five: Reading. That's it, I think?..

Six: I like drawing! And bubbles.. and swimming! And setting things on fire. On that drawing note, I also do scrapbooks and collages and that kind of thing, it gets my style through way better than my own art sometimes!

Eight: Playing poker, loteria, chess, tabletop games, really.

Nine: I-I love skating! And surfing the internet! And.. all those radical cool kid things, yup! I totally don't also kinda like boring things like sewing stuff 'n knitting.. no way, nope, dude!

Ten: Challenges! Helping people, doing new things, new experiences, watching TV if I have to relax, yeah! I'm always up and open to anything anytime!

Fourteen and Seven in unison: 0, 7, 14.. EATING PEOPLE!!

Fourteen: I prefer the skin though. I also like doing pranks! And taking pictures of bugs! I like bugs. I have a collection of bugs. They're dead, but..

Seven: …Honestly, I just want Fourteen to be my friend- I also like jokes, and I'm pretty good at dancing and singing! I just really like it when everyone's eyes are on me.

Fifteen: Unlike me. I guess my favorite thing to do is being alone. Hunting and woodcarving are neat, too.

One: Hmm, I don't know. I just watch everyone do their stuff…

The Egg: …

Four: Oh? Hm, hm, yes! The egg is saying her favorite thing is watching BFDI with Four! And being with me.. all day.. all the time-

Seven: No, they like to wiggle and dance!

Three: He likes to play catch with me, shut up!

J: No.. and don't play tug of war with it, it's fragile! We can't know what they like until they hatch and grow.. Right now, all they must like is staying warm and safe, not getting all shaken up and yelled at.

Two: Uh.. Well! I enjoy baking and gardening! And talking with J.. And taking care of the kids, of course.

J: Yeah, with a job like this, you kind of have to enjoy it, or risk going insane. Anyway, I like cooking and honestly any kind of fiber art- embroidery, knitting, sewing, felting, weaving… And sleeping! Can't forget that one.

Angelball: Uhh, are we invited to the ask-answering? We're not algebralians, but we do help the caretakers–

Devilball: What do you even like to do? Sit around and look heavenly? Pfft. Anywah, I like listening to - and making - music, and CHAOS!!

Two: Seems like that's it for this ask! You got it all recorded, guys?

Angelball: Uh.. Wait, is it supposed to look like this..?

Six: Oops, we didn't take the lid off of the camera!

[straycalamities]

if you ever decide to start doing anything with it again... i am forever a spook supporter. if spook has a million fans i am one of them. if it has one fan that is me. but!! silly questions, like i said, just because i crave knowledge of my favorite little guy (gnc). are its interests still the same as they were when you had the blog up and running? what would it be doing nowadays now that its probably all growed up? what was it like as a dnd character? (race, class, etc) im running out of space

wow omg 🥺 that’s rly touching omg

let me think bc honestly i’ve dumped almost all the blog version of spook knowledge out of my head at this point

its interests are: poetry/lyrics, weird art, glitter, pastel and cutesy things, but also rly dark and meaningful things, fighting for what’s right in society and dismantling the wrongs in the system, umm what else…i think honestly almost everything you’d have found on its reblog blog from back then is still relevant tbh

it still likes to write and do its own weird art. still likes to do crafty things. its still v dedicated to micah and micah’s interests. still plays guitar. still cares deeply abt there being love in the world and really vibes with anything that’s like…rly emotional love from the heart. still likes memes. still obsessed with sweets.

yeah id say interests is an area i didn’t actually tweak it too much. maybe just changed the reasoning and/or framing of the interests but that’s hard to explain

and well, spook kinda exists as a personality that i can plug-n-play into Situations now. i don’t really have a set storyline in my head for it or anything it’s just like…talking scenarios w ppl or joining rp groups and then coming up w stuff then

generally i keep it around its low or mid 20s tho and it uh..idk it rly depends on the scenario or universe its in for what it does as an adult :l sometimes it still works the music shop and still tries to run w a band, other times it’ll be like idk whatever weird thing(in weehawken for example it was the groundskeeper for the forbidden island campers aren’t allowed to go on. it just upkept the place and everyone who happened to see it thought it was a serial killer or smth but meanwhile it’s just some dude tending to the overgrowth and hanging out in a lil cabin spending time w its little interests and never bothering nobody)

overall tho i’d say that the main thing is that spook chills out. a lot. as an adult. i mean even when i’m thinking abt it as a teen these days it’s probably nowhere near as dramatic or…uh well. all the other off-the-wall stuff it did on the blog (screams and grasps my head like scp-096), but it was still a very traumatized and mentally ill and confused teenager raging at the world but mellows out a ton as an adult (except for universes where it’s straight up an angel uwu those are dif uwu)

in dnd i’ve played a couple of games (or planned a couple of games i think i’ve actively only played it in one one time) and it’s been a revenant and a werewolf, but now i typically keep it as (scourge) aasimar bc it’s perfect uwu. it’s almost Always an assassin rogue tho that just fits its fighting style the best

i remember the one game i played its storyline was abt revenge (related to why it was a revenant) but in my game i was dming where it was an npc (which is what that most recent dnd design is for) it’s kinda like a general wrong-righter. a like…divine vigilante i guess

thank u for the questions!!

[kimboatfloats]

Today’s weeded book was a doozy. The title — intriguing. Very gothic romance and the art style screams Italy countryside. Maybe France.

It was first published in 1978 with this one a reprint in 1992. Could be interesting, right?

Back cover:

‘Where do you live?’ asked Paul.

‘In the big White House on the hill,’ said Maria. ‘Where do you live?’

‘In the little brown house near the market,’ said Paul.

They laughed. But Paul was sad. The house in the hill was big and important.

Maria was rich and he was poor. And Paul was in love.

Riveting. Also fun facts, there’s an audio cassette available for this book.

Please note, I am not making fun of this book for being a beginning level reader. I think these readers are important because they offer content to adults learning to read or learning a different language that is something other than children’s books

I am, however, totally making fun of the content.

This book was absolute trash. Unbelievable trash. With a cool ass name like that I hoped it’d be some kind of gothic, intense storyline.

Instead there’s this dude named Paul.

Paul is a writing apparently. He needs his coffee cup to say “Coffee” on it. He writes by hand. It’s the late 70s after all. Paul loves Maria. Maria looks different in every picture of her.

Maria the changeling is a rich girl that Paul love. No. If she was a changeling, she would be way cooler. Her main trait is that she's rich. That half-chopped woman in the second last image is her rich mother. Her mother's main trait is that she's snobby.

Paul recites poetry to Maria. This is a Paul poem:

I met her in the evening By the riverside Her dress was creamy white And her hair with ribbon tied. She turned and smiled at me, And I asked her for her name. Though I am young and poor, My love will stay the same.

So Paul's main trait is he's poor. He's added one more trait to Maria. She wears ribbons. These two have a riveting romance. Paul likes that Maria wears beautiful clothes. She's lovely. That's about it. They hang out at the river's edge. Maria tells Paul she loves him.

This is enough for Paul to propose to her. But alas! Maria can't marry Paul and she flees.

Paul's mother, who looks like an Edwardian cook in like Downton Abbey or something is all, "Oh shit Paul. She doesn't love you."

Cue angry rich woman that's Maria's mama. She sends her driver in a Rolls Royce down to Paul's place, picks him up, and brings him to the House on the Hill, pretty much just to shit on him. She's all, "You're so poor you stupid stupid boy. My daughter is rich. I've married her off to a rich. Go away poor." She leaves the room and sucks out all the rich with her with ... Except Maria's all, "Well Paul. Mama's right. You're poor. I might love you, but you can't buy me fancy things in the late 70s like a disco ball or a rattan settee." Paul flails down the hill, tears in his eyes, and he's crying, "Maaaaarrrriiiiaaaaa! Why don't you love me? Oh because I'm POOR!"

Paul's mom is all, "Paul. Those people are dicks."

Paul ignores her.

Now this is the section that's like Twilight Part Deux where Paul sits in a room alone, not eating, not sleeping, and then he goes to the river but he doesn't recite poetry because he's not going to cause that cruelty to the world again.

Inexplicably, the local newspaper "THE CLARION" has RICH MAN'S BEAUTIFUL BRIDE as the byline of the main page of the paper. It's a shit byline. Of course that's Maria and her new rich husband. The husband has the traits of rich, old, and fat (of course in this book that seems to be a focus that makes him a monster).

Luckily Paul sees an ad for a Story Competition. Here is the ad:

Somehow Paul thinks, "Yeah if I win this by writing a self-insert fan fic about Maria and me getting together she'll be all over me and super pissed she married the old guy."

There's no preamble. He wins the stupid competition.

Somehow that leads to him being a reporter. I love how he didn't have to go to University or anything for that. Because the newspaper manager (with the story competition?) is all, "Wow you're such a good writer I want to hire you as a reporter!" I guess since they have a shitty byline writer they need someone?

This is Paul, our new reporter. This is Paul's reporting style:

Paul to Celebrity at some big event: "Any more news sir?"

SUCH REPORTING

This is the best multipanel comic ever. I LIKE YOUR NEW STORY PAUL.

WE ARE VERY PLEASED WITH YOUR WORK PAUL.

OFFICE THINGS. CHARTS! RED PHONE!

Paul's still obsessing over Maria. He's working hard asking all the hard questions. He's also an extra in an 80s office setting movie. Look at this image. So much plastic Ken doll hair.

This is the big news room story meeting. I guess. A reporter comes into the office and is all

[echojulietfoxtrot]

PSA - Tumblr, you always draw boobs way too high.

Tumblr femslash artists, I love you all, but the very welcome loosening of the rules recently has made it clear that we are struggling out here in Boobland. We've got some incredible all-over body artists, portrait geniuses, amazing spicemongers of all descriptions - but by God, we just can't draw boobs.

This isn't a subtweet style call out of anyone in particular, because like I say, this is just something I've noticed all over since the rule tweak. Very consistently, everyone's putting their boobs on way too high. And I don't just mean that in a feminist "normalize hang-low boobs!" kind of way, though that's great too - I mean y'all are literally drawing them way too high on the body, where they are not attached.

I get it - gay artist boob fear is a real thing, we all see clothed breasts more often than naked ones, and classical statues by breast-ambivalent dudes have been lying to us for centuries.

But just for fun, stop whoever you're drawing right now, and go lower her breasts by about an inch or two - there's a decent chance she'll make more sense when you do.

There's a succinct and really useful visual guide here to illustrate -

Now, I won't pretend it hasn't been a very long time since I drew anything myself, so feel free to tell me to take a hike, but for whatever it's worth, here are my own two big tips ( 👀 ) for drawing boobs.

Boobs do not behave like pecs.

I think we're all so used to seeing bare Greek style dude chests in art that we might forget this, but boobs aren't just pecs with grandiose aspirations.

Breasts are a distinct and unique anatomical feature - they don't just neatly overlay the same footprint as pectorals, and in fact contain no muscle at all themselves, so they sit and move totally differently to pecs too.

Breasts are actually anchored outside the pectoral wall, and lie almost entirely below the halfway point of the pectoral muscles - even for the funsize editions.

In terms of behaviour, well, among the special, wonderful - and if you don't mind me saying, highly enjoyable - things about boobs, is that, unlike pretty much every other body part, they don't really have rigid structures themselves.

That means they are visibly affected by just about every external influence on them, whether that's the enthusiastic mitts of a partner, or gravity, or even especially tight or inflexible fabric (ie you generally can't see the details of cleavage reflected by the shirt over them, for example, and naked boobs relax compared to clothed ones)

It also means that breasts don't stand, or pop out, or tower, or indeed strut around with the pretence of some haughty aristocrat who thinks she owns the place - rather, they hang, with the kind of easygoing nothing-to-prove confidence of that insanely hot music student you used to know in college who only ever left the house with fifty bucks in her pocket and a single loose house key.

Boobs have nothing to prove, because they're boobs, and they comport themselves with a demeanour of relaxed, self-secure charisma accordingly. They're fantastic and they know it, but they're still cool about it, you know?

As for location, a rule of thumb -

The crease of the armpit marks pretty much the highest point you should maybe indicate the start of the boob, and even then it should just be the start of the slope down to the star of the show. Boobs generally default to a kind of "blunted teardrop" shape, so for most artstyles, there probably shouldn't be a distinct "top" line to the start of the slope - the breast will largely be defined by the sides and underside.

Which takes us to our next point.

Boobs aren't ever spheres.

As we've also already noted, most of the breast sits below the halfway point of the chest.

And those babies are right out there, strolling into every room at chest level with no bony or anatomical structures to hide behind; so, once again, they hang, and they're subject to dynamic physics that more closely resemble "dense liquid in a balloon" than to the muscles, limbs, etc that your art teacher was less embarrassed to have you practice.

This means that on a standing figure, the top side of the breast is a slope and it's under tension, it's extended, with weight hanging from it; while the bottom side of the breast is a curve under compression, with the boobmass condensed, and usually forming a little crease where it rests against the ribcage (note again that the slope up top is more subtle than the resting curve down below)

On a lying figure, breasts are pretty much all compression, they're lying back against the torso. But they also tend to drift away from each other where they're heaviest, out towards the armpits/side of the ribcage - so again, you're not getting either a perfect sphere nor a perfect pectoral overlay. They still default to a kind of teardrop shape, the teardrop is simply flatter, wider, and further apart.

(And on a figure bent over horizontally, they more or less hang straight down.)

What they don't ever do is whatever shit Michelangelo thought was happening here -

So don't overthink it - remember, you just have to be better than Michelangelo.

Regardless of how they're shaped or depicted though, all boobs have one thing in common - they're just fantastic, and frankly I'm just glad to have been invited to any party they're attending.

I hope this was of some value all the same, because I'm a big fan of Tumblr femslash artists, and a big fan of breasts, and it's been wonderful to have my Tumblr feed bring the two back together as nature intended.

[clamor-piscis]

hi i have just discovered your blog thingy and i am absolutely enamoured with your art style it is so cool.

i really like marcel and marco and i was wondering if you would be willing to share some things about them !?!?!?!?!!??

hi! I’m glad you like my blog! and sure! I just realised that I haven’t really shared anything about them, so here you go!

I created Marco back in August and he started out just as some edgy oc with edgy backstory (also his name was Milo back then). But right now I don’t really have a story for him. He is just really calm guy who lives in Venice and listens to a lot of music. He has also worked for mafia at some point and is not proud of it.

Marcel is my more recent character. He also doesn’t have a story behind him though. Ig he is just fashionable and extroverted dude who likes to hang out with Marco. He can also play saxophone! :D

[rametarin]

Being on the cusp of 40 in this social climate..

Okay, so. Imagine. You're... 8-10 years old. It's 92-94, and you're just learning about the contemporary cultures of regions of people around you, in the U.S.A. There is a not inconsiderate population of people that consider themselves very worldly and learned by making cultural jambalaya out of things that don't normally go together. Maybe they're "spiritual" people, and maintain a bunch of different beliefs and traditions. Maybe they're secular and just think they're being worldly and respectful and learned by participating in and celebrating them all, regardless of their affiliation. Maybe they just like niknaks and collect them. From exotic foreign instruments, to books on mythology.

So you've got the same anglophone white dude and dudette celebrating Mexico's Day of the Dead (they aren't Latino. They MIGHT speak Spanish, but they were never invited to) and celebrating Ramadan and Zoroastrian rites and also some aboriginal Chinese mainland community traditions from peoples they've never met or visited. They have an eclectic mix of niknaks like African masks up on the walls of their home, regularly attempt to emulate the artistic styles of everything from Chinese pottery to Japanese pebble sculpture (that, 'make a sphere of grains of sand' thing), to a bunch of Native American dreamcatchers hanging around their houses- both bought from authentic N.As. and made.

They see the world as, "those white people that don't know anything but Judeo-Christianity and Eurocentrism" and "the enlightened, educated world where all cultures and races mix freely and exchange ideas." And the way they relate to you is similar to a college educated moron that namedrops big crunchy books by big important academic scholars and dry textbooks of facts, just to show off how more literate and science-y and factual they are than you, because literate = intelligent, agreeing with "smart", institutionally ingrained people (even if their opinions are dumb) proves you're also smart for drawing the same conclusions, and it's their "subtle" way of peacocking supremacy on matters of things and their meaning. "I read all these books" in context, meaning, "I'm your intellectual, and therefore, socially moral, superior. I know, you don't. Never challenge what I say or I'll show my bibliography of PhD having people with opinions and then ask you to cite your sources :^)" Proving to themselves and their stupid clique that they're the "not racist or white supremacist" kind of white people. They're an ally. They're educated. They're worldly.

And then 30 years later, whether they've cleaned out their house of these things or not, have adjusted to the mainline far-leftist stance that white people cannot have these things in their home and be considered allies, for they're, "appropriation." Now they smugly look down on white people that in the past freely adopted these values, whether in their arts and crafts, or in their creative works. Roleplaying games that used to feature a diverse assortment of monsters from many faiths and mythological traditions and pride themselves on doing more with them than sticking to European traditional monsters and stories, are now horribly offensive for "capitalizing on 'brown peoples' cultures for white people profit." (But the brown and black people can use European iconic mythological creatures and it's fine because, 'we colonized them, so it's their culture now too.')

Their homes are sad, minimalistic or flailing excuses for aesthetic, because they have Californian money but have adopted the party line that white people, "have no culture." So they follow nothing trends and try to fit in and make sure nothing they do is too "cultural." But it's hard, because they're playing a game where they're never allowed to advance beyond basic step 0 to stay in line with that whole, "white people don't and can't have culture, because they're not a culture or a people" thing, and just keep going back to minimalist modernism. So maybe they're Sad Beige Housewives or something. Anything to conform to this new place they've been told is theirs because to be anything else just proves to their clique they're bigots and no different from the common clay of offensive, bigoted white people that don't know any better and vote for Donald Trump.

Maybe they have children (or, now, grandchildren) that have joined the skittlehaired, perpetually fighty donut hole people that go around looking for "micro aggressions" to put the perpetrators in their places to "spread awareness," like their grandparents used to do. But those children/grand children consider them to be barely a few degrees removed from "those awful Trumpers" because they're older, and white, and, "that's just par for the course with white people in this white supremacist American society."

This same person that in the past would've written a Monster Beastiary for D&D featuring things like Native American monsters, now consider that to be wrong. However, they have no problem being as offensive as they wish with European cultural heritage in spirituality and demonology and necromancy, because they consider those to have no cultural moorings- "Europeans have no culture themselves." They'll have and maintain that bandwagoning value, even if it means to be a proper white person is to be visually flat and stylistically the equivalent of vaporwave without the redeeming qualities.

You're old enough to see this happen as a style trend, if only from afar.

The transition has been kind of jarring. Like watching radioactive waste turn into lead.

[gotatext]

JUDE & NAOMI — DAY THIRTY-THREE.

location :   bedroom.

time :     late afternoon / early evening.

description :   jude lets naomi play dress up. she’s everything, he’s just ken.

featuring :    naomi  /   @heatwayve​

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

“do you reckon hawaiian or paisley?” jude asks, eyes finding naomi’s in the mirror. he’s holding two shirts up in front of himself chopping and changing like a paper dress-up doll.  “hawaiian shirt guy is like, guy who works in recruitment and is here to party. paisley’s like, chill dude who works in the arts and drinks merlot. i dunno what vibe i'm feeling tonight.” 

naomi santos

“ew,” naomi sits up from where she’s been laid out on the bed. she’s not much of a napper, but she didn’t get a ton of sleep last night, needed to lay down a bit. but now people are filing into the bedroom, starting to get ready for the evening, and it seems like now she’s awake to help school the fashionably challenged. “are those your only two options? hawaiian print and paisley?” he hasn’t sold either of them very well, to be honest. “let me see,” she gets up, wandering over to his wardrobe and hip-checking him out of the way a little and thumbing through the options he’s got hanging up for shirts. christ, it’s grim. “maybe you should just keep it simple tonight. do you have anything that’s like…one color?”

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

jude’s eyes dart down at the two options in front of him, suddenly sheepish, hoping to god the colour hasn’t risen in his cheeks. “yeah?” he answers, sounding unsure. honestly, jude had nabbed most of the shirts with fun patterns on their first day, but most of them suited angel more. “i just think patterns are fun. sorry that you hate fun.”  jude makes a dramatic display of being knocked out of the path of her hip thrust, stumbling back from the wardrobe to give her space, the two shirts held limply in his hands like a sports day rosette for ‘taking part’. lips pursed, he scans across the hangers of the shirts, trying to ascertain if any of them lack a print. it’s slim pickings. “i’ve got like, a red corduroy shirt. that could work. it’s just a bit… y’know. i mean aren’t plain colours a bit dry?” naomi might know more about fashion, but jude has his own sense of style. 

naomi santos

"i don't hate fun! just this shit is loud, what is this?" she asks, holding up one of the shirts, "saturday night fever? no." she gives him a look, an exaggerated roll of her eyes as jude stumbles back like he's performing for a football foul. "maybe if you have a nice, like, artistic pattern or something? just not the fucking paisley," naomi implores him. she's not trying to cramp his style completely, just trying to keep him from strutting out there like bob pinciotti. though judging by the volume in the room last night, jenny doesn't seem to really mind either way – though maybe she's gone blind. "it's too hot out for corduroy." she resists the urge to punctuate that with, duh. amazes her how helpless boys can be sometimes.

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

honestly, most of jude’s clothes are louder than on the outside, hoarded as part of his eBay haul on the first day of casa, and probably to compensate for his lack of a personality. adidas jackets and a pair of knock off levi’s don’t really cut it in the villa where everyone else is in vivienne westwood and bloody gucci. “don’t shit on saturday night fever. john travolta’s like… he’s like… an icon or some shit.” though his best role’s probably hairspray. the amount of times jude had to sit through that film as a teenager to placate his sister siobhan… insane. “also! bee gees… they’re from manc.” lifting his hand, he jabs his thumb towards himself. although technically they’re from cholton-cum-hardy where you’d pay eight quid for a schooner of ale when you could get a pint for two pound seventy down the road at spoons. posh fucks. “fine then. if my taste is so shit, you chose my outfit.” honestly, it’s not a bad idea. this could even be fun, movie montage style — he'll come out of the wardrobe in flippers and a snorkel to the sound of a canned laugh track. “bet you’d love to play dress up with me.” because she’s controlling, or whatever the current locker room narrative about naomi is. he doesn’t know much about what happened with her and josh last night, only that he probably got his ass handed to him. “how was the hideaway?” jude asks, slotting the two shirts back into the wardrobe, turning to lean his shoulder against the mirror and face her. “what’s it actually like in there? is it gaudy as fuck?”

naomi santos

she wrinkles her nose, "stop, danny zuko rights maybe, but john travolta is totally gross." she can say that because she's met him. or maybe that's especially why she shouldn't say it. whatever. "that's your style icon? the bee gees?" she asks with a laugh, eyebrows arching, "god, you need more help than i originally thought." even though he's the one who'd actually asked. all she knows about the bee gees is that it's disco, and abba is more fun anyway. naomi tries to contain the excitement that shines in her eyes when jude says that she can dress him up, because this is precisely the kind of thing that's fun for her, lizzie mcguire fashion show montage with ru paul playing in the background. and yeah, she is a bit controlling. "seriously?" alright, she smiles at him before turning around rifle through his things in the closet. he's got the worst of it, all the odds and ends of an already picked-through eBay stash, the leftovers no one wants. it's a good thing that naomi likes a challenge. she tosses him one of the shirts, "try this," she says, rifling through to dig up some kind of jean jacket, which might not even be jude's, "– oh, and this. and maybe..." she tosses him another shirt with a pattern she finds mildly acceptable. it all depends on what he's got for shoes. "oh, yeah," naomi replies, flipping her hair back over her shoulder as she turns around, deciding to stop when she notices the pile of options she's already chucked at him. "it's like. the bratz doll coke lounge. barbie's dream sex dungeon," she snorts. "you jealous?"

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

jude’s “wow” is more from astonishment at her reaction than any of the options she’s tossing him (and there’s a lot of options). if he’d known giving her free reign over his styling choices was all it took to squeeze a smile out of her, he’d have done this sooner. admittedly, it stings a little that she thinks his choice in clothes is whack. jude had always considered himself to be pretty stylish, but maybe it is time to trade in the adidas tracksuits for something more chic — which is what he’d been trying to accomplish with the patterned shirts, but it’s clearly backfired. on the outside, he’s more of a t-shirt and jeans on a night out kinda guy, simple and non-flashy, with a coloured overshirt if he’s feeling fun. “sex dungeon. woah,” jude repeats, eyes wide like one of those cat clocks whose pupils move on each tick. “jealous? of josh? no.” he answers quickly, catching another one of the shirts she tosses him and adding it to the pile of shit laid over his arm. it feels like shopping for siobhan’s prom dress all over again. “of you guys getting a night in the hideaway? yeah kinda. feel like jenny and i would proper thrive in there.” noting that his pile of shit is probably enough to be getting on with, he dumps them on the bed and pulls his current shirt up over his head. “y’want me to like, change in the hallway and walk in so you get the full effect of the fit, or just… do it in front of you?” he’s not uncomfortable with her watching him change—it would feel weird asking her to turn her back when he’s seen her in a bikini like, every day—but it dulls the effect somewhat if she’s just watching him fiddle with the buttons. “or i could try and change inside the wardrobe. pop out like one of those figures in a cuckoo clock, the sound of music style.” he reckons naomi’s probably into all that singing and dancing shit like his sister is. 

naomi santos

she snorts at that, "i meant of josh because he won a night in hideaway,"  though insinuating jude wants her is more of a funny bit than anything now, 'cause she adds, "the lad doth protest too much, huh?" quirks an eyebrow as she anticipates his firm denial. probably just as speedy as the last one. if he hesitates three times, he might invoke jenny like beetlejuice. "you would, though. you guys really get on, huh?" it's a fond question, though maybe a callback to everyone's early disbelief in them. naomi's never felt quite like that, jude's interest in jenny has always been clear to her. she just didn't enjoy how the romi thing transpired. "jude," she cracks up at the way he seems to overthink it, mirth shining in her eyes as her nose crinkles. "you're insane. i can just turn around," she says, half-pivoting on her heel before she stops, "though if you want to try the whole superman thing in the wardrobe, it might look pretty fun..." great fodder for unseen bits, really. "captain von trapp was my first crush, actually." as he should be.

[acedragontrainer]

okokok lets see...

yuki answers

1. I didn’t think of a specific place, but he was born somewhere in southern italy, by the coast, he doesn’t like swimming (swimsuits are hard to fit into his aesthetic) but he does like hanging out at the beach since he spent so much time playing on the beach as a kid

2. yuki’s dad has japanese heritage in that weird namimori way where everybody has a japanese relative somewhere along the line, he’s mostly italian (not weird for namimori) but has some eastern european in there too, specifically his turkish great grandmother, but the japanese side is recent enough that it shows pretty well, his dad passed on his dark hair and eyes and while yuki isn’t as dark skinned as his dad, he is noticeably darker skinned than his mom

3. i cannot stress this enough, without all the makeup and lolita shit he just looks like some dude, his some guy energy is so strong that he’s completely forgettable, his hair is actually very short, you see namimori is incredibly unpredictable and it’s much easier to have an extensive wig collection and a bag with two backup wigs tucked away in ziplock bags than it is to have long hair, he did try having long hair for a while in high school but the number of times it got chopped off weird because some asshole was throwing knives was just ridiculous, he’s actually pretty tall, taller than most people in town, but lolita Requires Heels, so he ends up being a giant in namimori, which does not make it any easier to hide behind things when shit goes down, but you gotta suffer for your art of whatever lol

4. his favorite color is actually aquamarine because it’s the color of the sea and it reminds him of his childhood in italy, but the darker color he prefers doesn’t lend well to the lolita styles he wears so he usually ends up getting more wigs than clothes in the color, his favorite styles of lolita actually lean more towards sweet/hime lolita which have much lighter pastel pallets so there’s a lot of white/mint/pink/lavender/baby blue in his closet, this is largely unrelated but he has a lot of magical girl wands because he figured out he could run his lightning flame through them and make special effects happen (legit he’s training himself to use a wand as a conduit for his flames which hilariously would be really powerful if he knew how to fight with flames)

5. ok so this is my own headcanon about namimori, but it’s always been weird and violent, it’s a mafia adjacent civilian city where retired mafiosi and flame active kids end up, and flame active kids play fight in the same way that normal kids do, it’s just that when you have the power of a minor god play fighting tends to involve blood/broken bones/property destruction/etc. so like, yuki grew up brawling, both to defend himself and to try and fit in, he doesn’t actually like it and tries to avoid coming to blows but understands that it’s not always going to work like that, that being said lolita shit costs a lot of fucking money and if somebody tears his limited edition angelic pretty jsk because they’re fighting over something stupid, then (as a flame active whose emotions tie in to his magic powers of destruction) he’s going to rampage, ayane is a terrible friend and loves it when yuki rampages in the same way that it’s fun to watch a cat shred paper, so like he can hold his own against the average namimori thug if pushed, but if he went up against somebody like hibari kyoya he’d get steamrolled easy, it’s not like he’s been formally trained or anything

ayane answers

1. she’s very sukeban, like she had the whole look going on in high school: long skirt, bleach blonde hair, no makeup, cut shirts, the whole shebang, and after graduating she really didn’t want to bother cleaning herself up so she just leaned even harder into it and became a full blown mini boss, she actually wears fairly nice clothes since yuki likes dragging her out shopping so he can dress her up, but she never takes care of her stuff so she’ll have plenty of tears and blood stains, her wardrobe went to shit while yuki was in america and wasn’t around to maintain it for her, she owns a lot of leather since it holds up the best in a fight, most of her favorite clothes are thick and heavy and protective, she has no sense of style even though she’s got a nice face and it kills yuki, he just wants to put her in a formal yukata and do her makeup, she let him do that once after they graduated for a festival and got hit on by a bunch of guys which offended her so much that she’s refused to let yuki come near her with lipstick since

2. oh def, she sees a lot of herself in hibiari so she finds it cute that he keeps coming after her to fight, even if it is annoying and he wasn’t a challenge for the first few years they knew each other, it’s like, she’s adopted him but very specifically in a weird wild animal way, like she doesn’t talk to him or drop by his school to say hi or anything, but she’s been teaching him how to fight by kicking his ass for years and she’s really proud of the terror he’s grown up to become and has given her unsaid blessing for him to take over her former middle school empire (she thinks he took over her position in the power vacuum she left behind on purpose and is actively maintaining the organization instead of stumbling onto it and shoving all the work to his subordinates, she gives him too much credit lmao), i think the most they’ve ever said to each other is like grunts and mild death threats, that’s just how they roll (hibari thinks she’s his mortal enemy btw)

3. her family is sort of in mafia witness protection, so she was born with the fake surname suzuki because it’s incredibly common and does not stand out in any way, she has still not realized that neither of her parents are japanese

4. jumping off of that, both her parents are in the mafia, her mom especially was pretty high up in the ranks and killed a political enemy for her boss, but got caught doing it so she and her husband faked their deaths and got shipped out to namimori to live out the rest of their days as “normal civilians”, soon after moving ayane was born and they decided to tell her nothing about their background and raise her civilian, this worked about as well as you can expect

i imagine that the whole mafia thing is like an open secret in namimori, like every single person in namimori has ties to the mafia in some way, even if not everybody is in the know, and while it’s kind of a whole thing to not talk about flames (the vindice are absolutely namimori specific boogeymen), it’s also blatantly obvious that most people in town are some kind of supernaturally weird, it’s just normal and nobody points it out because that would be a huge faux pas, i mean even before tsuna got pulled into the worst of it, namimori was still bizarre and people like hibari ran around achieving superhuman feats in broad daylight

5. yeah her parents are very hands off parenting and absolutely encouraged her budding mafia boss tendencies, they think it’s charming and offer suggestions as to how to improve her budding criminal empire and by the time they realized what they’d done, she had already bought the school board (this is very important, she got her start selling grade school contraband, things like test scores and weird trending status symbols like pompoms with googly eyes and silly bands), so now they’re just very lackadaisical and weirdly supportive of anything she does, her dad often tells her she’s ‘just like her mom’ whenever he pays her bail, also also it’s namimori, she went flame active early and had a mini mafia running the school to terrify the teachers and parents, nobody wanted to try and stop her so they didn’t

I desperately want to know more about people's khr OCs! Specifically yours @lilacdon20 and also yours @masterdisastre !!!!

But really anyone is very welcomed to reblog this with ramblings of their OCs!

Yes You! The person reading this! I want to know about your OCs specifically!!!!

Also you are all welcomed to tag other people who's khr OCs you like as well!! ANYONE IS WELOCME! /pos

Questions, if needed because flustered or confused, are under the Read more!

First up! General questions!

What is their name? Their pronouns? Age? Gender identity? Sexuality? (if any of that matters lmao)

Are they somehow related to another khr character? In what way?

What does your oc look like? Do you have any art of them? Picrew also welcomed! Ai art... Not preferred >:/

What are their relationships to other khr characters? Pairings you like with your oc? Adopted siblings and parents maybe?

Actually what's the family situation of your oc? Do they have siblings that's a background character perhaps? (example: sometimes I give Kusakabe Tetsuya a brother)

Does your oc have a mental illness? Neurodivergencies? Other disabilities? At what age did they get these disabilities if they weren't born with them?

If they had a super power what would it be?

Free Space! [Anything else you want to talk about?]

Khr specific questions:

What's their flames? And how many flames do they have? One? More? None?

How do they use their flames? If they have one.

If they don't have a flame, how do they fight? Do they fight at all?

If they can't fight for any reason, what's their preferred method of self defense?

Free space! [insert any khr specific question you want!]

And last but not least and mostly for fun!!! Khr character questions:

How much does Tsuna want to protect your oc upon first meeting them? After knowing them a minute, is Tsuna now scared of them or worried about them?

Does Reborn think they're pathetic or does he have a slight respect for them? If he suddenly appeared out of a wall-hole, how would your oc react?

Would Hibari Kyoya be able to stand being in a room with them for five minutes? How long do they last in a fight against him?

Would your oc go off rambling about crytids with Gokudera? If yes, which is their fave cryptid?

Would Skull try to flirt with them? Would he score a date? Pity date or genuine interest?

How loud does your oc cheer when Yamamoto hits a home run? What if the ball hit them?

Would your oc be able to last an hour watching over Lambo, I-pin and Fuuta? What if they all had sugar beforehand?

What food would Sawada Nana cook for your oc? What's their favourite food? Drink?

Free space! [insert any other character questions you want!]

There is no pressure for anyone to answer of course. I just want to get to know more OCs and their creators. I'm talkative lately so I'll try to keep up with the reblogs as best I can :3

Multiple reblogs for multiple OCs are also very very welcomed!

[rexscanonwife]

I might finally open commissions back up again soon! Who would be interested?

[theveryworstthing]

So over on patreon Trevor asked for my take on the Addams Family and I grew up LOVING the Addams family movies so here we are. Instead of doing a straight up style interpretation, I decided to do a full on design challenge, using the characters as bases to make a black southern gothic Addams au. I actually drew the kids first, using the character bases of Wednesday and Pugsley to create some delightful kiddos I'm calling Sunday and Blanche. I of course then redesigned Gomez and Morticia into Carlisle and Mortesha.

The Addams have a very specific high aristocratic goth aesthetic (they've got a butler and nobody really works among other things) so in this re-imagining I wanted to go with vibes that run a little more middle class/upper middle class.  I thought it would be interesting to think about what would be considered weird and off-putting in an entirely different culture, and how being a big ol' goth is way less controversial than it used to be.

I tried to keep this short (HAHAHAHAHAHA) so I didn't spin off into an essay about villain coded families, black people in the horror genre, and normalcy as it pertains to social survival, but just...bits of that are in these designs and lore. Keep that in mind.

Also I made the kids twins because they've flip flopped in age so much in different media and also twins run in my family (i'm the daughter of one). And let's face it, I'm pulling a lot of their southern gothic traits from living as a southern goth so *shrug*.

10 thousand pounds of lore incoming loooooooooool.

The Parents

From the moment he saw her he knew that there was a 50/50 chance of him either never making it out of that swamp alive or marrying the figure that was creeping out from under the distant willow tree in a black cocktail dress. The third time she found him trussed up in one of her traps, he complimented her rope work and asked if she'd like to go out sometime after his head wound stopped bleeding.

Or while it was still bleeding.

If she was into that.

Some kids and a mysteriously burnt down Piggly Wiggly later, their love is still as strong and inescapable as a bear trap in a sink hole.

Carlisle Guillermo (now Addams through marriage but I wanted to give him two first names for a name since Gomez has two last names) makes a vaguely described living practicing ‘law’ around town. A loophole king, people come to him from miles around with contracts signed in blood, fights over chunks of hair buried in their rivals’ yard, dehydrated primate hands, memories that seemed like dreams until the evidence of their happenings became too real, and other regular Legal Items asking for counsel which he is all too happy to give. For a price. Sometimes that price is a homemade pie and sometimes it’s a million dollars, depends on who you are. Whatever you’re asked to pay it’s worth that price, and if you try to scam him out of work or he just plain doesn’t like you? Well. He knows how to twist a contract better than anything at the crossroads.

And he always gets his due.

He doesn’t just serve the local (living)humans though, there are many things that need proper legal representation in this day and age. You wouldn’t believe how many city councils try to build on sacred burial grounds even after he lets them know that his ghostly clients are totally gonna haunt the FUCK out of the ensuing shitty condos and curse their families for all eternity. At least 50% of his energy goes towards dealing with real estate bullshit.

Carl is an excitable and good natured(?) man who loves his family, cigars, dancing, and his many knife-based hobbies. People find him very charming once they get past the feeling that they’re talking to a sultry gator badly disguising itself as a human. I didn’t put a ton of deep thought into designing him, mostly I wanted to make a middle aged dude who looked like he would have been voted ‘most likely to smooch the literal devil’ in high school. Tbh he probably has, but no demonic ex’s can compare to his lovely wife~

Mortesha Addams(her name was already perfect so I just tweaked it)is a woman of many talents. A self proclaimed homemaker, she prides herself on a greenhouse full of Concerning Foliage, a beautiful wasp apiary, and a coop full of what are probably chickens that she keeps for what are probably eggs. She’s also an avid creator of the outsider art that can be seen around the estate. She has taken on the family business of selling her homemade goods in a little stall by the road just outside the swamp with her mom, and makes pretty good money doing so. A surprising amount of poison gets bought in quaint southern towns.

Speaking of poison, people who come out to the edge of the swamp to buy it are usually carrying a lot of secrets around, and Mortesha knows most of them. It’s not like she pries the truth out of people, it just so happens that many nervous hellos eventually turn into the tragic backstory power hour if she’s alone with a client for long enough. She supposes that’s just how people are. Despite the fact that the Addams are very active in the community (whether the community likes it or not) she especially, as a direct descendant of the first Addams matriarch, is seen as…Well not an outsider because the community feels A Certain Way about outsiders and despite it all the Addams are their people, but maybe something like an exception. They feel like whatever weirdness they’re hiding can’t be weirder than any given Addams, so they get a little loose with their words.

This is amusing to her, since Addams’ don’t naturally keep the kind dramatic secrets that their surface level prim and proper neighbors do. It’s much more fun to openly talk about those things.

Do they have a sadly decrepit yet terrifying grandma up in the attic? Yeah, like three. They got a tv, all the creepy porcelain dolls they could want, and they’re close to family. Where do you keep your gram-grams?

Any bodies buried on the property? Yeah some, but most are thrown to the gators.

Any creeping through the balmy summer night with ill intentions? Yeah dude, everyone loves a nice family stroll.

What about dangerous forbidden love? If an adult Addams isn’t incorporeal then they’re either queer or in a torrid romance with some person/thing mysteriously drawn to that awful swamp. Sometimes both at the same time. Most times actually.

Mortesha would know.

The current head of the Addams family is just as outgoing as her husband but a lot quieter and harder to read. She never really seems to get mad about much and always has a genteel smile for everyone whether they deserve it or not. A seven foot tall human shaped “Oh, bless your heart”. A perfectly composed Lady even when she’s, oh I dunno, burning down a Piggly Wiggly. You know. A regular southern mom. Chat her up at the hair salon for 50% off a jar of wasp honey with your next purchase of a mysterious but foreboding packet of herbs.

Designing her was pretty easy because I just drew a lankier Grace Jones and called it a day. I had some problems with her outfit simply because if we were going HARD southern gothic then she’d probably be wearing a white/cream dress with a fuller skirt but I thought keeping the silhouette and the black was more important. She’s supposed to be an anti southern gothic southern gothic character anyway. A woman who looks like she has a million secrets who is actually the most open person you could meet. For better or worse. The red hair came from a coloring error that I really ended up liking (my mom had red hair her whole childhood that only darkened up in high school so I can buy that an Addams can be naturally fire engine red) and the veil was to get more of that classic Morticia silhouette in there.

The Children

Sunday and Blanche are the twin children of Carlisle and Mortesha Addams. Some say the Addams clan got their cursed homestead when a wealthy local businessman made a deal with the devil and lost, leaving his grand mansion to his least favorite maid and cutting his losses once he realized that the swamp would do everything it could to drag the house into the water and take what was owed with its horrible curse. Others say that the family has just always squatted there and no one really cares because man, fuck that particular swamp. Have you been in there? Absolute horror show.

Anyway.

Blanche is the more outgoing sibling and quite the engineer/mad scientist in the making. He started going grey at 2 weeks old but considering he was also rocking some extra fingers, toes, and a tiny tail (he takes after his dad), his parents just put it on the 'not life threatening' pile and decided not to worry about it. He's the kind of smart that teachers find utterly infuriating, less a dog eagerly learning and obeying commands and more a hyena who keeps teaching itself how to pick locks. He has a few friends in his school's robotics club (which they honestly allowed him to make so the school could contain his... creations) but mostly hangs out with his sister exploring the swamp. They find all sorts of neat things in there! wedding rings, suspiciously lumpy garbage bags, cloaked cultists who can't read private property signs, it's an adventure every day!

Blanche is all about experimentation with his creations, his look, and his tether to this mortal coil. Is lipstick a cool thing to try? Let's find out. Can he get out of a strait jacket fast enough after being pushed into the depths of the swamp by his sister? let's find out. He's not dead yet and confused local doctors can attest to the fact that he's rarely attained more than a bad bruise so he's pretty set on continuing to kiss rattlesnakes on their cute little heads and have his sister practice her knife throwing at him until that fact changes.

Blanche is very much a country goth. Cowboy boots (customized by his mom), knife, and lighter are daily accessories. He likes to wear the crusty swamp jewelry they find (the rust adds a splash of color!) and despite appearances he does try to keep himself neat. He's just got  natural Grunge Colors and a tendency to wear clothes he likes until they fall apart. Pugsley always seemed the most modernly styled to me (which might just be because little boys clothes have been the same for a long time) so I wanted Blanche to be the most purposely fashionable Addams. Everyone else is goth by nature, but he's the only one truly familiar with goth as an alternative fashion.

I got really into designing Blanche because honestly, I find Pugsley to be the most boring member of the family. And he was hard to design! I had to mess with his vibe a lot to get him looking how I wanted. I know he's supposed to evoke an " 'evil' little boy next door who's parents never reign him in", but that's just goth Dennis The Menace.  I's 2020. We can at least go queer goth Calvin.

Sunday was much easier to design. Wednesday was my favorite as a child (of course) and I really wanted to keep the spirit of her look while adding things like billowy sleeves (it gets HOT down here), big poofy twists instead of braids, and a nice tie. She's a professional after all, been running the local pet cemetery since she was 6 and the previous groundskeeper met with an unfortunate accident after telling her that tarantulas don't have souls. Her specialty is creating beautiful naturalistic animal funerals similar to those that Maquenda (https://linktr.ee/artofmaquenda) makes, and she takes pride in creating miniature dioramas of her subjects after each burial which she uses as a kind of 3D catalog for future clients.

She really wants to try out her skills on humans one day. Well. Publicly try out her skills. Lotta random bodies float into the swamp. None of them have turned down her requests for diorama models so far. Most seem downright flattered. Plus, she usually figures out which graveyard/crime scene they floated over from and gets her parents to give them a lift back. She'll even help enact terrifying revenge from beyond the grave on whoever put them there if she's not, y'know, busy.

Besides arts, crafts, and pet based funerary arrangements, Sunday is an avid lover of archery (any ranged weapon really), books where little fantasy adventure animals die dramatic deaths, and history. She is That Kid who eagerly raises her hand when asked who Christopher Columbus was and ends up being sent out of class after 15 minutes for making 'a scene'. Her favorite party trick is just picking an item in the room and talking about how it relates to either some obscure historical figure with a buck wild life or a horrible disaster. At least one charity pancake breakfast ended with children in tears after her vivid description of the Great Molasses Flood of 1919.

Social-wise, while Wednesday is the girl that people ask to smile because they think she'd, "look so pretty", Sunday is rarely asked anything at all. People just kind of assume from her quiet nature (in between horrible history facts) that she's angry all the time and that she hates everyone. This is untrue. She hates some people but she's ambivalent to most everyone else and even downright friendly if you bother to talk to her like a person instead of a terrifying cryptid. Like, she IS a terrifying cryptid but she's also a little girl.  

That’s about it for now. One day I might do the other family members but for now I’m happy with the four I’ve redesigned. Making an au! Lurch in a family that doesn’t do butlers could be interesting. Over on patreon I put forth that he could just be Motesha’s mute little brother (similar bone structure) but Amy Crook had the nice idea of quote: “ a mysterious "cousin" that "helps around the house" whose origins are both long in the past and faintly unsettling. He's good for lifting heavy things, like that tank of propane you're about to throw into the burning Piggly Wiggly... “ which i now consider canon. Who's kid is he? How old is he? Not important. Anyone willing to commit arson with you is family.

Annnnyway.  This challenge was a lot of fun! I love indulging in AU’s.

[jaskwritesthings]

I have a Dream x Hob prompt. I would love a fic where Hob talks about being in or having had a relationship with a man, dude's hundreds of years old and I refuse to believe he never tried this, and Dream is just lowkey being jealous. Maybe he knows why, maybe he doesn't either way he's just mad someone else got to know Hob in ways he hasn't. Would love it even more if Hob just gushes on without realizing that Dream isn't just being all regular dark and broody, he's in Advanced Darkness and wants a name and that name's worst nightmares. Thank you. I would just love to see our emo boy being all jealous.

tags: none

(ao3)

“You appear to have a fondness for this magazine?” Dream said as he admired the framed covers hung up on Hob’s walls. The style was new to him, more sketch-like than the art he’d seen before his imprisonment. The mixture of men, women and children looked like dolls in some ways, almost all of the individuals had ruby red cheeks and the faces were familiar enough to suggest a single artist behind all of the pieces. A faded handwritten tag named the artist as ‘J. C. Leyendecker’ below each print. 

“Hm? Oh, that. No, no interest in it, but the man who made the covers, old flame of mine. Damn good artist, couldn’t help but collect his pieces. Got a few originals tucked away,” Hob offered up just as easily as he did every aspect of his life for Dream.

Dream felt a flicker of something dark in his chest, it lashed out like the thump of a cat’s tail, a warning of its ire, “He drew for you?”

“Anything and everything, not just me. But he did paint me once or twice, can’t really loan those ones out to a museum though. People might catch on a bit, you should see what they say about Keanu Reeves,” Hob chuckled as he handed Dream a cup of steaming tea he’d been preparing as Dream snoped around his flat. 

“You remember this artist fondly?” Dream questioned softly, no longer admiring the work.

“Joseph? Very, I always try to remember the ones I love. Gets difficult over time, wish I’d never pawned Eleanor’s portrait, can’t really remember what she looked like anymore,” he sighed sadly, an old grief that Dream recognised in himself.

“I’m sorry,” Dream offered though he knew from experience the words were never quite enough.

Hob smiled, it wasn’t as bright as some of his previous ones, tinged as it was by an old ache that had never fully healed, “Not your fault, learned from my mistakes anyway. I try to keep some things from old loves.”

Dream turned his attention from his friend to the artwork proudly displayed in his living room. There was little else of note in the room that Dream could guess at having belonged to someone other than Hob. To hold such value in Hob’s heart, the relationship must have meant a great deal to the immortal. The dark thing in Dream’s chest thrashed its tail more, a growl growing deep within it. It unsettled him how the fact of this relationship could upset him so.

“You loved him dearly, to keep his works in your home,” Dream pointed out.

“I did. We parted well, not always the case. Plus his work is beautiful, not really a hardship to hang it up,” Hob admitted with ease, why wouldn’t he. Why was Dream expecting him to hide his love affairs as though they were something to be ashamed of? He never had. Nor should he have to hide them. But it still set him on edge, a strange anger bubbling under the surface.

“You do not keep the trinkets of others here, just his,” Dream said and even he could hear the coldness of his tone, the accusation he had no right to lay out.

Hob appeared oblivious to this new mood as he sipped his own tea, “I try to keep with the fashion of the times. Minimalism is a hard one to shake, glad we’ve moved on from the white interiors, right pain to keep those clean. Clutter’s coming back in so I’ll probably bring some more stuff out of storage, not everything mind you, some of it’s too fragile. These are prints, good way to have him here without wrecking his originals.”

“How long were you together?”

“Only a few years, I didn’t stay in America long, England’s home for me,” Hob smiled fondly, though for the memories of his former lover or of his homeland Dream couldn’t guess. A voice within him that sounded too close to his siblings whispered spiteful things he didn’t want to examine too closely.

“Such a short time, yet a lasting impact,” Dream said, aiming for an aloof air and knowing he fell short by quite a distance.

“I seem to have a fondness for the quiet brooding ones,” Hob teased a touch tentatively as though worried he had a right to tease Dream anymore. 

“You found him not long after our parting,” Dream surmised and he wished he could take back the words as Hob’s face dropped into something colder at the reminder.

“You mean after you threw a tantrum and ran out on me making me think I’d never see you again?” Hob reiterated as he left Dream’s side to flop down on the overstuffed sofa. His absence left a cold bitter wind in its wake and Dream shrunk just a little into the folds of his coat.

“I have apologised -“

“And I have accepted that, as I hope you will accept the fact that I needed more than one friend that I only saw every hundred years,” Hob pointed out and the truth of his words irked Dream. He was right as he had been in the White Horse Inn all those decades ago. It didn’t appear it was getting easier to accept that he wasn’t always right. 

“I do not begrudge you your friendships,” Dream said, settling down into one of the armchairs, it hugged him and pulled him in. He shouldn’t be surprised by such comforts. Hob was a hedonistic creature, greedy for life and all it offered. His home reflected that in a way, comfort and warmth in equal measure. A sanctuary against the ever changing world that he could retreat too.

“But my lovers?”

Dream paused too long before offering a begrudging, “…nor them.”

Hob appeared unconvinced, rightly so, “Joseph was a good man, we loved each other.”

“I am glad,” Dream said, a pale offering that landed as heavy and as welcome as a brick.

“You hate him,” Hob said, lips twitching in amusement.

“I do not -“

“Calliope isn’t my favourite muse,” Hob interrupted and it was such a sudden change of subject that it took Dream a moment to process the absurdity of the statement.

“You dislike Calliope?” Dream asked slowly as though ensuring he had heard Hob correctly. Hob nodded.

“For the same reason you want to burn my art prints,” he explained and clarity snapped into place like a missing jigsaw piece.

“I do not wish to burn them,” Dream attempted to defend but it was a weak attempt.

“No?” Hob asked, almost laughing.

“…Perhaps replace them,” Dream admitted in a whisper he wouldn’t repeat if asked.

Hob heard him though, he seemed keenly aware of Dream in a way few were. He leant forward, elbows on his knees, as he fixed Dream with a warm, hopeful look. Dream suspected they had moved on from discussing art prints, “You can’t replace them. Any of them really. But you can join them if you’d like.”