#and I’m playing around with procreate again

[teamgais]

hello it’s been a while. have had a lot of personal life stuff going on and fell off of drawing for a bit, but I’m slowly getting back into it. :)

here are some pouty Uchiha boys. I did not want to look up outfit refs so I just put them in cute things. it is my personal opinion that Sasuke is like 4 inches taller than Itachi and way more muscle. (Itachi is small and built for stealth. The man like only does what is essentially magic. There is no reason for him to be swole. He has phd student body)

[cuteniaarts]

@katkastrofa: *writes a single throwaway line in one chapter of Lost and Found that is never referenced again*

Me, completely randomly and with no prompting: Alright, bet–

[dilemmaontwolegs]

Not A Verstappen: Lights Out {7}

Pairing: Charles Leclerc x fem!driver!reader x Lando Norris Summary: A short skip over the winter break and into 2024 season.. Warnings: 18+ only, fluffies WC: 2k F1 Masterlist NAV: Sibling Rivalry One || Two || Three NAV: Gridlocked One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine NAV: A New World One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || Seven || Eight || Nine || Ten NAV: Lights Out One || Two || Three || Four || Five || Six || 6.5 || Seven || SMAU || Eight

Christmas Eve 2023 - French Alps The air was still when you woke to a fresh dumping of snow on the mountain. The window provided a picture of tranquillity and the embers in the fire gave a peaceful glow to the dark wood walls. Charles had disappeared at dawn for a morning ski with Arthur and you squinted against the white glare to try and find them on the mountainside. 

You probably could have gone back to sleep if it wasn’t for the door crashing open and the sudden weight of a child on your legs. Penelope crawled up to the headboard with a squeal and jumped into your arms as Max just reached the bedroom door. 

“P, watch out for auntie’s tummy,” Max reminded. She now had to watch out for yours and Aunt Vicky’s tummy, since your sister had announced her pregnancy a few weeks ago. “Sorry, she slept the whole flight so she’s full of energy. I tried to get her to play with Luka but she wanted you.”

“That’s okay,” you said as she burrowed under the blankets and put her cold feet on Lando’s back. “Are you excited for Christmas?”

Penelope nodded eagerly while Lando slowly woke and you were grateful he was wearing a hideous pair of santa-themed pyjama pants. With even more children around for Christmas this year, everyone had taken to wearing pyjamas. It was good for moments like these, but bad for quick access when you were spooning in the night.

“Papa let me open some presents early!”

Max disappeared out of the room with a wave, heading back to his suite with Kelly down the hall. The small mountain retreat had been completely rented out for another combined family holiday and at the rate the Norris’, Leclerc’s and Verstappen’s were procreating, an entire resort would be needed to host you all next year. Your bet was on Max and Lorenzo becoming fathers next. 

“How exciting! And what did you get?”

Penelope held out her arm to show a mermaid inspired charm bracelet. “That’s beautiful!”

“It’s got Ariel!” she exclaimed, pointing to a red haired mermaid as she bounced excitedly. 

“Is that an earthquake?” Lando asked as he scooped the little girl up into a hug. “No, it’s little P. Why are you waking your favourite uncle up so early?”

“You’re not my favourite,” she said with a fit of giggles.

Lando hung his head and shook it with fake sadness. “Kids are brutal.”

“Kids are honest,” you corrected before kissing his pout away.

“Gross,” P said as she screwed up her face and started to climb off the bed to find ‘Maxie’. She did a sudden u-turn and scrambled across the bed to gently touch your stomach before leaning closer and whispering, “Bye-bye, baby. Love you.”

She was gone again, this time the door swinging shut as she left with no farewell for you or Lando. He let out a little chuckle as he pushed you back into the pillows and drifted down the bed, taking the blankets with him. 

“Hello, baby,” he murmured softly to the bump. At just more than half way along your bump could no longer be mistaken for overindulgence or bloating. “You are looking lovely and round this morning.”

“Wow, you really know how to sweet talk a lady,” you chuckled as you combed your fingers through his hair.

“Shh, I’m having a conversation with my daughter, no eavesdropping,” he warned with a smirk before brushing your shirt up and pressing a kiss to your skin before continuing his conversation. The moustache and shaped beard he was slowly but surely growing thicker tickled with each whispered word, the movement of his lips dragging the coarse hairs over your sensitive skin until goosebumps prickled. 

“I can’t wait to meet you,” he said with a smile as the door creaked open and Charles walked in with wind-kissed cheeks. “I just want to hurry up and hold you.”

“Patience, mon cher,” Charles said with a grin, depositing the second layer of cashmere he had worn under his ski jacket on the coat hook. “It’s only four more months.”

Lando groaned at the reminder before shifting on the bed to make space for Charles. 

“Anything you want to add this morning?” you asked. 

You reached for the hem of the shirt, ready to pull it down if it was a no when a knock had you freeze. No, it wasn’t a knock. The thud hadn’t come from outside, but inside. You dropped the shirt and stared at the jut of your hip, right where the skin went soft as it stretched up to your ribs. That soft tissue bulged ever so slightly as you felt the strange sensation of pressure and it drew a gasp that shocked your boyfriends.

“What? What is it?” Lando asked, his voice thick with concern. 

“Give me your hand,” you ordered, already reaching for one of each as you placed them on the spot. “Shhh, just shhh.”

You felt it again and Charles exhaled a shaky breath that ended in a joyous laugh before grabbing Lando’s hand and shifting it slightly. 

“Wha-”

“Shh,” you urged as Charles pressed a finger to his lips. The silence grew and everyone held their breath, waiting.

The air wooshed from Lando with an exclamation, “No fucking way!” His eyes grew wide and he stared at his palm as if the imprint of his daughter’s foot was permanently held on his skin. “Holy shit! She…she…kicked.” 

Charles wrapped an arm around Lando as their shimmering eyes met yours. Pure happiness saturated the room, spilling out into the hall as the door opened and Oliver appeared a little worried. “Everything okay? I thought I heard Lando screeching.”

“Everything’s perfect,” Lando grinned, ignoring the joke he had heard since hitting puberty. 

“She just started kicking,” Charles explained with an equally bright grin, while you danced your fingers along your side, trying to tickle her foot. 

“Core memory unlocked, huh?” Oliver laughed at his brother’s eagerness, remembering the first kicks with his own daughters. “Breakfast is ready when you are.”

“Thanks, we’ll be there soon,” Charles said as Oliver closed the door again.

“Do we have to?” Lando asked as he curled back down and stared at your stomach intently. “I could watch this all day.”

“You can stay but I am hungry, and she is now shy,” you teased as you pulled your shirt back into place and climbed out of bed. With a groan he followed you to the walk-in wardrobe, just like you knew he would. 

“Is the powder good?” Lando asked Charles while they changed into some casual day clothes perfect for the warm interior of the retreat.

“It’s perfect,” Charles all but moaned, it was hard to believe they were talking about snow but both of them loved to ski. “Arthur wants to head back out after lunch.”

Lando looked at you and you waved a hand. “Sheesh, babe, I’m not your keeper. You can go if you want.” 

Lando hated being away the most, not that Charles enjoyed it, but there wasn’t the same level of separation anxiety that Lando had. “I don’t want to leave you here on your own.”

“On my own?” you laughed and slipped your feet into some simple flats before heading to the door. As soon as it opened the cacophony of everyone congregating in the great room down the hall spilled into your room. “I couldn’t be on my own if I tried.”

yourusername

liked by pierregasly, maxvertappen1, maxfewtrell and 1,382,589 others yourusername This kid scored the gene pool the lottery. Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Round One - Bahrain 2024 Fuel fumes drifted up from the pitlane to the balcony you stood upon as the start of the season's first race grew closer. It was strange to look down the entire length of billboards and see no new faces among the driver line up. Fernando still filled the garage beside Lance, but you held no resentment for your replacement. He was making the most out of an opportunity and it almost gave you hope that even after leaving Formula 1, maybe - just maybe - there was a way to get back in. 

Next year would be interesting with so many contracts up for renewal. It was a chance to see new faces on the grid, or perhaps some old faces returning if rumours were to be believed. You wouldn’t mind seeing Sebastian make a return. For the moment, everyone was still too busy talking about Lewis and his move to Ferrari to give much thought to the other shocks that might come with the disruption. The open seat at Mercedes was going to be sought after by every driver stuck in a midfield car. 

“You look deep in thought.”

You broke away from staring at the starting lights to accept a cup of herbal tea from your mother. “Just thinking about how the grid will look next year.”

“Gotta get through this one first,” she reminded. “Speaking of…it’s going to be hard having a newborn at home with those two away so much.”

“I know,” you sighed, resting your arms on the balcony rail as you blew the steam from the mug. The wall calendar at home was already marked with the first half of the season, all the nights Lando and Charles would be away circled in red ink. It had been collectively agreed that flying with a newborn wasn’t a great idea so you would only attend the races you could drive to until she was at least three months old. “This year’s calendar is fucking intense.”

“I want you to know you can call me day or night, sweetie, and I’ll be on the next plane.” She reached for your chin and turned you to face her as your throat clogged with emotion. “I don’t have to tell you how hard it is to do on your own, you saw it firsthand.”

“You’ve got your own life, I don’t want you to drop it all for me.”

She laughed softly and wrapped you in a careful hug. “You’re my daughter, you are my life, my granddaughter is too.”

“Thank you,” you sniffled and wiped your eyes, seeing the cameras in the pitlane pointed your way. “Gah, you made me cry. Now I’ll be on fucking Drive to Survive. I can already see the subtitles ‘Y/N crying as the season starts without her’. Wankers.”

Your mother narrowed her eyes at the camera and flipped them off, making you choke on a laugh. “So much maturity for a grandmother.”

“Yeah well I have been wanting to do that for a while, and I figure I can’t get you fired since you’re unemployed.”

You shared a grin and thought maybe you had more in common than you realised. You thought your fight came from Jos but now you saw a flash of it in her protectiveness and your chest warmed.

“I’m not unemployed, I’m a Lady of Leisure.” You laughed at the roll of her eyes before adding. “I might even get a Birkin for a push present to complete the initiation.”

“What the hell is a push present?”

“It’s a present a new mother gets for destroying her vagina pushing a baby out.”

It was her turn to choke on a laugh. “That’s a thing?”

“Apparently so.” 

“Does the baby not count as a gift?”

“Hmm, maybe you should go ask them?” you said as you jutted your head to the plethora of influencers walking around the grid taking selfies with everyone. She wrinkled her nose at the idea, quite content to stay out of the fray like you.

“No, thank you. Oh, there they are.”

You scanned the crowd and saw Max, Charles, and Lando walking out to the grid together, their heads huddled close as they tried to hear each other over the crowd. They made a beeline to the strips of red carpet and Max stood between the other two as they took their places for the national anthem.

“Looks like the podium lineup to me,” your mother whispered.

You chewed your lip and hoped the data from testing was as promising as it looked for McLaren and Ferrari. But you could never tell quite how much of it was real with the strategies and sandbagging. “I hope so, my boy’s need a good start this year.”

Click here for the next part.

[arliedraws]

“Going to kill me, Harry?”

Shrieking Shack! Again!

Playing around with Procreate and honestly, I don’t looooooove using my ipad to draw. But!! If I’m gonna practice, you know I’m gonna draw a bloodied up Sirius. Anyway, I tried to animate with this drawing and lol I need practice, let’s just say.

[dfortrafalgar]

I'm Losing You

Having a family isn't always as easy as fairy tales make it seem.

Warnings: READ CHAPTER 1 FOR WARNINGS. This is the last chapter before shit starts getting real

Taglist: @phsycochan | @mirillua

Chapter 5

[Prev] [Next]

Law’s work schedule kept him on his toes which he usually didn’t mind, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t just the slightest bit disappointed at having to miss the big announcement to Penguin and Shachi.  You reassured your husband, however, and promised to send him the perfect video of the scene so he could view it on his down time at the hospital.

You moved two large, opaque containers on the kitchen counter in such a way that your phone could stand up against them, having them parted just enough so your camera could view the room from in between the jars.  You faced the camera towards the kitchen table, where you had set up the chairs similar to an intense job interview.  You had texted the two men in the morning to drop by your apartment at exactly noon without explaining why, and you started recording at 11:59.

The two men knocked at 12:01.  Bepo barked once, a deep, bellowing boof that was less of a threatening display and more of an invitation to come in as long as he could immediately get scratched between the ears.

Taking a few deep breaths to calm your nerves, you briskly paced to the door and pulled it open, smiling at your two friends.  Bepo forced himself between your legs, excited to greet his dog uncles.

“Hey, happy Sunday!” announced Penguin, pulling you in for a hug as if he hadn’t seen you in months.  You laughed, hugging him back.

“Come in, sit at the table,” you ushered, quickly closing the door behind them.  Bepo followed the two men directly on their heels until they sat at the kitchen table.

You sat directly across from them and folded your hands, resting them on the table.  You stared at Shachi, then at Penguin, then at Bepo’s beady eyes trying to peer over the top of the table.

The silence was palpable, but you were barely containing your smile.  

You had just opened your mouth to make the announcement when Shachi’s brown eyes went wide and he uttered, “You’re pregnant.”

Penguin stood up in a startled bolt.  “WHAT?!”

“Shachi!  I wanted to say it!” you chastised, but you really couldn’t care less.  The excitement of even being able to tell your friends that, after countless months of trying to conceive, you had finally done it.  “But, yes, I’m pregnant.”  Your smile was all teeth, your eyes creasing.  You were truly elated.

Shachi sprinted from around the table to scoop you into a hug.  Penguin followed suit, squeezing you in between them as he cheered for you.

“I’m so happy for you, seriously so happy!” Penguin announced, his own smile reaching his eyes.  “Oh my god, are we going to be uncles?”

You nodded.  “Uncle Shachi and Uncle Penguin.”

Shachi squealed, a sound akin to a school girl getting a love letter from her crush.  “We’re going to be uncles!  Uncles, Penguin!”

“You know,” Penguin began, finally releasing you from his embrace.  “I always thought that pregnancy announcements were kinda weird, like, ‘Hey, we fucked and procreated!  Get hype!’  But now I can see why it’s so exciting.”

You felt your face warm with his words, but there was barely anything to hide from the two of them.  Hell, back in your undergrad days Shachi walked in on you and Law actively having sex.  Playing naive to the situation was simply juvenile.

Shachi was laughing.  “Holy shit, this is seriously incredible.  Do you know how far along you are?”

You shook your head.  “Honestly, no.  I can guess no more than four weeks, but I had to call my doctor again to inform them and get a quicker appointment, so I’ll find out more next week!”

The three of you, much to Bepo’s relief, settled down after that.  You sneakily grabbed your phone from the counter, ending the video with a smirk, excited to send it to Law.  Sitting back down, you began discussing the logistics of the matter.

“Trust me, Law and I have been thoroughly prepared for the day this might happen.  He has a plan in place for every possible situation,” you explained.  “If you want proof, I can get his notebook.”

The two men shook their heads in rapid succession.

“I believe you one hundred percent,” muttered Penguin.  “That sounds like Law, all right.”

You laughed.  “It’s definitely odd, but it makes me feel a lot better.  I know at least one of us is at least slightly prepared for any potential situation.  He has an entire page dedicated to our genetic history.”

Shachi snorted.  “Are you serious?”

You nodded confidently.  “Dead serious.”

Penguin leaned forward on his elbows, genuinely interested.  “Any horrific genetic mutations?”

“A 25% chance of colorblindness if we have a son.  How horrifying!” you stated, joking sarcastically at the prospect of a colorblind child, which, obviously, would not be life ruining at all.

Shachi scratched his chin.  “Did Law get genetic testing?  Considering, you know, the whole orphan thing.”

You nodded once more.  “He actually got genetic testing a few years ago.  He wanted to know if he was predisposed to degenerative diseases, so he got an entire genetic evaluation done.”

“He did that just because?”

“Yup.”

Penguin groaned.  “That guy is so fucking weird sometimes.”

You chuckled.  “He might be, but clearly having that information makes him a bit more secure!  And at least we know he’s unlikely to develop muscle or neural degeneration when he gets old.”

“He’s rubbing off on you,” Shachi muttered.

“That’s what happens when you’re married to a doctor,” you groaned back.

Your conversation carried on for well over an hour, jumping from your pregnancy to the latest college basketball game that, according to Shachi, ended in an ‘upset so bad I swore I pissed my pants.’  The afternoon was flying by, and for the first time in months, you truly felt happy.

—

Law took a long sip of his lukewarm coffee as he hunched over his desk, computer in front of him with a long report only halfway done with being written.  Earlier in the day, his unit had dispatched a child to the nearby children’s hospital with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia that lead to near-heart failure, and, due to the fact that his hospital’s cardiology ward had yet to see such a case, Law was left to write the report.

His fingers were quickly starting to cramp up as his eyes consistently glazed over the words ‘adrenaline induced arrhythmia.’  He could almost feel himself start to nod off until his phone buzzed beside him.  His face immediately lifted when his screen illuminated with your name and an incoming text message.

Wifey

Telling them went well, Im sending the video!  Miss you, see you later tonight!!!

Wifey

Also, let me know if you want something for dinner, Im not in the mood to cook but I can get takeout for when you get home

Wifey

[One new Video message]

Wifey

Also, can you stop by the pharmacy and grab a small bottle of toilet cleaner on your way back???  Thank you, I love you!!! <333

Law smiled, reaching for his phone and unlocking it to open his texts and view the recording.  His grin never ceased as he watched Shachi and Penguin, his two best friends since childhood, embrace you in pure excitement as you announced the incredible news.  He truly felt so lucky to have those two in his life and have them welcome his wife into their little family as easily as they had done to Law all those years ago.  Seeing the three of them interact made it seem like they had also been friends since 13 years old.

“Law, how’s that report coming along?”  A sudden voice behind him made him close his phone and lay it face-down on the desk.

“Hey, Chopper, it’s… it’s going,” Law responded blankly.  

The younger doctor, Dr. Tony, pulled up a seat alongside Law to scan the very rough draft of his colleague’s report.  The kid (relative to Law’s self-described ‘ancient age’) was a genius by definition, whizzing through medical school at the top of his class and joining Law’s cardiology ward on his rotation before finally graduating residency and joining his unit as a permanent member.  While he wasn’t a surgeon like Law was, he was an incredible asset in terms of diagnosing and effectively treating the various ailments presented to their team.  The young doctor was a hidden master with pharmaceuticals, but liked treating patients in-person more than standing behind a lab counter compounding pills.

Law still had no idea where he got the nickname ‘Chopper’ from, however.  He didn’t even know his real name, that wasn’t his surname ‘Tony.’  Oh well, topic for another time.

“Hey, are there any definitive studies about the percentage of children diagnosed with CPVT?” Chopper asked, pulling Law’s attention away from his own thoughts.  “It’s quite troubling that that child was rapidly approaching heart failure.  You said he hadn’t been diagnosed formally with that disease until today, right?”

“That’s right,” Law clarified.  “It’s thought to be an inherited cardiac disorder, passed down genetically.  My theory is that all of that child’s former experience with exercise was chalked up to asthma or something similar, until it was almost too late.”  Law’s voice was always so calm and collected, despite discussing the near-death experience of a child no older than 10.  In his mind, dealing with the lives and deaths of patients was part of the job.

Chopper hummed, his eyebrows knitted with concern.  “Poor thing, I’m happy he was sent to the children’s hospital, though.  They have much better medicine for him there.”

“Agreed,” Law replied, nodding his head.

“Anyway,” Chopper piped up.  “I came by to see if you wanted something from the break room.  I’m getting a protein bar.”

Law tossed a faint smile to his colleague.  “Sure, I’ll have those unsalted pretzels.”

“Unsalted?” the younger man asked.

“Unsalted,” Law affirmed.

Any passing comment about how truly strange Law could be on occasion was brushed aside as Chopper left the small office area and proceeded to the break room for the aforementioned snacks.  Law was still pretty tired, but he hoped the light refreshment would help him power through the rest of his shift so he could go home and cuddle with you in his warm bed.

His eyes glanced over his report once more before opening a new tab on the computer and filing through the hospital’s research database.  He bit the inside of his cheek, reading a few abstracts about the rare condition.  He ran through his memory of his own genetic testing, as well as the genetic testing he had you do in the genealogy clinic before starting to try to conceive.  Neither of you had preexisting or a predisposed risk of heart conditions, which was one of Law’s biggest concerns.  Although he could breathe a sigh of relief in that aspect, he had a nagging feeling in his gut that something wasn’t quite right.

[hymnoeides]

sorry if you’ve answered this before but what program and what brushes do you use? Again sorry if you’ve answered this😭

Idm answering again! I mainly use procreate and I tend to use many different brushes depending how I feel about going at my art but I mainly use the ones in a brush set called ‘海怪基础笔刷’. I also just use default ones (ex. Flat brush) as well as one or two other imported ones… that I kinda forgot the origins of…. I’m always on the hunt for new brushes and I’m constantly testing and playing around uu!! I also play around a lot with settings as well(I have no idea what I’m doing)

[purplealmonds]

I watched the Mononoke Zashikiwarashi stage play!!

I watched the performances on 03/29 and 03/30, and I have so many Thoughts. But I’m on vacation and haven’t the spoons to draft them up coherently until I return home in a few days.

For now, I'll do a photo/art dump of my experience.

I arrived a few hours early to the theater (I had to take the train from Kyoto to Osaka, and built in time for potential navigational incompetence). While I waited for the theater to open up, cracked open my iPad and started painting in Procreate.

This is the exterior of Cool Japan Park Osaka's WW Hall. Shaking off a lot of rust from painting from observation, but I'm happy with how the colors came out.

Photo for reference, though I painted it live. Shadows moved quite a bit while I worked because I am slow.

This is the interior of the theater. I was forbidden from taking photo and video of this space, so I painted it it, albeit messily because of the short time I had before the performance began.

Winding back time a bit, here's the cardboard cutout stand the theater staff set out right before they started admitting people into the lobby:

It was a bit windy that day, so it actually snapped in half mere minutes after its installation lmao. Not pictured is the flustered staff tying Mr. Medicine Seller to the railing with some twine.

Selfie taken after the disaster:

Keeping an eye on Mr. Medicine Seller to ensure he doesn't misbehave agains, prints in hand to be gifted to unsuspecting theater-goers:

When I was seated, some of the giftees stopped by to gift me with an acrylic standee and a cookie! The standee is given exclusively to audience members who preordered their tickets super early, so it's amazing I got my hands on one! After the performance, someone also posted my art on their instagram story! O:

The performance visual, gift shop, and posters were also deployed around this time.

Also was pleasantly surprised to see a huge Mononoke Karakusa poster displayed. Unlike typical movie posters, this one was printed on a rather thick matte rather than thin translucent gloss paper.

And here's the merch and goodies I acquired at the lobby:

I was originally buying just the pamphlet, but as you can see I did a few more impulse purchases! I ended up getting:

📖 Zashikiwarashi Pamphlet - Hoping if productions of other episodes are a thing this can become a collection. The Bakeneko pamphlet was also sold here. If there's interest I can do a flip-through video of both the Bakeneko and Zashikiwarashi pamphlets!

🎟️Mononoke Karakasa Bonus Gifts: I thought it was just the clear file and a neat lil trading card but it seems like the trading card is actually a movie ticket??? I’m not gonna be in Japan when the movie comes out though but it’s a nice souvenir nonetheless!

🌇 Mononoke Karakasa flyer - The theatre had massive stacks of them to be taken freely. The first one got a bit wrinkled on my ride back to the hotel, so I grabbed 2 more after watching the 2nd performance!

💿Bakeneko Blu-Ray - This was something I thought I’d never get my hands as a US resident so I was pleasantly surprised they were selling this. Definitely a pretty penny but now I get to watch it at my leisure when I get home! May do a write up about it eventually. The Zashikiwarashi Blu-Ray actually went on sale today, but it only delivers in Japan. Sighhh. I guess I have no choice but to fly back when the Umi Bozu stageplay goes live. Or if it pops up on Mercari some time in August the price gouging hopefully won't be too horrific.

[circe-and-the-wolf]

⬆️ Fan-art-photo-faffery using Procreate - photos of MG and KM edited just for fun to make them Carl and Rachel on a Department Q theme as I read the books

That cheered Carl up at least 🙃

There is a scenario for this somewhere in my addled brain. But, for now, let’s just guess what’s tickled him. I love MG’s cheeky grin in the @asgoodeasgold screenshot. Can’t wait to see what he does with Carl Mørck. I think I’ve said that before… 😂

I’m enjoying messing around on Procreate again. Photoshop would probably be the better platform but I’d need to take some serious lessons. Maybe in the summer holidays.

⬆️ Original photos (not mine; borrowed and played around with just for fun). From @asgoodeasgold, Getty (?) and whynow.co.uk

[90s filter just had to be done for the legendary Kelly]

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 73 Review - Meeting Kleavor

You know what I’ve noticed? Horizons likes to make recurring tropes be a staple in their episodes. In the beginning, it was Friede and Captain Pikachu swooping in to save the kids or shoving things into off-screen land. Now, it’s having the group be separated for some important occasion. In the previous arc, Liko was forcibly separated from Roy and Dot back around Episode 64 and 65. Now, it seems to be a recurring thing for this arc where the group have been separated for the second time in a row now. I get it’s to have the kids battle Kleavor on their own, but they could have done it in a less contrived way.

Anyways, gripes aside, this was a good episode! It was nice showcasing the second Hisuian Pokemon in this anime and fifth of the Six Heroes that eventually became the fourth to join the group. I like that Kleavor had some sort of history with Lapras with it being the reason why it had the scars on its neck. I also liked the twist that they actually get along and not have bad blood. The way the other Hero Pokemon tend to pop out whenever another Hero Pokemon shows up is interesting in itself and it makes me want to see more interactions. I also like its personality a lot. 

Kleavor is actually a very formidable fighter. I think this is the first time a Hero Pokemon deliberately knocked all out the Pokemon before joining them. I actually liked how this battle was played out. Kleavor moved around a lot, which gives the kids a bigger desperation to follow and continue their battle. I liked how they strategized by using the bamboos. Roy clearly was the biggest help in the group because of that. I also like how Liko took the initiative and terastalized Floragato, which then caused Roy and Dot to do the same. Man, if Kleavor was this strong, I can’t wait to see what Entei and Rayquaza are capable of when they go all out.

I think this is also the first instance where a memory of Lucius and the past is so clear and not be shrouded with pink fog like before. Lucius looks like he could be an older male version of Liko, but with blue hair and a braid on the back. The memory makes it seem like Lucius has visited Hisui which was how he got Kleavor to become his Pokemon. The most important aspect is that the memory is actually in Terapagos’s perspective, but Lucius says a name we haven’t heard before: Rystal.

By process of elimination, it’s easy to deduce that she is the person dressed in green in the opening with Lucius and Gibeon. Now, I wonder about who she is. Is she Lucius’s wife? I mean, if Liko is a direct descendant of Lucius, they, at least, could’ve procreated before he left for Laqua. If not, then Lucius could be related to Liko by another relative of his. Remember that Lucius is never stated to be a direct ancestor of Liko’s. If he was, Diana would’ve said something in an earlier episode. If not, then she could be Roy’s ancestor which could be why the Ancient Pokeball was in his possession, as it’s never explained how it was there and only that he’s had it for a long time. If those two aren’t the case, then maybe Rystal was Lucius’s sister, who could be Liko’s direct ancestor. I’m as invested in this story as the Rising Volt Tacklers are.

It’s sad to see Perrin leave the group, but her words do make it sound like she’ll show up again—perhaps when they encounter Entei? However, in place of Perrin, Diana confirms her return in the ending of the this episode. This gets me stoked because Diana is a great character and I can’t wait to see her again!

What are your thoughts about Kleavor, the battle, and the episode as a whole?

[sassymelvin]

Did I a little redraw of an old drawing of mine and I’m really happy with the turn out! Also played around with some new styles in procreate, definitely gonna try this again.

[zae-heeyyy]

From the Bottom of My Heart

In real life, I am deeply sentimental and believe everything and everyone has a purpose and a reason for being. I’m known to write very long letters because I just want to make sure I don’t leave anything unsaid. Here goes...

My fiancé bought Red Dead Redemption II for me for our first Christmas together in 2018. My grandad, who loved cowboys had just passed away a month earlier. I didn’t get to actually play the game until March, but I kept thinking about how much I wished my grandad and mom, who also loved westerns, was there to see it. Neither of them were huge fans of video games, but I think we could’ve bonded over this one. They for sure would have laughed at my love for RD now because I was never interested in the various cowboy shows they’d have playing super loud all day long: Bonanza, The Rifleman, Cheyanne, and Gunsmoke. 

I often think about how the game forces you on after the death of everybody especially: Sean, Hosea, Lenny, and Arthur. No chance to stop and catch your breath. I felt similarly after losing my mom and then my grandfather 4 years later. They, and invariably, the loss of them, are part of the reason I feel so strongly towards this game and towards this community. They were my two best friends, the people always in my corner, and I will always always feel their loss, especially this time of year.

That being said, my heart is so full. This is now the 7th Christmas I’ve spent with my lovely lovely husband to be. It's funny; he pretends to (or maybe not so much) get annoyed at my love for Arthur, but he started it all. 

To you, this wonderful community, thank you for helping me find passion again. Creating is what I love to do the most, whether I'm writing, crafting, making silly edits on canva, or drawing up things on procreate. I’ve been writing since learning cvc words. I remember sitting at the kitchen table with a box of crayons and pain paper, making picture books about adventures I'd go on. In middle school, started writing cringe fan fiction about some guys in rock band in , then “matured” to writing and speech competitions in high school. I stopped creatively writing for a long time, and while I’ve been successful with academic writing: placing in competitions, publishing in academic journals, and being published in a book. (Not so humble brag, sorry lol) I did not/ have not gotten as much enjoyment out of that as writing fan fiction and my own original fiction. My biggest dream has always been to publish a novel one day, to tell an amazing story and have it touch people in some way. I've started playing around with my own original fiction ideas again, and it's been so much fun. I look forward to where that goes, even if it just stays on my hard drive.

Thank you, to each and every single one of you, for touching my heart in the way you have. This community is so beautiful, one of the best I’ve ever been apart of, and I hope you feel the love. Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy December 25 if it’s just a regular day for you. As my mom used to say, I love you to the moon and back.

With lots and lots of love,

Zae

[shipcestuous-two]

Fallout (spoilers!)

@bourbonthesecond: The new Fallout show has canon incest. The lead has been fooling around with her cousin but breaks it off for an arranged marriage. It's apparently enough of a feature in Vault life that they have laws against it but it seems to be fairly culturally accepted. He's heartbroken and rebounds with her best friend.

Anon:  I imagine you must have gotten a number of asks about this by now but!! I just watched the Fallout show with my partners and I'm not over the canonical cousin-incest that takes place in Vault 33 lmao. Episode 1 has characters casually talking about fooling around with their cousins as kids (before moving on to "real" relationships for the sake of procreation), and the protagonist's cousin is openly in love with her. She turns him down, but to me they felt like that had more chemistry than she did with her actual love interest lol.

I really enjoyed Fallout (a couple things about it make me scratch my head but I enjoyed the ride either way) and I’ve seen it twice now. 

It’s clear that, at least in Vault 33, fooling around with your cousin is no big deal. I’m not familiar with the games, so help me out here if you know for sure, but the vaults seem to have 100-200 people if they’re full. While I can see how that would lend itself to cousins fooling around, from lack of selection, it’s also not like there wasn’t anyone else she could be with. 

Lucy states that her reproductive organs are intact and she maintains good hygiene, but she hasn’t been able to find a suitable marriage partner in their vault. 

So, except for Chet being her cousin, and she agrees that cousins shouldn’t have children together, she considers him a suitable marriage partner. (Given their limited gene pool, cousins really shouldn’t be having children together in that context, probably. But how long before they’re all cousins anyway? Maybe it’s a pointless delaying of the inevitable.)

She tells her friend Steph that after ten years of “cousin stuff”, she’s ready for the real thing. It’s unclear if she and Chet were having sex, it kind of sounds like they weren’t doing the kind of stuff that could have gotten her pregnant. But ten years! That’s a long time. 

This whole thing was a little strange, because it’s played for laughs, but there’s just a little more to it than that. Chet is in love with Lucy, it wasn’t just fooling around for him. And Lucy says that everyone knows he’s in love with her. No one cares about that either, but they all follow the rule that she and Chet can’t marry. So that was interesting point #1. Interesting point #2 is that Chet is one of the main characters in the Vault 33. He’s secondary character overall. He could have easily just been a throw away character never mentioned again. Interesting point #3 is that Chet being in love with Lucy gets mentioned again, a couple of episodes later. In a rather sad way, when Norm suggests that Chet came with him to investigate Vault 32 because he’s still in love with Lucy and being with Norm reminds him of Lucy. It’s like, ok, make me cry. Why is this so sad!

While it isn’t discussed explicitly after that, it’s pretty clear that Chet isn’t happy with Steph. For more than one reason, but probably mainly because he’s still in love with Lucy. 

I assume, given the circumstances, that Chet is the maternal cousin of Lucy and Norm. While Chet and Norm spent quite a few scenes together, I didn’t like that they never referenced that they were cousins, too. This is a tangent, but when Chet was sent to live in Vault 32, Norm called him a coward instead of being like, “Bye, Cousin. I’ll miss you!” But I think he was just bad at showing that he felt abandoned and that now he would be alone with all of his questions. But what I’m really getting at is that Norm had lost his mother, his father, and Lucy, and then his cousin gets sent to live in the other vault and they’ll only see each other every three years, if even. 

I also wanted to note that Norm calls Chet a coward, which was really hypocritical since we know Norm feels guilty about hiding during the big fight, but which also isn’t fair because when Lucy wanted to go to the surface, Chet wanted to go with her and she had to drug him to stop him. 

I really can’t believe that the show has a tortured canon cousins relationship, with sympathetic unrequited love and the two of them forbidden from marrying. 

While of course Lucy has a canon love interest on the surface and likely won’t be back to Vault 33 anytime soon, it is kind of fun that her arranged marriage, her “real thing” ended up being a man who tried to kill her. It’s like, Chet is looking pretty good right now, isn’t he? 

[newtonsheffield]

Sophie calls Kate, "What is the magic of adorable children and puppies? Because we had Ned for an hour and now Benedict wants kids."

Kate goes "Do you want kids?"

"Yes! But that's not the point!"

Kate just blinking at her brother in law’s girlfriend in her living room after Sophie’s hissed-

“Your adorable son made my boyfriend ask me for a baby.”

“Neddy, honey, come get your grapes.” Kate waited for him to run into the room, hugging her tightly around the legs before he grabbed the bowl off the counter, grinning at Sophie.

“Thanks, Amma. Hi Soph.”

“Hey Neddy.” Sophie smiled, ruffling his hair.

“Maybe you can come play with me and Uncle Benny when you’re done talking to my Mummy.”

“Definitely.”

Both of them watched him jog back to the living room with his bowl of grapes before Kate tutted.

“Firstly, thanks for calling my son adorable.”

“No problem, he’s a sweetie.”

“He is a sweetie.” Kate hummed, “Anthony and I make good babies.”

“And another on the way, Congrats.”

“Anthony’s excited.” Kate nodded, “And I am too.”

“Another sweet little baby to get Ben to pester me to procreate.” Sophie groaned putting her head in her hands.

“Do you not want kids?” Kate asked, “I mean… it’s totally valid if you don’t.”

“I want kids I’m just… only 23? Which I’m realising now sounds rude because you were eighteen when you had Neddy.” Sophie sighed, “Sorry, that was rude.”

Kate raised her eyebrows, “I had a baby at eighteen because Anthony told me he’d pull out and then I told him not to and the contraceptive pill is not a hundred percent effective. It was a stupid decision sure. I was… god, I wasn’t even eighteen yet and it changed the rest of my life.”

“You’re like… a walking advertisement for motherhood though. You love Neddy, and you and Anthony honestly might not be back together if it weren’t for him.”

Kate nodded, “That’s true, and I wasn’t ready, and I’m thankful I have Neddy, and Ant, and this new little bean and i don’t regret having Neddy for a second. But I also know how hard it was, when I was still figuring out my life to have a baby. So just tell him you want to wait, if you do. He can keep it in his pant for another year or so.”

“Thanks,” Sophie said softly before she blinked, “Now, I don’t know how different Anthony is, but Ben’s… never been great at keeping it in his pants.”

“Kate scoffed, “Hello, I’m pregnant so fucking soon after we got back together. Literally three days after we met again after all those years, we had filthy sex in my bedroom. That’s how he bloody found out about Neddy.”

[theraedar]

Hello! Sorry if you’ve been asked this before, but what app and brushes do you use for your art? It’s all so beautiful!!

Thank you so much!! and no worries, I actually haven’t gotten this question before! I use procreate and i mostly use default brushes that I edited a bit

For sketching and lineart, I used to use the default ink bleed brush (with some minor setting changes) bc I rly liked the flow of it, but I eventually didn’t like the texture of it. I still really like how comfortable and flowy it felt to use though and it was so hard to find another brush with that feel, so I played around with it to make the texture more subtle. For any procreate users, I just changed the shape source to “blotch” from the source library, but for some reason that messed with the flow so i had to play around with some other settings. I also tend to use it on a little less than full opacity. Sometimes tho when I just want to be really loose, I still use the default brush in the sketching phase bc I was never able to completely match the flow of it with my current brush!

For coloring and rendering I really just use (lightly edited once again, usually just for flow/taper preference) default hard airbrushes, then medium airbrush for things like blush, lips, gradients, and other soft color applications

When i haphazardly color doodles (and sometimes in rendering), i use this “kopik marker” which I’m PRETTY SURE I downloaded from an artist but unfortunately I can’t remember from whom anymore 😭😭

or when I want a watercolory feel, I’ll use spectra which is another default brush

Those are my main brushes! Other than that ofc I might use a bunch of specialized brushes depending on what the piece calls for, like for nature, magic effects, texture, etc. I have a ridiculous amt downloaded or some i made myself lol

[messydiabolical]

@dandenbo asked me for the art asks: 🎠What is a typical 'workflow' for a piece from idea to finished? It turns out to be a long answer so here's its own post, under the cut to save your dash! How I go from screenshot to painting: (This is not intended to be a 'this is how you do it!' kind of guide. I absolutely don't do an optimal route, this is just how I go about painting and what works for me! I've done a workflow for a screenshot to painting as I do a few different things but this is one I could explain somewhat coherently. My comics tend to be created pretty chaotically lol)

1) I take an ungodly amount of screenshots while playing. Also pester friends for their screenshots or stalk the group discord for interesting shots.

2) Go through all those screenshots cursing why I took so many, looking for those great moments that I want to paint. I’m particularly looking for nice poses/captivating moments, dynamic lighting or interesting expressions, and they don’t need to have all 3 as we can fix some of that in the next step. Here’s the screenshot I chose for my Keahi x Thane piece:

It was a cute, soft moment between them and I liked the highlight at the edge of their profiles. 3) Refine the screenshot. I don’t use anything fancy for this. I game on windows PC, so I open up the screenshot with windows photo editor. I crop the image, play around with saturation, exposure, contrast, just basic editing until it looks tastier. For this piece I wanted it to be hyper colourful and vibrant, leaning towards warmer tones.

4) Decide what I will change, then gather references for those changes. In this case I was fortunate that not a lot needed changing. I knew I wanted to move Thane’s eye position to looking at Keahi rather than the way he is slightly off focus, do a more realistic ear with earrings for Keahi, make Thane a little more smiley and lower his eyelid and give Keahi nicer eyelashes. I keep a whole bunch of art guides and tutorials on my PC so I grabbed the necessary ones and sent them to my ipad ready to have on hand for the sketch stage. I have Thane’s character model in XNApose, so I can check things like his eyelid specifically in that (this is actually for a different project but shows you what I mean)

If I was going to change up the lighting/shading I would also gather references for that. For example sometimes i’ll take screenshots of lighting schemes I love from films/tv shows (think the strong teal and orange scheme in Mad Max or the neons of Blade Runner). Or for precise shadows, I can again use XNApose. I also have a little 3d printed Thane head I can shine a torch at and take photos of to get shadow ideas. For humans there’s lots of reference to be found with online searches, I find pinterest more useful than google for this. For specific expressions or body parts, i’ll just take photos of myself (hand poses, smiling from the right angle etc.) My camera roll is an interesting place. I have drawn drell frills on my neck and on my chest before to see how the lines would fold at certain angles. 5) Setting up a canvas I work in procreate. For a piece like this I try to go pretty big, say 5000 x 4000 pixels, then i’ll crop down later as needed. 300 DPI. As I work, I’ll make duplicates and continue on the copy each fresh session. When i’m finished I make a backup save of the PNG and .procreate files on an SSD. I immediately turn the background colour down to a more muted colour to not burn my retinas. If i’m using a textured background like an oil board i’ll insert it, and any overlays like canvas effects. Set up my layers from the start basically for easy toggling throughout. I try to be good and label things to make life easier, it doesn’t always happen though. I don't wear a digital glove or use paper effect screens but I do have a bottle of screen cleaner and a microfibre cloth handy at all times. 6) Sketch. I’m still very much learning to draw. I tried for a long time to do the classic ‘ball for a head, draw the planes/lines etc. It was a constant struggle and never clicked for me, the ball especially always made things much worse, turning a circle into a 3d image in my head just does not happen. I find it better to just start drawing and work things out as I go (I use procreates reference window to see my screenshot). So I’ll have my sketch in one canvas, and i’ll also have a second canvas with the photo ref on it at the same size, and if I feel like something is really wonky and off i’ll test my lines over the photo to see what’s gone wrong, then go back to the sketch and correct the areas that revealed. Sometimes I’ll use the grid feature if i’m getting stuck.  Here's a few of the sketch stages:

Here I tried out the lines on the photo and noticed that Thane’s frills were a little too far to the left, and Keahi’s eyebrow needed to arch down towards the nose.In the next pass I correct these:

Also, and I know i’m gonna get side eye from some people for this but I really could not care less to be honest. On some pieces i’ll just trace the screenshot. Sometime I just want to get to painting, am not in the mood or mindspace for a learning experience, and this is a hobby. It’s my screenshot, no one is getting ripped off. My latest Javik piece was done this way 🤷‍♂️ 6) Painting. I’ll start by blocking in the background and the portrait flats, usually on separate layers. I try to have an idea of the background colour from the start as this can effect the whole piece overall, but sometimes you just gotta change it as you go so having it on a different layer makes this much easier.

The painting itself I’ll lay down wider areas of colours, then start going in and refining bit by bit, I tend to work on one area at a time, and sometimes I’ll get pretty well rendered on a small area before moving on, other times work on a wider area. It really depends on my mood and what i’m vibing with that day. Like you can see here I’ve done some general messy colouring all over Keahi, but done a lot of refinement on the eyeball:

7) Finshing the piece, uploading and testing: When I’m sick of rendering the painting and don’t think I can add anything more to it without gnawing my own wrist off, it is time to finish up! I make sure I toggle all the layers I want on, add a top signature layer (lol I lie I forget this all the damn time). Then i’ll upload the piece to my google drive and open it up on my big 4k monitor on my PC, and on my phone, and see how it looks (my ipad is a 9.7inch air). I find that once off my ipad, it often looks a little less saturated and contrasting as it does in procreate. So I might go back and change the levels if it’s too big a difference until it looks decent across devices (it’ll never look perfect on them all though, just gotta find that happy medium).

8) Posting online I really don’t have any strict steps for this. I know some people go for optimal posting times, and will make multiple copies of their pieces in different sizes to fit better on different sites (damn you instagram and your need for everything to be square). I… do not do any of this lol. I post when I’m done whatever time or day that is. I do tend to reblog/retweet etc before I go to bed, as I live in the UK and that will at least be getting into evening time in US. I reblog my own stuff a fair bit.

[animeisforanimation]

The Apothecary Diaries vs SpyXFamily

What to even compare here you ask? Well.

“A bunch of snakes”.

In my mother tongue, that’s a phrase to describe a group of female coworkers. Although snakes actually bundle up to procreate (which makes the simile kinda queer lol), this is meant to express the idea that women have zero comradely and are always ready to bite each other or spit metaphorical poison.

And we see these unpleasant squabbles in both stories, but the way it’s shown is drastically different.

-

In “diaries” these relationship are the consequence of the way these women live: in a constant struggle for the power male (namely Emperor’s) attention can give them. And the stiles are as high as they get: all these women are no more than political assets and beautiful decorations for the court. Their lives depend of how well they play by the rules of the palace.

Plus class segregation is a thing.

So, it’s clear why maids of higher rank and of a different, even opposing mistress, would treat the main character poorly.

Moreover, these very interpersonal conflicts are the main focus, if even say appeal of a show like that. It’s a game of thrones kind of story. And the way Maomao reacts is adding to the story: she understands, she’s irritated and even worried for her social stance and very life - but can’t actually do anything and this tells us so much about her!

And when she snaps it’s not some personal gripe, but the anger of a doctor, whose patient is actively being killed by mundane ignorance.

“Spy family”, however, is a totally different beast. It’s a comedy. Light-hearted, told mainly through perspective of a child. It generally ignores serious topics but in the rare monologues of the westerners (credit where credits due: the handlers words to a young terrorist were heart-wrenching).

So, when we see these women belittle Yor, in s1 even jokingly (?!) threatening to send her to the secret police, try to humiliate and physically harm her - and then Yor gets them perplexed by her naivety and smiles and asking their help it reads as… also comedy? Except it’s not funny at all.

One can argue, that they are supposed to represent the inner turmoil of the society, inability to trust people - it is Cold War after all. But because of the way Yor reacts - with smiles and seemingly genuine childlike honesty, and especially because of that episode when one of them helps Yor Learn to cook - I just don’t see that.

It is a joke to the creator. Haha, funny ladies funnily bully their coworkers. Ah, women.

And it is horrifying because such people are monsters.

One may remember Les Miserables and the horrible fate of Fantine, brought on her by the “virtuous” women around her.

I live in a country with a history of delations. I live in a time I’m afraid one may call the police about my beliefs. It’s a constant creeping horror, not a comedy beat.

The other thing is context.

In “The diary” there’s a lot of time for Maomao to talk with different people, a lot of them are women, most of them help her, some don’t. And so when a problem arrives, the antagonism is between people who happen to be women.

In “Spy family” Yor almost never deal with other women, even their neighbors mainly talk to and about her husband (don’t even get me started in that nightmare of a lady spy obsessed with the male lead). And so these moments with her coworkers ring not just ill-used for comedy, but also kinda misogynistic.

-

There are nuance, of course. Difference of genre conventions and the amount of time and attention characters have - but none of it changes the fact that when I say bullying in “The apothecary diaries”, I was intrigued and wanted to see how the story will play out. Seeing it - again and again! - as a joke in Spy Family makes me grit my teeth and think of ditching the show for good.