#also I know they're simplifying things and not going into all of the details

[rosered12]

As I'm sitting here at 12 am eastern all I can think about is how the Atla live action is going to pace the show??? Like they only got 8 eps and even at 45+ mins each ep idk how they're going to fit so many arcs into those episodes? Like how will they combine them. What storylines get the boot? Bato? Solstice? The Storm?!?! (Cause that's one of my fav episodes ever, idk if I could live without it) I'll know tomorrow but I still so curious.

[bluegekk0]

Finished designs for the FPK Dragon AU! Very happy with how they turned out, I'm definitely going to draw more art for this side AU in the future

Some short info and close-ups below

General AU stuff:

I don't have many story or world details yet, but in general it would be quite simplified and changed in a lot of ways

The vessels are not a thing, though The Radiance does exist and the infection would still happen in some shape or form (I haven't thought of the details yet). Holly's purpose would still be to put a stop to it, but the whole aspect of emotionless void beings is not included

Humans don't exist in this world, so the one above is simply to get an idea of their scale. The dragons in that world are sapient and live in communities, a lot of them can use magic and similar powerful abilities

More info to be added as I brainstorm it, and I might design more characters for the AU in the future

Character specific stuff:

Vyrm - a lot of his backstory is very similar to the main AU, his kind is considered extinct (the reason would most likely be different), though he never changed his form to be smaller, which means his large wyrm form does not exist here. His relationship with WL was also basically the same, as was his journey of discovering his love for Grimm. And just like in the main AU, he ended up losing his status as a leader and hibernating. Unsure whether he would also lose all his powers, since I want to keep his workshop hobby and I like the idea of him having powers that he learned specifically for that purpose (not to mention, doing any kind of precise engineering would be difficult with his dragon anatomy). So we'll have to see.

Grimm - once again a very similar backstory to his main AU counterpart. He is one of the most powerful dragons to exist, and The Radiance is still his sister in this AU. He was banished from his homeland and stripped of many of his powers, losing his status as a higher dragon as a result. I'm still brainstorming how NKG comes into the AU, as of now my idea is that it would be closer to a god-like beast form than a being in another realm, but it may still change. And I'm still thinking how to reconceptualize the ritual to fit this version. Even though he's much weaker than in his prime, he's still more powerful than an average dragon, especially in the NKG form (if that is the direction I take with him).

Lewk, Asta and Milo - basically the same as in the main AU. Lewk and Asta can fly just fine, Milo however is incapable of it (and will likely remain that way even as he gets older, with his wings being too small and weak for flight).

Hornet - in most aspect she's the same, though her half-spider origin would be changed to something else; Herrah is not a spider in this AU, though she would still be quite beastly and unique in her appearance. She has two pairs of wings, which are a trait inherited from her mother's side. She knows silk magic, which she learned as a young dragon.

Zote - he's the most unique here body plan wise, I based his design on pterosaurs. I loved the mental image of him being this annoying, bird-like dragon. In basically all aspects he's the same as his main AU counterpart, though being a dragon I imagine he would have a more impressive lifespan than an average bug in the main AU. He's a herbivore dragon, his mouth resembles a beak, and he has no powers, only a nasty attitude.

Holly - as mentioned before, they are not a vessel in this AU, nor a void being. Instead, they're a hybrid of Vyrm and WL, who is a powerful higher dragon, and were trained to stop The Radiance and put an end to the infection from the day they hatched. Though they did end up learning void magic to aid them in the fight, I think that would be a nice way to preserve at least some of that aspect and it would explain the color of their body in this version. They have a mouth, though they are still mute, likely as a result to battle damage. Like in the main AU, they lost one of their eyes and a limb, and I'm considering designing a prosthetic wing for them at some point to mirror their counterpart.

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

[cherryfennec]

Okay I love your most recent art work of Mario and Mr. L!!! I’m just curious how on earth did you draw their hats so well?? Especially the brim of their hats?! Hats are the one thing I struggle with when drawing them! I can’t make it look believable!

Hi! First of all thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you like the art! Now as for hats (more specifically Mario and Luigis type) there can be different ways you might go about drawing them.

(I should probably mention at the beginning that I am not an expert and sometimes struggle myself as well. Despite this I'll try my best to explain how I usually approach it.)

Let's start with brims because they seem the most problematic (as I see it.)

What I'm going to talk about might already be intuitive for a lot of people, including myself, however I thought it'd be a good idea to break down the mindset so everyone is on the same page and those who have trouble seeing it can hopefully understand stuff better.

First it's obviously the idea. No real details, just the general idea. With it we'll be able to establish the basic rules for what you're drawing, most importantly the angle and perspective.

Now this is going to be pretty self explanatory but: if I'm drawing a character looking up I know that the bottom of the brim will be visible, if the characters looking down it won't and etc. An easy way to check which parts of the brim will be visible from a specific view point is to imagine it as a slab.

Now this isn't anything mind blowing, I know, but saying this out loud can be handy and save you some overthinking.

Alright, let's talk about the hat itself now!

In most of the pictures I could find of the bros hats they're divided into two parts: the front, which is taller and slightly spiked up, and the back, which is noticeably shorter. Now this kinda goes back to the idea of simplifying shapes:

At some point it unfortunately becomes rather difficult to explain why some stuff is drawn the way it is because it's kinda justified by: "that's how the real life counterparts act". Above everything I highly recommend references, both irl and ingame ones. It's not embarrassing to use them, trust me, no one will criticise you and they'll help!

Now that we got the brim and the hat, let's put the two together!

There isn't really a strict order of how you should draw things, everyone has different preferences and processes which should be taken into consideration. For example, I personally like to draw the entire head before I touch on the cap:

(I added the hair and colours for the sole purpose of this post, this process is usually done during rough sketching.)

This way I have a point of reference where the brim ends (right before the ear for me) and where I should place the middle line on the cap (it's a bit of a stylistic choice than anything but it also lets me know where the fold will be). You can find your own way and make your own rules and with time the process will get much easier! I hope this somewhat helps.

Just practice, have patience, experiment and most importantly: have fun!

[in1-nutshell]

Hello! TFA request, what would Autobots reaction/interaction of Bot who's a triple changer on Earth

Bot who's a triple changer, similar to (Tfa) Blitzwing, except instead of Hothead, Icy and Random personas, they had their own personas

(You can change the personas, if you like) Bot has their own personas and these are (1st: Performer/Jester/other), (2nd: Guard/ villain/other), & (3rd: Caregiver/ Whimsy/ other) personas

(1st) persona known for being extrovert-like, yet anxious, and priorities safety of others. (2nd) persona known for being introvert-like, yet can be aggressive/menace and priorities security of others. Lastly, The (3rd) persona known as a balance/combination of (1st)'s and (2nd)'s, they're calm, gentle, and whimsical

Bot and their personas shared some personality traits, such as being oriented on care task/work, for bots (cybertronians & earth ones), humans, and other beings, especially young ones, being parent/guardian figure friend

Bot's origin: (You can change the origins) Bot used to be a famous Performer that loved and inspired others especially the young ones. Until Bot was chosen to be part of the triple changer experiment by Science Department of Cybertron after having found old files of Blitzwing’s triple changer experiment.

Whether it was successful or not, they successfully replicated the triple changer mod. However, to make sure Bot gets used to the new mod and get a handle on things, they 'convince' Bot to learn to control and handle being a triple changer.

Bot became a runaway autobot and came to earth. at first, bot decides to travel until Bot became some sort of performer/artist, community helper, and/or local caregiver/babysitter and oftentimes do guard duty

( I'm Sorry if this's complicated. Also Thank you so much and wish you a happy new year!)

Hello! SO this Buddy was a bit detailed in the asked, so I simplified somethings. Hopefully not too much. If this isn't what you wanted, please let me know.

Hope you enjoy!

Team Prime react to Triple Changer Bot Buddy

SFW, mentions of experimentation but nothing graphic, Platonic, Cybertronian reader

TFA

Before the war, Buddy used to be a nobody. They knew this. They weren’t an outlier or had any useful intelligence that would help them in a lab.

They did jobs here and there for the Autobots when the war broke out. The longest job they had was being a glorified messenger between generals and any higher up in Iacon. They were approached to go under a super soldier program, Buddy was right behind them. If this meant they could take their home world from the Decepticon’s then they will participate in it.

They didn’t know that the program was going to have such… dire side effects.

Their frame had been reformatted to be more war frame like. A frame to cause more damage. If that had been its Buddy honestly would have been fine with it.

It wasn’t until they started dealing with their processor that Buddy realized that the experiments weren’t as ethical as they had originally thought. This ‘program’ was hidden under wraps for a reason.

Their personalities had been split into three.

The first side was named Jester. They liked goofing off and making any bot laugh with their antics and jokes. They got on the guards’ nerves every now and then.

The second side was Guardian, they were a quiet soul that kept to themselves. But turned extremely aggressive when something they held dear was in danger.

The last side was Carrier, they were the calmest side that tried holding the balance between Jester’s loud antics and Guardian’s aggression to their enemies. They were considered one of the most dangerous side of the three.

Buddy felt like a monster.

A little after the experimentation was wrapping up, Buddy overheard some of the guards talking about how much of a waste of personalities they were and how they were going to permanently fix that the next day.

Buddy was horrified at the thought of going through the experimentation again. Something all three of their personalities could agree on.

So, they did the only logical thing.

They escaped.

They hopped into an escape pod that night, punched in random coordinates, and took off.

They ended up crashing on a quiet little planet called Earth, near a city called Detroit. They kept their vehicle form and went over to introduce themselves to the natives to ask for refuge.

They met a funny man named Issac Sumdac, he too was new to the city.

“Hello!”--Jester

“Hello?”—Prof. Sumdac

“We are Buddy. We seek for a safe haven on this planet.”--Carrier

“Safe haven?”—Prof.Sumdac

“Would it be possible to stay with you? We promise not to be a burden to you.”--Carrier

“Um…”—Prof. Sumdac

“Oh, thank you Mr.! We won’t let you down!”--Jester

“But—never mind. What is happening with your…”—Prof. Sumdac

“Why you gotta problem with that?”--Guardian

“No—”—Prof. Sumdac

“Sorry about that. Guardian is quite protective of us. I am Carrier, they other one is Jester.”--Carrier

“Oh… okay… what is it with me and robots?”—Prof. Sumdac

“What was that?”--Guardian

“Nothing!”—Prof. Sumdac

With Buddy’s help with some mechanics, Sumdac was able to start his life in the city. Though they did question why some of these materials looked familiar. But it wasn’t their business, so they left it alone.

While Sumdac started his robotics, Buddy decided to help the community that as of now was nothing but kind to them. Well besides some stray hagglers.

They created an outdoor daycare for the little ones. Sure, at first no one wanted to leave their kids with this giant evil looking robot, which Buddy understood completely no matter how badly it stung.

But as soon they did start getting kids under their care, Buddy proved to them that they could be trustworthy.

“Hello Ms. Jones, how was your day?”--Carrier

“Oh, Carrier you have no idea the amount of traffic today! I thought I was gonna loose my mind!”—Ms. Jones

“Sorry to hear about that Ms. Jones. Oh, here’s Johnny.”--Carrier

“Mom!”--Johnny

“Baby! How was your day?”—Ms. Jones

“I had so much fun! Jester gave me a coloring book and some crayons with my favorite superheroes!”—Johnny

“Wow honey! Now what do you say?”—Ms. Jones

“Thank you, Buddy!”--Johnny

“You’re welcome!”--Buddy

“You’re a blessing Buddy. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”—Ms. Jones

“I’m just glad to be able to do my job Ms. Jones.”--Buddy

“No, but really if someone says something mean, call me. I’ll make sure their month is ruined.”—Ms. Jones

“Thank you, Ms. Jones?”--Buddy

Jester made sure that all the kids were entertained and having a great time. Guardian kept a watchful optic out for any kid trying to escape the daycare; for any creeps that wanted to take the kids; and especially for any signs for abusive parents. Fanzone has lost count how many calls he has gotten from Buddy about the parents. Carrier was thriving in this environment. They loved telling the kids bedtime stories, fixing their boo boo’s, and teaching some basic schooling.

When Sumdac came with Sari for the first time, Buddy pulled him aside to tell him that what he had was a sparkling, a cybertronain sparkling. They were shocked hearing that Sumdac didn’t want to tell Sari the truth of what she was. Buddy ended up compromising with him to at least tell her when she is older, so she could at least cherish her childhood.

Sari loved Buddy and all their sides. She became a regular at the daycare after hours since Sumdac would always be couped up in his office.

“Hey Buddy!”--Sari

“Sari?”--Buddy

“The one and only!”--Sari

“Is your dad still in the office?”--Guardian

“Yeah…”--Sari

“You want me to go and get him?”--Guardian

“Nah, he’s still doing work… Buddy?”--Sari

“Yes?”--Buddy

“Do you ever feel like you don’t belong?”--Sari

“Yeah, I mean look at me. I’m not exactly someone who’s going to blend in the crowd.”--Jester

“Hahaha!”--sari

“But, if it makes you feel better, you’ll always belong in our little family.”--Carrier

“Aww! Thanks Buddy!”--Sari

“You’re welcome.”--Carrier

“So… can you tell me about your past?”--Sari

“No.”--Guardian

“C’mon!”--Sari

“Nice try, its not gonna work kiddo.”--Jester

“I will find out one day.”--Sari

“One day, but not today.”--Carrier

Buddy became a second parental figure to Sari.

Buddy met Team Prime when the city started getting evacuated. As the Earth shook, Buddy rounded up all the kids and flew them to the nearest shelters. They suddenly realized that they were being under attack after hearing the familiar sounds of blasters in the air.

Part of them wanted to deal with the problem themselves, but the sounds of the kids crying pulled them back to reality. Buddy had to put the kid’s safety first, and by judging the sounds of blasters being shared, someone else was dealing with the threat. Plus, Buddy didn’t like the looks of the walls in the shelter.

Buddy covered all the kids with their huge body when the roof fell slightly on them. Buddy held on strong. The only thing they could hope for now was the threat being dealt with and that the Sumdac’s were okay.

Meanwhile…

Sari was introducing themselves properly to the Autobots when they suddenly remembered about Buddy.

“Oh no Buddy!”--Sari

“Who?”--Ratchet

“My friend, I don’t know if they’re okay! Please you gotta help me find them!”--Sari

“You got it Sari!”--Bumblebee

Buddy in the meantime had dug themselves out of the wreckage of the shelter and was carrying the uninjured kids out and back to the remains of the outdoor daycare. They brushed some of the debris with their pede to try and make some room to put down the children when they heard their name being called.

Buddy quickly put the kids down on the debris free ground and turned around.

It was Sari coming out of… a new version of Captain Fanzone’s car? And several emergency vechilces?

Oh…

Oh no…

Are those Autobots!?

Bots who tried to fight Buddy on sight:

The following bots immediately thought Buddy was a Decepticon and tried to fight them. Guardian was very angry seeing the blasters pointed towards them and their kids.

Sari luckily deescalated the situation before Guardian decided to let loose.

Optimus

Prowl

Bumblebee

Bulkhead

Bots who want to climb Buddy’s giant armor:

After the eventful first meet, Buddy starts helping the Team with some patrols or extra muscle when they don’t have work. Seeing the kids climb on Buddy gives them an idea to do it on patrol to ‘gain the high ground’. Carrier just rolls with it.

Bumblebee

Sari

Bots who help Buddy out in the daycare:

These bots want to help Buddy’s load. They know that rebuilding the city, dealing with Decepticon, and still having to go back to work is a hassle. They give Buddy an extra servo when looking after the kids. They do it in their own special ways, something that Jester appreciates when they are running out of jokes and coloring books.

Bulkhead

Ratchet

Optimus

Prowl

[assassyart]

What are your favorite outfits for Ratchet from the games?

Good question!

As far as the armors go, I usually never actually use them in the majority of the games I play (unless they're forced onto me, like Deadlocked's or 2016's). But I do have my favorites.

Holoflux

Shocking probably no one, Holoflux is the best. People often say it's their favorite, and that's for good reason— it looks incredibly good on Ratchet. I definitely don't enjoy drawing this armor that much, but I still will do it from time to time because I like it that much, and Ratchet gets pretty privilege.

It's also cool that this armor matches Azimuth pretty well, and I like that it has the "powered down" version in cutscenes. It makes the finale hit that much harder. This is the only armor where I know it's my favorite. The others are in no particular order.

Quest

Quest for Booty's armor was always rather charming to me, but it got even better once I recognized it had the Apogee insignia on the belt. I am a Talwyn and Ratchet stan at heart, so this pulled this armor above some others just because of that detail. But putting that aside, it also really fits the game it's in and makes Ratchet look like an explorer. He matches Talwyn quite nicely, too, which fits since she's his companion in this game.

Rebel

Oh my god this armor stole my HEART for so long. I am begging Insomniac to give us more casual fits in the next entry because this armor spoiled me so much. I love the graffiti Clank on the left hand, I love the little jacket, I love how the full gear doesn't cover his face... it's just adorable. Such a good fit that suits Ratchet so much and it's definitely my favorite new armor in Rift Apart.

Infernox

As far as armors that cover Ratchet's face go, Infernox was always one of my favorites as a kid. Something about its color palette and overall "flame" vibe just screamed early-Ratchet to me. I really like this one, and I definitely prefer it over the more popular Carbonox armor. Then again, I'm also a sucker for Up Your Arsenal. :P

2002

Not an armor but an absolute classic look. Of all the ones here, it's my favorite to draw since it lets me draw more of Ratchet's fur. It broke my heart to know that IG really wanted to put it in to Rift Apart, but was unable to find a way. I hope they try to do it for the next game, but I'll understand even if they can't. It's just one of the best looks for Ratchet. So iconic.

Marauder

Listen. This armor is really cool looking, and I like it, and I especially like that Deadlocked lets me take off the helmet too... but boy, this bitch is painful to draw. Simplifying it almost feels heinous to do, since it's just so cool looking but GAH!!!! If you ever wonder why I never update the Deadlocked Together AU, it's because of this!!! This painful armor!!!!!!

That aside, this armor fits the tone of the game so well. It's edgy, it's brooding, it's dark. I love it. The only thing I don't like is the fact they hide his tail :(

Tuxedo

Despite always playing Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal exclusively without armor when I play, you would never be able to tell because I love wearing the tuxedo Ratchet skins. Somethin about formal Ratchet makes me have heart eyes. Very kissable.

Robot Pirate

While I obviously prefer rebel, this was one of the only other armors in Rift Apart that I found myself using for Ratchet. The scarf really looks good on him, and I'm very fond of the chest plate. If it weren't for Quest armor's inclusion, I would always wear this armor when going to Ardolis.

Comics

Last but not least (because tumblr says I should stop adding images)... the comic outfits. Once again, the casual Ratchet outfits are always going to score higher for me. I loveeeee seeing my boy look more casual. And while the left image looks a lot like his normal outfit, I prefer it more for keeping it loose. That, and something about that blue chest piece never sat right with me. In a perfect world, I think it would have stayed green to keep his earthy tones in tact even after Tools of Destruction.

And the overalls are just. Mwah. Chef's kiss. What a dork. He's so cute. I love him.

Thanks for the ask!

[abrthephantomq]

Soooo....

Turnabout Storyteller.

I had already vaguely known about Uendo having DID due to me not necessarily avoiding spoilers when reading fanfic, but...

I have so many thoughts on this as someone who HAS the disorder they're representing here.

Like, one, I definitely appreciated the way they revealed it -- during a Mood Matrix session. Having multiple sets of feelings and having them switch on and off like that is def a thing. I've/we've experienced that before.

But also -- before that, when Uendo was switching between his "characters" and everyone thought he was just putting on a performance? Yeah, see. They did that really well considering that like -- yes, the way alters hold the body/the face can be really different. They certainly felt like different people, which was really cool to see. I liked the different poses they had because as I played I was like, "Huh... is he the character with DID...? He is, right?"

The thing is, I'm like 80% certain that Uendo is the murderer, and THAT annoys me -- but I'm not done playing through the case, yet. I just started the second half of the trial, so.... I'll comment as I go.

But if I'm right and Uendo IS the murderer, I'm gonna have to roll my eyes because soooo many pieces of media use my disorder to show HEY SOMEONE WITH THIS COULD BE A KILLER AND NOT KNOWWWWW and I hate that. Because like.... no.

OH THANK GOD. Like 3 seconds into the send half of the trial and it's NOT Uendo. Yay. Yayyyyy. I'm actually really glad they did that subversion of the person-with-DID-is-the-killer trope. Thank fucking GOD.

SIMON GRABBING ATHENA when she starts to doubt she can prove Bucky's innocence is just -- fuck. Okay. Yeah, I see why the fandom loves that particular moment. (I love Simon so much omfg).

I am honestly loving this case and I actually really like the way they've presented Uendo -- it's simplified a bit for the sake of the audience, but at the same time, switching DO be like that. And you can certainly be co-conscious and share memory.

Like.... that's legitimately how our System works -- there's usually 2-3 of us up front at any given time, with someone generally more forward, while the other(s) listens / watches. Sometimes others push to the front. And there are 4 of us who more or less have access to the continual life happenings even if we don't always recollect specific details (or what we were feeling) later.

Also Owen being a LITTLE makes so much damn sense? Fuck, idk man, I love it. I kinda adore them.

I really really really got weary when Uendo's diagnosis was revealed because, y'know, the whole oh God pls tell me you're not the murderer even if it was kinda looking like you were.

That fucking balloon girl did it, didn't she? Jesus fucking Christ. I love that, but I also hate that. Also it's so unfair they made this chick so goddamned pretty.

Also man can I also say just how like.... they legitimately refer to Owen as a child, and Kisegawa with Ms., and -- that's actually a nice little piece of the writing here. Like... is it absolutely perfect? No. It's not. But let me tell you -- as someone with this disorder? Writing it and showing it for an audience is hard.

That whole, "everyone is unique" thing applies here -- every System is different. They all develop ways of functioning in order to blend in and protect themselves. Uendo may not have the denial bit that comes with this disorder (do you know how many times I find myself asking if I'm sure I'm not faking this thing? do you??? because like, it's a "rare" disorder, right? and was my trauma REALLY bad enough for me to have alters???? etc) -- but considering the confident way he, Patches, and Kisegawa speak about their experience with the disorder, I would imagine they've been in therapy for it for a while, now.

But also -- the three of them not being aware of Owen? Or denying his existence, at least? Well, they were either protecting him because he's so young, or they legitimately did not know since apparently he may only come forward when the body is drunk.

idk I love that Uendo et al was not the killer. Like so much. Thank FUCK.

Also that was a really fun case even if it was like, not entirely relevant to the overall story happening here in SOJ. I definitely enjoyed it.

[crossdressingdeath]

It's so weird to me seeing people insist that all Rooks are going to be the exact same with no real variation between them besides the names based on the fact that they all get involved with the Veilguard after prioritizing saving lives over their faction (if you look at the blurbs even the "they go against orders to save people" angle only applies to Thorne, the others didn't know or didn't have actual orders to go against, and even "prioritizing lives over their faction" doesn't apply to Mercar (going against slavers is kind of their job and the Shadow Dragons want them out of sight to protect them) or de Riva (they didn't actually know about the wider mission at stake and could easily have assumed that their superiors urging caution didn't mean letting civilians die)). For a few reasons, actually. First and most obviously... people are making a lot of assumptions based on the very brief and vague backstory overview you get at the start of the game. The character introductions we get at the start of the game have always been a brief overview with no emotional details; the details come in the game proper (which is also when Rook will I'm sure get the chance to discuss how they feel about their faction and the events that led to them leaving it; it's very strange to me that so many people seem convinced we won't get to make decisions about that based from what I've seen solely on the single paragraph of background information we get before the game even starts). Bioware didn't stop in the CC of DAO, DA2 or DAI to ask us exactly how our character felt about their background, they let us decide that for ourselves during the game, and I really don't understand why people are assuming it'll be different here.

Secondly it's based on a massively oversimplified view of what exactly happens in each backstory blurb. I mean there is of course the general setup of each character's background before the incident that led them to the Veilguard (do not come here and try to tell me that a baby found by the undead and raised by necromancers in Nevarra is the exact same as a kid raised by a military family in Tevinter, using the two whose childhoods we have any information on as an example; they are not the same and would have very different viewpoints on the world), but there's more to it. The actual incidents are quite different if you look at them beyond that basic "prioritized lives over the faction's best interests" angle! Aldwir choosing to give up a valuable artefact to save their teammates isn't the same as Thorne refusing to wait for reinforcements when a nearby village would be destroyed before they arrived, which isn't the same as Laidir pissing off the nobles and risking drawing the authorities' ire down on the Lords by killing a corrupt noble, which isn't the same as de Riva unknowingly compromising a larger mission by rescuing Antivan citizens taken captive by the Antaam. These are different events! Saying they're all the same is a very, very simplified read of them!

But I'm sure people will still argue that they're too similar because of that very simplified read. To that I say: every Warden is the exact same because they all get involved in a dangerous event and then get recruited by Duncan. Every Inquisitor is the exact same because they all go to the Conclave and pick up the Anchor. The details of their backgrounds and their thoughts on those backgrounds and their dialogue that's impacted by their backgrounds don't matter, the inciting incident is the same so clearly they're all the exact same character and the only things that change are names, classes and aesthetics.

...Stupid, right? Obviously if you boil down the protagonist of an RPG to the most basic description possible they're going to appear the same as every other possible protagonist of that RPG. The protagonist needs a plot hook to get them involved in the main story and that plot hook is always going to be similar to every other potential protagonist's plot hook. The Warden needs to be in a situation where they would get recruited by Duncan, and it makes for easier writing if that happens in a situation where there's a good chance they'd be grateful for it. The Inquisitor needs to get the Anchor. And in this game Rook needs to be in a position where their faction wants or needs them out of the way for whatever reason and Varric would want to take them for the Veilguard. With those two factors in mind, them putting innocent lives over their faction (for lack of a better way of putting it, see my comment on Mercar and de Riva in the first paragraph) is a good choice. It's something that ensures their faction will encourage or order them to join up and something that would encourage Varric to pick them! If you agree that it's stupid to claim all Wardens or Inquisitors are the exact same regardless of backstory because of the inciting incident that gets them into the plot (which I assume everyone does), then don't automatically assume that all Rooks are going to be the same because of their inciting incidents having some similarities.

[adobe-outdesign]

Pokemon review: Pinsir

(I don't have any Pokemon review requests right now and I actually think we're getting close to reviewing all of them, so here's one that hasn't been done yet.)

No Japanese game inspired by bug collecting and Japanese beetle fighting would be complete without a stag beetle Pokemon. Pinsir here delivers in a pretty interesting way—its counterpart Heracross is still reasonably bug-like with some monster attributes, but Pinsir is the exact opposite, being more of a monster with some bug attributes.

Having a bipedal stance, it only has four limbs—two freakishly long forelimbs and two incredibly stubby legs. The body is just an oval with a few segmented lines (the segments not resembling those of an actual beetle, if anyone was wondering), and it has this really cool gaping mouth full of horizontal teeth, as opposed to standard beetle mouth parts or the more traditional Pokemon way of giving bugs regular human-ish mouths. The horns are white in contrast with the brown body, and are covered in little "thorns", kind of a nod to how stag beetles have spikes along the inside of their mandibles.

Overall, it's a pretty neat design and I like how unique of a monster design it is. Sure, it doesn't really have a concept beyond just being a stag beetle, but the unique design really helps it to stand out. My only issues with it are that I wish the horns were even more oversized, but to be fair Gen 1 did have sprite size limitations. I also kind of wish it was just a little more colorful—stag beetles come in beautiful colors, like black and the maroon one above, so something a smidge higher contrast would've been nice, especially because there's so much brown in Gen 1.

While mega Pinsir exaggerates the horns slightly, making them longer and extending the spikes on them, it mostly adds a pair of wings. This might seem a little random relative to the horns for those who don't know what it's based off of, but actual stag beetles do in fact have wings, and given that there's only so much that can be done with the horns I think this is a logical enough direction. And look how happy it is about it!

Visually, the body makes a few adjustments that I really like. The lines on the body now match the eye shape, which feels much more natural and fills the space around the head. The mouth shape has changed subtly, and the eyes have been changed from the generic Gen 1 triangle eyes to a really cool ringed design that matches the body segments and a yellow color to match its new wings. The feet claws now face downwards (for grabbing things) and I really like the way the horn spikes are both longer and less erratic in terms of placement. The only arbitrary change is the fins on the arms, but they don't hurt anything. Great stuff here.

The wings themselves add some much needed color to the design, and are a good bug-like shape. I will say though that I think they're just a little too detailed considering how busy the body is. The random spikes go through the elytra, raising the question of how it closes its wings (I guess it doesn't necessarily need to as this is a battle-only form, but still), and the veins are hard to make out under the arms. I think the spikes could've just been dropped, and the veins greatly simplified.

Something about the wings also feel ever-so-slightly disconnected from the rest of the body—I think it's just because they're so colorful compared to the rest of it. I kind of wish the horns had just a bit of orange or yellow at the tips just so the color could be pulled through somewhere that isn't the eyes, and I also think a deeper, richer brown for the body would've accented the orange color better. However, as a whole, this design's pretty decent.

Overall, Pinsir has a pretty unique monster design that gives it a lot of flavor. Mega Pinsir improves on Pinsir's basic design quite a bit, with the only issue being a few too many details and a few minor color issues. Good stuff all around.

[lo-sulci]

What are heaven will be mine & coquette dragoon?

oh my goodness, thank you for asking!! the short answer: they are incredibly good visual novels that I highly recommend, especially if you're a fan of mecha, sci-fi, great world building, yuri, and generally just amazing art created by transfems

long answer:

heaven will be mine (aside from being where I got my url) is the second VN made by worst girls games, best known for their first outing, we know the devil (also an absolutely amazing game). hwbm tends to ask a bit more from the reader than its predecessor- while wktd almost exclusively featured three characters and dealt with rather plainly stated themes of alienation, loneliness, and religious trauma, hwbm presents a setting cloaked in metaphor where human will literally shapes the universe and psychic mech pilots read spacetime like a narrative.

the cast is bigger, with the three routes allowing insight into each of the three main girls in addition to members of the factions they belong to, all in service of a beautiful story about queer people connecting with each other and finding/making their place in a world that would want to deny them their happiness (and a lot of other things, but I'm simplifying some here). begging to be replayed over and over, i've had different characters and details stick out every time ive played through the game, while also gaining a deeper understanding of and appreciation for hwbm's characters and setting. I've loved hwbm and wktd for years and expect I will for years and years to come, which, incidentally, is why I got a pair of tattoos based on these games LMAO. in other words: they're fucking fantastic and hit like few other things out there, imo

coquette dragoon is one of those other things, because holy shit does it excel at hitting incredibly specific and relatable emotional beats that are liable to absolutely tear you apart. created by ivy burgeroise, who (by her own fantastic description) makes art for sad perverts, coquette takes place during a seemingly endless war between the lilac fleet and the duchy of lucia, two spacefaring societies inhabited by animal people who have very differing opinions on magic.

focusing (so far) on xiomara rosales of the lilac and lady honey rose of the duchy, coquette explores painfully human stories from both sides of the war. (to that point, I'd be remiss if I didn't advise you to look out for the content warnings- coquette gets into some very heavy stuff and speaks about it very frankly and honestly, which is to its credit imo but i also understand that that is not something that everyone is in a space to deal with.) more than anything else, I feel, coquette is a work that puts words to feelings that you'd never before been able to describe, and, through the vulnerability of its author in making something so emotionally honest, makes me want to be more openly and happily myself. all of this in a story that examines war, exploitation, and the societal structures that prop them up, among many, many, many other things. I could keep talking in circles gushing about it, because I am so so obsessed with what's been released so far and so indescribably excited to see how it progresses in the future, but to keep myself from going on for too too long i'll cap this off with a tweet about coquette that i frequently think of and is one of the best recommendations I can offer:

OH and also coquette has wibbleburger, which, as we all know, is your favorite

[fantasy-anatomy-analyst]

Do you have any advice on how to go about designing monsters and animals and the like? I like the idea of creating those kinds of things but I always blank on how to go about it, like I know little facts like Allen's Rule but I don't know how to find out about something like that intentionally or even think of it for my thing. (me when I have no idea how to explain that I have no idea how to research smth lol)

first I've heard of Allen's Rule, so that probably says a lot about the fact that I'm mostly self taught lol.

here's the wikipedia page about it for anyone else who didn't know.

to sum up, it is a rule stating that animals in cold climates tend to have shorter/thicker appendages while animals in hot climates tend to have longer/thinner ones. Arctic hare vs desert hare, as an example.

the first thing to do when you want to design anything is to do a lot of studies. just in general. look up images of any animal or insect and draw sketches studying how they're built. do it for people too! you'll always be better at making new designs if you have a basic understanding of how real things are shaped and how they function.

study from videos by sketching fast gesture poses as you watch the creatures in motion! I have also done this while attending sports and dance performances. studying bodies in motion by watching olympic athletes or videos of people trying and failing to do a sport. just study the heck out of everything you can! it's as simple as putting down some lines and shapes to show the main body forms. heavier detail studies are also useful! tracing images in order to study the details is not wrong. I do it all the time, as you can see in a lot of the advice posts I make! I frequently provide traced images of the creature references I've found in order to show my process of breaking down the simplified body shapes.

my actual sketch process often looks like this:

(image description: multiple layers of very loose scribbly sketches in different colors. visible notes on two layers of sketches read "aerial silks dance" and "flying birds". the clearest and topmost layer of sketch is a humanoid figure with wings, performing a dance.

as you might be able to see if you can even begin to parse the mess that is all my study sketching, the final pose sketch I made here for my bird dude Morianon doing a little dance does not even match the poses I sketched from reference videos! This is because gesture sketch studies like these are more based on vibes than accuracy! They're a good way to warm up and practice making really fast gestural doodles that just show the form and motion more than anything well proportioned. It also frees you of the pressure to draw anything perfect! this is messy on purpose! you gotta be messy, it's how learning works.

and then once you're more confident with speed studies, you can get more specific with detail studies. all of this is essential if you want to be able to design creatures. it's all about artistic confidence and developing the skills to notice details. and then you get better at applying those details.

I have two posts on how to study and use references! one over here focused on humans. and another one here about non humans.

this is getting longer than I expected lol. I have other posts on my to-do list that will also be helpful to you I think, and you can explore the links on my pinned post to find more advice on a lot of topics! I might have to make a post on the more general topic of "how do I even get started on designing a creature?" because it is kind of the whole premise of this blog, huh? I have a lot of advice for people who already have a solid idea and just need some advice to overcome a few obstacles along the way, but I don't think I've made a proper advice post for what to do when you don't even have a starting idea.

the tldr version of creature creation is this:

pick a niche (mountain people, flying predator, burrowing creature)

study real life creatures in similar niches

start throwing ideas at your page until something sticks and then take the things that stick and build on them until it feels good

refine your design

[becauseimanicequeen]

Are you telling me purple and yellow don't make brown? How is that possible when all the sources I've examined say it turns brown? I'm asking because I genuinely thought that was how they went with it in Wandee Goodday. Color fascinates me but the theory goes above my head...

Hi, Anon.

I'm glad you asked this because I love talking about color theory.

Also, I'm putting a nit-picky, nerd alert on this post (lol) because it will get nit-picky and nerdy.

Now that you've been warned, let's dive in!

Purple and yellow don't mix into brown. Depending on the value (dark/light) and intensity of the purple and yellow, they produce black/gray when mixed.

Let me simplify the reason behind this:

Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel (also called complementary/contrasting colors, which yellow and purple are) cancel each other out when mixed together. They turn neutral (usually black/gray, potentially brown, and potentially even white).

Brown is a composite color, which means you need to mix at least two of the primaries (yellow, red, and blue) to create it.

Since we're talking about purple and yellow here, we're talking about mixing all three primaries (since we all know that red + blue = purple).

The key is in the proportions. If you mix an equal amount of all three primaries, you get somewhere on the spectrum of black/gray (usually on the darker side).

Brown, however, is basically a darker value/shade of orange, which means there needs to be a bigger part of yellow and red (which we all know produces orange) in the mix if you want to produce brown.

The opposite color to orange on the color wheel is blue, which means that too much blue in the mix will cancel out the orange and turn black/gray instead of brown.

Since purple is a secondary color, it means it has equal parts of the primary colors that create it (again, red and blue).

Purple, therefore, has too much blue in it and too little red for the red and yellow to dominate the mix and turn brown.

Obviously, we could go into a detailed (and nerdy) discussion of how purple has many different hues with a varying amount of blue and red and how we all have different perceptions of color (which is all very interesting). Unfortunately, I don't have the time to write my thesis on that (because I know it would turn into one, lol). But, I can try to simplify it a bit...

A lot of people would look at these two colors and probably say they're both purple:

Which isn't wrong. The one on the left is purple, and the one on the right is red-purple (which is the name I use since that was how I learned the color wheel and color theory) or magenta (which is a more commonly used name). So, the right one has purple in it. But it's not really purple purple.

The difference between these two colors (besides having different names) is that the one on the right (red-purple/magenta) has more red in it than the purple on the left. This also means that the one on the right has a bigger likelihood of producing brown if mixed with yellow since it has more red than blue in it.

So, technically there are red-purple/magenta hues, which have purple in them, that can produce brown when mixed with yellow. But purple and yellow won't. (I can't remember if I've ever mixed more yellow into a mix with purple to see what happens, but I imagine it would turn a lighter, perhaps muddier gray, but don't quote me on that.)

I think we can all agree that Yak and Dee have always been yellow and purple (and since Dee often leans into blue as well, I feel like his purple is verging more towards blue-purple than red-purple/magenta). So, mixing Yak's yellow and Dee's purple will produce gray, not brown.

Anyway, moving on...

There's also a thing called optical illusion when it comes to color. This basically means that a color might appear different in a changing environment.

I can paint a whole canvas full of brushstrokes of red next to brushstrokes of blue. Up close, you'll see that they're red and blue brushstrokes. From a distance, however, they may appear purple. Our perception of the colors has changed with physical distance.

Another example is the change in light. A red flower outside might appear orangeish in the yellow morning light while it might appear to verge towards purple during the blue light of day.

To illustrate optical illusion with Wandee Goodday, look at these images:

We know they're wearing the same uniforms and, therefore, the same color. Yet, they look different in these different environments (well, at least to me).

The left one appears to be a bright (and perhaps slightly dull) purple in that bright, white light. The middle one verges towards red-purple due to the warm yellowish light around Dee (the yellow is bringing out the red in the purple because it's pulling the purple towards a warmer tone). And they look purple again in the right one. Perhaps a bit deeper (or darker in value), which might be due to the lighting being more neutral and not as bright and prominent as in the left image.

What's interesting about this is that you might see something else in the color of their clothes (or no change at all) because your perception might be different than mine. And that's okay because perception is just like opinions. It's not fact, it's not wrong, they're just different.

However, the scientific side of color theory (how to mix colors, etc.) is more straightforward than the perception and symbolic side of color theory (which are also important to this topic). We might perceive colors differently (a yellow to you might verge into orange for me, a purple to you might verge into red-purple/magenta for me), but yellow and purple in their purest forms won't mix into brown because there's too much blue in purple that cancels out the orange mix of red and yellow that's required to produce brown. Instead, yellow and purple mix into black/gray.

But that doesn't mean all purple and yellow mix into the same gray hue or value.

The purple of Dee's shirt and the yellow on the poster to the right in the left image will mix into one hue of gray. That purple is light in value, which will affect the final result. The purple on the boxing gloves and the yellow on the punching bag in the image to the right will produce another hue of gray (probably a darker one that can pass off as black) because the purple is darker in value and both colors are high in intensity. But neither will produce brown because the yellows are yellow without leaning towards orange and the purples are purple without leaning towards red.

I might be nit-picky about this (it's an occupational hazard, lol). But since I'm an artist who works with colors at least 6 days a week, these terms/names mean specific things to me and they have specific qualities. Purple will always be an equal amount of red and blue (or close to an equal amount). I will always call magenta red-purple because that's how I learned color theory and that's what that color is to me (a mix of red and purple). Red-purple and yellow can potentially produce brown because there's a bigger ratio of yellow and red compared to blue. But yellow and purple can't produce brown because there's too much blue in purple, which cancels out the orange created by the red and yellow.

I don't know if this makes sense if you're not in my brain (lol) but, hopefully, it does.

Thank you for your ask (and the opportunity to nerd out about color).

[statementlou]

i’m sorry to bring this up again, but i wanted to ask how are you making sense of harry having his former girlfriend’s name tattooed on his thigh if you don’t think they were really together? i’m not a larrie and i follow you for your louis content, but i respect your opinions, so i guess i’m coming more from a place of curiosity rather than seeking reassurance. do you not even entertain for one second the idea that you might’ve been wrong about things? that harry was really in a relationship with olivia? that he might actually be attracted to women? that he might’ve been with louis once upon a time but not anymore? have you ever challenged your confirmation bias? again, i’m not trying to attack you, i really just want to understand where you stand. i hope u don’t take this the wrong way.

well first of all you bring up the very good point that there are actually multiple Qs at play and not just one, despite the fandom's (and my) attempts to simplify things. I personally am open to the possibility that Harry and Louis are no longer together- we don't have enough info to say for sure either way about that, and I am constantly recalibrating and considering and I'm going to be totally honest, getting flat out ANNOYED at how often I find myself being like oh damn they ARE still (or again) together ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Because it seems so improbable and illogical! You think I don't KNOW I sound fucking crazy?! Absolutely infuriating, and yet there are just all these little Things all the time. Plus ofc the fact that they both constantly wink wink larrie stuff to the fandom which could just be playing to the crowd... except then they both continually take it that little extra way that makes me go oh but... you really didn't NEED to go THERE that seems VERY pointed?? But also sometimes I go well. Okay, maybe not. Since they both seem super happy at this point, it doesn't stress me out to think they might have split, the way it would if they seemed miserable and were still churning out heartbreak songs, but it's schrodingers relationship and with all the savvy they've acquired around this stuff and all the balls they're keeping in the air wrt to fandom etc that's unlikely to change in favor of us knowing anything for sure for a very long time, if ever. But I do not doubt that they WERE together, it's simply not realistic. The evidence of it is overwhelming and imo undeniable when taken all together. And the thing is that knowing one thing with certainty (that they were together back when), having really looked at the things that happened during that time, does actually have a lot of bearing on the rest of it even if they aren't together anymore. Because knowing that and having seen the way fake relationships to make them seem straight were managed back then means that when I see the EXACT SAME things being done in the current day, like they are working from a fucking blueprint, no, I don't look at that and think it might be real. I know that Louis and Eleanor wasn't real in... whenever they allegedly got together lol, that story still isn't even quite straight, so why would I believe they were together in 2020? And if I know Louis has a tattoo for a fake girlfriend why would it change my mind about a million things I can see with my own eyes if Harry did the same (if indeed he even has who tf knows)? So despite what I said at the beginning, in the end it kind of does just come down to the one question people are always asking, are you a larrie? Because when you've actually been down the rabbit hole of details that ends up with you saying yes to that question, it's like acquiring a rosetta stone that unlocks the ability to read everything else, like putting on xray glasses, and I look at what is so obviously a publicity relationship (holivia) and whether H and L are still together has nothing to do with why I don't think it's real. Like could a celeb relationship be both used in typical ways for publicity and be or become real on some level (looking at you Liam, heyyy), sure, but for this question the fact that I have never seen Harry show the slightest sign of attraction to a woman in his whole life and he so clearly embraces and identifies so strongly with gay male culture in every possible way and never shuts up about how much he loves cock does play into my thinking; I simply do not think he is attracted to women, no, and I have yet to see him do anything that doesn't seem consistent with things a closeted pop star might chose to do. So in conclusion yes I have challenged my bias and decided I'm right lol! But for real- all the time I consider that they perhaps aren't together but that isn't really the point when it comes to believing they are gay.

[the-meat-machine]

In this Omegaverse AU, is there any ideas you have about their biology that is uncommon in or highly distinct from other omegaverse universes?

Yeah, I think I have some interesting things going on in my worldbuilding! Now, I don't read all that much omegaverse, so I'm sure that all of these details show up SOMEWHERE out there in the wide world of omegaverse fic. But the specific combination of factors seems fairly unique.

So here are the biggest takeaways from my take on omegaverse:

Alphas and omegas are characterized by seasonal periods of high fertility and libido (rut and heat respectively), with low fertility and libido outside of that mating season. Betas, meanwhile, work pretty much like real-world humans do.

Additionally, alpha females and omega males are biological hermaphrodites--that is, they produce both eggs and sperm. (Side note: don't call real-life intersex people hermaphrodites. It's offensive. Also biologically inaccurate.)

More details under the cut (contains discussion of sex, pregnancy, and miscarriage)

Seasonality

Alphas and omegas have a mating season that occurs in late summer. It's during this time that alphas go into rut and omegas go into heat.

Omegas have two or three heats during mating season that last… let's say a few days each. If they don't get pregnant during their first heat of the season, they can go into heat again a few weeks later. Omegas usually ovulate more than one egg at a time during heat, meaning they're prone to multiples--specifically, fraternal twins, triplets, etc.

However, outside of mating season, alphas don't go into rut and omegas don't go into heat. In fact, their sex drives are low-to-nonexistent outside of mating season.

Betas, in contrast, are like real-world humans. They ovulate monthly and can get pregnant any time of the year. Because they're fertile year-round, it's actually betas who have the stereotype of being horndogs who are down to fuck anytime, anywhere.

Presumably omegaverse humans evolved this way because these two reproductive strategies have advantages under different conditions. Alphas and omegas have the advantage of having very obvious periods of high fertility, and their offspring tend to be born in the spring when resources are plentiful. Meanwhile, betas have the advantage of being able to reproduce any time of year, rather than being limited to a short mating season. I don't know under which circumstances each of those would be useful though, so I'll leave that as a question for omegaverse biologists to study.

I imagine that this seasonality would have some huge impacts on the culture that I haven't fully thought through. Certainly almost every culture has some sort of summer holiday around mating season. Spring birthdays are also significantly more common than birthdays any other time of the year. Probably tons and tons of other things too, I don't know.

Also. Historically, mating season is in the summer. However, in this day and age of indoor living, it's not unheard of for people's estrous cycles to get desynced from the seasons. This is especially true for night workers and people with irregular sleep schedules. This means that it's possible, for example, for an omega to go into heat wildly out of season and get knocked up with twins who get born in December. You know, to give a totally random example that surely has no bearing on anything that happened in the backstory of this AU…

Side note: Omegas have estrous cycles rather than menstrual cycles, meaning they don't menstruate. They just reabsorb the uterine lining if they don't get pregnant. Actually, I'm toying with the idea of saying that all humans have estrous cycles in this setting; it's just that it's way less obvious when betas and alphas go into estrus. Not sure, I'll have to think that one through.

Who can get whom pregnant?

Here's a general overview. Obviously, this is very simplified; just like in real life, there are all sorts of possible intersex conditions, and people in any of these categories can be trans on either axis (male-female and alpha-beta-omega).

Alpha male: can impregnate others, unable to get pregnant

Alpha female: can impregnate others, can get pregnant

Beta male: can impregnate others, unable to get pregnant

Beta female: unable to impregnate others, can get pregnant

Omega male: can impregnate others, can get pregnant

Omega female: unable to impregnate others, can get pregnant

However, the specifics of how likely any of these categories are to impregnate or get pregnant varies. So let's get into the details.

Alphas

Both male and female alphas have penises and produce sperm. They produce high volumes of sperm when in rut, low volumes outside of rut. Alpha penises tend to be larger than beta and omega penises, and only alphas have the characteristic knot.

In addition to the penises, alpha females also have vaginas and uteruses and produce eggs. This means they're theoretically able to become pregnant. However, several factors stand in the way:

Rut hormones suppress ovulation, meaning that during the time when their sex drives are highest, they're unable to become pregnant.

Ovulation is "hidden" like it is in betas (and real-world humans)--that is, you can't tell just by looking that an alpha female is ovulating. Possibly they also tend to have irregular ovulation cycles, or ovulate less frequently than betas do.

Alphas tend to have smaller and narrower pelvises, making carrying a pregnancy notoriously difficult for alphas. Miscarriages are common.

It's not uncommon for alpha females to be outright infertile, egg-wise.

Betas

Betas are pretty much laid out like real-world humans. (Aside from the possibility that they technically have estrous cycles rather than menstrual cycles, as mentioned above.) Males produce average volumes of sperm. Females ovulate roughly once a month.

Omegas

Both male and female omegas have uteruses and produce eggs. They often ovulate more than one egg at a time while in heat, meaning they're prone to multiples. They don't ovulate outside of heat. They tend to have wider hips to accommodate the larger pregnancies.

Omega males additionally have penises and produce sperm. They're kind of the opposite of alpha females--their sperm production is suppressed while in heat, and really, they don't produce very high volumes of sperm any time of year. They're theoretically capable of getting others pregnant, but since their sperm quality is low and they can only do it during the times of year when their libidos are low, it's uncommon.

Also, omega males possibly have internal testes. I'm undecided on that one.

All told, for an omega male to get an alpha female (or an alpha FTM) pregnant would require both participants to be VERY determined. Not impossible, though. Not impossible………. Surely this isn't relevant to this story though. Surely.

[bluegekk0]

Any tips on how to draw PK's head and horns? I've not been able to figure out a good, consistent way of doing it myself yet.

well, for starters, i significantly simplified their shape. if you compare fpk to canon pk, his design is much rounder, and his horns are considerably shorter. it's mostly a stylistic choice (though the roundness of the horns can be explained in the au), but it makes them much easier to draw + they help to give him a more streamlined look, which fits fpk's lizard aesthetic, although i think it would work with different interpretations as well

this is generally how i approach his headshape. very round and salamander like, with a subtle snout, especially visible from the side. of course, this can vary as i'm very inconsistent when i draw, but this is more or less what i try to go for

his head is very round from the top, and the neck meets the lower jaw at an angle, which allows him to lay his head flat on the ground and gives it a more elongated appearance than what you'd see in a more "human" like neck position

like i said, the horns are probably the biggest deviation from his canon appearance. if you've been following me for a while, you'll notice that i gradually made them shorter and rounder with time, and this is because, well, it's significantly less headache inducing to work with. plus i really like the spade like shape, i think it flows very nicely. when i draw the crown, i start with a dome like shape with lines that are angled towards a singular point, and then just add details + more pronounced tips. if you want a more canon-like look, you can always make them more "wavy" even if you decide to shorten them

different perspectives is something i still struggle with, but i think the design choices i went with make it a little easier. the dome-like shape for the crown becomes a kind of cylinder, and the longer and flatter head also helps with figuring out how he'd look from the bottom (once again, toothless from how to train your dragon comes to the rescue)

the thing that i still haven't figured out is the side horns. i make sure they're visible no matter the angle, but what would they actually look like? i'm afraid this is one of the things that will remain in the "cartoon logic" territory, but i've seen various different interpretations similar to these, so perhaps you'll figure something out. all i know is that, if there's a ridge or a line of spikes on his head, they end somewhere on the lower jaw (they don't go around his entire head). i guess the closest to what i do when i paint would be the smooth ridge, and if i had to choose one option, it would probably be this one. but in most of my art i simply just pretend it's not there haha

i hope this is somewhat helpful. i don't know how to do tutorials and i suck at explaining, but perhaps you'll find some inspiration in these. i tried to sketch out what a more "human like" appearance could look like, with a shorter and flatter face, but it just looks goofy no matter what. sorry haha

[semperintrepida]

If Kassandra didn't have access to any of her superpowers, how do you think she would fare against Lara Croft in a one-on-one fight? What about Nadine from Uncharted or Abby from the Last of Us? My opinion changes depending on if normal weapons like guns or bows are allowed. If no weapons are allowed, I honestly think Abby would win, but no one else would. If normal weapons are allowed, it gets more complicated. I would be interested to hear what you think.

ooh, great question! And one that's difficult to answer—as you pointed out, it really depends on the situation.

My glib answer is that as a writer, I could show any of these characters defeating any other in a realistic way that you'd believe. That's my superpower.

So without going back to you and asking for more specifics, the best I can do is walk you through my thought process for writing a believable action scene between two characters.

(Lots of talk about writing action scenes after the jump!)

The first thing I think about is the situation and setting: Where are they fighting? When are they fighting? What universe are they in? Are they in our reality as we know it, or the mostly-realistic-with-a-dash-of-fantasy worlds of AC: Odyssey or the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, or somewhere else entirely?

The situation and setting are crucial. Kassandra and Lara fighting in a traditional dojo would be much different than having them fight in a pine forest, or the war-torn Athens of AC:O, or a mining base on Mars. As Kassandra says to Kyra in The Breaking: "I'm surrounded by weapons." The setting determines what unconventional weapons might be at hand, if any, what cover is available, what bystanders or dangers might need to be accounted for.

Once I've established the setting of the scene, I start thinking about weapons in more detail. Do the combatants have formal training? What kinds of weapons and how much actual combat usage? How does the universe they're in treat weapons? As much as I love AC:O, that game puts all types of melee weapons on equal footing regardless of reach (length). It works within that universe because the game is consistent about its combat, but in the real world a dagger is no match for a polearm and that's fact.

Weapons tilt the table. Think of the moment in the Tomb Raider reboot where Lara gets that first gun. Her opponents could have 20 years of martial arts training and outweigh her by 50kg, but that doesn't matter a whit against a ranged firearm. The gun is the equalizer.

Setting matters. Weapons matter. Only when those parameters are sorted do I consider the physical abilities and hand-to-hand combat experience of the respective fighters. There are so many what-ifs to consider, and making everything fit together makes for a good logic puzzle. (And I haven't even gotten into the characterization aspects of writing action: not everyone has a killer instinct, and that matters!)

But let's go back to your original question and simplify things by thinking of the most basic scenario for unarmed combat: a bout taking place in the real world, in a neutral location like a dojo.

Even without superpowers, Kassandra is an impressive physical specimen. She has the strength to overpower opponents and the advantage of reach. She'd have a disadvantage in endurance, however, since all that muscle mass she's carrying is going to need energy to move it. (A good example of "strength vs endurance" affecting muscle mass can be seen in sprinters vs marathon runners.)

We'd also have to establish which Kassandra is fighting: young Kassandra (as we meet her in Kephallonia) or Kassandra at the top of her game, winner of the Olympic pankration and honed by at least five years of fighting damn near every mercenary and soldier of renown in ancient Greece.

To defeat her in unarmed combat in the real world, an opponent would have to:

outmatch her in physical ability and have just enough hand-to-hand combat experience to use it to their advantage, or

equal her in physical ability and hand-to-hand combat experience, or

have so much more experience that they could overcome all of her other advantages

That's a tough ask, and I don't really see Lara, Nadine, or Abby having enough hand-to-hand combat experience to pull it off, even against a young, less experienced Kassandra. I think Abby would come the closest, and if she went off and studied a bunch of hand-to-hand styles intensively for several years she'd make it an even fight.

So, to recap: it's definitely possible to contrive situations where one of them could defeat a non-superpowered Kassandra. I'd choose a setting and weapons that would support the challenger's strengths, and adjust Kassandra's experience accordingly.

Setting matters. Weapons matter. Experience matters.