#SUPER PROUD OF THIS GUYS DESIGN TOO HES SO FUN TO DRAW

[wormy-worm]

Penjamin!

Heres a character design thats been floating around my mind for a few months. He's based on a dream i had while sleeping through class about a guy named pen who got a boring miserable finance job he doesnt like, and is always doodling over his work. I think he has a real propensity for creative things and i think he really likes action comics. But pen was never given the space to explore or cultivate that artistic side outside the margins of his notebook pages. He was put on a specific path and is expected to act in a very specific way. He thinks that the only true measurement of success is the traditional kind and that his other interests are childish (this is a mindset that was very much taught, he drew a LOTTT more when he was younger). So his art is very messy and childlike i think. lots of stuff he draws just cuz its SICK, superheros and monsters and stuff. he likes using crayons too. His life continues very monotonously until one day when his doodle COME TO LIFE and burst off the page, wreaking havoc on the city!! so now its up to Penjamin (and his crayons that can create anything he can think of!) to capture and erase all his doodles. And in having to come up with creative solutions to catching each doodle, as well as having to draw his way out of many situations, Penjamin learns to accept and cultivate his own wants and creativity. He learns he wants to make art even if its frivolous, and even if hes not very good at it, and even if he started taking it seriously "too late". I think at the end he gets a new job that, while maybe less traditionally successful, he likes more. One that gives him more time to draw and read comics and cook and sing and drive his stupid car around. More time to just be a human guy.

He's repressed and pretentious and a slacker and just absolutely goofy <3 ily blorbo from my dreams. blorbo from my visions.

[honeytabbies]

OKAY. HERE WE GO. my black bulls doggies!!!! :D

there's definitely a noticeable difference in style/quality of some of these just due to time between each design and/or how i was feeling at the time of drawing them (these hot and rainy summer months have been super rough on me)

ALSO they were all done symmetrically so that i wouldn't burn out and could actually finish them LOL . OK EVERYBODY BELOW

starting off with asta, a husky/coyote mutt!! :D in my au, devil users end up becoming hybrids of whatever their devil is. so since liebe is a coyote, that's what asta is too!! (also, i haven't drawn him yet, but yuno is a malamute :D similar looking breeds but different since they're not actually related!)

(here's liebe too hehe, scrappy lil coyote!!)

then of course, noelle, who's a saluki!! a very regal breed for a very royal gal!! i thought making her pigtails into her ears was a fun idea HEHEHE

(+ an alternate design version!)

here's finral, he's a shetland sheepdog!! gentle and sweet and always trying to herd his people together :) you might notice that with some of my designs, i end up doing extra scarring; that's usually just personal headcanons, as i think some injuries would be too grievous to fully heal. though some (for instance, gauche) don't have a canon story behind them, i just think they're fitting

vanessa, who's a cavalier king charles spaniel!! her ears sorta blend into her hair lol, i had an alternate version where they were the same darker brown as her fur but i decided that them blending in looked better and fit the breed standard as well.

gauche, the ever wary american akita!! being a fiercely loyal and protective breed, but aloof and suspicious of strangers.

then there's grey, who's a long-haired chihuahua!! sweet and skittish HEHE, also i haven't drawn it yet but i've always imagined her big transformation disguise that she's first introduced as to be a rottweiler LOL

next up is luck, a jack russell terrier!! i've always thought this was a very fitting breed pick, intelligent but highly energetic and a little mischievous !!!

and of course, magna is never far behind luck; he's a dobermann pinscher!! similar to luck in energy and intelligence, but even more fiercely protective of his loved ones.

GORDON!!! actually one of my favourite black clover characters, he's a dalmatian not only because of the fitting aesthetic, but also because of his kind and sensitive personality!

the masked supermage zora, a german shepherd! watchful and sometimes stubborn but loyal nonetheless made this pick fairly easy to come to. though, before getting to see more of him, my initial pick was actually a kai ken!

charmy's design is one that i'm the most proud of for sure; i mentioned in an earlier post that the different peoples are different species of animals. well charmy is a half toy poodle, half american badger!! i thought a badger was a VERY fitting pick, as they are generally unbothered by much unless their food is threatened LOL

and finally, lastly (for now) is nero!! she's a bull terrier, but i really wanted to keep her twin tails from her anti-bird form! her outfit is definitely the one i edited the most, i just wanted to give her something more practical out of personal preference.

additionally, henry is an old english sheepdog, nacht is a black norwegian elkhound/fox, and yami is a wolfdog!

I HAVE SOME OTHER CHARACTERS DOODLED HERE AND THERE but nothing else really finished yet. if there's a specific character anyone would like to see i would be SO happy to draw/doodle them to show off!! i honestly have a huge list of dog/cat breeds picked out for every character i could think of; i just am hellishly indecisive and can never pick who to start on next AHDSJAGDJSDK

THE POSITIVE RECEPTION TO MY ART SO FAR HAS MADE ME SO HAPPY BTW AUAGGHHH i have no idea how/if im able to reply to people directly but just know that i keep reading over everyone's reblog tags and stimming like crazy IM SO HAPPY THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH AUHGHFEHGGRH

[littleguypumpkinsheep]

Little sketches I think Spamton would have drawn… inspired by a post from @s1lly-gh02tz !

Rambling about this below

I don’t actually think he would draw himself too often! For a guy who acted super egotistical and proud he’s very insecure and awkward. Probably the only time he’d do it is with autographs or customer request. Or when designing ads, although that version of him is more a mascot. I also imagine his handwriting would be god awful, which is what I attempted to do, hah. I also had so much fun drawing in what I think could be his artstyle. Very heavy on guidelines, since he’s so used to drawing cars. I think he’s an artist <3

[flutteringfable]

obligatory 2023 art summary post! yippee!!! :3

wowza, while i was gathering art to post for this, it hit me just how much ive drawn this year! hope you guys enjoy the big ol 2023 art dump hehehe

blood + gun warning for one of the first pieces, but the rest of them are safe!

first section! these are from january-february of this year :3

i should really draw @nick-nocturne more, especially since they got a cool new vtuber model! (i will admit i am partial to the cat, but that may be because i just really like drawing anthro characters XD)

the crush soda girl is a favorite drawing of mine, shes just so cute and i’m happy with the design i came up with <333

TASU GETS TO BE EDGY!!! i need to draw remnant tasu more lolz

some cute fluffy art of mine and @sadlesbiancafe’s danganronpa oc x canons <3 mukuro holding tsukis face is still something im super proud of it looks so good 💛💛💛

my artfight pfp that was actually drawn for my birthday this year and repurposed XD

valentine’s venti! not much to say, just a cute boy with a bouquet of cecilias :3

section 2! these are march through may i believe?

venti meme. again not much else to add lmao

a fun pony design i made of @gravemakesgames’ vtuber nai! i should really make one for grave’s sona and mizu too :3c

silly scara and dottore meme because the post used in the art is literally just dottore lmao

some sonadow art based on the april fools game! i hope we get something similar this year from sega, i would love another silly cute visual novel <3

nagito meme. yup.

venti but he’s monika from the hit psychological horror game doki doki literature club

hajime with that one autistic meme

my dogperson genshin oc, kimura ando!

art fight stuff!

from left to right we have:

opal, owned by feraljayce

lorikeet, owned by sunshinesleeper

solana, owned by kikosdath

vivienne, owned by okaenus

pigeon scribble, owned by Morse_kch

nyan, owned by LillianOfTheValley

pop rocks, owned by kitsuanna

bug, owned by hylian

all of these ocs were so fun to draw, i can’t wait for this year’s af!

unsure when these were done, presumably sometime in august-september iirc?

i’m getting sleepy, so no more commentary. sorry 😭 will rb with the rest of the art lolz

[gl1tched-g0th]

A few of my most recent artfight attacks from early last week and this week that I'm actually pretty proud of!!

Super proud of the water on this one. I genuinely got possessed when working on it I think. Also really like how his fur turned out!!

PouringRain belongs to Rypkaq !

This one gave me trouble at first but I realllyy like how it turned out, especially the sun rays and rendering! I was drawn (ha) to This Guy cause he has anxiety and I too am an anxiety haver. so.

Snailnose belongs to Caiigoose!

I rarely do tabbys cause of how complicated their markings usually are but I adore this design. The grass was an afterthought cuz I didn't want them floating in The Void [TM[, but I like how it turned out!!

Lyrehaunt belongs to floatinglights! (such a pretty name too like omg)

Funny thing abt this I drew its scar and told myself not to forget to reapply the layer after finishing lighting. then I forgot it. I loooveee characters w/ prominent teeth they're so fun and silly to draw

Maxine "Max" belongs to CricketyPop!

Aaand my most recent one!! I recently binged The Recruit and I adore Rainstone's character. The fact her personality never falters regardless of the situation is so refreshing. We love seeing women win fr

Rainstone belongs to arualmeow!

[gaiakoraidon]

I decided to Sonic style characters again, and yep, I decided to Sonic style the Straw Hat pirates from One Piece. My OP obsession is still coming in at full force and I had the idea to Sonic style the main cast after doing a sketch of Chopper in this style. I kind of happen to enjoy Sonic styling characters I like you know? It's fun to draw in the Sonic style. Here's all ten:

Luffy is a hedgehog for obvious reasons so no explanation needed. I also decided to convert Luffy's Fifth Gear from the Wano Country arc into a Super form for my Sonic styled version of the Straw Hat captain. Gears Second, Third, and Fourth would alter his body while Fifth is his Super form. I always get Hyper Sonic vibes from Gear Five Luffy in general and yet I tend to call it Luffy's Super form lol.

I'm not the best at drawing blades, so that's why I didn't draw them on my Sonic design for Zoro. Just letting you all know as a heads up. Roronoa Zoro was easy to choose a species for: a wolf. It just suits his fighting spirit and rough around the edge personality.

Like Luffy, Nami is also a hedgehog. She was interesting to design since I don't exactly put inappropriate content onto my page. I gave her justice though, and that's all that matters!

Originally I was gonna do something else for the sniper god himself, but after watching Water 7 and see the man go through an Infinite phase before rejoining his friends as his altered ego Sogeking to help rescue Nico Robin from Enies Lobby, I knew that Usopp(aka my second favorite character with Chopper being my first)had to be a jackal. He was fun to design, but was just as complex as Franky.

The last of the East Blue crew is Sanji, and he was the most fun to design out of all of them. He happens to be my favorite that I've done, and I'm too proud of his design! If you're wondering, he's a bat.

I did two designs for my Sonic version of Chopper, my favorite One Piece character. The left one is my first sketch, and the right is one I did of him in one of his iconic Rumble Ball poses. It would of been a crime if I didn't do him in a Rumble Ball pose of some kind; he works really well in the Sonic style in my opinion!

A bit more on the simple side, but I couldn't get the thought of Nico Robin being a cat out of my mind. Here she is in advance! Of course I had to pull off her iconic pose as well.

I'm gonna be real. Franky was the hardest to design. I couldn't at first think of an animal that best suited him, but I chose a fox to be his species due to his intelligence as a shipwright. I was gonna do him in his iconic pose, but oh well. I'll try again next time.

I don't know why but Brook is always so hard for me to come up with because of him being the skeletal musician of the Straw Hats. I ended up choosing an owl for this guy because I figured a nocturnal animal of some kind would best suit him. He actually turned out to be easy to design, so that's less pressure on me.

The final Straw Hat member Sonic styled is Jinbei! I know he's not like Arlong and his men, but you have to remember that Jinbei is also a fishman and that any kind of sea predator would suit him. A shark especially. That's what I designed him as. This also is my first attempt at designing a Sonic shark as well.

That's about everything I have to share, but I'll be Sonic styling some Chopper forms next!

The One Piece anime belongs to Toei Animation; the Sonic style designs for the Straw Hat pirates belongs to me(Thunderheart)

[sunny-clover]

OH RIGHT MY ITERATION

Okay so these are just the concept info pages I made and these are not the final designs though, I’ve updated some designs A TON already

OKAY this iteration is called

TMNT 2032

and these pages are in order of when I made them so there’s no rhyme or reason.

This is Cassius Casey (Kirby) Jones, he’s the first person I designed for the AU and his design does not look like this at all anymore. He’s got Japanese heritage from one side of the fam and Mexican on the other. No real reason except I wanna push my Spanglish onto him. Also he’s gay.

This is April O’Neil, she’s the second person I designed but I never really thought her I through. She I guess has a possessed softball bat cause she’s a lesbian and the bat is a reference to Rise April. Her mother’s family is Indian and her dad’s is either Indian-American or African American. Like I said before, I haven’t thought her through much.

She handles the supplies for the Homatos and that’s really all I have, I should probly think her through more 😬

This is Raph, originally he was going to be a snapping turtle but I decided he’s actually going to be biologically related to his brothers with the turtle DNA. I haven’t thought too much about him but he does have romantic feelings for Mona Lisa when he meets her but I still need his personality-

Okay so here’s Mikey and he’s the one that I’ve HEAVILY changed—DRASTICALLY, if you will. I wasn’t even really in the right mindset to design him here so I am not at all proud of this design 😬

Yeah so he’s technically not the youngest I guess and also the drawing I did here was horrendous so uhhhhh let’s ignore this and we’ll have better content on him later.

Here’s Kassandra Karai Jones, I had SO MUCH fun designing her. She’s a super badass lesbian Foot clan royalty soldier. Also she’s Casey’s twin hehehehe I love that so much. I can’t wait to write her arcs and stuff but I’ll have you know right now that the girl is a DISASTER around attractive women.

This is Donnie!!!! He’s DEFINITELY up there with the Jones twins as one of the most fun characters to design, he’s so awesome I love drawing himmmm eeeeeeeeeeek!!!!

Okay so I made a mistake saying he has dual Bo-staffs, I just liked the way it looked with his design, but that’s incredibly impractical so that’s one of the first things I changed.

He’s the one character that I have his WHOLE personality fleshed out because I loved designing so much and he’s either a silly gay or a silly bisexual. I can’t tell you everything about him right now bc he’s still in the making and I wanna leave some room for content but he’s so much fun to draw and write!!!!

This is Jennikka! Did I mention she’s in here? Hehehehehehhehehehehhe well now I did. i am not getting involved into the making of the turtles because I spent DAYS working on that but I love it so much but ANYWAYS she’s here and she’s sapphic.

This is Venus!!! She’s so cuuteee eeeeeeek I love her she’s aroace and she’s also here. She has a deep connection with spritual energy and stuff much like Mikey from Rottmnt or I think the 2003 Venus as well? I haven’t gotten that far in the 2k3 show yet so I don’t know much abt her but I heard she has strong mystic connections or smth. I absolutely love her design and I hope you do too.

LEEOOOOOO!!!! I really have to show you guys the concept doodles of him sometime cause I love it so much.

I don’t have too much on him atm cause I finally got his design down like 4 days ago or smth like that, but I’ve decided he can’t stand up straight for the life of him and Donnie always yells at him for it. He’s a bit like Rise Leo I guess but just more smooth and more serious on his training like every other Leo. I had him down as a tattle-tale at firs but then I decided nah. Oh also he’s the medic

——

Oh and I don’t think I mentioned but Donnie starts out as the leader cause he’s the oldest but eventually the title just moves liquidly through them until it lands on Leo. I had a little headcannon that I’ll never write down on paper but I keep up here that they be wingmen for each other when someone’s tryna impress a love interest they “hold” the leader title. See: Raph gets to be leader when they meet Mona Lisa.

——

I have a few other designs down but not on info sheets, just on doodle pages and I’m not ready to reveal how much time I waste on this lmfao.

I have Splinter, Mona, most other Mutants and almost Draxum’s concept designs on paper. I’ll post info on the creation some other time but maybe not. Maybe I’ll keep it to myself.

All I’ll say abt it for now is that the turtle’s creations were all at the fault of Splinter being an absolute disaster of a bisexual.

(I do accept asks on this iteration and I really do wanna answer questions abt it pls ask me questions)

Omg it’s 12:30 in the morning I needa sleep 💀

[totally-not-an-awkward-okapi]

Fanwork creators self rec! When you get this, reply with your five favorite fics/art/podfics/etc. that you've made, then pass on to others. Let’s spread the self-love 🌼

No particular order to these because this is about self love not freaking myself out.

Under the cut because I am still very self conscious about how long my posts can be.

This one was a tribute to my favorite episode of Lights Out: Execution. It was a long car ride home with my grandparents and since it was October, Radio Classics was all spooky for the month.

The episode starts strong: a high ranking nazi officer is reading a letter on the situation in occupied France. In a small town, an unknown woman attacked a guard than ran off. In retribution, the commander of the local military has rounded up every woman fitting her description and is hanging them all until her kills the right one. The first woman comes out. She smiles. The floor falls out beneath her. The first woman comes out. She’s laughing now. Over and over the woman hangs. Her bodies pile below the stage. A storm picks up, driving all but her and commander away. Over and over he hangs her himself. She monologues to him, each time she says a county that will have it’s revenge against the axis powers the floor snaps out from under her.

And then she grows giant and reveals herself to be the Statue of Liberty!

It totally ruins the whole thing, but if you jump out right before then it’s such an effective little piece of horror, I would kill to see a short film adaptation.

I wanted to capture that in the piece, using a rougher pen (which ended up working perfectly for the lightning) and focusing entirely on the lighting. I’m still proud of the little touches too- from how strands of hair stick to her face to the title of the card not matching the number.

Next up: Jack of Hearts! This one’s very different but also relies on a very similar focus on ideas that are presented early on in a story then scraped.

When Jack made his grand reappearance in She-Hulk I was instantly smitten with this sad little guy and went back to read all his previous appearances. I was more than surprised to find that though in his modern stories his suit is a high tech alien device that keeps his powers in check and he’s an alien who’s half n’ half genes where just activated by the fluid he dumped on himself, that’s kinda the opposite of his original vibes.

I wanted to draw something to honor the original Jack, a man with a strange chemical burn wearing an antique suit of armor because it was the first thing he put on after the accident and now relies on as a mental crutch to keep his devastating powers in.

And I’m very proud of how it turned out! (especially because I was very ill when I drew it…)

I really liked how his energy signature turned out. I originally did this piece for Valentines Day, so I wanted the solar flares of his power to look sort of like roses.

I’m also very proud of his armor, which is based on this 1250 statue of Saint Maurice since it was the best match for his original look.

Next piece is actually two pieces I posted separately because I’ve just never worked myself up to finishing the full piece: Lurue!

She’s the patron of one of my stand-by dnd characters, so I’ve always been playing around with what she would look like. But at some point I had the thought “what if Lurue was based on Eohippus” and it was off to the races.

I genuinely have no clue how I motivated myself through hand drawing all the little crescent shapes of her design but it payed off. Plus it was super fun to balance the Indian/Ottoman influence of my typical Elven designs with her particular knight-in-shining-armor aesthetic.

Another two-for because these two are very similar. When I was younger my warm up for drawing was to do a simple portrait of a character then surround them with symbolically relevant plants and flowers. So of course when an X-Man gives me too many emotions I let them out with bouquets.

Not only am I technically proud of these two, I’ve always wanted to break into their symbolism because seemingly no one’s ever caught on.

Firstly, Chamber: Celandine (Joys to come), Fungus (Resilience, loneliness, solitude, disgust), Daffodils (Uncertainty, chivalry, respect or unrequited love, return my affection; new beginnings), Fireworks Protea (Courage, transformation, daring, resourcefulness, diversity), Thistle (Nobility, endurance, warning), Plum Blossoms (Beauty and longevity), and Amaranth (Immortality).

Then, Wither: Betony (Roman for protection from ghosts and spirits), Crocus (rebirth and a neverending cycle of life), Thistle (Again), Purple Hyacinth (Sorrow; Please forgive me), Purple Heather (Solitude, beauty, admiration), White Lily (Purity, commitment, rebirth; a rejuvenation of the soul), Foxglove (Insecurity), and Anemone (Forsaken, sickness, anticipation, undying love, eternal peace).

(I’m so proud of this one that it’s the cover to my Wither playlist, which is still under construction but I’m already so proud of, my playlists are one of my favorite non-art or writing pieces of art)

And finally because I feel weird not mentioning any of my writing, my two fav fics I’ve ever written are:

Shrine Bright Circus Man - Me worrying about Jester calling Molly a god given her history of believing so hard in that sort of thing that she actually made one. It’s short, it’s simple, it’s sweet.

In Pursuit of Ghosts - Probably my favorite thing from my ol’ Overwatch days. It’s a combination of my favorite crack theory about the two red heads being related and Moira’s best skin: Banshee.

[soulmate-game]

Harley’s Plea for Help: Chapter 2

Chapter 1

“How long do you think it’s gonna take before she decides to sneak out?” Nightwing asked over his comms, lazily leaning against the balcony railing in front of him with his head resting on one hand.

“Dude, I started sneaking out almost twenty minutes ago,” a girl’s voice made Nightwing squeak and turn around, to reveal a teenage girl leaning against the door that led to the balcony he was on. “I didn’t want to draw attention to myself by doing unnecessarily showy gymnastics down from my hotel room’s balcony, no matter how much fun that would be, so I just snuck out one of the hotel’s back exits. Then I looked up to admire the moon and saw you here, staking out what is clearly my suite, and decided to come pay you a visit.”

“How long have you been there? And how did you even get behind me? I hope you didn’t break and enter, that’s an actual lived-in apartment behind us right now,” Nightwing asked, turning around to analyze the daughter of Harley Quinn for the first time in person.

She looked just like in her pictures, of course. Jet black hair like her father’s, except it seemed to have a bluish shine in the light. And her eyes were definitely Harley’s— thank goodness for that —vibrant blue and clearly analyzing him with the same amount of intensity as his did her. He had to bite back a chuckle. In a turn of complete irony, she really did look like a Wayne kid. Fit all of Bruce’s usual criteria to be adopted. But she was tiny, even smaller than Harley’s lithe form. He, Bruce, and Tim were of the hypothesis that the exposure both her parents had to Ace Chemical’s vats of acid likely had an effect on her DNA that stunted her growth. Perhaps there were other effects that they wouldn’t be able to figure out until they got to know her better, too, though it was clear that her skin was a likely one. It wasn’t unnaturally pale like her parent’s after their acid dips but it was paler than normal for sure, just a shade or two shy of being paper white.

And he could see, now, what Harley meant when she referred to Marinette as a powerhouse. It wasn’t very noticeable in pictures, but up close Dick could see the carefully honed muscle of an acrobat curling over her otherwise slim build. Combined with the knowledge that Marinette had been taught at least some serious self defense from a young age, he could see how such a tiny package could be a remarkable threat when necessary.

Marinette grimaced as the other Batfam, who were all nearby staking out her room from different angles, dropped onto the large balcony with them.

“Uh, well. I didn’t break and enter, I rather not get off to a criminal-ly start on my first night in Gotham, you know? But I realized that even though I was able to figure out the exact room you were staking me out from, I realized as soon as I got into the first floor of the building that I had no idea how to actually get to you. So I just climbed the stairs all the way to the roof and scaled my way down to this balcony, and pretended I’ve been here for a while when really I was barely able to hear you ask when I was gonna sneak out. I’m still out of breath, actually,” she put a hand on her chest and sure enough her breathing was still slightly fast. But not enough to be worrying or even all that noticeable. Yet another piece of evidence to show that she was a very active individual and had resistance built up to physical activity.

“Yup,” Robin groused grumpily, crossing his arms. “With all that rambling, you couldn’t be anyone else’s child but Quinzel’s.”

Marinette’s face immediately flushed pink all the way to her ears. “I’m sorry! I’ve been trying so hard to quit that habit, too!” She grumbled a bit to herself, putting her face in her hands. They all chuckled at the display. Red Hood ambled over, draping his arm over her shoulders (he nearly had to bend in half to do it, the height difference was that bad).

“As adorable as your freak out is, why’d you even come up here anyway? There’s no way you’d scale down a ten-story building just to say hello.”

She let out a heavy sigh at that, slowly peeling her face out of her hands. “Yeah, I recognized you guys right away. And honestly, as much as Momma Harley would be super proud of me for managing to give an entire group of vigilantes the slip, she’d also ground me for life if she found out that I saw you guys and still snuck away even though she probably swallowed her pride and asked you guys to babysit me, right? Self preservation. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have some.”

“Wait,” Red Robin held up a hand, brows clearly furrowed under his cowl. “You expected her to ask for our help?”

“Well,” she made a so-so motion with her hand. “I didn’t think of it beforehand, but it all clicked once I saw Nightwing. I know how much my mom is worried about me, especially since you-know-who broke out a few days ago. She is more than worried enough to ask you guys for help. Even if she does complain about you guys, a lot actually, she also has made it clear that she trusts you guys with the stuff that actually matters.

“‘You know who’?” Batman repeated, arms crossed. If Marinette squinted, she thought there might have been a grin on his lips. “Is that how you always refer to him?”

“What else am I gonna call him?” she asked, face going deadpan. “Sperm donor? Source of a large amount of my self doubt and depreciation? The prime reason I haven’t been able to see my mom in person more often over the years? Oh, I know! How about I just always refer to him as ‘that bastard I wanna punch,’? That sounds good!” she rolled her eyes sarcastically. “Only one person in this world has the right to be considered my father in any capacity, and it sure as hell isn’t him. Genetics notwithstanding.”

Red Hood straight up guffawed at that, landing several rough pats on her back that made the girl stumble a bit. “Yep, I like this one! But as fun as it would be to see you give that jackass a mean left hook, it’s better if he never finds out who you are or knows that you’re here,” the vigilante’s voice got dark and serious very quickly. “He doesn’t forget people he finds interesting easily, and if he ever finds out about the connection you have to him, he’ll be a constant threat in your life.”

“I know,” Marinette agreed with a nod. “And if this conversation was happening two years ago, I’d say that my mom’s concerns aren’t unfounded. That I am too easily emotionally compromised and despite my deep seated issues and hatred for that man, I couldn’t guarantee he would be unable to get to me.”

Batman straightened up, as did all of his sons around him. None of them had missed the ‘if’ there. Batman’s voice went from charmingly deep to it’s usual gruff grumble. “What changed in two years?”

They all watched as Marinette gulped, taking a deep breath as she stalled for time, looking out at the view on the balcony before seeming to steel herself and return her gaze to Batman’s. When she did, it was suddenly full of iron will.

“I didn’t lie when I told Mom that I came to visit her— but that isn’t the whole truth, either. If I just wanted to visit her in Gotham, I would have waited until I was eighteen like we agreed. But I can’t wait, Paris can’t keep going on like this. I entered that contest because it was the fastest way to see you. I didn’t know if I would win, but… I had to take the chance. There was no way I’d be able to get to Gotham behind my mom’s back otherwise.”

“What are you talking about?” Robin hissed, stepping up to his father’s side. “Paris has been silent. If anything were happening, we would have heard about it by now.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” Marinette corrected, never losing that ironclad look in her eyes. “Because a combination of magic and politics is keeping it quiet. No news about Paris’ situation is able to leave the city limits. Magic makes any non-native who leaves Paris think that everything they experienced was just a crazy dream. Natives won’t forget, but politics has all of us under very strict NDAs if we leave city boundaries, and all of our local news and social media is blocked from being accessed by anyone outside the city. But, I figured a little breaking of the rules wouldn’t exactly put a stain on my family’s reputation or anything, so,” she dug in her pocket and pulled out a thumb drive, holding it up for all of them to see. She swallowed again, but never stopped her eye contact with Batman. She held out the thumb drive.

“I came to Gotham to ask for your help. This sped things up, I didn’t expect to see you on my first night here, but two years in Hawkmoth’s Paris has really taught me how to roll with the punches. This,” she shook the thumb drive. “Holds videos of every fight since HawkMoth first showed up. It has all the information I’ve gathered over two years, tracks his movements and lists all his targets and— everything. But I’m not a detective, I’m a designer. I make clothes, I spar on the weekends, I am not good at getting evidence to prove that someone is a magic-abusing villain holding an entire city hostage.”

“We’re gonna need some details, Little Q,” Red Hood finally removes his arm from around her shoulders, instead crossing his arms and looking down at her sternly. “If your city has a villain holding it hostage, is anyone fighting him? And if you do have someone fighting him, why don’t you need our help, or why didn’t they call the Justice League? The JLE should be in Paris, right?”

Marinette snorted, face scrunching up in obvious distaste. “I’ll have to answer those a little out of order. First; the JLE was kicked out of Paris. They moved their headquarters to Italy about five years ago, I’m just surprised they apparently kept that secret from you,” she gestured to all of them, who indeed seemed very caught off guard by that tidbit. But Marinette just sighed and continued. “Though that’s a good thing, actually. We do have heroes, it started out as just a pair but it’s grown into a small team out of necessity. They didn’t call the Justice League because the last thing we need is any powered heroes coming in and making it worse— your league doesn’t have the best reputation for letting newer heroes take the lead even on their home turf, you know,” she pointed out, which made Batman shift a bit guiltily. He knew the JL was often a bit… heavy handed in their methods.

“What makes the situation so bad that you don’t want to bring experienced heroes into it?” Red Robin cut in, sounding as if the whole situation was a puzzle he was determined to sort out. Which, really, was exactly what Marinette had been counting on. She shot him a finger gun, grinning.

“That’s exactly the point! Hawkmoth uses a magical artifact, like I said— but this artifact can brainwash anybody who experiences even the slightest negative emotion. Sadness, anger, fear— anything negative. And it gives them powers, but puts them largely under his influence,” her expression twisted again, this time into a wry little grimace. “I guess you can say that my momma’s psychiatry background has secretly come in handy a lot over these past two years. And Hawkmoth is exactly why I try to tell Momma Harley to stop visiting me— I have worked my butt off to keep her from finding out about his attacks or getting Akumatized. Every time she shows up it gives me a heart attack!”

“Akumatized?”

Marinette waved a hand dismissively. “It’s the term used for when someone is turned into a super powered villain because of HawkMoth. The brainwashing— really it’s more similar to a straight up corruption. The person usually lacks their usual moral compass, and just seeks to soothe whatever set off their negative emotion in the first place. Usually, that means they seek a bloody revenge. And if someone who already has extensive training or extremely strong powers gets Akumatized, guess what?” She made jazz hands even though her face was deadpan. “Extra powers, or amplified ones, for the metas or superheroes who are Akumatized. And imagine what someone with, say, Batman’s level of experience could do if he had powers and no moral compass,” the silence that followed her words was deafening. She just nodded, knowing she had gotten her point across. “I’ve been working my butt off to stay positive, because if I’m Akumatized…” her shoulders fell, and she had to swallow a lump in her throat. “... I have no idea what I’d turn into, but if you take into consideration both my training and my family history… it’s really best if we never find out what kind of magic-powered supervillain I’d make.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Nightwing said after another long moment of silence for that to all sink in. He gestured at her with an open palm. “You’ve been dealing with a terrorist for two years who targets emotional vulnerability, you apparently have never been corrupted by this magic at least to present day, but your mother still worries about you being very emotionally fragile. And your heroes are not detectives, which is clearly what you need or you wouldn’t have asked us for our help.”

Marinette nodded. “I used to be very impressionable. At the start of all this, I was a huge people-pleaser. I got attached to new people in a matter of minutes. My mom always said I reminded her too much of herself— but two years of fighting off a guy trying to get into my head—“

“Wait,” Batman nearly barked, taking a step forward. “He’s been targeting you? You specifically?”

Marinette nodded grimly, mouth a straight line. “Not from the beginning, but this past year it’s been painfully obvious. He might be able to sense the strength of people’s emotions, and unfortunately I don’t exactly experience my emotions very… gently. All of my emotions tend to the much more intense side of the spectrum. If that’s true, then he might know that any negative emotion I feel will make an extremely strong Akuma. Either that, or he’s going by process of elimination. All of my friends, except for one, have been Akumatized already. So has my Papan and my grandmother. But it’s obvious when he’s targeting someone, I’ve felt him try to override my will on several occasions. But I can’t just repress all of my negative emotions forever, so consider us working against the clock right now. That thumb drive has all the details you need about our heroes, how exactly Hawkmoth’s powers work, and so on.”

“Do your heroes know you’re asking for our help?” Red Robin asked, gaze burning a figurative hole through Marinette’s face. “Better yet, if this drive has as much information as you say it does, how did you get it?”

Marinette handed the drive over to Batman, who finally took it and tucked it in his belt as she answered.

“Momma Harley might have a lot to say about your detective skills, but you are all still strangers to me. So consider this a test of your abilities— I expect that you will all go to extreme lengths to verify all of the information I gave you anyway. After all, I’m still the daughter of your most hated enemy. Right?” She met each of their gazes, one by one, with a challenging one of her own. “You’ll just have to figure out my connection to the heroes on your own. And how I got the information, too. It shouldn’t be too hard for the so-called world’s greatest detectives. And maybe this can double as a trust exercise. I fully expect you guys to scour through every inch of my past, and dig up everything you can on me. I encourage you to try to find everything you can, so that hopefully you can decide to trust me on your own once you have all the details laid out in front of you. By the way, for your own sanity? I’d start with reading about all of our heroes’ powers and abilities before you watch any footage of past attacks.”

Red hood rocked back on his heels, trading glances with the other vigilantes before they all shared a nod. Apparently having decided their course of action, Red Hood leaned down and hoisted Marinette up into a princess carry. All traces of her previous iron will melted away in favor of the high pitched squeal of surprise she gave, and once more she became an overly flustered teenager.

“Alright, little cutie. Let’s get you to your mom’s place before she and her crazy plant lady fiancé come hunting us down.”

“I can walk! I can freerun on my own! Mon dieu please let me down! Eeeeek!” She squealed again as Robin slapped a domino mask over her eyes and Red Hood wasted no time jumping over the balcony railing with her still in his arms. The fact that they were lowered down by a wire wrapped around Hood’s waist didn’t seem to take away any of the fright that came with a sudden drop over an eighth-story balcony.

Part 1

@emotionalsupportginger @alysrose-starchild @emistar0 @kibastray @justanotherfanficlovinbitch @alyssadeliv @blackroserelina @blackstarlight-co @readingalldaysleepingallnight @maanae @aespades @jaybird-and-co @fleursroses @probably-a-hologram @misterpianoman (didn’t work sorry)

[nickywhoisi]

TIME TO UPLOAD MORE THINGS~~~~~~~~ because I’ve been on a roll with posting my drawings lately

I was practicing with the Tender Trio during my long break, and it was real good. For a long while before I even went on that break, I was enamoured by a user’s art for a TTTE/Land of the Lustrous crossover and thought it was a really good idea! In fact, it’s been so good at getting my creative juices flowing that I kinda want to keep going with it. I’ve fallen in love with this concept hard, and there’s just no stopping now. So while I go through my likes, I’m going to upload what I have been making so far for my new Thomas au, to empty out everything before I pack off for a different social media thing. Apologies, but for as much as things have picked up, other things from here have hurt me one too many times and I’m not forgetting what kind of damage that wrought to my overall health, so...it’s safer for me to head somewhere else. I have a couple of places in mind that shouldn’t be too hard for you guys to visit though. Will keep posted for the links. (UPDATE: Deviantart the good ol boi, and possibly Gaiaonline and a general free image hosting site buT WITH COMMENTS :D I might also consider FF.net or AO3 too!)

But for now, I am SUPER HAPPY with how my boys turned out! So fine. I said I’d get James’ nose right, didn’t I? And Rosie too, I’m so happy to draw one of the girls! BUT OH NO...I didn’t colour in her other glove. Ugh well I might edit this post later for the fix, but I just want to get the commentary out of the way. Some parts of the poses on the main four I wish turned out better, but the basic form is there and I got the mood I wanted in it. AND THE HAIR. I AM SO GLAD THE HAIR TURNED OUT RIGHT. IT WAS TOUGH BUT IT TURNED OUT THE RIGHT WAY. I REALLY LOVE DOING HAIR LIKE THIS AAHHHHHHH 

it can go so wrong sometimes with ink, it’s very hard to do without the right control. so the fact that the gloss turned out even a little in the direction I wanted is a total victory for me! Maybe I might try to make Henry’s hair a little deeper green, as there’s a plot reason for that.

And I am really sorry if anyone was expecting me to go further with my canon renditions, but I think I just got too ambitious with the costume designs! They got elaborate and I’ve always enjoyed being meticulous with details and accuracy, which I liked...but then it got hard to manage and recreate for other pieces, so it was kind of like I shot myself in the foot but was too happy about it to notice the wound. Whoops. Drawin trains is harddddd 

I will finish up those pieces so they’re not going to be left incomplete, and I did get Duck and Diesel underway(!), so those pieces will be made sometime soon too. Moving forward, there’s just gonna be a lot of train gems in black suits, but I’ve still planned unique designs for them all anyway. It won’t look too samey. It is going to be really fun! I have writing too! It almost feels like I’m making railway series stories, but with HnK it is wild

Gordon and James are just...*chef’s kiss* I have so many ideas for these two and they are looking so hawtie rn, they definitely came out as the best gem renditions so far. I’m so proud of myself for designing the leg pattern on James, that’s another plot related thing but it’s so on brand for him! In this au, their names (from left to right in the front) are BlueDiamond - mohs 10, Red Zircon - mohs 9.5 (and if you notice, the black I added for his hair is supposed to be Painite, which is why he’s not at a 10), Verdelite - mohs 7.5 (but he’s going to be fixed up with another type that bumps his mohs up BUT I CAN’T SAY YET rhrhhhh), PinkTourmaline - mohs 7. Now who’s in the back? There’s a couple you might be able to guess, but the other one won’t be familiar. Who’s who?

well I just want to save the surprises for later. Expect more to come soon!

[shotosprincess]

♡ dating the bnha boys — hcs

｡･:*:･-: ✧ :,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･-: ✧ :,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

➪ shoto todoroki

pls you’ve prolly been terrified of him for a while prior bc of how ?? talented ?? the mf is ??

but mans prolly saved you at some point and there was this lingering stare you two shared before he left you at recovery girls’ office; were you reading too far into things ?

spoiler alert: you weren’t.

anYWAYS-

he’s the kind of boyfriend to tenderly brush your hair for you and attempt to learn how to tie and braid your hair up in cute ,, simple designs !!

he’d always be ready with little things you’re constantly forgetting; extra snacks,, water,, a fully charged portable charger ,, trust me when i say that man is pREPARED- after all ,, he needs to be ready with everything to take care of his little sweetheart ,, does he not ?

ONLY TWO POINTS IN AND IM ALREADY CRYING BC I LOVE HIM SM BYE BYE BYE

at some point he’d find you sitting on the roof by yourself late at night,, only to stay with you and let you fall asleep on his chest as he drapes a blanket over you and heats it up a lil with his quirk

OKAY YOU CANNOT TELL ME THAT THAT MAN WOULDNT HOLD THE DOOR OPEN FOR YOU AT ALL TIMES AND WOULD SOMETIMES EVEN GET LOWKEYHIGHKEY KINDA SAD WHEN YOU DONT LET HIM

prolly bc he just wants to prove to you that he can be useful

pls just let the man know he’s useful and important he never shows it directly but he needs the reassurance—

he’d give you a warm massage w his quirk whenever you’re in pain :”)

HIDES AND PROTECTS YOU FROM MINETA BC HE KNOWS DAMN WELL WHAT THAT LITTLE SHIT FANTASIZES ABOUT

loves heating//cooling things for you ,, like instant noodles or ice packs !!

surprises you w jewelry that have his initials on them !!

GIVES THE BEST CUDDLES I SWEAR

would hold an umbrella for u while you loop your arm into his as the two of you walk home through the light rain :”)

cries into your chest sometimes after youve fallen asleep bc it’s late nights like these when he reflects on just how lucky of a guy he is to have you— it’s hard for him to articulate it directly ,, but when he does fully open up to you ab it ,, you end up crying too .

WOULD 110% MAKE THE TWO OF YOU YOUR OWN PERSONAL LIL ICE RINK AND TEACH YOU HOW TO SKATE // DO FUN FIGURE SKATING DUOS WITH YOU

➪ katsuki bakugou

prolly got with you initially bc of a dare ( and he nEVER passes up a dare ) ,, but eventually those feelings started to become real and honestly ? it kinda scared the shit outta him . he didn’t know why ,, but for some reason he didnt actually want to leave .

OKAY LARA JEAN AND PETER MF KAVINSKY TYPE BEAT ( ˘ ³˘)♥︎ HIT US WITH THE FAKE RELATIONSHIP TO REAL RELATIONSHIP TROPE YESYESYES

teasingly-mean nicknames = his love language . enough said .

AGGRESSIVE !! KISSES !! ALL !! THE DAMN !! TIME !!

makes you wear his hoodie whenever you show even the sLIGHTEST hint at being cold

he just rly wants to see you in his clothes

he’s so clueless on how to do this whole boyfriend thing ,, but he’s definitely trying bc it’s for you :”)

watches and tries so desperately to copy all the cute couples in the movies you guys watch together

“ roses...do you want roses ? “ “ what ? “ “ the guy in the movie gave her roses...do you want roses too ? “

but at the end of the day you just appreciate him for who he is and that’s more than enough for you :”)

PLS DENKI AND KIRI ARE CONSTANTLY SHOCKED AT HOW MUCH HE’S TRYING FOR YOU

will take any and every opportunity to show off his strength and quirk to you <3

now we all know this man gets jealous hella easily ,, and its no different w relationships :”) he’d constantly make it a point to hold you extra close to him in public ,, show you off on social media and call you by a nickname//petname whenever possible just to reiterate to ppl the fact that you’re his and he’s yours

WOULD LET YOU SIT ON HIS LAP AND DO HIS EYELINER AT 2AM PURELY BC YOU GOT BORED

pls i could rly see myself doing that i wont lie

honestly sometimes he forgets himself and his temper gets a little out of hand ,, but the second he sees his feral reflection in your fearful eyes,, he pulls you to his chest and apologizes profusely :”))

➪ denki kaminari

MF PROLLY GOT WITH YOU BC OF A RIGGED GAME OF SPIN THE BOTTLE AT MINA’S PLACE I CANNOT SEE ANYTH HAPPENING OTHERWISE

one tiny kiss turned into two ,, which turned into three ,, and before you knew it ,, the both of you were spilling out the pent up feelings you had for one another all this time—

mina never shuts up ab it ,, she’s so proud of her matchmaking skills

when the power goes out during a storm ,, he holds onto you tight and plays w your hair as he uses his quirk to turn things back on ,,, “ shhh it’s ok,, i’m here “

will do anything and everything to make you smile <3

he has a lil album in his camera roll with all his favourite pictures of you ,, which is practically just all of them tbh ♡´･ᴗ･`♡

HE LOVES SHOWING YOU OFF IN THE MOST WHOLESOME WAY POSSIBLE !!

super energetic n bubbly but at the end of your dates he passes out right away in your arms

you make sure to wrap him up in blankets and give him an overload of kisses after he’s rly asleep though

will work embarrassingly hard to win you stuffed animals at the fair !! it doesn’t always work ,, but it’s cute nontheless <3

some of the staff and children at the fairs get pissed off but oh well ,,, what you do for love

pls he prolly makes you lil bento boxes for lunch every now and then ( ESPECIALLY DURING EXAM WEEK ) w tiny notes and designs taped on them

constantly calls you “ shawty “ lowkey un ironically and dice rolls in ur direction whenever he sees you ,,, you just end up laughing and playfully punching him

I JUST KNOW HE DOES THE F BOY LIP BITE FACE CONSTANTLY

ITS AN ADDICTION FOR HIM I SWEAR

SUPER CLINGY BUT IN THE CUTEST WAY AAAA

LIL STICKY NOTE LOVE LETTERS FROM HIM IN YOUR LOCKER EVERY !! MF !! DAY !!!

you both agreed that at home cozy netflix dates w microwave popcorn and fuzzy blankets >>> movie theatre dates

110% made a playlist for you at some point when he crushed on you from afar and shared it w you after you started dating

he made a collaborative playlist for yall AND multiple playlists of songs that remind him of you afterwards

pls i just kNOW this man’s love language is making playlists

theyre prolly all categorized by mood or smth too w the cutest covers ever pls

➪ ejirou kirishima

you initially met him bc he was hella upset and alone this one time and you were the only one to notice and be there for him bc he ran away from everyone else to hide the “ uNmanLy “ tears :”))

takes you w him on his lil gym visits ,, hypes you up with every little thing u accomplish !!

constantly teasing bakugou with how he’s able to pull you and how lucky he is to have you

bakugou gets hella annoyed most of the time and just blasts him away-

idk bro i just feel like kiri prolly calls you “ adorable “ alot i wont lie-

LOVES HAND HOLDING,, takes any opportunity to hold ur hand and trace lil casual patterns across your knuckles w his thumb

sometimes he’ll even draw lil hearts on your hand

play fighting but sometimes the two of you get too carried away and he actually loses half of the time-

LATE NIGHT GAME NIGHTS WITH HIM AND THE BAKUSQUAD,, he loves being on the team against you so he can get all competitive

OK HEAR ME OUT;;;; DANCE BATTLES W HIM AS YOUR PARTNER AGAINST RANDOM PPL AT PARTIES

mans gets hella insecure ab himself sometimes ,, so he loves doing lil things for you !! opening a can ,, pulling the blanket over you ,, zipping up your jacket <33

STOP WAIT THATS SO CUTE BYE I WANT THAT

lets you dye his hair—THATS HOW MUCH HE TRUSTS YOU BYE

pls yall prolly aggressively play wii sports and just dance against one another on a regular basis;; it’s literally your thing and you cannot tell me otherwise ahjdjfj

pls i just KNOW this man’s an overly passionate wii player

will wrap his arms around your waist and hug u from behind as you make breakfast

WOULD WEAR MATCHING EARRINGS W YOU IF ITS FOR YOU

slow dances in the living room at midnight w you !!

eventually as you spent more time together ,,, you were able to change his idea of “ manliness “ ,, and he was able to realize that manliness is not equivalent to stoicism and that expressing ur feelings is still totally manly and totally valid !! <33

[arminiloveyou]

Hi! I saw you have matchups open and I would love to have a romantic matchup for either aot or jjk. Or both!! I also have no preference if it’s a man or woman.

Sooooo I’m a Gemini and my personality type is ISFP. Im 23, I don’t have a pronoun preference but I am afab. I’m a figure skating instructor, and have been figure skating for over ten years. That’s my main hobby. With being a coach means I work with students of all ages every day so I am pretty outgoing, friendly, and I think I get along with just about everyone. I’ve even had really shy kids take a liking to me. I used to compete but I’ve since retired and now I just coach full time and practice here and there. I have other hobbies that I pick up every now and then like bass playing and painting but they don’t really stick much.

When it comes to relationships and dating I’m pretty forward. I make the first move often. My way of flirting is poking fun and teasing so as long as they don’t take it too seriously everything works out! I think I’m pretty charismatic.

The only difference between me and the pic crew is my hair is curly/wavy and is a brown black that fades into ashy blues/purples by the ends

Thanks a bunch!!!

omg i loved hearing about you!! i’ve always wanted to figure skate!!! thank you for your kindness helping people!! i hope you enjoy your matchup lovely!!

for jujutsu kaisen i match you with…

gojo satoru

i think you’re the first to get this perfectly imperfect but still perfect man you being in figure skating seriously draws gojo in. he absolutely cannot get enough of seeing n hearing you talk about it. he’ll be there as often as he can. he especially loves seeing you teach - especially with the younger kids. it warms his heart n attracts him to you like no other. like sooo much i cant even put it into words. it makes him feel so happy. he loves how direct you are but believe me he’ll give you a run for your money. his goal is always to make you blush. you’re super attractive to him in all ways. “jeez, y/n, you looked pretty good out there… well, i guess much more than pretty” he switches between low whispers in your ear where he bends down to immediately ruffling your hair. he’s a menace. you know at the end of the day he truly loves you. he’s in love with you. he’s a smiley guy but nothing compares to how he glows when he’s with you. whenever he has to go on missions he gets really fucking sad. he hates being apart from you. it’s like his life force is missing. “aghhhh y/n…. i hate it here, i promise i’m tryna finish everything up to get back asap… i know you understand my job but aghhhhh i miss you i can’t stand this…..do you miss me, my love?” he asks genuinely - he wants reassurance that the distance n the time apart is eating you alive just as it is him.

for attack on titan i match you with…

hangë zoe

another one totally enamored but your figure skating. they’ll constantly be picking your brain on the sport. “ahh y/n, have you ever thought of what would happen if….” “y/n, dear, i have a skate design idea!!” “ahhhh, y/n, i told you to be careful… yknow that it puts so much strain on your body…” they’re protective of you but soooo supportive if you ever wanna do solo events again. you being direct helps them a lot. they’re direct as well but i think that initial hurdle having been crossed by you will help them extinguish any doubts n be able to just go forward n trust you. they’d use dear, honey, sugar, sweetie, darling, n love for you!! also this may seem stupid but it popped into my head one day you came home from work to them holding a of pickles in their hand n watching a documentary. as they watched, they snacked. afterwards they put the jar away, brushed their teeth, washed their hands, n continued watching. after you’d gotten changed n settled you teased em about it. now the pair of you call one another “pickle.” they enjoy that you’ve found your passion. they’re proud that you know what fulfills you - it brings them soooo much comfort. “y/n… i hope you stay in my life for a long time, but like this… us together.” also they alwaysssss thank you for your support, love, n appreciation. you never have to worry.

sorry if the pickle thing makes you cringe :(

[saevus-brutalis]

Vincent’s Glow Up

tagged by: @smilepal​

finally got a hold of my PC so i get to do this :^) been waiting for a whole ass week to be able to make this post

i don’t know how i feel about showing you guys my first early drawings of him from February since i was just starting to learn how to draw people and not just some animals, but let me tell you this man was  u g l y 😭

it’s gonna be a long post, so buckle up or just have fun looking at the pretty pictures

December 24th, 2020

I don’t have any screenshots of his first design other than those two photos I’ve taken of my screen to show my friends. When I tell you I was so proud of this man and thought that I made him look so good. 🤢 Yikes, not any more babes, look at you, disgust.

So at this stage, before the whole “V craze” (affectionately) started, and before I too became more invested in him and putting some effort into his lore, etc, he looked like an emo version of the V from the Cyberpunk 2077 trailers. Basically, I took the pre-made face setting, didn’t mess with them too much, and just changed his hair color to black, and for some reason got rid of the beard bc I thought the stubble would be more visible? Added some scars and tats and gave him inverted black and white cat eyes. Why did I think it was a good idea, I don’t know.

In conclusion:

basic 

no flavor 

kinda boring, not so good looking in the actual game

February 4th, 2021

I had to crop the image here bc it’s would be a crime for me to show you his face. 😭 Basically he’s a skinny-ass twink here. I don’t remember whether it was my initial intention (probably not, I think I just couldn’t draw more bulkier, muscular bodies quite right yet). Wanted him to have sleeve tattoos, but I was too lazy to actually design them so I just took some off google and pasted them over his arms 🤢 literal CRIMe, like what- 

At first, I envisioned him to be wearing tight vinyl lace-up pants (the same lace-up detail that Alt has). As for now I really don’t see him wearing any PVC clothing.

He still rocks his Valentinos “V” neck tattoo and it was really hard to draw, so I’m glad I changed that later.

Also, buzzcuts are so fricking hard to draw without making the character look bald. 🤡

February 16th, 2021

I managed to find some gifs of him that I made. I changed his eyes from the cat ones to those with white irises and stuck with them for a while. Changed his body tattoo for a snake. Mods weren’t really that popular and I didn’t know how to mod the game so I just did what I could with the pre-set options.

April, 2021

Here we fucking go. The first actual art piece/reference of him that I posted that still doesn’t look half bad even after all this time (and that’s saying something). This was how I imagined him to actually look, but I couldn’t really recreate that vision in the Cyberpunk character creator. The face (especially the jaw) is not perfect now that I look at it, but he still looks much better than the first sketches of him.

Added the steel jaw plates that I saw on one of the NPC in Lizzie’s Bar.

Changed his tattoo to this abstract design and got rid of his sleeve tattoos.

Here you can see he has a neck cyberware. Initially, it was supposed to be a voice-box regulator since he was writing and singing his own songs in his youth, so when he had enough money got this as his first cyberware, bc at that time he believed he’d make a career out of it. He didn’t, obvi, look at him killing people for fun money.

Added some scars on him, freckles, and beauty marks. The ones on his forehead arrange into a Serpens constellation. I don’t tend to draw them anymore bc they’re super annoying to place, I don’t ever remember where to put them so I just ignore them lol.

Made his hair a tad bit longer, just so they’d be easier for me to draw. 

But this haircut wasn’t really cutting it (no put intended) and sometimes he just looked like-  🤡

Also here you can also see three spikes on his upper cartilage - i got rid of those piercings bc I kept forgetting to draw them

May, 2021

Now, it was when my V got quite a bit of attention. It’s my most liked (i think) art of him with over 100 likes which was so fucking crazy for me at that time (and still is! Thank you!)

Redesigned his eyebrows, made them more thicker and pronounced - now they’re a key element of his design I always have to get the right shape of them, which tends to be quite a hassle at times, but I think I got used to drawing them now. Gave him some more piercings - a vertical labret, nose ring, and a stud.

I grew out his hair and swooped them back in a “swirly” manner idk. He kinda has a side part but it’s not visible most of the time. 

Here were some hairstyle alternatives for him, but now I just stick to the one on the left.

The cyber stitching on his forehead that can be seen in his earlier designs are actually from a hair transplant so his natural hair color isn’t actually black.

His natural hair color is red and on the far left, you can see me trying to design his old teen self and on the far right how he’d look in the future.

Below I tried messing with the Cyberpunk creator again for the sake of it. The picture on the right is the current version of him in the game and I hope the CDPR devs will add in an option for us to change our character’s appearance bc I really want to change his hair and beard but I don’t feel like completing the game for the 6th time lol.

July, 2021

And that leaves us with his current most recent design that I’m very happy with. Added shit ton of new piercings on his whole body (in total 40+). Got him some more face tatts and changed the arrangement of his ear piercings.

If you’ve read this far I love you and I want ot kiss you.

X

[fanartfunart]

@sapony01​ commented on one of my Sides Swap posts: Can you explain their function and personality a bit better/explore them? Some are kinda obvious but some kinda confuse me

And, but of course! I’m totally open to it! (I’m mostly making another post for it because otherwise it’ll get absurdly long)

To summarize, the main idea is that they keep their personality and secondary traits they represent (Like Ego, Emotionality, ect), while further representing the Main Trait (like Anxiety, Creativity, ect)

The rest under the cut:

Anxiety

Roman: His key representation of Anxiety would befall closer to overemphasizing bravery and ignoring problems, and of course, insecurities. Thus a focus on Dangers you can Fight, and avoiding things you can’t. A emphasis on the Knight theme as a representation of bravery. He’d use ego and theatricality as a cover- a ‘be weird before people can accuse you of being weird because then it’s on purpose’ type logic.

Patton: The type of Anxiety where you emotionally over extending yourself because you’re scared of social-emotional repercussions. Caring so much that there’s no time and energy to care for yourself. Also a good representation of the Dad-Friend override for Anxiety.

Logan: A representation of over-analyzing the world like an outsider, that emotional distance that, while you’re curious of all the things around you, you can’t help but focus on the bad. Avoidance becomes a key factor and everything is categorized as bad or good off of exaggerated ‘proof’.

Janus: Very self protective to the point that things outside the Comfort Zone are almost always negative and overwhelming. Sarcasm, brittleness, and lying as a way to avoid things outside the Comfort Zone.

Remus: Overthinking creating an Anxious reaction. Basically seeing things in the shadows and over-analyzing interactions. Essentially worries cropping up out of the idea of various terrible things you can think of possibly coming at you from the smallest of hints to it. Also Knight theme because why not.

Creativity 

Logan: A more organized and analytic approach to creative works. Prone to being a literary critic. Draws from media to explain a point. As creativity would likely be the type of writer that hides details and metaphors in everything, focus on foreshadowing and the such.

Janus: Never lets anything be direct, people should be able to make their own conclusions about the meaning of the text. Probably thinks method acting is fun. The kind of actor/writer that easily shrugs on different types of characterizations that it makes other people dizzy seeing him switch between them.

Virgil: Your inner Emo Art Phase personified (everyone has at least one somewhere in there). Would prefer to be either a lesser known creator, or not let Thomas use his real name (thus Ghostwriter), because being Known is Awkward and his work can get too real, being known as a real person could detract from the art. Focus on art as an outlet for expressing negative feelings and stress relief.

Patton: Take your craft-happy relative who always hand-makes gifts and you’ve got Creativity Patton. Just wants to have fun and share the fun. Draws from positive emotional experiences for creativity because he wants to give everyone who sees said art a hug through said art. (Yes, his design is vaugely based off of Disney’s Pinocchio Geppetto aka Pinocchio’s dad.)

Remus: Take Remus as he is, and then take the ‘intrusiveness’ out of him. He basically has all the same horrifying ideas, but he doesn’t use them to make Thomas upset or anything, he’s just making stories.

Logic

Patton: Sorta a relaxed logic, understands not everything can be solved with a clean logical solution and that emotions hold a important space in people’s actions. Is that little logical voice when you’re super mad going ‘you’re mad because this, this, and this, and this is probably an overreaction to what you’re expressing your anger to, but it’s still valid.’ Prone to emotional fallacies though.

Virgil: You know any super cool teacher/professor who teaches you what the book says and then closes the book and says ‘ok now guess what, they’re also wrong, and I’m probably wrong too’?? Virgil as logic. (also why I kinda gave him the ‘tired + university hoodie’ style) Emphasizes learning from various sources and never trusting any of them 100%. Doesn’t trust his own information either, and it makes him stressed.... but like, he’s always stressed anyway so it’s chill. 

Roman: Bounces from topic to topic to learn. Very curious and easily inspired- also easily distracted. The definition of what a liberal arts education should be doing- aka, connecting seemingly unrelated topics. An Encyclopedia of very specific information. But, once he’s got a set of information it’s hard to let go of it, which makes it hard to adjust to being told he’s wrong.

Janus: Emphasis on how information is always being adjusted, and people’s biases are always present in studies and interpretation. Focuses on debunking things. Also kinda makes it hard to 100% be sure of any information presented.

Remus: Enjoys abusing the ‘technicalities’ in things. A little hard to follow in terms of train of thought. Disturbing Facts are still facts.

Morality

Virgil: Emphasis on sympathy and ‘do what you’d hope people would do for you’ moral arguments. Focus on social structure for the ground rules for moral behavior. That guy who’s constantly nice because he wished someone was nice to him, ya know? Hates the idea of being a bad person so much that it causes a lot of guilt and mistrust of the self.

Logan: Thinks of moral behavior as an equation of sorts. People do good things and that causes good things and that allows the social structure to work as it should, so do good things. Draws on philosophy and other social sciences to argue his points. Easy to readjust his thinking with proper reasoning.

Roman: Just wants people to be happy! And to be good! Emphasis on the reactions of others and how that effects your social/emotional well-being. Do good because it feels good kinda guy (he wants to be somebody’s Hero, ya know how it be).

Janus: Understands that morality is such a grey place that most anything can be seen as bad if you argue it enough. Places value on the self as someone deserving of feeling good as well, and bases moral values on what you as an individual wants to do. Also still kinda morally grey in general and probably shouldn’t always be listened to.

Remus: I Follow no Rules but My Own. Full rejection of social pressures. What precisely that means for his resulting moral standing is up to debate.

Deceit

Logan: Woorsst lair because he’ll twist truth and facts into it and it’s hard to pick out what’s the lie. Very blunt about his role as deception and its benefits and drawbacks. Very good about remembering which lies were told when and to who. Not the kind to lie more than seen necessary.

Roman: Focus on lying as acting and getting to where you need to go in life. ‘Fake it til you make it’ is his motto and it also includes mental states. Makes it hard to be honest about feelings. Very much a ‘lying to yourself’ aspect.

Virgil: Lying to avoid perceived negative repercussions. Lying still bothers him- as lying can also cause negative reactions. Focus on lying in reaction to events, less so on lying to the self. Not every lie is especially necessary though, knee-jerk reactions and fear make it very easy to lie. Lies of omission being the most utilized.

Remus: The opposite to Roman’s ‘lying to yourself’. Lying to others just to see their reactions. Uses being ‘blatantly honest’ about taboo subjects to seem honest about other things.

Patton: Lying to spare people’s feelings and being perceived well. Focus on lying or omitting the truth to seem like everything’s awesome.

Intrusive Thots

Patton: Makes emotional reactions overwhelmingly hard to gauge and control, results in terrifying thoughts and feelings with little control or filter. Gets stuck on ideas because of how hard he’s trying to push it away (yea know, like the white bear experiment).

Virgil: Thinks in problem solving, but the problems are of course, the thoughts of his own creation. Incessant about ‘solving’ the perceived problem.... not much else changes.

Logan: The Mad Scientist aesthetic is fun, what can I say? Takes facts and focuses on the scary parts, and then brings them back up on the slightest hint of relevance, and sometimes just Because. Some of it is curiosity taken into a frightening territory and gets overwhelming.

Janus: Emphasis on what happens if terrible things happened. Also likes using the ‘you’re gonna go to hell anyway just dive in with me’ argument. Occasionally pops up in a way that sounds almost nice, then turns horrifying very quickly.

Roman: Take Roman, make his ideas more Remus. He’s already Loud and Proud, just make him scarier, and a little more incessant and probably a little more arrogant for good measure.

[marksinn]

Passion Project: Inspiration

I don’t think I’m starting at the beginning with this post. Keep your eyes peeled for later posts that explain what I’m doing and why.

After a month of thinking about, sketching and painting designs, I have finally done something. Essentially, recently watching two films has pushed me into action, and a part of me is ashamed to admit it. There isn’t a word count or any typesetting to curtail my thoughts here, so strap in.

When I created this brief I figured I’d draw a million wee skateboards, colour a few of them in, then fling my favourites into Adobe illustrator and make them look good. From there I would take the 5 best up to the skatepark and ask some of the patrons there which designs stood out to them. Next, I would adapt the three front-runners and create sweet PhotoShop mockups that would show what my designs would look like as skateboards. If I had the time, inclination or money by the end of the project, I would have the design laid onto a real skateboard (I’ve been looking to buy a new one for some time) and then be proud of myself.

So I’ve drawn some wee skateboards. Then I started upscaling the designs onto the floorboards of my loft:

This was an exercise to let me see how small things need to be adapted to be blown up. Skateboards can have any level of detail that you like on them, I hadn’t considered this until I was trying to draw a semi-perfect triangle for the traffic cone, or until I was using chalk to recreate four cubes. It’s also been fun to work with different media on chipboard - I have learned that most kinds of pencil, paint, chalk and charcoal do not like being used on chipboard. Decorating paint, however, has no such issues. Thanks, Dulux!

And so, with a few of these under my belt, I decided to try some digital designs. So I jumped into Illustrator and totally ignored my sketchbook, coming up with three designs that were all inspired by the day I had just had. The top design, I’ll focus on last, for reasons that will become apparent (unless you follow me on Instagram, where you’ll already know that it’s an absolute hit, with over 19 likes already!). I was told by a guy at the skatepark that he likes decks with very basic designs, just a colour or two, nothing overly detailed. Another skater told me that he often likes the basic wood background with one small emblem or sticker just beside the wheels.

The duo-tone design felt nice, I’m usually one for over-complicating things. I definitely have an attitude of “If there’s more in it, there’s a greater chance someone will find something they like”. The first colour choice put my girlfriend in the mind of a hand-bag she had seen photographed in the arms of Carrie Fisher - it was designed to look like a Prozac pill. So I changed the colours up, and added the separating black lines and textures to give it some subtle character. I then went full meta with the Minimal design. And, if I’m being honest, I’m incredibly happy with how it looks like a wee character. Expect to see that making a comeback in the very near future. But the top design is what really got me going. 

I’ve recently been watching...

...Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and have been loving Miles Morales’ multiple hobbies of graffiti, mixing beats and saving his neighbourhood from a variety of dangers. 

I then went to the cinema to see In The Heights, telling the tale of the Latin community during a blackout in North Manhattan. I found myself wrapped up in the romance, tribulations and music of the cast, and was felt oddly proud of Lin Manuel Miranda - who wrote this as a stage-musical while he was in college, had a modicum of success with it, then went on to create Hamilton, one of the most important musicals of our time. With the success of that particular show taking the entire world by storm, he was given the opportunity to make his old, relatively only semi-popular play into a blockbuster film. You can’t help but be inspired by someone like that.

I often find towards the end of a film I’m inspired by the characters’ journeys: be that from zero to hero, from lonely to loved or from rags to riches. Then I walk out and carry on with my normal life doing normal things. And as the hero of the story’s dreams all came true in the closing minutes (sorry for the spoiler, but it’s a musical, they rarely end in despair), a thought floated across my mind:

I’m utterly sick of being inspired

Now, to my credit, I did figure out in the car home that ‘tired’ would be a far more fitting and rhythmic word to use in this sentence, but this was a mentality that I found resonated really strongly with me. I’m very good at being inspired, I think most people are. We hear stories of people starting their own business, achieving some sporting brilliance or overcoming a personal hurdle and we say “Wow, isn’t that inspiring?” or

“It really inspires you to go out and make a difference!” or

“They are such an inspirational speaker!”

Then we go off about our day, not acting on the inspiration, and, for the most part, remaining uninspired. So I decided to act. 

I did some very quick research (/acquiring of images of graffiti) in order to get the right shapes and textures to create a spray paint effect in Illustrator. I did some very quick research (/confirming the colours) of South American flags, taking the blue and red used in flags of the home nations of Miles Morales from Spider-Man and Usnavi from In The Heights. And I created the top design.

YES! I had been inspired and I had drawn a wee picture to show that - I had acted on my inspirations!

Then I looked to my left and spotted three, blank skate decks that I had bought on a whim from Re:Ply (a wonderful wee company who do a great deal of charity work supplying boards to people who need them, selling boards to people who can afford them, and for a very reasonable fee, providing unusable decks to people who want to use them for artistic purposes). I realised I hadn’t acted on my inspiration, I had just drawn a few pictures of skateboards with the eventual aim of PhotoShopping them onto other pictures of skateboards.

So I took myself...

... into the city centre with a shoddily prepared speech: “I’m looking for some cheap, small cans of spray paint. I’ve no idea what I’m doing, or if I’ll be good at it, so don’t want to invest too much into this.” Hiding behind this self-deprecating shield I barged into multiple art-, pound- and model-shops and pleaded with the staff to help a young idiot out. Amazingly, a very kind shop assistant pointed me in the direction of Fat Buddha, a clothes shop I’d always ignored as it seemed a bit to “...” for me. I don’t know what it seemed, but I knew it wasn't my kind of shop. Happy to prove me wrong, the guys in there were super helpful and they helped me buy my first cans of spray paint. 

Now I’d spent money...

... and as a skinflint, that meant I had to get use out of my purchases. I had tricked myself into being inspired. Inspiration led me to the drawing, inspiration had led me to buy decks and the paint, now inspiration had to make me spray paint.

I’ll stop yammering on now. Essentially, I had planned on creating some analogue designs then digitising them (I’m guessing I should do a post on my brief, yeah? Might just upload the PDF to save me talking more), but then I found that I was doing the complete opposite. Genuinely accidentally. I had played with a few typefaces from various websites to get fonts that represented the ideas I wanted. The top one was semi-stolen (I can’t use the word ‘inspired’ any more in this post) from the end credits of In The Heights. The larger font is something of a nod to inspirational quotes you see on Facebook or on glittery frames in B&M.

I printed those out and cut them into stencils (very impressed that my digital boards have been drawn to a workable scale, thanks Maths). And after putting down a tack-layer (GRAFFITI JARGON (I think)) I sprayed the whole lot in blue.

Next, I tried to get a little fancy. Using cardboard blockers to create straight lines I added stars* (borrowed from the Puerto Rican flag) and made the bottom stripes vaguely reminiscent of America’s Old Glory.

I peeled the lettering off, and I’d done it. I may have to explain the overtly-negative inspirational quote to people, but to me it’s a clear sign that there’s no point in just being inspired, and that’s all I wanted.

A weight I didn’t know I was carrying was lifted from my shoulders. The plan was to possibly end up with a self-designed skateboard. And now I have one.

*Yes, I know they’re crosses.

[danzinora-switch]

Typing the Turtles (ROTTMNT) Part 2 - Donatello

This started out as an investigation into the turtles’ insecurities, because one thing the show does so well is demonstrate that they are still teenagers. And being a teenager is a confusing experience - there’s angst, drama, exploring one’s identity, a lot of growth, and overall figuring out who you are. That’s a messy process, too! And we see this mess in our turtles: they mess up, they’re learning, they self-doubt, they have fears and insecurities, but they’re also discovering their strengths and how to overcome their inner obstacles.

So after thinking about all this way too long, here’s my psychological breakdown of each turtle (I’ll be referencing MBTI and the Enneagram, but will include links for more general information on those if you don’t know what I’m talking about).

Donnie: INTJ, 5w6

The Architect, the Investigator, the Problem-Solver, the Observer

Firstly, getting into this analysis means that we have to step away from the stereotype that all INTJs are cold, aloof, and unemotional. INTJs, especially Turbulent ones, do express emotion, and we’ve all seen Donnie’s dramatic ‘theatre kid’ side. I’m not going to ignore that. He manages to be both thanks to the INTJ’s tertiary function Introverted Feeling (Fi). Extroverted Feeling (Fe) really allows one to connect and empathize with others’ emotions. Fi, however, is a more internal experience of feelings, and has trouble connecting with others without having been in their shoes. I happen to think Donnie is in a strong Ni-Fi loop, as well, which would make sense because fighting bad guys every day while trying to save the world after discovering a Mystic City which upbends everything you ever knew is pretty stressful. https://www.psychologyjunkie.com/2017/06/21/intjs-loop-understanding-ni-fi-loop/

And it’s super interesting that he often expresses his emotions by literally saying them. “Evil laugh! Relishing chuckle! Gasp!” (Mind Meld) and, one of my favorites, he literally says “Sad face emoji” in Many Unhappy Returns.

So while we DO see Donnie experience and display his own emotions, we also DON’T see him all that affected by other people’s emotions. He’s still pretty stoic in Mystic Mayhem after the delivery guy gets mutated, cracking a joke about imitation crab. He’s unaffected by Todd’s puppies in Repo Mantis, and the only one immune to Warren Stone’s sob story in Warren & Hypno Sitting in a Tree. Pizza Pit shows it best when he’s unaffected when Mikey’s favorite pizza place collapses until the same thing happens to him. Fi at work vs Fe.

As for Donnie being a 5w6, keep this core motivation in mind: “[Fives] Want to possess knowledge, to understand the environment, to have everything figured out as a way of defending the self from threats from the environment.” https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-5

Donnie at his Worst: Donnie vs. Witch Town gave us this gem of a line: “Because I’m the science guy! If mystic powers can do everything I can do, but better, then why would you guys even need me?” And while people have pointed out his need to be needed, I argue it’s a little more accurate to say he has a need to belong. His role in the group is the Brainiac, the Science Guy, the Smart One, and so his very identity is tied into fulfilling that role. A 5’s core fear is of being useless, helpless, or incapable. Mystic powers rendering his tech redundant, and thereby him useless, would be a pretty big threat to the security of his role in the group (that 6 wing kicking in). And remember a 5’s core motivation: to understand the environment as a defense. And he still doesn’t understand mystic energy. It’s pretty infuriating, so he’s pretty insufferable about it.

[Note: seeing mystic power as a threat probably didn’t kick in until their fight with Shredder in Many Unhappy Returns. Prior to that, his brothers were still learning how to use their magic weapons, but Donnie already understood his tech well enough to use it effectively (see their first fight against Baron Draxum in the pilot). But against the Shredder… all his tech was useless. Only the hanky, the hanky, was even marginally effective. His brothers’ weapons were now way more capable than anything he had to offer… core 5 fear. And to cope? Learn all you can about your fear/threat. Except he still hasn’t figured it out; we see even in Air Turtle that he calls Draxum for the mystic expertise instead of formulating his own hypothesis].

We’ve seen this insecurity about his place in the group before. In Mind Meld, as his brothers become more like him, his role is challenged. “Hey, you’re trying to get rid of me, that’s what I do to you!” “But, I thought purple was my... my thing.” When he first meets the Purple Dragon he immediately wants to join them because he sees them as tech peers. In Man vs Sewer even though he professes that it’s his day off, he doesn’t react well whenever Leo does ‘his thing’: analyzing the situation and drawing a conclusion. His self-worth seems to be tied to what he has to offer the group, and we hear that even in his song in The Mystic Library about proving himself.

Besides his insecurity, Donnie is practically allergic to blame. (Interestingly enough, he’s more okay with being wrong and others being right sometimes… sure he’ll deflect, but it doesn’t seem to get under his skin the way being at fault does). He will repeatedly deny fault and shift the blame to someone else when something goes wrong. He denies creating AlBearto in Al Be Back, says the incident with the Purple Dragons in The Purple Jacket is entirely April’s fault (she is not amused) and puts the blame for ditching Todd off on his brothers in Todd Scouts. The one time we see him own up his mistakes is in Mind Meld when no one (except Shelldon) is around to see it. “Yup. I beefed up.” This is definitely an area he needs to work on.

Average Donnie: Donnie cares for his brothers, but that doesn’t always get across in the best of ways. Take the episode Donnie’s Gifts, for example. Donnie never actually got a chance to explain how the gifts work, but we can see protective elements in each of them. Raph: please use your head and don’t just blindly rush in! Mikey: ohmygosh that is so dangerous, please be careful and don’t get hurt! Leo: stop poking the bear, Leo, it only makes him angrier! It makes sense that a 5 who has external fears of the world and has their own protective equipment (the Battle Shells) would extend that to his brothers. And Donnie was able to recognize that even though his brothers got the wrong message, he could move past that and call for a group hug. In the Purple Game he is super anxious to make sure his brothers are okay and not mostly hurt. Insane in the Mama Train also reveals the invention of the Panic Button… and who designed that?

Donnie also seeks a lot of validation. He takes pride in his work, and when his work is appreciated he gives that appreciation back tenfold [such as when he shows off the Turtle Tank to his brothers (Fast and Furriest), or when Splinter says he’s proud of him (Turtle-dega Nights: the Ballad of Rat Man)]. The flip side is that when he’s not getting the validation he needs from others he’ll create it himself, which comes off as arrogant and egocentric. See Smart Lair, when Sheldon 1.0 plays messages of Donnie’s self-worth all night, and is programmed to favor him. Or when he takes full credit for defeating a bad guy: the silverfish in Donnie’s Gifts, and scaring Draxum away with his disco ball in Shadow of Evil. When he gets the recognition for all his hard work from the right people, though, it inspires him to do great things. There is danger in getting validation from the wrong people, however, as we saw in Big Mama’s case in Bug Busters.

Donnie at his Best: Donnie’s at his best (and most relaxed) whenever he’s learning or building something. He gets super excited and happy attending April’s school (The Purple Jacket) or going to the library (The Mystic Library) and wants to attend college someday (The Mutant Menace). The INTJ/5 seeks to absorb information and he’s constantly energized by it.

He’s also energized when he can put that information to use, such as when building something. Did Albearto need a total tear-down in War and Pizza? No. But Donnie had fun making him ‘dazzle!’ How did Donnie cope being in the woods in Todd Scouts? By building an impressive tree fort. Donnie’s projects actually relax him, because he’s exercising his strength and capabilities.

This also works for his method of attacks and plans: Know Thine Enemy. He studies Warren Stone in Newsworthy when they meet him and is the only one who remembers he regenerates by Warren & Hypno Sitting in a Tree. Donnie and Mikey are able to successfully scam Repo Mantis in One Man’s Junk because they know how he thinks. Donnie thwarts everything the Purple Dragons do and can bring Shelldon home because he knows how they operate  (The Purple Game, Breaking Purple). He can restore his brothers to their rightful minds in Mind Meld because he knows himself. 

Also: music. The fact that one of his Battle Shells has a music mode (Mascot Melee), that he remembers things in song form (The Mystic Library, Donnie vs Witch Town), and that he likes to dance (Stuck on You) is so pure and adorable.

Donnie Relationships: 

(while Donnie does see his brothers as dum-dums at times, he admits they’re fun and pretty great to have in Mind Meld)

Raph: We really need a Donnie and Raph episode, but even without one there’s some moments we can look at. I already discussed in Raph’s analysis their general similarities. Donnie doesn’t think Raph always has the brightest ideas, but still has soft moments with him such as giving him $20 at the end of Mind Meld, designing the ‘captain’s chair’ of the Turtle Tank to Raph’s lumbar settings, and appreciating Raph’s pirate accent in Snow Day. They are both protective of their brothers, Raph with his fists and Donnie with his tech. It’s interesting that (I believe) they’re the reverse of each other on the Enneagram: Raph is a 6w5, and Donnie a 5w6. So they both understand the risks involved in what they do (mostly: Donnie still ate poison and Raph still goes on ‘smashcapades’). I really want to see a team-up between them.

Leo: I’m all for the Disaster Twins trope, but to me an episode that epitomizes that isn’t one like Lair Games, where they’re at each other’s throats, but Operation Normal. They’ve apparently done the grandma-getup before. They wind up playing as good cop, bad cop in Fast and Furriest. Sure, one’s high-strung, and one’s laid-back, which can get on each others’ nerves, but there’s also a lot of making up. Brotherly betrayal passes back and forth between them, but never crosses a line. And the numerous times they unconsciously mirror each other can be found with a simple search of the Disaster Twins tag. I’m interested to see more episodes where they work together, even in the background, just because they can get up to wild shenanigans.

Mikey: Mikey’s probably the turtle Donnie most gets along with. They’ve had several episode team-ups: Repo Mantis, One Man’s Junk, Turtle-dega Nights: the Ballad of Rat Man, Breaking Purple, etc. Donnie may be the team academic, but Mikey has strong emotional intelligence. They get along pretty easily, making plans together (One Man’s Junk) and protecting each other (we see Donnie protect Mikey in Repo Mantis and Bug Busters, but we see Mikey protect Donnie by pulling him out of the way in Smart Lair). Donnie helps Mikey focus on the goal at hand, and Mikey helps Donnie communicate better with others. They’re a good team with a pretty solid foundation.

Ultimately, Donnie’s an inventive turtle who wants his brothers to be safe but is still wrestling with a lot of insecurities and unhealthy stress levels. I’m excited to see how he grows into real confidence and utilizes his strengths as an integral member of the team.

For more information on the INTJ and Enneagram 5 personality types, click here:

https://www.16personalities.com/intj-personality

https://www.crystalknows.com/enneagram/type-5-wing-6

https://thoughtcatalog.com/heidi-priebe/2016/01/mbti-and-the-enneagram-2/6/