#YOURE A LIFESAVER

[fenkizard]

im here ... fanfiction idea ... you wont believe what im about to suggest it is truly unexpected. what if donatello caught an illness. like, big crazy fever illness. hes so exhausted he can barely stand. ofc, he still tries to do something useful, like maybe, idk, working on the tank or something in his lab, only for it to go wrong because he is SICK.

or like, if you want something simpler, just a silly sickfic without the lab accident :3

idk. its 12 am i am spitting out an idea for you. hope you enjoy. im so sleepy.

TYSMMMM KEEBWEE. I enjoy both these ideas very much. I was tempted to go with the first one but I have some stuff coming up in my big fic that I hope to make similar and I wouldn’t be able to keep it short.

I went with the simpler sick idea but with him trying to work. Tysmmmm for giving me ideas!!! My brain was not working and it was like staring at a white page. I had nothin knocking around my noggin for a bit.

(The fic because while I know you know where I am on ao3 I may start posting links on here regularly)

[nonuggetshere]

LOUDEST INHALE

IM A HUGE JOY DIVISION FAN AND A LOT OF THEIR MUSIC SOUNDS LIKE SMTH WILTED WOULD MAKE TEEHEE - 👹

LISTENED TO A BUNCH OF THEM AND THAT'S MUCH CLOSER TO WHAT I WAS THINKING OF

NOT A 100% FIT BUT SO CLOSE

[theelvishfiddler]

AN ARTIST'S GUIDE TO HANDS

No, sorry it's actually not an artist's guide to drawing hands. Those are just warmup studies (which I'll talk about in this post.)

This is a guide to Your Hands and how to take care of them when making art.

No one ever sits down and teaches artists how to take care of their hands. They didn’t even teach me this while I was in art college. This is just what I've learned myself through years of pain and scouring the internet for advice.

This is going to be a long one and geared towards illustrative traditional/digital/pen/pencil artists specifically, but artists of other mediums and crafts should take care of their hands too! Well, we all should take care of our bodies in general, but this is about hands.

(advice is below the read more)

First off I'm not a professional or anyone with actual medical advice. I'm just some guy with chronic hand pain who makes art. This advice is free for you to use or discard.

WARMUPS!

Ever sit down in the morning to draw and wonder why your art is so stiff and looks so much worse than what you were drawing last night? It's because you didn't warm up!

You know how for physical sports they all warmup and do stretches before getting into the actual sport. To prevent injuries and all that? Yeah, it's good to do that for art too.

One way to warmup is to just draw lines. Try to keep them as straight as you can. Going up and down and diagonal. Draw squares. Big squares. Small squares. Circles! You are warming up, keep it loose and relaxed! Basically just scribble away.

(examples. I usually keep going until there is no paper white left. This can double as practice for drawing straight lines without a ruler, which is a great skill to have when freehand city drawing.)

Before hopping right into drawing people you can try doing some quick gesture drawings. Line of Action has timed sessions with a large variety of clothed or nude models. I usually do the 30 min class as it has a nice balance of short and long timed poses. The point isn't to draw nice art, but to warm up. Try to get the basic form down, not the details. I find that doing a full class session can really help my drawings feel more loose and grounded in reality for the rest of the day.

Some examples I found in my folders. I suggest looking into what a line of action (not the site) is and giving it a try with some of the studies!

COOLDOWNS!

For sports it's to return your body back to your everyday baseline after a workout.

Example; you are working on a big project! A masterpiece! It's detailed and cool! You have been focusing on this for hours and drawing so intensely. But you need to stop working for the day.

A cooldown is for winding down out of the go go go mindset. Put away the big project and do a couple small doodles and sketches. You are relaxing your hand and letting it stretch out. Keep the sketches loose. Let the art happen slowly. Don't polish anything, that can happen another day. Just ease yourself out of drawing.

...

Cool! Now we get into the meat of this thing.

HAND PAIN

How to avoid it and how to manage it if you already have it.

I love you artists and creatives, I am begging you to please take care of your most important creative tools. I really don't want this to sound like scare tactics like "oooh you better do this or blah blah!" Nope. I just had to learn all this the hard way and I'm extremely passionate about it.

Take this advice or don’t ╮(ﾟ～ﾟ;)╭ I can't tell you what to do, I'm not your dad

Adjustments and Small Solutions

If you are feeling physical discomfort while drawing there are many different solutions to try! Here are some suggestions that may or may not work for you.

Hold your pencil more loosely. Stop gripping that thang so tightly!!! Relax that hand! They make these… squishy pen grip things... I think they are called Adaptive Pencil Grips or Adaptive Writing/Drawing Aids? They stop your hand from being all cramped up by making your drawing tool wider. It's going to take a bit of time to adjust to drawing with it, but it's worth it for those who hold pencils too tightly.

Don't press as heavily. For traditional art, if you find yourself pressing really hard to get darker lines try moving to a softer pencil. Most standard pencils are HB, the B pencils have softer graphite. Experiment until you find the right one for you. For Digital, adjust your pressure settings so you don't have to press as hard to get thicker lines. You should not be pressing so hard all the time, it wears out both your hand and your tablet! It takes a bit of time to adapt to pencil or pressure changes. Try doing some unimportant sketches, they don't have to be good. You are just training your hand and mind to adjust using less pressure.

Draw with your arm and not your wrist! It's small repetitive motions that cause the most strain. You probably hear this one a lot, what does it even mean? It means moving your arm with the motions of your line, and trying not to make too many tiny movements with your just your fingers or wrist. This one is hard! It takes time and conscious thought to change the habit. Tips? Work bigger. Zoom in more. Use bigger sheets of paper.

(Motions exaggerated for a clearer example)

Change the angle of your drawing surface. They make angled tablet holders, angled desks, angled desktop raisers. Experiment, find and angle that is comfortable and the one that causes the least pain. (It's also good to make sure you don't have to hold your head at an uncomfortable angle when drawing. Staring straight down or hunching over a paper flat on the table can cause pain!)

Compression Glove? Wrist brace/tensioners? Some folks use them and I've been thinking of getting one for years now. I can't give advice on this one, because I don't have experience with it. Look into it if you want!

Managing Pain

First things first.

IF YOUR HANDS START TO HURT WHILE YOU ARE DRAWING. STOP! Put the pencil/pen/paintbrush/whatever down. The art will still be there for you to continue tomorrow.

I know from experience that it's extremely hard to pull away when you are hyper focused on an art piece. It's hard to remember all sorts of basic needs like food or bathroom when hyper focused. But you Need to stop when you feel that pain. (Preferably even before the pain…)

Take Breaks! Let your hands rest when you can. Just like a machine, if you don't schedule maintenance, the machine will schedule maintenance for you. Often that means having to wait a few days for it to return to functional. Best to take a day off from heavy usage or take an occasional 30 min break throughout the day to let your hands rest.

Stretching is important! Full body stretches are good; your arms, shoulders, neck, and spine are all connected, but I'm specifically talking about HAND and wrist stretching. There are a lot of stretches and massages for carpal tunnel and arthritis out there. I find they work for hand pain in general. Move into and out of each stretch slowly. Do not push a stretch if it hurts!! Be gentle!!

I am not a qualified professional and I will not be giving out specific stretches (that is beyond my personal comfort level). There are other artists out there who have made helpful stretching info-graphics which are cool, but I will not be because i don't want to be responsible for someone accidentally hurting themself. Ask your doctor for stretches & advice or look some up on your own.

Don't feel bad about forgetting to stretch frequently! Of course it is good to do it regularly and frequently, but I would be a hypocrite if I said that I remember to stretch daily. Setting timers for stop and stretch sessions can work for some people, but also doing stretches whenever you remember is fine! If you are sitting on the toilet you can idly do some hand stretches. On the bus? Laying in bed? At the beach? Do a couple stretches! Even just once a week is better than… nonce a week.

Using Cold or Heat to treat pain. If you really overdid it, put your hands in some cold water or wrap a cloth around an ice pack and apply it to your hand. Cold works best for me, but warmth works for others. This is just pain reduction and reducing inflammation from overuse! This is not a permanent solution.

If your hand hurts a lot! Frequently! Talk to your doctor? Idk mine has never given real advice. Just gently poked my hand and told me there isn't much to be done about it :/ but there are really good doctors out there who will care and give helpful advice!

Again. IF IT HURTS TO CONTINUE DRAWING. STOP DRAWING! This is not a "no pain no gain" type situation. Drawing so much that you hurt yourself isn't noble, it's just… limiting yourself. You only get one set of hands. These things are very handy to have.

Other Advice

Things I couldn't figure out how to fit into the earlier sections.

Your other hand can't handle the strain! Lets say you hurt your drawing hand... the other hand is right there free to use for art. Right? Wrong. Your other hand can't keep up with the demand, it hasn't been trained to the same extent as your dominant hand, it does not have the built up muscle. If you want to use that hand for drawing you are going to have to use it s l o w l y and train it bit by bit over a long period of time. When I tore a tendon in my right hand I decided to just keep drawing with my left and I got Really Good at it. It only took like two months before my left hand hurt too much to move. Then I had 0 functioning hands to pull up my pants. Not fun!!

People who draw on phones. That is extremely impressive! I'm amazed by the things people can create on such a small space. But phone artists are the ones I see most frequently mentioning hand pain. please please please make sure you are taking breaks. Would a stylus work instead of using a finger?

Outside of Drawing. Sometimes it's things outside of drawing that are causing the pain. For me there are multiple sources, but I also have tiny baby hands. Holding a phone too long causes pain. The handheld mode for my Switch causes A Lot of pain. The way my hand rests while typing on my laptop hurts! Playing tense videogames for too long hurts! Find the source of your pain and make some changes. The same things will apply to most; take regular breaks, do some stretches, and find soft things to prop up or rest your arms on.

Change your Artstyle. This one is more of a last resort. You might have to change your art style if you are getting sharp pains every time you draw. I loved drawing tight clean lines and many small fancy details, but drawing like that left me in so much pain at the end of the day. In 2023 I had to take the better part of year off from illustrations just to learn how to sketch and draw more loosely. I had to learn how to be gentle. To stop gripping my pencil so tightly. Learn! Adapt! You might discover a new style that you love even more!

A lot of this stuff gets more complicated in a work setting where you have to draw fast and long in order to get paid. Things like reducing your workload can help, but that can be... financially rough. But outside of that, it’s ok to be a slow artist. Going full steam and hurting yourself is not worth it.

Aaaaaanyway, thats all folks. Today's rant brought to you by me! The guy with chronic hand pain who always forgets to stretch! The guy who got frustrated with a sketch yesterday and decided to push to keep drawing for just one more hour! The guy who woke up this morning and had to spend 2 hours massaging and stretching their hands. The guy who probably shouldn't have typed all of this out because ooww ow ouch

If your hands do hurt, it's going to be ok! You don't need to be a speed demon who draws all the time. It's ok to take your time and take frequent breaks. You are going to do great things! Just be gentle with yourself...

[violetsandshrikes]

as someone with frequent painful plantar fasciitis, people really underestimate the importance of caring for your feet

make sure you keep up good hygiene! clean socks daily! air out your shoes/make sure they dry out!

i do a lot of field work and let me tell you, feet also dry out really fast and having the skin crack/fissure is absolutely not fun. moisturise them if you need to once a day!

keep note of any changes to your skin, colouration, foot shape, pains - keep track of any moles, keep track of circulation, note any signs of skin injury or damage

cut nails straight across (rounding corners can give you ingrowns)! pumice stone on foot to soften hard parts + remove dead skin (but do not shave calluses because that can seriously damage your feet)! if you notice peeling skin between your toes - get it checked out, look at fungal treatment. if you notice nails discoloured + bed raised - get it checked out, look at fungal treatment. if you get a wart, get it removed professionally and try to do so when it’s newer/smaller (less treatment needed to get rid of it). especially if your feet are in communal spaces a lot (think gym showers for example) these things can spread!

you can learn basic foot massages on youtube. for my plantar fasciitis i also have a range of physio exercises i do - rolling your foot on a tennis ball is good, but can also be really painful depending on where your foot is at! in which case, i often freeze a small bottle of water and use that to roll it

[cringefail-clown]

FUCKING THANK YOUUUUUU

[rafyki]

Omg you're a genius idk why I didn't think of using picrew!! Thank you!!

Honestly the main reason I hate that I can't draw is bc I can't draw my OCs 😔 my children... they only exist in my head and I can't show them to anyone 😔

[ktzart]

a strange sort of intimacy

[reality-detective]

Lifesaving Hacks 😂

[saysflora]

David Moscow as David Jacobs (Newsies 1992)

[echoesdistant]

head 1968 is so scary like you are in a dark box in a box in a box in a box in a box chained and locked and sinking into the ocean and nobody on shore is doing a thing about it they just watch in assured silence because you will be back you ALWAYS come back the light of the sun can reach hundreds of feet down into the water and it will always shine on you

[astaroth1357]

Allergies:

*it's getting late at the HoL and Satan still hasn't returned home yet. Lucifer has called in MC and Mammon to start up a small search party when the demon in question finally walks through the front door*

MC: Satan!! *they jog over to him quickly and trap him in their arms, burying their face into his chest before letting go*

MC: There you are! We were getting uh- w-worried...! *MC puffs a bit of air out of their nose and frowns* Huh...

Satan: I was just running a little late. I'm... hm? MC? Is something wrong...?

MC: Uhm... *they rub their nose, which is already starting to feel unbearably itchy, with the back of their hand and frown harder* Satan... did you pass by a-? A-cho!

*Satan's stomach drops*

Satan: Oh... Oh no.

MC: Achoo! AchOo! acHOO!!! *MC covers their nose behind their sleeve as they keep sneezing and the other brothers leap into action*

Lucifer: Satan!! I told you if you play with cats you have to wash off first!!

Satan: I'm barely through the door!! I always remember, I just forgot to warn them this time!

Mammon: *right next to their human as they keep sneezing up a fit* SATAN, YOU POISONED MC!! Come on, man!!

MC: ACH-OO! N-...ot poison!- ACKHOO!! Just-*wheeze*-allergies...!

*as their eyes start to puff up and their throat tightens, Mammon curses and digs in his pockets until he pulls out their spare inhaler and some Benadryl. He practically forces them into their hands out of sheer urgency*

Mammon: Stay with us, MC!! Keep breathin'!

MC: Not! *wheeze*...dying. Yet...

*MC takes a hit of their inhaler while their first man frantically pushes them off to their private bathroom for a shower, shouting to Lucifer to bring a glass of water. You'd think MC walked into a vat of chemicals and had mere seconds to live*

Lucifer: *glares a Satan and points down the hall* Bathe. Change. Now.

Satan: *actually swallows his anger for just this once out of guilt and sighs in defeat*

Satan: Alright... But just for MC's sake. Not because you told me to.

Lucifer: *eyes narrow* With that attitude, you'll be seeing no cats for week.

Satan: That's inhumane and you know it, you monster!!

[sparky-scratch]

looking with my autistic eyes

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[clotpolesonly]

Blue Lily, Lily Blue ch 47 // The Raven King ch 67

[eldrichfuck666]

Uhh, I didn't create new sims for a while, but guess what?? He's my new obsession now T-T Yet another cannibalistic deer, what did you expect from me at this point?..

By the way!! When I see him, Meet me in the woods by Lord Huron starts playing in my head for some reason.. AND ALSO. He still doesn't have a name! I'm sure he's going to have a slavic name though :')

[purpldawne]

THANK YOU

does anyone have a floor plan of the mankai dorms

[possibilistfanfiction]

post top surgery bea was so !!!. so many feelings, just like when you first wrote about it a few months back. would love to read more if you’re ever feeling inspired. maybe ava observing her feel even more at home in her body?

[idk how many ppl love this headcanon but it's rly lovely? to me at least lol. so a little gentle mama s & bea pov for u]

//

you've gotten better at caring for your children in different ways as the years have gone on — fostering passions, listening carefully, allowing them to expand into who they were meant to be, within and beyond the order. you've fought a holy war with so many of them — some you have lost forever; some have come back, in one way or another. love, god's love, the highest form of grace, is full of grief and sorrow, and you know that better than most.

but — 'you're sure you've got it?'

you fight back the urge to sigh because ava's eyes are big and earnest and you're reminded of when they were nineteen, and terrified, and so so brave. 'yes, ava. we'll be fine in the brief amount of time you're gone.'

ava nods, more to reassure herself than you;.she's just going to get groceries — a task you had bullied her into, mostly to get her out of the house for a brief moment — and beatrice has mostly slept on and off this past week. it's a joyful time, so deeply, but you know also that seeing beatrice in pain, even for the best reason, is hard for ava. perhaps, you admit, hard for all of you.

but beatrice smiles when ava kisses her forehead, pausing the season of some reality tv show she and lilith appear to be quite invested in that, reluctantly, you have watched enough of at this point to follow along with something slightly more than disinterest. she smiles still when you sit down next to her on their big couch in their sundrenched living room, and you feel peace settle in your soul the way you really only do when you see your children happy.

'okay,' ava says from the door leading to the garage, 'text me if anything happens.'

beatrice rolls her eyes, the soft smile still on her face. 'just make sure to get the proper chocolate.'

'that was one time.'

beatrice laughs. 'bye, ava.'

'love you.'

'i love you too,' beatrice says, then turns to you when ava closes the door softly.

'you are feeling okay, right? i've known you for too long for you to lie to me.'

beatrice touches your wrist gently, in some kind of thanks. 'i'm feeling good. sore, but they took my drains out yesterday so i finally got to shower.'

'well i came at the perfect time, then.'

beatrice huffs a laugh. she shifts a little, sitting up more, and there are freckles all along her shoulders, muscles toned and visible without a shirt on, a blanket over her legs. 'i — uh, i have to let my skin breathe for a few minutes, is it —' her brow furrows — 'is it okay?'

you have known her for so long, seen and still do see so much of yourself in her, and so you understand. 'of course it's okay, beatrice.'

she nods, just once, and then reaches to undo the tight surgical binder. you had read all about top surgery diligently after she had told you — with a nervousness in her voice that had made you ache — that she had a date scheduled for her procedure, even asked one of jillian's surgeon friends to explain the details. you know the expect the bandages over her regrafted nipples, the stretch of the new scars across her chest. there's old scars along her abdomen, but these are different: these are imbued with joy, and care, and a becoming that is so quietly holy you feel blessed to witness it. the deep breath she takes in, the way her shoulders relax and she smiles when she looks down at her chest — it is all you have ever wanted for any of your children.

she looks over at you, a little shaky, a little unsure, and so you offer her what you know she needs, after so many years. 'these were the results you were hoping for, yes?'

she swallows, but it's still impossible for her smile to fully slip. 'beyond what i had hoped for, honestly. it's hard — it was hard to imagine, just how much better i would feel.'

'i'm quite happy for you.'

her smile grows — less shy, more certain — but then her brow furrows in a way you recognize by now that means she's been sitting on something for a while. 'are you — are you ever disappointed?' she pauses, then clarifies quietly, 'in me?'

when beatrice was recruited to the order years and years ago, you recognized quickly that she would be more than fit to run it in your stead. she always had been: brilliant, organized, kinder than you could ever hope for. generous. forgiving. devout. she hasn't changed at all, only grown brighter in her faithfulness.

'i am so proud of you, beatrice. profoundly.'

beatrice sniffles, and you turn toward her fully.

'you have been a beacon for god's love the entire time you have known you, through a great deal of pain. i'm proud of you for finally starting to give that love to yourself.'

as you expected, she does start to cry; it's not uncommon even though she still tries to pretend it's a rare occurrence.

'i'm deeply sorry if i have ever made you to feel that way, especially after you renounced your vows.' you worked with her to bring ava back; you won a war; you walked her down the aisle. 'i am in awe of who you have become, beyond what i ever could have hoped for you.' you look pointedly to her chest, flat and tender and, in the ways you have learned matter most, beautiful.

she wipes tears and then huffs a laugh. 'you haven't,' she says, 'made me feel like that. not since i was brand new at the order and couldn't properly shoot a pistol, at least.'

you laugh fondly, remembering how horrible a shot she had first been, too tightly wound to breathe through the kick properly.

'i've just been in my head, a little. it happens when i'm high.'

you raise a brow, just for fun, and she seems to realize what she's said, blanching.

'not that i've ever been high, ever, other than, you know, pain medicine after surgery or injuries. not once, not one single time.'

'it's still a sin to lie. you know that, right?'

beatrice eventually laughs, happily. 'ava's not particularly subtle, is he?'

'neither is the smell of weed.'

she laughs even harder.

'i wasn't always a nun.'

she calms, quiets. 'thank you, for being a really wonderful mother.'

it fills your chest unlike anything else — ava and their halo; mary and lilith finding their way back home; your new girls getting to train in peace — and you squeeze her hand. 'thank you for being a really wonderful daughter.'

she nods, another layer of peace settling against her skin. when it comes time, a few minutes later, for her to have to put her surgical binder back on, you help with gentle hands.