#Turtle Diary

[thehappyscavenger]

I don't feel as if I'm living unless I'm killing myself.

Turtle Diary, Russell Hoban

[bennettmarko]

[animarumaeternae]

leo proceeded to base his entire identity on this very specific scene.

i am leo, leo is me

[bambalina777]

[sotogalmo]

10:44

Raph and Donnie, when they were young; Raph would go on his four legs, and. Donnie would mimic him 👍

[amphibimations]

(47)- turtle

[ao3-anonymous]

Fastest Growing Fandoms on AO3 This Week (01/24/2023)

Every week I pull data on how many fics are in each fandom and compare to the previous week, then calculate the percentage increase to determine fastest growing fandoms.  Since this naturally skews towards smaller fandoms, I have included the same data filtered to Over 1k, 5k, & 10k fics.

Overall:

Over 1,000 Fics:

Over 5,000 Fics:

Over 10,000 Fics:

Source: AO3 Fandom Dashboard

[snackugaki]

the fucking price of heehoo hours

... l i n e w o r k

[tmntkiseki]

Diary of an Idiot Trying to Learn to Draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Part 1: Escaping the Comfort Zone)

Before we talk turtles and the early steps of my art journey with them, let's talk about me for a little bit.

Hello, most people know me by my online nickname, Star. I'm a perpetually tired gremlin in her late 20s from New England who still lives with her parents and two brothers. (I'm the middle child!) I love my two dogs to bits, I have a weird fascination with shipwrecks and maritime disasters, and I am a known art enjoyer to point of attempting to draw her own pictures. Sometimes it goes well, other times... ah, we'll get to that.

When I think about my history in terms of drawing, it all starts with anime. My first exposure anime was through a fairly obscure one called Sky Girls; I encountered it through Dance Dance Revolution: Super Nova 2 on the PS2, as the opening to the original OVA was one of the songs available in the game. I ended up watching most of the television series and I was quick to discover that, hey, there's an entire genre of animated television series that originate from Japan; subsequently, I ended up watching several anime that were popular during the late 2000s with Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni all being shows that I watched during this period. It's difficult to say what entranced me so much about the art style quirks we so heavily associate with anime, but it's definitely had the biggest influences on my art; not just anime itself, but video games with anime art styles as well. If I had to name which pieces of Japanese media have affected me most in terms of art development, it would be Odin Sphere, KyoAni's works (especially Violet Evergarden), and Hidari (the character designer for three of the Atelier games and Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.)

"Okay, but what about when you actually began to do your own art?" WELL, I can definitely say throughout elementary school I absolutely LOVED being in art class, but I didn't start seriously practicing until I was around 13; this was when my depression first reared its ugly head, but it was also about when I first got into fandom online. Now, the first fandom I actually made "content" for was Pokemon, but that wasn't drawing; that was fanfiction. The first fandom I actually drew for?

Call of Duty: Zombies. Yeah, I think we all have that one fandom we're embarrassed to mention that we were ever involved in. Regardless of the cringe factor, it was still important for me because that was when I first started interacting with other fanartists online and if I hadn't spent so much time drawing fanart of a bunch of WWII stereotypes while I was in high school, I wouldn't have laid the groundwork for what came afterwards.

In terms of overall skill, I'm definitely way better than I was back when I first started out, but there is still so much I have to learn; I do often look at other artists who are around my age or, hell, are even YOUNGER than me and think to myself "Why am I not that good?" and, ya know, art is an acquired skill that requires a lot of practice and due to my mental illness and lack of confidence/self-worth, there were periods where I would go for MONTHS without drawing anything, so the fact I'm not where I feel like I should be skill-wise is ultimately circumstantial (there are other personal shortcomings that have also been holding me back, but we'll get to those later). I have managed to learn to stop being so hard on myself and not be as perfectionistic, and I find myself drawing more and more for the fun of it and learning new techniques that'll result in better pieces rather than anything else. These are some of the Rune Factory 4 pieces I drew last year (all Arthur/Frey ship art, oops) and at this point I can look at them and think "Yeah, they're not perfect, but I also did a pretty good job."

All right, this is the part of the post where we finally get to talking about my experiences learning how to draw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--specifically, the 2003 versions. It's been about a month since I started studying the show's art and even if I'm not the best artist on the block, I still have a decent amount of experience under my belt that learning how to draw them shouldn't be too hard, right? Right? I mean how hard can it be to draw four humanoid turtles?

Oh boy, of all the fandoms I've drawn fanart for, TMNT 2003 probably has one of the steepest learning curves that I have EVER experienced.

All right, what are some of the advantages do I have going in? There is my existing experience drawing, but I'd argue the fact that my brain is so hardwired to draw anime is an advantage in some ways. When I first looked at the show's art style (more specifically that of seasons 1 - 5), I was thinking to myself "How the everliving FUCK am I supposed to draw this?!" However, when I actually sat down and studied the model sheets, I was delighted to discover that a lot of the basic fundamentals that I already learned drawing anime bodies can be applied to the turtles; one of the only major adjustments I had to make was exaggerating the muscles of the arms and legs. Not only that, but one of the less human aspects of the turtles IE the plastron is actually incredibly useful as a makeshift guideline for the torsos; it quite literally divides them into chest, abdomen, and pelvis areas and I absolutely love it!

Unfortunately, that's about where my happiness with drawing the turtles ends and where my actual struggles start.

("Nekomata Mikey" from January 7th, which is probably my best and favorite turtle attempt thus far)

So, I suffer from a little something called "not liking to leave my comfort zone." It's not something that I'm incapable of doing, but getting me to break out of a repetitive routine and try something new or challenging is insanely difficult--no idea if it's a result of my autism spectrum disorder or not, but it definitely explains why I've hesitated to experiment more with my art and try new things... which is important if you want to further develop your style and improve. Oooooooh boy.

Now, I'm not necessarily looking to accurately replicate TMNT 2003's style, but I am hoping to maintain certain aspects when I draw the turtles. Stuff that is definitely contradicting what I'm comfortable with when it comes to drawing; the thick lines you see in a lot of the official art, the fact this show really likes using sharp angles to define physical features, the dark color palette of the first five seasons, the fact those seasons break the rule of "don't shade with black" that I've been taught from the beginning--a lot of stuff that I'm just not used to. It's hard not to become frustrated because half the time you have no idea what you're doing and have no idea whether it's going to look good or not.

Beyond that, there is the matter of the less human aspects of the turtles that are giving me a run for my money. I can somewhat handle the chunky three fingered hands and large two toed feet, but when I get to the heads and shells, that's where I start tearing my hair out. Even with multiple reference screenshots from the show and sassatello's tutorial on the head structure handy, I still find myself fumbling and making heads that are too angular and chunky (especially in the cheek area) or heads that are too round to the point of almost looking babyish. The shells are another matter entirely; it's weird because they are basically a dome-shaped backpack, but something about those things keeps throwing me for the loop no matter what angle or pose I'm drawing a turtle from.

*LOUD SIGH*

For all the struggles and frustrations I have, I'm still very happy to be studying and practicing how to draw the turtles. It's been about a month since I started pouring over the model sheets, taking screencaps from individual episodes to examine and annotate, and just drawing, and I've already learned so much. Not only that, but this whole experience of trying to figure out how to draw the main characters from an (almost) 21 year old cartoon has pushed me to look up... A LOT of tutorials for art skills I've admittedly been neglecting. Basic shapes used in the structure of the body, color theory and shading, all that good stuff. It is also a fact that studying the art of TMNT 2003 is exactly what inspired me to start posting all the model sheets and concept arts I have saved on my laptop. When you have a ton of art resources at your disposal, why not share them? Someone else might need them as much as you do.

I'm hoping to make another post like this in a couple months or so just to see how much I've improved, where I'm still kicking and screaming, and what areas I ought to focus on. Until then, take care and have a good day!

[thehappyscavenger]

Books Read May 2023

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley

I keep hearing great things about Riley who I think is way better known in the UK than in North America. I believe My Phantoms was more of a crossover hit. It’s about the narrator, a middle aged London woman, and her awkward semi-estranged relationship, especially with her mother. It reminded me a lot of My Name is Lucy Barton in that the trauma is kind of vague but there is this nostalgic sense of pain overlaying the whole thing. Really liked this.

Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban

Loved this. It’s about two middle-aged strangers in London, a lonely book seller and a lonely children’s book author, who each come to the conclusion they need to free the turtles at the London aquarium. Short and sweet and sharp. Hoban isn’t a writer I’ve heard of before this but apparently he’s pretty well know in the U.K. Will def be reading more of him.

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

A fictional biography of the artist X written by her widow, journalist C.M. Lucca. I had some mixed thought mostly positive feelings about this one. The background is an alternate history of the U.S. imagining a world in which the South willing segregated and the North became more liberal which I found fascinating. What didn’t work for me was Lacey re-purposing some real artists quotes to build up X, an iconoclastic artist. It was a bit weird to see quites I understood used like that. Still worth a read. Also my first book of 2023 that was published in 2023. 

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

LOVED THIS. A set of speculative fiction stories set in America. These are dark and often funny. I was kind of surprised I never heard of this before (I discovered this on a whats that book reddit post) and it was an NYT best seller. Totally up my alley. 

Search by Michelle Huneven

This is a fictionalized memoir supposedly written by a fictional memoirist and food critic as she joined her Universalist Unitarian’s search committee for a new minister. I thought this would be cuter than it was, about found family and oddballs but it’s something darker and more complex than that, about how groups are flawed, change is slow, and not everyone has pure intentions. Very interesting. I will be picking up more of Huneven for sure. 

An amazing month for reading choices! Possibly my best of 2023. 

[torturedblue]

If I had a nickel for every time Kat Graham had to face a prison dimension, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

[ceruleanterrapin]

I want to talk about my TMNT iteration, but I also don't want to change the direction of this blog. Hm

[tmntxthings]

∑一Entry 1・゜・。

summary: it’s like a diary, that tells the story from one perspective, only their inner thoughts, of their story with donnie, & spoiler alert I don’t think there will be a happy ending

warnings: first meetings, strangers to friends to lovers, cloaking brooch, eventually angst, obsession, jealousy, yandere behavior, unedited

—————————————————————————

I met someone today.

They were interesting.

And what was even more interesting was that I thought to myself, ‘I’d like to see them again.’

We talked for a bit, about mundane things. Stuff that I don’t find interesting at all. The weather. New York is a cold place. Usually. But today the weather had been…

What had he called it..?

‘Superb’

It was clear skies, sunny, with a bit of wind so it wasn’t too hot. Supposedly this was his perfect day. I wouldn’t use that word, it was alright. But I found him, very cute. For phrasing it that way.

What made us have a conversation to begin with?

He had saved me. From myself! My shoelaces always come undone as you know. And he was walking past me, when accidentally he stepped on the laces, and down I went, mid-step, jerking slightly from my pace being cut off.

He was pretty quick. My eyes were wide open as I watched the ground get closer and closer. I had accepted my fate. Then his arm had shot out, slinging under my waist and pulling me backward on my feet.

After the apologies and thank yous, and him pointing out the cause of my problems. He knelt down on one knee, and tied my shoelaces.

It was something that only happened to the romance leads in movies. I never thought anything so cliche would happen to me. But I was thankful as I got to watch him work. Deft fingers, long eyelashes. He smelled good, he wore purple.

More thank yous. And then I did something I normally never do. I asked for his name. Donatello. Unusual! I’ve never met one of those before. A classic name. Outdated for sure. But rememberable nonetheless.

Instead of parting ways, I decided to keep going outside of my little box. Since he was so interesting. He had the greenest eyes I’d ever seen. I commented on it, and he stuttered a little.

‘T-thank you..’

That wasn’t all either. He wore a ring that he liked to twist and twist and twist. It was mesmerizing when I finally noticed it. His little habit. I noticed a bunch of things as we walked the trails in Central Park.

He told me that he had needed the fresh air, to get out and away from his family for a bit. I had a similar reason though I didn’t say it. The noise, it had been so deafening in my tiny apartment. I had to get away from it. It followed me outside, to the park.

It only seemed to stop when I met him. Donatello. Maybe that’s why I found him so interesting. I didn’t notice it at the time.. but yes, I think that is why. He made all the noise go away! It was nice and quiet for once, with the sound of his voice filling up the rest of the space.

He had a nice voice too.

We walked, and talked, he talked more than me. But that’s normal. I don’t like talking. He does though, and he had a lot to say. It seemed he needed someone to listen. So I lended both my ears willingly.

By the time the sun started to set we had walked the trail three times. I hadn’t wanted that to be it. A chance encounter. A kind person who would become a distant memory. No. Maybe not. I don’t think I would’ve ever forgotten about him.

Luckily it seemed I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. He had said,

‘Thanks for listening to all of that… I’m not usually an over-sharer!’ He chuckled before continuing,

‘Would you want to exchange numbers? I think it’s pretty rare to find someone you can talk easily with, I’d much rather you than Dr. Feelings’

He had to explain that last part. But my phone was out and ready all the same. This moment felt really important. I felt like I had to write it down. So here we are. Now I will never ever forget.

I haven’t texted and neither has he. I probably won’t reach out first. But maybe I will. I have yet to decide. Though I hope to see him again soon.

—————————————————————————

∑一Entry 2・゜・。

If I had known it would take two weeks until he would reach out, I wouldn’t have made that promise to myself to not reach out first.

It was just below torture. Watching. Waiting. I thought maybe I would see even the three little dots pop up a few times. That maybe he had been thinking of me too.

I don’t think he had.

But that’s okay.

He reached out on his own violation eventually. Which felt nice. He had texted,

‘Greetings’

Very formal!

‘Would you like to walk in Central Park again?’

He provided the exact location and time to meet. I got there early. He seemed to have the same idea! All in purple once more. And he wore the same ring too.

We walked, and we talked. It felt just as nice as before. He was so talkative. He was funny. He was kind. I got too distracted a couple of times, staring intently at him instead of my surroundings. Twice I had almost walked into another person, and once I had tripped. All by accident.

He was just as swift as before. Easily reaching out to pull me close or pull me up. Not letting me fall. Not allowing me to run into someone’s back.

‘You should be more careful.’ He told me.

I nodded. My cheeks were warm after that. It felt quite embarrassing to have been told that. He had no idea how careful I was. I hardly ever leave the apartment after all! In fact I don’t think I had left since the last time I had seen him.

It was much safer inside. But I had a reason to get out now. He was worth it. He didn’t talk as much as the first meeting. So I asked some questions. He was 18! Just like me.

His favorite color was indeed purple.

His hobbies were botany and fixing everyone else’s problems.

He liked video games, and making ‘tech.’

That really had gotten some long winded speeches out of him. He was very smart it seemed. Much smarter than me.

I could hardly keep up with the big words he used. It all sounded very technical and advanced. But he was so animated when he got worked up into a talk frenzy. It was cute.

All I could hear was his voice, so soothing, so happy. It was musical. I could have it on repeat. Every day.

‘We should do this more often! Would you like to schedule regular meetings?’

It was asked very suddenly. But I agreed instantly. Now in my calendar, every Wednesday, from 5pm to 6pm, we would have our walks. And we would talk. Though this one had lasted much longer than 6. But he said it wouldn’t always be that way.

He was very busy. And yet, he stayed til 8pm. He had paused before leaving. I wondered what he had thought of. I didn’t have the courage to ask. Maybe I will next time. Next Wednesday.

—————————————————————————

∑一Entry 3・゜・。

Now that I had a specific day to look forward to, every day before that was boring. Each day that drew closer was filled with imaginary conversations.

What shade of purple would he wear this time?

How many times would he twist that ring?

My guess was 24 times. Maybe less since supposedly our time limit was an hour.

But before that magical day could come. I was forced to socialize with the landlord. Late payments. Threats. No money, no apartment. It was all so annoying.

I didn’t have any money left. The rent and other necessities took it. Which meant I would have to get a job, again. Unemployment checks should last forever.

So I had to socialize even more. I talked to one place for a job. They were always hiring. Luckily they didn’t ask for a resume or anything really. I told them I could work any day but Wednesday.

Those were for Donatello. Even though it was just one hour. I would need time to prepare.

With the job lined up, the little social battery that I had was completely drained. And I had two days to recover before Wednesday rolled around.

I couldn’t sleep. For those two days. The noise. It’s so loud. It wouldn’t let me sleep.

Makeup hid the dark circles that had encompassed my eyes. But no amount of makeup could hide the fact that I was tripping over my own two feet way more often than usually.

My eyes were wide open. I watched Donatello check my shoelaces multiple times. After the sixth time he suggested that we should just sit.

‘Is everything okay?’ He had asked me a personal question. This felt really important. And I struggled with how to answer. The truth?

‘I-‘

Coward. I was too much of a coward. Only one word of the truth came out before I changed my cowardice mind. I told him everything was fine. That I was just a little tired. That work had been hard. Which led to more questions.

‘Where do you work?’

‘Oh! What do you do?’

‘I see, well I hope they aren’t overworking you! If you ever..’

He had went off on another tangent about legal work hours. And other stuff that flew over my head. I think I would’ve been able to understand if I hadn’t been so exhausted.

And sitting on that bench, with Donatello’s voice going on forever and ever, it was calming. My wide eyes drooped. The initial excitement of my new favorite day had been overshadowed by my body being awake for three days.

I don’t know when I fell asleep. It was somewhere around the conversation about robots and the very real possibility of sentient life. Donatello had been very adamant when my expression had turned doubtful. But I think that was just my confused face. Even my facial expressions weren’t working right.

When I woke up, my head was resting just below his shoulder. Against his arm. He was very still. His other arm, that had his other hand, held his phone and he was scrolling through some app. Purple. Messages. My eyes were so blurry it took a couple of blinks to finally see that he was messaging someone.

Someone named April.

I must’ve moved or jerked or did something because the phone went black and he murmured my name.

‘You okay?’ He asked it again. It felt like a second chance. And so I told him the truth. That I hadn’t slept for a while. I didn’t say how long. But he nodded as I found the strength somehow, to move away from his arm. He was cool to the touch.

‘I understand, I don’t have the best sleep schedule either so I’m in no position to judge,’

This was said in a joking manner. He smiled kindly as he looked down. I surely looked like a bleary-eyed mess. But he was so kind, so nice. I smiled too. And it was 7:30!

‘Do you mind if I walk you home? I wouldn’t want you to fall asleep on your feet! Or worse you trip into someone else’s arms,’

He had laughed quite loudly after that. I could only feel my ears getting really hot. After a moment I realized he had gotten really quiet. I picked up the slack. It returned to normal after a few questions,

‘What’s your favorite plant?’

‘What do you do for work?’

‘Did I say anything in my sleep?’

I was really curious about the last one. I wasn’t worried. Just curious. Turns out I hadn’t said a thing. And that Donatello was a problem-solver in all aspects of life. But mainly he helped people with computer problems, and he fought bad guys ‘Haha just kidding, unless you consider hackers bad guys’

They were in my book! He had turned his ring three times in a row after that answer. As for the plant one, he had many purple flowers he listed off.

‘What?? You don’t know what lilacs look like?’

I had shook my head. Nothing really came to mind except the color lilac. That was another shade of purple..right?

‘I’ll have to bring some for you next Wednesday!’

He had declared this and even though I tried to say he didn’t have to! That I could easily look them up. I was happy when he told me not to, that he would show me.

This would be my first physical gift from Donatello. I am looking forward to next Wednesday even more than usual now. And I promised him and myself that I wouldn’t look up lilacs, it would be a surprise.

[madxmoonlight]

Eastern Box Turtle Roamin the Prairie Creeks

[ne0nlightzz]

someone please request a one shot or give me a prompt idea or something- im desprate at this point [i put info/fandoms in the tags!:D] i also just really dont want to work on part 5 of my story even though it was supposed to be posted like a month ago

[sotogalmo]

11:26

Rosca and Flor have that Big Mama and Lou Jitsu relationship 👍