#This was mostly to just get a solid design from the sketch i did

[wizardofwoof]

Fnaf brainrot really going crazy lately

Tho im not complaining

[forevergoldgame]

3 DAYS! GETTING CLOSER!

A lot of the portraits changed between the demo and first actual release. Part of it is Dan becoming more confident drawing these characters (after drawing them all 1000 times), but we did do a lot of design tweaking. We thought we'd talk a bit about our character design tweaks and process!

Quincy has not changed much in terms of core design. The biggest change he's had since my first iterative scribbles is the addition of his hat. However, I have long struggled to capture his proportions. He is meant to look solid, but my draftsmanship has had some catching up to do. I'm still learning, in fact! I will say his newer portraits are much more in line with the blocky fullness I intended. -Dan

D'Angelo wasn't a character I initially intended to revamp much for the full release. It was design change by a thousand cuts when I decided to redo his portraits just to bring the art quality up to snuff. First - I took issue with the incredibly inaccurate button-down he was wearing. (We're not being so strict about clothing style timelines or even limitations of reality, but this one just bothered me so much.) Then, I thought, I might as well make his overcoat a little fancier.

Finally, his head seemed somehow under-dressed by the end of that. He could use some more rakish qualities, I thought, and tried throwing some jheri curl/Prince-esque hair at his head. I wasn't so sure about it at first, but upon showing it to L.S. and a few friends, IT WAS A RESOUNDING HIT. Now it's hard to imagine him without his luscious curls. -Dan

Lucas's hair is now black with silver tips, rather than completely silver with red tips. While this invalidates that old comic, I think his design just reads better at a glance if his hair isn't in competition with his already lighter skin/fur. His purely silver hair was also decided at a time when we toyed with allowing more anime-esque hair colors in the setting. Out of all the characters, Lucas looks most like he just set foot out of an old-school JRPG, and while that's mostly fine, I still want him to look grounded enough in the setting and like he's actually related to his brother.

(Also, the pedant in me just couldn't believe he is maintaining perfectly dyed-to-the-root locs while he spends most this story traveling. Or that he dyed his eyebrows. There's just no way.) -Dan

Vicky both is and isn't much of a change. Sure, the portraits look quite different, but I didn't so much change her design as much as I approached drawing some of her individual features. And that, in turn, changed how Dan interpreted my sketches in her style.

See, Vicky is actually based on an older character of mine that I wrote years and years ago. And so, when I dusted her off to reuse her in Forever Gold, I just kind of belted out some concept art that was very close to how I drew her back then and handed that to Dan without much iteration. Then, once she was there standing beside the rest of the cast, I realized... eh, I'd probably choose to emphasize different aspects of her design were I to take another crack at it. So when Dan presented the opportunity to me, I went for it.

With her design refresh, I drew inspiration from female leads in 80s action movies. Unlike a movie star, however, she's meant to sort of straddle the line between handsome and a little off-putting, hence her large teeth and prominent gums. I wanted to evoke the feeling of a woman who would get told she "would be so pretty" if she changed 8 things and stopped working out and then does not do those 8 things and instead gets an extra 10 reps in at the gym, just for the haters.

(Her snout design pretty much stayed the same though because it was already right where it needed to be.) -LS

--

Hope that was a fun bit of insight for ya'll! Thanks for sticking with us through all this. See you in a couple days!

-Dan and LS

[uva124]

So yeah, I finished the drawing of Asha's redesign from Wish :D, maybe I'll make some changes in the future, but I'm happy to have finished it, it should be noted that I haven't seen the movie. , so I can't give my opinion on it yet, but I found it very interesting that their fandom is mainly made up of people who rewrote or made their own version of the movie, they are all very creative and it got me out of an artistic block. that I had a few months ago, but above all I found the rewriting of @annymation which is the one I have been most hooked on, so I wanted to do some redesigns of the characters coming out of its rewriting, that's why everything that has to do with the story of this version of Asha, as well as her personality and her world on which I base my drawing are the ideas and work of this account: @annymation

I'm just making a drawing of her character and how I would design her as well as sharing part of the process I had to do to draw her because, why not?

BOARD:

The first thing I had to do was put together a table full of references that reminded me of the character and things that I would like to add to her design, so I used milanote to do it:

-Looked for some Asha's concept art and save the ones I liked the most, and add the main colors that I used in the design. -I also created notes to write down the personality of the character and some of his data to have a better guide, I did a little research and found publications that talked a lot about Asha's discarded designs and how Disney workers had put that she had tribe ancestry Amazigh on his mother's side and since his father was from the Iberian Peninsula, that's why the next thing I wanted to do is research more about their culture. -I am not an expert on this topic, nor do I belong to the cultures from which Asha has ancestry, so you can comment on any correction regarding this topic, I wanted to implement details of this culture to her design and I would really like to give a correct representation :)

HAIRSTYLE

Continuing with the theme, I saw that the hairstyles in the Amazigh culture mostly had this type of colorful decorations on their braids and dreadlocks, that's why I also posted these reference photos for Asha's hairstyle.

-Finally I decided that Asha would not have all her hair full of braids or dreadlocks, but only a few accompanied by these decorations with a great variation of colors, although it was fun to sketch the many hairstyle options that I had in mind based on these concept art and other photos that I had saved

TATTOOS:

-Another detail that I liked was giving Asha some tattoos with designs from the Amazigh culture, because I saw that it was quite common for women to get them, the tattoo on her forehead is a symbol of protection against bad influences, that's why the The middle symbol is responsible for deflecting it in the 4 directions, I also added a similar one in Asha's right hand.

ASTROLOGY AND THE SPACE:

-An important part of Asha's rewrite is her knowledge of astronomy inherited from her father, especially with the stars for obvious reasons xd, so in addition to adding constellations to her dresses, research the meaning (or something like that) of the planets. Only 3 really reminded me of the character, which were: -Mars: Symbolization of the internal conquering function of moving forward, independent, self-determined, enduring failures with new energy, courage and energy to fight for your desires. -Saturn: Maturity, effort to solidly build realistic criteria, frustrations are transformed into objectives to continue growing, critical and realistic, far from getting frustrated when an objective does not work, you strive to move forward and obtain even more resistant and solid achievements, perseverance , and tenacity (I feel like yhis it the most similar to Asha :D) -Moon: protective role, feeling very vulnerable outside your known areas, feeling of security with your ties, importance of family ties. The one that reminded me the most of Asha was Saturn, that's why I drew those Saturn-shaped earrings :).

SUITS:

I looked for references and placed some on milanote, I noticed that the concept art was mainly divided into whether the dresses have lilac colors or warm colors, I decided to draw 2 models based on the discarded designs, although at first I thought of using only one color palette lilac and bluish, I realized that the reddish colors of her dress reminded me of Mars which has certain meanings that in my opinion coincide with Asha's personality. In the end I didn't decide what wardrobe she would primarily have 😅, but I like to think that in this version of Wish, Asha would have wardrobe and hairstyle changes like in some older Disney movies.

-These are some of the concepts that I mainly used for my version of the dresses

FINAL COMMENTS:

I am satisfied with the result, it was fun to make all this, although what I researched mostly seems little, it actually cost me several hours and I did it at night, so as a funny fact the next day I was explaining all this information to my mother and I felt like I looked like that:

(Make this drawing was so funny LMAO)

(Apologies if there are errors in my writing, English is not my first language and my writing is very basic)

[basil-does-arttt]

haiiiiii hello you gorgeous herb

character asksssss for the schwalbes the beautiful surgeons they are.

let’s go with 2,3,5 (or at least bird type for this one) aaaand 20.

stay frosty!!

HELLO JAY!!! 2: How long was the process before the character reached its final version? (or a version that would be clearly recognizable as the character?)

Not that long actually. Started with her acronym and a concept of a medical replika... drew her reference, and that was pretty much it. And thats the case for pretty much all of my ocs... well my Replikas at least. Ofc i'm still developing her a little but, specifically who her Gestalt was, but she's pretty much finalized. When i make ocs i tend to already have a solid idea of who they'll be, what their personality is, what they look like, etc... so i don't do many concepts or anything before finalizing the design. Maybe thats bcs of how long i've been making ocs, or maybe i just have a weirdly vivid imagination who knows lol. 3: What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?

Name! Her role at the same time was decided as well i guess, and then her personality and appearance. 5: How did you choose their name and why? Was it simply based on vibes or is there any specific meaning behind the name? Are the reasons behind their name different in- and out of universe?

Like i said before i started with her acryonym and went from there. I know you don't have to match the bird to the acronym nessecarily (cough my fear units) but i do like to try and get it as close as i can. So i chose Schwalbe, because i ended up with the acronym SCBR. In universe.... uhh i don't really have a reason for her being a Swallow :3 20: Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favourite scenes, anything you've been waiting for a chance to ramble about

No full drawings but i do have some sketches between her and a EULR assistant, Pollen!!

Pollen likes to get on her nerves... a LOT. because she thinks its funny. and also she has a thing for Schwalbe when she's mad. That second sketch i thought was funny bcs when Schwalbe doesn't have any cases to work on for extended periods of time she's put into stasis. A deep sleep basically. And some more art! this time, concepts of her Gestalt >:)

Evelynn Sato. A vinetan soldier added to the team last-minute as a field medic due to her having studied medicine back home and being at least mostly competent in treating wounds efficiently. She was from Kitezh originally. Surrendered to invading Nation forces when her hometown was invaded and went to Vineta as a refugee, enlisting in the military shortly afterward as she didn't see many other options. Learned english from one of her fellow soldiers and thats where she got her australian accent from. She volunteered to become a Neural Patten Donor in the hopes she could secure funds to rescue her family from Kitezh and bring them to Vineta once the war was over; she did not know she would never see them again. She was a quiet woman, a loner and kind of an outcast. Constantly on edge, stressed, homesick. But she always tried her best to help her fellow soldiers, and others in need. (even maybe a couple of imperial soldiers here and there.. which got her into some hot water, oops.) But yeah... Schwalbe's Gestalt was an imperial! At least, she was born an imperial and was converted to a loyal Nation soldier. begrudgingly. I find this history compared to Schwalbe's undying love and loyalty to the Nation an interesting conflict.. ofc Schwalbe doesn't know of her Gestalt's past and neither does anybody else; its very conveniently not mentioned in her classified documents that her Gestalt was an imperial, only that she was a soldier so she doesn't need much to be kept content and happy in her work. Also, the contrast between Schwalbe's neat-freak nature and obsession with hygiene, cleanliness and protocols, and Evelynn having to perform all her procedures in muddy, dirty, contaminated scenarios with sometimes less than ideal materials and just pray the soldier she was treating didn't end up dying of an infection later down the line.

[hurricanek8art]

Okay, I don't know what's going on with Tumblr and everything has been absolute chaos with my life the past few months, so y'know what, screw it. I think I'm actually brave enough to share some of my art. At least it won't just be sitting on my tablet that way.

This is my Sith Inquisitor turned Force-sensitive Outcast from SWTOR, Roodaka Greatstorm-Kallig. I haven't really plotted everything out with her regarding her story, but she's not my Outlander. She leaves the Empire right after Ziost, after losing all of the family she'd used her Dark Council connections to find and save from slavery, and Lana recruits her to help Sana-Rae run the Enclave about two years before the Outlander (my Knight Aja Verdona) is rescued. She's prickly and petty and spiteful but I love her dearly. And because I've never posted art before, art process and a little bit of character lore ramble under the cut, I guess?

I usually work with lined art/sketches that are admittedly very messy, but when I did the first one back in May I was experimenting with actually rendering/painting, and I saw a fashion post thing that looked like something Roo would wear, so I was mostly just playing around, it's not a solid outfit design for her. It's janky and wonky and oh Lord please don't look closely at the anatomy or face it is not up to my usual standards, but I was so proud of myself for the lighting on this one, as well as how I managed to render the muscle. Like, the lighting! I have no idea what I'm doing but I think it looks so flipping good! And I was happy with how the crackly lightsaber blade turned out—it is supposed to be Aloysius Kallig's lightsaber, meaning it's at least over a thousand years old, right? It should be a little janky with age!

The second one is supposed to be post Fallen Empire, after she's left the Sith and become sort of a wandering Force-user—think Ahsoka as of, well... Ahsoka, but more on the side of Ventress if she'd survived TCW (don't get me started on that choice 🙄🙄🙄). I came into it knowing a little more of what I was doing, but I kinda got in over my head and gave up on the 100% lineless thing, you can definitely tell with the sword/clothes. 🥴 The second piece has been sitting unfinished in my WIP folder for months, so I just said screw it, finished up some details and called it because I am SO PROUD of her face and hands (I DREW A GOOD HAND WITHOUT LINEART WHO AM I?!?!) and how I rendered her skin, I don't want it to live in WIP purgatory forever. You can actually tell that's muscle! And a neck!

I'm proud of how her tattoos turned out, too. I played around with Cham Syndulla's tattoo pattern, turning it at different angles. It felt like a good way to root her in Twi'lek culture despite the Kallig bloodline having been separated from it for so long. She gets the first one to cover up a slave tattoo, and the rest after Ziost to further reclaim her identity and culture, leaving the Sith behind.

I have no idea how to close this post. Um... thanks for reading all this, if you have? I've never posted art before, I'm kinda terrified. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[mystic-rox]

Glass Between Us

Master List

Pairings: Aaron Hotchner x Arden Morvant (OC)

WC: 1.9k

8. The Space Between Us

The rain hadn’t stopped. Not really. Just changed tone, turned from a whisper to something more persistent, like it had grown teeth. It tapped at the window of the hotel room in a steady rhythm, not loud enough to distract but impossible to ignore. From his seat by the window, Aaron could still see the dock, the echo of flashing red and blue lights slowly fading from his memory. It had all gone quiet too fast.

Behind him, the door creaked open. He didn’t turn around. He didn’t need to. “You should sleep,” he said.

Arden entered like he didn’t hear him, like he never had. Damp hair clung to his neck and forehead, shirt still rain-heavy, sleeves pushed up to his elbows. The sketchbook was cradled in his arms, held close like something half-sacred, half-cursed. He sat without asking, cross-legged on the bed.

Aaron didn’t speak again. Just waited. “I can still feel it,” Arden finally said, voice stripped bare. “The pull. Like she’s still here. Like she’s watching through someone else’s eyes.”

Aaron turned then. “You think there’s someone else?”

“No.” Arden set the sketchbook down, his hands resting over it protectively. “I think her design is still echoing. That’s the problem with people like her. You kill the architect, but the building still stands. And people, people keep wandering inside without even knowing.”

Aaron leaned forward. “What did she do to you?”

Arden smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “She taught me to make beautiful things out of broken people.”

Silence yawned between them.

“And you believed her?” Aaron asked.

“No,” Arden said softly. “I met her after I had been broken down. I just humored her.”

He shifted then, pulled the sketchbook closer, and flipped open to the page with the rook. Still standing. Still sharp-edged. There was something oddly defiant about it.

"Arden—" Aaron wanted nothing more to ask what happened, why he left, but he was cut off.

“She wanted me to play the game,” Arden said, more to the sketch than to Aaron. “So I learned it. I learned all the rules. Studied every pattern. And then I tore them up.”

“You didn’t tear them up,” Aaron said quietly. “You made your own, the Red Hyacinth.

Arden’s hand stilled on the page. “I did what I had to, Aaron. I will never regret it.”

Aaron rose and walked over. He didn’t touch him, just stood near enough that Arden could feel the weight of his presence. Solid. Reliable.

“You should. There was a time where you would have.”

Arden looked up. “Twenty years can change a man, Aaron.” He looked down at his hands.

“That’s not fair—”

"No, none of it was." There was a long, terrible beat before Arden whispered, “She used my stories, Aaron. My nightmares. The parts I never said out loud. Parts that would make even you flinch.”

“Because you trusted her. Once.” Aaron's voice was steel. “And she took everything. But that doesn’t mean she gets to keep it."

Arden stood, chest rising like it took effort to keep from shaking. “They’ll ask me for the debrief in the morning.”

“I’ll be with you.”

“I don’t want you to protect me.”

“I’m not,” Aaron said. “I’m standing beside you. There’s a difference."

Arden didn’t reply. Just turned away and headed for the door.

Halfway there, Aaron called after him. “Whatever happened, it didn’t break you, I still see the boy I knew.”

Arden paused. “No. You don't, that boy died on his seventeenth birthday.”

The next morning, the conference room felt more like a war room. Prentiss was already seated, fingers curled around a cup of strong coffee. JJ and Morgan stood near the whiteboard where their evidence timeline still remained, thread unraveling at the edges but mostly intact. Reid sat in the corner, glasses on, flipping through Delia’s reconstructed journal pages with barely suppressed fury.

Garcia’s laptop was open on the table. Her face flickered on screen in real time. “Morning, crime fighters. I come bearing data and righteous indignation. Also, maybe a lead.”

“Good,” Aaron said, arms crossed. “We need to close the loop.”

Garcia straightened. “So get this. While going through the metadata on that storage unit video, I found cross-referenced timestamps. Multiple edits. That means someone re-watched it. On different devices. Several times.”

“Delia?” JJ asked.

“No. The chip ID doesn’t match her previous hardware. But it does match a second device recovered from Hale’s motel room. Hidden in the lining of a duffel bag. So either he was watching them obsessively… or someone else was.”

Reid looked up. “You think there’s another player.”

“I think there’s a spectator,” Garcia said. “One who knew how to stay in the wings. But not forever.”

Morgan ran a hand over his jaw. “Isn't this kind of what you did, Arden?"

“Here, surrounded and watched by all of you?” Arden said, stepping in, his voice sharper than usual. “No.”

Reid glanced at him. “You look like you didn’t sleep.”

“I didn’t.” He walked to the map and stared at it for a long moment. “Where would she hide something no one would think to look for it?”

“Somewhere personal,” Aaron answered. “Somewhere symbolic.”

“She had a studio,” Arden said suddenly. “Back when we were both overseas. She painted then, said it helped her ‘quiet the noise.’ She always rented spaces with skylights. She believed natural light made it harder for people to lie.”

JJ frowned. “That sounds like a memory.”

“It is. I just didn’t remember it until now.”

Garcia was already typing. “Cross-referencing all rentals under known aliases and biometric matches… and boom goes the dynamite. She leased a space six months ago. In a building with—wait for it—a glass ceiling. Same alias she used to create Hale’s storage account.”

Aaron nodded. “We’re going.”

The space smelled like linseed oil and dust. Paints left to dry, canvases propped against the walls. Most were slashed or burned. Only one remained untouched. A large canvas draped with silk.

Arden peeled the fabric away.

The painting was of him.

Not an idealized portrait. Not even a flattering one. It showed him on his knees, sword in hand, face tilted upward, expression cracked wide with anguish. Behind him, faceless figures watched. And over all of them, a queen with Delia’s features stood in profile, one hand on the knight’s shoulder, the other holding a dagger.

Aaron’s hand tightened at his side. “Arden, what does this mean?”

“She turned me into a fable. Something to scare her enemies with.”

Reid found a journal tucked behind the canvas. “It’s her handwriting again. Pages and pages of—”

“Of me,” Arden finished. “How to remake me. How to mimic me. I trusted her… and she wanted to recreate what was done to me.” He spat, Aaron stepping forward but stopping when Arden moved away from him.

Prentiss lifted a flash drive from beneath a loose floorboard. “She wanted someone to find this.”

Aaron looked at Arden. “You ready?”

“No,” he said. “But I’m still moving.”

The flash drive was silver. Unmarked. Sleek like a blade. Prentiss had tucked it into an evidence bag with gloved hands, but even sealed, Arden couldn’t seem to look away from it. It rested now on the table of the jet, a quiet threat humming with potential.

Reid had secured a private digital sandbox for them. JJ hovered at his side, and Morgan lingered nearby, arms crossed, jaw tight.

Arden didn’t move. Aaron looked at him. “Arden.”

He blinked like he’d only just realized they were talking to him. “You should do it,” he said.

“You’re the one she made it for,” Reid pointed out.

“That’s exactly why I shouldn’t be the one to open it.”

Aaron didn’t push. He nodded once to Reid, who inserted the drive into the encrypted laptop. The screen flickered.

Morgan leaned over his shoulder. “What are the dates on the videos?”

“Timestamped over the course of eight months,” Reid said. “The last one was three days before Mallory Quinn’s murder.”

JJ opened the first document. Reid leaned in as the file opened. It was dozens of pages long, formatted like a manifesto but written like a manual. Each section broke down elements of control, manipulation, choreography. Grooming tactics laced with metaphors from Arden’s old field notes. Arden leaned forward, then recoiled.

“She took everything I told her,” he whispered. “Every private theory. Every unfinished thought. Every metaphor I used to process things. And she… bastardized it.”

“She used your voice,” Morgan said grimly. “To train Hale.” Reid paged through it rapidly. “She used your guilt as gospel.”

“There are annotations,” JJ said, squinting. “Side comments… like instructions for a student.”

“She didn’t just teach him,” Arden said, swallowing. “She sanctified the game.”

Aaron's gaze stayed steady on the screen. “Let’s move to the video.”

JJ clicked it open. The screen faded in from black. It was Arden. But not Arden now.

A much younger Arden, barely past twenty-five, disheveled, speaking softly in a café. The angle was low, clandestine. A hidden camera. His eyes were bright. His hands restless. The words were fragments: theories about symbolism, reflections, the use of symmetry in unsolved crime scenes. It was footage from Budapest. From the very first conversations he thought were private.

“She recorded me,” Arden said hollowly. “From the start.” The video cut abruptly. Then a new frame.

Hale. Years later. Kneeling in that same folding-chair theater they’d found in the Tacoma storage unit. He was holding a sheet of paper. Reading aloud.

The words were Arden’s. Verbatim. Spoken like prayer. “He memorized you,” Reid said. “She made you into his scripture.”

Arden’s fists clenched. “This isn’t just evidence. It’s… desecration.”

“She wasn’t building a legacy,” Aaron said slowly. “She was building a myth.”

JJ moved to the final folder.

“Little Wolf.” Arden froze. That name. His ring name. His stage name from the pit fights and the shadows.

“Close it,” Arden said. Quiet. Commanding “She never stopped tracking me,” he murmured. “It started when I left, when I was 19, especially if she knows that name.”

Garcia’s voice crackled through the speaker. She’d been listening remotely, working in tandem. “That folder is encrypted, but shallowly. She wanted you to see this, Arden. All of it. She wanted to remind you you were never out of her reach.”

Reid shut the laptop. “This isn’t a drive. It’s a trap.”

“No,” Arden said, leaning forward, his face carved from ice. “It’s a graveyard. She left it for me so I’d carry it. So I’d bury myself in it.”

Aaron stood. “No,” he said, looking Arden directly in the eyes. “You don’t bury yourself. You bury her. This time for good.”

And something shifted in Arden’s shoulders, like the first breath after a long night underwater. He nodded once, slowly. “I think,” he said, voice hoarse but steady, “it’s time we burn the board.”

“So what now?” Morgan asked, eyebrow raised. Arden looked at him, tired but clear. “Now? I choose my own game.”

He turned back to the window. In his hand, the red-ink pen. Clicking it open. Closed. Open. Closed.

The knight was gone from the sketchbook now.

But in its place, inked in thick, certain lines…

A queen. Not her.

His.

Tag List: @pkg4mumtown | @paintemars | @rensswritess | @skeletonfrogs

DM or Ask to be added! Liebe Dich! 🖤

[ectocs]

The Lumchagg

Feel like I'm cutting it a bit close this week :P

So. The lumchagg. It's a bird, it's purple, it likes aromatic herbs and it sets itself on fire to revive itself into a worm. Honestly this thing grew on me the more I worked on it.

Ideas behind this design below the cut ! Alongside some doodles, rambles, and concepts :)

It starts life as a "worm" -- a featherless, pink squirmy thing with nubs where its limbs will later grow in. The lengthy tail will later be absorbed to facilitate that.. like a lot of metamorphosing (is that the word?) creatures.

The idea at this point is pretty straightforward. Recently got to watch two robin nests grow, which was interesting, and young birds look really... fleshy. Wanted to give it coloring on its throat like the clitellum on a worm (aka the saddle) but I think it's just not distinctive enough. I gave it four eyes for more of a bug feel, though it's so minor I don't think it matters much in the end.

As it grows and gets feathers, the lumchagg's tail shortens -- the wings are the first limb to fully grow, giving it an amphithere-like appearance, though the legs soon follow within the same day the wings finish growth, making the change from worm to bird seem almost instant. All four eyes are open, though body coloration is not "mature."

Not much to say on this stage; it's a bird with fun antennae-like tufts on its head and a fun beak, a vaguely dinosaur feel, and coloration based sorta on a violet-backed starling. It has faint horns/ridges because ... um...... well to be honest I just decided to give it to the thing based on the dinosaur/dragon/etc vibes in the room.

In the adult stage, they will spend most of their long-lived lives as a darker, mostly-solid purple tone. This coloration lasts until the very end of their lives, at which point the lumchagg's wings become pale on the inside, allowing it to concentrate and direct the sun's rays onto flammable material. Through this method, the bird is able to burn and rebirth itself.

Drew the end-of-life stage here setting itself on fire. Don't ask how white/pale wings lets it burn stuff; it comes back to life, it gets privileges the average white goose doesn't get.

Here is a basic idea of the life cycle, hastily slapped together as a visual:

There was quite a bit of thinking to get to this point. Here is the last sketch page I did. Unlike the other doodles I never bothered coloring it in, as I decided to go with this look.

Note the "wyrm" title -- I initially wanted to do a more dragon-y take, with a final form maybe being an amphithere, but decided against it in the end and changed tracks when I couldn't get that to look right. Liked the idea though, so it gets to be a life stage that exists for 0.1 seconds. You can also see the adult pose change!

The butterfly note here comes from some images I was looking at with interesting wing shapes. Never quite got it how I wanted, pivoted to a purely pennant-winged nightjar kind of wing.

Now the thing I had done earlier was some bugs, which I liked, but ultimately just couldn't draw 'em. Bird can be a loose term, after all, and large black swallowtails flying by at fast speeds have had me thinking a small bird flew past me on multiple occasions.

Plus, well, lots of bugs have worm-children. There are literally just worms, of course. But butterflies, beetles, flies, sawflies... all winged (usually) with little squirmy babies.

And the first doodle page was, of course, birds. I must admit, this is my favorite just because I figured out how to draw birds only on this ONE sketch session. That heron is beautiful. But anyway -- I kinda merged ideas together in the end, giving it several traits from both doodled birds.

In my heart, after all these arts, a lumchagg is a kind of weird purple bird of any type lol. Even from the beginning, I wanted that kind of long feather just for looks. Please note the incorrect text describing what I call the "standard-winged purple swampjarhen." It's a hybrid of a grey-headed swamphen (aka a purple swamphen) and a pennant-winged nightjar. Oops! I was looking at them in a tab, I have no idea how I messed up my own damn text.

Here's a pennant next to a standard -- big difference in silly wing feathers!

[breadstick237]

monthly recap time!

so, what did I learn this month? part 2!

10.12.2024-10.01.2025

I started out strong, the first week i tackled backgrounds! Even though they're just a simple studies from references they're at least done, and i'm pretty proud of that since i've been avoiding this type of work all of my life. That's... the only thing i can honestly say i'm proud of this month.

There also was traditional art. I didn't focus on it at all this month, i only did my still life homework and portrait as a gift. By comparison to last month its weak, but its fine, that wasn't my goal.

My goal was working on the project i want to put in my portfolio.

And I was... slacking, a lot. Today i realized how much of my daily drawing was just procrastinating. Im so mad at myself for it, honestly.

I mean, i did a lot of work in my head. Pinterest board, looking up references, watching other people do things i don't know how to tackle myself, planning, thinking. It all gave me the impression of hard work.

its not bad itself, it's a solid way to learn. But it only works if tou have time. I have to speedrun through this process and i forgot about it. I've got like 4 months more to build a proper portfolio and for now i only have an idea in my head and i just wasted a month on thinking about it.

As i look back at it, from this month i only have two characters designed fully, for the third one i'm still unsure about the outfit. And one unfinished illustration (made to figure out how i should combine characters and environment. Plus, one sketch of the scene i have in mind.

What a disaster.

So, now i really have to get my shit tohether. And for that i need a good plan, because only saying "today i'm gonna do something neat" is one thing and deciding on what that is and how to do it in an efficient way is another.

I mostly have to remember that it's not going to be a masterpiece and i can't aim for that. I just have to finish it and that way with time i can progress. I'm not gonna develop a skill to do something good without doing the thing at all, only thinking about it.

yeah, i'm mad at myself. I feel the time pressure and that's why i can't afford wasting any more time. I have to keep in mind that my goal for now isn't to get good at art but to get as many pieces done as possible. That will of course make me better, i know that. But it's not my priority so i can't procrastinate by doing only studies.

its time to get shit done, no matter how bad and hard it turns out. i have to suck it up and finish even i don't like how it looks :((

[matoitech]

Any dragon guys in your oc repertoire?

i do have some yeah! i like dragons a lot i need more for ocs..

theres dirk, a med student in his 20s. he hasnt reached his residency yet but he's pursuing specializing in trans healthcare (he's trying to get into plastics to do bottom surgeries). he's got a cane (bad legs) and can breathe fire but usually only does when he's upset or overstimulated. his partner is gadget, who's a mechanic (and a kangaroo). both of them have existed since i was in high school they just got redesigns (they still need fullbody refs but most of my ocs r missing those lol) i'd never had a solid design for dirk that i actually liked for the like 10 years that he existed until last yr when i did his bust ref

crutch is another older oc that was made around the same time thats slowly being redesigned (hes low priority so this art from last year is the last art i did of him) so this is not his final form, but he's a drummer for a metal band and in his late 20's, blue knows him. ive got to tat his final design up too lol

i have some ocs that r hybrids mixed w dragon too. krum is a hyena/dragon guy in his 40's that lives in oregon w his stoner squirrel gf moj. he loves tequila. and polyamory

dallas is a newer oc in the works whose a lion/dragon hybrid but he literally only has a sketch page so far. i mostly wanted to get some ideas out with him so im not sure when i'll work on him. i like this idea tho!

my old mascot character was mixed with a dragon too but i don't rly use him anymore, and then i have some dragon girls (my favorites r level the dragon robot and lake the salmon dragon ichthyologist) but u asked for guys so thats what i showed :-)

[tammyhybrid21]

Generation 3 Iterators

(The Highlights)

Oh boy, finally the last of the generations. As with the other two this will just mostly be highlights. And again for the main iterators only really. So Unparalleled Innocence and Five Pebbles mostly. Even if there are a few more cameos for others of these guys along the way. There’s chaos in the bones of this generation of iterators.

As with the other lineups, here’s the names of everyone in order:

Gin & Tonic, Unyielding Tenacity, Unparalleled Innocence, Five Pebbles, Solace of Ink, Pleading Intellect, and Secluded Instinct

Much like in other lineups, some of these designs are yet still going to eventually change. Not fully solid at this time and might be more refined later on. I mean you can already see this happening with my design for Innocence just in the refs here.

Even the boy Five Pebbles getting a bit of a tune up. Although these are more or less the designs I’m going with at current. As it is not really much to say about them as a whole.

For Innocence I have her design split as base, no cloak, cloak and then with her “guilty pearl” as I sort of call it. Some wear and tear and then some nebulous point in the future. I don’t really have so much to say about her, pink-purple highlights I guess. And then Five Pebbles, again that base design, then Rotten at Rivulet’s point of the timeline, although that might get further refined later on to be... worse with the rot... but for now. Just a few spots... and then Saint timeline design, which I really need to wash out more... and bonus Cyan Cloaked Pebbles for a nod to Backwards Through the Snow.

Do I need to explain my Avatar still? Just height reference.

So, anyway... time to actually get to the headcanon Scribbles. Most of this is Innocence and Pebbles of course, with some random nuggets of world building sprinkled in. As usual I probably won’t expand too much on things, since it’s random scribbled headcanons but anyway.

For example, this first sheet of scribbling is basically all building up my idea of what a Third Generation iterator even is. They are on some level chaos gremlins, mascotified-- and well, they overall have less personal experience with the ancients. Shorter time scale in relativity and all.

Also fun fact, a lot of their opinions thus are handed down in some ways. While they do have some grounds for their own ideas and experiences it’s very much extra framed from what they hear from other older iterators. Which is mostly who they look up to. For better or worse in all the cases, even if they have a semi-negative view on the ancients like Innocence did end up with, they wish they could have experienced more... you know.

It was half of their jobs and purpose to care for the people after all, the mascotification and all.

More of that same expansion. Innocence was very much, I think beloved. There were fewer mixed opinions about her, and well, she was in the news. WAS THE NEWS ACTUALLY. Broadcast Iterator, both for the people and while not as touched on in these scribbles she worked something as a relay iterator between different local groups. Represented here by having the sketch sheet include PI and SOI...

This did come with a massive downside though, because her gossip nature isn’t just a personality thing. She was made for spreading information and relaying it. Gossip is a quick and dirty way to get information out after all... And she’s had to learn to moderate and filter things over time... which unfortunately meant early on she didn’t do that so much...

Ahhh, the debate of who was the last one built. I think Five Pebbles is the youngest, as well the possible last Iterator ever built. There’s reasons for this based on Canon Evidence(like Five Pebbles not already having records of Innocence been a construction project despite one of his important houses signing off on it) and then there’s just some thematic and personality reasons. Anycase, doesn’t really matter, I DO, However think that there was a fair bit of overlap in their construction timelines.

Like to the point where they ended up antagonizing each other just because they were built at similar times and there was inbuilt rivalry in it. “I’m not a baby you are! But I’m baby” moments mixed in as well. Also absolutely some sibling vibes to their arguments even if no actual relation exists.

They will bully each other, taunt and jab, tease. Yet absolutely will throw down if someone else insults the other.

...I also like to imagine that on anon they somehow are great friends. Sharing a single neuron at times. (EP & TI great friends, FP & UI screaming matches for fun). It’s a principle thing really.

Oh boy, sure do love giving Five Pebbles issues on top of his canon issues. Also how much of this is projection, I don’t think I could really say. More like I was trying to conceptualise the explanation for him... and then got side-tracked. Mostly because good lord the game sometimes drives me nuts. Metropolis why are you so empty of anything set dressing? Like seriously, what is with it?

Anycase a lot of this is kind of surrounding emotions without much actual explanation. And I do think “baby Pebbles” was a lot happier in the first few cycles of his existence. He had a good big sister, was there to help... good. But well, didn’t work out long term because the comparison hurts, as well the fact people... didn’t really like him. A subgroup sure, and something he reflects on with amusement but at the time... and even lingering...

The city was made empty, the people didn’t stay... it had to have hurt and was some of what influenced his downwards spiral... Suns, I do think they made it worse. Maybe not intentionally, maybe thoughtlessly, but Suns certainly never opposed the views they were handed down, and even again, showed seeming support in Pebbles endeavour to cross himself out.

...that pearl...

I also do think there is something quiet in how Pebbles tried to keep Moon out of it. Her own line in Rivulet about how he knows how protective she is of him... old insecurities and the knowledge from Pebbles side, he knows he’s not the preferred one. Whether that’s fact or just insecurities hard to place fully.

Finally just a page where it’s my Colourblind Pebbles propaganda as well as the fact I genuinely think that Innocence and Pebbles have a kind of mutual “the grass is greener” view of each other. Something that of course doesn’t help their arguments and petty disputes and jabs. Pebbles even further because again, he’s colourblind has some appearance envy mixed in. At least Inno isn’t just a remix of another iterator.

Also, I like to keep things a little bit ambiguous, but I do generally believe that Innocence had, at least somewhat good intentions with leaking Pebbles rot photos. If Moon was already unable to be contacted by that point, a desperate attempt to share it with someone, anyone who might have been able to help resolve the situation...

Only it... made things worse.

And yes. Rivulet made and sent by Innocence propaganda. Though again, who fully knows what the intentions were there. Good, bad, generally hoping that somehow the water dancing slugcat could help.

Also some ship based bonuses just because.

Sorry Inno, Moon probably will only and can only see you as a little sibling in vibes.

Anycase, while it's mostly in a hero-worship way, I do kind of ship Innocence with Moon, Innocence definitely has a little bit of a crush, even if it would go... nowhere.

And yes, hello I am a RageQuit shipper reminder. As well more of Pebbles colourblind propaganda. This started as a joke headcanon, how did it become so central to my interpretation, help. I will likely post both of these again later on their own, but for now. Here.

[paging-possum]

girl is just another word for rabies psa

another week another comic update! I somehow did a lot and absolutely nothing with this comic this week!

They actually have appearances now! Nobody comment on Terry being like, the fifth character I have with a mullet I am normal about the mullet hairstyle and do not desire having a mullet in any way shape or form. I'm trying to stick to designs and everything, but he might get a redo because I'm getting insecure about how many of my characters have mullets. That said, I'm not really a character designer, Im mostly here to write about rabies.

I didn’t like how the script was going and decided to change a lot of things about it and I’m entirely back to square one with writing aside from the first scene, which I feel good about (hence the fact that I started thumbnailing it). That said, I think I have a much more solid outline than I did before, so that whole process will hopefully be a lot quicker from here on out! The connections to the actual Milwaukee Protocol are getting stronger. Here's a peek into the shorthand I’m using for this comic.

The other Nat projects this week involve 1) homework, 2) trying to remember how to clean up the one million billion drawings I've sketched out in the past 1.5 weeks, 3) watching Derry Girls with my friends and 4) being sick. Here is one of the one million billion things I'm not working on.

I also realized I forgot to link the MILWAUKEE PROTOCOL PLAYLIST last time!! I would add the entire Nerdy Prudes Must Die soundtrack if it were on Spotify, but it isn’t so you’ll just have to switch over to whatever other music streaming service and listen to that after getting through this one. 

WHAT AM I LISTENING TO THIS WEEK:

The Wrong Station! It’s a horror fiction podcast with a lot of individual horror stories. My favorite one this week was the Eloise Kestrel episode, which was incredibly eerie and very well done.

Creature by half alive

Literally the entirety of Now, Not Yet by half alive

Say Amen (Saturday Night) by Panic! At the Disco 

Anyone with access to the CAPE playlists can probably figure out exactly which ones I’m listening to from the songs I put in these updates even though it’s been like, two weeks of song updates 

Ship in a Bottle by fin

[ren-from-mars]

I’ve been doing some reflecting on this past year, and I really truly think it is the most artistic improvement I have made in any span of time. Of course, I’m going to be completely insufferable about it and have collected my best piece from each month with a few personal notes, so why don’t we go on a sprint down memory highway together?

January

At the start of the year, I was both adrift between fandoms and art styles. I was mostly aiming to find which style I could keep using, finish pieces quickly yet still feel proud of. It certainly worked in the moment, but as I pushed my boundaries more it didn't stick. Still, I look back on this style fondly! also proper throwback to my old username that i had for far too long

February

This was the start of me working on colour palettes. I lay down my main colour in the background and fit the rest of my colours around that. It was a good way to start experimenting!

March

Then the shift back to finding my style- I particularly like how the hair turned out in this piece! I also started trying more interesting poses here, and actually properly attempting hands.

April

I didn't finish any pieces in april as I had started working more hours and didn't quite know how to balance myself creatively at that point. I did lean into this style of sketch much more, which was good fun while it stuck around but ive leant away from it in more recent times.

May

Not much to say about may in particular, lots of the same things as the past few months with improvements here and there! just some steady progress :)

June

Cue the crunch of getting character refs done before artfight, and then only actually finishing one (which isn't actually complete, even to this day). But hey, more solid reference for My Guy ! I also leaned into drawing furries a lot more and have improved heaps in the difference of proportions!

July

artfight baybee!! no artistic differences, but it was a lot of fun scouting out other peoples character designs! I do hope to participate more this year :3

August

back to colours, though this month felt like a bit of a backtrack. Don't get me wrong, I do quite like this piece, but contrast-wise it doesn't have as much visual clarity as I would like. Regardless, a good learning opportunity!

September

Fun fact, I rendered this one entirely in greyscale! This was the start of me getting back into hatchetfield after being reminded of NPMDs release, and lets be real this part of black friday was chilling so I had to do something about it! I consider this piece a landmark in terms of my art journey.

October

Once again no real finished pieces, I was too busy watching nightmare time while waiting for the group watch of npmd. I did do a lot of studies of star wars characters from their live-action shows though, which was a fun learning experience!

November

This was the piece where I applied pretty much everything I had learnt throughout the year. contrast, colour themes, interactive environments and poses, the lot! and also. its them. how could i not

December

A perfect piece to wrap up the year with! Another step up from november, this applied lots of what I had learnt and pushed my boundaries even more. I have been aiming for more realism to actor's faces and body types, not out of it-has-to-be-canon-sake, but rather learning how to accurately depict someone's likeness from a few photo references. good practice for both live-action and animated characters!

Overall last year was absolutely wild. I can't wait to share my journey with you all as we go into 2024 strong!

[lightleckrereins]

Ignoring the fact that the Croatian costume sketches are redesigns of the original costumes instead of actual new designs (and whether or not that’s legal), what do you think of them? I really like them tbh

Look I am trying to stay possitive and give non replica productions a chance instead of just hating on them. But this one is making it hard.

A few months back I had the chance to see the teen edition license agreement section on costumes. And while the professional license is definitely different I suspect this part is the same or almost the same. Teen edition productions are banned from recreating replica costumes (and some do ignore this and get the amazon/aliexpress ones) but it is only disscouraged to use replica colors (dont remember if it is more of a we invite you to be original or a please dont just default to replica thing).

With Croatia I think there are some really cool ideas that don't seem to have translated that well into the actual costumes (more on that in a bit). The laceup sleeves, the solid black/solid color contrast, the emphasis on straps and you are totally right in the assymetry (and that having it only on two costumes will probably feel off). But I can't bring myself to truly liking them. And I am blaming the fact that I do have a design degree on this.

This is offtopic but important for this point. At university they drilled onto us that you don't steal other people's work. I had classmates that almost got kicked out of school for this. But also that you can honor someone else's work without copying. At one point we had an assignment to design a chess set inspired in a 20th century sculptor. You know who did best on that assignment? Those of us who already knew the sculptor we chose. There was definitely a degree of making existing sculptures or parts of then small (also we had four days to do this mid finals and had to present completed pieces). But at least in my case it had to do with knowing the artist's philosophy on scale and simplicity vs complexity.

The thing that bothers me with Six Croatia is that it looks like the sort of thing that always got criticised on projects that took inspiration from something else. Taking a design and editing or remaking it from an obvious base with little regard towards the why or any visible effort for originality is not a new design. Its laziness. I still don't love the Warsaw costumes because you can clearly see elements of the replica design, but at least that has an original concept behind. Kinda stilized versions of the replica design is not a concept it is a sketching excercise.

Also between you sending this and now we got a first look and I am leaning more towards openly disliking things with this. From the sketches it looks like a lot of details were simplified, mostly the sleeves and strap details. I know there are always differences between sketch and costume (and a lot of the time the super accurate sketches are actually made after the costumes). But this feels like a downgrade of not hard to make to begin with things. Also proportions are all over the place. And as the world's leading expert in making six costumes with spandex (or regular fabric) instead of vinyl or sequins (I take no comments on this, I've earned the title). I can say that there are easy ways of making the fabric not look so wrinkled and the skirts less flat.

Photo is edited to make details more visible and things will probably look a lot better and more detailed when not backlit.

[harmonictechnicality]

*based off this awesome art right here by @chocoarts - the sketch on the left in particular :)

It doesn’t take long for Steve to get used to Eddie’s raised-by-wolves levels of affection. The hair chewing and the shoulder nibbles and the freckle licking. It’s never classified normal stuff - definitely not stuff he ever did with dainty Hawkins High girls, that’s for damn sure.

But still, it takes no time to get used to it. Full on expects it, by now. The most notable time that Steve is expecting it is on their one year anniversary.

Two months prior to the Big Day, Eddie's spontaneity and Steve's boredom led to an impulsive stick-and-poke tattoo on Steve's forearm. Eddie wanted to give Steve a simple crown. Told him it was to reclaim the stupid nickname from high school, make it his own.

'Overthrow all the teenaged bullshit. Kick trauma in the metaphorical ass.' Eddie had said after completing it, smiling up at Steve. 'It's what kings do best.'

After that day, Steve decides to add on to his impulsive tattoo and surprise Eddie with it. He gets one small bat, just like the ones on Eddie's arm. Gets it right next to the crown, side-by-side. The same way they all fought together a while back.

As soon as Eddie sees the addition, he tackles Steve, linebacker style. Steve is ready for it, totally braces for the aggressive affection. Fucking loves it. Expects it.

However, Eddie doesn't just stop there. Oh no. He climbs up Steve's body, tightly wrapping his arms around Steve's neck. Wraps his legs around Steve's upper arms even tighter.

Which... how the hell did Eddie get so flexible? And when the hell did Eddie get so flexible? Like, yeah they do some semi-contortionist stuff in the bedroom, mostly when they're hyped up on sugary soft drinks.

But this? This is... new. Wild.

He clutches on to Steve like he's a goddamn tree trunk. Some rare tree species that's in grave danger of being chopped down from the rainforest or whatever. He’s making lots of pleased sounds, singing maybe. Hard to tell for sure.

Steve holds Eddie firmly, hands underneath his thigh, his back, anywhere that he can get a solid grip. Keeps him safe from whatever corporate bulldozer that dares to take down their weirdly amazing love.

"Shit, I'm crazy about you." Eddie nuzzles into Steve's hair. "Like... totally and completely."

Steve laughs, comes out a bit strangled from the way Eddie is clinging to him. "Guessing you like it, huh?"

"Duh." Eddie slides off, connecting their hands on his way down.

"It represents-"

"I know what it represents." Eddie interrupts, his expression softens from the reminder, the difficult topic they're both skipping around. "You don't have to say it."

He does though, Steve has to say it. Needs to say it the same exact way Eddie had said it to him two months ago.

Because yeah, they act tough about what went down that night. But that doesn't mean they should just be stuck in a cycle of Acting Tough. Pretending to be okay all the damn time.

So Steve takes Eddie's arm, the one that's covered with tiny bat silhouettes. He holds their two arms together and carefully brushes over each tattoo design. Tells Eddie to reclaim the stupid scars that litter his body.

"Fight off all the inter-dimensional bullshit. Kick trauma's metaphorical ass." Steve smiles up at Eddie, who suddenly looks serious, focused. "It's what heroes do best."

"Steve." The seriousness is wiped clean off of Eddie's face. It's quickly replaced with a gentle grin. Relief reaching over his furrowed brow. No more worry lines. No more grimace. He looks at ease. Content, maybe.

And as much as Steve enjoys making Eddie feel content, he wants him happier right now. So he switches up the energy, tries to lighten the mood a little. Steve hooks his fingers into Eddie's front pockets, readying to pull him in.

It's predictable, been his go to make-out move any time they're standing up. This is a special fucking day, however, and that calls for a Special Edition Make-Out Move.

So Steve digs each hand deep into Eddie's pockets, wiggles them around a bit. Watches Eddie's cheeks go pink, blotchy red in some places. Steve moves all of the coins and lint and questionable items out of the way, making room.

He takes deep breath, then yanks the seams at the very bottom of each pocket, flipping the material inside out. Sticking straight up from his jeans.

Eddie is all red now, flushed down to his neck. "What the..."

Steve tugs on the flipped out pocket seams, jolting Eddie closer. He lands on Steve's lips, colliding a bit roughly. For a second, they're too busy smiling to kiss properly. But Steve slides his hands up Eddie's chest, around his neck, scratches the tiny hairs on the back of Eddie's head, and that's it. That's all that it takes for them to get lost in the kiss.

Eddie's mouth opens, biting the center of Steve's bottom lip. Breathes out the warmest air as he lets go, returns to a softer approach. Steve licks over the spot, soothes the pulse that Eddie left behind.

"That was... different. " Eddie laughs. He swipes his tongue over Steve's cupids bow, traces an outline until Steve is laughing too.

"Bad different?" Steve asks.

"Not at all." Eddie shakes Steve by the shoulders like he’s nuts for asking such an outrageous question. "Besides, different is right up my alley, babe."

"I'm highly aware."

"Didn't realize I was such a bad influence on your freakier side."

"What can I say?" Steve shrugs, steals one of Eddie’s rings to twirl around his finger. "I'm very easily persuaded."

They head over to the couch, kissing haphazardly as they flop down. Eddie tugs and twists at the fabric of Steve’s shirt, stretching it out. Wrinkling it. Steve couldn’t care less if it gets ruined because Eddie will be the one ruining it.

Eddie sighs into the kiss. Not a sexy sigh either (which are obviously Steve’s favorite of the sighing variety). It sounds more shocked. Disbelief or something.

Steve angles his head away from the kiss to see that Eddie’s eyes are open, wandering all over Steve’s face. It’s pretty cute, seeing Eddie too busy just staring to even shut his eyes mid-kiss. Like his schedule is too jam-packed up with Gawking, has to multitask during their make out sessions now.

"Kinda can’t believe it." Eddie finally says, still staring.

"What?" Steve stares backs. Makes it a staring contest. Doesn't tell Eddie though cause he wants to win.

Eddie motions toward his pockets that are still turned inside out. "After one whole year, you still keep me on my toes with shit like that."

"I do?"

"Sure do. You're something else, babe.”

"I am?" Steve blinks.

Damnit, he lost the one-sided staring contest.

“Yup.” Eddie nods, transitions to chewing on a chunk of Steve’s hair like he always does. Sometimes, he’ll make mooing sounds. Especially after sex, when he’s at his goofiest. Most comfortable.

It’s fucking unreal how Steve has learned all of these quirks. How he waits for them, anticipates them. Every bit feels familiar to him now.

"You're unexpected in all the best ways, Harrington."

Steve tries not to gush at that compliment. It's not one he gets often.

Eddie stops chewing on Steve’s hair to kiss his cheek instead. The kiss is powdery-sweet, miles away from his usual eagerness. Still perfect somehow. Just like the weird stuff is somehow perfect too.

That's kind of who they are together. Weird and unexpected.

In all the best ways.

[littledragondork]

TES Cat AU: Skyrim Thieves Guild

My self indulgent TES Cat art is done, at least my favorite Skyrim Thieves guild NPCs are, Probably gonna’ post the Companions next because I was drawing the Skyrim Dark Brotherhood and for the life of me I couldn’t get Cicero to look right lol, but I’ll take suggestions :3c

(I’m so down with doing the rest of the Skyrim Thieves Guild eventually)

Anyway, my art for Skyrim Cat AU Brynjolf, Karliah and Mercer Frey under the cut, with some design notes :3

I wanted Bryn to be an orange cat, not only because I like orange cats and their low intelligence but because it just made sense. I also wanted him to be one of those massive fluffy cats, the ones that weight like 20lbs/9kg and have more fur than they know what to do with, he’d be 99% fur, go to pet him and your hand is just swallowed by the fur. I made him a mackerel tabby cuz’ I like mackerel tabbies and because they are just super common cat patterns. For a long time I wanted to give Brynjolf Sectoral Heterochromia, which is basically when one eye is 80% one color and has a little dot of another, in this case I wanted brown, but I couldn’t really get it to look right so I ultimately scrapped it.

He also has a docked tail because I liked the idea of all the known Nightingales having something fucked up with their tails.

I also did a little sketch with the thieves guild armor, I think it’ll fit like a harness with a few little pockets and bags. I imagine they’d all have dexterous enough paws where they can make stuff like furniture, buildings, tools, weapons, armor, cook food etc, makes everything a lot easier to me

I imagine all the Nords I’ll draw have ear tufts, extra fluffy paws and long fluffy fur coats, they’d probably slide on ice a lot lol, Think Maine coons, Norwegian forest cats, Siberians. I referenced Maine coons, Lynx and bobcats the most with Bryn here, but he is just a domestic cat.

So, for Karliah (same with all elves tbh) I wanted big ol’ ears, I feel like I could have made them bigger but I decided against it because I didn’t want them to be in the way too much (might change that later though). She is also mostly back cat because I felt it was simple and cute (I have a black kitty and I love her). It’s also not shown here much but she’d have pretty short fur, and a thin and small build, think 10lbs/4.5kg.

Karliah’s tail is shortened and broken (a painless break, the kind that happened as a baby) as to go with ‘all Nightingales have fucked up tails’ deal.

did a more meme-y sketch in this one, I was in a goofy mood and thought it funny how quick both Brynjolf and the Last Dragonborn were to just accept selling their souls.

I imagine all Dunmer would have black or dark grey base coats and those that are tabbies to have them be lighter than the base, so for example a black cat with white stipes or grey with red stripes. They, and all elves will be mostly based on the Oriental Long/short hair cats because of their big ol’ ears and narrow faces but I’ll take creative liberties of course.

Last in this batch is Mercer Frey, I redesigned him at least 8 times, first he was solid grey+ Tuxedo pattern, then he was a dilute grey tabby, then a spotted tabby before I settled on a colorpoint because he was said to be “high born” and coming from a wealthy family, and I was like “hey, colorpoints are fancy cat coats and I can see a rich and powerful family wanting to breed that into their line” and thus Colorpoint Mercer was decided on. I knew 100% I wanted him to be grey because of the whole “grey fox” fan thing he has going on in the game

Seems like every time I would get near him in my playthough, any playthough of Skyrim actually, he’d look at me like I just spat in his drink so I tried to capture that here. Also the Knife cat meme because I thought it fit him.

he doesn’t have a tail because he doesn’t deserve one it’s with the ‘all Nightingales have fucked up tails’ bit.

I also wanted to share my ideas for weapons (still no clue how to do bows) but swords, great swords and daggers, would be little gauntlets made of the specific type of metal that go on the paws, and they would range in size and weight depending on the weapon its based on, so great swords would be huge metal claws while daggers would just be apart of a little leather glove that wraps around the paws. Lots of good ideas cooking up in my Autistic little mind lmao /pos.

I imagine all Bretons will just look like the average street cat, standard issue cats if you will, the common domestic short/long hair, probably have the most diversity in fur patterns and the like.

So that’s what I was able to get done in about about a few hours (with frequent breaks and work in between) A lot of the time was looking at both official art, fanart and the in-game models to get a good sense on the personality (both fandom and canon) and seeing what I can convert more easily to a non-humanoid design, a lot of shape language practice because I like shapes :3

I have a Solid design down for Ulfric but I wanted to do batches with like characters, so all Thieves guild girlies with each other and so all Civil War Girlies with each other, some might be drawn in pairs as well, like Hadvar + Ralof or Vilkas + Farkas.

[northoftheroad]

Up to date with the trends, if you don’t mind!

As opposed to some people, I'm not of the opinion that Dick Grayson is a fashion disaster. I don't imagine I will convince anyone who loves to portray him as the eternal looser... But the thing with fashion is that a lot of it quickly gets dated. Since artists have drawn Dick in contemporary style for decades, it's bound to happen that some outfits get past their best before date.

If we're to put the blame where it belongs, it has to be Greg Land, who drew Dick in a multicoloured polka dot shirt in Nightwing vol 1 # 2. That's the outfit most people reference when they claim that Dick dresses outlandishly. However, in the 90s, polka dot shirts (and long hair on men) were trendy – which is something that we tend to forget some decades later, when another era of fashion surrounds us.

The original Nightwing suit from 1984 also gets a fair amount of flak. Certain artists, like Jim Aparo, drew the collar ridiculously high, unlike how it looked with George Pérez’ art. But on the whole, it's not in a completely different style from other superhero suits that were introduced in the 70s and 80s. High collars and deep v-necks were popular. 

Tales of the Teen Titans # 44, Batman vol 1 # 441.

Tyroc (1976); Black Lightning (1977); Dazzler (1980); Jericho (1984).

Gladiator (1977), Black Cat (1979), Atari Force (1982), Mockingbird (1980), Booster Gold (1986).

Fashion at the time was about crossovers and breaking rules, and using fabrics such as rubber and vinyl. And disco...  Here are some pictures from the 70s and 80s, to remind ourselves what it looked like at the time.

I guess some people might point the finger at the original Robin suit, too? But, seriously, it's a 1940s child superhero costume, designed at a time when the printing process favoured bright primary colours. (Besides, in a fair number of versions, Bruce is the one who designed the Robin suit. Now, if we want to talk ridiculous – take a look at Bob Kane's original sketch of the Bat-Man.)

Without further ado. Let's have a look at some of Dick's outfits over the years, and see what was considered stylish at the time, shall we. 

Dick in civilan garbs in the 1940s and 1950s. The boy's fashion at the time included knitted pullovers and sweaters which were also worn over shirt and tie. Bright solid or patterned sportcoats were worn with dress-shirt and necktie or bowtie. (Knickers, that is short trousers, were, by the way, children's fashion in the 1940s.)

Pictures are fashion illustrations from the 40s and 50s and from Batman # 13 (1942). Star Spangled Comics # 65 (1947), # 75 (1947), # 98 (1949), # 111 (1950).

College teenager Dick in the 1970s dressed in sweaters, vests, long collared shirts. His hair was side-parted. And, you guessed it – vests, long collared shirts and turtleneck sweaters were essential fashion items of the 1970s. Dick-pics from: Batman # 248 (1973). Batman Family # 8 (1976). Detective Comics # 483 (1979). Detective Comics  # 495 (1980).

Dick in a green three piece suit in New Teen Titans Vol 1 # 26 (1982). Picture in Sears Fashion Catalogue 1981. 1980s vintage tweed suit.

Leather jacket, t-shirts and sweaters and jeans were trendy in the 1980s. In Tales of the teen titans 43 (1984), Dick wears jeans and an expensive leather jacket.

"That" outfit in Nightwing vol 1 # 2 (1995). "Seinfeld" from 1991.

Overalls were huge in the 1990s, even when you weren't custom building your own car. Nightwing vol 2 # 16 (1998), and fashion photos from the 1990s.  

In the early 2000s, casual clothing was a big trend. Rugby shirts was a common look, and the leather jacket was still popular. Batman: Gotham Knights # 21 (2001), # 45 (2003), Nightwing vol 2 # 49 (2000), #77 (2003), # 80 (2003).

In the mid-2000s, some trendy things were: Casual, fitted shirt. Casual blazer. Cardigan. V-neck t-shirt. Trucker hat. Tank top. Nightwing vol 2 # 133 (2007), # 141 and # 144 (2008). Fashion photos from 2008, design Diesel, Tony Melillo.

In The New 52 and Rebirth, Dick has mostly dressed casually (unless it's for a funeral, of course). Jeans, t-shirts, shirt without tie, sweaters, hoodie, parka, blazer or leather jacket. Often layer on layer - sweater over shirt, shirt on top of t-shirt...  The 2010s wasn't long ago, and it's not easy to sort through fashion shows and micro-trends and see a bigger picture just yet... But a few of the things that were trendy at least at some time during the 2010s were: the colour grey; one-button suits and blazers; striped sweater; checkered shirt; fitted leather jackets; parka; pastel colours; angular v-neck.  

Nightwing vol 3 # 5 (2012), # 6 (2012), # 10 (2012), # 17 (2013),  # 27 (2014). Nightwing vol 4 # 10 (2017), # 15 (2017). Assorted fashion photos from 2012–2017.  

Today it's 2020, and when it comes to men's hairstyles, crew cut is popular. Nightwing vol 4 # 63, and photo from TheTrendSpotter's post 40 Best Short Hairstyles for Men in 2020.

And hey, superhero apparel were on the catwalk in the 2010s, too. How more fashion forward can Dick Grayson become...? Misel Saban, June 27, 2014 (Batman) and Sarah Dos Santos, December 16, 2013 (Superman); Kyle Towers, February 2, 2013 (Spiderman).

However, I don't see Dick (written) as interested in keeping up with the fashion. But he did live his first years in a small trailer. And since then, he's been accustomed to a life where you never know when your home is going to be obliterated, or your foster father will kick you out. Or when you have to rush away to follow a lead in another city or save the world somewhere. Or the next time you'll be shot and forget that you have a flat to live in... He’s bound to have learned not to have an excessive amount of clothes. 

When he does need to buy something, because his last outfit went up in smoke or something, he'll simply pick from what's in the front inside the shops. Hence, he'll often be dressed up-to-date. New Titans # 76, New Titans # 86, Nightwing vol 2 # 89, Nightwing vol 2 # 20, Nigtwing vol 3 # 19, Nightwing vol 4 # 50 , Robin Year One # 3.

Top pictures from: Batman # 237 (1971), New Teen Titans # 16 (1982), Nightwing vol 2 # 129 (2007), Nightwing vol 4 # 10 (2016).