#and dont get me started on having to do studies before drawing a whole new art style for a goofy thing I have planned

[niennawept]

Honestly, how dare it take time to make art? Why can't the idea for a seven piece digital art series leap onto the page from my mind? Why doesn't the longfic write itself from my daydreams so I have a backlog and I can start sharing it?

[asbestos-boy-68]

PLEASE TELL ME YOUR PHONEPAD AU

oh BOY!! this is exactly what i needed today thank you anon … an opportunity to rant about something that makes me happy as a distraction!!!!! YAY!!

also anon you should like…lmk who u are…us phonepad shippers need to band together also ill send you phonepad content i make that i dont post…🤭🤭

anywho. my phonepad au!!! read abt it under the cut …

it is called. ii: throwback thursday 😋

for context - this goes heavily off canon as it is a humanized au and uhh there’s family dynamics i’ll need to explain and whatnot ILL GET INTO IT!! this is gonna be a long post

OK SO!! it doesn’t just involve phonepad … it’s an au with MULTIPLE ships 😈😈 which include phonepad (obvs), wiretap (4s x toilet), mecin3gs (mecintosh x 3gs), and ballcobs 😋

wait ok more context this takes place in the 90s and during everyone involved (except cobs, ballpoint, 3gs, and mecintosh)’s highschool years . also takes place in new york, but like . suburban ny. not nyc .

lemme explain the families rq first.

3gs, 4, and 4s are all brothers, living with cobs as a single father 😋! 3gs and 4 have a 7 year age gap, and 4 and 4s have a 2 year age gap

there’s no set ages but i do usually set this around 4’s junior or senior year of hs, which would make him around 16/17, making 3gs around 23/24, and 4s around 14/15 . 3gs is in college !

mepad is an only child!! he’s also adopted 😋!! his bio parents gave him up around age 3, but it doesn’t bother him much . he’s the same age as mephone and is in the same grade

toilet is a family friend of the cobs family!! 4 is forced to hang out w him even though he finds him very annoying . he is a grade below 4, and is in the same grade as 4s . he’s also around 14/15 in most cases

mecintosh is just some guy he has no connection to the cobs family other than 3gs . he’s in college too btw. goes to the same college as 3gs

i say “in most cases” regarding age since sometimes i like to write and draw stuff that takes place earlier in time - like 4’s freshman or sophomore year of hs . but most of the time its junior/senior

ANYWAYS!

mepad and mephone met in sophomore year. mepad moved to mephone’s school in freshman year, and they met via mepad being a tutor for mephone !! mephone is not a very good student. usually c’d and d’s with the occasional b or a in his electives, sleeps in class and skips on occasion, is nice enough to his teachers but is not a suck up by any means. mepad is a straight A student , goody two shoes , teachers pet , but well liked as a person in school. not as in he’s popular, he’s just like the “nice kid” that no one really has anything against. mephone is not well liked in school, he’s not completely hated but he’s not cool. gets bullied a fair bit, but he has his little group of friends.

speaking of them, he’s in a band w them!

his band is actually an early version of spoiled lemon , with starfruit on vocals, mephone on lead guitar and backup vocals (lead vocals on occasion), guava on drums, lemon on bass, and pineapple on rhythm guitar !!

i don’t have a name for them yet but they wouldn’t be called spoiled lemon . but yeah it’s essentially an early version of spoiled lemon

BACK TO MEPHONE AND MEPADDD😋😋

mephone pretty much fell for mepad immediately. he’d seen him around school before he started doing tutoring with him and thought he was attractive, but was obviously too much of a pussy to go up to him. also he has no rizz so it wouldn’t have worked out anyways.

once he started doing tutoring w him, it went from like a minor hallway crush to a whole THING. lil bro ain’t getting NO studying done!!

mepad likes mephone too, but he doesn’t fall as fast as mephone, he def ends up being very much crushing on him, but only after a bit of tutoring him and learning more about him and stuff . after that he’s just as deep in this as mephone is 💔

cobs doesn’t really let mephone have people over, and mephone wants to be away from home as much as possible, so he starts taking more time to get “tutoring” outside of school, aka, going to mepad’s house after school . at first it actually is just more tutoring outside of school but it quickly becomes just mephone and mepad hanging out at mepad’s place … and ofc eventually ends up as their after school homo gay time ❤️❤️

also. mephone is absolutely a bad influence on mepad LOLZZZ he starts convincing him to sneak out and stuffs after they get closer.

oh yeah. mephone is a total rule breaker.

he started driving both before cobs let him and before he was legally able to … he sneaks out all the time … lies about where he’s going to cobs … just … yeah .

mepad is also a good influence on mephone though, he does actually help him get his grades up a bit ❤️❤️❤️

anyways yeah. um. that’s a cutesy little overview of my au ❤️❤️❤️

oh and regarding cobs’ parenting…don’t think that because ballcobs is a thing here that he’s chill w gay ppl…or that he’s a good dad…

he is neglectful and abusive just as always yall. the ballcobs situation is a clay puppington situation (for my ppl who know moral orel) okay 💔💔💔

3gs as the oldest sibling took on a very parental role to 4 and 4s before he left for college because cobs didn’t

YAY!!! anon you should totally like msg me so i can tell u even more in depth abt this and send u unposted stuffssss…😋😋😋

oh also these r kind of old but here’s designs i made for mephone and mepad. need to make everyone else’s designs

they’re literally from like july ok cut me some slack also ignore the years written LOLZZZZ

[mariatvarts]

holy fuck that arcane self portrait you did is beautiful!!!! like excuse you??? the talent??? chef's kiss, phenomenal what tips/tricks/advice do you have for those that also want to learn the artstyle?

Whaaa thank you!!!! Some tips I did to try and make my portrait was actually studying Jinx and my own face! I had done a little study back when season 1 came out of Jinx face because I wanted to try and make one of myself but I couldn’t translate what I learned into a portrait of myself until now.

I did a very small structure study of jinx to see what shapes I could see and map out. I took that reference and started on a new canvas with my photo on the other side to look at. I would look at Jinx’s reference and my own photo back and forth to make my sketch. I started trying to get my features down first (picture on the right) before making the big highlights and shadows of my face that I could see on my photo.

Anytime I start on a drawing or painting, I always gravitate towards the eyes, lips, or mouth first. On Jinx, I found that the eyes, nose and mouth have the most solid shapes. They start out solid and start to blend out, either at one side or both. But the overall shape is still there even with a little blending. The first time I did my self portrait I over blended and lost the shapes completely. It looked nice but it wasn’t the Arcane style you know.

You can still see some shapes like on Jinx’s chin and right side of her forehead where her hair makes a cast shadow but the rest of her face is painted and blended out.

Another piece of advice is using characters as references that may have similar traits to you! I chose Jinx because she has a similar skin tone to me, she has some roundness to her face (I have very round features I feel like) and she has slight freckles.

For example, if you feel as though your eye shape resembles Caitlyn’s eye shape you can use her as one of your references while also using Jacye as reference if your skin tone resembles his skin tone.

Oh oh! Also DONT TRY MAKE IT SYMMETRICAL! I would get frustrated because I felt like it looked bad because it wasn’t symmetrical but that’s not true! I have slight uneven features and so do the characters in the show!

I could literally make a whole post tutorial about it but I hope what I wrote so far made sense!

Love and peace 🫶🏻

[blvrrykat]

As a 20yr old who's been doodling here and there but wants to actually get more into art what made u get so into drawing ur characters more often (your motivation) and how did u learn to draw them in different positions and be comfortable with ur work

hiya! always cool to see new artists, i hope ur having fun being creative! i think my biggest advice in terms of motivation is to just find what you're obsessed with and indulge. im a big character person. currently its my own characters, but in the past its been the characters or universes from whatever my hyperfixation is at the time. when you have a lot of ideas that you know will only exist if you make them, it pushes you to keep creating, especially if you want to talk about it with other people. i think thats why i typically tend to lean towards media that teases at a really elaborate world but doesnt quite tell you everything (kid icarus, sally face, nitw, pokemon, minecraft...). they were really good starting blocks that made me excited to explore the world around the characters, and eventually i took off the training wheels and just started making projects from scratch.

its not just designs or aesthetics that you have to be obsessed with, either. i am constantly thinking about how my characters exist. when i listen to music, when i go to the park, when im in line at tsa, when im eating food, im thinking about what my characters would be doing and oftentimes drawing it out. i physically dont think i could stop if i tried. it helps me feel like theyre tangible and takes the weight off of my ideas needing to be super original, unique or even good. even the mundane stuff we do every day is unique to us and has us doing strange things with our bodies, so its really good practice both in character building and in physically pushing yourself to draw things you never thought would be necessary (seriously, have you ever tried drawing someone brushing their teeth? tying their shoes with one hand? carrying groceries?) and say ur not a character person- theres other things to be obsessed with. it is color? lines? backgrounds? maps? comic layouts? shapes? scale? find whats fun and what you enjoy playing with and lean into it. everyone will tell you to practice and study references and while it might be annoying to hear over and over again, its completely true. a lot of art is just developing muscle memory and an eye for shapes and space, skills that you can really only develop by looking at things closely and drawing a lot of art. your brain and muscles physically need to strengthen in order to make art and think about abstract ideas. its like doing push ups with your brain. thats why you have to make it enjoyable and not feel like work. eventually you'll realize youre doing things that you were never able to in the past. i dont think most artists are 100% comfortable with their work, but going back to the whole motivation thing, art feels like something that i NEED to do, and when im making original characters and universes that im dying to share with people solely to get it Out Of My Head, i kinda have to take pride in talking about it so other people want to hear about it. sometimes i look at my art and remember that before i made it, it didnt exist at all, and thats cool enough to make me proud of the stuff that i make regardless of physical skill. some people have that intrinsic drive to MAKE, others dont, but you find what excites you and ya just keep doin it.

the sheer fact that you're deciding to get into art and asking for advice is proof that you have some sort of intrinsic desire to put pen to paper, so find what, exactly, is causing those feelings and lean into it. have fun, be self indulgent, and do things that you're bad at until you get good at them!

long answer, but i hope it helps! <3

[silversatin2105]

OMGGG IM IN LOVE W UR MATCHUP CONCEPTSSS

May I get one please 😻😻😻

Name : Mai

Cisgender female , straight!

Personality : entp-F

I LOVE talking to people , socializing is one of my biggest qualities if I may say . Even though I love talking to ppl it doesn’t mean that I tolerate any kind of disrespect toward anyone. I’ll gladly and openly shut down someone if they say anything rude !

I have Adhd , the hyperactive-can’t seems to focus one 🙂‍↕️ mhhh also I’m a big cat person , I love playing volleyball and music!

(I play as a libero/outside hitter (depending on the op team) in my vb team and I’m then main singer of my school’s band🤯)

Hobbies : DONT GET ME STARTED OMG I have so many hobbies

In sports it’s obviously , my one and only VOLLEYBALL the way I couldn’t go through college without vb is crazy

I love singing and playing the electric guitar !!! As well as drawing and I’m staring to get into painting and writing 🧏‍♀️🧏‍♀️

I have many hobbies but i spend most of my time in the gym or at vb practice !

Style :

Well I have broad shoulders from spiking so I’m trying to grow my hair out🫣

My hair are lower shoulder-length , I have lotss of layers ! I had my Korean mom’s blessing since I have red-ish reflect on my black hair 🤭

Im average height (160-ish) but Im pretty muscular if I may say (I’m also bold asl 🤫)

My style would most definitely be streetwear !! My go to outfit is those tight jersey w baggy pants nd oversized zip-up

I have pretty round feature , so I follow the Korean makeup style (pink-ish and light)

Likes : SWEETSSS AND PASTRIES the way I could binge eat a whole bakery if I could.

I love musics ,food , family nd friends time , ACADEMIC VALIDATION🗣️ , vb obviously , late night music session , skateboarding , dim lights (dim light>bright light) , manga , anime , manhwa, kdrama, thrift shopping , shopping , Jeju Island (South Korea) and Paris , learning new languages , HUMAN MIND AND HOW IT WORKS. Any berries , lychee , dragons fruit , mango.

(Can you tell that I’m a nerd?)

Dislike : mint. I despise mint (if not in chewing gum) , coconut. Soja mooncakes, jajangmyeon (Korean traditional dish) (pretty controversial ik)

Rude ppl

YEAH THZTS ALL

Thank u

LOVE YOU ND KEEP GOING W YOUR WORK

Hi

Yeah I can do you a match up, I was in three minds when it came to your match up but after discussing it with a fellow TR blogger I came to my ultimate conclusion for you match up and without much grandstanding lets get into it

Your Match is

Hanemiya Kazutora

He loves that your talkative and would spend nights awake speaking to you on the phone about multiple subjects ( I HC that Kazutora is a night owl).

Like you he loves cats and I could imagine you both visiting Baji just to pet Excalibur (Aka Peke-J), it wouldn’t be like “Hi how are you doing Baji” it would be a “Hey Baji where’s the cat?”

You both have a zero tolerance policy to bullshit, if he saw you being disrespected you know this man is going full tiger and ripping the person who dissed you a new one both metaphorically and literally and whilst he was in jail you’d not take well to anyone slandering him.

Like you I could imagine him having similar taste in music and I could imagine him giving you advice on your music, I could imagine his favourite piece of your music being his ringtone.

You and him would definitely have the perfect outfit combos with one another, i could imagine on dates you both co-ordinating with each other.

He might not get the whole Academic success thing but seeing you dedicating yourself to your studies impresses him.

I could imagine him taking you to a skate park to burn of energy when your both ticked off.

Like before you’ve both got a zero tolerance for bullshit, I could imagine you both saying something if someone was being rude to a retailer.

In summary:

I have paired you with Kazutora, sure his home life may be different to yours but you and him make it work as you both are willing to call each other out on the others BS, your musical talents are one of the things he treasures and stakeboarding with you is his favourite thing in the world, He doesn’t fully get the studying thing but he’s impressed that you show grit and determination.

 I hope this result is to your liking.

Toman Inquisitorial division member Silver

Warning:

Please do not remove original tags in Re-blogs, don’t re-post anywhere else or alter the original work.

[nerves-nebula]

I was sure that maladaptive daydreaming was like, more severe and uncontrollable than that? like in a way that seriously impedes your ability to function in life.

Not from what I've seen? Key words I've seen describing maladaptive daydreaming is excessive and intentional. But, recent studies are saying that it may be compulsive?

I'm some people diagnosed with it irl and some of them even like, have complained before about being interrupted out of their daydreams. But they do Intentionally start them and think fo the universes, but it like, gets in the way sometimes cuz it's like, "well I SHOULD do that thing, or, I could daydream,,, imma daydream"

Maladaptive means like, not adapting well. So maladaptive daydreaming is just, not adapting to stress in a good way via the agent of daydreaming.

Oh and Like, with proper therapy or new coping mechanisms most people diagnosed with it experience on average half the amount of daydreams sjdndndn just a fun statistic!

I don't know I could also just be wrong 🤷‍♂️ sjshdjdjdnns

My brain is fascinating

🫐

dont we ALL get irritated when our daydreams are interrupted tho? like i made this whole situation and perfectly set it up and ur tryna talk to me ?? IM BUSY !!

hard to know if it was maladaptive because I had nothing to ever do as a kid so like. i wasnt like zoning out in class daydreaming or not paying attention to something important because i never HAD class and i rarely had something important I had to be doing. i did zone out a lot but that was prolly like an ADHD thing i think..

and also since it was like, usually related to my art nobody said shit cause i was just thinkin of things to draw or stories to tell.

but sometimes you're stuck in the car with ur siblings and they're screaming and shouting and fighting and you dont have earbuds yet cause you're like 11 so instead you just,,, think about ur OC's or something :)

I can see it having been compulsive but eh. who can say. gods know my parents werent paying attention.

one #classic thing I kinda do is like, this sort of "ahh ok time to think about something else buddy, lets go!" sorta situation. like i'd say that to myself or something like "ough this sucks i dont wanna be here *thinks about dogs with wings*" or "I hate this I hate being here it's too loud and I feel gross *distracts self by thinking about how to torture my OC's*"

so idk.

[spiderziege]

3. What are your favorite subjects to draw? (OCs, your fan faves, etc.)

10. How do you deal with art block?

19. What's your biggest insecurity when it comes to your artwork?

3 and 19 were already answered!

for dealing with artblock, it kinda depends on what kind of artblock! if its a 'im just not feeling inspired lately' kind of thing, i usually just accept it and take a break from drawing for a while. my art only really turns out well when i genuinely want to draw, so theres no point in forcing it when im not :P

the other kind of artblock is 'im very inspired and i want to draw, but its just not working right now and everything i do comes out wrong', which unfortunately i have a lot more often than the first one lol. in that case i usually just. try to push through? sometimes ill try to do style studies of other artists, or try out new brushes, or anything else that makes me change up my usual art process

another thing that helps me in that case is REALLY figuring out what i wanna draw before i even start, because otherwise ill just sit in front of an empty canvas forever. so instead of sketching ill just write everything down (what do i wanna show, whats the focus gonna be, which colours do i use, what kind of atmosphere do i wanna convey, which important details do i wanna include etc). and i dont start actually drawing anything until ive figured all that out. this way i have an actual goal and it makes the whole process more methodical, which then helps to get started with drawing. and usually once i have an actual starting point, everything else becomes a lot easier (and usually the end drawing doesnt even end up exactly how i planned it out but thats fine, thats not the point anyway)

[uglybabyjesus]

ugly baby jesus and how i enjoy art as a person who doesn't know very much about art

an opinion/think piece by me

I am, by no means, an art historian. Nor am I anyone with a particular special interest in art. My deepest knowledge comes from one drawing class I took in uni and one art history class that I did my best to pass but like retained 0 information from. 

I hear a lot that art can be inaccessible to many, that it's a very secluded and shrouded medium with lots of barriers to those who want to study it and that it is rife with classism and barriers to those who don't grow up in an environment exposed to it. 

When it comes to self learning about art, there's a lot of specialist vocabulary and very heavy literature involved that is not easy to get into if you don't already have that base and it can very easily dry up any desire to delve deeper into the world of art. 

Something offered as a way to combat this is to ‘experience’ art, to ‘go see it in person’. 

I think this is another unintentional barrier as well. It doesn't take into account geographical and financial barriers to art, distance from museums and galleries, cultural centers, ticket prices and gas costs.  

And even if you can make it to a museum, it seems nowadays, all everyone does is take pictures with the art to show they were there without any attempt to understand the art, without taking a moment to see, to analyze, to feel. 

This other idea of accessibility in art has made it a landmark, a background, rather than something that was once intended to elicit some reaction or feeling from a person. Furthermore, even once you are in the museum, you are still hit by the academic barrier from before; a double whammy, as they say. 

Some museums make a conscious, well done effort to educate visitors to the contents of their collections, but others have minimal information or the ‘standard’ information, and to someone who isn’t knowledgeable in art, like me, it basically means nothing.  

And this stretches across all time periods and mediums of art in my experience. 

From modern and contemporary art to historical and ancient art, you stand there with the thought, like, ‘what the fuck was this all for?’ 

This is, in my opinion, how you end up with trends of people who stand in front of paintings they think they can do, and then you find out later that the whole piece was actually a huge fuck you to someone else and is part of a sereies of paintings that form a gossipy dialogue or displays and incredibly difficult technique or an invention of a brand new innovative paint pigment that is gonna change the art world. 

But like how is one to learn all this? 

I, for one, don't have the time or the mental energy to go around reading art text books in my free time; I have better things to do. 

But I am incredibly lucky now to live in a city with significantly more museums than I ever grew up near and with loads of art galleries as well. 

And I enjoy going to museums, I love the atmosphere, I love seeing things that I dont get to see rampant in everyday life anymore, I love standing in front of paintings trying to figure out what the fuck its all supposed to mean. 

But it wasn't always like this, and there is such a pretentious atmosphere sometimes when you go to art museums that you're already expected to know things, especially when you go to historical art museums.  

I’m very lucky that I don't have this geographical barrier any more, and that the financial barrier doesn't always affect me as well. 

But even when you go to ‘experience’ art, it's not fun when it has no meaning to you. 

So how did I start to find joy in art museums despite my art illiteracy? 

Why, through our lord and savior ugly infant baby jesus christ, of course. 

One of the first things I had to teach myself was to unlearn what it meant to go to a museum. 

To make it no longer about what famous painter who’s painting I actually don't give a shit about being on display to finding the things that would be in the museum I did enjoy. 

I had to change my mentality from getting my money’s worth of seeing and understanding absolutely everything to deciding that what made the experience worth my money is the joy I would get from the paintings and experiences I actually found delight in. 

I started moving through museums in a completely different way. 

Instead of focusing and trying to stare at and understand every. single. painting. in. the. entire. museum. 

I started only stopping at the paintings that drew my eye and attention. If it didn't catch my interest, then it didn't catch my interest. 

Who cares if some really famous dead guy painted it, he's dead and I personally don't give a shit about that type of painting. 

I started taking note of what entertained me in the paintings I stopped at, and the types of different joy I felt at them. What about them made the experience worth it to me. 

Things I love in paintings or art, or trends of art I stop and look at: 

Ugly baby jesus

Beautiful women

Paintings by women

Portraits with lots of dimension

Statues

Cool armor

Things I avoid in paintings and usually skip:

Crusty old men

Really wide landscapes

Crusty young men

Still lives of food

I put ugly baby jesus at the top of my art list for things I love, because that was the thing that really had me noticing and forming my own opinions on art and what I love about my experience when I go see it. 

I love how ugly it is. Its silly, it makes me laugh. 

As someone who grew up staunchly Catholic and has since left the church, it offers a relief from the seriousness of god and jesus in my childhood. 

And also, where there’s baby jesus, there’s usually Mary and 95% of the time, shes a fucking milf. 

And coming from an asexual lesbian, that's saying something. 

But it also gave me something worth taking photos of without worry of other people being there, and when my friends ask me what I did on vacation or over the weekend, and I whip out my ugly baby jesus photos, its a good time, its a hilarious time, and it garners significantly more interest and conversation than just ‘I saw famous painting by famous dead man’ and the ‘oh cool i heard it was nice’ responses. 

Ugly baby jesus gets everyone fascinated. 

Why is his neck like that? Why is he a 40 year old man but also a baby at the same time? Why does he have 8 pack abs but also like 10 layers of chubby leg rolls at the same time? 

Unhinged conversations arise. Bonding ensues. 

Sometimes, when my friends have the chance to travel and go to museums, they'll come back and their stories to me are about seeing an ugly baby jesus. 

And so the gospel of our lord and savior ugly infant baby jesus is spread. 

It's not a perfect way to get into art. And like it is very euro-centric. (another boundary for others, but this brings me to my next point). 

But for me, this is something I can commonly find around me in my environment now, and it gives me space to poke fun at something and bond over it with friends a build a community around it, a space for discourse and humor (the cult of ugly baby jesus is accepting new members btw). 

But no matter where you are, unless I guess you are where I grew up (secret location with only half a museum that is about how one really old building in the town used to be a post office), it might be worth to check out what art is around you, what things you like or dont, and if the people who made it are dead (or if you really dont give a fuck about dissing people’s art in front of them) what you can make fun of it. 

This is how I enjoy art right now. 

Who knows, it might change, I might take a huge swerve into serious academic art history or like decide to inhale a shitload of art documentaries or something, but that won't diminish the time I spend now enjoying art in a way that makes me happy. 

And sometimes that means walking into a museum and immediately beelining it to the ugliest medieval painting of baby jesus (or sometimes to the most famous piece there to get a picture of it, cause its still really cool to say I was there, its okay to be like everyone else sometimes too).

[lagomorphics]

hi majora! your art is really cute, and I hope you don't mind if I ask about your process? I'm new to art and yours is an inspiration! I wanted to ask how you learned? and your process, because you seem to draw near daily! also any tips you might have for me? thank you!

HI ANON!!! ur very sweet thank u so much WAHH <33!!! idm being asked abt that at all!!

in terms of how i learnt; i've kinda always been drawing for as long as i can remember? been posting art online since around 2013-ish so i got a big big catalogue of stuff to look back on

but learning in specifics of like, how i learned to shade n draw bodies etc etc. i studied! theres a lot of resources out there that'll break down a lot of the 'basics', i dont have any i can name off the top of my head except for morpho; whole bunch of books about body types and anatomy.

im not really good at providing tips for how to learn (bad memory </3) but studying, drawing things over and over (i do with reference and then without, and try to draw in different angles/perspectives) is very useful!

ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: literally do not worry at all if what you draw the first time around looks wonky or "ugly". being negative towards yourself about your art only serves to stunt ur growth!! shakes you (and anyone reading this) by the shoulders. it can be very easy to slip into hating your art and not enjoying anything ur drawing. this is me telling u to try and draw something youve never drawn before. experiment. it may not look perfect or even "good" but it will refresh ur brain!!!!!

MY PROCESS...... oh man i really have been drawing pretty much daily huh? i do draw every day but its been a hot minute since ive been doing finished pieces haha

but basically what i do is; start with a few warm-up doodles! just anything to get me in the groove

then over the course of the day i slowly chip away at whatever pieces im working on (lined stuff will usually take me a few hours, rendered stuff takes a day or a few....)

i cannot really assist in like "so how do you draw?" because i honestly just go Lights Off Its Drawin Time! but i always do a rough sketch of an idea i have, refine the sketch, refine that sketch, and then if its rendered i'll make a palette for myself somewhere, but if its lined i'll start on the lineart and then fiddle around with colours.

i draw for fun, so if i dont like how somethings turning out, i'll stop drawing it. no use frustrating myself over a piece to the point of hating it!!

(this ones just forfun and just for me) i keep a small little doc full of notes about my own pieces! i like analysing stuff, and also enjoy talking about why i draw something in a specific way, so this is just a nice little thing for me to have fun with. also helps me avoid potentially slipping into "hate this. bad" mindset bc im specifically noting things that i Liked (i do obviously have a bit of chatter like "hmm i think i couldve drawn this better, i should keep that in mind" but its only when its helping myself. the jora does not talk bad about its art)

aaand then i do some cool-downs to get any last little doodles outta my head so i can relax in bed

in terms of tips? do stretches, walk around, TAKE BREAKS! draw at your own pace, and also Have Fun With It. experiment with different colours, limited palettes, different styles!

seriously though do make sure you take breaks and stretch im lookin you in the eye okay?

I HOPE THIS MADE SENSE AND IS HELPFUL IN A WAY i ramble. far too much. and im not the best at articulating my thoughts!! but i hope u have lots of fun drawing very cool stuff <333

[our-reality]

can we hear abt ivory or archie please... if you want specific questions i can give those too

IVORY AND ARCHIE YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA ^_^^ sorry sorry im normal i PROMISE you im normal. um anyways

STARTING WITH IVORY he's a funky guy . he's a silhouette in those doodles because he's a shadowwalker polyplanial. now that means nothing to anyone who isnt me so let me explain. polyplanism is one of the 7 magic types in this universe, allowing wielders to shift what dimension they're in at will. there's two kinds of polyplanism too, those being shadowwalking (which allows you to become a shadow and blend into other shadows), and dreamwalking (which allows you to go inside someone's dreams; this is the kind baylin is, for example). much like with wildinist species, you're assigned a kind at birth, and as you may be able to guess this but ivory was born a shadowwalker :3 his whole deal is that he's a kleptomaniac, he steals things compulsively and tries to surround himself with as many things as possible. he fucks around is what im getting at. and the local police dont do anything because theyre useless ^_^ he thinks of himself as a robinhood type figure, trying to dismantle the establishment from the inside, but in reality he doesn't do a whole ton to directly support the poor he claims to want to help. he learns to be better after the main 4 + reqs talk to him though!!!!!!! and they ultimately bring out good change for his town in the end

the reason he's in the shadow plane in the doodles is because he is VERY hesitant to show his real appearance to anyone, lest he gets sold out and arrested. hell, most of the time he keeps his hair in a net instead of in braids, because he's afraid they'd make his shadow too distinctive. there are other shadowwalkers where he lives, but people assume different appearances in the shadow plane compared to the default plane (the plane everyone else is on), so it doesn't help people identify him or anything. he DOES have a default appearance though... i'll hafta draw it sometime :-)

AND THEN ARCHIE OOOOOOUSHDJDWVJD MY GUY MY SILLY LIL THANG ....... i love him so dearly he's like a beetle to me. he's an electro eleter and what that means is. okay. eleters are a form of magic that let people manipulate/produce fire, electricity, and water from their fingertips, but unlike polyplanism and wildinism, the kind you are isn't determined at birth. you're born being able to manipulate all three, but through study you can refine your skills with either one or two of those elements (you can technically try to learn all 3, but this is very difficult and you likely won't be exceptional at any of them). so in archie's case he's been training his skills in utilizing electricity :3

he's. REALLY good at what he does. like scarily good. his town relies on him for a lot of maintenance things (his town used to be full of electro eleters who made a living off of providing electricity, but after new alternative fuel sources were popularized, using eleters for electricity fell out of fashion. the town quickly dove into poverty, and most people chose to not pass on the tradition of electro eletism to their kids. this happened quite a bit in other places too, with pyro and hydro eleters experiencing similar problems, so this town is just one example of that) and, more importantly, to save them. they believe that his exceptional abilities will cause a revolution in electro energy, which will allow them to get easy and stable jobs once more. he's consistently pressured to get better and better, pushing the limits of his powers like no one has before. and he doesn't even realize how fucked it is that he's carrying the entire weight of his town on his back until the main 5 come in. did i mention archie is 13 btw. he doesn't even realize how high his standards for himself are cuz he thinks that this is just normal. that everyone else is doing just fine so this must just be a him issue. that he just has to try harder. yk.

so ya thats basically them ^_^ teehee

[imaginingmanyfandoms]

No i dont have a specific request. I just want Volturi King headcanons if you dont mind

i need feedback on these, i don't know how well i write for the kings

ARO:

he would be tempted to just read all your thoughts because he wants to learn all of you

but also he would be so fascinated by you that he would want to first get to know you by talking to you

you would spend countless hours talking to him

how you met: he'd been watching you in your village for many weeks. you were a medicinal herbalist, and the way plants responded to your care, he knew you would be magnificent as a vampire. but when he approached you he fell in love. he let you apprentice someone knew before he took you away. at last wish, if you will. you didn't want your village to suffer from your farewell, but you would go with him happily.

he would give you a few human weeks to adapt and understand how life in the castle worked, so you didn't have to learn the rules while also trying to overcome thirst & strength

in that time, he would host elaborate tea parties for you

filled with all the food & drink he used to love

he would watch you eat it with awe, enjoying the novelty of reliving his human days

heidi is your best friend; maybe it started with her undeniable charm, but she was so flattered when you started inviting her to do things over the phone, meaning you truly liked her for her and didn't feel compelled to hangout with her

when aro was too busy to do something with you, you would help heidi with her elaborate schemes

after your thirst & newbornism was under control he would build you an apothecary cabin somewhere hidden from the world

somewhere for you to spend your time fiddling with plants and herbs

you would have another apprentice, someone who to trained to take care of your garden while you were away

aro would dislike it whenever you tried to join the guard

"you are my beautiful spouse, not my guard."

"i can make the trees attack people. i control the trees my love."

he still wouldn't want it, he would want you to spend your time doing things you loved, not going on missions

he would want to hide you from the violence he ordered

he would make you a library, filled with books of herbs and plants and medicine for you to study

he would find you records and records of vinyl for you to listen to

he would try to give you jewels and treasures too often

you would often run up to him, smacking your hand somewhere on his body while talking about a pretty flower you saw

imagine just like open palm sticking your hand on his face and saying "look how interesting it is. look at the healing properties but also it's so cute!" with your hand covering half his face

CAIUS:

he would love you so much

and if you showed him any kind of affection back he would melt

how you met; you were one of aro's treasures. instead of letting your small coven face death, you went voluntarily. that kind of loyalty was something aro respected. you were someone with an amazing ability to calm anyone. to draw their fears out and replace it with euphoria, even while staring death in the face. aro loved you, loved the way you didn't feel bad about killing someone - just that they shouldn't have to feel afraid to die. also you didn't have to fight because your victim would stand calmly while you ripped them apart.

caius didn't want you on the guard, but you insisted.

"gives me somewhere to be while you're busy, my sweet."

felix has direct orders to protect you above all else (except the secret - of course) when you're on a mission

he would need you to love him and much as he loved you

but also he's a but of a grump

so he could be grumpy and still try to compliment you

"well don't you look just beautiful"

"remember how we talked about how things don't sound sincere when you say it like that."

anything you asked for would be his command to grant

and when you wanted to spend time with him, he would give you his full attention when he could

you would become good friends with demetri, and caius would hate it

not because he didn't trust you or demetri.

there were no secrets in Volterra...

but because after you'd spent too much time with demetri, some of his personality would rub off on you, and caius is a calm afternoon type of guy

one time during a pleasant walk through the garden you threw a water balloon at him

he stood frozen in wet robes as you laughed at him, jumping on his back and places kisses all over him

you brought out a little more fun in him, and while he looks like he hates it; he actually really appreciates it

MARCUS:

he was miserable before you

thousands of years of waiting to find his mate

but when you came, it was like a whole new marcus

he was still tired of being alive, but he now would rather live than leave your side

you will fill his senses with things he'd long since stopped appreciating

music sounded lovelier

flowers smelled prettier

poems had meaning again

how you met; you were brought in for questioning regarding an old travelling companion of yours. you offered the information to aro without a second thought, and he saw in your mind that you would never question, or stand against the volturi. marcus saw you in the throne room, and couldn't keep his eyes or thoughts anywhere else. you were exquisite. a gift to the eyes. he'd ask you to stay for a bite. and then he'd ask you to stay indefinitely. as a vampire it's pretty hard to find a home, so you accepted.

marcus would fill your days with things you enjoyed

walking through the garden, reading poems, watching movies

whatever you liked to do, he was eager to do with you

he was always worried about your safety

so he turned a professional mma fight into a vampire and gave him the order to protect you with his life

aro & caius thought it was excessive but... they didn't say anything

he wanted you to be happy with him

[palant1r]

please hit me with a lore infodump about your 'apollo pulls a godot au' , is Suryasta gonna get to threaten someone with his sword?

OKAY OKAY SO

disclaimer we havent played spirit of justice and ive heard it sucks so i kinda dont want to so we know like nothing about khurain. the only character from there that we know about is nahyuta. also this au has developed more into an "apollo pulls a thalassa" au but. tag's already set

this got long so im putting it under a readmore

-the leadup to the au is a bit vague so far, but basically. phoenix doesn't get disbarred, apollo is friends with him before the turnabout trump trial, maybe even works for him. he also knows klavier. in some versions of this au, him and klavier were dating

-yes there are multiple versions of this au, almost every au @vivi4n-c and i create has very little singular plot beyond an excuse to draw fun character designs and talk about angst scenarios

-kristoph still frames phoenix for murder, but apollo figures him out. kristoph flees, taking apollo as a hostage to europe. and then injures him in anger, giving him plenty of scars, including a large burn scar on the side of his face. the combination of smoke inhalation and khurain throat surgery for an injury kristoph gave him to his vocal cords permanently alters his voice. no more chords of steel :(

-also broke his hip, making apollo walk with a cane sometimes since it was already half-healed by the time he got to actually get surgery

-one of the injuries kristoph gives him is a head injury that leaves apollo with no memories past his childhood in khurain. so he assumes thats where he lived

-kristoph leaves behind a photo of apollo after said injury for the investigators to find. apollo looks dead in the photo, and kristoph tells them he is

-klavier quits music and throws himself into prosecuting and investigating, determined to catch his brother and bring him to justice

-phoenix and trucy take apollo's death REALLY hard, phoenix especially. he almost quits law

-before they can be found, apollo kills kristoph, robs all the stuff from his house including his old bracelet, and flees to khurain

-where he is reunited with his brother! yay!

-apollo didn't take the name "apollo" before going to america. before that, those he knew in khurain called him by the gender neutral name "suryasta." so thats what he thinks his name is, and what nahyuta calls him

-apollo finds the law familiar. between that and how easy it was to kill kristoph, plus his upbringing on the run, he assumes that he used to live a life of crime. he decides his memory loss is an opportunity for a fresh start, and studies to be a prosecutor, being his brother's co counsel in the meantime. he wears the mask all the time because he thinks anyone who recognizes him might wish him harm. either that, or they'll be happy to see him until they realize he has no idea who he is or who they are

-everything's great, he's starting his new life...and then an american diplomatic delegation shows up. the wright anything agency plus prosecutors edgeworth and gavin

-suryasta does NOT like them at all. the only american he remembers is kristoph, so to have his brother show up with a delegation of americans? he's immediately hostile. and nahyuta is even more so

-absolutely suryasta gets to threaten klavier with his sword, positioning it under his chin and warning him if he gives any indication that he's anything like his brother, they'll never stop finding the body

-naturally this fucks klavier up. someone he cared about a whole lot was killed by his brother, and now, halfway across the world, people think he's just like his brother.

-nahyuta is somehow even more hostile to klavier. he has gone full protective older brother mode

-in the moment klavier is too scared and angry to find a sword being under him hot but he catches suryasta doing his sparring training later, biceps on show, and is like. i love the kind of man who will literally just kill me

-klavier is determined to show suryasta that he's nothing like kristoph. dials the charm up to 11. and somehow, despite his wariness, suryasta finds himself warming up to klavier. far too fast. as if he's known him for far longer...

-somewhere along the way, klavier starts to fall for suryasta. feels like he can finally get over apollo and move on

-and suryasta gets an overwhelming sense of deja vu

-maybe klavier catches him humming songs he's never supposed to have heard. songs he wrote for apollo

-also this is an ace attorney au so comedy and hijinks ensue

-klavier: did phoenix ever tell you about the time the man he loved died and then came back

suryasta: no??? that sounds like a mindfuck omg

klavier: i know right haha, kinda a once in a lifetime thing amirite

-trucy brings mikeko to khurain. mikeko has become a crotchety little beast in her father's absence but she immediately runs to suryasta, winding around his legs and meeping so happily

-phoenix gives a very indirect shovel talk to suryasta while nahyuta gives the most direct shovel talk of all time to klavier

-phoenix: klavier you told me your least favorite musical was the phantom of the opera so whats the deal with ur new crush

-there are 3 different versions of how apollo's survival is exposed: the calm way, the angsty way, and the sexy way. ok never mind 4 and thats the "the wrights are a menace to society" way

-i shant elaborate

[meruz]

once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous) 

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury​ Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL. 

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool​ UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close. 

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually  that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

[godoflobsters]

The Brothers and Dateables With a Tattoo Artist MC

My own MC was a tattoo artist before she came to the Devildom, so I thought I’d write up some head cannons with a tattoo artist MC.

MC is gender neutral!

Mammon

Nobody can convince me that the “Brothers Under a Pact” squad wouldn't be the first ones to get tattoos from MC, and Mammon would definitely be the first

Definitely likes to brag about it too

Don't remind him that there are countless people in the human realm that you tattooed before him or he will pout

People tend to think that Mammon is cheap and would try to talk you into giving him free or cheap tattoos, but he couldn't stand to be like that towards you especially regarding something that you’re so good at

Our first man works his butt off every time he wants to get some new ink from you

Likes to give you a big ole tip every time

Gets fidgety when he has to sit still for too long so you two have to take breaks often

Prefers small/medium sized tattoos rather than really big ones

One time after he started getting tattoos from you, he was at a modeling gig and they tried to make him cover them up with makeup, he quit and that magazine went bankrupt not too long after...dont fuck with the avatar of greed

Once your shop starts taking off in the Devildom, he and Asmo try to convince you to do a shoot for Majolish(They definitely didn't pull some strings to get Majolish to do a whole segment about you and your business)

Beelzebub

The second brother to get a tattoo from MC

Refuses to get any food related tattoos: he doesn't want to accidentally take a chunk out of himself when he gets blinded by his hunger

This man has a very high pain tolerance and sits like a rock while you're tattooing him and you love him for it

He definitely needs snack breaks during longer sessions though

Has a memorial tattoo for Lillith over his heart that matches with one on Belphie

While making this list I was randomly blessed with the mental image of Beel with abuncha old school American traditional tattoos and you can pry that headcannon from my cold, dead hands

Mammon likes to brag that he has the most tattoos from you, but Beel might give him a run for his money, he doesn't mind Mammon’s bragging most of the time though, so he just lets him believe whatever he wants this time

Simeon

But Simeon has never been all that great at following the rules that they set for him

The first of the dateables to get a tattoo

He wasn't actually planning on getting a tattoo at first, but one day he overheard Luke trying to scold you for all of your tattoos(definitely before the incident with Beel and Lucifer in the underground tomb) and that was the only push he needed to jump on the “tattoos from MC” train

There is a lot of rhetoric in the Celestial Realm about how “Your body is a temple and you should not mark it”

He’s still not willing to stray too far from his roots though, so he’d probably get something with vaguely religious undertones

Absolutely delights in the shocked look on your face and the sheepish questions on whether angels are allowed to do this

Once he’s finally convinced you that you're not damning him to fall by tattooing him, the process goes by very easily

He is very easygoing and open regarding designs and he handles the pain very well

He absolutely loves to show his tattoo off, even when he goes home to the Celestial Realm and receives his reprimands from Michael

Leviathan

The third brother to get a tattoo from MC

Didn't want to get a tattoo at first, all of that physical contact and pain on top of it? No way

But then Mammon, Beel, and even Simeon all got one and he got jealous

You're HIS Henry, why are THEY the ones who get to wear your art? He might’ve been able to deal with his dumb brothers, but SIMEON TOO?

You gotta sit down with him and have a nice long chat about it, making sure this is something that he would actually want to do and not just his envy talking

Spoiler alert: It was definitely just his envy talking

He realises that he is actually oddly attached to the idea of getting a tattoo from you now though, so he comes up with designs and draws them on himself until he is certain that he won't regret it

Would get something tiny and probably gaming related

Definitely very squeamish about the pain aspect but the design that the two of you came up with is very simple and small, so he is able to make it through without fainting

He absolutely loves his new tattoo...but he is never doing that again

Belphegor

Fourth brother to get a tattoo

Has wanted to get one ever since Beel showed him the tattoo he got in memory of Lillith, but things were very...not good...between the two of you at that point

Finally worked up the courage to at least ask if you would be okay with it after the two of you made a pact

Beel, forgetting his super high pain tolerance, told him that it getting a tattoo doesn't hurt at all, so he was in for a big surprise when he went under the needle for the first time

Whiny at first, but he manages to stay very still for you

Has a memorial tattoo for Lilith over his heart that matches with one on Beel

Will definitely start to doze off during long sessions

Convinced Satan to get a matching Anti Lucifer League tattoo with him(definitely doesn't try to convince you to get one too)

Make sure that he does not, under any circumstances, actually fall asleep while you're tattooing him. He did once and he rolled over in his sleep, almost ruining an entire tattoo

Ever since that time, Beel has come with him to his sessions so you could focus on your work and he can focus on keeping Belphie awake

Satan

Gets his tattoo not long after Belphie

One of those people that think every tattoo needs to mean something so he takes forever trying to pick out something that he wants

Would probably get some sort of quote or design inspired by his favorite book, something that really resonated with who he is as a person

Was somehow convinced by Belphie to get an Anti Lucifer League tattoo

Does he regret it whenever he realizes that he now has a portion of his skin dedicated to Lucifer of all people? Possibly, but he definitely won't say anything about it to you

Loves to look at you and just admire your tattoos, asking the stories behind each and every one of them that he can see

He might be a bigger fan of literature than the fine arts, but that doesn't mean that he has any less of an appreciation for your work

Definitely pulls some strings and gets one of his friends who owns an art gallery to display some of your work there

Can set you up with all the connections that you need to make your mark on the Devildom art world

Lucifer

The last of the brothers to get a tattoo

In the beginning he has no intentions of getting a tattoo, he does have alot of respect for your talents and how hard you work for them though

As an art lover and artist himself, he will most certainly commission you from time to time and hang your work in his study

He won't admit it, but seeing your art and thinking of you when he's stressed with work is very soothing

He eventually decides to let you tattoo him only if it’s in a place that is easily covered by his clothes, considering how he dresses that leaves you with pretty much his entire body to work with

Sometimes when he has some time off he will grab a sketchbook and join you if he finds you in the common room working on a design, you share a comfortable silence, with the only sounds be the crackling of the fireplace and the scratching of pencils on paper

The kind of person that wants a tattoo but has no idea what he actually wants, but hes picky as fuck so he will turn down every single idea that you give him for weeks

He is lucky that you love him

Whenever you two talk about placements, if you mention anything on his back to cover up the scars from his wings he will almost back out entirely

Almost

Afew months later he’ll put his pride aside come back, admitting that your ideas would be perfect and that he wants to go through with it

During the session he has way too much pride to admit that he was feeling any pain

That is until you have to start going over the scars

As soon as the needles hit scar tissue he starts to fall apart; tears, shaking, the whole nine yards

It takes you quite a few sessions to finish since he cant handle such long sessions on that portion of his back

The summer after his new back piece is finished, he goes with you and his brothers back to Diavolo’s beach, this time he takes his shirt off in front of everyone for the first time since the fall

He wears your art with such pride that he lets everyone keep the memory, he even lets Asmo keep the pictures he took of all of them up on Devilgram

Diavolo

Wanted to be the first to get a tattoo but Barbatos said no

If you want to continue your career in the Devildom for the duration of your stay, he will buy you a building to work from and any supplies to get started since you had to leave your stuff in the human realm

Diavolo has rooms in the castle filled with the art that he's collected over the years, so when he sees that you're an artist he gets so excited

Before he finally gets tattooed by you, he buys a lot of your artwork and hangs it up around the castle

It takes a few years to propose the idea again to Barbatos in a way that wont make the butler’s hair fall out from stress, but he finally relented under one condition: it has to be in an area that is still hidden while he’s in his demon form

He decides that his legs would be the perfect place to indulge in your artistic talents while also keeping Barbatos’s controlling side at bay

Hes another one that knows he wants a tattoo but no clue what he wants to get

Unlike Lucifer though, he is a true open canvas

He truly adores your art so he wholeheartedly trusts you with his body and knows that he will love anything that you do for him

He knows that this is most likely very nerve wracking for you considering his position so he tries to reassure you and make the process very easy for you

You still put everything into designing him something fit for a king

He’s the type to prefer large pieces that span over entire sections of his body rather than abuncha small/medium sized ones

Another fidgetter, he’s really not all that accustomed to pain so he doesn't have a high tolerance for it

Likes to treat you to dinner at Ristorante Six after each of his sessions

Tips like the absolute king he is, you could probably pay a couple months of rent back at your apartment in the Human Realm just from his tip

Once his tattoo is finally finished and healed, he will find every excuse that he can think of to invite you and the brothers on outings to places where he is free from scrutiny to wear shorts and show off your artwork

Barbatos

The last of all of the boys to get a tattoo

It was a complete shock to everyone when he came to you and asked if he could make an appointment to get tattooed by you

“Everyone” being you, Diavolo, and Lucifer because nobody else knows that it happened and he would like to keep it that way

Another member of the “I’ll get one as long as it’s somewhere nobody will see” club...so basically not his face

Before the two of you get to talking about designs, you expect him to go with something small and simple, maybe an elegant little teapot or something along those lines

Then this man comes to his consultation and throws you for a loop talking about a sleeve

Very picky, he has high standards for himself and what's on his body

Knows exactly what he wants but does his best not to stifle your creativity during the design process

You learn ALOT about just who lurks behind Barbatos’s mild-mannered butler facade during his sessions, he’s surprisingly upfront and honest whenever you have him under the needle

Solomon

Can't get a tattoo

This man has pact marks for 72 demons all over his body, there is simply no more room

Any open space he has is being saved just in case any other demons *cough* Lucifer *cough* ever decide to come around to making a pact

Collects your flash and hangs it up around his room

If you take Diavolo up on his offer to set up a shop in the Devildom, he will make sure to tell all of his pact-mates about you, hype up your work, and get you a lot of business in the door

Sometimes he will commission art from you and use magic to make your art temporarily appear on his skin over the pact marks

Once you become a sorcerer and have a better grasp on your magic, he helps you experiment in creating magical inks and enchanting tattoos

Asmodeus

The only one that actually doesn't want to get a tattoo

He doesnt think that tattoos would fit in very well to the image that he has for himself

And not being able to show off every inch of his beautiful skin while its healing is a no from him

Since he likes to test out his new makeup and skincare products on you, sometimes after he has had his way with your face he will let you draw on him with skin safe markers

would definitely be a wimp about the pain

Will spam pictures to his Devilgram of his fancy new temporary tattoos and you drawing on him

Will definitely try to bring you some of his flings to get his name tattooed on them, you will have to reprimand him every single time and eventually he will stop

If you're not the type to keep up with social media, he’ll offer to keep up a Devilgram account for your shop

If you're ever attempting to draw and you have a very specific pose in your head that you can't find a reference for, he will not hesitate to get up and start posing for you

Luke

He is baby and cant have any tattoos until he's older

His mind frequently bounces back and forth between the whole “your body is a temple” rhetoric that he was taught growing up and “wow that's so cool!”

After Simeon got his tattoo Luke became a lot more enthusiastic and curious about your job though

Will occasionally ask if he can have one of your flash sheets so he can color your pictures

These very often end up on the fridge in Purgatory Hall

Sometimes they even make their way to the fridge in the House of Lamentation too

Will this make the brothers jealous? Yes. Do you care? No.

Luke loves you and looks up to you so much that he goes through a little phase of wanting to copy you, yourself and the entirety of Purgatory Hall can expect loads of temporary marker tattoos

[zulivaris]

Art Block tips that helped me

 I’ve recently experienced art block after 3 or so months of overcoming my last one. Thankfully this block only lasted a few days thanks to some things I’ve observed and noted down from the previous time. So I’m sharing these few tips in hopes that it might help someone get unstuck :D!

First and foremost if you’re tired, sad or anxious don’t be surprised that you can’t make art, go and take care of yourself by treating yourself with kindness and patience, the sketchbooks and canvases will wait for you :)

The tips are under here:

Separate art studies from the creative time:  When you do art studies you’re there to focus on specific things, learn and understand how things work so you can apply them later in your art. Studies take a lot of energy and focus and are the opposite of the creative "flow” of making your own pieces. If you combine the two the results are either unfocused studies or stiff drawings. When you sit down at your desk ask yourself “Do I want to learn something new or do I want to create something of my own?”

When you have an idea don’t be afraid of being messy: Let’s say you want to make a picture of several cats kolo dancing in the moonlight. How do you go about doing this? Well since you came up with the idea you already have a vague image in your mind, sketch it out with simple shapes, stick figures, circle and spheres etc Don’t worry about cat anatomy, or the dancer’s moves, sketch out the essence of it. This method removes the need to be perfect or accurate. 

Ok after the messy sketch then what? Well now that you have sketched out the essence of your idea (and hopefully had fun doing so) now you go on to look for references! You put the creative process on pause and you can do a few brief studies if you need to: anatomy, color schemes, values, poses. Pick out a few of your favorites but don't obsess over them, they are a guide, a tool.

You know much more than you think. You’ve probably been drawing for a few years now. You’ve probably done some studies and drawn more than one type of subject. Then you have already internalized some of that information. I used to be obsessed with capturing the minute detail of the subject, and not be able to draw ANYTHING without reference. Instead of a useful tool, references became another obstacle to my creativity. That’s perfectionism my friend, and that’s no good. Here is an exercise a good friend of mine offered: Draw a few characters, animals and objects from imagination. Make sure that the subjects have no personal value to you (no ocs for example) so that if you make a mistake you won’t feel bad about it. Make the process relaxed and comfortable, pour a nice cup of joe, listen to your favorite music ... You will notice that you do indeed know how to draw some things without reference, and it’ll help with your confidence. 

The more you do studies the more you understand This seems evident but the more you understand your subject the freer you can be and the easier it’ll be to draw it from imagination in the future. If you really struggle with something to the point of frustration (as in you can’t get it right even with reference) It means you have to study it. Have a study list, for example: hands, perspective, color theory etc. And one of those days you want to study pick something from the list, and look for videos on youtube or useful sites like line of action etc. Only study one thing at the time. You can go from studying hands to studying arms since they’re more immediately connected, but you can’t study hands and then jump to learning perspective right after. Trust me you can learn perfectly fine with the resources online, and I’m sure you’re clever enough to do it :D

Mistakes don’t mean you “suck”  I’ve noticed that the two most common causes for art block are perfectionism and lack of self-confidence.  The two can often go in tandem which is worse :’D But let me remind you of something, you can fix your piece along the whole process. Use erasers, lasso tools, liquify , select, paint it all over etc If something looks off to you then you also know deep inside how to fix it. Useful ways to see what clunks: flip canvas horizontally (helps with placement, proportions), turn the image to grayscale (helps to check values and where your eye tends to look), look at your image in thumbnail size and ask yourself if it’s clear, see the pose’s silhouette and ask yourself if you can tell what the character is doing etc. Don’t fret, everything can always be fixed :)

Perfectionism, sometimes it stops you before you begin Perfectionism causes you to overwork a piece, it makes you draw less, it makes art stressful, it brings insecurity. Let’s remove it with a simple exercise. It can be combined with the “draw things from imagination” once you’ve drawn something you like: dont do line art, don’t shade it, keep it as simple and crude as possible and then...post it. Yes, post it. You’re not at your best? You’re only human, this will help you embrace that very human side of you. You make mistakes. So what? The more mistakes you make the more you know what you need to study and the better at art you become. Mistakes are there to show us what we need to learn. See them as another tool and not a sign of failure.

Make the process as enjoyable as possible: You like art. You love drawing. Never forget this. Otherwise why are you drawing if you don’t enjoy it? It’s easy to fall prey to the mentality of those relatable memes that “art= suffering” or “I can’t even draw the other eye”. No no no my friends, these messages are fueling your insecurities instead of overcoming them. Let me tell you what, art is fun. It is. Art is fun, because I decided to make it fun again. And you should decide on that too. Personally I adore lineart but my hand-eye coordination is lacking to do it digitally, so....I just skipped it. Yes. I skipped it. I do the sketch, I clean it up a bit and then jump onto color which I adore. It allowed me to draw more and more freely. When I draw I listen to music, make strokes with the rhythm, I take breaks often and I drink my favorite iced teas. If you don’t like coloring do it in grayscale, if you love lineart then do that etc It doesn’t mean you won’t learn your weak points in the future with studies and practice, but you won’t let your weaknesses prevent you from drawing at all. No no, you won’t let them. You draw because you want to, despite of them.

Don’t wait for inspiration, provoke it  Inspiration is not a divine and capricious muse. You make inspiration. It’s easy just collect all the things you like, music, artists, objects, characters, animals, patterns, plants etc Make boards on pinterest or similar sites, combine things you like. You like suits? You like birds? You can draw a bird in a suit, or a bird-inspired suit design, there is frankly a lot of ideas that can spring up from little things like these.

When a project stops being enjoyable either pause it for now or move on to the next thing. Pieces aren’t precious. They’re not “the one time I got x right” they are one of many. This advice goes mainly to hobbyists who can afford the luxury of passing to a new project. I have a WIP of a character who is overly complicated (I enjoy a challenge from time to time) sitting for half a month. I sometimes come back to it and add something... but as soon as it starts to create discomfort and insecurity instead of enjoyment I move onto something else. In the meantime I created 3 or 4 new pieces. If I had waited on finishing that piece I would have been severely creatively and physically exhausted. The art comes from you, not inspiration. The more art you make the better you become.

That’s about it :D I know it’s long but I prefer to be thorough and cover all the possibilities. If you have read of this: Thank you so much I hope this helps you at least a bit, if it helps only 1 other person I’d still be very happy. Have a nice one, and kick art block’s butt!

[marinetteplztakeabreak]

I need to share soft sign language buddies ninogami headcanon because they’re taking over my brain always:

(This got so long, so youre welcome if youre also starved for ninogami content)

Nino’s mom is Deaf , so he grew up signing as much as speaking. When he was younger he always signed as he talked.

It turned out he’s also Hard of Hearing, so sign language is way easier for him to understand most of the time.

However, though he’s great at making friends, he’s very awkward when it comes to talking about himself. So never comes up in conversation.

It’s not a self-deprication issue. It’s just a “thinking of things to say is hard and I’d rather have someone else do the talking” thing. He’d rather talk about anyone except himself.

Additionally! He’s great at helping other people, but he’s terrible at asking for help. He does not EVER want to be like “hey i cant understand what you’re saying, my ears dont work great,” its his worst nightmare

And it doesnt help that there have been a few cases of people being rude about it when he doesnt hear them after they repeat themselves. And possibly worse, there have been even more cases of people giving over-the-top apologies instead of just,, telling him what they said. So it’s not worth the trouble in his mind

with his few close friends who still dont know, it feels like its too late and it’d be awkward to bring it up, so he just… doesnt. He’s procrastinating on telling them he cant hear them

He stopped signing as much as he talked in middle school because strangers would always be like “woah thats so cool, how do you know sign language” and he’d just panic because he was an awkward tween, and he didnt know if he was comfortable telling them he was HoH, but ALSO just saying his mom was Deaf and not mentioning himself felt like directly lying by hiding information, so he just took the “lazy” way out and signed less in public.

Sometimes fighting the anxiety was not worth it so he just let it win in that case.

Nino is so nice and energetic and loves people, but he is way more introverted and anxious than his friends think.

But when they start to get closer, Kagami who is ever-observant, notices him signing a little bit, (not ever to her, not ever on purpose, but he’d sometimes sign a word he needed to remember while speaking or sign along to emphasize something)

and she luckily for his anxiety, she doesnt know how to have a normal conversation either.

Her (platonic as well as romantic) love language is studying and research, and Nino seems very cool and she likes him, even if she is awful at holding a conversation with him or doing anything to show it.

She thinks he’s so cool and such an amazing talented kind friend. She has so much love for him that she doesnt know what to do with it. So she channels that energy into learning to sign through the internet and whatever tools she can find

And then after a while of this, she’s like “oh no, he’s gonna think that’s so creepy, I cant tell him I know sign language or he’ll be so uncomfortable”

So, like a whole idiot, she hides that she’s learning sign language from anyone. Because OBVIOUSLY if word got back to Nino, he’d assume it was because of him and that she was a weirdo he shouldn’t be friends with

But also Kagami accidentally falls in love with sign language because she has undiagnosed autism. She always assumed that communicating was just going to be impossible no matter what, but as she gets proficient in sign language she’s like,,, oh,,, OH,, this is very nice

Even just signing while she talks makes it so much easier to keep words and sentances straight, but she only does it when she’s alone with her mother, who is literally blind and would never know.

They become closer friends in late high school, and by that time a lot of Nino’s anxiety has worn off and he’s become completely comfortable letting teachers know when he needs to hear somthing, and middle school feels like a distant dream

At some point, Nino invites Kagami to his house a few times, and he signs with his mom. Nino is like “I can interpret for you,” and Kagami is like “wow thanks, I’m so lucky, because I obviously do not know any sign language, why would I have learned it, and also for the record it is brand new information to me that you can sign,” and Nino is like “cool? Its not a secret but im glad i told you if you somehow didnt already know,” and Kagami is like, “yep :)”

But then eventually as they become really close, they are texting one night, (Kagami can still barely get out of her house, so they need to communicate remotely. And both of then HATE phone calls bc its so hard to understand whats happening, but neither of them have admitted this to anyone)

Nino admits that he likes using sign language better than talking, and he wishes he could use it with his friends, but he’d feel so guilty asking them to learn an entire language just to make him slightly more comfortable. He can talk and hear OKAY so he shouldnt put the pressure on them.

and Kagami is like “you could always ask, worst case scenerio they say no, and i dont think thats an unreasonable demand” and nino is like “it is though,” and kagami’s like “ok so haha funny story, please dont hate me” and nino is like, “…what.” And kagami confesses everything and nino is like “why… why would i hate you for that?” And Kagami is like “oh wait youre right im stupid,”

And then Nino’s also like “hey if YOURE more comfortable signing too, then why dont YOU ask your friends to sign for you. Do you see what i mean? It’s hard to ask-” and kagami is like, “as your friend i will prove it is not.”

So then Kagami ends up confronting Adrien and Marinette the next day and is like “Hi. This is a sign language dictionary. Learn from it.” And they’re both like “what?” And she’s like “oh wait sorry. Backing up. I’m autistic. I decided like three years ago. Forgot to tell you. And I need you to learn to sign a little bit so you can understand if i sign something at you. If you want, of course. Please :D.” And theyre like “ok sure yeah i can do that.”

(Theyve already learned and accepted that shes extremely direct in asking for things)

So then she texts nino and is like “i did it. Youre welcome.”

But anyway both of them are uncomfortable in crowds and parties: Nino cant hear anyone and Kagami tends to get sensory overload, so they start signing mostly in those situations, and then it starts to sink in that they’re allowed to sign whenever and that the other really IS also comfortable with it.

(Both of them are much more willing to make sacrifices for others than to try something new and intimidating for themself, so this is the perfect situation to trick them into getting out of their comfort zone, ironically by trying to be more comfortable in the long run)

so they will just sit together and hang out and have long conversations while just chilling somewhere in a park or at cafes or whatever. Both of them become chattier than they’ve ever been because talking and understanding is so much easier, and its addicting

And their close friends all become proficient enough in sign language to have simple conversations.

But also Nino and Kagami start sitting together automatically even in group hangouts, and they start hanging out more with just the two of them, and soon neither of them feel bad about asking to hang out in quieter places, because they can justify it knowing that it will also help the other one, and together that makes both of them also more comfortable asking for little accomodations from other friends, if only to prove to the other that they can do it too.

And Kagami has the lesser-known autism side effect where she makes WAY TOO MUCH eye contact. She’s aware of it but that doesnt make it go away. Normally she feels so awkward about it, and overthinks her gaze because she doesnt want to scare people away. But when signing, you literally HAVE to be watching the other person constantly, so she has an excuse to just be herself, and its so relieving

(and also its kind of fun to look at Nino anyway because he can get so animated and his smile is really nice and oh no she is in love a little bit)

And Nino always struggles because he emotionally ALWAYS needs to be the nice polite one. His anxiety sometimes gets the better of him and he’s constantly worried about sending the wrong signals to his friends and coming off as rude somehow. But with Kagami, he can literally just ask?? And she will tell him her honest opinion without making it weird. And its so comfy and so good and he really loves hearing her unfiltered opinions on so many things because she sees the world in such a unique way and she gets so passionate about such little things and then oh no, he is fallen for her before he can realize it

And they also learn that they’re both artists, they both love to just observe the world because even if they;re awkward, people are actually pretty great most of the time, and its fun to observe them and try to capture the world, and they just sit together and sketch, or they watch each other sketch, and the thing is, both of them draw ONLY FOR THEMSELVES, its not a ‘skill,’ and they don;t want it to be, its just private art for relaxation. Somehow, though, its okay if they share their art with each other. They can just sit in comfortable silence for hours while one of them sketches something and the other watches patiently

And they start to get more comfortable with one of their heads resting on the other’s shoulder as they watch them doodle, and sitting so close their legs press together, and soon enough their hands start brushing against each other’s as they walk next to each other and then all of a sudden they’re casually holding hands whenever they’re not signing because it’s nice

They try to share headphones so Nino can share some of his favorite songs and his compositions with Kagami. But try as she might, Kagami can not handle the sensory of only having one earbud in. Nino knows her tells by that point, and he’s not about to let her suffer for a stupid reason, but she REALLY does want to hear his music. They somehow end up with Kagami putting a pair of headphones around her neck and turning up the volume a little bit so she can hear, while Nino rests his head on her shoulder so he can hear just enough to know where she is in the song

And then he has to sit up and scootch away just enough to see her hands so they can talk about it, and they both pretend not to notice how nice it was to snuggle as they sign. Its fine, though, because now they get the excuse to just look at each other again and sign overdramatically with exaggerated facial expressions, and no one else around can overhear their conversation, and Nino likes to go a little over the top when signing onomatopoeia and acting out particular parts of the song rhythm that he likes, and Kagami laughs, and they both mentally save the image of each other in this moment the same way that they look at reference images for artwork, memorizing the lines of each movement and the things that make each smile unique,

and Nino also shows up at every single one of her fencing tournaments, and he sits as close as he can and signs encouraging messages to her from the crowd whenever she’s not actively competing, (that her blind mom can never catch, which is somewhat of a bonus to Kagami, because every element of their friendship that her mother cant interact with makes this more personal and special and HERS). Every little sign she sends back at him, even a simple thank you, always feels so good and rebellious and free because shes supposed to be focusing on fencing but shes deciding to care more about friendship. And even if she’s expected to leave immediately afterword, she’ll find every excuse possible to find him and give him a hug, which he’ll always accept even though she jokingly warns him shes sweaty and gross

And eventually they are special best friends and it brings them instant joy to see each other and theyre able to interact for no reason other than that they want to and like each other

(And then they kiss)