#REALLY LOVED IT I WILL HAVE REDRAWS SOON AND A SMALL ANIMATION NOW THAT I KNOW WHAT HIS SPECTRE LOOKS LIKE SO STAY TUNEDDDDDDDD

[stepswordsen]

【Magi】 Judar and JuAli 🐈‍⬛🖤 ❤️ 💛

JuAli WIP doodles 🖤 ❤️ 💛

Quick doodles before I head back to my assignments

Been a while since I drew Judar and Alibaba together… I missed them!!! I hope to draw them more~

You can see the rest under the cut~

I wasn't sure if I should post my sketches here since they're so messy but I thought I might as well

I'll copy paste my old rambles too since I have more to add this time

2024 vs. 2022

(2024)

Comparison (2022 ~ 2023)

(2024)

Comparison (November 2022)

For the kissy one:

Wasn't sure which one I liked more tbh

1st one fits more...

Though for the 2nd one, I think Judar looks more efforted ADHSHDHSH

Since I excel at drawing meow meow mf charas

3rd one I drew in November 2022. The expressions are still cute in this one so I still like it, but my brush strokes improved a lot since then

For the hanfu Judar one:

Recent versions (+ the old one from 2022)

I've been playing around with the eyes~ I like these ones best. The eyes are bigger in the 1st one, and the others have them a bit smaller. The 1st one has a more innocent look. The 2nd has more slitted eyes and a "seductive" look?

Judar has sharp (tsurime) eyes and rings in his eyes, which are really fun to draw hehe 🤗

I'll redraw the hair soon! I just drew it quickly in like 5 minutes. It's finals season for me. I'm not fully free from this semester so I'm still quite busy, but you'll probably see small doodles from me 🙏

I'm definitely seeing art improvement (improvement in brush strokes and anatomy and proportions)

Ohtaka deliberately draws hatched lines near Judar's eyes to represent his eyeshadow 🤭 ❤️

I drew the hair quickly, so I didn't pay much attention to the shapes of the hair spikes so it's not as soft. But even with the quick doodle, the hair has better weight now. Once I get to refine things properly, I'll actually pay attention to the way his hair spikes are drawn.

I was recently rereading my old dialogue scripts from my JuAli AU and revamping them! I doodled Judar and Alibaba SO much in 2022. It's the Fire/Ice duality and Black Cat x Golden Retriever ship dynamic 🖤💛🐈‍⬛🐕

I wanna draw JuAli again soon and redraw my old doodles. JuAli is my main Magi ship so ofc I wanna draw lots of them~ I haven't gotten the time yet, but I want to draw my ships like AliHaku, SinJa, and KouMor eventually, too 🙏✨

Inspiration

Based on this black and red (Judar colours) hanfu I got~

Judar rambles

I originally drew Judar wearing hanfu in 2022! Still one of my personal fave doodles ❤️ Judar is my fave (no one is surprised, I have the most obvious predictable tastes in the world LMAO). A meow meow mf perfect for my tastes.

Judar fits perfectly into the highly specific Sen-core niche that my top faves all tend to fall under - Meow meow mf. C*nty sen-core bastard cat who's violent, threatens people, and ok with murder. Bloodthirsty. Monochrome aesthetic colour palette.

Manga Judar has red eyeliner (?) and anime Judar has purple eyeshadow? Both are good, but I like Judar with red eyeliner since black and red are his theme colours! 🖤❤️ I like how the colours pop, the contrast against his design, and how it matches his red eyes.

In my HCs, Judar wears a type of hanfu called Ruqun (襦裙). Ru (襦) is the cross-collared top of a hanfu, and the wrap-around skirt is called Qun (裙). The coat jacket is called Da Xiu Shan (大袖衫).

I want him to wear black, white, red, gold, hanfu & hanfu earrings, with red eyeliner and black painted nails 🤗

I still need to pick my headcanon hanfu earrings for Judar... I imagine they'd be gold with red accessories.

I just have to refine the eyes, redraw the hair and hanfu, and then start doing the lineart for it! I love the expression tbh

Additional rambles

I miss my sons, I wanna draw my HC designs of JuAli (with Judar wearing hanfu and Alibaba with tanner skin, wearing traditional Arabic clothes), as a fix-it for the obvious colourism going on in Magi's character designs of SWANA and South Asian inspired characters

I bought black and red hanfu back in 2023. I based my Judar hanfu doodles on it 🥺❤️ It's in Judar colours. Black red and white 🖤❤️🤍 I'm so HAPPY to get something that reminds me of my fave 🥰🤭❤️✨ I got it from the Hanfu Story~ They have such a large selection of hanfu and they're all so gorgeous~

Basically Judar themed hanfu~ I love traditional clothes, so it's my dream to collect them! Now I can use it as refs to draw him with the poses and lighting I want teehee. Hanfu & huafu look GORGEOUS to me. I also have Việt Phục like áo dài and áo tấc~

The colours are amazing!! I love black and red combo 😭💖 It's way too easy to fall into the fashion hole and collecting traditional clothes but I definitely want more in the future!

Magi: Ch. 110 - 111, Ch. 196 - 197, Ch. 239, Ch. 288

I love how Ohtaka stylizes and draws the shape of Judar's hair and braids. It's so clever how she simplifies the shapes. It just looks so good. It looks galaxy/tornado shaped… I love how the hatched lines above his eyes in Ohtaka's inking represents his eyeliner... ❤️

Judar's expressions from Ch. 110 - 111 are so unhinged… The Ch. 288 omake Judar is iconic. Fucking crazy ass LMAO 😭😂 Love you tho! 💞🫶

I'll be honest. I've thought about changing my PFP to this Judar again from the Magi omakes, like I thought of doing it as an April Fool's joke before, but I feel like no one would bat an eye cuz of how my faves are like LMFAO

Sen-core faves: Murderous, bloodthirsty, violent (or at the very least, has a disposition for violence), MAY eat people and/or their innards 🙌

JuAli core ship posts

And while you're at it, have the meme edit of them I made (1st image)

Anyways I made the 1st image's meme edit myself <33

Alibaba with tanner skin has such great visual contrast against his earrings~

I also wanna commission arts of JuAli at one point but I'd want to do it with my headcanon designs of them (Judar wearing hanfu and Alibaba with tanner skin wearing traditional Arabic clothes)

Art rambles

When I sketch, I draw out the expressions and decide which ones looks best (I either do it once or a few ~ several times) depending on whether I'm satisfied with it. I like the two most recent 2024 versions I showed~ The old ones are still nice... But I prefer the recent versions, because I think it shows how my art style and proportions improved.

These sketches are super messy right now so when I get the time I'll refine them more! It's just to make it consistent with my current style. I'm a little insecure about my sketches, so I prefer to keep most of them on priv for mutuals.

Since I'm not really a fan of the idea of my sketches/WIPs getting posted around when I'm bound to fix/refine/improve on them later when I get the chance to refine them. Though thankfully with my 2022+ lining style, my sketches look more "aesthetically nice" or "post worthy" to me...

Perhaps in the future... I do genuinely like my art style and I'm very happy with my art improvement, but I want to keep growing as an artist first. I want to reach the point where I manage to become more technically skilled and confident about my works (even my sketches)

Though since I posted the rest of the sketches under the cut, feel free to reblog them if you want!

[itzrafee]

One Piece Chapter Discussion (Chapter 1122)

This week's cover page is in honour of My Hero Academia’s last chapter. The drawing of Smoker a recreation of fanart that Horikoshi sent Oda when he was young. Back when Oda first found out that one of his contemporaries was a fan of his that had sent in fanart, I remember both Oda and One Piece fans being ecstatic. It must be such a unique feeling for a fan to rise up and be a colleague essentially. And now it’s ending. Jujutsu Kaisen also seems to be nearing it’s end so the landscape of Jump will look very different soon. At least among the Simulpub series there isn’t much else other than One Piece and Chainsaw Man that are at similar levels of popularity or cultural relevance. Personally, I don’t think that’s the worst thing either. While I don’t think anything nowadays really matches the relevance or impact of the Big 3, that concept holds water because it’s something that’s cross cultural and relevant across many mediums. I hope Shonen Jump doesn’t trip over itself to establish the successors to these as something organic as well as thoroughly vetted will probably be better for the medium as a whole. With the prevalence of Manga and Anime these days, it might be beneficial for one or two series like One Piece and Chainsaw Man to be the face and ambassador of Shonen Jump and manga as a whole. This is an idea I want to explore further sometime later but for now let’s jump into the chapter! Thoughts below the cut!

Just like how Whitebeard and Roger set people off towards the One Piece, so too does Vegapunk, though with a twist. Whereas before, the One Piece only attracted Pirates, now everybody seems to be aware and many are after it. We are no longer in the age of mock town. Of Dreamers and Cynics. We are in the age of Believers. But with that Belief comes panic. I feel like Vegapunk instilled within not only us and the pirates but also everyone else, the urgency to seek out the One Piece because he wants as many people in the way of the World Government and Imu. Cause let’s be honest, Pirates aren’t the most altruistic sort. Telling everyone is basically hedging the bets. Letting the citizens know is also this huge act of rebellion as the powers that be would rather it’s citizens be in the dark so that they can continue their rule unopposed and unquestioned. 

Also the fact that Oda redraws flashbacks is so apparent here as there isn’t a one to one to that panel of Luffy’s face and Koby used to look much dorkier, with his glasses having huge straps on the side. 

I also think Koby’s declaration and determination here shows one of One Piece’s central theses, that dreams aren’t meant to be static. They are meant to end. To be achieved so that you can grow and find a new one. And Koby fulfilled his initial goal of joining the navy a long time ago. Now he wants to build it into a just place as he believes the navy is a vehicle for that. It’s why he’s a part of Sword. And it’s why he now too wants the One Piece. I find it funny how now everyone’s goal is the same as Luffy’s. Was it inevitable or is it through Luffy’s sheer force of will that he’s brought attention to it. Before him, the world was at a stalemate between the great powers. Whereas before Luffy was moving through an actively changing world, it’s him now that moves it. I also find it funny that Luffy’s goal exists beyond the One Piece, his true dream something ridiculous and unimaginable. I like to think he wants to explore space but who knows.

As an avowed Buggy stan, it’s always a treat to see him like this. He’s my Pirate King (￣^￣)ゞ

I fucking love this clown <3<3<3

Getting back to Emeth, possibly the first proper crew member of Joyboy’s we’ve seen, we learn a lot of small details that make the bigger picture a little clearer. While we don’t know Emeth’s full story we can already get a glimpse of how tragic it is. Emeth seems really kind and innocent, kind of like a cross between Chopper and Oars Jr, and it’s obvious that he misses his old friend. It seemed like Joyboy was a lot like Luffy or Ace where he was always protecting the people he loved. It seems that Emeth wasn’t confused at the time period but more that Luffy looks exactly like Joyboy, so much so that he hoped he’d survived the centuries like Emeth himself. And here those feelings of betrayal and failure rise up again in regards to Joyboy. Joyboy had failed his promise to the Fishmen. And Zunesha committed a crime and was forced to wander the earth for centuries. And finally here we learn that Emeth failed to make Joyboy King. What kind of king could that be? Could it be that Joyboy never was the king of pirates or is it something else? Could it be that Roger himself never fully achieved it either? Luffy’s definition of the role of the Pirate King is that they’re the freest person in the World. And how can you achieve that if the world itself is oppressive. So by any metric, as long as Luffy dismantles the current oppressive structures of the world, as the promise seems to be, he will be the greatest king of the pirates, if not the first. 

It’s curious that both Emeth and Zunesha recall the drums of liberation with fondness and nostalgia. It seems to be something that’s a lot more important than we even realize now. It’s this magical beat that can be felt and heard by everyone nearby, especially those who align with values of freedom. And alongside that, the magical seeming storage capabilities really highlight the magic side of One Piece in an arc about Science. I think very often Oda tiptoes the line between explaining everything and making it seem scientific and having a sense of unexplained magic in the world, with how unquantifiable things like Haki and Devil Fruits can be. And with a combination of both weather magic and haki, Oda goes all in on magic here. I think also making the ancient technology seem simplistic in comparison to the current world adds to that as well. The return of the knots also reminds me of the dials from Skypiea in that they may be another ancient technology. 

Emeth’s explosion of Haki also shows a lot of things. One, that the beast version of the Gorosei almost coat them like armour. Two, that they themselves are kind of like impermanent summons in that they can be sent back to where they came from. If you remember, Saturn actually came to Egghead himself. And Three, either Joyboy’s haki is felt by Imu, or more likely, he has a connection to the Gorosei on a physical level. Also we get a look at Imu’s silhouetted attendant once more as well, maybe hinting that they’ll be important near the end too. This reveal of Joyboy’s powerful and sealable haki also gives us a hint towards where Luffy could develop and how he could learn to fight the Gorosei and Imu, who seem untouchable right now. Also it seems like Emeth always talked to Joyboy through the voice of all things. I wonder what Emeth really is?

Also if we look at Emeth’s hand there’s a cross/X on it. It kinda calls back to the X’s on the Strawhats arms but also the idea of the Jolly Roger and the Marine and World Government Flag as well at the idea of the Road Poneglyphs being used to triangulate the One Piece. 

Also if we look closely at Joyboy's Silhouette, the first time we've got a proper look at him, we see that his right hand and right leg look a little odd. My first thought was that he had a peg leg and an artificial hand that kinda looked like a lego arm if that makes sense? Oda once said that when we see a character with an eye patch we'll know One Piece is near it's end. So this makes me wonder if this flashback isn't set sometime after the war and the war having taken it's toll on Joyboy, left his right side damaged, from his leg to his arm to his eye, making him the first character we could see with an eyepatch. I do think Luffy could get one too eventually. Also Joyboy's prosthetics also reminded me of Nami's original design so I wonder if there will be any crossover there. The perspective is a bit skewed but it doesn't look like the giant strawhat Imu had would fit Joyboy. Unless Joyboy changes sizes a lot or Imu is a lot smaller than we think.

Finally it seems like we’ll be moving on from Egghead soon as the Strawhats and Giants are all together on the water and in the clear. It seems like the Strawhats have a tendency to fly through the air with their ships. This moment being kinda reminiscent of them leaving Skypiea and Wano. As the Strawhats seem to begin their journey, Emeth is faced down by Saturn. It looks like the last attack by the Gorosei took out the transponder snail so the transmissions is at an end. I think all that remains is to see if Emeth is alive and what Saturn will do to him.

[whoiskt]

Evolution of my art. Made this for myself because I wanted to see my own progress but I accidentally just made myself sad with how much of my art I've lost and the years when I hardly drew anything.

2011- One of my first digital art pieces. Redraw of a photo I found on Google. Eyebrow and mouth are immediately off-portion, but as a fully colored piece I think it is pretty good for a beginner. It was really small tho, I didn't understand resolutions yet!

2012- Homestuck phase. A year full of art to choose from, this was one of the last drawings I made that year, and honestly I still think it looks really good. The way I drew eyes back then was totally different.

2013- Supernatural phase. I was doodling a lot on homework and notebooks, but actual finished pieces are hard to find now. I've lost sketchbooks from this era. Perhaps even burned them, haha. This was done on whiteboard.

2014- This self-portrait was my magnum opus at the time, done for art class. There was a level of detailing textures here that I'd never care to revisit and this piece easily could have taken me 50 hours or more to complete. The nose/mouth feels so off to me, now, although I clearly broke my bad habit of drawing small pointed chins with this one. Each year I look at it hanging in my parent's house it makes me cringe more. Charcoal.

2015- Mostly MIA. I have some pen drawings from this time but I thought they were skippable and I only had room for 10 years here. I went to film school so I was focused on that creatively.

2016- Got into watercolor this year. Wasn't done on watercolor paper so it warped a lot. I don't really mind. End of my vanity era. I was in an art class, animation class, and character design class this year. Maybe got a little burnt out on art.

2017- Height of my pen drawing obsession, although most of the drawings I did were at work, and were hung up at work, and may still be there even though I am long gone now? Sorry about the weird crop it was a horizontal piece.

2018- Yes, similar to the previous year, but I see improvement in pen technique. I rarely took time to just sit down and draw other than in-class doodles.

2019- Wedding gift for my sister of her and her husband (although I cropped her out lol). Large watercolor piece where I was rushed and had to finish the background as an abstract fall leaves. I'm still on the fence about it overall.

2020- My digital art renaissance. This was the year I started to really realize I was utterly incompetent at backgrounds.

2021- I was really focused on photography this year, although I did do some sketching here and there. My laptop became mostly unusable for digital rendering so that cut down on my motivation.

2022- I discovered watercolor brushes, my beloved. I closed the door on many of my other creative outlets which seemed to bring back my love, passion, and motivation for drawing again.

Hopefully I can share a 2023 piece with you soon to show my improvements 🤗 I've been sketching a lot like I did back when I was 13 and it feels good!

[luminecho]

Show Me What You’re Proud Of

RULES: It’s time to love yourselves! choose your 5 (ish) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought  into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want  (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to  awesome works.

@sister-dear did this and tagged all their mutuals who create things! Took me a moment before the realization hit me that, oh shit, I’m a mutual who creates things. Sooo here we go! Super nervous for some reason jdkjkqwdm.

I haven’t posted a lot of stuff publicly, let alone actually made things in general, and as far as writing goes I don’t have anything finished yet, but I used this opportunity to create a new art & writing blog (@echoing-creations) so I can hopefully start posting some WIPs and short snippets of stuff there from now on! ^^ Otherwise, I’m just gonna try my best to show what I have.

WRITING:

Again, I don’t really have anything posted or even finished yet (at least that I’m proud of). But I’ll share two WIPs/sneak peeks of the LU longfic that I’ve been working on these past couple of months. Because I’m pretty proud of some of the scenes that I have written so far! Unfortunately I’m limited in my choice of what I can include, because spoilers, but here’s what I’ve got. (They’re still very subject to change.)

- “Everything Goes Away” - Prologue

He was in control now. Not some selfish deity or petty goddess. For once, his destiny didn’t have to be set in stone. He could rewrite his story, re-weave the strings of fate. And it all started with a single thread.

Forgive me.

- EGA - Chapter 3

A cacophony of sound broke out around them as the other heroes’ reactions grew muddled together and incoherent. All the while, Legend and Warriors didn’t move, didn’t blink. The world was a swirling vortex of noise around them, a raging whirlwind of confusion and betrayal, and the two heroes stood in the center of it all, the eye of a hurricane, frozen in time. Frantic colors and voices spun around them like a cyclone in motion, tasting of forgotten courage and broken promises.

But all storms came to an end. As the tempest of sound and color died down into a suffocating silence and the world stopped spinning and lulled to a halt, a single whisper rang out louder than a gunshot, piercing the air and finally forcing Legend to break eye contact with Warriors.

“Why?”

ART:

- BotW Link - Wow, the only thing on this list that I actually have a link for! This post never kicked off, which kinda sucks, because I can’t even begin to describe how ridiculously proud of it I was (and still am). It took me ages and I put in so much more effort than I thought I would going into it. But I don’t really mind that nobody saw it, because I love it and that’s all that matters! It was all a big experiment (particularly with drawing humans) but I’m very happy with the outcome :)

Ummm I’m not really that proud of anything else I’ve posted, and there’s a lot of stuff I’ve drawn that I’m not ready to share with people yet cause I’m kinda self conscious, BUT I do have a couple of drawings that I still really like!

- First one is a ref for a Warrior Cats OC that I’ve had for... ah, almost as long as I’ve been drawing, actually. She’s a favorite between my and my irl friend, and she’s gone through so many redesigns I can’t even keep track, lol. This is definitely my favorite design of her by far, though, and is probably gonna stick for quite a while.

- Second one is just a random doodle of my catsona. Honestly not much to say about it. It was done for my part of an animation meme collab for a friend’s birthday a while back, and I kept the drawing because I really liked how it turned out. I honestly kind of want to redraw it soon with an updated version of my sona’s design and use it as my tumblr icon? Maybe? 👀 I’ve been wanting draw my own banner for a while now, so maybe this can be part of my blog makeover, lol.

And that’s that! Not much, I know. I spent all evening trying to pull together scraps of stuff I could maybe share, but chickened out of showing most of it in the end. I’m kind of shocked at how little I actually created this year. I feel like my art has been at an all time low recently. I just haven’t really been drawing as much. Hopefully giving myself time and distance from it will help me to gather the motivation to pick it up again soon and be able to look at it without judging myself too harshly. As for my writing... I’ve definitely written more frequently this year than I have for a long time, even if I have nothing to show for it. I’ve been finding myself using my writing as an outlet a lot more recently than I did in the past, and I’ve been getting better at writing things down rather than just daydreaming them and letting the scenes float away into the void of my mind, lol.

Tagging all of my own mutuals (and followers!) who are creators!! Share what you’re proud of, even if it’s small <3

[cereittanyprincess15]

Ray’s Emergency Commissions! 

2021 UPDATE: Video comms are now closed. Picture and gif comms are still open.

EDIT: September update! Still out of work but I might be able to go back soon because it’s been LITERAL MONTHS D’X For when I do go back, commissions will still be open, so I got myself a Ko-Fi (the gif examples don’t work I’m so upset) for easier access to picking out options <3

Last week I got word from my bosses that my place of work (a library) is going to be closed to the public until April 6th, but I could still come in and do things. I wasn’t going to open up commissions after that reassurance, until yesterday when we got word that we might be closed for a longer period of time, and April 6th woul For all the pictures/gifs, I can't give you any Watch Me Edit videos, just the final products and a buttload of progress shots. My laptop is very old now and was never powerful to begin with, so if I were to record my screen the footage would mostly be my broken mouse acting up with its persistent double-clicking, and my programs lagging/freezing/crashing. It would honestly take more work to edit out multiple recordings over restarts and cutting all the usable footage For all the pictures/gifs, I can't give you any Watch Me Edit videos, just the final products and a buttload of progress shots. My laptop is very old now and was never powerful to begin with, so if I were to record my screen the footage would mostly be my broken mouse acting up with its persistent double-clicking, and my programs lagging/freezing/crashing. It would honestly take more work to edit out multiple recordings over restarts and cutting all the usable footage together than to just work on the edits. For all the pictures/gifs, I can't give you any Watch Me Edit videos, just the final products and a buttload of progress shots. My laptop is very old now and was never powerful to begin with, so if I were to record my screen the footage would mostly be my broken mouse acting up with its persistent double-clicking, and my programs lagging/freezing/crashing. It would honestly take more work to edit out multiple recordings over restarts and cutting all the usable footage together than to just work on the edits. together than to just work on the edits. d actually be the day we could be laid off until things get back under control. Honestly, I don’t make a ton to begin with, so I’m not touching a cent of my last paychecks in preparation so I can hopefully keep paying my bills next month.

That’s where the commissions come in. Right now I’m on hiatus so I’ll have tons of time to work on these, even more so within the next couple weeks. All the main info is in the pics, but there’s more details below, as well as some gif and video examples under the cut. If you’re interested then please feel free to shoot me a message here on tumbr and we can chat.

Media info:

I mainly work with what I listed in the above picture, but I have a bunch not listed that I can also work with if you ask for it. Unfortunately at this time I can’t afford to download anything new due to lack of space, so I’m not able to offer any S*p*rn*t*r*l, Str*ng*r Th*ngs, Sh*rl*ck, G*m* *f Thr*n*s, or other live-action shows that I adore so much until I buy some new, bigger drives. 

Price info:

For all canon works I don’t charge per character, but for crossovers and redrawn edits then I charge for any extra characters over the initial chosen 2, and that character charge will be tossed on top of the determined total. I chose my prices based on how much work goes into each option, with a 40+ second crossover video as the most expensive for obvious reasons and a simple canon picture as the cheapest. If you think I’m charging too much and would like something, message me and we’ll discuss it, I’m not unreasonable <3

NOTE:  For all the pictures/gifs, I can't give you any Watch Me Edit videos, just the final products and a buttload of progress shots depending on the option. My laptop is very old now and was never powerful to begin with, so if I were to record my screen the footage would mostly be my broken mouse acting up with its persistent double-clicking, and my programs lagging/freezing/crashing. It would honestly take more work to edit out multiple recordings over restarts and cutting all the usable footage together than to just work on the edits.

Picture info: (Fastest to make)

Canon - This refers to normal edits within the same movie/show, for those with noncanon ships, favourite characters with a theme, etc. Super small redraws for 2D are available if need be for no extra charge, like if one of the characters is being obscured in a way.

Crossover - Just as the name says. This mainly includes Non/Disney crossovers, but I can branch out to other 2D media like anime, 3D, and live-action footage as well if requested.

Redraws/Detailed - 2D footage only to save my sanity, can still take a while depending on what needs to be done. This is where I bust out my tablet to help me out, as I can do so much more with it than with just After Effects. This includes Non/Disney colouring pages, OC recreations, more detail oriented outfit swaps, etc. 

Gif info: (Takes a little longer)

Canon - Favourite ship moments, favourite scenes, you name it. Editing is optional for noncanon ships as well (check out the Jinx/Terra parts in my Teen Titans video below for a visual example).

Canon gif examples:

Crossovers - This is where the editing really comes in. Again, mostly for Non/Disney, but I love crossovers a ton so please feel free to ask for a single/set if you also have ships outside of that fandom. For Non/Disney, some reanimation (headswaps, colour changes, etc) are open for discussion.

Crossover gif examples:

Video info: (Takes the longest if a crossover)

Canon - Tributes to a single fandom/ship/character, you don’t have to provide a song/theme as well but that certainly helps a ton if you do.

Canon video examples:

Crossover - I put all my heart and soul into my crossover videos, so please expect it to be worth every penny, I won’t let you down. I can work with Non/Disney, live-action, animation/live-action, Disney/anime, whatever you’d like, but expect it to take a little longer depending on the time and the footage. Songs aren’t required but will be a huge help, and themes are mandatory so I’ll know the story you’ll want me to tell, even if it’s just ‘Cindy/Odette with a forbidden love’, whereas we can discuss my interpretation of that.

Crossover video examples:

[kaleidiope]

September Project updation post in October because, well, i’m silly

This post I’ll mainly talk about my plan for my stories, and the things that’ve changed along with my plans for them and such. This was suppose to be in September but, I procrastinated, so yeah!  And, a ‘keep reading’ line to keep things tidy looking! Also, I actually had this as a draft, but forgot about it! Also, also, please don’t mind all the spelling errors that i’m sure is in here, this is quite long, and i’m so sorry for all of that!

You all know the drill, this is an update for the story I've been working on. It was made in roughly February of 2019. Or at least, that’s when I got the idea for it. I’ve been working on it seriously since September of 2019. So, for about a year. On this blog you can find a good bit of random things about it, including drawings. A lot of the drawings I've done I never posted, maybe one day, probably never, but still! A lot of this Blog has actually been WIPS of my story. And, since those past updates, story pitches and such, a few things have changed, and that's what this is about!

First, for those who don’t know, I feel in love with One shot, Deiland, Moonlighter, Borderlands, and a few other games. Mainly One shot for it’s vibe, it’s feel. I loved it, maybe too much? And, really wanted to make something like it. I don’t see that atmosphere much, personally. On Music box maniacs, a lovely site, I was given the idea to make a melody for a character. And that’s how Umber came along. Over time, I kind of made Umber, and left her. Started trying to get into digital art, but without a tablet I tried to create a character that would be easy to free hand with a mouse. Which became Pax. Over time, I feel in love with Pax’s design. I drew him a lot, he was my first, and only OC. I’ve drawn random people and thing’s before, but he had a name. An age. And soon, a back story. He was set in a different world than Umber’s. Which, at this time, is almost abandoned. He was a potion seller’s child who only wanted to go on the adventure’s the customers where experiencing. And one day, he’d face a dragon, and possibly his fate. But that was scraped because each time I drew him, more and more, the backgrounds reminded me of Umber’s story. So, he became a child in her story and his was abandoned.  Umber was suppose to be a child traveling with no family trying to get awareness of her light to others. And once meeting Pax in another shop, he agreed to help her. So, you could say, Pax was Moonlighter based, and Umber was One shot based. The idea that her light was a bad thing and there were ‘”bad people” didn’t come until later. Though, Crimson was suppose to be a bully type of person who mocked, and even at times, almost hurt Umber. Because also, at this time, everyone was children. Once it was thought over for awhile then did we get the story line we have now. Umber was an inventor in a world suffering a seeming eternal eclipse. which was ruled by a corporation that was money hungry and didn’t care for the greater good. The world had glowing bugs that somehow emit a good amount of light, and through time and a lot messing and discovery, oddly power? Which is what the corporation sells, Starworm lights, and “batteries” of a sort. The bugs also allow some things to grow, but with them being harvested as much as they are, the corporation is killing the world. But, that won’t be their problem, they’ll be dead by the time it’s an issue. Now, we have a lot of characters and general world building stuff, along with the flora and fauna and how things work. So, let’s begin! (Yes, this is going to be a long post. I’m so sorry!) But, I have since changed a few things, which I will now state. I was pretty heck bent on giving them ages, but, I don’t wish for them to have any, anymore. This is not earth. It’s a planet without a sun. Keeping track of time is easier than days, let alone years. So for many, it’s just a toss up on how long they’ve lived for. Just a mere, rough, idea. I wanted ages for personality comparisons and height ideas for when I draw them. Which, was never my idea at first. This was just for OC’s to draw, yes, but then it became a story for them, along with for my own enjoyment and somehow it became more than that. Which, I oddly love. But, ages were more for an even sillier reason I've since abandoned as well, and I think the story’s better off now since then. Also, they were all children at a time. Adults wouldn’t even have names or faces, All adults were originally suppose to get full face masks. Instead of half masks. But Indigo ruined that, and after that, some of the characters were being made older. To fit with the personalities, for say, Talos. He was also a child, who I didn’t feel being a child would fit the character and mainly, their job in the story as a whole. So yes. The story itself wasn’t the main idea. Having OC’s to draw were. But I was given a lot of support on MBM with my story pitches, also, I enjoyed making them. So I continued. And I really enjoy this. World building has been the hardest, trying to make things make sense, like the eclipse lasting years. And the fact a moon bigger and that much closer to the planet would most likely make the planet itself, the planet’s moon, and the moon, the planet. And how is life still possible, along with, isn’t it cold? And to that, yes, yes, yes, and maybe XD Mainly, this is fantasy, yes, I do want it to make sense, yes, this isn’t earth. The people’s races aren’t our races, calling them human might just be an insult to them. I mean, they don’t even have pupils. (Thanks, odd drawing style.) So, my answer to a lot of this is, it’s not earth. This is fantasy. I’m doing this for fun. And I’ve done a lot research for something that was never suppose to be as much of a thing as it is, but i’m having too much fun to stop now. And with that as well, yes, a lot of my characters are suppose to have a deeper skin color. Talos, Mauve, Indigo, and so on, are suppose to have a more deep olive color. But, at the time of drawing a lot of them, I didn’t have the faith to execute other skin tones correctly. So I just didn’t. Just like drawing illustrations for my story. I didn’t think I would because I didn’t think I could, but i’m now willing to try. So, here is where we stand so far! I want my characters to have a rough age, but it could be depicted to give of take about three years. I’ve said I wanted Pax to be about 11, but I also see him to act older for his age and such. The idea of him being any younger seems odd, but if you wanted to give him a 9-15 age for an example, that’s more than cool. That goes for all my characters. I want a lot of my characters to look like their own character, i’m working very hard with redraws to make sure there’s noticeable differences with their noses and eye shapes and such.  I want different skin colors and face shapes and so on, but the idea of different races on such a small planet and even the idea of tanned skin in a world without the sun to give one a tan seems odd to me? But there will be differences, because I always wanted there to be. This story will indeed cover some heavy topics. Including but not limited to, alcohol, death, suicide, murder, mental and physical disorders and illnesses, such as DID, alzheimer’s, dementia, memory issues, abandonment, and a form of racism. All things are not straight out talked about or referenced, but lightly implied.  I took inspiration from a lot of things. (including places, animals, other stories and people) And I will not refer to any of it within my story, such as DID. There is already too much falseness and other wrong info on that and other things. I do not trust myself to paint it in a good light, nor a correct light. And will re-frame from actually stating a character has an identity disorder. The idea this world knows of DID and would use the same word is also something I question. But the characters disorder is based on DID. (Also, it’s Tobias.) The idea of genders is something that’s a toss up. I’ve never said anything of the sort and would rather not say anything. The idea that they have genders or sexuality is just something I don’t really want to think about and is rarely mentioned. The idea of love and such is mentioned, purely more for a joke/bit. But still I don’t wish to think of my characters with genders or those parts no matter what I refer to them as. Not mention these characters still aren’t human. I do use She/he/they pronouns for my characters and as of now have used phases like, “That guy” But, it’s become a personal running joke I want to make clear at the start of my story that it was translated and adapted to fit this worlds standers of word form. There are roughly 25 characters as of now, only five main characters, or should I say, five characters that get there point of view expressed. And about six support characters, and the rest are minor support characters. Some of these characters are only mentioned, or referenced, as an attempt to build the world. Questions are always open, and this story is undergoing many changes and constant consideration. As I learn, grow and improve my skills.  I have no hope or want for this to get big or anything of the sort. this is for fun. 100%. If it looks like I talk about this a lot, but never have anything to show for it, it’s because I want it to be perfect or close to it before I show anything. Which will be never, because I can never make perfect. I’m just trying to do the best I can and am pushing the limits of my skills to get there.  I should note, I am fine, I’m not “Pushing” myself. Which is why it’s taking the time it is.  I am really working on character personalities and keeping them coherent and sane along with the same. And talking about all this helps with that. As for now, I know what I want to do, and where I want my story to go, i’m just figuring out how to execute it best.  I’m more skilled in writing where I describe things, mainly emotions and the scene it’self. Along with script writing. I’m not skilled with writing conversations which is a large part of my story. Same with drawing backgrounds or anything that isn’t people. So my story so far reads a lot like a script due to how the conversations are laid out and due to how I describe how each thing is done. This is something I want to get a bit away from because it was purely so I wouldn’t get lost and confused with who was talking and the emotion/feel of each scene.  That’s because I have the attention span and instruction following skills of a carrot. I use my characters names far too many times along with a lot of other things I use for self help clarity which I hope to fix by the end. I do think it’d be cool to start dropping parts of the story and other things of what I have done, with the note that it could change. I feel it’d be fun, but i’m very hesitant to do so.  I do wish to make character bios and such for them all at some point and just have a post that lays down what has been decided so if anyone wants they can follow along with the process. But, that’s all a toss up as of now. Thank-you for reading, and for your time, I hope you have an amazing day! And I dearly apologize for this length! 

[twilightvolt]

And so, another year has come to pass.....almost. ^  ^

Remember when i said i was branching away from Digimon back when i drew up Venom fanart? y’know, “I wanted to be more than what i used to be.” that being “a Digimon artist.”

2019 was basically just that. lots and lots and LOTS of fandom hopping.

If last year was me recovering from the pain and crippling anxiety of 2017, then this year was me finally getting up again, learning to stand up and live for myself rather than in fear of those i shouldn’t care about anymore. life still hasn’t been too kind to me even though, compared to last year, we’re in a better space. but i’ll get into more detail about that while i go through everything month by month on the clock.

Before we begin, if you’d like to see the previous years, here’s the links!

2018:https://twilightvolt.tumblr.com/post/181732950569/i-kinda-was-saving-this-for-when-i-had-the-time-to

2017:https://twilightvolt.tumblr.com/post/171806337539/a-3-month-late-art-summary-featuring-art-that-i

Might wanna grab your popcorn, my dudes. this is a long one.

January: On the Web

Coming out of 2018, things were pretty ok if i remember. i don’t remember much from this month aside from a few doodles i did like this one from when Spiderverse was the hottest thing. this was one of the last things i drew in my old style. before i decided to officially change things up in the next month.

February: Gotta Kick it Up

Pokemon Sword & Shield were announced and things were hype! oh, how things soured as the months went by. lol

But yeah, this was me taking that experimental sketchy pencil style from that Smash Bros. drawing and rolling with it all the way! it’s become my new go-to style and even though it’s still hella sketchy at times, i feel like it looks better in comparison to my old ink outlined drawings.

March: The Overdrive Dweebanoids

Oh right. my old Ben 10 phase that lasted for a millisecond in 2016 returned with a vengeance. and it was glorious. lmao

It spawned an AU that i didn’t delve into much, but if i ever get that spark for my favorite alien watch bearer, i’ll get back to it.

April: True Blue Lizard Bois

My Ben 10 streak continues and i was crankin’ out art left and right for it. i luved all the “doodle dumps” i made, but this drawing was wholesome and i picked it because of that.

To some extent, this could be a comparison between my past and my present. that being Overdrive!Ben being what, at the time, was my current obsession while Digimon!Vivi was a representation of where i used to be, back when i was starting out and entering Digimon OCTs on Deviantart.

May: Return to the Realm of Sleep ~HD ReMIX

Now THIS i feel was one of the grandest drawings i’ve done this year. hell, i even made a wallpaper out of it.

like, it was just a redraw of an old drawing from 2017. but to me, it was a way to tell me just how far i’ve come since then. and i couldn’t be happier.

This was also the month i rebooted my DA after a long time of inactivity!

....Iiiit didn’t really work much, but i’m still working on it. though i highly doubt it’s worth it considering most of the ones i used to hang with there are either people i don’t wanna associate with or people who left while i was gone. seriously, it’s a ghost town there.

June: Art Fight 2019 ~Dreams Vs. Nightmares~

Ahh, my second year of Art Fight. for this year’s event, i wanted to be a tad more grandiose. like drawing up this banner. i like being extra and stuff even if it kills my drawing hand, so yeah. lmao

...

Florida thunderstorms are friggin’ terrifying. idk HOW anyone can get used to that.

July: - BREAK DOWN -

Oookay, it was hard picking my favorite attack this year cuz i pretty much was satisfied with all of them. but i had to go with this attack because the artist i drew it for was someone i really admired for years and i’m just happy i could finally have an opportunity to draw them something. like, i luv how it came out, so yeah.

This was also the month i forced myself to finally do the thing and let go of the constant fear i felt towards certain people i used to hang with. while remembering 2017 will never NOT hurt, i can’t let that fear rule over me forever. i have to take control and not let it stop me from doing what i want. and that’s exactly what i did.

August: Ricky ~Sapphire, Emerald and AlphaSapphire

Oh yeah! after Art Fight ended, i returned to Pokemon randomly cuz i wanted to go back to my roots for a moment. revamping Ricky, formerly Ragna, and Yagami was something i’ve been meaning to do for awhile and it reignited a waning love for a series i started growing distant towards since Gen VII.

I used to really like Ricky’s old design even though i barely ever used him. but i guess this just shows how much more original i’ve gotten in terms of character design. ^  ^

September: Heartbeat Inferno

Now, i haven’t really talked much about what’s been going on life wise for most of this post, but trust me when i say irl, things weren’t really.....happening. like, it’s hard when you live (or rather, lived now) in a place with little job opportunity and you have NO experience whatsoever. the lack of progression must’ve hit something in me, so the week i drew this was me just....shifting moods, feeling everything at once. one day i’d be agitated as hell, the next i’d be so depressed i took a some odd hour nap and didn’t wanna get out of bed. like, for most of this year, i haven’t felt this stressed out and frustrated with myself. so this sudden crash was kind of....unwelcome.

But this drawing was a fresh change though, if i’m being honest. i’m not usually this uncaring about how clean the coloring job is, but i like it! i’d choose that other drawing i did for my friends’ birthdays, Skirmish at the Cable Club, but this one had a more personal drive behind it.

October: - PAPERMOON -

beastarsbeastarsbeASTARSBEASTARS--*COUGH COUGH AHEM* I MEAN....hai. :D

Continuing with my Pokemon shenanigans, i drew this big piece which was something i had in my head for years now, but never actually acted upon it cuz i always felt it was too big of an idea to work on. i’m happy i’ve managed to capture what i envisioned originally.

As for interests, i’m sure most of my current followers can deduce that i quickly shifted gears to Beastars as soon as the anime was released and so far, i regret nothing. it’s spawned a metric butt ton of new art from me and the way i see it, this phase ain’t stopping as long as this series continues. brace yourselves fam, i believe i’ve finally found the successor to my Digimon phase. lmao

Like, damn, i had a tough time choosing art for this month. i was stuck between this, - SMILE/WILD SIDE - and Slip Into Madness. so many good drawings i was satisfied with, y’know?

November: The Future is Now

I was SO planning on putting something else here, but then suddenly i just kinda had this urge to redraw that uggo gouache painting of Miyagi from highschool. and it turned out so good that i had to. like, really. lmao

As with the redraw of Dream Drop Digital’s key art, it was a reminder of how far i’ve come since then art wise. and i feel like i’ve accomplished so much this year because of it. ;w;

December: Winter Lights

And now we’re back to the present time. after over a year or so of living in Florida, we’ve moved once again back up north a bit. yet another clean slate, but things seem to be looking up despite the rather large bumps in the road the past week or so. lately i’ve been feeling that seasonal depression starting to set in, but i think i’ll be fine as long as i stay positive. cuz y’know, it’s not being happy all the time. it’s just knowing that things will get better someday.

One of the other reasons i drew this drawing was cuz i REALLY wanted to have something Beastars related on this clock. this series (and Legoshi in particular) really inspired me, so i had to leave a wedge open for my boi.

Looking back at the beginning of this decade (as 2020 would mark the next one), i realized that the 2010′s were basically me becoming more artsy. finding enjoyment for a new hobby that quickly became something i’m now more passionate about than video games which i didn’t think would EVER be the case.

Funny enough, it all started in the RP section of a little forum for an MMO called Wizard101. i was only in middle school at the time and, to tell you the truth, i had no idea i’d be going at it for this long. thought i’d just do it on the side but not really delve into the art world more.

But despite all the trips and falls, fandom drama or otherwise, i wouldn’t change anything if it meant i wouldn’t have the friends who’ve stuck by me in the aftermath of those times.

I may not be really succeeding in much, but it’s the small steps in life that matter most in the end. these past few months in particular was me getting fed up with feeling sorry for myself for not doing the things i was interested in in the past, getting over my regret and making plans for starting something new even though i know i’ll suck at first and not worrying so much about how others might perceive me.

And just like how life was changing for our resident grey wolf this first season, mine seems to be doing the same. and i believe this decade ended on a better note than i thought it would during the past couple years leading up to this.

Here’s to a new decade! ^  ^

~ For a future I want to believe in. ~

[pyro-flug]

Rest, Regret, and Recovery Beds Part 8

Part 1- Part 2- Part 3- Part 4- Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 (This ones kinda long so I’m putting a keep reading in it)

It only took another week for Black Hat to fully recovery. Well, “fully recovered” was the way he was wording it, but the way that he still leaned heavily to one side, and the rattling of his breath after too much exertion told another story. Flug had checked for himself that the chest and facial wounds had sealed back up before even allowing the eldritch to go without bandages. The slight discoloration of Black Hat’s skin where the injuries had been were odd though.  

Dementia was walking on both legs two weeks after that. She had never been more grateful for her healing factor as she ran leg strengthening exercises with Flug. She had been right about getting back to her old self again; once the cast was off she had latched onto the nearest wall and scrambled up into the vent just so she could see Flug glare at her disapprovingly.

Flug took the longest to recover. Three bullets to the gut were hard on his body, especially with the fear of internal rupturing. After a scare where such a thing had happened Dementia and Black Hat made sure to keep an eye on him. Too many near death experiences really left the whole company on edge...

                                             * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It happened in the middle of the night. Flug woke Black Hat up  after making noise in the bathroom and complaining of a stomach ache. He was out of bed and was heading for the door when he was nearly swept off his feet by a wave of dizziness. Then there was a slam as his shoulder connected with the wall near the door.

Black hat, having heard the painful sound, got up and went to Flug’s side to make sure he was okay.

“I’m fine, I think I just need something to drink,” Flug said quietly. He pushed off the wall and stumbled forward, his fingers latching onto the doorframe instead. Flug’s breath hitched, then he fell into a coughing fit. The red that dripped onto the carpet from Flug’s mouth caused Black Hat to freeze. His dream from a few weeks ago came back to him and he drew away from the doctor for a moment.

Flug stared at the blood on his hand for only a few seconds before he was twisting his fingers into the lapel of Black Hat’s pyjama shirt.

“Get me to lab right now!” he hissed out between clenched teeth. Black Hat broke out of his trance, snatched the smaller man up in his arms, and took off down the corridor. His feet pounded down the stairs, the odd, creaky boards shrieking shrilly with the haste and weight of the eldritch. Once he burst through the doors to the lab, he rushed over to the medical beds and set Flug down on one of them.

The doctor’s eyes were unfocused as he reached down to lift the hem of his shirt. It  looked like someone had spilt ink underneath Flug’s skin; a nasty blue purple color was spreading outward from the right side of his abdomen.

“Internal bleeding,” Flug muttered vaguely. Then he snapped back into focus and he pointed at a machine a few feet away. “Get the Sonograph over here now!”

“What will that do for you!” Black Hat snapped. “All it can do is show us where-”

“Shut up for a moment and trust me! I’ve made some modifications in the past few weeks, and if this works it’s gonna save my life, so just listen!!!” Black Hat’s teeth clacked together as he shut his mouth from its ready-to-argue position.

“Fine!” he growled out. Then he grabbed the computer like station and dragged it over on it’s tiny wheels. As soon as it was close enough, Flug was leaning over the desk part and pushing buttons on the console.

His breath was coming out in gasps and heaves now, and his hands had a tremor going through them. As Flug pulled out the transducer probe and set it against his stomach he hissed at the tenderness of his skin.

“If I pass out before this is done I’m going to need you to hold it in place and let it finish before you inject me with this.” The doctor handed Black Hat a small syringe and then pushed another button on the screen. The way Flug seized up and his face contorted in agony almost caused the eldritch to drop the needle. “15 seconds...” Flug grit out, then his eyes rolled back and he started to tip back.

At this point, Black Hat’s anger had dissipated, leaving him with an uncomfortable need to be doing anything but standing here. When Flug began to pass out he almost froze up again, unsure of what to do, but thankfully his body seemed to be 5 steps ahead of his brain. Tendrils shot out of his back to catch and then cradle the doctor. Then they lowered Flug back into the bed, gently, while his hand moved to grab the transducer and hold it in place. Flug had said 15 seconds before passing out, so Black Hat figured he must have been referring to how long he had to hold the probe still. Those seconds passed terribly slow.

Once time was up, he hoped he had assumed correctly and put the transducer aside. Then he took the syringe, gave it a good tap to rid it of air bubbles, and injected it into Flug’s arm. A minute later the doctor was opening bleary eyes. He gave a pained groan when he attempted to sit up, so Black Hat put a hand on his chest to keep him down.

“Did it work?” Flug mumbled

“You can’t tell if it worked!?” Black Hat’s anger was back.

“Well I mean it doesn't look like I’m still bleeding, but the non-invasive surgery I just performed was experimental only.” Black hat resisted the urge to punch something violently. “But, it appears to have worked. Now I just need to-” he was trying to sit up again, and Black Hat, once again, pushed him down.

“What do you need,” The eldritch growled.

“Well, I was going to grab the Transducer again and then one of my blood bags from the fridge over there. I need to get rid of this old blood before it causes damage and then get new stuff in my veins.” Black Hat handed him the probe and stalked off towards the fridge. Inside were a few different bags of red blood, and he even saw 2 bags of his own greenish blue blood. At this he glanced over his shoulder with a raised brow. Flug looked over and saw him staring, then said,

“Yes, those are yours, and no I didn’t take them for “evil purposes” you just don't remember when I took them because it was a while ago and you had been very distracted that day.” He took a pause and  made a face. “You're blood doesn't deteriorate, so it stores indefinitely, and I only have it in case of emergencies. In fact, I have everyone's blood in case of emergencies.” Then his voice dropped into a grumble. “Of course, I’m the only one who has to redraw every 6 weeks or find a donor to steal from.”

Black hat still had his eyebrow raised but he turned back to the fridge and picked up one of the bags. He heard Flug shout that his were labeled with his name, so Black Hat put down the one he was holding and picked up another that said ‘Flug.’ Then he closed the door and walked back over to the doctor to set up the transfusion.

The inky color was slowly disappearing from under Flug’s skin. As new blood entered his system the life returned to his cheeks, and he took a deep breath. Black hat stood off to the side and avoided looking at the scientist.

“Black Hat...” Flug’s voice held that knowing tone. The eldritch crossed his arms and the corner of his mouth lifted in a sneer. “What’s on your mind?”

As Flug has suspected, after Black Hat had healed he went back to his old self- he was still better at expressing himself than he used to be but he still was holding back a lot, and he didn't always say what he needed to. The emotional vulnerability that had come with injury had dissipated, but Flug knew that the emotions themselves were still in there.

“Talk to me,” Flug said.

Black Hat sighed and finally met his eyes. Then he muttered something under his breath so that Flug couldn’t quite catch it.

“What was that, sir?”

“I said-” and he trailed off again.

“Black hat, please just-”

“I SAID YOU'RE TOO FRAGILE!” The eldritch shouted. Flug immediately sat up despite the tentacle that shot out of Black Hat’s back to push him back down. His hand held the wiggling black mass as he then used it to yank Black Hat closer.

“Okay, look, I may be more prone to injury, and I may take longer to recovery from said injuries, but I am NOT fragile.” Flug stated firmly. “I’m not some elder who’s bones could snap from a trip down the stairs, I just take time to heal from really bad injuries like gun shot wounds.”

“But the internal bleeding wasn’t part of-”

“Yes it was,I was tired and I accidentally fell in the bathroom and slammed my stomach onto the rim of the tub. That blunt force trauma probably ruptured several already weak blood vessels and caused the bleeding. Now that I’ve sealed them though they should be fine.” Black Hat was still frowning heavily.

“.... How did you seal them?”

“I heard about some experimental tech with using probes like that to produce targeted sources of extreme heat to seal off and reconnect blood vessels. It had only been tested on animals before but I was sure that with my intellect I could improve it and guarantee positive results. Which I have done, apparently.”

“Will it hold?”

“It will.” Slowly, Black Hat let his arms drop back to his sides. Then he sat down next to Flug and put and arm around him so that the doctor was leaning into his side.

“I just... “ Black Hat pulled a face of disgust. “Worry about you..”

“I know you do, sir, but you also have to realize that I’m stronger than you think I am, and I need you to trust that I know what I’m doing.” Then a yawn escaped the doctor’s mouth along with the last of his energy.

“...I’m working on it.”

“And that’s all I need to hear.” Flug pressed a kiss to Black Hat’s cheek and then wrapped his arms around the other’s torso.

Now that the crisis had been averted Flug was sleepy again. He sighed gently as Black Hat carefully readjusted his arms and then laid them both back on the bed. Flug muttered something that sounded vaguely like ‘I love you,sir’ and then he was out.

Black Hat watched the scientists face, so peaceful in sleep, and felt his chest ache. He just wanted his boyfriend to be safe and happy, but he didn't know how to express that without getting all mushy about it. Remembering all of the mushy, romantic stuff he had done in the past few weeks made him physically shudder. But... nobody was around right now, so Black Hat quickly double checked the room and then pressed a soft kiss to Flug’s forehead and whispered,

“I love you too, dumb-ass,” before he closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep as well.

Next ones up next Saturday! It might be the finale, but I’m not sure yet, gotta see how it turns out!

[philosworkbench]

Solopreneurs: What’s your fastest Shower,  Ship, Succeed story?

Maybe this term already exists. I have no idea. But here’s what I want to talk about: I had an idea for a new class while in the shower yesterday. I announced I was doing it today. It starts in two weeks. In six weeks, I’ll have a pretty clear picture of how successful it was. That seems like a turnaround that solopreneurs are uniquely positioned to create.

Backstory: My COVID vs. Career Crisis

Disclaimer: My family and I have been extremely lucky during COVID. No one has been sick and no one in my immediate family works in healthcare or has a job that requires going in-person work. So, I’m using the term “crisis” with a tremendous amount of privilege. Still, it decimated my industry and how I used to earn a living.

That all being said, when COVID hit, I lost four months of work in one week. It created a huge void in my life. My entire career was built on live: live training and facilitation using IMPROV. I curled up into a ball and started questioning everything I had done in my life. What did it mean? What was at the center of it. About 6 months and 100,000 words (written only to myself) later, and I had the conceptual model for the PLAY Polarities. It was exhilarating. I had an idea of value that I could share with the world. Something of mine that I could sell myself. Only one problem. I didn’t devise the product. Okay, cool. Here’s a model. Everybody has a model. No one pays for an idea. They pay for an application of an idea.

So, simultaneously as I began telling people at PLAYdates (then TDCocoa) about the idea, I began thinking about ways to productize the insights I had assembled. What’s the coaching package? What’s the training program? Etc. 

I think about monetization a lot. Between my cozy white male Gen X upbringing and my life in improv, I didn’t get a lot of good ideas about how to make money happen. As a kid I was told by parents and guidance counselors: “just get a general liberal arts degree and you can do anything.” I even once suggested to my stepdad that I might get a degree in public speaking (which turns out would have been hugely valuable as I spent a lot of time as a presentation skills coach). His reaction?

“Why would you get a degree in how to say something instead of getting a degree in what to say.”

Somehow he thought that was a bad idea but didn’t bat an eye as I selected my major in philosophy. PHILOSOPHY.

From there I went into improv where the general approach to everything is, “let’s just help each other out and everything will be fine.” That’s why the only financially successful improvisers are the ones you recognize on TV or the ones with good day jobs. “It’s a mug’s game.”

Don’t get me wrong: improvisation can help you immeasurably as an entrepreneur. I just didn’t know it and never applied it that way. So, consider it a “mod.” Improv doesn’t necessarily help “out of the box.”

So, I did what I always do and why I’ve devoted myself to facilitating transformational self-improvement -- I started reading books about it. How does one become an “entrepreneur?” How does one “monetize” their intellectual property into a service? How does one “productize” their services into clearly defined products?

That brings me to a nice hot shower.

SHOWER: Surprising Yourself with the Big Idea

I’ve been racking my brain about lightweight products to monetize the PLAY Polarities. I turns out that it’s not enough to say, “I do coaching, training, and consulting.” People don’t just start throwing money at you. You have to clearly identify problems and try solving them.

So you discovered a model that seems to organize individual, team, and organizational improvement priorities. Big deal! Who needs that? Do they know they need that? What are they going to do with that knowledge? How can it make or save them money? I.e. WHY SHOULD THEY PAY YOU?

I’ve been beating my head against the wall about this for weeks. And, without exception, each monetization strategy I come up with occurs to me in the shower. It just pops into my head.

“Eureka! I should do this!”

Disclaimer: My spouse and I are watching the TV show, Eureka, right now. That may be a factor.

So the idea for this new class hit me. I would lead a live, virtual class, reduce the rate in exchange for participants letting me record it and turn it into assets for an asynchronous eLearning. 

Okay, but if I’m going to do that, before everyone gets too busy returning to the “real world,” I should do it QUICKLY.

“Like April?” says my Shower Daemon.

“Yes! April!” I reply. And then immediately face anxiety. How do I do that?

SHIP: Lessons from Volunteer Carpentry and Seth Godin

Something else I had to learn on my journey to unexpected entrepreneurship? Execution. Yes, my new company is as an assassin.... ON THE DANCE FLOOR! (Jumps up and down, shakes hips, trips, falls, farts.)

I had to learn what Charan and Bossidy talk about in their book, unsurprisingly called Execution. So you have great ideas? Great. What will you do about them? You plan to sell? How will you sell? How many dials? How many LinkedIn messages? When? 

Execution is the lifeblood of business. It’s almost too simple to recognize it’s profundity. Yes, duh, to do something, you must, you know, do something. When I tell you that that simple truism has sabotaged most of my professional life, believe me. 

As the Apostle Paul says, “The good that I would do, I do not. The evil that I would not do, I do.”  

Or, in the Revised Matt Elwell version, “The work that I wish I would do, I procrastinate about. The desk that doesn’t need to be reorganized for the 80th time, I reorganize again. This is, in fact, the perfect day for it.”

As I said in a PLAYdate this afternoon:

Most people get to the starting line and GO! I get to the starting line and keep trying to redraw the perfect starting line. Job one for me is cultivating the habit of running imperfectly.

So, against every instinct, I announced my class on today’s PLAYdate using a slide I created while the participants were in their breakouts. 

There are two places. The first was Habitat For Humanity. I was no carpenter, but my home church had a long history with HFH and I loved the few mission days I spent with them. I learned a lot about handling wood and framing out a house. I learned how to “talk to the nail,” making small adjustments to how you struck the nail to encourage it not bend as you encountered resistance. As someone who was pretty much written off in gym class as an irredeemable fat nerd, this was something physical that I felt competent about.

However, because I felt competent, I started wanting everything I did to be perfect. To garner the compliments and validation that meant so much to me as I started. But no. that positive reinforcement started waning, and people instead started looking at me with their heads cocked to one side. I was taking too long.

That’s when I learned a saying I’ve tried to remind myself of my whole life:

“You ain’t building a piano!”

(This was said to me in deep southern New Jersey, so it was more like, “Yuh-aint-buildin’-uh-pian-urr!” And then someone threw a piece of scrapple at me. True story.)

That simple sentence reminds me that I have made a habit, perhaps a compulsion, of fretting over details most people won’t notice. I’ve often excused this by telling myself that I’m an artist and therefore, I’m not just filling orders.

If you’re prone to excusing your own poor time management in favor of artistry, consider this. Are you making a statement about your art with what you are doing, or making a statement about your fear with what you’re not yet doing? Are you really saying something with the detail you’re burning hours on to get “just right” or are you allowing yourself to avoid something that really does present the greater artistic challenge. 

As Stephen Covey observed, “avoid being ‘right in the thick’ of thin things.”

That’s my Habitat for Humanity story. My other influence, which is a much shorter story, is Seth Godin. You can still get his ShipIt Journal for free on his blog. And if you have something worth doing, I would suggest using his guide to help you do it. In Godin’s characteristic manner, he helped me realize how much of my failure to execute was motivated by fear. 

If you’re terrified of failing at something, your brain will make sure you don’t, by making sure you never really try. Basically, you brain exists to keep you alive. We’ve evolved to not do things that can endanger our aliveness by experiencing and avoiding pain. So, if you’re afraid of failing, you are experiencing a kind of pain. Brains hate that noise. QED: you never quite get around to it.

So when I’m not channeling the kindly old South Jersey carpenter who said, “you ain’t building a piano,” I channel Seth Godin who calmly informs me through his immaculate demeanor and trademark spectacles, “just get it shipped.”

Telling people about my class today was me “throwing my cap over the wall” to make sure I did what I said. I’m already scared thinking about it. But now it’s a fear of not getting it shipped, not of not getting it perfect. That’s the fear I want.

SUCCEED: Coming Soon? 

In improv we have a “rule of threes.” It’s integral to comedy:

Offer something

Add something else which, by its very following of 1, begins to create a possible connection/story

Add a third thing which, by association with the other two things, clarifies the connection and resolves it or launches us on a trajectory

Depending on that third offering, you either have a joke or a scene, but either way, you have a good chance a comedy.

Either way, the third thing is where we start seeing “the product.” The thing thing is the embodiment of “oh, I get it....” For example:

If Player A nods to Player B and says, “Cat” and Player B nods back and says “Dog.” Then a lot can happen.

Player A can say, in a business like manner. “Are any other animals joining us at this business meeting?” Immediately, a lot becomes clear. These people are playing animals. They’re doing some kind of animal business. Hilarious.

Player A can say, “Oh, I love dogs! Isn’t the vet here, great?” The two make small talk while their pets are getting treatment. Eventually, they fall in love. (Player A and Player B. Not the pets. Or Do ThEy!?)

Or, Player C can enter and offer a warm, “Hey, Dog!” to Player B and sit down next to them. Then, they can turn and nod in the direction of Player A with a curt, even cold, “Cat.”. Player B can respond happily, so grateful to be acknowledged. Player A can respond to the frosty greeting in a way that makes Player C visibly shiver: “Helloooooo, Mouse.”

No matter which of those scenes interests you, they would all interest someone. In an audience of 150, at least a few would walk out the door of the theater that night and say, “that one was my favorite. That group was so good. Let’s come back here soon!” 

Three beats makes a product. Three beats is something people will buy, buy again, and tell their friends to buy. Three beats is success.

As I embark on this journey of Shower-Ship-Succeed, I think about what I need to get to my third beat. And what occurs to me is a clear picture of what success looks like and a practical understanding of what I need to do in myself, in my actions, in my systems, and in my relationships to make that success happen. 

Some people might argue (and they might be right) that you shouldn’t get to ship without having a clear picture of success. And maybe they’re right. But don’t let that stop you from starting the creation or “shipping” process. In fact, I’m finding that all three of these states are iterative. You don’t so much go linearly from one to the other.

You have your “shower moment.” Hopefully, you listen to it and start to work on it. You start getting ready to “ship.” I call that whole process “shipping,” not just the putting-it-on-the-shelf-with-a-price-tag part. As you do that, I believe you get a vision for what this will be and who will like it and then you can start asking why they would pay for it, and that can start you on this cycle. 

That might be a question that sends you back to the shower for more.

What about YOUR Shower, Ship, Succeed story?

I started this post with a question and then all this stuff just flowed out. (Hooray, my gift of making first drafts five times longer than they have to be!)

Here’s what I want to know: Have you ever, as a solopreneur, or just a creator of anything, noticed a rapid procession from initial idea (Shower) to making something (Ship) to having a desired result (Succeed)? 

What was your fastest time?

What helped you get it done so fast?

What slowed it down?

What did you have to overcome -- in the project and in yourself -- to get it done?

Now that I’ve said all I could possibly say, I’d love to hear your stories!

[eievuiart]

next up on the oc redraws; some of my pokemon ocs!! i would’ve drawn more but my wrist was starting to hurt rip. i also apologize for the bgs not being quite as creative as the last batch. once again, click the ‘read more’ for explanations!!

miki: miki here is easily one of my oldest pokemon ocs ever, & she’s nearly 10 years old. she was inspired by that ‘animal i have become’ pikachu amv featuring the clips of blue orb pikachu. at the time i’d thought that the markings belonged to kyogre thus why she has mini kyogre arms attached to her sides, though now i know that the markings were actually groudon’s in the anime. despite this little inaccuracy, i still absolutely adore her despite the fact that she was low-key pretty edgy lmao

galaxy: definitely one of my older pokemon ocs, galaxy was inspired by those old pictures of team rocket pokemon. since there had only been four pokemon generations at the time, i decided to make an ‘evil’ pokemon for team galactic, & thus he came into being. he even had a small backstory explaining that he was mutated by something extraterrestrial & that’s why he has greenish markings.

desiree: a more recent pokemon oc with her being only 2 years old, desiree was the main protagonist to a really complex & convoluted fanfic i had planned. i did write the first chapter but i’m pretty sure i deleted it soon after abandoning the project. however, i do recall one of the plot points being that desiree was being dragged underwater by a baddie & used a water stone to evolve & save herself, so that explains her evolving into a vaporeon.

artemis: not entirely a pokemon oc tbh - artemis is simply my furfrou that i used during my pokemon y playthrough. however i loved her so much during that run that i decided to feature here anyways!! seriously - furfrou was easily one of the best pokemon ive used during a run & i’m so glad i caught one. artemis did a good job at getting me out of tough situations & sweeping the opponent’s team & i will always love her aaa

[unit85and86deantemjit]

Task 4 - Final Piece

For this task 4, after having a complete plan of what I wanted to do, which was one of the ideas from my pitch. It is now time to start sketching ideas for the types of characters I will be using for the set stickers. However, I’d need to keep in mind that the character needs to be cute and friendly.

I begin the project by sketching ideas of what my characters would look like in different expressions and which I liked the best. I kind of like the idea of keeping my character simple with flat colours, which is something that would stand out in the LINE application.

After sketching out different characters in different expressions and emotions, I have decided to go with the character that has a head that looked like a box. The reason why I chose this character was because it looked simple, silly, and the type of character that I would personally like to use in daily communication. The next step is to sketch all 24 expressions and emotions digitally, and the reason why I am sketching it digitally as opposed to traditionally was that I could save the time of having to scan everything in the sketchbook into the computer. Another important reason was I wanted to have clean lines to show for my presentation on Behance instead of having a scanned in drawings which sometimes could look inconsistent with the lines.

The was the hardest part of the project - coming up with different expressions and emotions. I used the survey which I asked my family as a reference point which I could look back to as to what expressions I’d need to create. There are probably about more than 15 emotions in total, which my family have come up with, and I’d need to try to fill in the remaining amount of stickers. 

For certain expressions that I have difficulties with, I’d do research into the existing stickers on the market and what type of expressions are there and how I could incorporate that into my own character. However, it was mostly expressions and emotions that I would really like to see and use in the set stickers. Designing the remaining set of stickers was really difficult as I was running out of expressions ideas; however, I try to think of something that I would like to use in daily communication without the need to type anything which is: cooking, eating, exercising, love, etc. 

Once all 24 sketches are completed, it is now time for me to move on to the designing part of the character. However, before I begin, I just wanted to explain why there are only one character and the colour concept behind this character. I have researched and looked into existing stickers set available on the market, and most of them have one thing in common - which is there are at least two characters in them. This makes it convenient for the creator to create more emotions and be more expressive with them, and it is also to target both genders effectively. The reason why I chose to only create one character for this project was that my target audience is mainly male gender, and another reason was that I wanted to keep the sticker set consistent. 

I feel that having two characters could ruin the flow and consistency of the sticker set, and another thing which I’d need to consider was my colour concept. I didn’t want to implode my character design to have lots of different colours as this could distract the audience. What I wanted was to have the character in the same consistent colours to still keep the flow of the stickers.

Adobe Photoshop certainly has options which I would really like to use such as creating a sketchy feel to the character to get that authentic drawing feel to it and adding gradients to character design to make it pop. However, the reason why I chose to use Adobe Illustrator as opposed to Photoshop was that the size of the stickers is going to be at 240 x 240 in pixels. These are extremely small, and I’d also add at least 10 pixels margins for each individual stickers so the actual stickers size would be 230 x 230 pixels. 

The reason is pretty apparent as Adobe Photoshop is a pixel-based software whereas Adobe Illustrator is vector based. In Photoshop, the smaller the size of the document is, the more you can see the pixels in character, and let’s be honest - it doesn’t look right. Which was the reason why I chose Illustrator as no matter how small the document is, there will be no pixels in character and will always have that smooth consistency line.

After deciding which software I am going to be using for this project, I then start drawing the character in Adobe Illustrator. I used the pencil tool and changing the setting to ‘smooth’ to get the smooth lines that I was after. I then started drawing using this option, and whenever the lines are a bit off, instead of redrawing it again, I’d use the ‘direct selection tool’ to edit and change the points to save time.

Once the lines are completed, I duplicated it and set it aside from the artboard to use later. I change the drawing lines on the artboard to fill colour and change the colours according to how I wanted it to be.

Next, I add the shadow by using the pen tool to draw the shadow and change to appropriate colours for the shadow. I then used the ‘shape builder tool’ to erase the excess areas of the shadow.

Once completed, I used the drawing lines that I left it aside from the artboard and try to align it to the character with the colours fill to create this cartoon look to the character which is what I was looking for. I then repeat the process for all 24 individual stickers.

I then add some text to certain stickers as some do need a text in there to express certain emotions, such as hello or thanks. However, most of them will have no words or text as this is going to be on the market in all regions which is why it is important that the stickers will be able to portray certain emotions or expressions without the need of any words behind them.

After having every sticker in its own individual artboards, I now make a decision as to which stickers I wanted to animate and give emotions to. I create a green square as a marker to know which stickers I need to animate, and I ended up choosing 9 stickers to animate in total.

The method which I am going to animate is using Adobe After Effect and a little bit of Adobe Animate. My main focus for the animation is to keep everything simple with a maximum time of 4 seconds for the animation. After Effect is used for the movements of the character and Adobe Animate will be used to animate the moving of the mouth which I will import it as .SWF file later to After Effect for the final edit. The animation will be looped and saved as a GIF file so that it can be played on Behance.

However, before I begin animating the stickers in After Effect, I’d need to make sure that the stickers I wanted to animate are in separate layers. To avoid confusions, I have decided to create 9 new document files for each individual 9 stickers that are going to be animated. 

Animation

Once everything is sorted, I then start to animate 9 stickers in After Effect. The file document I created is 400 x 400 pixels as I wanted to leave some spaces for the stickers, and at 29.9 frames per seconds.

The movements of the stickers are relatively simple as mostly it was just animating the position, opacity, and rotation keyframes to create simple actions. The mouth animation was also simple to create as I animated it in Adobe Animate and export the file as .SWF to After Effect.

As soon as the stickers are completed, I then try to submit a sticker form on LINE Creator Studio and try to get these 24 set stickers approved as quickly as possible so that it will be available when the deadline comes. However, one thing which I made a mistake was I thought that it was possible to have a mixture of static stickers and animated stickers all in one set, but after I reached the submission page, I realised that I could choose one option or another which is either static or animated.

This changes my goal entirely as I now can’t submit animated stickers on there with a mixture of static stickers. Therefore, I decided to just submit all the static stickers on there anyway as I’d really need to get it sent off as soon as possible. However, I will still be keeping my animated stickers around as I’d need to present them on Behance for the final presentation anyway. 

To submit the stickers, there would need to be a total of 26 PNG images altogether, and each individual PNG need to be less than 1 MB. LINE requires the creator to have one main image and one tab image. The main image is the image which will show the character in the market page as its main image, and this is the first image which the consumers will see, so it is essential that the main image reflects how your characters would look in the stickers set. A tab image is used as an icon which will be displayed on the screen to show that particular sticker set. 

Main image:

Tab image:

Next step is to tag every 24 individual stickers to its appropriate tags. This is used when the users type in that specific tags, it would automatically tag that sticker.

The date which I submitted my stickers for approval was on 15/05/2019, a week before the deadline, and I am hoping that it gets reviewed within one week for it to be available before the deadline, but it really does depends. However, to make sure that I still have something to present, I’d create a mock-up to show my stickers being used in the application, and there is also a LINE simulator which you can test your stickers in the application which is just handy. However, since the deadline has been extended for this project by three more weeks, I received the approved signal and published my stickers on the LINE store.

The response I got from the stickers are well received and it seems to be used by some people. Here is a chart which displayed numbers of users who sent and received my stickers:

What inspired you?

I have always wanted to create a set of stickers and publish it on the market for people to download, and what better ways to make the stickers as my last project for College. Moreover, I thought it would be pretty good to have my family members using my set stickers on LINE application as they are frequent users of LINE and uses stickers quite often. This inspired me to create a set of stickers that my family and I would personally use, and some expressions which we thought are necessarily needed in the pack. 

What was your final idea?

My final idea for this project is creating LINE set stickers, and it can either be 8, 16, 24, 32 or 40 stickers in total. I chose to go with 24 stickers because I think it is reasonable going with that amount given the amount of time that we have for this project. What I didn’t realise initially is that I thought LINE would let you add static stickers and animated stickers in the same set similar to how iMessage is. However, I was wrong, and it’s either static stickers or animated, one or the other.

What went well?

What went really well for this project is that I managed to create set sticker pack that I would personally use, and I also successful in being organised and staying true to my schedule as I was able to send the stickers early and get it approved by LINE for it to be on the market just before the deadline.

What didn’t go so well?

What I dislike and the things that didn’t go well for this project is the overall look of the stickers. I wish I could re-design the whole thing entirely and resubmit the stickers; however, it isn’t possible this late into the project unless and I start over again from scratch which I don’t have time for that. Moreover, I didn’t correctly check LINE stickers guidelines for creators as I initially thought that I could submit static and animated stickers all in the same pack, which I was wrong. Had I checked it beforehand, I could have planned out everything better than this.

What have you learnt during this project?

Creating stickers and submitting them is in itself learning, but the things which I learned the most during this project is drawing the character digitally. I initially wanted to do all of the drawings of the stickers in Adobe Photoshop. However, it isn’t possible once I thought about it as creating stickers as small as 240 x 240 pixels would create pixelated stickers in Photoshop. This forces me into coming up with a solution and creating it in Illustrator just make much more sense than it would in Photoshop. 

Furthermore, I had never tried to draw in Illustrator before as I thought it was weird, but after searching for tutorials and choosing the right settings and tools, I was able to draw really smooth lines in illustrator which is precisely what I was after.

What would you do differently next time?

The things that I would do differently next time is to give myself time to think and do more research. I definitely didn’t give myself much time for the research as I planned my schedule to research and write up the Tumblr blogs all in one week, where I would design the stickers for the remaining three weeks. However, that definitely backfire on me as I am now stuck with set stickers that I totally not satisfied with. It is a lovely sticker set that has all the expressions that I expected in the set; however, the character is a little bit inconsistent and looks weird in general. I would definitely redesign the character entirely and coming up with at least two characters: boy and girl to target a wider audience. I would also design the characters to be more cute, friendly and engaging.

Another thing which I would do differently next time is publishing my set stickers on a different application. The reason why I said that is because even though I wanted my stickers to be free, LINE forces you to put a price on the stickers. The free stickers on the market are usually the official released from LINE themselves. While this may look like it is a good thing for creators, it is actually a disadvantage. The reason being is because they take 50% of your profit from your sticker, and it is their way of making money off from creators. 

Overall did you do a good job? Did you manage your time effectively?

I believe I did reasonably well getting all of the work completed and have the stickers on the market on time before the deadline, even if the deadline has been put off for another three weeks, regardless of that, I’d have completed it in one month anyway. Moreover, I was also successful at managing my time really well. Before I begin the project, I created a work schedule in which I would follow to get my work completed efficiently. For the first week, I would dedicate myself into researching everything in regards to creating stickers and writing everything up on Tumblr. This way, I would be able to spend the rest of the time creating all of the stickers and get it sent off for approval so that the stickers will be available on the market before the deadline.

Link to the sticker in the store:

https://store.line.me/stickershop/product/7732307

Final work on Behance:

https://www.behance.net/gallery/81273713/Line-Box-Head-Stickers-Set

[incaseyouart]

Time for another batch-answer!! Sorry if this is impersonal but I didn’t want to spam people’s dashes!!

1. Yes I like to try and avoid white backgrounds when I can! Even if it’s just a simple block of colour.

2. This is a FAQ - I use Fire Alpaca, which is amazing and free for the PC and Mac. I’m not sure if it works on a Chromebook but I assume it does? You could also try Medibang Paint which is very similar and also free!

3. Congrats!!

4. My animation professors have told me that if you’re doing it properly you actually should lose track of time - something about using the right brain. References are ESSENTIAL to creating accurate art, so yes, they are extremely helpful and I’m glad you’re using them!!!  DAPGO is a treasure trove :D

5. Yes I think you should post your art!! People will give both negative AND positive feedback - I believe you have to receive constructive criticism to grow as an artist. That’s literally all that working in a studio or for clients is - creating your stuff and then getting revisions (but it has to be constructive, not just empty feedback like “that sucks” or “that’s great”). Please read these posts on self-esteem!

6. Haha I love that phanime, and I’m so grateful @arctoids let me collaborate with her for the third episode!!

7. Hello! Thanks :D There are some ideas on this art challenge list I made here: http://incaseyouart.tumblr.com/post/155100106331/31-art-challenges

8. See answer 5! And don’t focus on notes/likes/social currency so much as creating stuff for YOU and your friends - if you genuinely are happy about the stuff you share, then people will enjoy it more, seeing you’re happy.

9. Thank you!! I have had a lot of practice drawing Phil hahah~

10. My favourite thing about being an artist is creating my own content - like, not original characters because mostly I draw fanart - but seeing inspirational things (like Dan and Phil), having a vision in my head, and being able to translate that vision into something visual.

11. HAHA DID YOU JUST ASK ME FOR EDITING TIPS?! Basically just practice with timing I guess? I’ve been editing videos for like, 10 years now, with various software (Adobe Premier, iSkysoft, Windows Movie Maker, and recently iMovie which is the best ever omg) and each time I learn more about how to cut clips and time them to music, how to add in sound effects, change opacity of the clips etc.. I’ve kind of just been learning it all on my own slowly - I’m sure there are tutorials on Youtube!!

12. It’s okay to take a break! Here’s my advice about getting over art block.

13. http://incaseyouart.tumblr.com/tagged/watercolour%20tips I’ll try to make a video soon!

14. I’m glad you’re feeling better and that I could contribute to that :D Thank you! Have a good one ^_^

15. Try some of my art challenges!!

16. Can you go out to a cafe or maybe a library or some other public venue with table space?

17. Wacom Intuos Draw (Small) is what I use (see my tags about drawing tablets here)

18. Being able to critique your own work is an essentially critical skill to growing as an artist. But you have to balance self-critique with positive feedback - try to find two things good and one thing you need to work on. For example maybe the head and eyes are really well drawn, but you can work on the hands? Seeing your mistakes and then knowing how to correct them is a REALLY really good skill, NOT a bad habit. For tutorials on shading, Google has some good ones - the most important thing is figuring out your light source(s), and knowing the physics (plane changes) of whatever you’re drawing.

19. Yup pretty sure! If you scroll through all my palette challenges here you’ll see them~

20. Just drag & drop the image file directly into the software and it becomes a layer, and then lower its opacity - BUT I WOULD HIGHLY DISCOURAGE TRACING DIRECTLY FROM IMAGE. INSTEAD YOU SHOULD REALLY TRY TO REFER TO/COPY FROM AND MAKE IT YOUR OWN.

21. I would just use a mouse, personally!

22. So, with realism, it’s more difficult because there’s the expectation that all the details and proportions have to be EXACTLY accurate - as realistic as possible - and that takes a more time and patience than a caricature of a human figure/face. But, to accurate caricature something you need to be able to draw it realistically first. So in my opinion cartoon-style is both easier (you can communicate the same body language/emotions with less lines/detail) but also harder because you need to have everything be SIMPLE but also ACCURATE.

23. I often think a sketch looks better than the lineart because with a sketch you are more free as you draw - it is messy but also all the lines flow well and it just looks more organic. When you focus on making the lines perfect or cleaner you lose some of that organic flow. My suggestion would be to do an extra step in between the sketch and finished lineart - so draw your image 3 times - sketch, rough lineart, clean lineart. It might help transition your cleaned version a bit better!

24. Break down the figures into LINES OF ACTION and basic shapes before adding ANY detail at all. Check out my life drawing gestures here!

25. Aaaah sorry I hope I answered in time - regardless of medium you have to break down the face into basic shapes and guidelines before adding any details. Charcoal can blend really well to shade easily!  

26. When I have time, yes!

27. Just a simple “hello” would do, I think! That way the person on the other end can greet you back, and then you’ve established a connection without the pressure of thinking of any topics of conversation - you could put the ball in their court, so to speak. Also you could just like and reblog a bunch of content you like, and leave nice comments!

28. Haha I don’t know if any of it is natural talent - it took me 14.5 years of almost constant practicing to get to where I am now!

29. Yay, more fanart!! ALL THE ART!

30. Oh my God thank you that’s so sweet (this makes me think of what people say about Phil Lester because he’s such a ray of sunshine <3)

31. It’s okay to take breaks! Step away from drawing for a while and just write a story, or read, or play outside, or do a sport, or anything else you like! Don’t force yourself to draw!

32. Watch my video on self-esteem for artists and hopefully it’ll motivate you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5AjCbYrPlk&t=95s You’ll only get better at a skill if you practice it :D

33. I would just get the better drawing tablet first if you can afford it - unless the cheaper one is a good brand like Huion or Wacom!

34. You are improving if you use references, trust me. An easy way to see improvement is looking back at your old art, and maybe redrawing it?

35. Yay! Yeah tools can be common amongst artists - it’s just the level of practice and time put in :D

36. It can take a while to gain a strong following, but keep doing what you’re doing and people will come!!! Keep creating and sharing with the world :D

Thanks for all the asks guys~

[therearemonstersinthedark]

Astronautical || Ch.1

A Guardians of the Galaxy Fanwork

Pairings: n/a

Genre: Adventure, general

Word Count: 4k +

Rating: T to be safe, minor violence and swearing

Links: Fanfiction.net || Ao3

Summary: When Thanos finds himself losing ground in his war he steps outside of the timestream and rewrites himself a better universe. Somehow Peter seems to be the only one who recognizes the wrongness and he's determined to find his friends and set it right again. The problem is he has no clue where they are. Now he has to track them down and rally them into a family again, all while dodging bounties on his head and trying to avoid being strangled by Nebula.

Author’s Notes: This is my first attempt at writing fanfiction so helpful reviews and any support would be very appreciated! It started as my trying my hand at NaNoWriMo by getting down a story idea that had been bouncing around in my head for a while. Although due to technical errors I only made it to 10k words by the end of the month, I am still planning to finish this somewhat ambitious project. I am also planning to have this posted on Ao3 once I get my account set up there.

Something in his knuckle popped and shifted as he dragged himself forward. Yup. It was definitely broken again. A haze of dust and smoke, and a few things that were much less pleasant to think about stung his eyes and burned in his already aching lungs. The crazed thought filled his head that he would somehow drown in it out here in the open air. A giggle bubbled in his throat at the irony but he swallowed it down. No. It was just the concussion. Ignore it. Focus. What was he doing again? Oh yes. Through the film of smog and tears he could just make out his destination; a small form just ahead of him crumpled up like a discarded child's toy, grey fur tinted red in the harsh glare of this unforgiving lighting. His other hand reached out and he dragged himself another foot closer. At least, he hoped it was the lighting that was flooding his vision so red. Nails dug into the dirt as he heaved away another piece of the distance between himself and his target. Almost there. Somewhere in the distance he could hear the battle raging on without him. Screams, crashes, explosions; all so far away, swirling in and out of focus like the smog. Gamora was somewhere out there. The flash of her sword and the ice in her eyes somehow the only thing his mind could see clearly. She had vanished in a swell of soldiers with Nebula close in pursuit and he hadn’t seen her since. She was alive. He had to believe that. The most fearsome woman in the galaxy couldn’t fall here. Closer. Closer. He realized the horrid rattling he was hearing was not the sound of a failing ship as he had thought, but his own ragged breathing grating in his ears. That could not be a good thing. He’d lost track of Drax almost as soon as the fight had started. A battle cry the only warning he gave before diving headfirst and weapons drawn into the fray. It was an act so stupid, so reckless, so brave and just so… Drax, that Peter could hardly find it in himself to be mad even as he cursed the impulsive fool. He could really use him right now. Four feet had never looked so impossible, not in any of his wildest benders or worst bar fights – and oh, there had been plenty of both. He’d give his right arm to wake up on the floor of some unknown tavern- all of this just a horrible dream brought on by too much of a strange liquid Yondu had warned him against (which, of course, would have only made him down that much more). But Yondu had left to fetch help, And help had never arrived. And now he crawled through the dirt and debri, trying not to focus on how the world tilted and swayed even under his prone form. The twig in his jacket pocket dug into his bruised side as he slid across the dirt. Groot's parting gift. The thought was almost enough to give him pause. He couldn’t focus on that now. He would be okay. Like Gamora, Groot was tough. And while he might be naive, he wasn't stupid. Either the smoke was getting thicker or his vision was failing him as the light distorted futher, spots dancing at the edges and patches mysteriously missing. It didn’t matter. He was almost there. One thought playing over and over- like his tape player playing on repeat in the background- as all the other thought drifted in and out at their own accord. He would not let Rocket die wearing that god damned muzzle. His annoying, infuriating, impossible best friend would not die like an animal. Caged and chained. Like the experiment 89P13 that he had always so feared becoming. Panting and gasping, he reached out, stretching desperately across the distance, his fingers brushing against the smooth metal that covered his friend’s face. Was he even still breathing? He couldn’t stop to check, his arm already trembling and going numb from the strain. Slowly, haphazardly, he searched blindly for the strap. Why couldn’t he see? Had he closed his eyes without realizing it? He should open them but he was just so tired. Unconsciousness was calling in the sweetest siren song he had ever heard.   There! His fingers brushed across a thin strip of the same metal. That had to be it. A surge of hope gave him the adrenaline he needed to drag himself another inch forward and search down the strap for the clasp. His concussion must be worse than he feared because he couldn’t find it. More tears gathered in his eyes, not entirely due to the smoke and pain as he desperately grabbed at where a clasp should be, only to lose it entirely in fur. No. Nonono! He was so… so close… blood rushed in his ears, deafening, as light pierced through the veil of blackness. Was this it? He was dying, and he couldn’t even do this one last goddamned thing.

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Time is a funny thing. From the perspective of most mortals it was an inescapable part of reality; Imperceptible, uncontrollable, marching on endlessly. Trying to hold back time was much like dipping your hand into a river in hope of halting the flow. No. Stopping time was the pipedream of madmen. It could be diverted, though. One could pull themselves from the river entirely, climb onto its bank and dig their own channel, suited to their own liking, and guide it to the destination of their choosing. And that is just what Thanos was doing now. He was building himself a new reality, another chance. Too much had gone wrong in this reality. The orb had been lost, by none other than his own general turned traitor. His daughters had both been disappointments in turn. Too many battles had been lost and too many foes grown bold. But he could fix this. Here in Limbo, in a realm outside of time, he strode in no particular hurry along the timestream, looking for the moment that would best suit his means. There would be work to do along the way. Players to rearrange and redraw. It would all work out in the end. Of this he was certain. The orb would be his again, and then the rest of the Infinity stones, and everything would be in place. Ah, here. This would do. The titan dipped his hand into the stream, and began digging. It happened one trickle after another and all at once. Without the passage of true time, perspective was skewed. Digging the trench and dragging the time onto another course took an eternity and a blink of the eye. Time screamed as it was ripped and torn apart. The many threads came undone and rewound into the new stream, the better stream. A smile split the Titan’s face. All would be as it was meant to be.

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“…when the grass got a little greener on the other side I'd just tear out that page But then I fooled around and fell in love…”

With a strangled gasp Peter shot out of bed. Dirty laundry and trash was sent flying around his room as he flailed and hopped about, the blanket clinging stubbornly to his legs. His arms pin wheeled, grasping for anything to keep him upright, but he only succeeded in catching a small shelf and taking it down with him, sending the items crashing down on top of him as he landed with a heavy thump. In the stillness that followed he could hear the jubilant voice of Elvis Bishop as “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” played from the headset still miraculously wrapped around his neck. Well, good. At least nothing important was broken. Slowly, Peter uncurled, groaning out a string of curses as he checked his limbs and probed carefully at the back of his head where the corner of something particularly heavy had struck. No blood, but he would have one heck of a goose egg for a while. Satisfied that he was relatively alright, and honestly he had woken up in much worse states after a night of a little too much fun, he rolled over and began carefully peeling the blanket from his legs. As he worked he tried to think back to the dream he had been having, but all he could recall were glimpses of a blinding light and a lingering sense of urgency and wrongness that clung to him like a layer of sweat. It was somewhat akin to suddenly remembering that you had left the oven on only after you were lightyears away with no way to fix it, but worse. So much worse. Trying to calm his hammering heart, Peter stood and stretched dramatically before switching off his Walkman and placing it neatly on his now empty bed. In the resulting silence he was met with only the calm steady thrum of the Milano’s engines. Still the sense of wrongness would not leave him. Perhaps a shower would help. That was usually a great way to reset himself after a particularly nasty nightmare and this was no different, even if he couldn’t remember enough details to say whether or not it was, in fact, a particularly nasty nightmare. Opening the door to the rest of the ship, however, only left the alarms in his head screaming louder than ever that this was WRONG WRONG WRONG. The Milano looked exactly as he had last seen it. That is. It looked EXACTLY as he had last seen it just before being destroyed on Xandar, being rebuilt as a gift for saving the galaxy, being nearly destroyed again on Berhert, and being again painstakingly rebuilt from the rubble. Suddenly the undercurrent of surrealism on his bedroom floor made sense. He hadn’t noticed at first, perhaps because of the years that it had spent in that state, or perhaps because he was not known for being a particularly observant person when first awakening, but it was his old room, from before the first crash had mangled it. Burned up so much of his already sparse belongings that all of Dey’s efforts couldn’t truly replicate it down to every haphazard detail. For a long time he stood in his doorway and tried to process what was going on. He was still dreaming right? That must be it. Whatever he drank last night had one hellova kick. But it felt so real. And the details were so perfect, right down to that same old soft rattle in the Milano’s engine- that he was totally going to get looked at before it exploded!- which was never present in the remade Milano. So not a dream, then. A hallucination? Maybe, but why would a hallucination be so… mundane? A trick of the mind? It wouldn’t be the first time he’d pissed off a psychic, but this was hardly the kind of punishment he had become so very unpleasantly accustom to. Well, staring at the empty core of the ship wasn’t providing him with any clues. If he wanted answers he’d have to find them, and that’s just what he intended to do. A quick scope of the ship’s compartments only confirmed his initial theory that this was somehow a version of his ship from before the other Guardians had come into his life. No extra lofts or beds, no sunlamps for Groot’s pot, no bombs rolling dangerously around the floor, threatening to blow them all up at any moment, no tools for sharpening weapons, or strange heady aromas of Drax’s attempts at cooking, though sometimes one had to use that term very loosely.   “Okay guys,” He called out to no one in particular. “This isn’t funny, come on out.” Silence, save for the distant k-thunk k-thunk of the old Milano’s engine. “HAHA! You got me! You really pulled one over on old Starlord there! Now why don’t you show yourself so we can all laugh about this together?” Still nothing. “Come on Gamora,” He appealed with what was definitely not a crack in his voice “You’re better than this. Don’t stoop to their level.” K-thunk… k-thunk… k-thunk… Disturbed, Peter made his way up to the cockpit and slid into the pilot’s chair. Through the windshield only empty space greeted him. So he wasn’t docked on a planet. Peter wasn’t sure if this made things simpler or not. A quick check of his navigation system didn’t help much either. He was drifting through a star system that was familiar enough to him. He had passed through here plenty of times delivering liberated goods, looking for jobs, and even just stopping by one of its many rest locations for a little break. The problem was… he couldn’t recall how or why he would have come here now. Turning away from the navigational readings he pulled up a new screen and sent a hail to the Eclector. Since the repairs had been finished on his beloved ship (again) the Guardians had unanimously moved back into it. The old Ravager’s ship had its larger size, but the Milano was home. Emphasis on was right now- what the heck was going on here!? Peter didn’t have long to puzzle over this before a series of beeps alerted him that his call had been accepted and all thought vanished from his head. A long silence reined over the Milano as Peter stared, slack jawed and wide eyed at the screen before him. Slowly a cold indignant rage boiled up from somewhere deep within his gut. Oh this was too much. He could take a good prank as much as the next guy but there were LINES. And those lines hadn’t just been crossed, they’d been trampled and spat on and…. The arm rest creaked under his white knuckled grip. “Lookee here boyo.” The dead man leaned into the camera, every perfect detail becoming even clearer. “If you just called me as another one of yer damn pranks I'll have you thrown out of the airlock of that damned ship of yours!” “I-I, uh...” Peter swallowed thickly, struggling to find a single coherent thought. “Speak up boy! You get yourself paralyzed again? I told yah to stop-” “You're alive.” Just a whisper, and suddenly the damn broke and the words were spilling out in a desperate jumble. “How are you alive!? I saw you-you-In my arms and I-Your funeral! How are you not dead? Don't get me wrong, I am so happy! But. But HOW?!” Peter slowed to a stop, panting, and wide eyed, and grinning like a fool. Yondu, however, seemed less than impressed by his ramblings. In fact, this cold expression looked startlingly similar to the look he'd worn whenever he'd lost patience with what he referred to as Peter's tall tales and 'exaggerations.' “Boy.” He deadpanned. “I don't know what your playing at here, but you better quit wasting my time with this nonsense.” As Yondu reached for a switch to end their communication Peter panicked and leaped foreward. “WAIT! Wait! I swear I'm not messing with you! Just ask the other guardians! Where are they, by the way?” He'd almost forgotten after seeing the dead man's face, but his friends were all still missing. “The who now?” The ravager captain still looked nonplussed, but his finger was no longer hovering over the disconnect button so that had to be a good sign. “You know, the Guardians of the Galaxy? My friends? We only, you know, saved the galaxy twice now.” Any trace of patience was lost in the captain's scowl now and Peter rushed to stop him from leaving before he got any answers at all. “Come on man,” He pleaded “You have to stop messing with me. Did Rocket put you up to this? The Guardians. You know – Drax, big, scary, walking thesaurus. Groot, galaxies most personable houseplant. Rocket, biggest asshole you've ever met, and Gamora, most feared woman in the galaxy! We stole the infinity stone, Kicked Ronan's ass and saved all of Xandar. Does any of this ring a bell?” “THAT'S ENOUGH!” Peter's jaw snapped closed so fast there was an audible click. Yondu's expression had morphed into something dark and serious. “Whatever game you're playing at here I think it's best that you stop right here and now. And watch your damned tongue. Those kinds of jokes are liable to get you into all kinds of trouble in these quadrants, and I don't want you dragging me into it, ya hear?” “But I-” Peter stammered, thoroughly confused again. “I said no more. Now you best knock these silly games off and let me get back to work.” With that yondu pressed down on the button and the screen winked out of existence, leaving Peter once more staring blankly into the empty space beyond his windshield. Somehow he was even more confused now than before he'd made the call. What was going on? Yondu was somehow here, but his crew was missing. And what the flark did he mean 'in these quadrants'? Sure it wasn't exactly a hubble of law and order, but this was hardly what a ravager would consider a dangerous area. And anyways, what did it even matter? Ronan was DEAD. Peter groaned and rubbed at his temples. This was all just giving him a gigantic headache and he was no closer to figuring out what was going on. For a while he just sat there letting his ship drift through space on autopilot as he mulled over his options. He didn't dare risk hailing the Eclector again. One of the very first lessons he had learned after leaving Earth was to never bother the Ravager captain once he was in that state. Not unless he wanted to spend the next month scrubbing every toilet on the ship between some very one sided battle lessons. Just the memory left him wincing and wanting to rub at imaginary bruises. Eventually his stomach made its own priorities known and he settled for heading to the nearest establishment which offered a hot meal and the chance to pick up on some local gossip. If his friends had been through here he was sure somebody would be talking about it- after all, where they weren't known for their heroic deeds or mercenary work, there were still a couple smaller bounties on several of their heads. This was usually enough to catch somebody's interest. – The establishment he chose was loud, dark, and just a touch chaotic; exactly what he was hoping for. He slid into a booth near one of the busier corners of the bar and made his order with an easy grin and a wink that sent the pink hued waitress blushing and giggling back to the counter. Oh yeah. This would do just fine. As he waited for his food and feigned interest in a little mini menu displaying today's specials he listened to the chatter around him. For a long time he caught nothing much of interest; old friends catching up on family stuff, arguments over some upcoming game or tournament or whatever, some old guy complaining about new taxes on his wares, yadda yadda. The food came, with a flourish and a 'here you are, sugar,' and for a time he was happy enough to just eat and relax into the familiar chatter surrounding him. “Is there anything else I can do for you, hun?” The clatter of his dishes being gathered eventually brought him back to his own booth. His food had been finished and whatever they were passing off as coffe had been drunk, but he hadn't overheard a single useful thing. “Oh uh, yes... Lenna.” He drawled, leaning forward to read her name tag. “I was hoping you might be able to help me find my friends, they seem to have gotten lost.” “Well that's just too bad.” She had an answering gleam in her silvery eyes. “I'm sure if you stick around they'll show up. Seems like everyone comes through here nowadays.” “I'm actually hoping they might have come through already. They're hard to miss. Big tattooed mountain of a man, hot green lady who looks like she could kill you seven times before you hit the floor- and she could, trust me!-, trigger happy raccoon, and a very friendly tree. And ah, oh yeah, you may know them as the Guardians of the Galaxy.” He finished with a wink and a finger gun. “I'm sorry, the what?” The look on Lenna's face was not the one of awe that he had been hoping to inspire. “You know, the Guardians of the Galaxy.” Peter leaned even closer earnestly. “We battled Ronan the Accuser and saved the galaxy.” “Wh-what?” She gasped, pulling back and eyes darting around as though he'd just told her he planned on robbing the place. “Ronan.” He repeated. “Angry guy with a flare for too much eyeliner. All like 'I am your judment day' yadda yadda. Carries around this giant hammer like he's compensating for something. And oh yeah, dead. Got blown up by me and my friends?” “That's not funny!” She hissed, snatching the rest of his dishes up now. “You shouldn't talk like that, you're going to get yourself into a lot of trouble.” With one final glance around herself she turned and swept away with a flick of her short skirt. Peter groaned and leaned back in his seat. So much for getting answers out of her. And they had such a good thing going and everything. His pouting was disrupted by the realization that something had shifted in the atmosphere. It was a subtle shift, but years of frequenting some of the worst corners of the galaxies with even worse populations had left him with a kind of sixth sense for these kinds of things. Right now that sixth sense was screaming at him to make a quick and quiet exit while he still could. Without looking up he slipped the units onto the table and slipped out of the booth, walking casually towards the exit. He could feel eyes on him as he went, but no one seemed to follow him out of the bar and he made it back to his ship without incident. A gusty sigh left him as he slumped back into the pilot's seat. Well that was... disturbing. And if he didn't get some answers soon he was probably going to start pulling his hair out. Without bothering to straighten out of his slump he pulled up a screen and typed in a search for “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Nothing. Nada. Just a big empty screen with 'No results found' glowing in the center. He tried again. “Starlord.” Just the same old pile of old police reports and witness accounts that had always been there even long before the standoff on Xandar. A search for “Gamora” was met with a big [CLASSIFIED]. This was hopeless. It was almost like... Like the Guardians had never existed. Like they had never had their standoff on Xandar, never traveled across the cosmos and formed into a tight-knit family; like they had never met at all. A cold and heavy dread settled over him as he considered this possibility. How was this possible? Who could possibly have the power to do this and why? And if the Guardian's had never met, what had become of Xandar? With renewed energy and a destination in mind, at least for now, Peter quickly departed the not so helpful outpost and sped towards Xandar's co-ordinants. - “Oh no.” Where the Nova Prime capitol should have been, he was met with only a blackened and burned up husk of a planet. Peter checked his coordinates for what must have been the hundredth time, but the screen remained unchanged. This was the correct place. Without the Guardians to protect it Ronan must have made it to the ground. After that it was only a matter of touching the infinity stone to the planet's surface and it was all over. The Milano pulled closer, details along the scarred surface becoming a little clearer as he circled the planet. He was pretty sure he could make out places where the land dipped drastically lower. Even the oceans had been burned away. Bile rose in his throat as he thought about all the Xandarians he had met after the battle. The tentative friends he'd made with some of the Nova Corps, Commander Dey and Nova Prime, and the smiling faces of the civilians that had come out to cheer the Guardian's and show their appreciation for all the lives they had saved. Except now they were gone. Bodies probably scattered among the blackened ashes down bellow. Peter floated silently among the stars for a long time. They looked so much colder now that he was the only one watching them. What was he supposed to do now? He was too late. As he pondered his next move an alarm signaled the hailing of another craft. What now? “You are unauthorized to enter this zone,” The voice snarled across the communication line. The cockpit darkened slightly as an unmistakably Kree kraft loomed over his ship and blocked out the stars. “State your business and prepare to be destroyed.” “I'm just passing through, no trouble here!” Peter replied quickly, “and um, wait, don't you mean 'or'?” “Identify yourself.” Peter gripped the weapons controls and sized up his options. It would be okay. There was just one puny little Kree ship. He was an excellent pilot and could definitely take them on in a one on one fight. “Peter Quill,” His fingers moved to the triggers as he took aim at the kree ship's weak points. “But you may better know me as Starlord.” There was a pause as Peter gave them a moment to let the name sink in and then he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. “What?” He squeezed the trigger again, jiggling the joystick a bit when it produced no results. Seriously, could just one thing not go terribly wrong today? “IDENTIFIED: Star-Lord.” Came a booming mechanical voice. At the same time the empty space behind the Kree fighter kraft vanished, replaced by the hulking form a much much larger vessel. This new ship was also clearly Kree built, and it had an active tractor beam pointed squarely at the Milano. Well, shit.

End Ch1.