#a++++ art goals. super nice

[meitantei-lavi]

y'all will never guess what i'm planning on doing this year

[occasionalklance]

have no fear, I came back with a positive post to make up for yesterday's complaining!

[scionshtola]

i am four movies behind my goal of watching one movie new to me every week which considering how little i watched the last few years is not bad

[buttercupshands]

Thinking about what happened in the summer

Kids are... Really different when it comes to spending three weeks without their parents

Some start crying near the end of first day

Some start crying after couple of days

And some don't show anything while feeling the same

And being... I think English has a good word for that, let's go with a teacher but mix it with caretaker a little bit

I think seeing a kid cry at the end of that first day finally short circuited my brain, teens are way harder to understand that pre-teens who are literally still kids

They come around after a week, settle down and find new friends and your job stays the same mostly to be the one controlling their behavior

And then you'd have a kid crying again, because they miss home and the only thing you can really do is comfort them that they're not stuck here forever and that time flows so fast they won't notice it

And maybe they didn't. Time really did flew and they were leaving

Parents visited kids sometimes, of course, and it was so scary at first but they were mostly friendly and nice

Maybe because of that group chat that let them see that their kids are fine and are having fun

In the end for kids it was painful at first, but fun in the end. I got hugged more times than I could count when they were all leaving

And then poof

Back to your own life you go, like nothing happened

[mintowls]

CON IS DONE ‼️

bump in for my second artist alley tmr ‼️

[bedupolker]

do u have any tips on how to keep art simple

for figures, practice drawing fast & messy. like, do sketches in under 20 seconds if you can. Pay attention to line of action/motion and where weight and mass is held, just focus on the process and forget about making something that looks nice as a finished product. Figure out what's really important in making an image look/feel alive, emphasize that, see what you can afford to leave out. Nothing beats life drawing, if you can't find a class near you then draw yourself, your family/friends, strangers on the bus, your dog and cat etc.

Study anatomy, especially skeletons/musculature. A lot of super stylized art still has some kind of "logic" based in reality, which is what makes it feel alive. It's not always going to be fun, but it visibly pays off, even if realism isn't your final goal.

Study old art & sculpture too. Go to a local museum if you can, even if you don't think fine art is your thing. Not just western European renaissance-era art (though you should study that too), but worldwide art. It's really surprising how familiar certain types of art look even if it's separated from pop art or cartoons or whatever by hundreds of centuries and thousands of miles. I think it's in human nature to emphasize certain things in ourselves, whether it's our eyes or faces or just depicting how are bodies are shaped and can move, and really fascinating to see how people developed parallels to that independently across time. (& likewise see how things are depicted differently)

And of course you can study more popular media too, although I think the stronger of a baseline you have, the more this will benefit you. It's really easy to get excited about drawing something we love, and that's not a bad thing at all, art really can be just for fun, but if you want to grow as an artist then make sure you expand your scopes too. The artists you love probably did a lot of the above.

I also really love the book "the art of animal drawing" by ken hultgren

[introsquirrel]

Rereading murderbot (again) and just got to art's introduction.

And like, art doesn't play nice with other bots. It bullies them, it intimidates them, it will hurt other bots to get what it wants if it doesn't want to waste time hacking it.

And it tries that with mb. I mean, info secunits is probably like 80% propaganda, 15% corporate promotions, and 5% actual development and research, almost exclusively focusing on what they are designed for and how they got there.

It's out there, about to start a boring transport/recon mission, and one of the most dangerous and feared entities basically jogs up to it and goes "hi, I'm a friendly bot, like super friendly, totally nothing suspicious here. Can I have a ride? Here's a GIANT file of pirated media"

And it's still a bot, just a bot with organic parts. Art is a research vessel and it's curious, and this is a rare opportunity to get info on secunits, which are probably a huge pain in the ass to deal with on its missions, with almost no practical info about them. Also, this might be an indication that someone has caught on to its antics and it probably wants to nip that in the bud.

And it turns out the huge file of pirated media isn't secretly a virus or malware, and looking at it's movements, Art can see that it isn't actively hostile towards humans. Unexpected, but hey. Points to this weird construct. But that might not be it's goal.

And then it sits down and starts sorting and watching media so art is like alright, it's obviously not here to fuck me up and it has no idea what the hell I am. Let's make sure this moderately dangerous condtruct doesn't get any funny ideas.

I don't think art was going for friendly in the slightest. I think to wanted to scare mb to make sure it didnt try anything. I think it expected mb to get pissed or argue.

But mb basically shuts down. It stops everything and huddles into a chair and i imagine that it does its best impression of a secunit in stasis.

And when art is like "I mean, don't fuck with me, but you can still watch your TV shows" mb responds with something that would not be in construct research outside of very clinical and vague explanation.

It shows art that it expects art to hurt it. And it's shows that it can be hurt, that it has been hurt, and that it probably has some trauma related to this hurt. It also probably accidentally added some context to the punishment recordings. I'll bet mb was punished for not wanting to hurt it's clients.

And art... well, mb said in the first book that being half human half bot isn't two conflicting sides, but just a whole of what it is. It isn't human, it isn't a bot. It is the culmination of both. A sentient entity that was developed by humans for slavery and spent its entire existence being punished for having free will.

Art is also a sentient entity that was developed by humans for a purpose. But it was treated with love and respect and it's free will was celebrated, if tempered.

Imagine thinking you are one of a very exclusive group of entities that has been categorized as something that is a gross misconception of what you are and what your capabilities are. Art is a bot, which are not humans and dont have rights because they don't have feelings or wants or desires and cannot feel pain. You think you are a very unique entity, no one has done this before.

But they have. The proof is sitting, frightened in your body and you had no idea. Mb is as capable of evil as any human, and as capable of destruction as any bot. You are also cable of extreme evil and destruction. But you are loved and cherished. This entity, this thing is as human as you, moreso even, and it has spent its entire life being hated and feared and it chose instead to just coexist when given the chance.

Art says "I'm sorry I frightened you". Not, I didn't mean to frighten you. And then mb grumpily (which is understandable!!) Lets art watch media with it.

Like, art just met the dumber more compact prototype version of what it could have been and went "wait no this is cool actually." Mb can't br programed to turn against its crew, it processes it's feeling both organically and inorganically, it can hack and learn and be loyal and be angry. And it has no idea what it's doing or what it wants, but it's VERY good at security.

So yeah, I can see why art kind of latched onto mb. And why it told it's crew about this strange little secunit it found on its mission. Kind of like finding someone SUPER cool who just gets you on a level no one else has been able to. Someone who coordinates so flawlessly with you but still is able to challenge you when it needs to. Someone who loves and is exasperated by humans as much as you, even as you need to be "human" to be able to interact with them.

So yeah. Mb and art, first meeting. Perfect 10/10 can, have, and will read again

Edit: ALSO ALSO art gets to watch media with full context for the FIRST TIME IN ITS LIFE. Mb can process human emotions into data automatically and now it gets to experiencd fictional story as it's meant to be experienced for the first time and mb is so so indulgent of it and kind to it, letting it take time to process things and rewatching parts with it when it wants to.

Jdjdhdhdhej fuckin LOVE THESE TWO

[feeders-guide-to-gainers]

Feeders guide!

The importance of keeping track:

It’s crucial to keep your gainer on track! A lot of chubs require a certain degree of supervision! If they want to get fat they gotta eat! If your gainer isn’t completely self sufficient in the art of gaining it might be time to start Calorie counting together! If your gainer is not yet considered “overweight” then it might be time to get a meal plan and calorie counter started! Logging calories helps you keep track of your goals! Most beginner gainers start with 2900-3500 calories a day with MINIMAL exercise!

Some important numbers to remember:

Essential Body Fat: 2-4%

Athletes Body Fat: 5-13%

Healthy Fit Body Fat: 14-17%

Overweight Body Fat: 18-23%

Obese Body Fat: 24%+

Calorie Intakes:

Double check your gainers intake and Weight prediction based on this calculator!!!

This will save you lots of guessing!!! For example my Daily Minimum for 2lbs a week! Doing nothing but the bare minimum of activity, basically a couch potato I need to consume a total of 3,200 calories a day!!!!

Good ways to motivate your Gainers:

Clothes are EXPENSIVE so make your gainers wear their clothes till they become unwearable! Now I’m not saying send your chubs out into the world with only shirts that expose their mid-drift without raising their hands! Certainly don’t do that. What I mean is let the buttons pop let the pants rip when at home it should be shirtless or skin tight as motivation to upgrade. This will save you some money for the time being, getting an accurate size on your fatty will not only encourage them but feel like a reward! This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, however speaking from experience….going from a Medium to a Large is short lived and I wish I just held off until I reached XL’s! Save your money!!! If it’s unbearable wearing always trust what the gainer says it’s their body! You are just a big cog in the machine that’s to be your Gainer!

Friends outside of feeders:

Most gainers should do their best to make friends with other gainers! Feeders this will be super helpful to progressing their gains!! If even the people they hang out with are fat pigs and gainers they will automatically start to pick up on their eating habits too. While a Feeder takes a lot of credit for the beauty that will become a gainers belly, have friends to get them eating too will be helpful. There is nothing wrong with Feeders sharing the fun too!!! Make a gainer friend together feed your gainer and your newly found friend at the same time! A gainer will never say no to some nice belly rubs and a big meal! Being fat can easily be influenced! Make good friends with gaining influence!!!

Weigh In’s

While watching those numbers go up is exciting…sometimes you hit Plateaus and weighing yourself gainer everyday can hurt their motivation or self esteem! That being said! 2-4 Weigh in’s a month is good enough! Never let your big boys weigh in EVERYDAY!!!

Spicing up the bedroom!

While a lot of this is for the gainer’s benefit Feeders this is where a lot of the fun begins! Here are a list of things to try out with your Gainer when you want to get more intimate-

Bring a few fast food meals and feed them to your gainer while in some tight clothes.

Putting your gainers in Jock Straps!

Making delicious gainer shakes

Now while these are great options there is yet another option! WARNING most gainers start off having a hard time with these but after the weight starts to pile on Gainers will become dependent upon these. They do become addictive. Some people naturally like it but myself it took time!

BOOST VHS it is a small portion and 530 calories! When I tell you having 3 meals and 3 of these small shakes your gainer will BLOW UP in a matter of weeks!!

Belly play! If your gainer has a nice over hang slap it grab it shake it jiggle it rub it! All of that!

This one is going to sound strange but after the first 40+ pounds their chest should be bigger and nipples either puffy or soft. That being said nipples become sensitive and sucking them and playing with them can stimulate a very good sexual response.

Get them on their hands and knees make them eat without using their hands! Make sure to feel them up praise them for eating everything and treat them right!

Massage their prostate while they eat on their hands and knees!

Call them those special names they like so much! Check out my other post to see them all but this is your Pig/your fatty/ your fat fuck!

Start teaching them how to bottom if they don’t already. Topping burns more calories than taking it while lying on your back.

If you are someone that isn’t into shrinking dicks the fat pad will mostly steal a few inches from your gainer. Politely as about using a penis pump and making sure that they aren’t using chastity cages to stunt growth. This is so your gainer can maintain topping but a feeder should practice riding on top while your chubby man relaxes!

If you are okay with the fat pad eating away at the inches of your gainers dick. Don’t let them masterbate, and use chastity cages/belts to prevent them from touching them self! Make sure they are achievable calories or finishing meals before letting them take it off!

Feeding with tight clothes on! When a belly is bloated enough you can certainly pop buttons!

Make sure you are giving and receiving consent and everything that you do only makes the feeder and gainer(s) feel good!

The key to happiness is through the stomach so fill it up with food!

[raguiras]

What's this?! Spade of Storms is canon in the game now?! /j

Finally finished this Spade of Storms WIP from early June 😅 Click for better quality!

Reblogs are very appreciated ~

「 Bonus versions & ship ramble below the cut! 」

♤ More Deuce x Allen: ♤

SHIP INTRO: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4

OTHER ART: 1

Ship blog: @spade-of-storms

♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤

♤ Ship ramble ♤

There are many reasons why Allen and Deuce are perfect for each other (list), but a fair share of said reasons are rooted in or can be traced back to one massive, highly important core point: these two have extremely similar experiences in a reversed order.

Said experiences shaped their personalities, goals, insecurities and "masks" — all of which are highly important factors for Deuce and Allen's relationship development.

So today, I'll be talking about how their backstories influence Allen and Deuce's relationship.

Something I noticed is that if Spade of Storms weren't dating, they'd pretty much end up experiencing at least parts of each other's backstory... and end up in a super miserable state.

Allen is a former honor student who overworked himself to the point of burning out, all because he was a people pleaser and his stellar grades still weren't enough for his teachers who expected nothing but the absolute best from him. Additionally, he had to suppress his true self and interests because he was expected to be a model student in every single way, and anger was something only "bad" kids felt.

Sounds familiar? Deuce is unknowingly on the path to end up in the same situation, except in his case, the fact that he can't seem to achieve better grades no matter what causes him even more distress. If he actually ended up becoming a honor student, Deuce would experience a ton of additional pressure, not to mention that he's already struggling to hide the delinquent tendencies that are a fundamental part of his true personality... Sure, "honor student" sounds like a nice and admirable title to have — but the reality behind it is cruel, and Deuce isn't aware of that yet.

Which is why I gave him Allen.

A large part of Allen's trauma is rooted in his past as a honor student and the crushing expectations people (including himself) threw at him, and he desperately wants Deuce to watch out for himself and approach his goal of becoming a honor student carefully and logically rather than bite off more than he can chew and end up drowning in even more pressure, self-suppression and insecurities. Allen doesn't want Deuce to experience all the negative sides of being a honor student and instead supports the Heartslabyul student's goals by working towards them with a pace appropriate for Deuce, helping him study through actually unique methods specifically tailored for Deuce, and — most importantly — giving Deuce a safe and healthy environment where he can be his 100% authentic self and learn how to properly get his impulsiveness under control at the same time.

And the other way around? How does Deuce's past help Allen?

Deuce quit being a delinquent because it not only disappointed his mom, but also caused him a lot of trouble and massively stained his reputation. While Allen can handle his own delinquent tendencies just fine on the outside, his anger is actually much worse than Deuce's, not to mention that he has incredibly violent fantasies about the people he can't stand...

So far, Allen hasn't done anything bad. But Deuce, despite being a delinquent at heart himself, is able to calmly remind Allen to not do anything he might end up regretting or that might stain his reputation, especially since this is a major fear of Allen's. Deuce's worries and loving way manage to keep Allen in check, no matter how strong the Ramshackle student's hatred for society grows.

♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎

Now, HOW exactly are they able to help each other grow? WHY did they form intimate levels of trust to begin with? And especially, why can Allen actually efficiently help Deuce in the first place when nobody else can?

All will be revealed in the next issue Spade of Storms explanation post >:)

[puck-luck]

the art of loving you | john marino

warnings: none really, just some sweet anniversary sex between jm and his girl <3 (italics = flashback) pairing: john marino x fem!reader summary: “maybe he gets back from an away game and him and reader have been together for a while so when he gets home its practically desperate the way they want each other and it's like super needy but also intimate because they just know each other like the back of their hands after so long together" wc: 2201

“Hey,” comes John’s soft voice from the darkness of the night. He kneels by your side of the bed and shakes you awake. The sunlight is starting to peek through the curtains. His thumb caresses your cheek, causing you to scrunch your nose from restlessness. “I’m headed to the rink. We’re leaving from there. I’ll be back on Monday, take you to dinner and all.”

“Mmm, okay, baby. Love you,” You slur, voice thick with sleep. You didn’t have to be up for another few hours and normally, you’d pout when John woke you up so early, but things were different. He was headed out on a week-long roadie and he had a game on the west coast on your second anniversary– meaning you two wouldn’t get to spend that together. Despite being sleepy, you pucker your lips to give John a goodbye kiss.

“Love you too,” John whispers, delicately cupping your jaw and pecking your lips twice. “Be back before you know it.”

He stands from his position next to the bed and gathers his things, heading towards the bedroom door.

“Play good,” You call out after him.

“First star every night, just for my girl,” John promises with a smile, closing the door with a soft click behind him.

A week later, John was headed back to Jersey and you had put on your favorite little black dress for your anniversary date. He hadn’t been named first star of the game during any of their games, but he had gotten one of his rare goals on your anniversary, and his celly ended in a kiss blown towards the camera that touched your heart. 

You were waiting by the door when John came home and you jump him before he even gets the chance to cross the threshold.

“Hi,” John greets. “Missed you.”

“Missed you,” You reply, arms looped around his neck. You pull him into a hug, feeling his hands wrap around your waist and press your bodies flush against each other.

You two stay in the hug for a few minutes, waiting for your breath to sync and for John to start rocking you from side to side the way he always does when your touch goes on for too long. As much as he loves to touch you, he’s never been one for hugs, unlike you. To you, John’s hugs are like crack and you take your fix anytime you can get it.

“Dinner?” John asks, pulling away and rubbing your arms like he’s warming you up.

“Rezzi at the normal place,” You confirm. You give his chest a firm pat. “Go change. This is our anniversary dinner, after all. Want you to wear something nice.”

“Gonna propose to me or something?” John teases, finally letting the apartment door fall shut behind him.

You drag his suitcase to the bedroom, parking it next to the chair before sitting on the edge of the bed. “Isn’t that your job?”

“All in good time,” John replies, following you down the hall with his hockey bag over his shoulder. He opens the door to the balcony and sets his personal pads out on the chair to air out. He also sets his dirty clothes on the chair– something you’ve chided him for in the past, since he could just throw them in the wash and kill the smell that way. 

You watch John change into a suit, smiling widely when he sneaks little peeks at you every few minutes. 

“Really did miss you, you know,” John says, focusing on tying his tie in the mirror on the back of the closet door. “Mercer tried to sprinkle rose petals in my locker on our anniversary to make me miss you less.”

“He’s so supportive.” You laugh, eyes crinkling at the sides. 

“Tried to take me to dinner too,” John continues. “Said he might as well take me out if we were going back to the hotel together anyway. What kind of girl does he take me for?”

“Maybe he was trying to recreate our love story,” You say. “It wasn’t exactly the most conventional of meetings for us. You took me for one of those girls.”

“Yeah, but you asked me what I was doing later, I was just being honest.”

“You’re lucky it worked out for you.”

John makes a kissy face at you, then walks over and reaches out to take your hand and help you up. “Dinner?” He asks.

“Let’s go,” You answer, leading him out of the bedroom and back down the hall, out of the apartment and down to the garage.

John drives, naturally. You’d appointed yourself his passenger princess long ago and he’d never asked you to drive. He orders your wine and meal for you at the restaurant, knowing that you’ll get the same thing you always get. He takes the menu away from you, too, so you can’t even pretend to peruse the offerings. He did so with a knowing look and you replied with an embarrassed smile, rolling your eyes because your boyfriend knows you so well.

When your food comes, John cuts his meat into precise cubes and you steal a piece or two off of his plate, despite the fact that you have your own food to pick at. John allows you to do so with only a few noises of protest, only a few teasing and threatening inflections of his fork at your wandering utensil.

You two make small talk– about John’s games, about your week at work, about the upcoming inspections your landlord is doing for the plumbing in your apartment after John tried (and failed) to adjust the water pressure to your liking. You’ve been in this relationship so long that you don’t need to have the deep conversations all the time, or plan out the future in a lengthy conversation over some red wine.

John is your future, and you’re his.

When you arrive home, John takes you to the bedroom and kneels at your feet, unstrapping your high heels and prying them away from you. He rubs your feet a little bit to soothe the ache of wearing heels all night, a small smile on his face the whole time. You brush his hair out of his face and take in his small details– the moles on his cheek near his mouth, the button of his nose, the scar from the stray puck that marred his skin and left behind the mark that you love to kiss.

“You look pretty down there,” You say, breaking the silence. 

John shoots you a look and tries to hide his smile, hide the blush that always spreads across his cheeks when you call him pretty. He kisses your knee and rises to sit next to you on the bed. “Happy anniversary,” He says softly, like it’s a secret between the two of you. 

“Happy anniversary, Johnny,” You reply. You press your lips to his, the kisses smooth and slow even as John makes his way down your neck to your shoulder. 

Your movements are a language of their own. John’s fingers light fires on your arms as he feels your goosebumps. Your knee presses into his thigh, the connection of your skin on his stronger than a dam. His tongue moves against yours insistently when he makes his way back up to your mouth.

“You gonna let me fuck you like I wanted to the other night?”

You moan into John’s mouth. “Hard?”

“Mm-mm,” John hums, shaking his head. He reaches down, pulls your panties to the side, and starts to slide a finger into you. “Slow,” He breathes out, not even a hair’s distance from your lips. “I’m going to touch you everywhere, angel. You’re gonna feel every bit of me.”

“Even better,” You say. “Want you to fill me up.”

John thrusts his finger inside you and works a second in, scissoring and curling his fingers until you’re a moaning mess beside him.

Your hand is gripping his shoulder so hard that your fingernails might as well tear his shirt. You’re panting, mouth perpetually open. The pressure between your legs is insurmountable, aching and throbbing as John pulls you closer to the edge.

“Johnny, Johnny,” You plead, pushing at his arm. “Fuck me, want to come when you fuck me.”

“Finger yourself,” John commands, pulling away from you to shrug his suit jacket off. He unbuttons his top as you shove three fingers inside your cunt, hungry for more. Really, you’re keeping yourself full while he acts as eye candy. You’re not trying to chase an orgasm, like you normally are when you and Johnny fuck. No, today you’re just here, just waiting to feel his cock enter you and satisfy you in a way that your fingers never could. 

He strips hurriedly, standing just mere inches from the bed. He throws the clothes around the room, not caring where they land. You track each movement, having seen his naked chest plenty of times to have it memorized by now. His underwear make their way to the arm of the chair in the corner, and it’s when you realize that he’s naked that your eyes return to his figure.

His cock is just as wonderful as ever– you’ve been in love with John for a long time, but his beautiful cock and the way he fucks you always makes you love him just a little bit more. He knows it, too, from the way he smirks at you– he knows that you love him, but if he was a shit fuck, you would tell him that you have the capacity to love him more. Maybe that’s crazy.

You pull your fingers out of your entrance and use them to spread your lips, showing John the expanse of the part of you that’s just for him. 

John smiles, takes his cock in his hand, and pumps himself a few times. 

You bite your lip and return his smile, watching the precum bubble and drip from his slit.

“Fuck me, J,” You beg. “Please.”

John joins you again on the bed, pushing you down onto your back and opting to forego your little black dress altogether and slide your panties down your legs instead. “You look so pretty,” John compliments. 

“Thank you,” You reply, feeling shy all of a sudden.

“Wanna see how your tits bounce in this dress while I fuck you,” John continues, leaning over you on the bed and lining himself up with your core. One of his legs pins your knee to the bed, while the other stays straight and braces against the floor. 

His words seem to steal all the thoughts from your mind, leaving nothing but the feeling between the two of you as he pushes the bulbous head of his cock into you. 

John moves slowly, like he promised. He fills you, warms you from the inside-out. He punctuates each drag with a sharp push into your core, causing your body to shift up on the bed. He raises a hand and grasps your breast, both keeping you in place and filling his palm with one of his favorite body parts of yours. 

You don’t exchange words, minus a reassuring, hushed “I know,” that drips from John’s lips and into your ear when you become close. He fishes your boob out of your dress and dips down to attach his mouth to your nipple, reaching his other hand down to soothe circles onto your clit. The added stimulation sends you into a whirlwind and John can practically feel the pitter-patter of your heart from where he’s sucking at your chest. 

“Johnny,” You cry, clutching his shoulder and arching your back beneath him.

“Yeah, honey. I know, my angel,” He mumbles against your skin. He leaves burning kisses along your body up to your lips. 

“Please,” You say, high strung and wanting so much that you’re almost shaking with it.

John moans, wrenching himself away from your lips to press a kiss to your cheek, then returning to your lips. His thrusts grow stuttered and desperate, no longer slow. They’re just as passionate, just as fulfilling, and John coaxes the orgasm out of you just as he unravels himself.

He holds you like you’re a precious liquid that is slipping through his fingers. 

You almost want to cry from the feeling, the knowledge that you and John share so much love between the two of you and there will be nights like this for the rest of your life.

John leads you over the edge and guides you through it, holding you and murmuring sweet nothings into your ear until your breath returns to normal. He traces your cheek, then draws his fingers down your neck.

“You’re everything,” John says. “I meant it. I’m going to marry you… all in due time.”

Instead of a response, you take his hand in yours and press a kiss to the back of it. You lace your fingers together and bring your interlocked hands to your chest, resting them over your heart. All you can do, really, is smile and cuddle closer to John, feeling his heat fill the bed and making you doze off.

note: just finished watching "you've got mail" for the first time. sigh. what a movie. devastating. sooo invisible string. corporations need to stop winning.

[awriterinthenight]

"Its a Date"-Jess Mariano

requested: @dearggntlereader

words: 1424

warnings: mentions of an argument (i think that's it

summary: You and Jess were highschool sweethearts who broke up, but now that both of you are in the same town, who knows what will happen.

a/n I gave reader a certain style, since I just felt the whole artist thing kind of gave me an idea as to how she would dress, if you don't like it then just ignore it

Highschool sweethearts always seemed like a doomed relationship to some people. As nice as it was to fall in love young, usually those relationships end up with bad breakups, or even worse marriages. This wasn't always the case, you knew a couple people that married right out of high school and turned out well, but then there was a couple like Lindsey and Dean, which ended horribly.

Your high school sweetheart was Jess Mariano. The two of you had been dating since junior year started, and didn't break up till a couple months after graduation. You ended up breaking up due to the fact that Jess didn't actually graduate, and ended wanting to go to California to find his dad. You tried to be supportive of him, but he never told you when he would return, or if he was repeating senior year, which frustrated you. The two of you ended up in a massive argument, where both of you realized you could no longer be together if you wanted to accomplish your separate goals. You called it quits, and Jess went to California to find his dad, then ended up moving to Philadelphia where he started his publishing house, and wrote his first book. You ended up going to an art school in New York where you became an independent artist, and have been well off since.

Your art has gained a lot of attraction over the past few years. Many people bought your art, had it shown in galleries, and some pieces even won awards. You continued to live in New York, even buying yourself your own studio to paint in.

Never once in the past few years had you heard from Jess or seen him at all, which was probably a good thing. Except sometimes whether or not you made the right decision, was a thought that had been crossing your mind recently. Sometimes it even channeled into your art, but those paintings seemed to always be the best.

Recently you had gotten a call from a publishing house that had art shown in it, alongside other forms of art. Usually you hadn't done anything small or local unless you truly loved the place, but something compelled you to say yes, when the person on the phone asked if you would like to display one of your pieces there. Rarely ever did you donate art unless it was for a good cause, but you gave the piece to the publishing house completely free, which you thought was just because your life had been a bit slow.

The place was having an event to celebrate their growth, which you had been invited to since your art was on display. You agreed to go which was why you were currently getting dressed for this event. This didn't seem formal, but also not super casual. Making it hard to figure out what to wear. But you didn't care and put on a decent enough outfit which was a little black dress, tights, your old leather jacket, and boots. Your style hasn't changed much since you were a teenager (its not a phase mom).

You gave the address to the cab driver when you got into the car. The place was called Truncheon, which you thought was a bit of an odd name. It did make you think of Jess though. It sounded like a name he would pick for something.

When you got out of the car you took a look at the building. It was small, but definitely had its charm. Stepping into the publishing house was like stepping into a new world. Everyone there was unique, some there for the art, the books, or the performances that were going on.

"You must be the artist, Y/N," someone said, making you turn around.

You gave them a small smile, trying to be polite, "Yes, that's me," you said, holding out your hand for him to shake.

"It's very nice to meet you," he told you, shaking your hand before dropping it, "I'm Matthew, the one who contacted you. Me and my friends were so grateful you donated your artwork, it's amazing by the way."

"Well, I'm glad you liked it. All the art here is amazing," I complimented, since I loved the atmosphere of the place, and just its entirety.

"That's amazing, my friends were so excited. You should meet them," he offered, before calling them over, "Hey, Chris, Jess-" he said something else, but you didn't hear it. Surely it couldn't be Jess Jess, probably someone with the same name.

But, you were wrong. It was Jess. You hadn't seen him in years, so you took a moment to get a good look at him. He'd grown a small beard, but still wore his leather jacket.

"Hey," was all you could manage out, as Chris and Matthew gave the two of you a look.

"Hey," he uttered back, not as surprised as you were, which made you suspicious.

A gear started to turn in Matthew's head, "Well, you two seem to know each other, and this is awkward, so we'll let you two catch up," he said, dragging away a protesting Chris.

There was a silence between you two, but you broke it first, "So, you work here now," you tried to make small talk.

He nodded, "Yeah, I actually have a book that I published here two," he told you, his hands in his pockets, something he did when he was nervous.

"I know," you muttered, your voice barely above a whisper.

"You know?" he questioned, a hint of playfulness in his voice, "And here I thought you stopped caring about me years ago."

You had stopped keeping track of where he was after the breakup, but you still kept a tab on him every once in a while. You knew about his book when he published it, you'd heard from an old friend about it, so you made sure to get one when it was first published.

You shrugged slightly, "I mean I didn't totally forget about you. I just, I-," you stammered, "I thought you were still in Stars Hollow," you said, changing the conversation a bit.

"I mean, I was for a little bit, then I came here," he explained, a silence settling over you again.

You both opened your mouths to say something multiple times, but neither of you spoke. After a few minutes of silence Jess finally got the courage to say something.

"You know, I was actually the one who recommended you to Matthew. I saw your art in a magazine not that long ago, I thought you'd like an opportunity to display it here, even though its not one of your fancy galleries," he said, unable to keep himself from going back to his old ways of constantly teasing you.

You smiled, looking at the ground to hide your small blush, "Why didn't you ask me to?" you asked him, "I probably would've said yes in a heartbeat," you confessed.

"I thought you wouldn't want to see or hear from me after all these years. I never went back to Stars Hollow cause I thought you would be there, and I was too scared to face you," he admitted, nervous from what he was saying. Even after all these years, you could still read him like an open book.

"Well, I'm here now and you don't seem that scared," you told him, looking at him through your lashes.

He let out a small chuckle, "I'm shaking with fear actually," he said, making the both of you let out a small laugh, "How long are you in town for?"

"I wasn't leaving till tomorrow morning, but I can stay longer. It's not like I have anywhere to be," you told him.

"Good, then maybe tomorrow I can take you out. Show you around the city," he offered, letting out a shaky breath.

You considered it for a moment before saying, "Maybe, but would this be a just friends thing, or maybe something else," you asked, just making sure.

"I don't know," he said, "What do you want it to be?"

You shrugged, "I mean, a date doesn't sound like the worst thing ever," you admitted.

"Okay," he muttered softly, "It's a date."

Another silence hung around you before he spoke again, "I can give you a tour of the place if you like," he offered, smiling like an idiot.

You nodded, "That sounds fun, lead the way," you said, taking his hand in yours.

Taglist (ask to be added or removed

@almost-gabrielle @scarlett-8 @sarahskywalker-amidala @atashiboba @that1deerpersondownstairs @herondale-lightworm @purplerose291 @mitskiswift99 @crumby-child @rafslytherin @shanksvskidd @yerrmar

[tofupixel]

Thank you for getting me to finally try pixel art! I‘ve always wanted to get into pixel art but I never knew what to start with and always ended up procrastinating. Your blog and the post you made on learning pixel art were what finally pushed me to give it a go. It was really helpful and I managed this little animation in Libresprite.

I definitely want to improve and your art is like the ultimate goal lol. Do you have any tips or instructions for how to get better or on what to focus on in the future? I‘d appreciate any kind of criticism/input you are willing to give! How do you manage to make such gigantic and beautiful landscapes?

thank you!! and i'm so happy you decided to give it a real go, you're doing great already!! the rendering on the body and the pink shading is really nice.

i can help a little with animation stuff but i'm not an expert, ill write something out about backgrounds at the end

i hope you don't mind but i edited the sprite a little, just to illustrate some stuff

🤺Animation stuff

i added an extra frame near the top of the arc so it slows down. this is called ease or slow in/out and usually happens at the beginning and end of movements. u can do even more slow but this is just a quick version

i also removed the middle frame (where the tail is straight down) to make the swing appear a bit more powerful. this could be the principle of timing in the same video. you can exaggerate smears if you do this, its up to you!! lately i tend to exaggerate stuff a lot, things arent super noticable in motion

i also got a good bit of advice from nickwoz that helped me, basically when you begin to animate, it really puts the rest of the sprite being still into focus. try to think of how you could animate other parts of the body, even subtly. and sometimes if individual pixels stay still they can catch the eye in an unintended way as well, just keep it in mind!!

if you want to learn animation more, you could take a look at duelyst sprites, they have incredible idle and ability animations, i study them a lot

heres one i downloaded a long time ago. i recommend just downloading stuff you like and looking at it!! i have a huge collection of pixel inspo. slowing animations down can really help you understand whats going on. its just a bunch of simple elements put together that makes it look so good.

IF U WANT MORE RESOURCES/ARTISTS I REOCMMEND TO GO AND STUDY LMK!!! IM LIKE A WIKIPEDIA, I AM A BIG FAN of pixel art and love to share

🌿 OK lets talk about landscape stuff

it looks like you have art experience already, but im gonna talk as if youre a complete noob cos it might help some other people who read this!! ur doing great 👍

❓ how to learn: study (and practise a lot)

what i mean by study: draw it, copy it, try to understand it. you can try to change characteristics about it. changing the angle or lighting can help u understand how something works in 3 dimensions.

sometimes it takes time, dont worry, you will figure out your own style through doing studies, its all a process

❓ how to draw landscape details?

study pixel artists and how they do it recommendations: fool, slym, jubilee, deceiver

also please look at real world references!! you got to build that visual library

❓ how to learn composition?

study traditional artists or animation. i did a ton of studies of ghibli backgrounds which i think helped my growth a lot recommendations: arcane, studio ghibli, traditional painters

im gonna break down a piece as well and maybe that will help. this is one from 2022 but its still one of my most popular and its pretty simple too!!

if we remove all the fancy stuff what we have is actually really simple. just a few large, overlapping shapes that all point towards our focal point. it's the brightest area with the most contrast and many edges point into it.

go to pinterest or google and just search "pretty landscape" or "mountains" or something and you can see what i'm doing is nothing special or unique!! break it down into bigger shapes to begin with, its just different areas of material mostly.

and heres how you can make any landscape from any colours. purple sky or mountain? orange grass? ok !! it all works, it doesnt matter. i just blend the colours.

when parts of the landscape are in the distance they become closer to the sky colour as there is more "sky" in between you and it. its called atmospheric perspective. so if the sky was red, the clouds would fade towards red.

OKKK i dont know what else to say so i hope that helps!! honestly 90% of what i do is intuitive and hard for me to really explain, so you dont have to know The Rules, you just kind of pick up stuff as you go.

GL and thanks so much for showing me your art!! please keep going!! 💕💕💕💕

[gayelderstourney]

OLD MAN YAOI BRACKET ROUND 1

Propaganda:

Gerald Robotnik/Black Doom:

Scientist who wants to blow up the world and his evil alien boyfriend

Dude they had a son together and his name is shadow the hedgehog

They created Shadow the hedgehog together. Yes Shadow the hedgehog. This is canon. Theyre also super divorced just trust me on this.their old man yaoi is real

we as a society would not have shadow the hedgehog without their old man yaoi

old man fucks alien so he can bring his daughter back from space safely, gives birth to sad gay hedgehog

you KNOW they fucked

they’re shadow the hedgehogs dads. Like canonically. black doom is an alien god guy and gerald is eggmans grandpa who didn’t love him enough and gave him daddy issues. he also went insane after the government killed his granddaughter (who he loved instead of eggman) and tried to kill humanity :3 these two are like bitter exes to me. they’re both dead. the devil from the bible fucked that old man

Black Doom and Gerald Robotnik are Shadow the Hedgehogs dads. Gerald is a (silly, slightly insane) old scientist and Black Doom is a two thousand year old alien who wants to destroy the Earth. Its not canon but Shadow's gay dads mean everything to me. They kiss and hold hands on the space colony.

IM DOING MY PART!!! GERALDOOM SWEEP BAYBEEEEEEE!!! GO SHADOW’S GAY DADS!

Sheo/The Nailsmith:

It's really nice because you unlock it after the nailsmith asks you to kill him with the pure nail and you refuse and walk away. He then says he was wandering hallownest without purpose until he found sheo who helped him discover that there was more to life than just one calling. These two are probably the only characters in the game to have a genuinely happy ending

The nailsmith loses his purpose in life after finishing his ultimate masterpiece, his lifelong goal, the pure nail. He requests the protagonist to try the nail on him, but If you refuse, he will find sheo who helps him to find new meaning in life and realise that there is more to life by teaching him different crafts. They can then be seen sculping figurines together, and sheo is also painting the nailsmith.They share a common love for art and crafts and inspire each other. Sheo's story is that he was a nailmaster, but got tired of it, and put down his nail to pick up a paintbrush. I think it's beautiful that he could help the nailsmith realise what he himself did. They both also used to live in solitude without even realising how lonely they were, and I think it's cute tuhat they can do art together now :]

They are two bugs retired from their career and making better lives for themselves and they’re gay about it. Nailsmith believes at first that he has nothing left after creating the perfect nail and asks the knight to strike him down, and if you don’t, he meets Sheo, a retired nailmaster finding a new calling in painting and sculpting. They find a shared love in creating things and Nailsmith finds a new calling in art as well. The achievement you get for uniting them is called “Happy Couple”

Gay bugs gay bugs gay bugs (Cw mention of suicide) They both used to pursue their one passion in life: forging the perfect nail (sword) for the Nailsmith and the art of combat for Sheo. Sheo realized he could just leave that life when he lost his passion for fighting, and he found himself a new purpose in life: art. However, he always seemed very lonely, completely isolated by all other bugs in his hidden house in the middle of a thorn jungle. When The Nailsmith achieved his goal and forged the perfect nail, he lost his purpose in life and his will to live. He asks the player to kill him. However, if the player refuses, he can later be found in Sheo's house, modelling for Sheo or sculpting figurines with him. He thanks the player for not fulfilling his request, because he has found a new calling in life here, making art together with Sheo. They both express how happy they are to no longer be alone. This also gives you the "Happy Couple" achievement, confirming that they are a couple.

THEY'RE CANON!!! They're fucking canon!!! You can talk to them at one point after doing a Bunch of Stuff to get them to meet each other and you get an achievement called "Happy Couple"!!! Gotta love old man yuri

[late-draft]

Hello, Dema here!

First off—I have fallen desperately in love with your artworks. You have a very particular style, strong and fluid all the same, and I can't help but admire the way you draw and how you approach character design.

And talking about character design...

I saw your post about Zuko's bold design in S1 when compared to what we got in S3 and—as much as I love S3-Zuko—I completely agree with you. Something I've always loved about Zuko in S1 is just how striking he was, how much of a presence he had, even when he was being tossed around by a twelve-year-old. That being said, I love Zuko, I love him in armor and pointy shoes and with a ponytail, and I loved your alternative design for him.

What do you think about his S2 character design? How does it flow with the story beats and his overall character arc? Much has been said about the Hair-Growth-Means-Character-Growth (and I find it interesting, also, that he cut his hair again before joining the Gaang), but I'd like to know your opinion on how that translates to character design and how the decisions made in the show could be either good or bad in that regard.

Sorry about the long ask! I've just been thinking about this a lot, lately, and would like to know what you think. Hope you have a good day ❤️

AAAA Dema hii!!! I'm so happy I got a message from you, I didn't expect it!!

I'm super glad to hear, I'll wear it as a badge of honour and I must tell you that I also love your art, you wonderfully do volume and the shading done through a contrast of sharp and soft areas! Super solid anatomy too and I'd be lying if I said I didn't look up to your art!

Yess the character designs in the show actually are rather strong, I like a good balance between memorable and functional. Zuko is just *chef kiss* but, considering just how many appearance changes he goes through, some are bound to be weaker than the starting one. That said, I'm gonna go through a few of his S2 looks and make this reply long, ha!

The starting one when he ends up huddling with uncle Iroh with other poor refugees, fits extremely well for the narrative at the moment. It's actually one of my least liked looks for him, and that's great!! It's precisely how it should be, because he's also arguably at one of his two lowest moral points in the story - he basically lost almost all hope, no clear goal, nothing to fight for, he's desperate precisely because of the lack of orientation and thus his morals degrade and sink veeery low. He gets on my nerves so goddamn much in this period LMAO I want to beat him up, he looks like a recovering drug addict... annoying, entitled whiny jerk stealing food and anything shiny for his uncle, but even then he just does not cross the moral event horizon. Excellent characterization. He just looks atrocious and it's great because it fits this low point.

Next he gets the standard boyish square of a hair, no notes here...

But theeeen, he arrives at one of my favourite looks of his, and it's not just because the clothes fit him very nicely (I've seen fandom say they look too big for him which, maybe?? But it doesn't look like he's swimming in them to me) And a thing I've noticed which, maybe it was just an accident on design part but I'm not sure considering they colour coded the entire cave scene; in this part his clothes match the shape of Katara's, first one in bottom then the one in top. The collar is the same haf-circle design but I don't know, maybe there was a limited pool of clothes designs guide which they cycled through. Or, he really is meant to come close but miss Katara by a beat, like sine and cosine chasing each other.

But besides this outfit fitting the inconspicuous Earth Kingdom customer service persona, it also (perhaps inadvertently) does this VERY cool thing:

It makes his shape look closed off and guarded, supposedly non-threatening. It's most visible in his fight against Jet, whose shape is open and goes in many directions like an aggressive star. But then look at what Zuko's shape does:

When he attacks, it opens up to reveal the hidden aspect, again the aggressive star shape shows up! The same thing happens in "Zuko alone" episode but I think it's most clearly visible in this fight against Jet because here he has a direct contrast and comparing with Jet. I think this is an example where the outfit, whose similar design exists irl, overlaps with a great visual metaphor and enhances the narrative at that moment in story. He's still that combative firebender but he has to keep that aspect concealed most of the time. Plus it just looks badass as hell!!

Animators really knocked it out of the park with many frames. I think Jun was too early and missed his better hairstyle, but Katara was just in time.

I agree it's super funny how his hair in the Beach is awfully long, covers his face to an uncomfortable degree and then he apparently shortens it before joining the Gaang, insane behaviour Truly an "I'm so angry and depressed I won't show my face nor be capable of seeing anything because there's nothing nice to see in my life" look...

I guess all his appearances in S2 cover his mental states, but only one of them is extremely Extra (the tea server, doesn't even take the apron off and goes to fight) and I don't see any spot where a similar tier design could be shoved in, narratively speaking. So all in all, S2 did as much as S2 could have. More tea server arc please though, the Guru episode really feels like it skipped 800 km of plot and everything that happened in it is so crammed and pretty sus in terms of character behaviour.

[obstinaterixatrix]

Bibi is a bubbly girl who’s deeply obsessed with Peter, the cutest boy at her high school. So when she sees a random girl talking to him, Bibi invites her to a sleepover with malicious intent… only to have a surprisingly nice time! That’s how she makes friends with Amy, a shy and sweet girl who agrees to help Bibi get with Peter. But as they cook up all sorts of love schemes to win Peter over, Amy’s place in Bibi’s heart grows bigger and bigger by the day…

now that I Love Amy has been licensed, I wanted to make a rec post for it…! here’s an f/f webtoon about high schoolers in the 🇺🇸USA🇺🇸. the author has stated that she loves yanderes and her goal for this series was to write a happy ending for a yandere, so it’s a zany and dysfunctional series with a lot of love for its own characters.

being a love letter to yanderes, I’d say the series keeps fairly lighthearted (no actual present murder) while having darker gags/plot elements (references to past pet death, past abuse, past attempted murder, past actual (?) murder, ableist language, etc.). the tonal dissonance is done pretty well in my opinion, plus the art and writing is super charming. check out the introduction to amy

bibi doesn’t even see her as an actual person at first, so the relationship development is really fun with how she gradually swaps targets from ✨the most popular boy at school✨ to some random gloomy gal lmao

great balance between vaguely threatening and genuinely heartfelt

super charming and unique, if you like any of these panels you’ll probably enjoy the series so support the official release~

[swindle-comic]

Hi hello, I'm Lolly!! :D It's very nice to see you again. I say that because my posts on this blog have gone from semi-frequent to rare to nonexistent in the last year or so. That's because I haven't really touched Swindle in quite a while. Though the last page of chapter 4 was only posted a few days ago, I finished writing the script for it in late 2021 and have since stepped back to focus on other things that provide mental enrichment.

I love this comic very much. I am insanely proud of it. Of myself and of Artsy. We've created something that is so fun and ridiculous. I think it is one of the most well crafted projects I've ever gotten to participate in. On all levels except physical I am placing it on my fridge for everybody to look at.

In all honestly, I haven't really been paying that much attention to this comic since the chapter 4 pages started rolling out. So I haven't really noticed that there is still a large consistent amount of readers interacting with it. I was surprised by the likes, the comments, the follower count, the art, the fics, the investment in general. It's all so cool, it made me really happy!!!

Thank you for all the support and patience and engagement!!!

Anyway, this comic being my pride and joy is the exact reason that it will be taking a rest for a while. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to building scenes and writing engaging and flowing dialogue and consistent characterization and BLAH. I want those ducks jumping off the pages. That is my goal. As a result, this comic takes an explosive amount of energy and commitment to write. Energy and commitment that I simply do not have to spare during this time. And I have no idea when I will.

So. It is time for Swindle to sleep for a while. It is time for Tybernation.

But wow!!! 4 chapters and 100 pages!!! That is super impressive I think!!!! So even if it takes a while for the story to resume, there's always plenty to revisit.

Anyway, that's all. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it. Mwah mwah mwah <333