#and also very much my mood the first time I picked up Procreate

[ziyuanyuan1113]

I am in love with your art style. I love all your jjk art, it’s like stitching back the pieces of my shattered heart. Your art is so soothing and has such a warm feel, I love it. Also if you don’t mind me asking what program do you use for your art, and do you have any tips? I strive to someday create art that gives the same feeling of comfort as yours. Thank you <3

Thank you so much for the kind message! I'm actually in the middle of making another jjk piece but it's been a while so I've been trying to remember and consolidate my process. This ask came at a great time hehe

I use photoshop for most of my art pieces but I think there are a lot of cheaper alternatives (procreate on Ipad, clipstudio paint, medibang etc) that would work just as well. As for tips, I have a technical and an emotional one:

My technical tip would be to use references!! Especially if you're just starting out, it's SO IMPORTANT imo for catching mistakes especially with anatomy, lighting and perspective. And by reference I mean real life photos. I think you can be inspired by other artists' work, but there is the danger of picking up their bad habits if you only use their work for reference. I would recommend sticking mainly to real life and looking to other artists only for resolving specific stylistic details once you have a solid grasp of your fundamentals.

I would start with a rough sketch first of whatever you want to draw and then look for refs that match the mood and tone you want to go for. Get the idea down first and draw from the heart. Then the refs come in to help with the specifics (ex. what a window looks like, how someone would hold a cigarette) The jump from the rough to the clean line version is an amalgamation of all the little things you learn along the way. For example, on one day, I learned that clothing folds usually start at one point and spread out. Then another day, I learned how to do 1 point perspective and so on and so forth. Then all those tidbits slowly add up to help you get better and better.

2. My second tip would be to understand what you want to convey with your artwork. If it's fanart, what about the media that you're interacting with draws you in? It doesn't always need to be a complex answer, sometimes you just want to draw a character because you think they're hot and that's totally valid imo.

I occasionally tutor very young artists and oftentimes, they will tell me that they want to draw like X artist or X painting/piece of media. I always try to encourage them to go deeper. What about that drawing resonates with them and what specifics are occurring in the picture to make them feel that way? For example, I recently realized I love environment heavy drawings not for the background itself but because they ground the characters and seeing them do mundane things makes them feel more real to me.

For the example below, the whole set was to explore friendship and mental health. Sometimes just having someone there who listens and is willing to talk with you can make a huge difference.

Once you know the purpose of your art, then I think it makes the decision making for the rest of the process much easier. What type of lighting scenario conveys support and comfort? I went with dusk. Then I started searching up references for dusk lighting. Couldn't find the ref I actually used for colour but a quick google will show you lots of similar options.

What kind of poses feel in character for Shoko vs Geto? What is the focus of the picture? As much as I love details, I think sometimes they can actually take away from the main message. For example, if I had rendered the lamp on the right a lot more, it would've distracted from the main point of the picture so I tried to keep that and the background in general simple (still something I need to improve on haha).

Then those extra technical things (value structure, cool vs warm light, reflective lighting, connotations behind colours) you pick up along the way are all there to help you better communicate what you want to convey with your art.

Okay I lied one more tip, be patient and learn to appreciate the process. Like with any skill, there are a lot of technical aspects that you have to study and practice. I think because the end result is so visual and easily accessible in comparison to other hobbies/jobs, it really cripples beginners. Even with writing, you won't realize a book is good until you learn how to read. With art, you can resonate with a painting without having drawn a single line yourself.

I think beginners and even professionals see a lot of beautiful finished artwork and get enticed by that only to be discouraged when they find their process/finished work didn't end up the way they wanted it to look. Treat it like you would learning how to write. The fundamentals can be tedious and do take time to drill into your head, but learning them will help you SO MUCH with the creative fun parts. You can't write a poem without first taking the time to learn the alphabet, spelling and grammar. You're also probably going to write a bunch of shitty poems before you write that one good one, but that's okay because each piece lets you experiment and exercise your voice. Art is the same thing, don't rush it! Enjoy the process and celebrate your improvements.

[xephia]

Hi, i hope this question doesn't bothers you, do you have any videos of your process?, im currently starting to learn how to do digital art and have trouble knowing where to start and what to do (im always like, should i start drawing this part first?, is it better to do clean lineart or just paint over the sketch?, do i work on the lights first or the shadows?, etc)

I can probs make you a video on this at some point based on something I'm currently working on, although I have a few on my tiktok already (@ xephia) if that helps!

My process is a bit messier than many other artists - I alternate between stages of sketch and colour before I even think about ‘final colour’. I’ll start with a sketch like the ones below, then slap some rough colour on. This is because IMO colour is an important part of the composition so I want to see what works before I line. They’re not meant to be pretty or social media ready. This stage can look super messy or tidy depending on how I feel or how complicated it is. And they can look wildly different; here’s some examples:

That stage also helps me decide if I want to finish the piece or if I should abandon it (I abandon a lot). Sometimes this stage takes 15min, sometimes 2 hours, it really depends on the piece. But for me personally, it’s crucial because otherwise I find it very hard to envision how it will look later, or forget what I was planning.

Then, I do at least one more layer of ‘sketch line art’, which is basically a first layer of line art to see what works and what needs changing. I colour the important bits relatively cleanly (usually character/s) and add might some subtle shadows/gradients and/or lighting to get a feel of what it will look like finished. Sometimes I repeat this process a couple of times if I’m not happy with how the first iteration looked. This stage usually looks a little like this character sheet I’m working on, and this slice from a Kiki delivery service sketch:

It’s usually not until I’ve done all that, that I go over and do the final lineart, making it thicker, colouring the lines, redoing the flat colours, tidying it up, and adjusting where needed. Essentially I don’t start ‘finishing’ a piece until I’m happy with where everything sits and what colours I’ve picked. It’s only at this point I feel like the sketch is ready to line, and lining and final colouring can actually take less time for me than all those layers of planning somehow haha.

At this point I keep tidying, cleaning, lining, colouring, until the piece feels complete. Sometimes complete for one piece is tidier than complete for another, it really depends.

I’ll also use Procreate’s push tool to adjust things as I go in all steps - it saves a lot of time and isn’t cheating.

Although as you can probably tell from my examples, I do change this procress up a lot depending on the piece! Sometimes I’ll even paint over parts of my final piece like I did in this magical girl street. I think find whatever works for you, everyone will work differently and things like mood, energy levels, how patient you feel, how stressed you are, if you have any hand pain or shaking, and how much free time you have that day to draw can all affect your process day to day, week to week.

Some days it will be easier and more comfortable to sketch messily, other days tidier. Some days you will draw well, other days not well at all. At least for me, I find consistency almost impossible.

So I think there's no right or wrong order to do things and it's great to switch it up and keep things interesting for yourself, and different processes work for different people. Hope this helps!

[niamhsperformancelab]

week 2~ performance lab

Over the weekend we set the task of creating a character for our performance/narrative. Before drawing anything up, I decided to research creatures and villains within Irish mythology to give me a base to create a villain character that links with the overall idea that we have decided on for our narrative. I found three main creatures that had the most potential to fit aesthetically into our project These are the Pooka, Famorians and the Sluagh. Upon looking further into each of these creatures, I decided the story behind the Sluagh would fit the most into the environment that we wanted to create. I then took elements from videos I watched on creating good character designs such as thinking about shapes (how they link to the characters personality, I selected curved shapes that ended in points to demonstrate femininity alongside a sharp end that would hint at the character's villain undertones), flow (simplify the design and have a focal point, I didn't want the dress to be overcomplicated with too many colours or textures), and threes (having three features/ items to draw attention to; I picked to have the wings, dress and makeup as the three in my design).I have picked up from research on character design to create what I think is a good first draft. (see below). This first draft was created digitally on an app called Procreate using an iPad and Apple Pencil. I also used inspiration from the mood board created last week.

Over the weekend, I also looked into Celtic knots as I thought they could be placed into the visuals of our performance, whether it was the set, lighting or character design. Specifically I think the shield knot (known for protection from spirits and opposing armies) and the trinity knot (known for the holy trinity and the christian church) would be most suited to the narrative of our project.

(Tuesday)

Firstly, Lara gave a presentation on visualising narratives. All of the examples given were new to me and I found them all very intriguing and different to anything I had seen before. The Triadic Ballet by Oscar Schlemmer was especially interesting to me as for a performance that was made In 1922, it seemed very modern in terms of design. After the session, I looked further into this ballet and found a video of the 1970s performance. The combination of music, costume and movement is just magnificent. Previously I had worried that the costumes would be awkward and restrictive from the image that Lara had included in her presentation however this was not the case as each character within the ballet was so personable and so distinctively Bauhaus, it created a beautiful piece of art that I felt was almost comedic.

Einstein on the beach had a similar feel to the triadic ballet. Both had emphasis on repetitive movements that were used to represent either the music or narrative. While there were some similarities, I didn't enjoy EoTB nearly as much as the Triadic Ballet. I think the performance choreography almost tried to hard to be "deep" or abstract. I feel as though the slower pacing of the performance was more difficult to stay engaged with also even though there were many things going on at the same time, I couldn't help feeling slightly bored by it. as it was based surrounding the idea of an actual person, different to the triadic ballet where the narrative was more on about the relationship between the set and music with completely new, never seen before ideas, the narrative was almost lost because as an audience member, I was more focused on how it related to Einstein and his life.

Es Devlin's explanation of her creative process was incredibly insightful and inspiring. Her way of creating so many iterative outcomes really reminded me of my A-level product design course but gave more ideas for once the design ideas had been narrowed down. Branching so many slightly different iterations from a singular idea really showed how small tweaks can make a difference to an outcome. Seeing her take those prototypes and turn them into a final piece backed up the idea of how circular the design process of anything is, no matter what stage you are at.

After our lecture, we were then off to our groups to continue working on our project. As our task for over the weekend was to create first drafts of our characters, we started off by presenting our work to the rest of the group, talking about why we had made certain design choices. This was a great task to complete in our own styles, away from each other as it meant each design was completely different from one another and could inspire each other when developing our ideas even further. We had Amie join our group so spent a small amount of time catching her up with what progress we had already made and what we had in mind for the next steps in our project. This lead to us honing in on a set narrative. Having designed our characters already was useful to create a plot and was more like connecting the dots between the characters. As we had already researched basic narrative structures, we could amalgamate the two together with little to no struggle. We also had to take into account the fact that our performance would only last 10 minutes so we would have to adjust the structure of the storyline to ensure it was engaging and satisfying. Our original idea for the plot was to have the characters of Amie, Hemza, Liz and Zoe to be in a church/ cathedral as a party (like dungeons and dragons games are regularly laid out). One of the characters would be injured, from a recent, previous battle. Zoe's character of the fairy would then leave all of the windows open (most emphasis on the west windows). It is unclear as of yet the reasoning behind her opening the windows, it is a very important plot point as this is what allows the sluagh villain entry into the cathedral. Next, we had two ideas for how the performance would end. Someone could be picked from the party to be sacrificed or one could have the ultimatum of having to pick between their powers or the deity they worship (this also links back to Zoe's dice and dungeons and dragons as the way some characters have super powers are because they worship a deity/ god).

Now that we knew what the narrative would be (settling on the sacrifice instead of the power vs god ending), we gave each member of the group a task to complete by Friday. Hemza would create all of our characters in a 3D AI style that would allow us to visualise them in greater detail. The rest of us would then focus on story boards to convey different elements of our performance. Zoe would do the story board containing the plot, I would do one based on sound, Liz would do one based on Lighting and Ashe would do one based on the set. Amie's task was to catch up with us and complete her own character design so that we would be able to include her object into the narrative. Because we knew we wouldn't have much time to complete this project, we were going to have to do most of the making/ researching outside of our Tuesday and Friday sessions in order to take advantage of the time we had together as a group, being able to discuss, explore different ideas and make important decisions together as a team.

The afternoon section to our day consisted of our first workshop with John Trevor. It was based mostly on collaboration and how to do this in a team setting. One of the points I took from the session was John's emphasis of not trying to be unique or think outside of the box. As an artist I find that this is something that we strive for, to create something different and innovative as if you just create something that Is the same as something else, there is no use for it. Whereas his view was that to collaborate affectively then you should go for the obvious which would make the team function a lot more smoothly.

(wednesday)

John returned on the Wednesday to give us a workshop that was still improv based but was directed more towards skills that could be used in a presentation. I found the day to be extremely useful as we were given different activities that made us aware of how we hold ourselves in front of an audience and how to think on our feet. We worked in a small group of 4 as that was how many people showed up to the session. It was definitely out of my comfort zone and I did feel slightly overwhelmed at certain points (specifically when doing the task where we were to narrate a fairytale and found it difficult to deliver a specific line in a sad way) John pushed me to try again and again in order to improve and as when you present to an audience you are putting yourself out there to be critiqued. When the session had finished, we had a group discussion with John about what we thought/ found useful from the day. As a group the one thing we all agreed on was the "colour, emotion, advance" tactic was extremely useful in order to engage the audience in whatever narrative we were using as a base. I feel as though this would be a great tool to use when creating the script for our performance.

(friday)

Our reading for the week was one extract about audience, and another about space. Again, there were very few that had read the text so the discussion wasn't in great depth but the main points that I had taken from extract about audience and spectator was that a performance is determined by its audience and how they interpret it. Some are aimed at a certain demographic however most theatre pieces want the widest audience possible.

The Friday session for my group was on the quieter side as everyone was either late or absent. Hemza went through the method he used to create his versions of each of our characters. This was using an AI generator called Art Breeder.

After our group tutorial and brief presentation to the class, it was evident that having 5/6 separate mannequins (one for each character) would be impractical and too time consuming based on our strict timescale so we had reduced this back to two separate ones. One would be a combined mannequin of Zoe, Hemza, Liz and Amie's characters and the other would be a stand alone of my character. We decided on dividing it this way as after looking into audience placement on the blueprint of the studio, we wanted to have the combined mannequin within the black space and the villain mannequin outside of the space. An issue that had been raised about this would be how to use the lighting design on the mannequin outside of the black space. Light projection would be less visible as there is a lot of natural lighting in our studio. This will require experimentation and research of different light methods to see with is the most suitable for our needs. So far we have thought of regular overhead lighting that is attached to the black box's frame, use of mini projectors for spotlights and projection mapping.

As I had the sound story board, I took samples of each of our objects to import into GarageBand and started to experiment with the midi keyboard to create a soundtrack for our performance. This would be mostly to create atmosphere and build an immersive experience.

[phoenixyfriend]

SW Suddenly-Omegaverse AU: Surrogacy, Worldbuilding, Obi-Mom

Truly the main irony of all this is that everyone considers Obi-Wan the Better Omega but Anakin is the one who's actually 👀👀👀 about pregnancy

Obi-Wan: I have the deepest respect for those who do it, but the idea of growing another person inside of me is weird and gross, no, thank you.

Meanwhile Anakin is like. Immediate baby fever. Someone actually approaches him like "hey... there are forms you can fill out to request an exception for pregnancy, and like... regulations" because he's that obvious about it.

I assume that if they've got safety nets for accidental pregnancies, then they're probably aware that there are people who want to do it on purpose? I feel like in an omegaverse where 'biological imperative to procreate' can be so much more intense, then maybe there's old precedent that stuck around even after suppressants got most of those hormones under better control.

Bit torn. Just know I want Anakin to Make Baby.

"Anakin, what are you--" "Do you think offering to be someone's surrogate would be acceptable to the council as a way to be pregnant without getting attached." "...what." "They'd probably accept that as a way to practice not getting attached, right?" "N...no, that's not... what?"

Anakin approaching Bail and Breha and being like “Do you... still want a kid? I would provide a kid. Do you want one here*?”

* in this dimension

Great way to give up the baby as a parent because he'd still be able to see them once in a while but also like... it's not HIS kid, technically. He can be a cool uncle who happened to give birth, which is distant enough to not be 'attached,' but close enough that his Tatooine-raised 'must ensure family is safe whenever possible' background doesn't flip out. It helps that 'Core World Royalty' is like... a top-tier family to be raised in.

(It would have to be post-war because he probably shouldn’t be risking his life while very pregnant. He needs to be reminded of that sometimes.)

Bail/Breha is an alpha/alpha relationship and while a pregnancy is still possible,* it’s a whole lot more difficult, and that's on top of Breha's canon medical issues that resulted in her heart and lungs getting replaced.

* AFAB alphas can get pregnant, and AMAB omegas can inseminate, but the success rate on that angle is much lower than the 'traditional' alpha/omega roles, as is any attempt at reproduction outside rut/heat. They're low-fertility overall for the non-dominant aspect of their reproductive system, which... ha, Anakin and Obi-Wan try to get explanations for why the senary system works the way it does, but it's a very longform history lesson that comes down to 'idk this got cemented so long ago that nobody really knows why anymore.'

AKA "why do you title these roles male omega and female alpha instead of intersex omega and intersex alpha since both parties have both genitals."

ANYWAY

Anakin: I want to make babies. But I don't want to get kicked out of the order. But I don't want to give up my own babies for adoption. But I can't keep my own babies if I want to stay a Jedi. So basically I want to have someone else's babies? Anakin: ...wait shit that's just surrogacy.

Anakin, calling up Obi-Wan: Hey are the Organas still struggling to have a kid? Obi-Wan: ...not really your business. Anakin: You're friends with Bail again though, right? Obi-Wan: I am, but-- Anakin: Do you think they'd want me to be a surrogate? Obi-Wan: What.

I can't decide if it's funnier for the Order to be like "I mean... technically there's no rules against this?" or if this is a precedent set by at least three omegas every generation because that's just how a/b/o manifested for omegas in a biological and cultural sense.

Bail: Wait, your former apprentice is... volunteering... to be our surrogate. Obi-Wan, exhausted: Yes. Bail: He barely knows us. Obi-Wan: He respects you and you're the closest people he knows that want a child and would be good parents. Bail: And he's just... volunteering? Obi-Wan: Yes. Also, you did say your primary worry was that a surrogate might be targeted for assassination and you couldn't ask someone to risk that, right? Anakin is very much able to avoid assassins, and would be staying primarily in the Temple anyway. Very safe, and not particularly scared of assassins in the first place. Bail: Your words say you approve, but your tone says otherwise. Obi-Wan: Anakin considers me his father. I'm not old enough to be a grandparent. Bail: Ah.

Anakin is a surrogate and enjoys it and everything is fine and then like a year later he's accidentally pregnant with his own and Rex's kid, and nobody knows how to ask if it's actually an accident.

A suggestion from @gelpenss:

OH MAN i.... have to drive home. But I just had a thought about like. I always want to poke at Betas in A/B/O like are they “normal” or different from our standard or.... but ANYWAY assuming they have a pheromonal thing I just think it would be neat if betas had the ability to be the Bucket of Cold Water. Like if caught early enough, and with the caveat it’s not permanent, a beta could arrest a rut or heat in its tracks until a more ideal time. Like. They aren’t birth control. But they are the remind me later button.

Okay done driving I am Returned to bring up why I brought up betas and it’s this: well okay 1. It plays nice with a popular but inaccurate dog breeding urban legend that female dogs will like, delay heat cycles? so that the bitches above them in pack hierarchy have first choice of mate selection. And I think in omegaverse it would be cool if that was a Bio Fact, and also historically enforced by the third designation. 2. It gives me an excuse to have betas have the Most Sensitive sense of smell because it’s their “job” to pick up on things before they go too far to be put on pause. 3. I’m just thinkin ‘bout a beta clone [...] just hovering around Obi-Wan because they found out how much stress his heat cycle causes and they’re like “okay cool I will help make sure it does Not”

I want to like a/b/o verses but betas niggle at me. I want to give them a hat and a Function that woulda helped before modern medicine.

I'm not sure how I feel about betas being able to delay heats, but I do like the idea of them having a more sensitive sense of pheromone smell than most. Most aliens assume it's omegas with the best sense of smell, and betas with the worst, but it's more complicated than that because they all specialize: Alphas are actually less attuned to pheromone smells, but more attuned to things that were useful back when humans were still a hunter-gatherer species. Omegas tend to be heightened towards danger smells like fire or aggression, and pheromones relating to children/care. Betas, as suggested above, are very sensitive to pheromone changes relating to mood and behavior of the community around them.

I like the idea that betas were historically the ones that ended up taking care children, unmated omegas, and so on during people's heats and ruts, because they kept their heads about themselves long enough to do things like cook and clean while someone was reeking of hormones. The checks and balances work out that betas may have lower fertility, but it makes them better able to support the network around them.

It works in with humanity's general collective history of thriving the most when working as a community.

Given that I decided that this is Jangobi, the clones might all subconsciously view Obi-Wan as Mom. Not intentionally, but, you know... Obi-Wan the not-evil stepmother. He doesn't know how he got into this situation, but he sure is here, and he sure as hell doesn't know how to get out.

Obi-Wan "I don't need to get pregnant, I have three million stepchildren" Kenobi

I definitely love "clones all want to make Obi-Wan's heats less stressful" but like in a different way from Whatever The Fuck Anakin's Got Going On.

Obi-Wan using the force to dull the pain in a Shiny's broken leg while the medic works on it and the Shiny just mumbles "Thanks mom" and everyone gets very embarrassed and pretends it didn't happen.

But then it happens again. And again.

Obi-Wan asks for an explanation from Cody and gets a halting response that, since Jango is technically their father, and his scent has been all over Obi-Wan recently... and Obi-Wan puts in a lot of effort to take care of them all.......

Anakin overhears the clones calling Obi-Wan "mom" and just. The most judgmental eyebrow raise.... Mostly in the sense of "You never let me call you dad" "Thought you said you weren't anyone's parent." "Hey, hey, Obi-Wan. What the fuck."

BOBA. BOBA ABSOLUTELY CALLS OBI-WAN MOM WHENEVER POSSIBLE. IT'S DEEPLY FRUSTRATING.

Obi-Wan eventually manages to admit that he's uncomfortable with it at minimum because of the gendering the word has for him, can they at least use the neutral 'buir' instead?

Word spreads like fire, takes like two days max for everyone to switch.

(Anakin demands cuddles as compensation for not getting to call Obi-Wan any true parental term for years.)

[selfishjjk]

Mahito x trans!reader (cont.)

Minors DNI.

You talked with Mahito about humans, most of the time. Their good parts, their bad, and a lot of the things they did that weren't either. Inevitably, you discussed gender, and procreation, and even though Mahito didn't 'get' gender, so to speak (he could be anything he wanted, and knew perfectly well that no one else could change their soul's shape, but seeing humans try with surgery, cosmetic and the like, both interested and amused him), he didn't seem to find anything objectionable when you brought up the idea of being transgender, or even being nonbinary.

"I guess that makes sense," he'd said with one thin finger on his chin as he tipped his head back, as if there was something to stare at in the sewer. But ultimately, he'd shrugged. Tentatively you added, "I'm transgender." Only then did Mahito's eyes slide toward you, turning in his hammock enough to look at you, up and down, like you'd changed from a moment ago. And you wondered if he was looking at your soul, if souls even looked different if you were trans than if you weren't, if you were a kid or an adult.

But in that way that Mahito wasn't human and couldn't ever really understand you on a level that some humans understand each other, he also couldn't sympathize with this either, and he laughed, one of those wide-open, unguarded laughs that you were, maybe, just a little jealous of. Not this time, though. He didn't look like he pitied you - you didn't even know if Mahito was capable of pitying anybody - but he must've seen the way you stiffened, the way your gaze focused a little further down.

"That's so pathetic," he said as his laughter died down, wiping a tear from his eye like he'd probably seen in some movie. He picked up a lot of habits from movies, and from you. The way you'd flash a little peace sign every time you two met up, the way you said certain words, even faces you made at different things. Usually, you found it endearing in a way (you were kind of crushing on a disgusting man who lived in a sewer, you were long past help anyway).

But he seemed to notice the change in your mood when you replied, "yeah, I guess," because Mahito was observant, even if you'd hesitate to call him smart sometimes. His smile was a little less overdrawn then, and you knew that was from movies too.

"Come here," he urged with another laugh, reaching out a crooking a finger at you. Feeling much less enthusiastic than you would've another time, regretting bringing the topic up at all, you approach, unable to help the way your eyes still avert themselves childishly, like he'd understand what upset you.

He could've tried to say something sweet. And maybe he was. But what he settled on was not very sweet at all, if it'd come from most other people. "Humans are pathetic," he cooed this time, and maybe that was supposed to reassure you, that it wasn't just you he found pathetic. Even so, you felt your throat burn with embarrassment, frustration, irritation.

Distraction came in the form of a hand on your head, patting at first, lightly, and then petting you just a little too roughly, like a child would a cat that they know probably won't make a fuss. "That's okay," Mahito soothed, "I like 'this' you." Oh. The embarrassment didn't disappear, the frustration lessened, and the irritation.... frustratingly, it just abandoned you.

Oh you were definitely pathetic. Why else would you think some creepy spirit in a sewer was charming?

[inloveforevr]

How did you learn to use procreate? 🥺 It seems so difficult or I’m just dumb LOL. Have you watched any tutorials on how to use that app. I love your art work btw xx

Hi ! Omg this is a big question..

Ok so at the beginning I also felt that it was suppperrr difficult to use even though I was painting/drawing for a couple of years. The medium is completely different so it takes time to adjust.

For me what overwhelmed me was the big blank canvas, and the amount of features available.. like where the helll do you start! But I’ve picked up a few things along the way.

Firstly, I worked on the procreate phone app on my iPhone and a stylus from Amazon. I didn’t want to commit to an iPad without figuring out if digital drawing is for me. So I worked on that for 2 months. This allowed me to understand the interface and the features it had. Anything I did not understand, i used a YouTube tutorial. Reddit was also a useful resource if I wanted to improve technique or find resources. I’ve seen people recommend reading the procreate handbook which contains an in-depth analysis of all the features available.

Once you have a good knowledge of the app you can apply this to the digital canvas. I’d say use a reference picture and try to draw a basic outline of it with a basic round brush and block in the main colours. Also Use your creativity too and allow yourself to paint whatever you want. If you feel like you’re thinking too much about it (this happens) try doing it when you’re a little tired, your mind will feel a little more free and you can be present and draw.

Tiktok is a good resource as there are loads of digital artists on there. You can Watch time lapses of digital artists on YouTube. This way you can understand how a digital artist creates an image and the different details that go into it.

Ok and also you’re not going to be able to make a masterpiece without warming up. I actually learnt this very recently. So to tackle this I’ve been doing warm up exercises for both practice and improving my technique. This will allow you to become comfortable with creating shapes/drawing lines which is the foundation of every single drawing. I used this YouTube tutorial https://youtu.be/35rju_APLqQ to warm up. It’s really good to get into the mood of drawing and improves your skill.

I also think that digital drawing is linked to your physical drawing. This means if you improve your physical drawing skills with a simple pencil n paper you will see more improvement in your digital art. The biggest thing I recommend is to start drawing things you can see. A mug on your desk, your lamp, a tree in the garden. Sketch as much as you can. Literally the foundation of a good digital drawing is a good first sketch. If you neglect this your final piece will probably look. A little off even if you use the right colours/brushes etc.

I do a first underlay painting in a bright colour .. it reminds me a lot of the technique that oil painters use. This way I can build my detail. Then I use another layer to add detail. I always use the colour dropper to find colours on the reference picture. I use several diff shades to make it pop. Also as it can be tiring I like to work in 20min- 30 min slots. So I try get some detail in. Then work on it another day so I can see what needs more work. This way u can build a detailed picture without tiring urself.

Once you start practicing all of these things, you can tailor your art style but in the beginning I’d say keep your mind open. Look at different types of art, there’s line art , you can replicate oil paintings/acrylic paintings etc. there’s basically a tonnn of freedom w digital painting because you have unlimited resources at your hands.

Also I’d say download new brushes and create something. This pushes u out of the comfortable brushes u use.

Now all of this can be overwhelming at first but as you master one brush/one feature over time things become a little easier.

In addition to learning all this, I’d say follow digital artists on Instagram. Often they post tutorials and you can get a glimpse into their work.

Other tips I’ve used to make my work better is

1. Use a lower opacity on the brush to create more detail. Depending on what style you’re drawing when u have more shades of colours/more brush strokes it gives it way more depth

2. Use light and dark to make your work pop.

3. Consider your palette - warm tones and cooler tones always look good together.

4. If you’re creating a digital painting don’t use black. Instead use a colour above it? Black can have a tendency to look flat so when u use a let’s say dark brown.. it looks more realistic as not many things are completely black rather it is an assortment of shades.

5. Use the editing feature. If u look at ur painting n u think it doesn’t look good. U can amend the colours/shape on the adjustments bit of the app.

6. Participate in art challenges/ build an Instagram portfolio. You can meet like minded ppl and it will inspire u to continue improving your skill.

There is a lot to it imo.. digital art is not any easier than physical art but. Stick to it. U will see lots of improvement if u do a little bit each day, or each week!! It is definitely hard at the beginning but like any skill when u put time and practice into it u will see improvement.

If u are struggling to understand theory, I’d recommend doing an art course online or in person. This way u are being guided by an expert rather than just self learning. Art has a lot of theory in it and it can be difficult to grasp it all especially if u are teaching yourself.

I think that is everything. There is also a tiktokker I recommend. He is SUPER good and offers practical advice. His advice has helped me shed a lot of anxiety ab my art recently. Their @ is @handmouthdancer . Really recommend them!!

Ok if u have any more questions let me know. I love art n I love speaking about it !

[petri808]

A Special Mommy

SFW Todomomo. A!Todoroki, O!Yaororozu. written for a twitter event, parent prompt.

It was tough when Alpha Shouto Todoroki was left a single parent raising two young children after his Omega wife lost her battle to cancer the previous year. The woman had been the love of his life, his mate, and it took a heavy emotional toll just to keep it together for the children’s sakes. So, for six months after the funeral, his sister Fuyumi would watch the children while he worked, providing them some stability.

The twins were only 3 years old and understood enough to know their mother was now an angel watching over them. Perhaps it was the innocence of childhood, to be comforted with mystical beliefs. But it was a relief nonetheless how well they were handling the loss. His family had been a lot of help, but he didn’t want to keep relying on them. So, one day his sister suggested he look into hiring a live-in nanny.

“You make enough to afford it Shouto. Someone who’ll come in, do some cooking, cleaning, and be with the children. We’ll still lend a hand, but Ryouta and Shiori could use a constant presence in their life, a surrogate mother in a way.”

Todoroki sighs and hangs his head. “You’re right. Though I don’t even know where to begin looking.”

“Hmm, place a job ad and I’ll help you screen applicants.”

“Thanks Fuyumi.”

Two weeks and several interviews later, Shouto was ready to give up. Each applicant they’d gone though just didn’t fit right to him. In fact, many of them seemed more eager to get close to a single Alpha then be a serious nanny. Until one day at work, he received a call from his sister telling him to drop by her home after work. ‘Ugh…’ not another one, he groans. He just wasn’t in the mood today.

As he walks up to the front door, Shouto immediately hears female laughter coming from inside. He lets himself into the home and goes into the living room where he finds Fuyumi and a pretty young woman sitting at the kotetsu.

“Shouto, come, come,” his sister waves him over. “I’d like you to meet Ms. Momo Yaoyorozu. She’s here for the nanny position.”

The woman stands up and bows to him. “Pleased to meet you Mr. Todoroki.”

“Like wise Ms. Yaoyorozu. Please, he gestures back to her seat. Formalities are not necessary.” He takes a position opposite of the woman. “It appears you two are getting along well.”

“I like this one,” Fuyumi beams, throwing in a small wink at her brother. “Ms. Yaoyorozu has all the right qualifications, first aid training, the works.”

He tips his head to the side, “Tell me, is your father an importer, because your family name is familiar to me.”

“Yes! He deals in beverages, mostly coffee and tea import and export from around the world.”

“Then why would a woman of such family standing and means want to be a nanny?”

She looks down with a slight frown, “well, you see I cannot have a family of my own. I’m infertile so no Alpha would want me.” Momo looks up again with a deep exhale, “but I love children,” she beams, her scent switching to elation. “It was a friend of mine that showed me the ad and suggested I try it out.”

His heart seized up from her words, and the light hint of sadness in the Omegas scent. To live your life thinking no one would want you just because you couldn’t bear a child had to be painful, and yet here this woman was smiling. When he’d arrived, her scent held no sadness which told him she didn’t let this get her down. That took strength.

“You’re hired.”

“Wait, really?” Momo holds up her resume to him, “don’t you want to review my resume first?”

He gently pushes them back to the table. “I don’t need to. My sister approved of it or she wouldn’t have called me, and I believe what you just told me now.” Shouto turns to Fuyumi, “did you tell her what happened to my wife?”

Fuyumi shakes her head. “I thought it best to let you explain why you need a nanny.”

By the time Shouto finishes the story, he could see the woman was holding back tears, because the moisture was evident in her eyes. It only reinforced his decision to hire her. “I am looking for a live-in, you understand? Because my job is a very busy one and the hours vary widely.”

“I’m truly am sorry for your loss Mr. Torodoki. But I know who you are,” Momo blushes. “You’re one of the top heroes of our country so I understand why it would be best this way.”

“Shall I bring the kids in,” Fuyumi questions her brother. He nods and she leaves the room, returning with the two flanking her sides. “This is Ryouta,” ruffling the boy’s hair. “And this is Shiori,” squeezing the girls hand. “They’re three-year-old fraternal twins. Can you say hi to miss Yaoyorozu?” She prompts the children.

“Hi,” they both respond still shying, hiding around their aunts legs.

Momo giggles with a smile, “it’s nice to meet you Ryouta and Shiori.”

“Miss Yaoyorozu will be coming to live with us,” Todoroki tells the children. “She’s helping daddy take care of the house and you while daddy’s at work. Is that okay?”

Both children side-eye each other for a moment as if communicating without words. Then turn back and nod, “otay.”

“I look forward to taking care of you two,” Momo addresses the children. “You can call me Momo.”

“Aunty…”

“Momo.”

“Aunty Momo is perfectly fine,” she beams back. “How adorable!” She looks to the adults. “Do they often finish each other’s sentences?”

“Sometimes,” Shouto answers.

“I think they’re adorable.”

After Fuyumi sends the kids off to play, and  leaves to work on dinner, the two adults finish their conversation. Between Shouto and Momo, they figure out when she’ll move in, the room she’ll have, salary, and any other pertinent information. Since this is the first time he’s ever worked with a nanny, they were bound to figure out other details along the way.

“I just want to thank you for this opportunity Mr. Todoroki.”

“Call me Shouto, please let us dispense with the formalities from now on. I’d prefer to feel like you’re a part of the family rather than an employee.”

The woman blushes. “O-Okay, Shouto. It really means a lot to me to do this.”

“No, thank you Momo. Your help is greatly appreciated.”

When he returned home that evening, Shouto felt like a small weight being lifted off his shoulders. The senses he got off the woman put him at ease, or was it her scent? It was calm and very relaxed, a person who is comfortable within themselves. Even though she knew who he was, it was obvious her intentions were focused on the children and that’s exactly what he was looking for.

Ryouta and Shiori meant everything to him. It was a chance to be the kind of father he never had. Them losing their mother so young also brought back emotions from his childhood, because his mother was not in his life for many years. Having Momo around will fill the kind of void that he never had filled, and perhaps will bring the woman her own peace and fulfillment.

After putting the kids to bed for the night, he looked at Momo’s resume. She was educated at a private school, well read and articulate based on the resumes verbiage, and her hobbies were simple enough. Shouto chuckled when he read that part. A tea connoisseur. She also had a very interesting quirk. ‘I wonder why she didn’t go into hero work?’ He dismisses the question for a later time and continues reading its description of a creation classification. The irony of having the ability to create anything, but the bearer is left without the ability to procreate. His brows furrow. Sometimes he questioned why life worked in these ways.

The following week, Momo moves into the Todoroki residence. Having come from money, the size of the home wasn’t a surprise, but the Japanese aesthetics were different than the Western style her father preferred. As she walked the halls and explored her new surroundings, she could still smell traces of the previous Omega, Shouto’s wife, lingering. It didn’t bother her one bit. Life was such a cruel thing to take a young mother away from her children or leave her mate all alone. Momo couldn’t fathom such a loss but knew the feeling of emptiness all too well. It made her all the more determined to make sure the twins had as normal seeming a life as possible.

“Yosh!” She rolls up her sleeves and gets to work setting up her room. It was a guest room, but she swore it was just as large as a master, complete with its own bathroom. There was three hours left before the kids finish preschool and she’d pick them up, so she wanted to get as much as she could done by then.

Time passes by like a babbling brook all smooth and gentle. The Todoroki family truly made her feel welcome and before long, her place in the home was a comfortable one. Momo felt less like a hired nanny and more like a member of the family.

With dinner’s completed, she works with the twins on their homework. At a preschool age it was quite minimal work but important for the foundation of their language skills. She set them up at a low table, the three of them huddled around it with the workbooks next to each other. The lesson today was matching words to pictures.

“Tori,” Momo repeats. “Which picture do you think that is?” At first the kids just stare, their brows furrowed unsure. “A tori is an animal with wings,” she flaps her arms in a flying motion. “So which picture has wings?”

The children point to a bird.

“Correct, Tori is bird!” She claps excitedly. “One more time. Point at the picture and sound out the word.”

“To-ri.”

“Very good! You guys only have one more to go! Okay, uma. Which one is an uma?”

One child points correctly, the other points to a cow.

“Shiori is correct. So uma is horse. One more time, point to the picture and sound out the word.”

This time both children point to the horse, “U-ma.”

“Very, very good!”

Ryouta and Shiori bounce excitedly in the spots, “yay!”

At that moment Momo sees them look up, past her. She turns and follows their eyes, seeing their father standing there with the biggest smile on his face. “Oh! Shouto welcome home! Are you hungry, I can make you a plate.”

He shakes his head. “Are things going well?”

“Oh yes, they pick up very quickly.”

“Then I’ll leave you to it,” he smiles again. “And don’t worry I’ll make my own plate for dinner, thank you Momo.”

“You’re welcome,” she smiles then goes back to the homework.

Shouto walks away towards his bedroom to change out of his costume and shower. But as soon as he was in the safety of the room, he braced himself against the door. ‘I hope she didn’t notice…’ seeing Momo with the kids, it was so… perfect. The juxtaposed emotions of sadness and joy had rushed over him at the sight, making his heart race and his inner Alpha squirm. He just hoped the woman didn’t pick up on the scent change.

That should have been his wife, sitting there with their children as they learned new things. It was unfair she didn’t live to see these moments. But at the same time, to see them so happy and relaxed with Momo warmed his heart too. Even though their biological mother couldn’t be here for them, she was becoming an amazing replacement.

It’s been almost a year since Momo had entered their lives and the vision of normalcy was simply beyond any expectations he could have had by taking on the nanny. Ryouta and Shiori were thriving, the house was tidy, and the Omega was a wonderful cook as well. It felt like a real home. Shouto sighs, ‘and her scent is just pulling to me.’

The woman has never done anything to cross that boundary. Momo was professional through and through. He too was torn no matter how lonely he was, because he wanted to be loyal to his dead wife. But the fact her base scent is setting off his inner Alpha spoke volumes. Friends, counselors have told him it’s okay to move on. But was he actually ready to?

That question was getting harder and harder to ignore, the longer Momo was in his life. He’ll always love his wife she was his first love. But… maybe it was time to move on. His children deserved a mother figure and who better than the woman they’d already developed an attachment too?

But he couldn’t make that decision on his own. Even the idea of courting Momo, Shouto wanted to make sure his children would be okay with it first. If they said no, he would understand. Maybe it was too soon for them to replace their mother and he had to respect it.

So, a few days later when his schedule clears, Shouto gives Momo the day off and takes the kids out for some ice cream. As they sit in the café eating, he decides to pop the question.

“Momo’s been with us for a year already. Do you two think she’s a good fit with us?”

“Uh-huh,” they mumble between the licks. “She nice.”

“I like Aunty Momo,” Ryouta adds.

“Me too,” Shiori confers.

“I’m glad you guys like her, because daddy’s thinking about courting her.”

“What dat?”

“Making her my mate and your new mommy.”

“But we have mommy awedy in heven?”

“Yes, and you always will. She would be another mommy.”

Ryouta sits up and his eyes brighten. “Wow, we gets more mommy’s?!”

“Daddy we spwecial?!” Shiori asks too.

Shouto chuckles and ruffles their hair, “very, very special.”

“Cool!” The kids high five and go back to eating their ice cream.

The Alpha sits back with a smile, well he got his answer. It was a bit of a surprise how quickly they warmed to the idea, but the answer was clear. “Before we go home, let’s get Momo some pretty flowers.”

“Otay!”

“But remember kids, don’t tell Momo about daddy’s plan, he wants to surprise her.”

“Otay daddy!”

With a bouquet of flowers picked out by the twins and a take-out dinner, the trio head back home where they find Momo lounging on the couch with a book and a cup of tea.

“Aunty Momo!”

“Hi, did you have fun today?” She hugs the twins as they rush up and jump on her.

“Dis fo you,” Ryouta thrusts the bouquet at her. “Daddy said he wanna cut you so dis a gwift.”

“Ryo!” His sister whacks him. “Das a secwet!”

“Oops!”

Momo’s eyes widen. “Huh?!” She looks at Shouto, “w-what are they talking about?”

Oh shit! He quickly prompts the kids off her. “Go play in your room till I call you for dinner.”

“Sorry daddy!”

“It’s fine, you’re not in trouble, just please go play so Momo and I can talk.”

“O-tay,” their shoulders slump a little, but they do as their told.

“Shouto, what— did I hear them right?” She felt so blindsided. “You want to court me?!”

He sits down next to her and lets out an exhale. There’s no lying his way out of this without getting into more trouble. “Yes. Today I asked them if it would be okay and they gave me permission. I’d planned on talking to you about it, but I guess Ryouta was just too excited.”

When all Momo could respond with was a deer in headlights stare, Shouto began to doubt himself. “I’m sorry, maybe it was too soon or too forward of me,” he makes a move to get up. “I bought dinner already so there no need to…”

She grabs his arm. “N-No, I’m sorry, it’s okay. I was just surprised. Please don’t rush away.”

“Momo, it’s fine, really. I don’t want to do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. You’ve been such a wonderful addition here that we feel like a real family and I—I don’t want that to stop.”

Her eyes soften along with tone, but hesitation still poured from the woman, “are the kids really that excited about me?”

“They are,” he chuckles and takes her hand, sweeping his thumb over the webbing. “At first, they didn’t understand but when I explained you’d be a second mom, they thought it made them special and they liked that idea. They like you a lot Momo. You’ve given them and me stability after losing my wife.”

“But, what about you?” Again, the fear Shouto smelled coming from the woman was palpable, driving his primal side crazy. “Are you asking me just because they need a mom for…”

This time he switches, cradling her chin and pulling her gaze back to him. “Stop.” His inner Alpha needed to allay her concerns. “I want you Momo.” He ghosts his thumb and forefinger over her skin. “I never thought I’d ever fall for another, but you’ve brought me back to life. My inner Alpha craves more from you and I agree. You’re smart, beautiful, my kids love you, you’re the best person to share our lives with.”

“But you know I could never have anymore children.”

“I don’t care about that. We already have two.”

The moisture built up finally breaks free and the tears trickle through. “Shouto you know I never meant this happen.”

“Neither did I, but here we are.” He smiles. “Say yes, Momo, please be my mate and the mother to Ryouta and Shiori.”

She leans into the hand cupping her cheek, placing her own hand over it. “Yes,” she chokes out in a soft sob and crinkling smile. “I’d be honored to be your mate Shouto.”

He leans in placing a soft kiss on her lips. The flush of heat and burst of scent brought forth from the woman drives him to press deeper into the kiss. “The honor is mine, Momo Yaoyorozu.”

[diyunho]

The Joker x Reader - “Freaks” Part 1

Y/N is a metahuman with several peculiarities, but one could say the weirdest is her heart: it is gated by four locks that make it impossible for the woman to fall in love. Also one could say she’s manipulative, cunning and ruthless. Sounds familiar? Maybe that’s why The Joker is the perfect candidate to help her finally get something she always desired: a one of a kind heir.

“Yoooo-hoooooooooo, Mister Jooo-kkkeeerrr!!!!” Bane skips along the poorly lit corridor since it’s almost 11 at night and the Arkham inmates are supposed to be asleep. Yet they’re not: the ruckus woke them all up and now they are standing by the glass walls facing the hallway, wondering what the heck is going on.

The real Bane sighs, completely unappreciative of you borrowing his physical appearance.  

“Hey, cut it out!” he admonishes as Y/N passes by and she decides to stop for a moment.

“Hello there handsome,” you swing your hips while walking towards him and The Riddler snorts, entertained: his cell is right across so it’s not like he can miss the show.

“If you’re going to mimic me, don’t do stuff like that!” Bane hisses through his mask, irritated.

“Apologies honey,” you wink and continue. “Far from me to purposely chop your masculinity to pieces,” but seductively sway on the tip of the heavy boots, taunting more because... who’s going to stop you?

“Seriously?!” Bane growls and you cut him some slack, transforming into The Joker for a few seconds.

“Jeez, don’t get worked up,” you smirk and blow the green hair off your face. “I’m looking for this guy, I know he’s here too.”

“Why are you looking for him?” Killer Croc punches his fists together, hoping he can twist your presence in his favor.

“I need him for breeding purposes,” you serenely admit as The Clown Prince of Crime rolls his eyes three padded rooms up from your present location.

“I told you before I can help with that,” Harvey Dent flips his coin in the air, not understanding why his offer was rejected numerous times.

“Me too!” The Riddler grins. “You should forget about the man that repeatedly refuses your advances and pick one of us,” the mastermind gestures at the cells containing prisoners willing to take on the task.

“I want him,” you revert to your human form, Mr. Freeze gasping with admiration: he’s been a fan for the past two years. “He’s the only male I’m compatible with for procreation on this continent and nobody else will do.”

“How do you know?” Deadshot addresses the burning question.

“I just know, ok?” you pout not wishing to get into details. “That’s why I’m here to bail him out. I helped his men clear the area so we can rescue the father of my future baby.”

“Ugghhhh,” a displeased and very loud protest is heard from The Joker’s cell.

“There you are,” you light up with the happiest smile and abandon the captives held in pretty boxes lined up on the south side of Arkham Asylum.

“Hey Y/N,” Jonathan Crane smacks his lips, “if you get me out of here also I’ll give you two millions.”

“I’ll give you double!” The Penguin shouts and Bane promises:

“I’ll give you three!”

The offers keep on pouring in and the shapeshifter is not a person to say no to easy money.

“Might as well,” you press the yellow buttons outside everyone’s incarceration chambers, leaving the best for last.

“Hiiii Mister Jooooker,” you drag the words and he grumbles, squeezing past you as soon as the glass slides enough for him to emerge from the cell.

“Shut up!” he barks and you couldn’t care less about his crabbiness.

“Your crew is waiting outside,” you giggle and turn into Frost, escorting the grouchy Clown in the direction of the exit you know it’s safe to take.

“Would you look at that?” The Shark teases, not being able to contain his laughter.

“Holy shit!” Panda tries to keep it together yet it’s impossible: the real Frost gives them a dismissing glare, annoyed Y/N is lovingly holding The Joker’s arm as they come down the stairs, definitely engaged in some sort of argument.

“That’s obviously not me!” Jonny mutters and there are more disrespectful remarks from the henchmen patiently waiting for their boss.

“It’s still funny as hell!” Richard underlines and swallows his sentence when Y/N posing as Frost kisses The Joker’s cheek.

“One more sound out of you jerks and I’ll bash your brains in!” Jonny threatens because he’s sick and tired of Y/N playing charades at his expense.

Thankfully you switch to your old self immediately after but the team is glad they’ll have something to tease Frost with in the weeks to come. Although it can be overdone: under the apparent calmness he has quite a wretched temper.

“Delivered as agreed,” you cheerfully announce to his gang and follow J even if he’s not thrilled about it.

“Get lost!” he angrily stomps, pushing you away when you grab his hand again.

“Stop being so rude!” you remodel your body after his and he takes a deep breath, staring back at another fabulous J courtesy of Y/N.

“Stop mimicking me!!!” he sneers and Panda comments in a low tone, convinced he’s far behind to safely say it:

“Two Jokers. God Forbids!”

A couple of goons nearby snicker and the amusement abruptly halts when you raise your voice:

“I heard that!!!”

“Huh?” J inquires.

You just lift your shoulders up, not wanting to distract him from what he has to focus on: making sure he fulfils your demand.

The First Lock  

“You’re still here?!” The King of Gotham comes out of the bathroom, intensely drying his wet hair with a towel. “I thought that by the time I’m out of the shower you’ll be gone.”

You gaze at his naked body, reckoning it’s a nice coincidence to be compatible with such a beautiful specimen. Could be much worse.

“Why don’t you want to help me?” you ask and The Joker is aware what you’re referring to. “I’ve been begging you for a year; I must emphasize I’m losing hope and I will probably have to move to another continent in order to find a new prototype that could give me an heir.”

“Not my problem. Why do you want a kid?” he tosses the towel on the floor and digs around in the closet for a pair of boxers.

“So I won’t be alone,” the disarming reply makes him tilt his head to analyze the stubborn metahuman that pesters him on a regular basis about crap he doesn’t give a damn about. “The storm is coming,” you shift the subject when the lighting strikes the dark skies in the distance at 1:23 in the morning.

J gulps, uneasy: he saw the 6 feet creature for a split second and it certainly startled him.

“Apologies, Mister Joker,” you try to fix the mistake because it’s evident his reaction is below excitement standards. “The fire bolt must have projected my true nature. You only tolerate the pretty side, don’t you?” the sadness in your demeanor confuses J. “They all do…” Y/N whispers to herself. “Is this better?” you transform into Poison Ivy, then Cat Woman, then a random blonde girl with big boobs; by the seventh option The Joker had enough.

“Cut it out!” he finally finds his favorite underwear and you stand by the bed, opting out to be your human self for his sake.

“Can you please help me?” a disappointed woman pleads since he’s getting ready to go to sleep.

“Why would I help you?” The Joker snaps, hoping you’ll disappear from the premises and let him rest at the mansion he found refuge at after breaking out of Arkham.

Your eyes get teary and he never saw you show any type of weakness before; it’s sort of uncomfortable even for him.

“Because us freaks have to stick together.”

“Speak for yourself!” J gets mad at your affirmation and doesn’t know how to react to the tears rolling down your cheeks. “Mmmmm,” he debates, deep in thought: the insane Clown was captive for almost three months and a half and they surely don’t allow any conjugal visits in that shithole. Not that he has anybody in particular that would come to tend to his urges.

“If I help you,” the sudden switch in mood makes you pay attention, “will you quit bothering me?”

“Y-yes, of course! I swear!” you wipe your eyes, full of hope for once. “Since we’re a match it will only take one time! I’ll make it worth your while, I promise.”

You watch J take off his boxers and don’t blink when he yanks you in his arms, afraid he might change his mind: he’s not the most well balanced individual on the planet.

“No kissing,” you dodge his lips. “I only need the technical stuff.”

He gives you a cold stare, fed up with the infernal plague:

“You don’t get to make any other requests!” The Joker pulls you into a passionate kiss that unexpectedly shatters the first lock of your heart.

“Wait, wait…” you part from his soft lips, kind of drunk on the intimacy. “Did you hear that?!”

“Hear what?” he shoves Y/N on the bed and slowly crawls on top of her.

“That deafening noise.”

“Nope,” J purrs while carefully listening anyway. A strong thunder shakes the ground and he grins: “I heard it.”

“Not that, it was something else,” you attempt to explain and he buries his face in your cleavage, protesting the unwanted dialogue: 

“After chewing my ears for months, less yapping would be nice!”

You smile, delighted to have tricked The Joker with your fake tears; you sure counted on him being trapped inside the Asylum without any feminine presence to grace his existence and it payed off in the end. Making yourself available when nobody else is around brought the desired outcome: Y/N always gets what she wants.  

************

The Joker moans in his dream, unhappy with your wiggling.

“What is it?” he cuddles up to your body and it feels soft.

“I’m pregnant,” you yawn and he puffs in disbelief.

“Already?... We had sex a couple of hours ago.”

“U-hum,” you say and let him caress your skin, unaware your true essence peeked from behind the human shell. “It shouldn’t take too long. By morning I will have my heir.”

“That fast?” J opens his eyes since the pillow talk is actually interesting.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice I’m different,” you hum with your eyes closed, exhausted from the energy you have to channel into the tiny life growing inside your womb. The soon to be mother is so impatient she won’t skip accelerating the process at the expense of her own vitality.

“No kidding,” The King of Gotham mumbles, smitten with the apparition peacefully dozing off in his arms. The storm outside is wreaking havoc and each time lightning illuminates the blackness J can inspect the delicate feathers covering your body: when he touches you they change colors, red butterflies flying out of the pressed skin. He curiously pokes one and the illusion shatters into glowing dust resembling small fireworks.

The Joker has no clue that he is the first soul to ever see you like this; earlier he didn’t have the opportunity to comprehend what he saw, but he’s sure taking advantage of the situation now to understand what he’s looking at.

“Oh,” he touches your tummy that seems to expand with each passing moment: something is moving and he foolishly smirks without realizing.

Whatever is developing inside Y/N he helped create and strangely enough he can’t wait to see the result.

************

The Second Lock

J drags his feet on the wet grass, watching you admire the sunrise. He woke up and the bed was empty: made him wonder if you vanished without a trace. Yet there you are, waiting for him in the backyard since you figured you owe him this much.

“Mister Joker,” you chuckle, holding something wrapped up in a blanket. “I’m off to my house: thank you for participating in this project,” the indifferent metahuman blurs out: it’s the only speech she prepared. “I requested that everyone owing me money from last night should send it here,” you gesture at the huge duffel bag at your feet. “There’s 35 million dollars in here, all yours as a thank you for helping me.”

“Hm?” he crinkles his nose, insulted at the gift. “Do I look like a prostitute?!”

Why is he getting angry?... That’s a lot of money for a one night stand.

“They get paid for sex, don’t they?” he enlightens the puzzled Y/N. “What’s that?” J nods at the bundle you gently rock.

“My baby.”

“You gave birth?!” he forgets his hurt pride, not believing it’s already done.

“Yes, about 45 minutes ago,” you kiss your daughter’s forehead and her innocence makes your chest tightly constrict before the second lock of your heart is broken to pieces. “Did you hear that?” you interrogate the man you don’t need anymore.

“Hear what?” The Joker rushes to glimpse at the newborn as you step back, discontent he’s trying to take her.

“That horrifying bang! How can you not hear it?!”

“I have no idea what you’re rambling about,” he forcefully snatches the baby from Y/N’s embrace, grunting at her resistance. “Gimme, I wanna check out what I made!”

He parts the blanket aside and…

“Waaaaah,” the mesmerized parent holds his breath:

The sweet angel has wings embedded with neon green feathers, the same shade as J’s crazy hair.

“Are you done?” you attempt to reacquire your treasure and he slaps your arm.

“Little bird…” J runs his fingers along her wings and the mini-metahuman fusses a bit, already establishing a connection with her dad.

That’s exactly what you’re trying to avoid before it’s too late.

“Mister Joker, I have to go, ok??!!” you seek to remove the baby from her father.

“Stop bothering me!” he sucks on his teeth and begins striding towards the mansion while the panicked Y/N runs behind him.

“What are you doing? Give her back!”

“What should we name her?” The Joker ignores your outburst, totally struck with this overwhelming emotion washing over him.

Oh no, she’s already getting under his skin!

“WE?!” you shout, exasperated. “This is MY descendant!”

“You said I participated in the project so she’s half mine!” The Clown implies the obvious.“I think we should name her Emma, I always liked that name,” he adds to Y/N’s dismay. “Pretty bird…” J shuts you down as soon as you open your mouth to protest, stroking his daughter’s feathers.

He’s already addicted and this is a complete disaster!

“I’ll tell my boys to get baby supplies,” he decides without taking into consideration any opinions you might have about his plan.

“Why?!” you cringe at the proposal simply because The Joker is not part of the equation; but your daughter is already bonding with him and that’s something mommy can’t break: she has her own will and set of abilities enabling her to already make choices. You’re not sure why she’s making him believe he could be included into a two party family; there’s no space for a third, otherwise it would be a three party family and that won’t work.

“Don’t you need supplies for her?” he enters the master bedroom where the infant was conceived only hours ago.

You’re still on the patio, fuming at his absurdities.

“No, I have to go home! I’ll take care of it! Listen Mister Joker, I’m not expecting anything from you! ” you underline the truth and his witty response baffles Y/N:

“I was sure expected though to get naked and have sex right after escaping Arkham, huh?!” and The Joker protectively covers his daughter’s ears, his messed up brain figuring out she shouldn’t hear that. “Where’s home anyway, huh?” the tirade continues.

“That’s none of your business!” you shriek and he repositions Emma in his arms, preparing to lecture her mother when he gets distracted by the growth spur.

“Did she just get…bigger??!!!”

“Yes,” you join him in the middle of the room, explaining things you shouldn’t because frankly you should be at your residence by now. “She’s using capabilities inherited from me in order to speed up her evolution and then take a break to recharge around one year old landmark.”

“Fascinating,” J gushes while placing Emma on the couch: the baby is napping, not bothered by the quarrel anymore. “Wait here; I’ll go instruct my men on what we need.”

This is the limit to make you lose your marbles.

“There. Is. No. WE!” you thud on the wood floor and The Joker watches you get taller and taller until you can barely fit under the vaulted ceiling, electing to show him what he’s messing with. The metahuman transforms into the nightmare she really is: dark and sinister, covered in black feathers with sharp, long claws and fangs ready to tear apart the human trespassing a fine line.

That’s not what The Clown saw last night: you keep the beast caged but now IT needs to come out, otherwise he won’t understand the seriousness of his circumstances.

“You are not needed!” your heavy steps make the ground shake. “You are not wanted!” you corner The Joker between the table and the couch Emma is resting on. “Don’t stay in my way or you’ll regret it!!!! I’m taking my daughter and we’ll go: don’t try to stop me or I’ll kill you!!!” and you bend over to snarl in his face, prepared to shred him to pieces.

Eerie silence while J is gathering all his strength to put up with the fucked up events leading to this moment.  

“You two can’t go,” he straightness his back, so stiff one could think he swallowed a broomstick.

“Why not?” you smell his skin, antagonized.

The Joker tries to look as imposing as possible but he’s still half your size; nothing else in his mind besides some words of wisdom he’s about to repeat:

“Because us freaks have to stick together.”

You unravel your tusks, displeased with his strategy:

“Speak for yourself!”

That went down the drain fast, J thinks while the hideous mug a few inches away from his face doesn’t bulge. His eyes wander off to the sofa and he gasps:

“Where’s the baby?!”

A sharp claw points towards the ceiling and he looks up only to notice Emma snuggling in her blanket.

“Oh my God!” his eyes get big. “What is she doing there?!”

“Snoozing!”

“She’s gonna fall!” The Joker circles around you, worried about the angel.

“She’s not going to fall; she’s comfortable,” you huff and reach to caress her.

“Where are the wings?!” J glares at the gigantic mother tending to her peculiar offspring.

How many people have witnessed such bizarre sight? NONE. And yet The Clown is asking questions without a trace of disgust or judgement; only pure curiosity.

“They’ll come and go, she can’t fully control them yet.”

“Can you…can you turn into your usual self?” he suggests. “You’re very ugly like this and it’s spooking me out.”

“Do you know you’re interested in us because she’s making you?” the monster bites without using her fangs. “You’re useless, yet she wants you around.”

“Oh yeah?” The Joker’s attitude escalates despite the sticky context. “You’re useless also since you chased me until I slept with you; she exists thanks to my help! You should be ecstatic!!”

“Money is not enough?!” you gradually switch to the Y/N he’s familiar with even if you’re still mad.

“I have money,” The King of Gotham pretends not to be relieved by the welcomed transmutation.

“Then what do you want?” you attempt to compromise for your daughter’s sake.

“My birds,” he calmly admits.

You debate on his stupid reply: is J deaf and didn’t catch the memo?! He might be because he keeps on telling you he didn’t discern the odd, loud noises you heard twice so far.

You are not aware it would be such a blessing to hear those sounds again: it could mean the unconventional family Emma is trying to keep together might actually work.    

Also read: MASTERLIST

Diyunho(.)tumblr(.)com/post/153664676321/joker-x-reader-masterlist

[hoopsies]

I found you through your Lucio's comic, but I really loved your lineless mood practices and I wish you could show how you choose the colors for it/ how you do those? It's so pretty and I need to learn about it...

TLDR : I cant tldr this, but here’s muriel’s process if you wantI’m so sorry for taking so much time to answer, I wanted to provide as much details into my thought-process as I could but… I can’t?

I’m someone who works a loooot on instinct, so there’s not really anything I can provide that’s practical :/.I’d only be repeating what has already been said (work with references/get out of comfort zone, practice makes perfect T_T…). But I can share the process of Muriel’s picture (which a lot people appreciated despite it being BAD [sorry but it’s the truth lol])

Also lastly, I’m a student and I’m still young, my stuff is faaaar from the ultimate goal!!! not like i’d ever pretend it to be, but just to be sure you check out actual professional artists!I try my best to do small pieces that follow the kind of thing Snatti does for example, it’s “simple” and effective. I personally try to do quick studies with the aim of doing something similar ;v; (ill never show them tho ahah nopenope).

Not all of the things I can say about Muriel’s pic goes into your question in specific, but I hope it can help! Also I’m french hope the terms translate well in english

- First thing I can say goes into composition : there’s a veeeery quick grid that highlights the rule of third! The subject of the piece (Muriel + Innana (rip) + The Heart of the Forest) is placed on one of the third because it “fits well”. It looks harmonious? You can always play with that rule if you wish to convey other feelings tho (squish a character on one third while another fills the other two for example, another with the same idea would be a characted on the top left dominating over another who stands on the bottom right, classic!). I didn’t have much in mind beyond just getting used to Procreate so there’s not much thinking beyond just having the pic look nice.You can check out the Lucio comic again and normally, you’ll see that the rule of third is almost always there!

- Next I put a main color as background + fill it with some others to have the general mood.Best advice I can give there is to avoid as much as possible layer effects if you want to improve faster on colors (otherwise have fun!), it’s just personnal experience, but being able to find the colors yourself on not rely on layer effects like multiply or overlay to make things blend together well is important, it helps for everything, i have friends who often work with limited color palettes and oh boi their sense of colors is so amazing they create beautiful things.I picked green (on the yellowy side because green green is meh) as the main color! But forests are very varied and you can do whatever you want! There is some bits of blue here and there too just to bring variety and avoid just saturating the pic with green (tho it still ends ups like that lol)

Thus far all the moody pics I made had a main color, so even the brown trees go towards the green side (thus end up on the yellow/orange range in the color wheel), it helps keeping things harmonized and further the ‘mood’ c:. I think.

- I lied tho, I still use layer effects for those kind of painterly pics, but at the end of them! Finishing touches! Multiply with dark green on the edge just to help the eye focus on the subject + hard light for the rays of lights uvu. There’s also an overlay overall to help blend things together because ya, I still struggle with colors.If you work with Photoshop, there’s A TON of post-production stuff you can do! Curves, Levels, effects! Check out tutorials or just experiment with them yourself, they make miracles.

- Lastly, have fun!! Ya obvious, I hate studies too TuT, so mash it up with stuff you enjoy! You don’t like backgrounds? But what if you could put your apprentice having tea time with Nadia at the end of it?? Struggling with male anatomy?? Me too man, but what wouldn’t I do to put Lucio’s face on them pecs?? Just find what works with you my dude!!

- EDIT : I can say something about the beginning too! I work almost always with masses, big silhouettes for everything thumbnaily-like (like, post-it sized on the screen), just to get a feel of the overall piece and composition, it helps A TON, both for making poses and just having the general feel of the piece work great, only afterward will I zoom in with and make another layer on which i draw the details.

MURIEL VID HERE

[immiebee]

🍋~🍄🍷~🍋

(Couldn’t think of a title....so lemon writing, plus I wanted an excuse to have Lactarius mattress surf down the Palace staircase)

Shrieking laughter filled the Palace halls as The Countess, the Consul and diplomats from Sel-Ciao made their leave from another bleak, but promising meeting. The diplomats doing everything in their power to change their Potentate stern set of agreements.

The tall, stocky man was once General now ruler had no sense of bargaining without compromising. Much like Lucio, so much so that Nadia felt it was necessary for Lucio to go on one of his hunting trips for the week. She didn’t need him and the Pontentate butting heads through the entire trade agreement. More than once Valerius had to set his glass down in fear of shattering it out of pure frustration. The Potentate had no idea how to rule like a leader, he was too busy trying to act like a General to see that asking for help from another city wasn’t a sign of weakness.

How did this man even have a child?! Valerius couldn’t see this man getting relaxed enough to even get in the mood. Unless he also thought of marriage and procreation as an advantage. The Potentate wouldn’t be the first to think that way, in fact many marriages and children of royalty were created under terms such as that. Speaking of children.........

Another scream of joy filled the Palace halls as the Pontentate turned his attention to Nadia. “I thought you said your Court Magician was taking care of my daughter? They don’t sound like they are studying.”

Flinching Valerius followed the two as they made their way towards the ballroom. Lactarius had taken the Potentate’s young daughter after the first twenty minutes of sitting in on the meeting. Both of them looking bored out of their minds, Lactarius suggested that she could teach his daughter, Ewen, a couple spells. The Potentate had glared daggers at the witch until he finally broke down under Lactarius’ cool gaze.

Walking into the ballroom the group stared about. No sign of Lactarius or Ewen was present, some spell books were scattered about on the tables and quick notes scribbled on parchments. Lactarius’ satchel was also set down near the books and some herbs laid out with their names written on pieces of scrap paper.

“It seems as though they have been studying.” Nadia eloquently spoke as she peered at the table, “Lactarius is not one to pass up on teaching young ones about herbology. More than once I have seen or heard from my staff that she was teaching the orphans about good plants for healing minor wounds.”

The Pontentate nodding his head, “That’s a good skill to know. Now if my daughter can retain it. She has an unfortunate habit of not listening to her teachers back home. She’s too busy with her head in the clouds.”

“If I may ask about your daughter. She appears to be very young. After being with Lactarius for several years, she has been able to get children at a young age to focus for a few minutes before the child’s attention focus’ on something else.” Noting the glare the Potentate was giving him Valerius calmly back tracked. “What I’m saying is your daughter has her whole life to grow up. Why rush her through her childhood?”

“Because, if she’s going to take my place when I die she needs to learn how t-.”

A sharp squeal followed by a loud whooping laugh broke out on top of the staircase. The group staring in shock as the witch and the young girl came soaring down the steps on a thick mattress. Ewen up front as Lactarius had a leg on either side of the young girl to cling to while she steered the mattress with her magic. The mattress padded just enough to prevent any kind of uncomfortable bruising as they rocketed down the grand staircase and spun wildly past the three.

Valerius and Nadia softly smirking while the Potentate looked on in absolute horror at the playful scene before him. Whipping his head around he snarled at the two while they coolly gazed back nonchalantly as they walked over towards the mattress where Lactarius and Ewen cackled in delight.

“Papa! Did you see me!?” Ewen jumped on the mattress, her little dress bouncing up at down with her. “We went *zoom!* and *whoosh!* and! And!”

“What in the hell is going on!?” The Potentate grabbing his daughter by the arm he pulled her away from Lactarius, “You said you were going to teach her! And I come in and see you acting like a bunch of buffoons!”

Standing up smoothing down her own clothes Lactarius rolled her shoulder, smirking as she stared up at the man. This wasn’t the first time dealing with a grumpy fool, better to show him than explain. Waving him over to the table with his daughter she pulled a herb out of her satchel handing it to Ewen. Nadia and Valerius quietly following behind trusting her.

“What’s that? And what do we use it for?”

Ewen took the herb and turned it in her hand, her brown eyes squinting until she perked up, “Catnip! It helps with sleep and restlessness! Also helps bring a fever down!”

Lactarius clapped, “Very good! Here! What about this one?”

A minute later Ewen spoke again, “Mallows! They help sore throats or itchy bug bites!”

“Also minor burns! But I prefer to use....”

“Aloe vera!”

Picking up the girl Lactarius spun her around as Ewen squealed in delight. Setting her back down beside her father Lactarius threw her hand up in a high five gesture that Ewen happily returned.

“Very good! Your so damn smart!” Turning back to the Potentate she grinned, placing her hands on her hips. “You can’t plow knowledge into a child’s skull like one of your soldiers. You gotta make it fun and memorable. Think of it like a fun battlefield, you teach her some knowledge and then play. Repeat.” Lifting up her skirt Lactarius showed off a large scrap on her knee that was covered in a clear gel, “Sometimes hands on learning is important too.”

Ewen pulled Lactarius’ satchel to the side of the table pulling out a small jar filled with clear gel, “This is the Aloe Vera, Papa! You don’t have to use a bunch and it kinda burns at first.”

The Potentate took the small jar inspecting it carefully. His eyes scanning over everything on the table and then to his daughter as she pulled Nadia over to name off more herbs. His brown eyes locking on to the witch as Valerius approached her, calmly asking how her wound happened. Something about skidding off the mattress the first time and onto the marble floor. The Consul rolling his eyes when Lactarius murmured something about him giving her a matching set later that night.

The two blushing when they discovered the Potentate had been listening to their ‘private’ conversation. Quirking his eyebrow his own smug smile finally breaking across his face.

“It seems as though you have a gift for teaching, witch. I feared that you would be like the other Court Magicians I have met before, all show and nothing to gain. But have to say I’m pleasantly mistaken.”

“I’m glad, sir. I’d hate to make my Countess and fellow Court memebers look disdainful due to my lack of knowledge.”

Turning towards the large doors the Pontentate waved over his shoulder, “ Countess I wish to return to our meeting, if you wish to tolerate me for another hour. I feel like I now have a better understanding of Vesuvia and your traditions now that I have seen a teacher in action.”

Nadia gazed at the Potentate her crimson eyes coolly glancing over to Lactarius as she gave a small whistful smile, “I would be honored. I am truely glad you are pleased with what you saw.”

As the two exited the Consul followed shortly after peeling a piece of paper into a ball, but not before dropping a kiss to Lactarius’ cheek, whispering his thanks. Pulling her hand to his lips he gave her the top of her hand a kiss before pulling away, leaving the witch and the young girl alone again.

Quirking her eyebrow Lactarius opened her palm to reveal the small piece of balled up paper. Blushing she quickly discarded the piece of paper as Ewen tugged on her skirt for another lesson.

As Lactarius pulled out more herbs, Ewen sat down on the chair next to her. The young girl’s confused voice filling the room.

“Why would the Consul want you to bring Aloe Vera tonight? Is he hurt too!?”

[easyfoodnetwork]

The Lack of Flavor in ‘Emily in Paris’ Is Only Emphasized by Its Meals

Courtesy of Netflix

Among the Netflix series’s set pieces are a boulangerie, a brasserie, and a bistro, which represent Paris as artlessly as the show’s American protagonist

Democracy in the United States is either in its death throes or just a very painful midlife crisis. We’re a country led by a very sick, very silly old man. Meanwhile, a non-ideological virus is metastasizing thanks to ideological idiocy, and a fly is the star of the vice presidential debates since it is slightly more meme-able than systemic racism. Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide whether to pay for COBRA or child care. Recession turns deeper, expressions turn dire. Sartre looks like a Hallmark card. And amid all this chaos, more chaos: Netflix releases Emily in Paris.

What could have been, and should have been, a blissful escapist confection, the Darren Star — he of Sex in the City and Younger — production is instead a croissant of poop and pee that proves, as Sartre entitled his play, there is no exit. The remit of this review, like all Eater at the Movies, is how food plays into the show. In this case, all of Emily in Paris’s ineptitude can be refracted through the show’s boulangerie, brasserie, and bistro, which, like every other aspect of the city, is simplified into inane simulacra, a fetishized form whose richness and texture has been stripped away through Instagram filters and the willful trite presuppositions, not to mention arrogance and cupidity, of the titular character, Emily.

Though the series bursts with an admixture of Parisian errata and cliche, the first true food moment doesn’t pertain to Paris at all but to Chicago, the former home of Emily Cooper, the social media manager hero (with fewer than 50 Instagram followers?) who has left the Windy City for the City of Light. Upon meeting her boss’s boss at the Parisian marketing firm to which she has been assigned, the man says, apropos her home city, “I know Chicago. I’ve had the deep-dish pizza there.” Emily begins to say how proud Chicagoans are of it when he interrupts, “It was like a quiche made of cement.” To which Ms. Cooper replies, “You must have eaten at Lou Malnati’s.” There are literally endless fictional pizzerie to slag off. Combine any vowel-heavy chain of syllables and you have a mediocre joke that would land almost exactly the same. And yet, no, Emily in Paris chose Lou Malnati’s, a deep-dish institution in Chicago since 1971. Sure, it’s a chain, but a small one, and there might be (certainly is) better deep-dish pizza out there, but why pick on Lou? This isn’t David versus Goliath as much as Goliath flicking boogers on David, and to what end? In a bid for insider specificity, the series shat on a small business. And if the argument is made that any publicity is good publicity, that simply proves that the inherent ickiness of the character is, sad to say, true to life: that all we have is spectacle.

We are, I think, quite rightly in need of some sort of frothy fantasy. I mean, how many times can you refresh the New York Times or rewatch The Social Dilemma or listen to the next NPR Politics Podcast? But it is equally true that in times as trying as these, which are — and here is a truth out of which we can not wriggle — a consequence of our dysfunction, the hitherto benign escape routes we previously took reveal themselves as not quite as benign as we thought. Would Emily in Paris hit differently if it weren’t also true that we are watching in real time how social media has rendered reality subservient to our easily shared interpretations of it? I dunno, does smoking look so cool on film when your grandfather died of lung cancer? I think not. Despite the beauty Paris has to offer, the show is built on an ugly and insidious premise. Everything is content. Nothing is real unless extruded into a social media algorithm, ratified in its existence by the likes of others. There is no present. There is only post, and posting.

Almost countless times through the first three episodes, Emily and the other characters demonstrate a complete disregard for reality in preference for the platforms of social media (in the show, these posts float on screen, complete with followers and hashtags, like ethereal projections.) Paris isn’t Paris but, as Emily tells her Chicagoan boyfriend while Facetiming as she walks, “The entire city looks like Ratatouille.” Meaning that the character’s entire frame of reference is itself a cartoonish recreation, a copy of a copy of a copy.

In another instance Emily’s friend Mindy Chen, one of the very few people of color to make an appearance in this unrelentingly white show, says, “Have you ever had ris de veau?” to which Emily replies, “Why? What is that, rice with veal?” to which Mindy replies, “That’s what I thought too. I think it’s brains or balls, but it tastes like ass.” As a frequent and fervent eater of ass, I can say affirmatively this is not the case. Ris de veau, which are sweetbreads, are not brains, balls, nor ass, but the thymus. This isn’t Chef’s Table and we don’t need a slow-motion disquisition on it but, for the love of God, would it hurt to close the loop on that in some way so that the error, and yes, defamation of a protein doesn’t stand uncorrected? No, and the reason is that reality doesn’t matter.

Now, it should be mentioned that Emily’s paramour, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), is a chef; in fact, he is the chef at the bistro at which the ris de veau conversation takes place. He is incredibly handsome. So handsome. Like if Armie Hammer procreated with one of the sturdier barricades in Les Mis — Gabriel would be the gorgeous offspring. I mean, even though I’m quite upset about this true excrescence while contemplating his torso and face, I’m filled with jouissance, with all its Barthesian overtones of orgasmic joy. And I guess the contemplation of his beauty has put me in a good mood too, because honestly the acting throughout the series is really strong and Paris’s beauty does emerge from the shitshow unscathed and even if the boulangerie are nothing but blank parodies of themselves and the scenes within them are riddled with continuity errors, to see such vast array of batards, baguettes, pains au chocolat, croissants, and brioche is enormously pleasurable. But anyway, as angelic as he is, Gabriel can’t save this carnival of fart smell.

Look, there is smart-dumb and dumb-dumb and the archetype of an ingenue American in Paris is well-trod territory both in the hands of Star himself (viz. the “An American Girl in Paris” episodes of Sex in the City) as well as by luminaries such as Godard in A Bout de Souffle. Sometimes a naif from the Midwest is a divine fool, recognizing truths unseen by those accustomed to them. But Emily in Paris is dumb-dumb. That is to say, the show is silly in ways that I can’t imagine they meant to be. Consider the croissant. At one point, as an indicator of Emily’s rapier wit, she takes a picture of a gaggle of French women, fresh from spinning, enjoying a post-workout smoke. “#Frenchworkout #Smokin’bodies” she writes in a judge-y Instagram caption. Unremarked upon is the fact that Emily, still clad in her running outfit (which reveals, it might be noted, a totes shredded six pack), is holding a croissant — which is totally fine, but an indulgence all the same. This falls into a pattern that presents paradoxes without comment and which seem sloppy rather than provocative. The most egregious example, I think, takes place at the bistro where, unbeknownst to Emily, her potential new boyfriend Gabriel works as head chef. In a trope as well done as a Shake Shack patty, she sends her steak back, complaining it is undercooked. This is then followed by a brief very American diatribe about how, in America, the customer is always right. Is she supposed to be ridiculous or relatable? At any rate, the steak is sent back to the kitchen and then presented almost immediately with the predictable reply that the meat is cooked as the meat should be cooked. Emily is on the edge of advocating for herself when she catches sight of Angel Gabriel and, in an act again of unremarked-upon deflation, quickly backtracks to say the steak is perfect as it is. What are we left with but an increasingly futile hope that this is all pretext for a massive late-season volta in which Emily, like Oedipus or Creon, realizes her shortcomings, gouges out her eyes, and exiles herself to the periphery? No, this fantasy holds as little promise in Emily in Paris as it does in Washington, D.C.

There’s an early scene when Emily first meets her new best friend, Mindy, who is working as an au pair despite (or in spite of) her familial wealth. In this scene, the pair are sitting in a Parisian park and Mindy’s charges, two towheaded French children, are playing by a fountain. Without asking, Emily snaps and shares a picture of the kid to her account @emilyinparis, demonstrating her growing habit of photographing and Instagramming people without their consent. In this instance, I got so mad I had to get up and do a lap around my living room. What irked me so much was that taking a picture, let alone sharing it, of minors is so fucked up and, as it happens, illegal according to France’s Penal Code (Sec 226.1) and yet here passes without mention as if it were de rigueur. The gesture takes something beautiful and alive and, with an unthinking sense of entitlement, pins it like a dead monarch for the display and edification of others, imprisoning it behind hashtag bars and digested in the maw of a rapacious feed. And this gesture, which is essentially one of disrespect, is at the heart of every line, in every bite of every morsel of every meal that is served in Emily in Paris. To see something you know is beautiful made to bow in order to enter through the narrow aperture of idiocy makes one lose one’s appetite. Sure, Paris is a city of lights, of beauty, of love and, yes, croissants. But the more you love Paris, which is to say, the more you love life, with all its complexity, nuance and agenda- and metric-defying splendour, the more you’ll find Emily in Paris unpalatable, if not downright degueulasse.

Joshua David Stein is the co-author of the forthcoming Nom Wah Tea Parlor and Il Buco Essentials: Stories & Recipes cookbooks and the memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef with Kwame Onwuachi. He is the author of the six children’s books, most recently The Invisible Alphabet, with illustrations by Ron Barrett. Follow him on Instagram at @joshuadavidstein.

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2SGN8Rc https://ift.tt/3lwaHbG

Courtesy of Netflix

Among the Netflix series’s set pieces are a boulangerie, a brasserie, and a bistro, which represent Paris as artlessly as the show’s American protagonist

Democracy in the United States is either in its death throes or just a very painful midlife crisis. We’re a country led by a very sick, very silly old man. Meanwhile, a non-ideological virus is metastasizing thanks to ideological idiocy, and a fly is the star of the vice presidential debates since it is slightly more meme-able than systemic racism. Meanwhile, I’m trying to decide whether to pay for COBRA or child care. Recession turns deeper, expressions turn dire. Sartre looks like a Hallmark card. And amid all this chaos, more chaos: Netflix releases Emily in Paris.

What could have been, and should have been, a blissful escapist confection, the Darren Star — he of Sex in the City and Younger — production is instead a croissant of poop and pee that proves, as Sartre entitled his play, there is no exit. The remit of this review, like all Eater at the Movies, is how food plays into the show. In this case, all of Emily in Paris’s ineptitude can be refracted through the show’s boulangerie, brasserie, and bistro, which, like every other aspect of the city, is simplified into inane simulacra, a fetishized form whose richness and texture has been stripped away through Instagram filters and the willful trite presuppositions, not to mention arrogance and cupidity, of the titular character, Emily.

Though the series bursts with an admixture of Parisian errata and cliche, the first true food moment doesn’t pertain to Paris at all but to Chicago, the former home of Emily Cooper, the social media manager hero (with fewer than 50 Instagram followers?) who has left the Windy City for the City of Light. Upon meeting her boss’s boss at the Parisian marketing firm to which she has been assigned, the man says, apropos her home city, “I know Chicago. I’ve had the deep-dish pizza there.” Emily begins to say how proud Chicagoans are of it when he interrupts, “It was like a quiche made of cement.” To which Ms. Cooper replies, “You must have eaten at Lou Malnati’s.” There are literally endless fictional pizzerie to slag off. Combine any vowel-heavy chain of syllables and you have a mediocre joke that would land almost exactly the same. And yet, no, Emily in Paris chose Lou Malnati’s, a deep-dish institution in Chicago since 1971. Sure, it’s a chain, but a small one, and there might be (certainly is) better deep-dish pizza out there, but why pick on Lou? This isn’t David versus Goliath as much as Goliath flicking boogers on David, and to what end? In a bid for insider specificity, the series shat on a small business. And if the argument is made that any publicity is good publicity, that simply proves that the inherent ickiness of the character is, sad to say, true to life: that all we have is spectacle.

We are, I think, quite rightly in need of some sort of frothy fantasy. I mean, how many times can you refresh the New York Times or rewatch The Social Dilemma or listen to the next NPR Politics Podcast? But it is equally true that in times as trying as these, which are — and here is a truth out of which we can not wriggle — a consequence of our dysfunction, the hitherto benign escape routes we previously took reveal themselves as not quite as benign as we thought. Would Emily in Paris hit differently if it weren’t also true that we are watching in real time how social media has rendered reality subservient to our easily shared interpretations of it? I dunno, does smoking look so cool on film when your grandfather died of lung cancer? I think not. Despite the beauty Paris has to offer, the show is built on an ugly and insidious premise. Everything is content. Nothing is real unless extruded into a social media algorithm, ratified in its existence by the likes of others. There is no present. There is only post, and posting.

Almost countless times through the first three episodes, Emily and the other characters demonstrate a complete disregard for reality in preference for the platforms of social media (in the show, these posts float on screen, complete with followers and hashtags, like ethereal projections.) Paris isn’t Paris but, as Emily tells her Chicagoan boyfriend while Facetiming as she walks, “The entire city looks like Ratatouille.” Meaning that the character’s entire frame of reference is itself a cartoonish recreation, a copy of a copy of a copy.

In another instance Emily’s friend Mindy Chen, one of the very few people of color to make an appearance in this unrelentingly white show, says, “Have you ever had ris de veau?” to which Emily replies, “Why? What is that, rice with veal?” to which Mindy replies, “That’s what I thought too. I think it’s brains or balls, but it tastes like ass.” As a frequent and fervent eater of ass, I can say affirmatively this is not the case. Ris de veau, which are sweetbreads, are not brains, balls, nor ass, but the thymus. This isn’t Chef’s Table and we don’t need a slow-motion disquisition on it but, for the love of God, would it hurt to close the loop on that in some way so that the error, and yes, defamation of a protein doesn’t stand uncorrected? No, and the reason is that reality doesn’t matter.

Now, it should be mentioned that Emily’s paramour, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), is a chef; in fact, he is the chef at the bistro at which the ris de veau conversation takes place. He is incredibly handsome. So handsome. Like if Armie Hammer procreated with one of the sturdier barricades in Les Mis — Gabriel would be the gorgeous offspring. I mean, even though I’m quite upset about this true excrescence while contemplating his torso and face, I’m filled with jouissance, with all its Barthesian overtones of orgasmic joy. And I guess the contemplation of his beauty has put me in a good mood too, because honestly the acting throughout the series is really strong and Paris’s beauty does emerge from the shitshow unscathed and even if the boulangerie are nothing but blank parodies of themselves and the scenes within them are riddled with continuity errors, to see such vast array of batards, baguettes, pains au chocolat, croissants, and brioche is enormously pleasurable. But anyway, as angelic as he is, Gabriel can’t save this carnival of fart smell.

Look, there is smart-dumb and dumb-dumb and the archetype of an ingenue American in Paris is well-trod territory both in the hands of Star himself (viz. the “An American Girl in Paris” episodes of Sex in the City) as well as by luminaries such as Godard in A Bout de Souffle. Sometimes a naif from the Midwest is a divine fool, recognizing truths unseen by those accustomed to them. But Emily in Paris is dumb-dumb. That is to say, the show is silly in ways that I can’t imagine they meant to be. Consider the croissant. At one point, as an indicator of Emily’s rapier wit, she takes a picture of a gaggle of French women, fresh from spinning, enjoying a post-workout smoke. “#Frenchworkout #Smokin’bodies” she writes in a judge-y Instagram caption. Unremarked upon is the fact that Emily, still clad in her running outfit (which reveals, it might be noted, a totes shredded six pack), is holding a croissant — which is totally fine, but an indulgence all the same. This falls into a pattern that presents paradoxes without comment and which seem sloppy rather than provocative. The most egregious example, I think, takes place at the bistro where, unbeknownst to Emily, her potential new boyfriend Gabriel works as head chef. In a trope as well done as a Shake Shack patty, she sends her steak back, complaining it is undercooked. This is then followed by a brief very American diatribe about how, in America, the customer is always right. Is she supposed to be ridiculous or relatable? At any rate, the steak is sent back to the kitchen and then presented almost immediately with the predictable reply that the meat is cooked as the meat should be cooked. Emily is on the edge of advocating for herself when she catches sight of Angel Gabriel and, in an act again of unremarked-upon deflation, quickly backtracks to say the steak is perfect as it is. What are we left with but an increasingly futile hope that this is all pretext for a massive late-season volta in which Emily, like Oedipus or Creon, realizes her shortcomings, gouges out her eyes, and exiles herself to the periphery? No, this fantasy holds as little promise in Emily in Paris as it does in Washington, D.C.

There’s an early scene when Emily first meets her new best friend, Mindy, who is working as an au pair despite (or in spite of) her familial wealth. In this scene, the pair are sitting in a Parisian park and Mindy’s charges, two towheaded French children, are playing by a fountain. Without asking, Emily snaps and shares a picture of the kid to her account @emilyinparis, demonstrating her growing habit of photographing and Instagramming people without their consent. In this instance, I got so mad I had to get up and do a lap around my living room. What irked me so much was that taking a picture, let alone sharing it, of minors is so fucked up and, as it happens, illegal according to France’s Penal Code (Sec 226.1) and yet here passes without mention as if it were de rigueur. The gesture takes something beautiful and alive and, with an unthinking sense of entitlement, pins it like a dead monarch for the display and edification of others, imprisoning it behind hashtag bars and digested in the maw of a rapacious feed. And this gesture, which is essentially one of disrespect, is at the heart of every line, in every bite of every morsel of every meal that is served in Emily in Paris. To see something you know is beautiful made to bow in order to enter through the narrow aperture of idiocy makes one lose one’s appetite. Sure, Paris is a city of lights, of beauty, of love and, yes, croissants. But the more you love Paris, which is to say, the more you love life, with all its complexity, nuance and agenda- and metric-defying splendour, the more you’ll find Emily in Paris unpalatable, if not downright degueulasse.

Joshua David Stein is the co-author of the forthcoming Nom Wah Tea Parlor and Il Buco Essentials: Stories & Recipes cookbooks and the memoir Notes from a Young Black Chef with Kwame Onwuachi. He is the author of the six children’s books, most recently The Invisible Alphabet, with illustrations by Ron Barrett. Follow him on Instagram at @joshuadavidstein.

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[annahill-design-blog]

Assignment 1

Introduction -

My first assignment was about introducing myself so that my tutor could get to know me, my interests and my work better. The brief was to design a series of at least three postcards that say something about who I am, my interests in graphic design and my wider cultural influences or interests. I wanted to include an important personal meaning behind each postcard in a subtle way. I also wanted to work with more than one medium and use materials that I believed best suited the theme of the postcard.

I started the assignment by researching different postcard designs on Pinterest and creating a mood board of ideas I liked. Once I had decided upon the three themes I wanted to design and which media I wanted to use for each of them - I took to pen and paper and started sketching rough ideas before moving onto the final outcomes.

Postcard 1

For my first postcard, I chose to paint an evening seascape in acrylic paint. I chose this idea because I have always been captivated by the forever changing colours made by sunsets, especially when they are cast over an ocean. I love how it gives the appearance of the sky and sea merging together as one. Because of the vibrant colours that sunsets create, they have always inspired me to pick up my paintbrush and start painting.

I took inspiration from a sunset I had previously seen the night before and wanted to recreate the scene by using similar colours. Firstly I used a small square brush to lay down the darker colours and later applied the brighter tones to avoid the highlighting colours mixing into the dark blues and reds. The first problem I faced was the Pebeo Acrylic’s I used dried very quickly and occasionally made it difficult to blend the colours together. I overcame this by adding a small amount of water to the paints to water them down and made it a lot easier to blend.

The next challenge was to link the back of the postcard to the front. After a couple of attempts, the design on the back of the postcard seemed too similar to the design on the front and I decided I wanted there to be more of a contrast between the two sides.

I painted the top half of the postcard using the same dark blue acrylic I had previously used in the front design so it appeared to be the night sky. I then painted fluffy white clouds where I wanted the text to be written.  This gave a nice contrast between the two sides. The front of the postcard being the evening drawing to a close and the back to show the night sky after the sun had set.

Postcard 2

For my second postcard, I wanted to design something that was simple but classy and had a completely different style to my first postcard. I chose to draw an arrangement of flowers and leaves in one single line using only a black fine liner pen.

I have always had a love for flowers and how effortlessly beautiful they are. One of my fondest memories is planting flowers with my grandparents in their beautiful big garden down in Devon. We would take family trips down to Devon to see them and would always be excited to see how big the flowers had grown from the previous time I had visited. It also reminds me of the floral drawings that they would hang around their home, which appeared to been drawn in a single line. This is the inspiration behind drawing the flower arrangement in the style that I did.

One of the main challenges I faced was to draw the flower arrangement in one line without taking my pen off the page. I had a few practise attempts to make sure I was happy with the final design. I also chose to incorporate a similar design to the back on the postcard to link the two sides together.

Overall I was very happy with the final outcome and it was exactly what I had envisioned my second postcard to look like. If I was to recreate this postcard I would like to add colour to the flowers using watercolour. This would add more visual interest to the postcard and allow the design to really stand out.

Postcard 3

For my third postcard, I wanted to design something that represented Disney, because they were responsible for creating my favourite much-loved movies and who was also my biggest inspiration for me wanting to start a career in design. I have always been captivated by the beautiful animations Disney has creative, along with the timeless stories.

I had recently taken a trip to Disney Land Paris a week prior to creating this Disney themed postcard. I had collected souvenirs and took a variety of photographs of my time there, which all helped me build a design for my postcard.

Once I was back from my Disney trip, I gathered all of my ideas together and started to sketch my first drafts. I chose to design my final piece in Procreate, which allowed me to work in different layers and changed the sizing of the illustration to best fit the overall design. When I was working on Procreate a challenge I faced was to ensure that the dimensions were correct and when adjusting the size it would occasionally decrease the quality of my illustrations. This took a fair amount of trial and error before I was finally happy with the proportions and everything was to a higher quality.

Overall I'm happy with how the third design turned out but if I was too redo this postcard, I would like to add more illustration in the empty spaces to create more depth. I would also print the postcard out on better quality paper so the images were a lot sharper and the colour more vibrant.  

Summary

Overall I am very pleased with my final designs, but if I was to redo this assignment I would like to design more than three postcards and experiment with different ideas and mediums - such as watercolours, inks, coloured pencils and so on. I would have also like to draw a postcard with more detail and precision to create a realistic piece. In the end, I would happily say assignment 1 has been a success, and have thoroughly enjoyed designing my three postcards.