#also thank you so much anon that means a lot

[tommykinard]

Coloring anon here, yes, I would definitely like to know more about how you color frame by frame and the other techniques you mentioned! It would be much appreciated, thank you!

Hi anon! I'd be happy to go over my preferred methods for colouring!

First resort (ideal):

Painting over shots with little movement (the first method in this tutorial)

Colour manipulation using selective colours (the second method in this tutorial; alternate tutorial -> i also sometimes add a hue/saturation layer on top to manipulate the cyans/blues as well)

Second resort:

Keyframes for shots with consistent movement where it's easy to hide "imperfections" (tutorial 1, tutorial 2)

Last resort:

Frame by frame colouring -> DISCLAIMER: the way I do this method is the easiest way I've gotten it to work for me but that also means that it's very inflexible when it comes to editing any of the colouring afterwards. Once you start colouring in frame animation mode you're basically locked in so you need your gifs to be exactly the way you want them prior to adding your colour

So in this tutorial I'll go over how I do my frame by frame colouring as well as how I create actions to automate the repetitive parts of this process! (Some resources that explain how to create actions are here: 1 2)

To use the select subject feature you will need Photoshop CC 2018 or later

Step 1: Preparing your gif with base colouring

So first you want to do your base colouring for your gif in timeline mode, which I've explained here. I keep my gifs short (ideally 40 frames or less) since this colouring process is tedious!

I make sure that in my hue/saturation layer, I turn the saturation in the yellow, green, cyan, and blue tabs all down to -100 (and for the yellows I usually add around +20 to +60 in lightness)

Here's my gif with the base colouring that I'll be starting with:

Note: turning down the saturation in almost all the colours gives you that nice silver/grey neutral background to paint on top of. It's a lot less noticeable when your painted layers aren't perfect

Step 2: Converting to Frame Animation Mode

I use the save action from this action pack to convert my gif from timeline mode to frame animation mode.

You cannot edit your base colouring from this point onwards!

Step 3: Using Select Subject

If you're recording an action this is the step you would *start recording*

This is what your window should look like:

Making sure your first frame and first layer are selected, go to Select at the top of your window and click Subject

You should then see the marching ants outline around the person in your gif

You then want to create a new solid colour fill layer (which can be found when you click that little circle icon at the bottom of your layers panel), and set the layer blending mode to colour.

The layer mask will automatically be created since you had the marching ants outline.

Since my person is in colour and not the background, I want to invert the layer mask by clicking on it and using command + i (or ctrl + i), and now this is what it looks like:

Note: Select subject isn't always perfect!!!, depending on how cluttered the scene is and how much contrast there is between your person and the background, select subject could either do a really good job like it did here, or screw up a little like it did here:

That's okay though because it still gives us a good base to start from! We can fix any issues by painting with black and white brushes on the layer mask.

Step 3.5: Create clipping mask

Thanks to @wolfchans for telling me about this because it gives us back a little bit of flexibility when colouring frame by frame! Instead of merging down, we can make a clipping mask instead. Right click the solid colour fill layer and select create clipping mask.

If you're recording an action, it's at this point where I would *stop recording*

Step 4: Fixing the layer mask if needed

So now I want his jacket and t-shirt to also be purple, and to show his fingers behind the glass. I make sure the layer mask is selected, and paint with a brush at 60-70% hardness (painting with black erases the colour, painting with white shows the colour). User smaller brush sizes to paint smaller details!

This is what my canvas and layer mask look like now.

Step 5: Repeat

Now I click on my second frame and second layer, and repeat steps 3-4. As you can see, using the clipping mask allows you to still see and edit the colouring of the previous frame, just make sure you click on the right frame and it's corresponding layer when you're doing further editing.

This is where an action is super helpful in cutting down all the repetitive steps and clicks you need to do. So at this point I'd just play the action I created and paint on the layer mask as needed.

Repeat for all your frames and then you're done! After this I convert it back to timeline mode again so that I can add my text and do any other effects such as blending or transitions. Hope this helped!!

[be-xkyy]

Hello! Since I read your Yandere stories, my head began to ask these questions, how many children do our yanderes want to have for us? Would they get a little jealous when our babies are feeding from us?

Hii Dear Anon!

First of all I'm glad you liked my content, thank you! And secondly, your question is very good Anon, although this will be a bit short, I hope you like it! 🖤

How many children would the yanderes have with reader? Would they be jealous of their children?

Tagging list: @kthehoeforfictionalmen ★ @dreamlessnight ★ @riawrld ★ @darkuni63 ★

Yandere Farmer Link

This man definitely wants lots of kids, five or six at the very least and about nine or ten at the most, I think he'd mostly prefer to have boys (since he thinks they're easier to handle) but he wouldn't mind having one or two girls, he has a big farm so he doesn't worry about space and he makes enough money from the cattle and crops to support them all.

As for being jealous of his children when they're breastfed or jealous in general, I don't think so. I honestly don't think he's the "Stay away son, she's mine" type but he also wouldn't let you have much time with the kids especially if they're boys since if you spoil them too much he thinks you'll make them "weak" and "mama's boys" which he doesn't want, so when they learn to walk he'll take them with him to do the farm chores.

"The kids are coming to work with me today. What if they're three and four? That's the perfect age to start getting to know everything, don't question me."

Yandere Cowboy Link

He would want at least 3 children, two boys and a girl, although he might want more, depending on his mood.

And regarding getting jealous when watching his child eat or in general, I think he would get a little jealous, although he would try to be playful and downplay it, saying things like "He's a little chubby, don't you think you feed him too much?" Or "Look, it's 1 PM, isn't it time for a nap? Come on, son, it's time to sleep." Of course you don't let him take the baby away, it's not his bedtime yet.

"Baby doll, when I was a child I was fed and put to sleep at any hour even if I didn't want to, and look at me, everything turned out fine!"

Yandere Dilf Link

This poor man wants to have two girls, two little princesses that look like you, he already has one son so you'd rather have girls but he doesn't care if one is a boy or if they both end up being boys (although not having a daughter that looks like you would break his heart) he's one of the few yanderes that promises to have only two children and keeps it. He doesn't force you to have more even if the ones you give birth to aren't the gender he wanted.

Well now I don't think he would get jealous of his children while breastfeeding, rather I think he would touch the baby's head while breastfeeding even leaving kisses on its chubby cheek, although seeing you breastfeeding might excite him a little (he has a thing for tits and milk, okay?) but he wouldn't try anything at that moment on the contrary he would try to hide it.

"You're so pretty little girl... look at that little nose and those round cheeks... you're so precious sweetheart... just like your mommy"

Yandere Sugar Daddy Link

Another one who wants to have two kids, only he wants to have a pair a boy and a girl, no more kids, just two. Not one more, not one less. I think he would have favoritism with his girl and the boy would be more attached to you as a result.

He would get jealous, he doesn't even want to hide it, although he would be more mean if the one you were breastfeeding was the boy, he would stare from the leather chair right in front of you, watch you rub the baby's head while he eats and make comments like "You don't rub my head when I suck on your boobs, don't rub his head either" or "You know there are high end milks on the market made from breast milk, why don't we try giving him that instead of your milk?" if you scold him or look at him the wrong way he would throw up his hands in surrender and say in an offended voice.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that! You should be grateful that I care, that brat will make your tits sag!"

[paracosmicka]

As a trans man I love mpreg as long as it’s not fetishized. I want kids in the future so seeing mpreg is like going oh hey! Another seahorse dad! I don’t get to see myself in media much. It makes me uncomfortable when people don’t separate the 2 mpreg can be fetishized but it’s also a thing a lot of transgender afab go through. I know this is a sonadow account and it’s not that deep lol but thanks it’s cool seeing it :) saying that: more plz 🥹

This actually makes me feel so relieved bc another reason why I’m always hesitant to post pregnant Shadow is I’m worried that it can be seen as disrespectful or that if it might be used for fetishization purposes which isn’t really what I’d like my art to be associated with.

I don’t want to kink shame anyone, as an agender aroace person who does not experience any romantic or sexual desire whatsoever (i think? still learning about the different types of experiences within the aroace spectrum) I feel that I am literally the least qualified to talk about the morality behind mpreg as a kink/fetish.

With all that in mind, I do wanna say that I wish there was more transgender pregnancy representation that wasn’t just fetish. Like just googling “pregnancy symptoms” will give you a wide range of experiences, but when I was trying to look into if there were unique ways that pregnancy can effect trans men, it took a lot of digging so either I’m just stupid and can’t search things on the internet very well or there really isn’t a lot of representation of trans pregnancies.

Although I did recently learn that in the r/pregnancy subreddit, FTM does not in fact mean “Female to Male” and is actually just “First Time Mom” which makes a lot of sense bc for awhile I thought half of the subreddit were just trans guys. Then I discovered there is literally a subreddit r/seahorse_dads and so I spent awhile just reading a bunch of posts in there.

Anyway I’m fine just existing in my own space with sonadow family fluff, but when I share it I get all nervous bc mpreg is cringefail or whatever and I don’t even know if it’s cringe for being cringe or if it’s cringe bc it’s a fetish. Just know that whenever I post any art of any kind, I try to think as little as possible about how people will interpret my drawings, bc at the end of the day I just drew it because it made me happy and thinking about sonadow fluff gives me warm and fuzzy butterflies that I think people are supposed feel when they’re in love but I’ve never experienced that for another person in my entire life and I don’t think I’ll be able to. So thinking about and drawing sonadow is probably the closest I’ll get to that feeling.

And it makes me even more happy when people say they genuinely connected with my art bc then I know that the warm and fuzzy butterflies feeling got through, and I’m just really glad we can all get our little serotonin boost from these stupid gay hedgehogs.

I genuinely don’t think any of this makes sense I’ve spent 3 hours trying to write a response to this ask and then I remembered that I got zero sleeps last night so that’s probably why brain no worky but in conclusion: thank you for the ask Anon it really made my day and I’m spiritually headbutting you like a cat as they say

[calirph]

Since I seem to need to explain my trip.

Also starting by, we all have anon anxiety, me? with the trip and an upcoming new job, my generalized anixety disorder is a mess. So next time? out of anon, please.

I have explained the trip before but here we go.

From my country, if you book trips earlier, and I do mean at least a year in advance, its cheaper, same with booking of a hotel, I chose an apartment-like one because it was the cheaper option with no breakfast included.

So the trip. It's afforded. The same with the tours, I booked most of them in advance. So the money I'm asking is for food and it's simple because I misjudged how expensive food is here in the USA. Like for comparison, for 20 dollars which is the average of a meal here in NOLA, I can eat two meals back home. And maybe a breakfast and a little meal in Europe. It's expensive.

Right now I am only eating strategically one meal a day, and placed after I do a tour, which are all 3 hours of walking and I am famish. I do not use public transport to save money on that too, so I walk everywhere. So according to my Maps records, on average I do 5-6 KM per day walking. Of course I want to eat.

Which is why I opened the option of doing just promos because the price of a promo I set is one breakfast and another meal, which is what I eat anyways per day.

Donations and payhip do not seem to work so commissions had to be opened despite being on vacation.

So it's not like I can't afford the trip. I did afford it, by having three stops instead of one in order for the tickets to be cheaper. I did afford the apartment hotel by choosing a place out of the center so it's cheaper.

It's the food. I have 8 more days here. So that would be around, lets say 15 dollars each food. 30 per day. Not counting water because most restaurants or stablishment give you free water and I drink tap water anyway.

So: I would need 240 dollars. Right now, I have 95 dollars. I just don't want to get to 0. So yes I apologize for making a mistake and miscalculation of how cheap food on this place would be.

So now that I have exposed myself, donations are always welcome, those who did already thank you so much. the Payhip store has some packs that could help.

masterlist of psd packs, blog packs (that include everything for a beggining start of a blog), icon templates x 3, x6 and such.

SHARMA BLOG PACK. a blog pack that is simpler and easy to use.

a 6 psd pack.

a three panel promo pack.

a blog starter pack.

icon template pack x3.

earth pack, psd pack containing 8 psds.

bath psd pack. 2 psd pack.

NIGHT PSD PACK. this psd pack contains 8 psds.

midnight psd pack. contains 10 psds.

sea snake blog pack. another blog pack.

morning delight icon pack. 8 icon templates pack.

psd lipstick pack. three very vibrant neon psd.

promo resources or pinpost, or graphics in general.

eve eden promo. atomic queen promo.

old page graphic.

short n sweet promo.

like daughter template.

once upon a time graphic.

flowers promo template.

camila template

ivory promo.

mother promo.

mermaid graphics.

muse promo template.

thorn rose promo.

I wanted to be the man promo.

you owe me a song. a 4 slides promo.

brina graphics. pinpost or promo graphics.

clueless. a promo graphic.

And like I said, I opened an option to do three promo panel + psd that is 15 dollars, all on my commission form here:

COMMISSION FORM. PAYHIP STORE

consider donating to paypal or buy me a coffee through ko-fi. it truly helps me a lot. 

And yes anon, I do feel stupid for not miscalculating. I do feel bad for asking money, which is why I opened promos which a lot of people have told me they like what I do and I have a quick turn around time.

[tesscourtes]

blowing your bill a kiss because he was also one of my faves back in the heyday

The kiss cartoonishly lands on his cheek. He is now sending pics of your kiss to ford to make him jealous. congrats! you are now a culprit of his obsessive behaviour!

[artuurle]

please tell us more about hector's quirks o great sniler

also your art and tags bring me so much joy!! hope you have a wonderful weekend :D

Context: In a previous post i drew Hector with visible seems on his body and in the tags said he has a few ... quirks for being an ex-god.

Hector will quite literally fall apart at a random seam (or a few) if he gets too wrapped up in destructive/unhealthy thinking now. If you wanna think about it in a more terrifying context this is essentially what i headcanoned happened to his body when he ascended - except in the rift it all dissipated, leaving him as how he was as Inspekta.

Once you go in the rift even if you choose to leave it still will affect you. You will have to live with the choices you made either way. You climbed the tower of Babel and looked gods in the eye as an equal- you do NOT return the same.

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

Hello may 31th anon! Look at that, another year behind us and a new one to come. Have a nice day! ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡

[nekrosmos]

i love the way you draw body hair, it always looks so silky (///ω///)♪

👉​👈 Thank you so much Anon !! It truly is one of my favorite thing to draw, hairy bodies are so comforting to me, so beautiful. I still have a lot to learn but I truly like how much I've improved as of late. Glad people are enjoying it as much as I am <3

Here, have a small compilation:

[bumblingbabooshka]

Your vulcan characterization is so wonderful, the light you shine on both canon and OC vulcan characters is genuinely VERY inspiring. You really encapsulate and give a believable look into daily vulcan life that’s fleshed out and, most importantly, loved. Your care for these characters is apparent in every word, and it shapes them into real people that feel both alien and familiar. In some of the fanfics I’ve read involving vulcans, it sometimes feels like the author is just writing very stern humans who are misguided in their approach to love and emotion. In your writing, however, it feels like you really respect vulcans and love their way of life- that you find beauty and interest in what’s alien to us. Which, I would argue, is a big part of what sci-fi should be. Idk, I’m trying to write vulcans myself, and the way you portray them is a huge inspiration. Thanks for all you do!

Anywho, how do you think Tuvok’s kids (as young children) would react to an arcade? The mental image of a vulcan kid submerged in a Chuck E. Cheese ballpit is personally very funny to me

I'm sorry this is so late but this ask is one of the most beautiful and touching ones I've ever received and I didn't know how to respond (overwhelmed, pleasantly) so here's a bunch of doodles of Tuvok's kids being incredibly well behaved during their family outing at the Space Arcade/Play Place

(Arcade Trip Play by Play Under the Cut)

Elieth is the only one interested in the ball pit. He isn't doing anything in there he is literally just sitting in silence and observing the different balls. He does NOT want to leave the pit!!! <- This is foreboding to his parents who know that he must, at some point, leave the pit. Varith and Asil go in the ball pit in an attempt to understand Elieth's fascination but are quickly bored. Sek watches them with his hands clasped behind his back. Whenever an adult asks if he wants to go in he says "No, thank you." He appoints himself the safety officer and will tell the other children not to play too rough and 'rescue' the smaller ones if they look like they're struggling. Asil wants to leave the ball pit and Sek manages to pull Elieth away with the promise that they will return - they will each pick an activity so it is fair! They all go into that large overhanging contraption (reminds them of caves - fun to play in!) but only three make it out again. They try to use telepathy to find their lost brother but they can't do it (too little) so they have to go find one of their parents who has to telepathically lead them to the exit. This almost gets the trip cancelled but they all promise to stay together this time!! Sek fulfills his older brother duties of being fucking sick at a video game all his younger siblings watch him play. This actually draws a crowd of more than just his siblings - a VULCAN playing video games? He goes up against a human, wagering their tickets, and he wins. However, since Sek is against gambling he does not accept the human's tickets. This only makes him cooler. Elieth wanders away to the ball pit during this time. The remaining Tuvoklings figure out that the claw machine is rigged and think this is unethical and unfair. To remedy this, they find a way to plant their sister inside the machine where she proceeds to hand out as many toys as she can before the employees catch wind and alert their parents. That is it. We're going home. Where is your brother? (In the ball pit.) While Tuvok wrestles Elieth out of the ball pit, T'Pel takes the kids to the prize counter and they put all their winnings together and ask to be able to take a ball from the ball pit home. The clerk says that isn't a prize and they ask again to be able to take a ball from the ball pit home. The clerk is tired and says Sure. Whatever. So they each carefully select one ball from the ball pit and give them to Elieth which stops his tantrum. On the ride home Elieth happily stares at the balls from the ball pit which his siblings got him and Asil takes out several toys from her backpack which she took from the claw machine. A very satisfying trip! Indeed, we should endeavor to make a visit once a week. (No.) Twice a week? (Further.) Once a month? (Perhaps.)

[moeblob]

Oh that's a dwagon! (they're so cute!)

Siblings that hoot and holler together, stay together. (thank you so much!! I love these silly lil kids)

[skeletalheartattack]

...am I just losing my mind or did yer icon become evil? I don't remember that BeAst behind Boe

yuuuump always been behind me

[cementcornfield]

do you like any other ship(s) besides joemarr? i’d like to know more about nfl rpf!

other ships?? besides joe'marr??? those exist??? 😱😱

kidding of course, though you wouldn't know it looking at my blog at times. i DO tend to get very single-minded. but there are lots of great ships in nfl rpf!! many more than i can even pay attention to!

some of my favorites below the cut

bengals ships:

okay so it's really an extension of joe'marr...but joe'marrtee has been HITTING lately oh my god. just the last month and half alone? those three are obsessed with each other and clinging to each other with everything they have at the moment. thinking about them too much hurts my heart!! (god this offseason is going to be stressful!)

treymarr: i talk about them a good amount too lmao but this pro bowl sweethearts couple is just so much fun for me to think about lol. too lazy to link it now but if you go through my trey tag you should be able to find my video of my favorite treymarr moments. it's the teasing and pigtail pulling from big tough guy trey for me!!! the way he steals his candy but can't help but give it back when ja'marr looks at him with his big eyes <3 <3 the way trey wore ja'marr's chain at their first pro bowl together. it's incredibly adorable to me and i need us to extend trey and sign ja'marr this offseason!!

'23 rookies + mike: kia was just talking about how we need a better name for these guys lmao and they've got a point tbh!! what a mouthful. but in a way it's fitting because they certainly are dealing with a mouthful if rumors are to be believed 😏 ANYWAY i just love how quickly the three rookies clicked. how they seem to be inseparable on and off the field <3 the way that yoshi and chase spent the whole summer down in atlanta together <3 and then how QUICKLY mike got involved once he joined the team!! when it's only their second year and his....9th?? in the league. and yet they seem to have the exact same level of maturity hahaha. the really all seem to have the same sense of humor if you check their instagram posts and honestly 4 incredibly weird football guys all finding each other like that? that's love baby.

germaine and bj is not one i talk about as much as they deserve tbh!!! but they actually are the 'and they were roommates' trope!! they've known each other forever, they clearly and obviously love each other. bengals social has filmed them going to the zoo together, they've done some joint interviews, i think there's a video out there of bj driving germaine around his farm like through a bunch of mud?? and then germaine got bj a framed photo of his for christmas?? (bj loves photography!) they are a lot of fun and definitely deserve more love!

non bengals ships

joe'marr + justin if that counts - not counting it as a bengals ship because this is an lsu ship To Me. literally no one who wasn't on that team is going to be able to understand the experience they all had together. and the connection they all had then and STILL have (even if it's a little different now) is just so plain to see. i'm so glad the three of them got to spend time in france together last summer and i'm really hoping it becomes an annual thing <3 plus joe talking about how he wants to win the gold in flag football in LA with justin and ja'marr?? beautiful.

but honestly i think my favorite ship that doesn't involve a bengal (hahaha) has got to be mike/tua. holy shit they just have one of the MOST beautiful relationships i've ever seen. in like, real life!! not even counting shipping (but ofc that is the main focus of this blog lol). just the way that mike came in when everyone had given up on tua (including tua himself) and just had allllll this evidence about how tua was amazing actually. the way he spent that whole first year building tua back up after flores had torn him down. how much FUN they seem to have together. how mike is always joking and flirting and how confused tua was about all of it at first. but he eventually learned his quirky tendencies and started responding in his own soft tua way <3 and then GOD all the tragic shit they've been through together too :( that first (second really) awful concussion during OUR GAME against them. that shit was so scary and every report is that tua was just laying there asking for mike - "where's mike" over and over again holy shit. and then right at the beginning of this season, when we finally thought tua was over all the health scares, and he goes down in another very scary moment and mike is immediately there for him. helping him, guiding him off the field. giving him the most tender and soft kiss i've ever seen on the cheek and then watching him walk off. probably terrified inside but knowing he had a job to do. god. these two really do kill me.

jj/koc is a much less angsty vein than above lmao. this ship is just so Hot and Fun and Silly to me. go through my koc tag (simply because it's shorter than my jj tag) and you should pretty quickly find the Heart Eyes Gif that started it all because oh my goodness. justin!! staring at your coach like that on national tv for all of america and god to see??? have some Couth girl!!! and then you listen to the mic'd ups for both justin and koc and it is literally CONSTANT flirting. these two are completely enamored with each other it's ridiculous!!! and my favorite little headcanon is justin and ja'marr (in a continuous competition! as they do!) just arguing about whose hot tall blonde older QB boyfriend is better :') imagine the double dates lmao.

cj/bryce is a CRAZY ship tbh that my dear friend em has really defined for me over the last two years. oh my god like??? they've been best friends for forever??? they end up being the top 2 QB prospects in the same draft class and are nationally scrutinized/compared/ripped to shreds during the draft process tbh! but this doesn't break them!! draft night!! watching both of their reactions to the other being drafted??? they love each other SO MUCH. but then but thennnnn oh my god they couldn't have had more different rookie years. bryce is selected number 1 but on an awful panthers team. cj number 2 on a texans team that is perfectly situated to GO OFF. and you have to assume that put a strain on their relationship!! suddenly they aren't talking about each other as much, we don't get any offseason content of them together, it's ROUGH. but now look what's happening, they're both coming back to earth around the same time (bryce up from hell and cj down from heaven is the way i mean this). meeting again in the middle. cj able to understand at least some of what bryce went through last year, bryce finally getting his confidence and joy back. i hope this offseason we can get something more from them <3 (em ALSO has this insane theory that keeps proving to be true?? a deal with the devil where one of them can't seem to do well while the other is?? you'll have to check that out because it's WILD)

and then i'm gonna end it with probably my silliest ship which is sauce and justin lmao. just watch them play madden against each other first at the pro bowl live and then over stream a few months later. they are RIDICULOUS the way that they both clearly want to kill each other but are also having the time of their lives. sauce just cannot HELP himself all he wants to do is piss everyone off, justin especially. and justin gets so heated but also isn't stopping. in fact keeps trying to initiate more!!! he wanted to play more with sauce on stream but sauce shut it down because he won! (the game AND getting justin to laugh hysterically. getting justin to actually ask for more. and that's when you gotta leave! stop it! before they get tired of you/too annoyed with you! leave 'em wanting more sauce!) but then on another stream sauce just sitting there watching justin's stream and critiquing it. completely ridiculous lol. oh and right they DO play football professionally don't they. i think if i remember correctly they had a pretty even game against each other. sadly he didn't end up pissing justin off like he did ja'marr (who i'm also convinced he has a crush on. oh sauce and these unavailable hot LSU WRs. why do you set yourself up like this!)

there are definitely more that i'm forgetting right now! but these are the ones i'm most emotionally invested in!! let me know if you have any thoughts or questions about them because despite my blog being 99% joe'marr i DO care about other things i promise!!

[marshmallowgoop]

Repostober Day 29 | 29 Years

Detective Conan began its serialization in Shonen Sunday 29 years ago, and it's still going strong!

I think this is the first Cone I ever drew, in December 2012. At the time, I had no idea that several years in the future, this series would become so dear to me—and would introduce me to so many wonderful people!

[xxplastic-cubexx]

your art got me back into x men…. (cherik specifically) i was in denial abt losing my previous hyperfixation but your art was the final nail in the coffin (NOT DEROGATORY BTW I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR ART)

WELECOME BACK MY FRIEND you can never escape !!!!!!!!!!!!!! not if i can help it ....

[sentimentalslut]

Sometimes I want to yell at you to update your fics but I remember you’re a whole ass lawyer and have a life.

also writers block dont forget the writers block

[presiding]

What is your favourite thing about Billie Lurk?

(Answers are obvious possibly but i love when people talk about her👍)

thanks for the ask!! YEAH ME TOO I love when people talk about Billie! I can't say I have a favourite thing specifically, but I can explain why she's my fav. apologies for not taking this qn literally, but -

short answer: she’s really cool

& you can stop reading there, or, for the maybe 2 mutuals who might have time to read this my thoughts on her as a character, her meta, and her character as raw potential...

long answer:

i considered making this entire thing a gush so you could read a gush about Billie. but, part of what draws me to her is that she’s not always well written, and in fandom she’s underrated for a literal protagonist.

since you ask...

billie is a cool character

when I played Dh2 (hadn't played Dh1), I was excited to see a black woman with disabilities who was captaining a massive ship by herself. wow.

then I discovered Billie’s backstory with Deirdre, the way she responded to that, then having to survive while living on the run, and her bisexuality. as well as her history with daud & delilah. fascinating!

she’s an outsider who has so much to lose, and knows what it's like to lose everything - having lost everything not once but three times - but nevertheless speaks truth to power. she's so brave! she went and helped Emily & Corvo and she must have known they might kill her! plus, she’s smart, she’s funny, she gets shit done, she’s gorgeous.

but... the meta

mild critique of fandom & arkane incoming.

skip this bit if you want - you've been warned twice now - jump to tired Hayao Miyazaki and read from there if you'd like my thoughts on writing her.

i thought Death of the Outsider was going to be amazing and then... well. *sad trombone* i've written about that before so i won't keep banging on. i figured others must be disappointed too, so I joined a few fandom spaces in hopes of finding camaraderie.

most people with complaints about DotO didn’t like how the Outsider and Daud were handled. which is valid & I agree. but it seemed like most paid no attention to Billie; when people talk about her it’s with respect to Daud, as opposed to in her own right. you could argue for fandom misogyny because people don’t talk about adult Emily Kaldwin that much either, but in Billie's case, it’s misogynoir (compare & contrast with the popularity of thomas, particularly the popularity of thomas portrayed as a white man for no particular reason that i've been able to discern - i keep asking around, is it in the books???).

i think this is a LOT better now than it used to be, which is fantastic. or perhaps i have found the correct echo-chamber? ha.

ultimately, The Fandom is a fraction of the entire picture, and not even the important bit since The Fandom is not who these games are made for. you can't make money relying on only your hardcore fans even if all of them spent a fortune on merch, this is true for any AAA game.

while it's true that Billie is underrated from a fandom perspective - but Billie as an underwritten protagonist is squarely Arkane’s fault.

it was reasonable when she was a side character - the lack of info in Dh2 makes perfect sense (if anything there was more lore in Dh2 which is kind of wild)-

- but as a protagonist in Death of the Outsider?

.... there’s lousy writing, and there’s whatever is going on with Billie Lurk, a black woman who mostly exists as a foil or saviour for light-skinned characters. In her own game there’s barely any of her own lore except where it's relevant to saving two dudes.

lore hints at, but barely touches on what race means in the Dh universe (xenophobia is stronger in Dh1; separate essay i guess), but Arkane has patted themselves on the back for portraying non-white characters, which feels like the same thing as the aesthetic of diversity we're seeing in advertising currently because it’s in marketing trend guides. it's self-congratulatory and it's a missed opportunity for deeper storytelling.

you can see an example of diversity at its most shallow in the way that Billie’s written: there’s little engagement with her as an entire person with history & wants & preferences, and the world she walks through in that game feels like it has nothing to do with her. you could make a case for alienation as a theme, but then, how do you handle the titular premise of 'Dishonored' without ever letting Billie make changes in an environment without a chaos system? it's disappointing from that angle too.

in my opinion, whatever it's worth, it was an accident Arkane created such an awesome character - they needed someone to betray daud. congrats billie.

all this said, it makes her an underdog as far as characters to enjoy & create art & stories for. it's nice to find so many like-minded, switched on people! <3

billie's character potential

she’s got a wealth of unexplored lore, being deeply intertwined with both Karnaca & Dunwall’s fates & criminal underbellies, as well as her connections to the witches & whalers, and three Empresses.

she’s lived a few distinct lifetimes and in the games we get to meet her at two peaks (KoD & DotO) & a low (Dh2 as Meagan).

her voice is very distinct, her dry & often dark humour is entertaining & fun to write. her perspective is really interesting - she’s had the widest variety of void-powers of anyone canonically, and she’s also lived through the highest highs and lowest lows.

she's got everything going for her :) i couldn't really pick a fav thing!