#also i found a really nice chibi style i want to stick to

[ceniwen]

Opening commissions for arlecchino 👉👈🥺

My dms are open if you're interested. You can contact me through email too ceniwenn@gmail.com ^o^

[lunalunestia]

🎅🏽 20% OFF Commissions are Open! + The Final Holiday YCH is Here + Society6 Shop Closing! 🎅🏽

Hello everyone, are you doing well? How has Thanksgiving prep week been treating you if you live in the United States? Or for anyone in other countries, how is the holiday prep for Christmas and what is it like over there? Mine is chaotic like most years, I hope yours isn't too bad either.

Speaking of preparation, my holiday prep is going smoothly! The final YCH is added with the menu now updated for the holidays and...

🎅🏽 Art commissions are in their annual 20% off Holiday Sale! 🎅🏽

From regular anime style, to chibis and RPG icons, all commissions sheets are at a 20% discount. Click on the Google Drive links below to view and save them for the holiday season or you can save my updated commission form. These commissions are on sale starting today and ending on January 6th (Three Kings Day). It's a sweet extension to add onto the festivities.

🤶🏽 Commission Form: https://forms.gle/wCnA1XpnDBzEP5xVA 🤶🏽

🎁 The final Holiday YCH is added at last! Ready to deliver gifts to all the children in the world! 🎁

Santa's coming to town-- wait, someone else is instead! With a driver and someone checking the list, they're making their way across the sky with a flying reindeer at the lead. Unlike the other YCH with a more simple background or prop with the use of assets or 3D models to help, this one is completely hand drawn with no assets to assist me in drawing the sleigh or chibi-fied reindeer, along with facing my challenge: perspective.

For this YCH, you can also choose the color of the sleigh and reindeer and any little patterns you wish to see that'll fit your characters of choice. Also! If you want the reindeer to be changed to another four legged steed, the price does increase for the adjustments.

🎁 All Holiday YCH can be found on my Ko-Fi, Etsy, and Gumroad. 🎁

NEW! Santa's Sleigh: https://ko-fi.com/s/0d90f731ac

Musical Snow Globe: https://ko-fi.com/s/e58dcfa2f7

Nice vs Naughty: https://ko-fi.com/s/c7a1162236

All Wrapped Up: https://ko-fi.com/s/984e1e489f

Snow Angel: https://ko-fi.com/s/ba57cf47fa

Ice Skating Couple: https://ko-fi.com/s/ad2da47d34

🎄 Society6 Shop Closing on January 6, 2023 🎄

After a long time consideration, I decided between RedBubble and Society6, that I would prefer to keep my RedBubble store open and shut down Society6 instead. Mainly because it's much easier to upload new works onto RedBubble without creating dozens of copies so it could fit into Society6's products and Society6 really does limit you on what or where you can upload your artwork on, including cropping your work on their products. I will keep Society6 open for the holidays and it will be closing on January 6th, 2023.

I have used RedBubble more often and bought my own works to test their quality, from stickers, mugs and shirts especially that brought a great impression. They turned out really good! Here's a photo of two RedBubble shirts I bought with my artwork on! (Sorry for the bad picture quality and setup.  I'll do a better one next time.)

RedBubble Store: https://www.redbubble.com/people/LunaLunestia?asc=u

Society6 Store (closing January 6th): https://society6.com/lunalunestia

Whew! I think that was everything! Thank you guys for reading all the way to the end in today's mail* and have a Happy Thanksgiving to those who live in the USA and have a Happy Holidays to all. For those who signed up to see adoptables; keep a lookout for the next letter as I will be soon releasing  A set of 4(?) Holiday Adoptables! Also in case one character design suddenly decided to have an attachment to me, I will make up with a new holiday prompt. Maybe a reindeer theme? Hint hint.

* People who sign up for the mailing list get priority updates.

If you want to share my links on your socials, to friends or by word-of-mouth, I would be tremendously grateful during this time of year! 💜

Once again, thank you all for sticking around, I really appreciate it and until then, see you all (who signed up for adoptable mails) in the next update! If anyone else would like to join the adoptable mailing list, please let me know.

Have a wonderful time,

~ LunaLunestia

[mk-wizard]

Big Hero 6 The Series: It could have been better

Hello, friends. Today, I will be analyzing a TV series based on a movie that I fell in love with for its colourful themes, deep plot, compelling characters, great CGI and memorable messages. Before I get into it, I want to take a moment to say that I have quit doing videos. They are too big of a pain in the petunia to make and I write better than I speak, so I will stick to writing essays, reviews and more. Anyway, onto the analysis.

All I can say about Big Hero 6 the series is that it had a great concept, it presented some great ideas and tried hard to be a cartoon of the times, but it could have and should have been a lot better. The show’s downfall all centers around trying too hard to be kid friendly which makes the shame sting all the more because Big Hero 6 was already kid friendly even with its dark themes, sharp edges and intelligent writing. If anything, even the brightest kid friendly cartoons (Steven Universe, She-Ra, etc.) had those things and actually benefitted from them. By needlessly trying too hard, character development got scrapped, the edges were all smoothed out, storytelling was subpar, the humour was too silly and the executive meddling in the end produced a dismal final season. However, I don’t want this analysis to be one lengthy negative rant about how awful the series was because in its defense, awful is an unfair word. It did have potential and ideas which are worth carrying over to a reboot that I hope will be done someday in the future. Also, we should root for a reboot because Big Hero 6 would not be the first story that needs it before striking gold. Just look at how many times Spider-Man was rebooted in film before MCU found the version that worked. Anyway, I will list all the things in Big Hero 6 that could have been better in my opinion;

1- Go easy on the laughs and be more generous with the action. - I love adding comedy to my own writing because I think a good sense of humour makes everything better, but Big Hero 6 is not a stand up comedy routine. It is a superhero story where we expect action, suspense and life or death situations that are to be taken seriously first. The comedy should be for relief and with the right timing. Also, the chibi cutscenes and having characters act like fools aren’t funny. Ren and Stimpy are the exception not the standard and their way of making you laugh doesn’t fit an action series. In a show as big as Big Hero 6, real life physics and danger matters.

2- Make the villains menacing and gritty. - I admit that after having a movie villain like Yokai who was the stuff of nightmares, it is going to be a challenging act to follow, but it was obvious that the writers were trying especially with some villains who could have easily gone into some dark relatable territory. For example, Mr. Sparkles (the gentleman in the photo above) embodies social media and Internet personalities. Right off the bat, you have a long list of things which embody the dark side of that like scams, fraud, using social media to dox or harass, driving people to suicide, online predators, the Internet personalities being very depressed people in real life, and much more horrifying things. When you stop and look at it, Mr. Sparkles even looks like the Joker which hints how dark and scary he could have been if the stops were removed. The same goes for enemies like Hardlight who embodies online gaming, Liv with cloning, Obake an amoral and insane scientist, and Trina and Noodle Burger Boy (more on him later) being evil robots. Globby especially should have been painted and written in much darker colours rather being played off for laughs because he has many parallels with Clay Face. The only two villains who I can say were supposed to be campy, charming and comical were Baron Von Steamer and Supersonic Sue because they were a satire of the Adam West style villains.

The rest of them needed to be dark and threatening including Mr. Sparkles. In fact, I would love a rebooted version of Mr. Sparkles who gives me the heebie-jeebies. Going back to Noodle Burger Boy, I must confess that I was actually excited when I heard that he was going to be the main villain of the final season because I thought he was going to fulfill his master’s final wish and as a reminder, Noodle Burger Boy was based on a super robot for military purposes.

It would have been fantastic if Noodle Burger Boy was upgraded into a full military war machine with a new threatening look. For that, I think all of the villains deserve to be rebooted and have their full potential unlocked for better or for worse.

3- A show about geniuses merits genius level art quality. - I am usually forgiving towards art styles, but in the case of Big Hero 6, the oversimplified style with minimal details and lack of textures did not suit the show. The characters blend in with the background which makes them look flat and the special effects were extremely dulled down. I also know for a fact that Disney can do a lot better than this because I saw how superbly Tangled the Series was drawn.

You can see and almost feel the difference in quality, the number of layers and level of detail between the two styles. I think there was no excuse Big Hero 6 was not done in the same style and at the same level if not better as Tangled.

3- Don’t dumb down or flanderize amazing characters. - I absolutely detest it when characters are flanderized because it makes them one dimensional and grating. For example, Go Go is tough as nails and extremely calm, but she is not cold or hesitant towards helping her friends. She doesn’t require very special episodes for us to know that. If anything, the movie version of Go Go reminded me a lot of Garnet in how she deconstructed the broody character. She isn’t cold or emotionless. Just calm and mature. Another good example was how Honey Lemon was rewritten to be overly positive to the point of toxicity, naïve and oblivious with a juvenile obsession with stickers. Then you have poor Fred who was rewritten to be an incompetent fool. The spark that makes Big Hero 6 shine is that they are a team of geniuses meaning they are all intelligent. Even Fred is genius in his own way just not a scientific one. He has a vivid imagination, he is resourceful and can get himself out of tight spots. Please, don’t turn characters into dummies especially if their intelligence is a part of them. It doesn’t make them better or funnier. It ruins them.

4- Tadashi needs closure and honour. - I am all for Hiro making peace with the loss of his brother, but Tadashi is to the Big Hero 6 team what Uncle Ben was to Spider-Man. His loss was the catalyst if not the reason. He should never be forgotten. Moreover, there was never any true closure to him especially with the possibility that he may still be alive up in the air. After all, like Callaghan, his body was never found and it turned out that Callaghan was still alive.

With that said, who is to say that Tadashi was not secretly still alive and just hiding or being hidden? This is something that Disney really needed to clear up if not for the fans, then at least as a service to such an important character. Never just forget about them.

5- The format can only be episodic with a deep plots, continuity and character development. - Random episodes with a mere monster of the day is an outdated format which doesn’t fit Big Hero 6′s modern and bright setting. In seasons 1 and 2, when the episodes were plot heavy with character development, the series shined brightest. It also helped move the story along, but with the final season, plot was removed, closure was abandoned or poorly written if any was given, and characters were disallowed from growing. A good example at how plot and character development could have made this series and its characters better was the relationship between Hiro and Megan. Would it have truly survived or would they have broken up?

Would Richardson Mole have eventually lost interest in his obsession with besting and bullying Fred or would his obsession consume him compelling him to become a super villain? I do see quite a few similarities between Mole and Reverse Flash.

Then you have Karmi who is in my opinion, the biggest wild card of the bunch. She was intentionally introduced as an arrogant, prickly and unlikable yet complex character who rivaled Hiro bitterly.

Yet had a huge crush on his alter ego and as time went on, started to grow up and even form a friendship with Hiro. What would have happened further down the road with her? Would she have become a super hero herself? Or maybe even another love interest for Hiro kind of like how Black Cat is for Spider-Man?

Is Obake really gone?

What does the future hold Diana (Liv’s clone), Liv herself or the Sycorax the genetics company?

Is Alistair Krei going to become an ally to Big Hero 6 or an antagonist? There is also the issue at how little we know about the other Big Hero 6 characters other than Fred, Hiro and Baymax. What are Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Go Go’s backstories? These questions matter and while not every mystery can be solved, leaving none of them solved is lazy writing.

6- Executives, kindly stay out of the writing and any other part of the creative process. - I’m sorry, execs, but there is no nice way to say it. History itself proves that every time executives got involved in the creative process of any media, it got worse not better. Leave the writing to the creative team and the execs should only handle the legal stuff. Please. We understand that TV is a business, but writing itself is not. It is an art which you just don’t have a talent for. Let the creative people do their thing with the freedom necessary and you do your thing, deal? Deal.

7- Focus on Hiro and Baymax. - The are the main characters so keep them at the heart of the series no matter what happens around them. That is all I can say.

And that sums up all the things that could have made Big Hero 6 the series better, but this is all just my opinion. What is yours?

PS: I am well aware that the Big Hero 6 series is being retconned because a new series called Baymax is in the works as well as the long awaited sequel to the first movie. I am looking forward to both with an open mind. PPS: I also am aware that some people liked this show the way it was including the art style and I am cool with that. An analysis for art that includes cartoons is never right or wrong. It is solely based on opinion. I may have thought this series could have been better, but there are people who make arguments that it could have been worse.

[noxyfied]

This, is Noxy/Noxyfied/Nox. This is the character I identify as online, and I want to tell you my story with this adorable Arctic Fox because it is one heck of a tale from not so long ago

Things did begin rough at the beginning of my persona’s history. I honestly can’t recall how I came up with it, only how I inserted my love for something and went with it.

From the early years of 2017 to 2019 I was all paper and pencil. Ah yes traditional art was my big thing for a couple of years during that era of 2013 to 2020. I had a time where I wrote stories about characters I made, and not much. No fan art, no nothing, I wanted to stick to my own original ideas at first before I took the step to do something that I did not own; it was a weird mindset I know, I couldn’t hold myself to want to be original and develop to be good enough to draw other things.

It took me some time to develop, hell even to this day I still am unsure of my own skills but I enjoyed trying new things. I don’t reject much criticism even if it comes harsh it still lingers in my head when received anyway. I needed someone to identify as online, a persona who I would have an identity through as I was moving forward on this hopeful career I want to make with my art.

Idea #1 draw my own self accurate to how I look 

Scratch that...

Nononono, I am too bad at showing my face, even at that I don’t like myself.

So I had to come up with something else, 2019 was ending with my skills rising up to something neat. I had Fire alpaca and a wacom cheap tablet which I used time to time back then, and with how I moved foward I said “why not, lets draw a glaceon.

Not bad, not bad. I do enjoy anthropomorphic animals, and for a anthro Glaceon it wasn't so bad. Even back then I did not enjoy much of this picture but the idea sparked. I did roleplay around online a lot as a Glaceon. People always had referred to me as a Glaceon when talking, because furry friends tend to be like that and I don’t mind. It had definitely sparked the idea of identifying as one for my persona.

I had a hard time how I would draw this character, a more personalized Glaceon with my own flare of the art style I carry should be nice, should I make it tall? short? anthro? feral? the questions rose up. Even more as time passed, took some time unsure of it, Unluckily I had a Glaceon FURsona, not a persona. (Yes those were two separate things as I carried 7 fursonas as individual characters in their own stories).

But soon one day in class, my artsy self was bored and it just sparked.

This is it! yes! I love it! something about this just clicked for some reason, it was like nothing I had seen before I could not look away at it, this was it.

After class I went home and played some games. The idea was there but man am I tired. Things did go slow, but not for long as of January, the classes I took gave me the ability to better understand this Adobe Photoshop, an amazing tool for editing pictures but also... To draw?!? I have heard of using Photoshop to draw but was amazed to have the ability using such program. During my time 2019 I would doodle around on Photoshop in my school or at home (thanks to the campus giving me a cheaper prize to use it for assignments) Not bad, not bad, the program was for sure something nice to use. Look! I even drew my Fursonas there too, ain’t that nice

2019 was something for sure. It had just begun making 2020 quite the year as I took my wacom tablet, opened Photoshop, and on January there it was.

Oh how cute! I felt so proud of myself, firealpaca was nothing like how clean and pretty Photoshop was, I was amazed at this ability.

“I made this?” that would be what I ask myself everyday. Time to time I would, and still, look at my phone to my drawings and remember what I used to make some pieces, I will not forget how I used thick outlines with the line too from photoshop, added some depth on the eyes. But most importantly, I had a persona, and I introduced it

My friends loved it, I could not believe I am starting to do the shift, my days of traditional art were at a halt. Not at a complete stop since I do use traditional art for a few other things of course, this was just my main focus now.

This little creature was everything to me, cute, easy to make, helped me throughout a few months as I practiced with my digital art.

I also perfected it’s look, but something looked rather familiar about it. Could not put my finger to it, so I went on drawing it.

that was a few exceptions where I shifted the proportions for “it”

“It” “it” what was this thing supposed to be, I myself was unsure how to identify myself with this persona. Male? no, female? no. The issue was there, who am I really inside, who was my persona gonna be.

I still cannot tell you exactly what my persona was for the longest time. I at times felt lost and confused with my identity, it did not help that 2020 did its mumbo jumbo and a pandemic happened, it was a lot of time on my own at home just questioning really who I had been for the longest time. Classes were minimal so my free time was big around April and May.

I was always unsure of who I was exactly, through my early years late 2000′s I had in me that my body was uncomfortable for looking the way it did, 2010′s went silent but there was something in me I did not understand. why did I feel this way, why do I feel as I am not happy with who I am, and who I identify with.

This persona was the wake up call to who I really wanted to be. I saw it in me that I knew being a male was the main issue in me feeling unhappy. Throughout my life I did not enjoy masculinity as much as other kids, yeah I had some boy traits but it was rather minimal, I enjoyed other things more. I enjoyed a lot of things about being female it was something I had never seen before. as hard or confusing things tend to be from me to explain, its a rather hard thing for myself to explain. But that how it felt “confusing” I researched and looked for things and to my conclusion I had come to be, I come to identify as a MtF trans.

I felt relieved in me of it and I already enjoyed my days more after from it. The only issue is “who do I tell..?” I was timid to tell this to anyone, friends or even family. Especially family, those I come to admit they will never be told of what my decision was because of how hard headed they are. It is a tragic story to tell since most families are such closed minded people of rejecting others.

“My friends tho, my friends? I would feel bad if I told them” that was the mindset I had for a while before admitting to them time to time, one by one. This was a chapter in my life that had changed me early 2020′s but I felt a lot of joy in me to be who I wanted to be, I no longer took anyone else's guidance for controlling who I am, I just went with my own flow.

My persona was.... more comically confused, it could be either so I just left it how my mood wanted it to go for when drawing it. So, things went well, in 2019 with the money I got I found myself enjoying a lot of second handed games, with a game coming real soon that had me pumped for I had to get a console I wanted for so long

A PS4 for the the Final fantasy 7 Remake, I was so pumped waiting for the game, I got a used PS4 for it and even bought couple other games for it to get to know the console: Final fantasy 15, destiny, and later on this Persona 5 game a lot of people talked about. Hmm ok, well lets try it out and oh me oh my, a few days later:

The art style captivated me, can you tell I went all out to trying anything with my persona? I cannot believe I was my own guinea pig for these sorts.

Going around some friends and they will tell you that I used this pfp quite a lot back then, as well as updating it with a new oc I had come up with

A tale in due time will be told about this gal.

well, it was set and forth that this was me, my persona, this glaceon was who I was. People loved it, my friends really liked it, and I had a blast having this first pure year of digital art only. Meeting new friends, and admiring their art. Having old friends come back, and even losing a few others on the way. During the time of june, to July I was rapid about drawing my persona in many ways, short, tall, anthro, feral

even metallic.

 But there come some time I did not grew tired of. But a little worried that I had to rely on a franchise for my own identity, of course there is nothing wrong for those doing it. But reflecting on myself, back then when I wanted this art career to happen, I wanted to go all out letting out my imagination  with my own creations. I had to make the decision, it was time to move on...

...To a new art program and new drawing tablet

No, it wasn’t that. I had to branch out from this Glaceon, but keep my identity, my legacy of this persona in check, but with a new coat of paint of course. did not take a long time before choosing that I had to use a real life animal as inspiration for this change. Something at least close to it, ah yes of course! the inspiration of the Glaceon was an arctic fox, well those are some good stepping stones to begin with so what happened one day is that I began sketching, not before saying good bye to this old self that helped me begin. It was weird, this is me but it was old me?

Tested the new Brushes from this amazing program called Clip studio paint, and I gotta say I love the program. Sincerely the best choice I made to leave Photoshop for this.

At last, this is it. the new Me!

Familiar looking isn’t it,baby steps we can say.

I cannot blame the people for calling my new persona a “Glaceon-alike”

I headed to the right direction stepping away from it, but it was hard to let go

new program, new tablet, new me. the later half of 2020 went onto a lot of changes with myself, the chibi small version did not make me happy to make anymore, I was losing the touch and with the few comments I got of looking like a “powerpuff girl look a like” did set me off to do a drastic change I am thankful to do. This new me had some weird phases, don’t we all tho?

where else to brainstorm than back to the traditional old ways. Now, you may see this and ask what was I thinking when making this. the order of when i started and finish goes as: Top right: ok what if it was feral, nah nah scratch. Top left: Can I still make it cute with a round face and features I had from before? ew no! that looks scary Bottom right: lets make it more natural and wow hey! yes yes yes! this looks hundred times better. Bottom left: It is time I go all out and make it humanoid, it was how I found myself enjoying drawing most things but still did some anthropomorphic things. I was just not the best of it.

Back to digital and.... Amazing, I really out did myself this time, lets go for it, lets keep going with this

I even got a cool sword too!

My practice continued from here, the second half was great and fun. New persona got me in a place where I was happy with and through October and December I was having a blast with the more possibilities with it. I went on to practice with even more suggestive things after a life drawing class I took, proportions mattered to me and with this new persona I went out to make more better looking proportions that were attractive and stylish.

This persona was great, and I managed to make so much of it. even Drawing the more suggestive stuff had left me with an answer for this persona. Just make it gender fluid, my selection for this character being male or female made me so tired I did not know why I just made it gender fluid since the beginning. My mood swings for this character, and I can’t resist drawing it either way. Was I finished? of course not, this persona still had some work around to do. The hair became a pain to make to keeping up with  consistently.

2020 ended, with a year of exciting new things coming for this new year. I went through quite a lot in my life and my art career took a shaken with this new digital life style, my persona became the identity I saw myself through, something im happy with drawing to represent Me.

That isn’t to say that I gave up on drawing Me Me.

I drew who I hope to be, and will use this from time to time, nothing fancy but something.

It has been a year already since I began identifying myself with this persona from last year from now. ever since I sketched that doodle in class, it has been a happy trip through memory lane writing it and I am happy how things turned out. 2021 is what I hope to be as good as 2020 was (by that I mean drawing only of course) In 2021 one more change was made that had made me just as happy to continue on with.

I got more hair! as crazy as it is yes. More hair, and a different front style has been to this day what I been using.

I even made a discord emoji for all the warm hugs to have with my fursona!

and my first ever animation I have ever done before!!

I am always experimenting new things, and i’m proud to be an artists to go out there and leave my art out there to be noticed by anyone. The love and appreciation friends and others leave me are the best thing I could ask. I look foward to see what is up ahead, for me, my career, and Noxy.

[unholyeverything]

I finally made one of those again, and I wanted to share and actually tell you the whole story of my art since this is actually my 10th year of drawing, believe me or not :3 This is also actually the biggest audience I ever had and I’m so grateful for all of you, and for Obey Me! to stumble into my life because, you will see, I completely lost motivation and any ideas to actually draw in the years prior. I am so grateful for all that’s happened, and thank you for being here with me! I found friends here again that I wouldn’t give up for anything, they make me feel better about myself and what I do and I’m gonna cry on you. I love you ;A; Feel free to read through the rest I put them under the cut. But I’m really proud of what I achieved that year. I finally found my love for drawing again. DiaLuci gives me serotonin, I made some OCs that I love and that are the most detailed I ever made. And I also drew the most detailed pics I ever made, you can see under the cut how little backgrounds I drew, and now looking at this, I made one extremely detailed one each month. I had to figure out a style I enjoy again, which I luckily did, but I also still like to experiment and not stick to one thing, but I enjoyed trying out new stuff! I put more effort and detail in again, and I really hope I will keep this up even when I start work, I really hope I will! I’d be sad. I finally enjoy this again, I finally have ideas again. I’m feeling so much better, so thank you all for that!

I fist started drawing in 2011, when I was 12. I started since I joined the warriors fandom as my aunt gifted me one of the books and they had a like to an online forum that was handled by the publisher. So I signed up there with my parents permission obviousely. Don’t let any 12 year olds on other sites, thank you. I joined DeviantART when I was 13 and allowed to. I’m a good kid. But anyways, I drew a lot of animals, mostly cats and dogs thanks to that. I also drew a lot in the beginning, so many ideas and I had a few friends that supported me too, it was nice and made me want to keep going.

2012 was the same, and I still think the first few years when you start are the ones you have the highest spike in improvement. Still drew a lot each month, started to draw lots of chibis as well. I never really studied anatomy, only watching a few colouring tutorials. I just wanted to have fun.

I started to get better at colouring this year and started to add lots more datails and spend longer on the drawings, still drew lots and lots.

I’m still fully set on 2014 being the best year in my past, especially for colouring. I put so much effort into everything. But this was also the year where it went down. Some things happened online and I just started to lose interest as I left the fandom. I drew less and less, mostly only one-two things each month. Also since I barely had an audience I started to let that get to me which was stupid, I started to think why should I spend hours and hours drawing something none will look at anyways, so I looked for ways to make my colouring more simpler and put in less details again.

This started to be very noticeable in the year after that. I only had one picture to chose from each month, if at all. I just really started to loose motivation, especially with no ideas as to what to draw. Mostly OCs and occasionally some fanart for an anime that I like. Don’t ask me what October is supposed to be it was the only thing I made that month idk. 

2016 was a really bad year. I just didn’t know what to do with myself and my art anymore. I also started uni so that took some of my time, but not that much, during my holidays between end of school and beginning of Uni from July til October I also didn’t draw much. I only tried a lot of new things, simplifying and not being happy with anything that I made. Aside from November I don’t like any of those pictures. But as I sad, I was just lost and had no ideas anymore, I didn’t feel good about the things I made but I kept going, forcing myself to draw at least once in a while so I don’t completely forget how it works.

2017 I felt inspired again, making up that extremely colourful style that I adapted now again, it gave me serotonin and at least I liked what I was making again. I drew a lot more in the beginning of the year two, just enjoying slapping colour on everything. But I lost motivation pretty soon, I also felt kind of lonely now that I think about it, I wasn’t super sad but I didn’t really had anyone to talk to, breaking up with my toxic ass friends about half a year before school ended and I didn’t really find anyone in uni that I was close with. I just sat around after classes and watched anime until I dropped to bed pretty early everyday. I’m still proud of my very strict sleeping schedule, that happened mostly because I had no reason to stay up :D But anyways, there are a lot of month, strangely enough my big break months where I didn’t draw at all, I probably was too lazy and exhausted.

Best. Year. Of. Drawing. Peridot. Outdid myself. Very much art. So good. Had so many ideas, tried three new styles just to go back to the old one for the redraw because I wasn’t happy with them. So much improvement. It’s amazing how much I did that year. Idk. I probably was mentally dead and watched even more anime. Though I also did that in years I drew a lot. Idk. 

2019 was a lot better then the year before. I missed drawing but still didn’t have a lot of ideas. But I joined instagram for a short time and there were a lot of these “Draw this in your style” that provided me with ideas, and I really enjoyed doing those. I tried digital painting for the first time then and I’m still super proud of what I did in January. I also tried to work more with watercolour in this year. I spend more time and attention with colouring again, working and changing my style a bit. I still really like what I drew last year! I also have a weird obsession with eyeballs and I can fit three pairs on a face and it still looks okay, can you tell? I didn’t drew much this year but I like the quality I made I guess? Motivation ran out pretty quickly though, and that might be because I also did creative work for university so that could’ve played into it. And now off to 2021 :3

[yurimother]

LGBTQ Video Game Review – Lilycle Rainbow Stage!!!

I have recently had the pleasure of playing several amazing western visual novels and was happily contemplating the astonishing growth of the genre here when I sat down to play MangaGamer’s localization of PARTICLE’s Lilycle Rainbow Stage!!! This superb game came rushing in to quickly put me in my place and remind me that, no matter how far western visual novels may have come, Japan is still the master.

Lilycle features an ensemble cast of characters in various yuri relationships. The girls are spread between two sister schools. Fourteen of the main characters are students at one of these two schools and fifteenth, Tamaki, is a college student training to be a teacher. The game swaps between the perspectives of all of these characters, helping to make all of them feel central and important. However, three do rise above the others as the protagonists of Lilycle, Tamaki, the kind but bumbling teacher in training, Yuno the energetic idol, and the quiet but lovable ninja Saeka. The three of them form a love triangle around Saeka (although there is content for a Yuno and Tamaki relationship).

When a series has so many characters it can be difficult to make them all distinct. At first, I was overwhelmed and struggled to follow the characters. This problem was exacerbated by the game starting off with large scenes featuring all the characters. Luckily, I was quickly able to learn the personalities and relationships. The way in which the menu organizes the couples really helps here. Additionally, this is one of the few times where having stereotypical characters actually works to a video game’s benefit, as it makes the characters distinct and easy to learn. Sadly, by forcing characters to stick to these archetypes it makes many of them very repetitive and one note. Sure they are enjoyable at first but once you have seen them in a few scenes you have basically seen them all. A few of the characters are able to overcome this hurdle, particularly those whose routes have a bit more conflict in them. However, I was still able to enjoy all of the characters, even if many did not leave an impact.

There is not much of a central plot to speak of in the visual novel, as it has a more “slice of life” style story. However, each pairing’s relationship has its own growth and development over the course of the game. The story is organized into short chapters which are selected from a menu styled after a calendar, this helps to keep story progression straight in the game. While I played through them all in order of days it is entirely possible to just play one couple’s route from start to finish without touching the others. The routes follow the same basic pattern of friendship, confession, dating, and a finale in the relationship. The pacing here is somewhat awkward through the confessions, which are each in a nice stylized scene but are not built up to properly and so feel sudden. Afterward, the pacing becomes more consistent and enjoyable, In addition to episodes focused on one couple, there are plenty of group scenes which broadens the scope and features many or all of the characters interacting together. These were frequent highlights, as the characters and their dynamics played off each other well. 

A game of this type lives or dies on its heart, humor, and cuteness, and these are in no short supply. The dialogue between the characters, which makes up the vast majority of the text, is adorable and frequently hilarious. In the beginning, these jokes do seem limited to mostly: Character A says something outlandish and Character B responds exasperatedly threatening retribution, violence, or arrest. This annoyance is lessened significantly in the second half of the game after all the characters have begun dating each other. The humor becomes much more varied and several scenes had me cry out in laughter or squealing. At this point, the game becomes even more heartmushinly cute. If the first impressions are charming the latter half is a litter of kittens with halos covered in sparkles drinking gay juice.

While there are a few choices they have essentially no impact on the story save a couple of lines of dialogue. The one exception to this is in selecting which two of the three protagonists will date each other. This choice is exactly how I prefer my visual novel stories to be, with clear actions and consequences so that I know the results of my choices, no random guessing to try and get the best routes. It is even possible to replay this episode and make a different choice to unlock the other routes, making it easy to experience all the content the game has to offer. And by the great gay goddess of yuri does this game have plenty of content. 

Lilycle not only has a significantly sized route for each couple culminating in a lengthy and enjoyable experience, but a plethora of CG artwork, lots of different scenarios and situations to put the characters in, and even bonus recordings by each of the voice actors (which are subtitled in English). Speaking of the voice actors, they are astounding. Lilycle was advertised as staring some of the best Japanese voice talents from games and anime and it does not disappoint. Simply put, this is some of the best voice acting I have ever encountered in a visual novel. The game even gives you the option to disable individual characters voices if for some reason you ever wanted to do that.

The music, on the other hand, is a different story. I quickly found myself irritated with the overly cutesy tunes that played on an endless repeat. They match the aesthetic and story of the game pretty well but eventually, they got on my nerves and overall detracted more than they added to the experience. The multiple ending songs, sung as duets by each couples voice actors, were appreciated though, and I might even go back to give a few of them another listen.

The art in Lilycle is nothing short of extraordinary. The character sprites are highly stylized and distinct. Each of them is extremely detailed and even contains animated eyes, adding a realistic element. Character designer and artist Sakura Miwabe does a fantastic job here. I could simply stare at all of the characters for hours (and did at several points). Lilycle even goes as far as to include several outfits for each of the girls, a welcome addition. unfortunately, the rigid poses of the models are easily noticeable, with most sprites having only two or so poses. While their face changes based on the situation and dialogue, their bodies remain stiff, which pulled me out of the experience.

What the poses lack in variation is made up for by the other art assets present in the game. There are numerous backgrounds all of which are detailed consistent in style, matching the characters. Additional small details like chibi artwork of objects and scenes which appear in cutouts in the center of the screen or small character art in the corner when someone speaks off screen help add significantly to the overall quality. The GUI is also captivating, with the lower third text bubble being designed in a cute bright fashion to match the artwork. Sadly, the background of this bubble changes color to match the narrator, which combined with the different colored text can lead to results that are tragically hard to read or even physically painful because the colors clash so hard.

Finally, the crème de la yuri is the CG artwork. There is an astounding number of spectacular featured pieces in Lilycle, with each route getting several, including the group scenes. The CGs are collected in a gallery that I frequently visit and explore whenever I need a smile or to melt into a giggling pile of mush. There is not a single CG that I do not adore and admire. Lilycle is at its peak here with its artwork is perfect. In terms of both quantity and quaily PARTICLE has created something visually unmatched by other visual novels.

This game is undoubtedly a true yuri masterpiece, with such a multitude of cute couples laughing with (and at) each other, cuddling, and verbally expressing their love. It is so much fun to watch the girls blush and fumble their way through their first kiss or “I love you” with their partner. While Lilycle is all ages it does contain a fair amount of lewd content. Most of this is in the form of jokes or one-liners, some of which caught me so off guard that my laughter brought tears to my eyes. However, some of the actions of the characters are a bit more salacious and several CGs contain a not insignificant amount of service. Still, this game is overall pretty tame in everything but its overflowing cuteness.

I can happily say after playing Lilycle Rainbow Stage that it is a serious contender for ‘best yuri visual novel’ mostly thanks to its art and aesthetics. It may take a few missteps with a confused beginning and mediocre characters but it more than compensates with an extremely robust second half, jaw-dropping artwork, and adorable lesbian girls. If you have not already bought it from Steam or MangaGamer do so immediately.

Ratings: Story – 6 Characters – 6 Art – 10 Voice – 10 Music – 4 LGBTQ – 9 Lewdness – 4 Final – 8

Review copy provided by MangaGamer

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[wizardessheart-sideb]

[Image ID: An edit of chibi Cerim in front of a purple background. It’s in the style of New Year’s Eve With You. /End ID]

The empty classroom that doubled as our impromptu karaoke room was jammed pack. I'm glad we listened to Caesar and had this as an activity for students. It was a nice break from the other festivities of the end of the year party, not to mention it was more or less free entertainment. The musical theater kids were performing what felt like very third number, Yukiya, Randy, and Klaus had been convinced to bring back their old idol unit from a music festival a couple of years ago., and Saella was in the area visiting as an alumni professor and absolutely killing it. The energy in the room was electric. The room was filled with clapping as two students finished a love ballad.

“That was really good!” I turned to tell Cerim, but he wasn't standing by me anymore. I looked around for him. There was not trace of him anywhere. But where'd he go? And more importantly, how could I have missed him leaving? I quietly slipped out of the room. The halls of the Academy were surprisingly peaceful. There were a few groups of students sitting on the ground, plastic cups in hand, just chatting. Cerim wasn't among them. It was at moments like this I wish we both had Magic Phones and I could just call him and see where he's at.

I peeked into open classrooms as I searched for him, but no luck. I was about to give up when I found him sitting on some stairs. There was a sense of relief in seeing him; it's not like I expected anything bad to happen to him, but still, my body and mind felt relieved seeing him just sitting there.

“Hey, is everything all right?” I asked, sitting down next to him.

“Of course. I just needed some air. It was pretty crowded in there,” he said.

“Yeah. I didn't realize karaoke would be so popular.” I paused to lean against his shoulder. Cerim rested his head on top of mine. “Do you wanna sing at some point tonight?”

“I'd prefer not to,” he replied. “I'm not really good at singing and with Saella here...”

“You feel like you'd have to be perfect?” I finished for him.

“Yeah.” We sat in silence for a couple moments. Even from here I could hear some festivities going on. The sounds of karaoke were faint, and I could also hear what was probably students hiding out in empty classrooms. If I were truly Klaus' protege, I would go break up the fun. But I'm not a stick in the mud. As long as they're not getting hurt, it's fine.

“How late do you have to stay up tonight?” Cerim asked.

“Uh... Well, the party ends at one, we'll have to clean up, which might take until three, but we're going to have to baby the Night Class students since most of them party pretty hard and will need help. Alfonse is with them too right now, making sure some of them aren't doing hard drugs like last year. But once the Day Class is taken care of, we're gonna have to reign in the rest of the students. I wouldn't be surprised if I had to pull an all-nighter.” Cerim sighed.

“I was hoping we'd be able to go out and have breakfast in town tomorrow morning,” he said.

“It's not exactly the same, but I have the keys to the kitchen. We could go down there and make ourselves a little breakfast right now.” Cerim sat up.

“We could. But don't have you Prefect duties?”

“Yes, but I'll be working for the rest of the night, so I think I can take a little break. And besides...” I grabbed his hand and smiled. “I want to do something special today with you since I've been so busy.”

“I know you have your job, and that's okay with me. But I really have missed you,” he admitted. He got to his feet and helped pull me up. “Let's go make some breakfast.”

“Yeah!” We started heading for the kitchen, hand in hand. Although we couldn't spend the whole night together, at least we'd able to get some quality time with each other. And honestly, I couldn't think of a better way to spend the night. Sitting in the kitchen by ourselves, feeding each other pancakes and eggs, and starting another year together.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Iruma-kun 13 - 14 | Somali 1 | Magia Record 1 | BnHA 75 | Eizouken 1 | Idolish7 s2 1

New season...incoming!

Iruma-kun 13

How did Iruma even notice that collar? Geesh, that kid is perceptive…

This “spitting blood” joke is getting old already…

*Kiriwo starts his machine* - Why do I get the feeling something bad’s about to happen…?

Could you possibly call this “rank is the most important thing” a study of class consciousness, to throw some of Anime Feminist’s words? Or maybe this is a fantasy version of technology and it’s extolling the virtues of technology advancement?! *eyes sparkle*

Can Iruma join Kiriwo already? Please?!

Aw, dear darling! (<- I’m not sure if I’ve said that a lot in these notes, but I say that when I get the warm fuzzies and wanna protect a character…basically, platonic love, I guess…? Oh, “moe instinct” - that’s the words I’m looking for.) Iruma, go and live your best life, okay?

Thank you, story! Even though I knew it was being foreshadowed so heavily by being the focus of basically 24 minutes of this show’s runtime (= about 1 ep), I thank you from the bottom of my heart that Iruma went to the right Battler.

Wait, so Ameri is actually Iruma’s senpai by one year?! Hmm? I never realised that and I read some spoilers!

I like this new chibi animation style! Yay!

I never noticed this until now, but Kiriwo has one big horn and one little one.

I think the title, aside from the pronunciation of “Thirteen Dinner”, is meant to mean “The Thirteen Counts’ Gathering” (or some other high rank) or something of the sort. Update: So I checked and the character used, kanmuri/kan, is used to mean “crown” or someone who wears a crown, i.e. a peerless person, so it would be appropriate to translate that using the term for a high rank which is presumably going to be stated in the segment itself.

Turns out Babel…is just makaitou (the demon world tower). I don’t think it’s really Babylonian in any strict sense.

Depending on where you live, the 665th floor could count as the 666th or…well, the 665th. I know in Japanese, the word for the floor on the ground is ikkai (first floor)…I’m not going to tell you what I know it as though…that would reveal my location outside cyberspace, no?

According to the katakana, the guy’s name is Beruzebyuto (hence the translation as “Beelzebuth”). Beelzebub is the Lord of the Flies and a quick google tells me Beelzebul (close enough) was apparently an alternate spelling for him (or something like that…?). Patron demon of gluttony.

Astaroth, also a demon (king of rot, I think it was from Blue Exorcist)…interestingly, Beelzebub, Lucifer and Astaroth make up an unholy trio and all of them were referred to by a dude called...Solomon (which does kinda sound like “Sullivan”, if you think about it). There’s the connection between these guys…I like his top, too.

Asmodeus, patron demon of lust. We already knew that demon was represented through Azz-Azz, but now you see a spoiler I’ve been hiding for a while – Azz’s mother.

Amaimon…uh, I don’t remember what kind of demon he is in the demonic canon but I know him from Blue Exorcist.

Behemoth…?

Ooh, Ameri’s father is smokin’ hot! (Dangit, I do not want DILFs…) Azazel, a fallen angel and apparently personification of uncleanliness(…?)

Belial and (Lady) Leviathan, which we already knew existed from initial namedrops.

Who’s Baal? Even I have no idea…Update: Apparently he’s a Middle Eastern equivalent to Zeus, which explains his thunder allegiance.

Paimon kinda looks like Chaika, LOL.

LOL, “lifehack” is certainly the right word for it, Sullivan.

LOL, Belial is so short!

Although it’s kind of awkward to not see Lady Levi take a position of power for herself, it’s nice to see she has spirit!

Aw, this is cute. In much the same way I wanted Iruma to join the magical apparatus Battler, I want Sullivan to be Demon King.

Is Opera perhaps related to Ameri somehow…?

Somali 1

I was hoping to get to Plunderer, but got carried away writing another post and then lost the ability to watch both episode 1 and 2 ahead of schedule. So Somali is the new start of the season, but the last relic of the fact Plunderer was meant to start my season (outside ID: Invaded’s advance premiere) is the visual I have for this season. (Oh yeah, one of the reasons I’m supporting this – aside from it being a mid-ranker on my hype list – is that I heard a French animator, a friend of Thomas Romain, is getting his big start here.)  

“Dad.” – Oh, f***. I have myself an Usagi Drop. I knew I was going to get something of the sort going into this show, but…Usagi Drop’s experiences (or rather, watching the anime knowing the manga has that ending) have left their mark. Not to mention Somali (as this girl will come to be known) has Latina eyes, which annoys me even more since I dropped that on the basis of being scarred by Usagi Drop.

I’m wondering what Crunchyroll was thinking when they decided to coproduce this – sure, it’s probably quite cute and wholesome, but I’m far from the target audience. Did they think, “Is this what Western audiences will like?” Sure, it would hit a niche that likes this surrogate father/daughter stuff, but I don’t think it’s for me (and I’ve been thinking that all through the OP). I’ll give it a bit more to wow me, but it’s doing pretty terrible so far (because note all other anime of this particular reputation I’m more on the “neutral” side than the “like” one). Somali’s voice is probably the biggest factor – it sounds like an adult woman’s voice got pitch-shifted to attempt to be a child, rather than an actual child.

How can this golem talk about sight when he doesn’t even have eyes??? (Kinda like Juzo from NGL.)

Alright, that’s it. I can see when you’re trying to bait me with supposedly “cute” children, show. You’re gone.

Okay, since I have time and the reviews say otherwise, I’m trying again. I don’t expect to be sold to this though…

Was it just me or was there a reduced frame rate when Somali’s cape was the only thing in the frame…?

For some reason the subbers put “Why?” when the word was actually “What?”, which is a bit silly to be honest with you. (Nande?/Doushite? vs. Nani?...it’s kind of similar-sounding, but the sound is distinctly different.)

Still dropping this show. I just have another episode to add to my list now.

Magia Record 1

I heard there’s no Urobutcher this time around, but the first time I encountered the Urobutcher (in ConRevo) he made a particularly weird-feeling (in the context of the show) episode, so…uh…let’s say the Urobutcher is only as good as the material he writes, and leave it at that. Anyways, this topped my list – even before ID: Invaded came to hunt down that top position – so this better be good.

Um, am I just imagining it, or is that Sayaka and Hitomi discussing magical girls (or Madoka?) over the top of Iroha (I know that’s her name already from the synopses floating around the ‘net) and her fellow magical girls fighting?

Letterboxing? Now there’s something I thought I’d never see in Madoka Magica, ever.

One of the books was on organic recipes.

The teacher talks a tad too fast – I can understand what she’s saying, but it’s like she operates on x1.5 speed compared to the x1 speed of everything else…

“Nakama – because we can do it” – I wonder if that will mean something later…? In Madoka Magica, strange details always mean something.

“The only good witch is a dead one!” “Speech is silver, silence is golden.”– The tiny English isn’t particularly subtle, is it?

Uwasa = rumour.

Takarazaki, huh? I’ll make a note of that.

Who’s Ui?

According to the credits, I assume the blue spear girl is Nanami Yachiyo.

This is a respectable re-entry into a universe which I left not too long ago (in 2017). I’m definitely going to be able to stick with it for a season or however long it lasts.

BnHA 75

All this talk about a database…reminds me of the Quirk I designed for the wiki (also called “Database”). I conceived it in 2015, but I don’t remember who was meant to use it before I retrofitted it to fit the BnHA universe. Update: Welp, I found the document. The superpower Database (which was retrofitted to be a Quirk) is for one Itsuki Hatano.

“One blow to the top of the head!”

Iruma-kun 14

(Note: Some notes may be missing because I was busy multitasking while watching this episode.)

Go, Iruma! Live your best life!

Note “speak of the devil” isn’t how it’s said in Japanese. It sounds something like “whisper a rumour and it will come back to you” based on what I heard Kiriwo say (since I heard the word uwasa in there). Update: Apparently the phrase is uwasa wo sureba… (if you spead a rumour…) and then you cut the saying off to finish the rest of the sentence, just like you would in English.

You can’t even see a substantial part of Iruma’s hair when that demon on the phone (<-I know who it is, because I read spoilers, but I’ll keep quiet on that front!) yells for the first time.  

Makura (demon pillow) has that demon pun going on.

Ooh, Kiriwo-senpai is actully kinda sexy with his hair up like that…not that I know the first thing about sex appeal…

So is the ED about the Battler Party, in a sense?

Eizouken 1

I picked this show up because of the rave reviews it was getting.

Very Future Boy Conan, that.

…what? That OP was trippy. Then again, I didn’t mind ConRevo and that was trippy…this negative feeling is probably because I don’t know much about Masaki Yuasa’s quirks, I guess.

Why do people not translate “Eizouken”???? It means “video research club”.

The back is a good spot to sit in a theatre for anime. Why do I know this? I sit in the back of my anime club all the time, that’s why!

“Are those MiBs?” – I laughed pretty hard at that one sentence.

Why does this strawberry milk seem to be a parallel to the milk Asakusa promised Kanamori? (P.S. Asakusa is in Tokyo, IIRC.) Update: Mizusaki means “on top of water” if I understood the kanji right and Kanamori, with the right combo of characters, can mean “forest of gold”...which makes a lot of sense, considering how gold is equated with wealth and currency. Also, here’s proof Asakusa is in Tokyo...not to mention it’s the place from Sarazanmai! Meanwhile, I was thinking there was some sort of anime-related significance to the name, but I was thinking of Asagaya.  Update 2: Mizusaki actually means “water peninsula”. Sorry, wrong saki.

I know there’s a chase scene at the end of this ep, thanks to reading reviews. I want to be wowed by it, which is why I’m (metaphorically) holding my breath.

I like how Asakusa and Mizusaki are bouncing around ideas. That really brings the process to life.

Long skirts and wind but no sexualisation. That’s a good sign!

Whoa, that scene with the comets was AWESOME! I want more!

Idolish7 s2 1

Back with some good boys one season too early…let’s have some fun while these simulcasters can get this stuff fast!

Oh no! (<- self-censored) Nagi’s stupid accent is back! *yells incoherently for a second*

I like the little sound effects that happened whe Nagi’s finger moved around (to suggest “magic”).

I think the joke was something to do with the word gera (?). I don’t quite get it myself.

Misuta- Shimooka, LOL. I love how this s2 isn’t doing any hand-holding, though! I half-expect a flashback to appear and it never does.

Yamato, how are you so-*crying and Yatta! can be heard in the background*Okay, nevvvvvvvvvver mind…

I remember mistakenly saying that Nishiyama was part of Idolish7 (since I looked through some of my old notes lately). Nishiyama is part of ZOOL, so now…I’m not wrong anymore…(That’s not quite relevant to the random announcement of Re:Vale showing up, but it’s on my mind now.)

Hmm…Yamato’s thoughts on Re:Vale…I’ll keep an eye on him.

I think people like Tamaki because he treats them like he would his little sister…a true gentleman. Or maybe that’s all in my head? I haven’t been in the fandom properly, y’know.

This switch to occasional chibi antics…I’m not sure I like it…

Ohmyglob! Another boy to add to my growing list of husbandos! *points at Yuki* I knew he existed, but I haven’t had a proper chance to have a reaction to him ever since I started really “having a thing” for long-haired guys.

Re:Vale are like a comic act (manzai).

Momo has pink nail polish…I just noticed. Update: It’s probably more red than pink.

“Chan-momo” appears to be a variety of modern slang similar to Pig Latin. Apparently Gen from Dr Stone uses it as well.

Yuki has these cute little diamond earrings and Momo has studs. I’ve also never noticed this until now. (I, myself, can’t wear anything past clip-ons because I have a genetic quirk that makes it annoying to get my ears pierced, called beta thalassemia, so I can only fangirl about other people’s earrings.)

What’s the FSC again…?

Kyu-to aidoru!

I think Momo and Yuki are going to reach out to Mitsuki and Tamaki (respectively) most this season…just a feeling, based on their dispositions. Tamaki and Yuki have similar faces, on top of that, so thank goodness we can tell them apart by hairstyle.

Yuki wears this steel blue shade of nail polish…ooh, also cute.

*Riku goes stiff-faced* - *audibly facepalms at Riku’s reaction*

Momo has a black and green earring set on one ear…huh.

Ooh, very nice. It’s a keeper.

Update: Apparently, you pronounce their name “Re:ba-re”, which is a bit different to what I was expecting (essentially “Re: veil”).

[thorne93]

First Impressions (Part 5)

Prompt: Imagine your friend, Anthony Mackie, brings you with him to an event and introduces you to his friend, Sebastian, who’s blown away by you. He immediately starts flirting and acting silly because you make him nervous and he just wants to impress you

Warnings: flirting (adult style), language (always, with me, come on), and drama (later on in the fic)

Word Count: 1612

Notes: If anyone has kids or wives out of the celebrities mentioned, in this universe, they sort of don’t exist….Just for the sake of keeping it concise. Beta’d by @like-a-bag-of-potatoes (because shes perfectly amazing) and I could NOT, not, just not have done any of this at all without my amazing girl, @amarvelouswritings

Forever Tags: @amarvelouswritings @cocosierra94 @essie1876 @magpiegirl80 @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @harleyquinnandscarletwitch @iamwarrenspeace @marvel-imagines-yes-please @superwholocked527 @myparadise1982sand @missinstantgratification @thejulesworld @rda1989 @marvelloushamilton @munlis  @bubblyanarocks3​ @thefridgeismybestie​

Sebastian Stan Tag: @nedthegay @lostinspace33 @alwayshave-faith @elleatrixlestrange @buenostardissherlock  @lenawiinchester​ @the-red-world-of-jess-chibi​

Chris Evans Tag (Normally wouldn’t, but he’s featured a lot): @nedthegay​ @camigt1999​  @lostinspace33​​ @alwayshave-faith​ @elleatrixlestrange

First Impressions Tag: @goodnightwife​​ @spacemarkimoo​ @masha-meow01​ @axelinchen​ @smuoooshie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few days of sorting out Seb’s pay, schedule, and lines, finally, he was working with you. It was a slow process because he didn’t have much time to prepare, so you gave him as much time and patience to work as you could grant him. He did everything splendidly though.

During filming, you found yourselves always having lunch together. Having Sebastian on set was like a god send, a way to get your mind off your asshole producer who was always on your ass. So lunch with Sebastian was something you looked forward to every day. You always had something to talk about from work to hobbies to funny things you saw online to interactions with the new Marvel cast you were becoming quick friends with. He always seemed to find ways to brighten your day in the tiniest ways too, from bringing you your favorite drink, taking you to a good restaurant nearby, surprising you with a little bag of chocolates.

On a few occasions after work you grabbed dinner and drinks together, which felt an awful lot like dates but neither of you put that label on it. You wanted to, you desperately wanted to, but if Sebastian wasn’t ready to call these dates then neither were you.

To help him get caught up, you had private line readings at your house. He could read them alone, of course, but you wrote the screenplay and script, and you were the director, so you knew exactly how you wanted his character to sound and look. So rather than taking up time during filming to give him extra direction because he was later to the game than everyone else on the team and he had the most lines, you ran them at your place.

“Claire, I don’t want to lose you,” he said in his character’s demeanor as he sat on the couch.

“You’re not losing me. I’m just going to a different place.”

“But I can’t go with you,” he said.

“You might not be able to come with me, but I’ll always be with you,” you said. You broke character for a second and said, “Now here’s where Claire will reach up, touch your face with the back of her hand, and glide it gently down. I can’t decide if I want you to cry before or after her hand gets there. What do you think?”

“Well, before, it’s her comforting him, which is what I think this scene calls for. She’s battling cancer, trying to stay strong, and he’s falling apart, so she’s trying to comfort him.”

You thought a moment. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Okay, so cry right as she’s talking, if you can.”

“Okay, should be easy.”

“Do you mind if we run it again from….page 16?”

He nodded as you both flipped back a few pages. You ran back through the lines, and when it got to the part where he needed to cry to, it came easily to him, one tear, then two. It was just enough. It wasn’t a full on sob, but it was that moment before you could see the dam break.

You stared at him, completely mesmerized by his talent, his ability to bring forth the emotions even when he didn't have to, even when it was just the two of you in your living room, running through some words on a paper. You lost yourself in him, so completely that you forgot to read your own lines.

“Y/n?” he said. “You okay?”

“You’re so beautiful when you cry,” you said in almost a whisper

He laughed and wiped his eyes. “Uh, thank you, I think.”

You shook your head. “Sorry, just...When you cry it’s so genuine and you really pull at the audience’s heartstrings.”

“Well thank you. I appreciate that.”

“Anytime,” you breathed, leaning into him. He started to lean towards you, a slight smirk on his face, his hair falling in his eyes. Your teeth captured your bottom lip as you got even closer. Just as your lips brushed, he pulled away.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” he mentioned quietly.

Rejection filled your heart, making it weigh heavy in your chest.

“Right,” you said gently, ignoring how you felt. You respected his decision though. Perhaps he didn’t want to be the one sleeping with the boss. Perhaps he wasn’t ready to take the plunge. You could respect it, despite how much it hurt you.

---------------

Two more weeks went by since that night you almost kissed. You didn’t bring it up and neither did he, but nothing was awkward between you two. Shooting continued like normal, and the chemistry on set was great. Despite having to work with Mike, you were overjoyed to work on this project again. You would sit and just completely relish in the feeling of watching your creation come to life by amazing actors and an amazing team.

At times, Sebastian would glance your way while he wasn’t in the shot, a want glazing his eyes over. It would make you lose focus and concentration, your attention would falter until you could gather your breath again.

You had grabbed a few more dinners with Seb, not to mention walking in the park together, or the rock climbing you got scheduled. It was a thrill to do something so daring, especially with him. Then one night, you had drinks after dinner, and it was probably one of the best nights with him.

“Best director you’ve ever worked with?” he asked after he took a drink from a brandy.

“Ooh, okay,” you said, nodding. “I would have to say….Spielberg. As cliche as that may sound,” you said, your hand and eyes going up in defense.

He laughed lightly. “No, I can dig it.”

“What about best gift a fan ever got you?”

Sebastian threw his head back. “Oh man, come on. I have hundreds of those gifts, I can’t pick one.”

“Come on, one must stick out to you,” you tried.

“Well...there was this one. It was the simplest thing. It was a letter. It had in it that this girl was dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, some personal stuff, and she said that my acting saved her. She said that if Bucky could survive all that he had gone through,, so could she. She said when she looked at me at Cons or during interviews or whatever, my face, I guess, gave her hope and strength to keep going.”

For a moment, you were speechless.

“I know, right?” Seb said, shooting the rest of his drink.

“Damn. That’s amazing but also a heavy burden to bear. I mean…”

“Yeah, I know. They put us up on a pedestal and I’m so goddamn scared I’m going to disappoint someone so bad that...well….it ruins their life.”

You reached across the table and held his hand. “You mustn’t think like that. It isn’t all up to us to be the role models.”

“I know,” he said, shrugging. “So tell me, speaking of fears, what’s your biggest one?”

Instantly, you answered, “That what I do won’t be enough.”

“For who? You?”

“For...everyone. I’m constantly terrified I’m going to disappoint fans, my agent, my employers, my family.”

“Your family? How in god’s name could your family be disappointed in you? You’re the top paid actress in Hollywood.”

You ran your finger around the glass of your drink. “I know that and they do too.”

“Are they one of those ‘Nothing is ever good enough’ type?” he asked.

“No,” you answered. “Quite the opposite. They’re happy no matter what I do, I just feel as though I have these huge legacies to live up to, you know? I mean, my mom pulled herself up through some hard and trying times, my dad is a master of all trades, my brother is accomplished...I just...No matter what I do, it will never impress anyone, or make anyone proud, or be enough.”

He shook his head and his ice blue eyes stared right at you. “Don’t ever think that. You do amazing work.”

“Thanks, but until I can start making a real difference, like with the animal sanctuary I want to start, I don’t feel that way.”

“Well in my eyes, you’re doing great,” he assured.

You grinned at him and thanked him.

----------------------

It had been about a month since Sebastian started to work with you. Aside from all the rude and hateful comments from Mike towards you or Sebastian or anyone else on the crew, it was Heaven. You couldn’t be happier to see his smiling face, his hidden looks, and watch his amazing acting.

One day as filming was wrapping up for lunch, you were gathering your purse and setting your clipboard down, getting ready to join Sebastian for lunch.

“Okay, I’m ready,” you said, walking up.

Yet, as soon as you approached, a woman with shiny brown curls, plump strawberry lips, round eyes, and rosy cheeks came up in shorts and a pink t-shirt.

“Ready to go?” she asked sweetly to Sebastian.

Sebastian’s face seemed to pinch into tension.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Sebastian, I didn’t know you made other plans,” you said politely.

“Yeah, uh, Y/N, meet Marissa Collins. Marissa, meet my boss, Y/F/N,” he introduced. “What are you doing here?” he asked quietly as he looked away from you.

“I came to surprise you,” she said.

You smiled and shook her hand.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” you said. “So are you his friend?” you asked.

“I’m his girlfriend,” she said as she wrapped her hand around his arm and grinned at you.

[franeridart]

Ahhh if you ever do feel like drawing BakuSero I would just about die because I love that rare pair soooooo much and there is next to nothing for it

Holy shit I thought I was literally shipping that ship by myself, but here you are, amazing !!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway don’t worry I’ll definitely draw something for it sooner or later anon, I love it way too much to never give in haha

Anon said:my day started out terrible but your sero and kaminari saved the day (like most of your drawings do) ty ily

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m super glad to hear that!!!!!!! I hope the rest of your day will be as amazing as it can be, anon!!!

Anon said:A) why isn't it franswers? B) Kaminari has a habit of just watching (unbreakable) things just fall if he fails to catch it or it slips out of his hands. like he doesn’t move to get it, he just watches it fall with a blank face

A) that’s a great question that would deserve an equally great answer which sadly I don’t have??? like, why isn’t it franswers??? it should definitely be franswers t b h - B) yes and also I feel Kaminari a lot. Like, mood and also same. As usual hahaha

Anon said:I have never seen a more pure kamisero than the spiderman kiss. I have fallen into the ship and i cant get up (i dont wanna get up) thank you 💖💖💖

Thank you!!!!! Oh my gods!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so happy I could make you ship it omfg!!!!!! They’re such a cute underrated ship aaahhhhhhhhhhhh tho I feel like it’s getting more popular lately, which is A+++ :D

Anon said:Sero 's hair looks so fluffy in that first panel, you can't un-convince me whoever his boyfriend (s) is (are) wouldn't mindlessly run their fingers through it from time to time.

I love this headcanon???? But also consider, if his boyfriend is Kaminari, Sero’s hair is always super staticky once he’s stopped petting it. Like, his hair just sticks in every direction, it looks super funny. Or, his boyfriend is Bakugou (or his girlfriend is Mina! same scenario plays out) and Sero has to wash his hair after Bakugou/Mina is done because their hands are dangerous and having flammable hair isn’t much fun, Neither is having acid very slowly corroding his scalp Poor boy, three out of four of my fav partners for him are dangerous for his hair haha

Anon said:Spidey Sero is good Sero also I still love your chibi style ^^

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!! Holy smokesss!!!!!!! *O*

Anon said:Right, so first off, I l o v e your art. And I'm kinda mad that only just found out about you? Anyways, I was wondering if I could draw one of your fusions (specifically, the Kacchadeku one)? They're super cool and i really want to draw them myself? I'll give credit you your for making the designs 'n all that. It's been quite a while since you drew it so i was wondering if I could draw 'em. Other than that, keep up the good work!

I would prefer it if you guys could ask me for this kind of stuff off anon, tbh aaahhhhhhhhh but I guess I never said that anywhere so it’s fine this time around - it’s good by me! As long as it links back to me/the original post then it’s okay~

Anon said:holy hell your art is a gift from God,,, i shall ascend to the astral realm after seeing all this,,, i have seen all i need and it was on this one blog,,,

YOU ARE!!!! TOO NICE!!!!!! OH MY GODS!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much ( ;v;)

Anon said:it makes me really happy that you add mina into the bakusquad pics your draw thank you!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! well, it’s not like I always draw the whole squad, but when I feel strong enough to then it’d feel wrong not adding her in too! She’s part of it too, after all haha

Anon said:Im so happy your back! And you killed me with that last post. BAKUGO IS SO BEAUTIFUL! And your art is even better than before! Did I mention how beautiful Bakugo is? Love you and wish you full health mode

I’M SO HAPPY YOU LIKED HIM!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:I don't know if I'm the only one but I really love how in bnha they emphasize the fact that the kids are really just kids. Like on multiple occasions All Might and Aizawa remind themselves or others that they really are just 15 y/o kids who are trying their best to become heroes and help others. Compared to e.g. Haikyuu I feel like they don't seem like young teens like bnha characters even tho they're the same age (or even older). Good for Horikoshi to remind the readers every now and then.

You’re not the only one!! That’s one of my favorite things out of bnha and also one of the reasons why I’m such a fan of the adults of the series - not all of them, but most of the guardians have a great grasp on what they should expect out of kids and what they can ask of them and what they should instead keep them away from, which I appreciate a lot. And some of them (Aizawa, Toshinori from some point on, Bakugou’s parents, Fatgum to say some) have a great understanding of the kids they’re responsible for and make decisions based on what’s right while at the same time accomodating the kids’ aspirations and dreams, which is super amazing because it doesn’t negate the fact that even if they’re just kids they’re still people, you know? They talk to them and understand them and act as guardians without clipping their wings, you never see this sort of things in media tbh so I appreciate it a lot

Anon said:ok so I just need to get this off my chest. during the quirk apprehension test when aizawa said whoever came in last would be expelled, I think he would of actually done it. I mean he has done it before. but I think he saw potential in Izuku and that made him change his mind but I believe if it where someone else besides Izuku he would've expelled them. so I just wanna say that it was Izuku himself who made himself not be expelled not because of a bluff. and I love aizawa. the end

Yeah I’m sure that’s how it went! Well, I was about to say that maybe even if Izuku hadn’t been the last one Aizawa would have let the last one stay anyway since 1A is a pretty impressive class, but the 19th place was Mineta that time so honestly who knows. Maybe we were one step away from not having Mineta in the class and Izuku ruined it for us. Who knows. (lol)

Anon said:Ur art is so sweet and wholesome, like. Its legit. A friend of mine was following you since you were posting haikyuu and she started watching bnha when you started, and she got me into it from there by sending me your adorable fanart. "Keep an eye out for these 3!!" Then she sends me a giant stream of your BakuKiriKami art. You're great, it's ur fault that they're my # 1 ship above all. Also - have ya read the kiribaku fanfic 2AM Knows All Secrets? I feel like you'd like that one if ya havent.

Holy heck thank you!!!!!! This is such a nice ask !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m glad I could make both you and your friend watch bnha, and I’m even more happy I could make you ship my ot3!!!! *O* and!!! yeah I’ve read it!!!!!! It’s such a cute fic tbh~ I loved it a lot

Anon said:FRAN THE CATS ARE BACK HOW HYPED ARE YOU!!!

VERY!!!!!! I hope their game is more !!! than the Karasuno one tbh haha

Anon said:hey fran! i love how bakugou and sharkishima using sign language to communicate, and i was wondering if i could use that idea for my own mermaid au

Sure thing, I’m glad you liked the idea enough to want to do that! If you could mention where you got the insp for at the top of the fic when you post it that’d be neat~

Anon said:did you ever watch/read Ao no exorcist? its really good

I used to follow the manga! Like, a real long time ago? I think I got up to when we found out that Yukio’s a demon too and then I sorta... dropped it... cause I just... couldn’t stand Shiemi at all... sorry - my faves used to be Shima and Izumo tho!!! I used to love them so much and I still miss them so much that sometimes I seriously consider picking the manga up again just for them hahaha

[bwprowl]

It’s a bit of a slow news week as we inch towards the twin titanic reveal-fests of Winter WonFes and Toy Fair, but we’ve still got a few things to check out, with superstar Sentai and Russian-style Rangers from either side of the pond, plus some surprising new Marvel drops. I’ll also mull over available Transformers bootlegs, plus a recent release from a line I haven’t looked at enough. All that and an adorable, Nendorable Korra-ble, here on Tuesday Night Toys!

New Stuff: Cosmonauts

A new blockbuster movie means an explosion of new, previously-unheard-of merchandise for the source material. I saw it with Transformers back when the first film came out in 2007, and it’s set to happen again with Power Rangers and that movie next month that I’m still patently unsure about. In amongst all the new Funko Pops and plush toys and other collectible gewgaws, we’ll be getting this bizarre little piece: A set of Russian-style nesting dolls designed after the five original Rangers, plus Alpha 5! PPW Toys is putting these out, and as far as esoteric shelf-space hoggers go, you could do a lot worse. I hope for more fun stuff like this to come out of the renewed Power Rangers licensing blitz this movie will be leading, for better or for worse.

On the other side of the Power Coin, if you thought you could escape my pre-premier Kyuranger hype even here, then you thought way wrong. Pre-orders for the toys of the newly-numerous Super Sentai series have been steadily going up, headlined by the main mecha: The shamelessly Scramble-City-style KyurenOh! 

Boasting the unique-to-Sentai ability for each individual unit (here called ‘Voyagers’) to form either an arm or a leg around the red Ranger’s main Shishi Voyager, this ‘bot will start with an unprecedented number of configurations, especially including the four extra Voyagers that are sold separately from the main set. And how cool do Hebitsukai Voyager and Tenbin Voyager look?

Surprising no one, I think I’m going all-in on the mecha on this one, but as with Zyuohger, I’ll be sticking with the smaller, cheaper, but more posable mini-pla versions. Assisting in this is that AmiAmi is now offering those in single sets, for half the price of the full boxes you had to buy before. I’m glad I already got my pre-order in, since they’re all sold out already, natch.

Some new Marvel Legends figures were surprisingly revealed a little while ago. These would be the 3 ¾” Legends that were rebranded from the Marvel Universe line, and they’ll be filling out the Marvel Cinematic corners of your smaller display space. Looks like there will be at least three two packs all based on the most recent movies in the line: Dr. Strange with an astral projection of himself, Star-Lord and Yondu, and the current iteration of Spider-Man with the Vulture he’ll be fighting in that Homecoming movie. The Guardians of the Galaxy set is the most appealing to me, of course (look at Yondu’s goofy grin, he looks great!), but I really want that Spider-Man movie to be good, so if it is, I’ll likely get that one as well.

Wishlist: Lockoffs

Transformers has always been a line that attracted countless counterfeit versions of its wares, from dime-store knockoffs to convincingly-recreated G1 bootlegs. More recently though, a different variety has emerged, as Chinese eBay accounts and other somewhat-shady places offer tweaked fake versions of relatively-recent molds. You see these all over the place searching for TFs on eBay; they mostly encompass the recent movie toys, either being versions in new color schemes, or upscaled with die-cast added for value. There’s of course that delightful AoE Hound with the bio that was written based on Thew, but I recently had to throw this big ol’ black Lockdown on my watchlist, because the prospect of a bigger, badder version of design I liked (from a film I otherwise didn’t) is rather appealing, and these things don’t even cost that much! Maybe I’d feel a little bad going in on a fake, but not that much, as I spend plenty on Hasbro’s Transformers already. If nothing else, these are interesting purely from a standpoint of showing all the various pillars that make money off Transformers’ selling power, whether they legitimately should or not.

Speaking of things that popped back onto my radar, the ol’ Pose Skeleton line it appears is still going strong, with plenty of playsets and even a bunch of animal and dinosaur companions for your bony buddies! These little things have always been a hoot, especially with the accessorized options you can lend them, all for pretty dang cheap. The latest expansion just-released for your flesh-challenged family is the ‘Cute Person’, a shorter, pink-tinted skelley with a cute lil’ bow headband. It’s a good excuse to add another to your skeleton hoard, even if you had a few already.

And of course, unless you were living under a rock for the past couple weeks, you know the first Yuri on Ice Nendoroid went up for pre-order.

Yes, I still need to watch this show

On Desk: Uncommon Korra

Korra from the titular The Legend Of series was a pretty unexpected release for the Nendoroid line, for being a western cartoon as well as the show having been over for almost a year and a half when the toy was first revealed (GSC tends to like to do very recent, current series for their toys). Response must have been good though, since they opened the orders from western-only to worldwide through their usual Japanese avenues (which amusingly meant I was able to order this west-focused toy of an American character for cheaper through a Japanese shop), and even added a few extra accessories to it at the last minute!

The instructions even include English. They know what they're about.

Korra does feel like GSC testing the waters with this kind of release though. Even with the extra accessories, she still feels a bit bare-bones. She has a few different arms and legs, but they're all in service of just a few different generic action poses; the 'extra mile' Nendos sometimes go towards recreating specific points of the series isn't found here. She also only has two faces, and since one is the Avatar state, she really only has the one facial expression, which is almost unheard of for this line (especially given that Korra did have quite a few memorable faces throughout the show).

Granted, the base figure itself is very nice. All the details are present and nicely-accurately conveyed at the scaled-down chibi proportions. The hand-poses she comes with in particular are nicely effective for what they are, and her little hair-dainglies can even swivel around a bit! And she can use what she has to assume a variety of cool bending-based action poses (accompanied by the extremely nice elemental accessories). The fire and water streams especially look great, and just on their own make for an unmistakable awesome desktop Korra.

The one really cool thing the toy can do is assume that aforementioned Avatar state. Swapping in the faceplate and arranging all four element effect parts around does the trick, and it's actually surprisingly easy to get it all set up (nowhere near the madness I engaged in with Chris), and looks admittedly pretty impressive when it's all done. As a display piece, this might be the best way to default to having your Korra. It's eye-catching and adorable, as a Nendoroid should be.

Overall, Korra's impressive mostly that she got made, that GSC branched out like this. She's pretty light as far as Nendoroids go, not a bad toy by any means but not outstanding either. If you're a fan of the show like I am, she's pretty much a must-own, but there's simply not enough to her to recommend as a general purchase. I am really glad I got her though, and am excited to see if GSC follows up with anything else.

You enjoy the rest of your night, everyone! Have fun, I'll be here when you get back!