#a cat i can jive with

[p0orbaby]

I'm so giddy for Wicked so can I request a blurb about Arsenal teen who's into musical theatre and has a show or something that the team go to watch in support???

-

It starts with Leah. It always does. She finds out because you leave your script on the bench at the training ground, a heavily dog-eared copy of Grease. Your name is scrawled in the corner of the front page, along with random doodles—hearts, stars, some vaguely car-like thing that was supposed to be a reference to the Thunder Road scene but ended up looking more like a potato on wheels.

Leah picks it up and, in typical Leah fashion, starts reading it aloud. Dramatically. By the end of her impromptu performance, Katie has joined in, doing the worst American accent you’ve ever heard and shouting, “Tell me about it, stud!”

By the end of the day, the entire squad knows you’re playing Sandy in some local production of Grease.

“Sandy?” Katie says during warm-ups the next day, grinning like the cat that got the cream. “Didn’t know you were into leather trousers”

“I didn’t know you were into reading my stuff,” you fire back, glaring.

“What songs do you get to sing?” Beth asks, suddenly invested.

“All the bangers,” Katie answers for you. “Hopelessly Devoted. You’re the One That I Want. She’s probably been practising the hand jive in her bedroom”

“Can we not do this?” you mutter, stretching in an attempt to hide the faint blush creeping up your neck.

They don’t stop. Beth hums Summer Nights under her breath every time she sees you. Steph suggests the squad should do a Grease theme for a fancy-dress night. Katie spends an entire training session calling you “Sandra Dee,” much to Renée’s exasperation.

And then they buy tickets.

You don’t find out until Leah casually mentions it while you’re tying your boots. “We’re coming to your show, by the way”

“Who’s we?” you ask warily.

“The team”

“All of you?”

“Obviously,” she says, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. “We got the front row”

The night of the performance, you’re convinced something will go wrong. Maybe the mic will cut out, or you’ll trip during Greased Lightning. Or worse—Katie will heckle you from the audience.

As you step onto the stage, the lights blinding, you spot them immediately. They’re hard to miss. Leah’s in the middle, holding a pink ladies’ jacket that looks two sizes too small for her. Katie is beside her, wearing sunglasses indoors and a white T-shirt with “T-Birds” scrawled on it in Sharpie. Beth has a foam finger. Where she got it, you’ll never know.

The show goes on. You hit every note, every step, every wistful glance at Danny Zuko. During You’re the One That I Want, Katie lets out a cheer so loud you almost miss your cue.

By the time the curtain falls, you’re drenched in sweat and half-mortified. The standing ovation feels surreal, though it’s mostly them, clapping and whistling loud enough to make up for the other half of the audience.

Backstage, they barge in like they own the place. Leah hugs you first, grinning like a proud big sister. “You smashed it,” she says.

Beth holds up her phone. “I got the hand jive on video.”

“Delete it”

“Absolutely not”

Katie, predictably, starts singing We Go Together at full volume, much to the annoyance of the cast and crew still trying to pack up.

“You lot are ridiculous,” you say, but you’re smiling, the words softened by the warmth of their support.

Leah drives you home, Katie still singing in the backseat. And despite the chaos, the embarrassment, and Katie’s mangled rendition of Beauty School Dropout, you think to yourself: this is what family feels like.

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

2024 tuesdaypost retrospective

it's hard not to make this all about my nearly full 365 days of unemployment. i have cut a great deal from this wrapup. thank you all for your love and support (often financial!) this year :') it has never been scarier to have no familial safety net and i really, really appreciate all of you relative strangers (i have met very few of you in person!)

jobs applied to: my best estimate is 4500 given my daily target balanced with periods of more acute despair and physical illness

interviews: 2

calls to the massachusetts unemployment agency: 73

cats spayed and/or neutered: 3 (phil, orange boy, ruby)

eclipses seen: 1

hurricanes: 1

completely fallow weeks: 5

i have GOT to be more specific about writing out loud what worked and what didn't work instead of resorting to "vibes were off". i also have to remember to be better about saying where i found things and saying the premise/genre of the film. i try to draft these on sunday nights so i can kind of mull things over for a bit, but that rarely happened this year.

highlights of the year: a tomato plant in a five gallon bucket, hotvintagepoll, the eclipse, my new zebrawood desk, throwing my own birthday party (NOT passive aggressive it was very comforting to be in full control), ren faire, the modern zelda games, genshin impact, heist films, naomi novik's temeriare series, Navigational Entanglements by Aliette de Bodard, the Popping Tins newsletter about tinned fish products, new joywave and beyonce and charli xcx and kesha albums, and an actual play podcast focused on critical worldbuilding smart characterization and fun interaction between good friends.

questions? comments? concerns? something about the structure/critique of these posts or a work i talked about really click or really not work for you? i would love to know!

listening

all the tuesdaysongs are in one spotify playlist below. if i recced a whole album (only did that this year with The Offline’s La couleur de la mer and Toshiyuke Honda's SONGS OF THE MILKY WAY ) i put the song i thought most representative of the album.

special shoutouts to the Well There's Your Problem engineering disasters podcast, the Sangfielle season of Friends at the Table, The 404 Media Podcast news/tech/culture podcast, and the Whale Hunting podcast about financial crimes.

i would like to find music through other avenues than the spotify weekly recs playlists, especially since the platform has noticeably nosedived after their last round of firing people. unforch i have yet to find a music influencer/blog/tastemaker/podcast whose tastes jive with my own.

-

reading

the sort of three broad categories of stuff i talk about in the reading section are articles, comics, and actual books. fairly pleased with my RSS feed, which is filling the twitter hole and also has a separate Real US News tab i can look at in a more controlled manner. people seem to have liked the article/book combo bc reading a book a week is usually kind of a heavy lift for people who are employed. as long as i do either an article or a book i feel like this category is checked off in my brain. i would like to do both more weeks and figure out how to do more concise book reports. i am pleased that people seem to like the couple weeks of giant DNF lists where i briefly state why i did not finish a specific older scifi paperback.

shoutout to @rae-being-naughty for introducing me to one of my favorite new authors, t kingfisher! what a delectable niche. those books go down SO easy. shoutouts also to the temeraire books, Trouble And Her Friends by Melissa Scott (what if neuromancer was good?), Dark Wire by Joseph Cox (nonfiction about the encrypted phone company the FBI shadow-ran) and Witch Hat Atelier.

the OPPOSITE of a shoutout to the most frustrating books i did not finish this year, a fragile enchantment by allison saft (the very weird fantasy meghan/harry fantasy au????) and jennifer dugan's the ride of her life, a cowgirl wlw romance that had some kid pop up in the second chapter and yell about how they shipped the leads and were making a tiktok about it. hello??????? huh????? i had that book on hold for SIX MONTHS. what the fuck did people see in that book???

reading and holding and interacting with a physical hard copy book is so much better for my shattered attention span, and i have giant bookcases full of physical books i desperately want to read, but i read ebooks so much faster. a dilemma that will for sure continue into the new year.

-

watching

logged almost 169 things on letterboxd this year so far (almost nice). the giant spike is when i watched a a dozen individually loggable betty boop shorts. tasty tasty stats.

saw one entire film (howl's moving castle) in theaters and i do not think i will be doing that again bc (while fun) it was a very anxiety inducing experience.

more tv and shorts and tv comprised entirely of shorts than i expected to watch this year!

watching highlights of the year:

-

playing

the gaming rig i bought in 2020 is really staring to show its age and only very light-resource pc games are feasible rn. very many thanks to both @sybilius and @pasta-pardner who both bought me games i will one day play!

spent most of the year with big open world exploration/puzzle/action games, as is traditional. barely touched a fallout this year, which is less traditional.

by hours, the ranking is probably

genshin impact

breath of the wild

tears of the kingdom

STUFF SORT on my phone

stardew valley

powerwash simulator

what are people interested in seeing in this section?

the trouble with this section is that has been a thorn in my side basically since i started this series, but games are such a part of my life it feels weird NOT talking about them? but talking about video games is difficult bc none of them are very good. i find myself Still a little burned out on them even after almost three years on from the video games job. finding something fun and free on itch or steam is very time-consuming. every time i talk about genshin i feel like i have to caveat it with one million Don't Play Gacha Games warning stickers like the ones that come on cigarettes. and i don't feel like a screenshot of whatever achievement i hunted on genshin in a specific week is very interesting to people.

maybe the solution is to cut this section for a while and have a special bonus add on section every once in a while??? i dunno. would love to know people's thoughts here on how to make talking about/telling stories about the games i play more interesting.

-

making

the tuesdayposts as a whole have been both very good and very bad for my mental health, bc i really needed a project to work on to break up the soul crushing monotony of writing cover letters. however writing the tuesdaypost every week was often a very anxiety inducing expereince bc i felt like i didn't do much. or did stuff very unevenly. the "point" of the tuesdayposts is to remind myself every week that absorbing a lot of different things helps me stay on a more even keel. esp in times of great unrest. unfortunately, a year of unemployment.

i saw my siblings twice, managed to actually write and post christmas cards, framed a bunch of shit, discovered a new favorite soup, and did some indifferent gardening and cross stitch.

the making section this year tended to be more lifestyle blogging/what i cleaned. a lot of weeks i did not have Anything in the tank except basic vacuuming and halfhearted wiping counters down.

however??? i managed to post three fics??? two were previously written but at least they are no longer languishing on my harddrive??

this goofy little NFT genderswap blondeyes has the craziest hits to kudos ratio on anything ive ever written.

i really do intend on finishing this cait/fahrenheit 5+1. the stars have not been aligned.

this very brief crossover has gotten some of the loveliest comments!!! when i am done directing and choreographing the big prisoner/arcade argument in my brain i am excited to actually write that.

im genuinely for real afraid to ask or expect anything of 2025, but here it comes anyway!

[deadwifemanpain]

They might be cunning, backstabbing, doublecrossing, devilishly good looking bastards but man these cats can jive.

honestly just slapping this here because i loved how i drew the poses alright ciao.

[thunderbird-shadow]

SIBLING QUESTIONS ✨ 

Who is the:

Best dancer:

Most likely to be in a fight with each other:

Spends the most time in the shower: 

Most likely to steal your food out the fridge: 

Gives the best hugs:

First one awake:

Last one to bed:

Most impulsive:

Most accident prone:

Most cautious:

Best singer:

Most likely to get lost:

Most adventurous eater:

Most likely to get sunburnt:

Kindest:

Most likely to adopt a stray dog:

Most likely to write a book:

Bloody hell this is a long ask anon! I'll do my best to answer all these, but I'm on call at the minute so I might have to rush off at the last second.

Best dancer: They're all a bit rubbish, I have to be honest. John is probably the best because Lady P dragged him along to ballroom classes when they were in uni; they tried swing dancing, too, but he drew the line at jive classes. Scott looks a bit like those inflatable floppy guys they have at gas stations in America when he dances.

Most likely to be in a fight with each other: Alan and Gordon sometimes fight over things like Mario Kart, and Gordon and I sometimes fight for almost literally no reason. It's what happens when you're in the same year as your brother in school. But mostly it's Alan and Gordon.

Spends the most time in the shower: Scott. You've seen how much hair gel he uses. That's only the surface routine; he's got all these hair shower products and fancy body washes, even more than I have.

Most likely to steal my food out of the fridge: GORDON. Because he thinks he can get away with it. He's wrong, of course, but he hasn't figured out what I do in revenge every time he does it yet. Alan sometimes steals things too, but I let him off because he's a tiny child.

Best hugs: All of them for different reasons. Virgil's big enough to completely envelop you - plus he's like a radiator - but there's a certain charm to Alan and John's bony hugs. Gordon's as clingy as a starfish, and Scott doesn't give out too many full body hugs (he's fonder of the shoulder pat) so it's always a bit special to get one from him.

First awake: Scott and Gordon. They live on military time still (though if Gordon doesn'tget to bed early he sleeps till after noon). I'm a night owl and frankly their 5am starts disgust me.

Last to bed: Sometimes me, occasionally Virgil. Obviously we all live on weird times thanks to our jobs, and John doesn't really count because he runs on a different internal clock, but he's a borderline insomniac and if he was home 24/7 he'd be up till 3am all the time.

Most impulsive: Can I say all of them? Living here is ridiculously stressful, and the only thing making it easier is that I'm pretty impulsive too. I'd say the worst of them are Scott and Gordon, though Alan's pretty bad too, and even Virgil and John have their moments.

Most accident prone: John can be pretty clumsy especially when he's getting used to Earth gravity, but Alan's a walking disaster area and doesn't even have the excuse of living in space full-time. He trips over thin air a lot.

Most cautious: On the island it's obviously Brains, he's famous for it, but out of the brothers? Probably John. He's calculating more than curious, and only takes risks when he feels certain he's estimated the odds well enough. The rest of them are reckless idiots most days.

Best singer: Virgil sings in the shower and he's actually got a really lovely voice. Scott occasionally sings in the shower too, but unfortunately sounds a little more like a dying cat.

Most likely to get lost: Individually? Gordon. As a pair? Gordon and Alan. They're somehow even worse when they're together.

Most adventurous eater: Gordon - and me, honestly. We always end up going for the weirdest sounding things on the menu whenever we eat out, it's an ongoing challenge. My spice tolerance is better though.

Most likely to get sunburnt: You'd expect it to be John - and he does burn ridiculously easily - but the thing is he a) actually wears sunscreen and b) hates the sun with a burning (ha) passion. Meanwhile Alan forgets all the time and isn't lucky enough to have got the same tanning gene as Gordon.

Kindest: Virgil. All the boys are, of course, but there isn't a bad bone in his body.

Most likely to adopt a stray dog: Gordon or Alan. We do run into strays a lot on rescues to be honest, and we've already had a few... incidents, shall we say. There's a reason Scott set up an official Tracy Industries animal shelter.

Most likely to write a book: Depends on the book, really. John's already published articles and he's already talked about writing some kind of astronomy book featuring his experiences living in space. Virgil's been toying with the idea of maybe writing and illustrating his own kids' book, though - the concept is really sweet, and I'm doing my best to convince him to go through with it at the minute.

This was a lot more fun to answer than I thought it'd be! Thank you, anon :)

[motorcycle-boyy]

Hcs for Darry Curtis?

Random Darry Headcanons!!

he really likes cats?? like i feel like he'd have 2 of em

..plays checkers lol

he never learned how to ride a bike

is an excellent cook! will cook for you all the time

you could be going on a date to a goddamn aquarium and he'd still show up in a suit

favourite song is jive talkin by bee gees :)

speaks a bit of czech!

if pony got an s/o, he'd take him on double dates with yall

holds ur hand when he gets overwhelmed/nervous/angry

not the biggest cuddler but loves when you lean your head on his shoulder or chest

he's really good at soothing you so if you have panic attacks or an anxiety disorder he'd help you to the best of his ability

definitely saves up to buy you things he catches you eyeing in stores

a really good singer! if your lucky he'll serenade you

if you have a good family, he, pony and soda will go to yours for christmas

if you don't? thats okay! he'll let you stay over for the holidays and make sure you are safe and have a good time

reads you bedtime stories :)

if you take meds or vitamins he is such a dad about it. reminds you every morning or whatever time you are supposed to take them and will make sure you stay so he can watch you to make sure you actually took em

sometimes he'll just take you out for a walk at night and let you vent to him

makes sure you dont do any crime. if he finds you did anything- even as small as stealing a candy bar- he will give you a whole ass lecture

will kiss you on the lips (not a makeout but a reg kiss) in front of anyone, even ur family. he doesn't really care or feel shame/embarrassment about pda

slow dancing with him when his brothers are asleep <3

makes more jokes than usual around you

he has a mini garden but sometimes forgets to take care of it

will give u a gentle massage if ur stressed

has a habit of whistling. like he'll walk around the house doing whatever, cooking, watching tv etc and you just hear him whistling

thats abt all i can think of rn! i didnt know if u meant romantic or not so i did random ones. i hope you enjoyed !!

[the-meme-monarch]

Your recent post: https://www.tumblr.com/the-meme-monarch/743147937704689665/what-if-deltarune-beach-episode?source=share Had made me think of something. If darkeners come from objects in the real world, and taking a darkener from one dark world to another makes them turn to stone because they're incompatible, what happens when you make a dark world with a foreign darkener's object already in it? Would they be transformed into a different character? or would they then stay the same character but be compatible with the world? I'm unsure if I explained that right.

well for that post the beach was Technically An Object that they brought to castle town so it became part of it :0c i realize this may break rules of “the room is the world and objects in it are inhabitants” but well I’m pretty sure the computers/tables in the computer lab are what cyber city is. wait yeah and the trash can in the corner is the trash zone. nevermind i think a diorama becoming it’s intended setting works fine actually. ANYWAY but bc it was Brought To castle town nobody’d turn to stone :] but also my thinking for the actual question is

but them Becoming a new character based on the same object is very very interesting now that I’m remembering ralsei’s thing abt ‘the person who opened the fountain influences it’s will’ or smth like that…… like theoretically if someone opened a fountain, it got closed with all the darkners still there, and then a new person opened it, would all those darkners be the same darkners? or be New darkners from the same objects. I’m not too sure what to think abt it bc i don’t really jive with the ‘darkners histories are Backwards written’ like they didn’t exist Until the fountain was opened and then it acts like they’ve always been there. bc. the spamton sweepstakes straight up disproves that. noelle talks about responding to her spam emails and receiving a pipis in cat petterz and that was set Before ch2 happened. before ch1 happened probably. since it was yesterday

[yolkyweichei]

Hi, skykids and artists alike! 

WARNING: THIS IS LONG. I can't stop yappin'.

I was taking a series of screenshots of my art process for my own reference (to review later, see how my process has changed, etc. I’m not much of a timelapser) and figured I’d share my process and show off how much the game Sky: COTL has DRAMATICALLY improved my art (and also have a post to show people in the very, hopefully, unlikely chance anyone ever doubts that I draw my own art). I also have seen a lack of written out with screenshots explanations of art, as video format becomes more popular across not only Youtube, but Instagram and Tiktok as well. This is not a learning style I jive with, so this is something for all the artists out there looking for this kinda thing. 

For reference, here is my FIRST EVER Sky digital painting compared to my most recent (before the one used for this lil infodump). <3 This is CSP specific as far as brushes go, but I’ve seen people make amazing art in freaking PowerPoint, so if I can do it, you can do it. 

F’real. This is the process of a VERY LAZY artist with hand tremors and hecked up wrist ligaments as a result of an autoimmune disease.. I’m talking, drawing in bed in a blanket nest watching vodcasts and cuddling cats. 

(May 2024) -----> (January 2025) 

Added info - the pic on the left is exactly why I wanted to do this. I'm even a little embarrassed by it, now, but when I had originally posted it on another platform, I was questioned and disbelieved that I was able to draw a background at all. This was the start of me taking digital painting seriously (versus general character/creature design) with lineart and a cell shading style. That disbelief from someone who knew me IRL hurt a lot, and I often have the concern of that happening again. This is me alleviating that anxiety once and for all, so I can finally move past it. YAH, FRIENDO, THIS IS MY THERAPY SESSION.

Anyway; I’m nowhere near new to art, but it’s always been a hobby for me so I never sought to actively improve with proper studies -- but wanting to create lore for my silly lil skydude forced my hand. With a semi-open world game that’s genuinely gorgeous made collecting references easy, and the Sky community here on Tumblr has not only inspired but encouraged me to keep going despite 2024 being a very rough year. This game has brought me joy, and I hope you find this lil doodad helpful. 🕯️

Now on with the show! This piece will be a part of a little series I’m working on that will include lyrics to a song that gives me the biggest Sky vibes (To Thus Onto Tyrants by The Oh Hellos). 

The brush that did the heavy lifting (“spread pencil”) seems to be either very elusive or no longer available. Everything else is listed here :) 

What I could find: 

Turnip Pen - Default brush in CSP

“Crunchy” - Specifically the second to last one in this brushpack 

“Hard Round V1” 

“Hard Round V2” 

“YN Soft Round” (Not free, sorry ): ) 

“Pecas” - for sparkleys

“Toothbrush” - For more sparkleys

So the first step is to gather references. They’re a MUST HAVE and DON’T LET ANYONE ELSE TELL YOU OTHERWISE. Use references, redline, and yes - EVEN TRACE. I may make a lil thingy about how to do these things ethically, but for now, just art process. Let’s see what references I used: self harvested! 

Shout out to the Skykid screaming in the background. 

I also used this for a reference for the moth that I grabbed off the interwebs- 

For this, I wanted to try and recreate what it felt like as a moth (but after getting at least one starboi lol). Isle of Dawn will always hold a very special place in my heart. The first impression was impactful, even though I was incredibly confused on what I was doing. I knew I wanted the temple, but there’s something so calming and melancholy about that first cave. Putting these references together, I got the most hot garbage sketch I’ve ever done - but it’s okay! We’re not doing any lineart, so we WANT messy. The more you work on a sketch at this stage, the harder and more intimidating it will be to get to the next step. You’ll become too attached to those details and things you sketched, that if you have to go over them later it will be devastating. Just using this to work out composition :) 

Currently, I have two main layers (CSP makes an automatic background and I just leave that one alone and do not count this as a layer)

Top - moth sketch

Bottom - everything else

Moving forward, we’re working in three main sections. Background, midground, and foreground. I show a screenshot of how I organized these layers later. 

The next step is to block in colors. Layer styles are VALID and AMAZING, I do not use them much. They have their time and place, and I prefer to keep those for finishing touches. For now, I’m just doing my best to eyeball colors I like from the reference photos. Color picking is amazing and helpful too, but I’ll add a little note* at the end about why I try to avoid doing that too often from my reference. 

I put the colors on their respective layers (Four to start with. One for each mentioned above, and another for the moth). I try to block out shading and lighting but I keep it sloppy because it’s likely to change a LOT. This is just planning and fiddling, seeing what colors look good together. 

(Spread Pencil is the one brush I couldn’t find >: at this point, this is the ONLY brush I’ve used. Don’t be tempted by blending things yet. Be sloppy.) 

Once I get the general idea of what I want, I WORK FROM THE BACK. I hid any layer that would be ‘blocking’ that section and allow myself to go ‘outside the lines’ a bit. The overlap is helpful when making changes to the ‘front’ elements later. Remember, we’re still being SUPER MESSY.

I kept the moth/foreground visible so I can still check that the general color theme was working. 

Hide the sketch layer. Do it. We’re painting, not doing lineart. You gotta. I believe in you. Look at this slop. Beautiful. 

Alright, now we’re cooking! The layers are in the following order going from top (front) to bottom (back): 

-Moth sketch (will be hidden later) 

-Moth colors 

-Background sketch (will be hidden later) 

-The rock the moth is sitting on and that little rock section on the bottom left

-The rock behind the moth (hidden in this screenshot) 

-The rest of the cave 

-The temple 

At some point around here I used “Crunchy” on the clouds to blend em a bit. 

NOW IS THE FUN PART. RENDERIIINNNGGGGGG. I started with the stairs because they looked annoying. USE YOUR LINE/SHAPE AND SELECTION TOOLS. These will help you keep your lines straight and achieve crispiness if you desire. More on the stairs in a moment, but while you’re doing this, remember to 

ZOOM THE HECKIE OUT. Make it thumbnail sized and squint. Can you still tell what you’re painting? Evaluate. Are the colors working well together? Is there enough contrast? How’s that composition doing? Zooming out rocks. 

After taking a moment to zoom out and squint, I came up with the following notes: 

Do this regularly throughout your process, even if you’re in the middle of something mundane like drawing stairs. A LOT more contrast is needed, and taking a moment to notate this will help prevent you from doing TOO much that you’ll regret later when you end up covering it up to fix these issues you missed earlier. 

Back to the stairs. 

I blocked things in with the line tool and the turnip pen, then scribbled it around using ‘Hard Round V2”. When I say scribble, I mean literally. Scribble. It’s fun and freeing. We’re not trying to be precise or make anything hyper realistic. We just gotta get those colors down yknow. 

Good luck. 

Water is weird, and I don’t understand it. We guess and hope for the best. Remember that water is clear, and for the most part you’ll be able to see through it, so unless you have a blue toned drawing (like this one), the water itself may not be blue. I generally color pick the areas around it and lighten/darken it based on those. I also knew there’d be a light beam in this area, and the reflection from the moth’s candle so some bright oranges and yellows were nice to add, as well. Don’t forget reflections/highlights if the scene calls for it! 

Time for the part that actually requires a shred of skill. Thankfully, this pose is very simple and the moth’s design is, well, a moth. Don’t be afraid to toggle that sketch layer on and off for this. The moth is the main focus, and should be clear and easy to read as such - requiring a bit more work for colors and shape language. 

Don’t work on one single thing for long. The moment your brain goes “im getting annoyed/frustrated/bored”, move to another piece of the painting. If you notice your character has a horrible tangent with a background piece and it’s just really bothering you - stop working on the character and fix that background area. Give it a bit more bulge (or less), shift things around. Paint over stuff. 

“But I drew this really well, and it would be a shame to cover it up if I won’t be able to do it that well again!” You may ponder, anxiety filling your chest at the very thought of redrawing a hand or that one rock that just looks really, really good somehow. 

And to that I ask - why won’t you be able to do it again? You did it once before, CLEARLY you have the skill and ability. If you’re worried, draw over it on a new layer so if you have to fall back on the old thing, you can. ART IS FUN. Don’t let it stress you out too much. The moment you look at that canvas and go “you know what, I CAN do it again”, you will be able to do it again. 

Trust me. 

With some more scribbling done, we can start detailing things that aren’t stairs. Yay! Let’s work from the back again.

LITERALLY. SCRIBBLE.

You can start blending around now, too, though. We’re getting there, and look at all we have to show for it! I tried to mimic the clouds as best I could from the screenshot because like water - they are weird and wonky and yah, hard. Cloud brushes can be helpful, but give you significantly less control IMO, but to each their own and whatever works for you, works. 

BG looking good, but remember ZOOM OUT. I can see the contrast of the temple/background elements looks a bit better now, and now that I’m bored with that, I wanna bounce to that midground area, and fix up the moth a bit more. I also used an ADD (GLOW) layer to messily test some different ways to paint light beams and to find a nice color. I settled on the same yellow I used on the candle flame. I didn’t work too hard on this just yet, since there’s a lot of elements that will hit that light that I haven’t even thought about yet. 

I fiddle with the main cave texture a LOT. Painting over it entirely MULTIPLE TIMES to find something that sticks. What you see here is not it. I also added some details to the ‘moth rocks’ but this also changes a little as we go. 

Painting/art is a lot of push and pull. You add some darkness, take away some. Add some light, take away some. Add an element, remove one. Go with the flow and trust yourself. Turn on an audiobook or a movie and turn off your brain while you plop colors here and there. An artist I VERY MUCH look up to (Julia Lepetit of Drawfee and Secret Sleepover Society) said, “Zoom in and zone out”. It’s time to turn off that brain and paint. 

I zoned out too hard and stopped taking screenshots because oops. On the top left shows the YN Soft Round, Pecas, and Toothbrush, in that order going from the top and counter clockwise. 

I darkened up the cave quite a bit and finally settled on a look for those upper rock formations. I used a MULTIPLY layer to darken up the moth’s shadow a bit, then merged the layers and used those same colors to blend it with the rest of the rock. I also deleted and added a new ADD (GLOW) layer and fixed up that lighting. This is where we get to darken shadows and add highlights and bounce light to things. Anything in bright, direct light has its original color showing through (from the original layer it’s colored on, that wonky light blue area by the stairs). Rim lighting is a great way to separate elements like this (the different rock edges) without having to use a gajillion different shades/values of the same boring blue to make it stand out. 

Details on the moth are also done now - mostly in the hair. A few hair strands, ESPECIALLY in Sky with the white hair we all have - looks incredible in a painty style IMO. I also SHOULD HAVE added the star on the moth’s cape at this point, but BOIIS, GORLS, AND CRYPTIDS, i forgot until I saved/exported it and had to go back and fix it. But anyway, so you don’t have to scroll up, here’s the finished piece again: 

Thank you for reading, if you did! I hope it was helpful, or at the very least served me in the future like this post is intended to do!

And I will leave you off with the promised note* about color picking -

Color picking from a reference can be really cool and easy and tempting, but you know what makes that NOT work? Color theory. When you blend your colors (this goes for real life, too), there's a LOT more grey and diluted tones than you'd expect. A lot of these bright colors aren't ACTUALLY bright, save for the details on the candle light and the ADD (GLOW) layers. The orange reflections on the rocks and water are actually quite dark and diluted, but because it contrasts so well with the darker blues - it looks a lot brighter. Blending these colors together allows for a more natural soft light. This is also why I try to work on so few layers for pieces like this that are relatively simple. I can easily take a bright color and use a softy kind of brush - the hard round v1 brush is GREAT for this, a little bit of pressure over the colors you already painted down will blend them together with some minor elbow grease and mindfulness. It gets a more natural transition between your lights and darks.

Where as if you zoom in on your reference and color pick - look at it. Look at it all zoomed up, I BEG you. Make it super pixely, and you will see how much that 'one' color varies in that entire area. Unless you're color picking pixel by pixel, which at that point you're not really drawing/painting at all, it's just not going to work out and help you recreate that reference.

My personal preference is to color pick for base colors to get me started with a vibe, and then once I have a few colors down, I'm eyeballing it all the way baybee.

[ldysmfrst]

Hi lovely!

I was thinking about AM and how some of them would react to her dancing? Because I know when I'm cleaning or like trying to destress I listen to music and sorta bop around- Just more moving to the beat nothin like hobi or what have you, but just gahh I see a lot of heart eyes and everyone being cute

Hello dear reader!

Thank you for your question. It is a good one! We are not that far in the story yet, but I will answer your question and add it to the story... maybe...💭

Jin—As the oldest, he loves to watch his mates doing something they enjoy. Watching you lose yourself to the music you listen to while doing a mundane thing just makes him smile and allows him a chance to relax with you as you dance in your own world. While he would love to join you, he doesn't because he understands this isn't his time but your time to chill in your way, and he respects that.

Suga—Our lovely sleepy cat has no concerns about watching you dance your stress away. In fact, he will make sure you know that he is there to relax against pillows with a soft, gummy smile and his eyes never leaving your form. When you finally notice and stop, he will encourage you to keep going and lose yourself in it because he loves all of you and all that you do.

J-hope—The dance master himself loves to watch others dance. You warn the others that you do this absentminded dancing when you are stressed or cleaning, but because of your fear of dancing in front of the strict choreographer, you have tried your best to avoid doing any dancing with him around. Unknown to you, he has watched you more times than you know. His heart flutters at your moves, but at the same time, he is sad that you don't feel comfortable yet enough to let him watch. He makes it his goal to find a way to get you to a level of confidence/comfort so you can.

RM—Love, love, LOVES it when you do your dancing and cannot help but join you in dancing. Forget the chores you are doing or where he is going next, his world now revolves around you. Swaying, jiving, and waltzing with you is more important. The world around the two of you fades away as he feels your skin under his hands, your body moving with his, and the love just pours out of his eyes.

Jimin—Dancer extraordinaire, seems to always find you bopping along to something while cooking, cleaning, doing work, folding clothes, you name it. He loves to watch your body move to the rhythms that he can hear and even better when it's something he cannot. His mind creates music to accentuate your dance, then runs off to Yoongi or RM to get it written down, but you will never know that you are his muse.

V— Is your silent supporter. Watching with warmth filling his soul at you being relaxed enough in the packhouse to let go and find ways to take care of yourself. His Alpha still wishes that you would open up more to them and know that your stress is not just your own anymore. After about 5-10 minutes of watching you, he cannot help but to join you. Showing you new moves, learning new ones from you, or just trying to make you laugh to see your gorgeous smile.

Jungkook—The happy, bouncy bunny cannot stay away. You dance, he dances. He joins in whatever chore you are doing, twerking, the robot, waltzing... heck, he would even turn it into a dance-off with you if it made your stress melt away faster. He is never going to let you deal with what gets you down alone once he realizes there is something wrong. If it will make you feel better, he will pull in any other mate and do some kind of crazy dance competition just to hear you laugh.

A familiar feeling among all of them is the flutter in their hearts watching you move. Sometimes, it is just there to settle their own souls that this is real and that you are here; other times, it ignites a fire in their belly for something more. One thing is for sure: everyone will remember what they have seen for months to come, either for lonely nights or ammunition for flirting and teasing.

I hope that answered your question!

[magpies-gold]

I got really bogged down this weekend on my writing. This is always the thing that wrecked me about NaNoWriMo: 50k words is juuust enough so that I hit the self-doubt super hard.

It’s where I have enough of the world and the characters down so that I can see them clearly enough to recognize where they’re held together with chewing gum and hope. It’s where I can see the road ahead but also I’m on the edge of the first really big gaps that I just have to put 2x4’s over as a makeshift bridge and fill them in correctly later. The piece I need for that is stashed somewhere near the end of the book. It’s when I find spots in the story where the wiring isn’t hooked up yet and the lights are out so I kinda know three or four ways to get from point A to point B and I can’t see which one’s correct so I just have to kinda write them all (the correct answer has a chance at being a Frankenstein’s monster mishmash of all of them!)

It’s nice that my mom’s been reading the mess as I work on it because it means that I have someone to call and say “It’s trash but it’s still trash with potential, yeah?” and talk my way back to having the confidence to continue. Thanks, mom.

So.

Reminder to Self.

First drafts are The Stupidest Version. The characters get spontaneous amnesia. They know things that they shouldn’t. They try to ad lib instead of sticking to the script. The equipment you ordered for the set months ago isn’t here yet so you’re making do with an old fridge and some cardboard as a stand in but it’s really obviously just a fridge that says “warp core” on it in Sharpie. No one can keep a straight face around it. This is all going to get rewritten from scratch in a few months.

It’s the vomit draft. Sometimes (often) you get caught yammering for three hours about one of the character’s childhood and the camera was running the whole time. The characters can’t quite remember their lines or motivations so they repeat themselves five times in five different ways over five different scenes before someone yells “We got it already! Shut up!” You all explore the basement and the sub-basement before realizing that you don’t even need the -house- that you’re in, but you found a key down there that’ll help elsewhere and so it was worth the detour. Two characters don’t jive naturally yet so you either take them out for coffee or hand them nerf bats and engage with -that- for 2k words, coming out the other side all the wiser but with 2k words that will not make the cut. That’s fine. It still needs doing.

And it’s a sketch. I did a drawing earlier today where I drew, erased, and redrew a creature in the background no less than twenty times (at one point just covering the canvas in question marks out of frustration) before I finally figured out what I was doing. Same diff, but writing takes longer. It’s going to have construction lines and eraser marks all over the place, but later I can pick out the good lines and go from there.

Anyone who suggests that writing is anything but barely controlled chaos is, in my opinion, slightly bonkers. It’s herding cats that can phase through walls and travel in time, and in the meanwhile, all you have is a butterfly net with a hole in it.

And sometimes you just need a good pep talk to remind you that yes, it’s supposed to look this janky. Keep going.

[olderthannetfic]

I have sorta an opposite problem re: the whole childfree thing. In that, I adore kids, even babies! My little nephew isn't a year old yet and he's already one of my favourite people with his big smiles and giggles. Problem is, I don't want kids for myself - I'm pretty physically frail and anxious, so I know taking care of a baby full-time is a HORRIBLE idea for me for many reasons, and I'm way happier just babying my cat. But I have family members still like, "oh but you're so good with babies! You'll change your mind ;)" even though I definitely won't.

But I don't feel welcone in childfree spaces either because I don't hate kids, at all, and I get so squigged out about how people can sometimes talk about kids like they're inhuman demon things built solely to annoy. I don't care if people just don't jive with kids, I get that, but I don't jive with being mean to/about them.

--

It's amazing how often people conflate being good at something or even liking it with it being a good idea as a lifestyle choice. Applies to careers, raising kids, adopting a bunch of pets...

[absolutebl]

hi!! i got into bl in 2020 and watched just abt all of them i could get my hands on back then, but i’ve slowly stopped watching them over the last couple years. i loved the feeling watching them gave me, tho, so i wanna get back into it!

my favorites are to my star, semantic error, 2gether, we best love, and tale of thousand stars! i don’t mind high intensity (like physical stuff) but i definitely don’t need it to enjoy a story! if you don’t mind, can you recommend me some newer bls (or gls!) i might like? i’d appreciate it a ton!!! 💕

my favorites are:

to my star,

semantic error,

2gether,

we best love,

tale of thousand stars

I would call all these pretty classic romance BLs. This mostly jives with my own taste so I'll pull some of my favorites for you.

Did you make it to Old Fashion Cupcake?

If not just GO WATCH THAT.

Otherwise...

2023 High Romance BLs to suck you back into the fold

Our Dating Sim (Korea Viki)

If you haven't watched this, it's a must. I actually handed out a 10/10. I NEVER do that. It's a perfect short form KBL, an office set reunion romance featuring geeks that really suits 8 eps with no fluff and no chaff. Just comforting and yummy. I adored every aspect from the casting to the pristinely simple premise to the quietly smooth execution. Sure it’s low stakes, but that makes it high domesticity and extremely warm and gentle. This is a fuzzy blanket of a story - a cozy BL.

From your list this one is most tonally similar to we best love

Love Tractor (Korea iQIYI)

Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing, open frankness meets jaded reserve, language play, water hose frolicking, only one bed, just all my favorite tropes. This show was basically a light-weight Restart After Come Back Home and I’m not even slightly mad about that.

From your list this is most tonally similar to semantic error

My School President (Thai YouTube)

GMMTV gave us a classic high school set Thai BL with tropes like messy boys singing their feelings that made this one Love Sick for the modern age with all the gentle sweetness and pining ache, but none of the dated damaging tropes or issues. Yes, we’ve seen it all before, but I still ADORED this. And there is a lot to be said for the classics being re-executed perfectly. This show was fantastic, it’s only flaw was the singing (and that’s my baggage). My favourite GMMTV BL offering to date. And yes, I've watched them ALL.

From your list this is most tonally similar to 2gether.

Our Dining Table AKA Bokura no Shokutaku (Japan Gaga)

Lonely salaryman and talented cook (Inukai Atsuhiro - Absolute BL et al) gets accidentally adopted by a college kid and his little brother. I was always gonna love the show if they stuck to the manga (which is very dear to my heart). And they did, paralleling it almost exactly. It’s a quiet & cozy little parable of found family alleviating loneliness. Possibly too slow for some but definitely high up there for me with the best of what Japan can do. It’s only flaw (if I dare say such a thing) is that it is not really “romantic.” Lovely & sweet but the romance beats are being used to build a family relationship, not couple intimacy, it’s OK with me, but not totally BL.

From your list this on is most tonally similar to ... erm ... none, this is a new creature. Might not work for you.

The New Employee (Korea Viki)

So good, SO QUEER, so soft, a near pitch perfect office BL with conflict derived from that setting. Also found family and a lesbian bestie. Sweet & innocent (and out) Seung Hyun scores the office internship of his dreams. On his first day at work he gets into it with his cool reserved (and also v gay) boss. As you do. Frankly? This is what I wanted from this new crop of office set KBLs ALL ALONG.

From your list this is most tonally similar to we best love

Unintentional Love Story (Korea iQIYI)

A boy who just lost his job due to faked corruption charges accidentally discovers his ex-boss's favorite artist, now a recluse. Evil manager offers him his job back if he can convince the artist to rejoin society. Instead, they fall in love. I found the artist character a bit stiff and reserved but Gongchan (maknae of B1A4) is a fucking GIFT as the harried salaryman - he carried this show (which I do not expect from the idol). He was luminous with extraordinarily expressive eyes, just drown in the emoting abyss. The external conflict, social tension and pressure is complex and beautifully executed, plus Korea gave us legit side dishes (NOT a love triangle, hally-fucking-luya).

From your list this is most tonally similar to tale of thousand stars

The Eighth Sense (Korea Viki)

One of the longest BLs Korea has given us and it feels more atmospheric gay coming of age romance than strictly BL. It’s got a bit of an age gap, country boy/city boy, stellar acting, complex characters, and leads with great chemistry and tension. It’s a bit chewy and sticky and less perfect than most KBLs (do I detect a touch of Taiwan?) This one deployed BL tropes (messy eater, shoulder sleep, protective seme, there’s even some hyung-slinging) but front loaded them with painful backstory and tons angst drives the 2nd half. This isn’t in the KBL bubble, there’s sharp edges and lots of triggers. For a BL the darkness of the content left me feeling unsettled (which is the only reason it didn't get a perfect score) but it does have a glorious ending and is HUGELY romantic, that counts for a lot.

From your list this is most tonally similar to to my star 1 & 2. But it's quite heavy so... make sure you're int the right mood.

[nvrcmplt]

Happy New Year everyonnnnnnnne, time for a new yeaaaaaaar. Hope we thrive, jive, dance and prance and live within out selfish era for better mental health and understand the world isn't as shit as the internet likes to make it out to be. You livin', u makin' money, u breathin' and fightin' erryday for the small things that make u happy. Sending y'all hugs 'nd kisses and good lucks for the future days to come! :D Biggest personal goal for this year is, love myself and save money to buy myself and wife a house to live in so I can adopt 900 cats.

[bardic-inspo]

Writer Interview

Playing some catch up on tags. Tagged by the wonderful @pursuitseternal, @marlowethebard, @nyx-knox, @honeybee-bard, @snowfolly,

and @paganwitchisis holy shit thank you all!!

Not sure who all in my circles has done this already, but gonna tag @wilteddreamsofbaldursgate, @astarionancuntnin, @pinkberrytea, @locallegume, @thedreamlessnights,

@ladymdc, and @carooosa if you see this and would like to do it! No worries if not!

When did you start writing?

Around 13/14 years old, doing warrior cats roleplay on proboards forums. Roleplay isn't really my speed anymore, but it eventually bridged me into more traditional narrative writing and then fanfic later. Fallout 4 was the first fandom I really wrote fanfic for.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I really love intricate long-running plots with slow-burn pay off, and used to write more in that vein, but got pretty burnt out on it. It felt like it would take so long to get to those big moments I pictured the whole time, by the time I arrived to them, they felt played out in my head. Trying to strike a happy medium now by writing (relatively) shorter and more focused fic/storylines that still pack a punch, but maybe have fewer branches.

Otherwise my genre/theme preferences are generally the same with writing vs. reading and are pretty broad.

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Not a writer, but I've been told at various times there is a poetical element in a lot of my writing, even in just the sentence structure or how I tend to pace my prose. That makes a lot of sense to me, since I wrote a lot of poetry before getting into writing a lot of prose.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I used too many tricks on my brain to jump start creativity (yummy beverage, cozy blanket, favorite candle when writing) and now my brain often demands all of these things be in place to do any writing 😬I can sometimes get away without all of them. Usually, I'm writing in my office, which is a pretty blue color with some gold picture frames and often a soothing space. But, I do work from home in there at times, too, and on workdays I can't make myself do creative things in the same spot I sat in working all day. Then, I'll be at my dining table or sitting on my couch, usually with headphones because I have a hard time concentrating with other noise around me.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Self care. I mean, making sure I've got sleep/food/hygiene etc. squared away where they should be, even if it means taking a break from the page. Most of the time when I'm trying hard to write and it's just not jiving, it's because I've neglected one of those things, and the words always come easier once I've addressed them.

Playing the game again. Listening to character music. Chatting with friends who love the character, too.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Yes! A lot of them became apparent to me only after switching fandoms and realizing I was writing about a lot of similar themes. Grief is a big one. Characters who've experienced both a lack of love and a loss of it. Characters who fall in love again or in spite of that loss. The main ships I've written for all feature characters who either loved someone else first or, in Astarion's case, have gone through the forced motions of romance.

Battle couples is another big one. Bisexual battle couples. 🥰

What is your reason for writing?

It's always felt like something I needed to do to feel whole. Not necessarily the sharing the writing or posting it part, or getting a reaction about it, but doing it at all, even just a little. Even if it's just for me. I feel more me when writing is at least a small part of my life. More free. It's my creative outlet.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I adore any comment. I'm borrowing this from someone else's interview post, but I too am a slut for praise. In all honesty though, just knowing I'm not writing into some void or vacuum can be so powerful. Even just a heart emoji comment makes my spirits soar.

The ones that go full red string and corkboard about the plot or characters, or quote what parts stick out to them always stick with me. It lets me know I'm hitting the mark with what I'm trying to convey.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I want them to know I'm still good for it even if it takes me a long time.💜That's the biggest thing to me right now. I'm not able to pour it out so quickly as others can. But I hope they know it'll be a good time when I do eventually post.

And also that I'm just some lady. I'm just another human bean. Wanting to share and enjoy stories with other human beans, and connect with a sense of community through those stories.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Visceral/punchy action scenes, vivid descriptions, setting tone, and portraying character personalities.

How do you feel about your own writing?

My feelings about it change with the tides. Right now, I'm a bit glum, and I think that's because I haven't had much to share or post lately, even though I've been doing lots of writing that isn't ready to be shared yet. On the other hand, I'm having the most fun with it that I've had in a very long time, and that element feels great.

I'm grateful for what I've done, incredibly blessed to have made friends and found community through writing, and ever-striving to find the happy medium of productivity and creativity.

When you write, are you influenced by what others enjoy might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

It's mostly what I'd like hehe. And I'm happy about that. I am often inspired to try things based on what I see in fandom, but if I don't enjoy it, too, I won't pursue it further.

[ach-sss-no]

Things I do if i'm stuck on a WIP

I keep seeing memes about people fighting with their WIPs so maybe you could use some handy weapons?

Some of these are passed around pretty often, but they're in here again because I personally found them useful, as opposed to the common advice I see passed around that has never helped me whatsoever, also, you never know when it's someone's first time seeing something or when it might be worded in a way that makes it more understandable.

Some of these are more useful when you have some options for how to proceed with your story but can't decide on one, and won't be as helpful if you can see no way to proceed.

These are intended primarily for writing and many don't really have other applications I can think of, but some of these strategies should also work for any creative thing you're trying to do that is not progressing in the way you want it to.

Disclaimer: Sometimes none of these work. Good luck!

CRIPES, I'm Stuck

Complain

Tell someone (or pretend to tell someone) who does not know the inner workings of your story all about your story problem in as much detail as you can articulate. The more detail the better, including what events led up to this point and what you want to achieve going forward. Go all the way back to what the main premise is, even. When I do this I often end up figuring out the problem while I am describing it and never even send the message, which is why this can be an imaginary conversation if input from another human is not desired and/or available for whatever reason. You can also tell your problems to your cat, dog, tarantula, or Pokémon team! BONUS: Those things are all cheaper than a therapist!

Randomize

If you have multiple ideas for how to go forward and are paralyzed because you can see no greater or lesser value in any of them, great news! The machine can be trusted! (Disclaimer: The machine cannot be trusted) Go to random.org and use the list randomizer to scramble your potential plot options. Pick the one on top. If you realize you're unhappy with it, examine why. Whatever reason why you've decided you don't like that option after all will help guide you towards what you should be doing instead.

Got any kind of two option yes/no, pass/fail, success/disaster question? Flip a coin! This can be done digitally if you don't have coins lying around (I usually don't myself).

There is also the tried and true method of dice-rolling, which can also be done via app if you don't have dice of the desired type or you've lost yours.

Really stuck? Showrunner's challenge.

Iterate

This is both the least efficient one and the thing I do the most often. Writing a scene? Not sure how it should go? Just write different versions of it until something sticks.

Every time you feel unhappy with the scene, back up to the point that led to whatever you're not jiving with, cut it, and start over from there. I recommend saving all of your different versions so you can reconsider or do some horrific Frankenstein cut-and-paste later.

Like I said: horrendously inefficient. it doesn't have to be pretty... it just has to exist.

Play

Go do something else totally unrelated to writing. Just go do something else you enjoy. Just take a break. Your brain may actually fix your story problem when you ignore it and let it run in the background, and if it doesn't, you get a break. No downside! Chances are, you've heard that before. I'm telling you again because I so often fall prey to the 'but my break will be more satisfying if I fix the problem first' well, it's not getting fixed and I am not equipped to fix it right now or it would be fixed already, so it's break time now.

Work on another project that seems more fun to you at the moment. Battering your head against your current WIP because you think you "should" work on it instead of whatever shinier idea is in your head is probably not helping you progress on that project. Working on something else as a treat may jog your brain to unstuck you from your main idea, and if not, it will lead to a new creative product existing, and even if it never gets finished, you've tricked yourself into thinking art is fun again. No downside!

There's nothing wrong with adding [placeholderlmao] and going on to a part of the story you like better. In fact, knowing what happens later may help you fix the problem point (assuming you don't already know because you either don't work from an outline, or your story has diverged so wildly from the outline that it's not helpful anymore)

Edit

Depending on the length of your project and whether you have already declared parts of it off-limits this may not apply; but if you don't want to go forward right now, it may be a good time to go back and edit what you already have written. Sometimes when I do this I will see a stray idea I mentioned earlier that I can follow up on now, and that gives me a new path forward. I'll also sometimes discover that, while my current story problem is manifesting at my sticking point, the cause of it happened much earlier and needs to be addressed farther back in the story (and once that's done I'm not stuck anymore!) Just like pulling crabgrass out by the roots.

Did you have an outline that has stopped tracking with your story? Maybe you should go look at that outline and revise it to the new version, or at least remind yourself of what you thought was important to put in it. If nothing else, doing this should help you think differently about your story.

Steal

That's right! There are millions on billions of stories out there. Just like infinitely variable humans are built upon skeletons that look very similar, your story is uniquely yours, but its underlying structure probably follows a pattern that other stories with similar goals have used since human communication began. So go look up a story you enjoy that includes a similar scene to the one you're struggling with, and look at what it did to fix the problem you're having. Chances are, there's a way to map that onto your story while keeping your version unique, or at least you can get some helpful hints. Do expand beyond the medium you're working in. There's a lot that novels/movies/games/etc do differently, but basic story beats and interactions between characters are pretty consistent things across anything that's telling a story. If I'm looking for a model for a scene, I always look for something with a similar plot, theme or character dynamic that I thought was done well.

Alternately, do you know of a story that tried to do what you're doing and failed spectacularly? Go look closely at that and see why it's not working. Then ask yourself how those problems could have been avoided. The solution you arrive at may apply to your story as well, or at least lead in the right direction. Alternately-alternately: Do it wrong on purpose for the fun of it and fix it later (or don't fix it later)

Just have no ideas? Hang out with stories with the vibes you want until something clicks. When I was doing this fancomic, I watched The Emperor's New Groove a lot.

Well, there you go. If you think I missed something- which I absolutely did, because the creative process is very individual and there are some highly successful things I never, ever do and can't speak on because I am restricting myself to things I have personally done and found helpful-

-please add it on to this post, and make it longer and longer until no one is ever stuck on a WIP ever again (✿◡‿◡) because they are all too busy reading this infinitely long post to start any projects!

[davekat-sucks]

The art design process in all of the dub-canon visual novels pissed me off, honestly. There was way too much of that dumbass trope where anyone under the age of 13 is drawn like an actual baby (yes, this was my biggest gripe with Homestuck as the comic continued on and the group was aging). Would any of you know that Wanshi was 12 years old (5.5 sweeps approx) if she didn't tell us explicitly that she was that age and also reading Warrior Cats? Probably not. In fact, I'd wager a good amount of you skimmed and/or forgot that part of her chapter. Are any of you okay with toddler-sized Tirona finding what she found on Tyzias' computer? I would certainly fucking hope not and, once again, I hope for everyone's sakes that they just skimmed or forgot that part. Study anatomy, people. Tweens are not that tiny unless they have a condition that makes it so. Stylization is not a valid excuse and I'm sick of people saying it is.

FS2 is its own beast. Fat or chubby characters that make no sense being fat or chubby (Aradia, Boldir), tiny characters that make no sense being tiny (Skylla, Konyyl), transing the genders of characters who already have too much mental baggage, Cirava, art styles that don't jive well together at all, art styles that, while awesome, are terrible fits for visual novels, artists that clearly need to work on their anatomy a lot more than they do, the sheer amount of racism-blindness that went into most of the trolls but especially the purple caste, the list goes on. They do all this to the trolls while, conspicuously, the entirety of The Council so far appear to be conventionally tall and thin individuals with very well-drawn silhouettes. The only good thing I've seen out of FS2 is that Zebruh and Tagora look exactly as cunty as they should.

It's why people had assume the Beta/Alpha Kids were still teens in Homestuck 2 because the old team still used the old kid sprites to depict them in the overworld. Some also think that upon Godtier, the Beta/Alpha Kids are stunted from growth and remain youthful forever. After all, they are gods and can be killed under conditional situations. The same fandom also forgets that the alien trolls had a rule saying that the KIDS must have sex to contribute to repopulating their race before becoming adults or they will DIE. Alternia is not only encouraging racism, grooming child soldiers, child labor being enforced to function as a society, but also LITERAL CHILD BREEDERS. People always assume anybody that's under 5 feet is a minor. Even if they are legal adults and that genetics is different for everyone that nobody grows up the same way, people think short people = minor. I really was confused when they transitioned Karako, who was a boy in the original Hiveswap Friendsim, into a GIRL for no reason. Who is seen as a child and can barely speak compare to other characters. There's some kind of implications behind this (for legal reasons that's a joke). The different art styles is also bad for my eyes. I get they are a small indie group, prease understand, but makes the team look unprofessional if they just let artists have free reign on different artstyles for a project like this. Nothing is consistent. One could have some anime art style and suddenly the next character features more realistic human traits. As well as that interpretations just makes a huge contrast to their base look. The Purplebloods look more like black people in Friendsim 2 compared to the original. Very few other trolls get this treatment.

[poessiblyfedya]

your frosted fairytale is complete ! pssst, @stopisa ! your name has been added to the frosted fairytales library. your assigned au with dabi is . . . grease (1978) !

ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝ first of all . . . your playlist ! hopelessly devoted to you, olivia newton-john // only girl (in the world), rihanna // rock this town, stray cats // (we're gonna) rock around the clock, bill haley & his comets // tainted love, imelda may // you're the one that i want, john travolta + olivia newton-john // wild child, lee rocker // tutti frutti, little richard // born to hand jive, sha na na.

ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝ how about some imagery . . .

ʚɞ ⁺˖ ⸝⸝ put it all together and you get . . .

"oh come on sugar," there's a cheeky grin on his face as the dark haired male sides up to you, the sheer amount of gel in his hair enough to turn it to stone. you figure a lot of effort goes into his morning routine, "can't i at least get ya name?"

"i don't think you quite need it," you respond promptly, folding your arms across your chest. he's so close now that you can smell the leather jacket on his shoulders and faintly, car oil. you swore you recognised him from school but maybe you were just imagining things. one thing is for sure, he was distracting you from getting the snacks you were tasked with getting.

friday night drive-ins were part of your weekly routine with your girls, hair permed and full of hairspray. you'd always hop into one of their cars, sharing snacks and gossiping about love lives - or your lack of one, rather. whilst lost in your thoughts, one of dabi’s arms sneaks around your shoulders to pull you into his side. you stumble in your heels, forced to place your hands on him to balance out the effect of his actions.

dabi wishes he could commit the scowl on your face to memory, especially that sharp sparkle in your eye when they narrow at him. with your chests pressed together, dabi navigates his arm from your shoulders to your waist, tugging you a little closer. warm breaths mingle, fanning across each other's faces.

"isa!" crap. you pull away from dabi before the tall man gets a second chance to react, your friends’ calls for you echoing across the drive-in. how long had it been since you'd left to get snacks? dabi is barely a thought when you turn on your heel to regroup with your presumably concerned friends - with empty hands, no less.

there's little to no attempt to chase you once you make the move to leave, leaning back on his impeccably well-kept 1948 ford de luxe convertible with a small, smug look on his face. dabi can't help but feel that maybe, just maybe, he won that interaction when your name falls from his lips in a murmur, "isa, huh?"

── oh my goodness , isa baby ! the joy i had finding out dabi was the ship sent to me . . . i knew exactly what i wanted to do ! grease au with dabisa ? ! i think so ! enjoy, darling . .✦