#and i chose a blue orange color scheme

[glimersims]

Sage & Magnolia

hi guys is it bad that i looked at a candle in my house and was like: wow, that would be so cute as a pair of hairs for the sims 4!!!! yeah my life is just not real atp. but anyway they are a little shitty so i apologize.

bgc

teen to elder

female only

24 swatches

disabled for random

not hat compatible

T.O.U:

don’t steal/claim this as your own, and do not put this or any of my content behind a paywall. Other than that, feel free to use this however you like! tag me in your posts :))

Download - free on patreon

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[emry-stars-art]

Might i humbly request the jelly!neil au??

I really like neil's design as a jelly fish (also have you ever considered giving him other colors outside of orange for his jellyfish-ness??)

Well I have NOW, this was perfect to doodle after a long day

I also learned while doing these that Portuguese man o’ war are not technically jellyfish but we included him anyway 💕

Also mentioned was a species swap (thank you @jtl-fics ) so I have shark Neil and jelly Andrew too :D

[u3pxx]

How do you choose the colors in your art? Your color palettes always look so cohesive and so pleasing to look at!

ah, this is gonna be pretty long so i'll talk about it under keep reading :^]

now i am no expert!!! i am just a guy!!!! i'll just be talking about how i do it! ok!

PART 1: COLORS??? HELP.

i really like going with warm stuff on my art so it's kind of a given that most colors i use end up wounding up on this side of the color wheel

so, let's say i'm coloring trucy, a character who wears blue, i end up choosing warmer looking blues, sometimes i end up choosing purple or gray if the other colors i chose makes it look like blue, yannow, color theory and stuff. like this for example!

now the first one is noticeably blue, but the second one is like a lavender and third one is like, really not blue! it's like a desaturated rose color or something, however, paired with the right colors...

they're all "blue", aren't they?

PART 2: CHOOSE WEIRD COLORS

by weird colors, i mean colors that aren't like what the thing looks like irl. like, a leaf is green right? but, it doesn't have to be when you color it!

like when i color things gold sometimes, i use a light and desaturated red-orange for it or how like with the color blue, i don't even use blue at all!

now just because i use warmer tones a lot doesn't mean i don't use the colors from the other side of the color wheel, it depends really, if the color scheme i'm going for is monochromatic or if i really wanted to make something pop

but of course, you can't just color willy-nilly, you gotta take into account

PART 3: CONTEXT AND MOOD

where and when is your drawing set? what's the mood? are we having fun here or are there Horrors?

see how it changes the mood? the things we're supposed to be feeling when we look at the drawing? yeahg. ill use warmer colors when i want the drawing to look happy dreamy etc but ill break out the blues and greens when we're in sinister town pftt

also, just wanted to share again how other colors can change what another color looks like:

PART 4: GRADIENT MAPS AND OVERLAY LAYERS

now as for making colors more cohesive... seriously, just slap that thing on top of your piece and it helps the colors get together even more! like of course i choose my own colors but gradient maps + overlay layers are kind of like adding that one final thing.

i'll use this one as an example, left one is no gradients maps/overlays and the right one is with them. i just really prefer some good ol' ourple tones in my art so there are a couple of things i add on top to really bring out the warmth in here, like so:

PART 5: ANYTHING ELSE?

uhhh don't be afraid to use tools in your program to correct the colors you don't like ala color balance tone curve contrast brightness etc etc.

hell, you can even color pick from like irl pictures and adjust accordingly to what colors you want.

i also do have like colors that i consistently use when shading things after countless trial and error; like how i'll use purple to shade red, blue to shade with green etc etc

ig that's all, hope this helps!

[steelsartcorner]

If you wouldn’t mind sharing your secrets, can you drop a quick tutorial for the hades art style? You seem to capture it very well!

Hey anon! Thanks so much, I’m flattered you think so!

To be honest there's really no secret, just a lot of trial and error. I am an amateur, but I’ll point out a few of my observations of the amazing Hades team’s work that I attempted to incorporate into this Astarion drawing, especially SuperGiant Games art director Jen Zee. Everything below is just my layman’s observation of her much, MUCH better work. You should check her out yourself!

First off, here’s a simple split out of the whole process (this will be long, more below the cut:)

POSE & PERSONALITY

Hades art is full of personality so the first challenge was to pick a pose that illustrates just one or two aspects of the character. For example, Dionysus from Hades 1 below has a languid, draping pose that reflects his chill-guy party vibes. Just looking at him you get an immediate idea of his personality.

And as much as I love the later wet-cat version of Astarion as he matures as a person, for the purposes of illustration in this style I chose a pose and expression that leaned into his early, less complex, more wily self. The dagger, wink, jaunty hips and head tilt are meant to communicate, without additional context, that he’s both trying to be appealing and is not trustworthy. 

LINEWORK & SHADING

Next is the linework and blocking! The Hades art team tends to use a combination of near-mono-thickness black lines, where exterior lines are thicker and interior lines are thinner or have no lines at all. They will often forgo an interior line to communicate form via color blocking instead. The style also makes heavy use of absolute black for the deepest shades, especially on more sinister characters or spooky aspects of a characters design. (See: Zagreus’ three dog head skulls and his red eye perpetually cast in deep shadow.)

It took some back and forth to find the right balance of black shading for Astarion. Too much and he looked too sinister and not approachable enough. Too little and he looked too innocent. 

Picking a strong light source helped with determining the direction and placement of the shadows so that just enough was obscured/revealed. It also helps in differentiating forms from each other so that, for example, the arm doesn’t disappear into the chest and become unreadable.

Using heavy black shading was a particularly useful trick in Astarion’s case, because his camp clothes color palette is fairly monochromatic between his light hair, pale skin, and white/cream shirt. That much light color can easily blend in too much and become boring: the flats I used were slight variations of white, from a warm reddish-peach to a yellowy cream to a cool light gray for the dagger.

COLOR & LIGHTING

Last is color! In Hades 1 and even more so in Hades 2, the lighting schemes are deceptively complex. There are often multiple light sources and use of bounce lighting to add a lot of visual interest. For example, check out this lighting on Polyphemus from Hades 2:

Not only does he have a cool moonlight hitting him from above, he also has a warm orange rimlight lighting him from the left, AND cool lavender bounce light bouncing off the ground and hitting him from below. All these combine and layer on top of one another to help emphasize the forms of the cyclop’s musculature and the textures of his sheep wool coat. 

I don’t think I was as successful in my own lighting scheme, because I’m an amateur, but I determined that the scene in which I was placing Astarion has a high sun and was outdoors. This means that the light hitting him from above would be a light, warm yellow and the bounce light hitting him from the left would reflect the nearby water and blue sky of the environment. 

To achieve this, I made use of different layer modes in my art program (Clip Studio Paint) to apply purple shadows (via the Multiply layer mode) and highlights (via the Soft Light layer mode) in a light sky blue and a light yellow for the primary and secondary light sources.

I ran into trouble with the blade, because it was also a light metal in an already light-color-heavy color scheme. At first, it was blending in too much and hard to read. So I decided to give it a bit of a magic teal glow to help it stand out, which meant adding a few specks of magic light reflecting back onto the face and clothes as well. 

INTEREST & DETAILS

Speaking of, Hades style art makes extensive use of adding little speckles of high-saturation color to add visual interest and cohesion. See this Zagreus portrait which is primarily made of grays, a tan bone-color, and reds: 

But sprinkled in are neon teal and magenta that don’t relate to the lighting at all. It’s just there to break up the blocks of color, bring unique colors like his green eye into the rest of the portrait, and direct the viewer’s eye. These highlights are slightly less bright in Hades 2, but still there, such as in this depiction of Apollo, who mostly glows with a warm sunlight but also has random pops of sky blue and green flecking his armor and hair.

The pops of color are often placed more centrally on the figure to keep your eye on the important parts of the portrait, like near Apollo’s face and on his armor. The color pops aren’t as frequent at the extremities; too much on the arm and your eye would be drawn away from his face.

I took a similar approach where I grabbed some of the brighter colors (like Astarion’s red eye, and the teal glow of the dagger), to add dabs of color that normally would not ���make sense” from a lighting perspective, but add a little visual interest:

Also I totally studied their approach to Apollo’s curly hair to create the impression of Astarion’s curls!

Anyway, I think that's all I got for now, I hope this helps! There's more but this is already REALLY long so I'll stop here. In the end, it's really just a process of observation and replication of things you love in artwork you admire. Give it a try, it's a lot of fun :)

[thekingofwinterblog]

So just a bit of Rumiko's originally planned color scheme i have never seen anyone comment on.

Ryoga's entire assemble was originally supposed to be very glaring pink, whoch has several meaning in Japanese, as it's speciffically a very masculine color... But with a twist.

In Japanese, Pink is the color of Sakura, and in terms of masculinity, is used to symbolize Samurai who died before their time, in the prime of their lives.

Which you could easily connect to Ryoga's feelings that his life effectively came to a premature end at Jusenkyo.

Meanwhile, Shampoo's most notable different feature is that she was originally meant to have scarlet hair.

Now this is of course a reference to the fact that Shampoo, more than any of the other of Ranma's love interests represents war, fighting, ruthlessnes and martial arts.

In the context of Japan, it also is the color of authority, happiness and strength.

It is also meant to be a clear cut contrast to Lum, the Heroine of Rumiko's first hit series, from whom Rumiko took a lot of inspiration, but ultimately made her a mirror of, as defined by Shampoo's red, to Lum's generally green.

As for Ranma's design, while there is of course the more notable fact that Manga ranma always had black hair regardless of form, there is also the original color of Ranma's famous amrtial arts uniform, which rather than the familiar red and black/blue se all know and love, was instead a very distinct orangish yellow.

Rather than any symbolism, thia is instead a reference to one of Ranma's contemporaries/predessecors, Dragon ball, as Manga Goku's Kame Gi as shown on the cover above, is almost the exact same shade, much brighter than it's animated counterpart.

Overall, Rumiko just loved this color scheme in general, as a lot of art has ranma in orange duds.

Its even the main color on the final volumes of the series.

Similar to Shampoo, Ukyo also has an element of red that was dropped in the anime, in the form of her ribbon, the trim of her short, but also her lipstick and Eyeliner.

It also symbolizes strength, power and war... But in a much more subdued manner, as while Ukyo is just as monstrously strong as Shampoo(With word of god estimating her raw, brute strength on the level of Ryoga, though lacking his monstrous durability), she lacks Shampoo's comfortable with violence, nudity and such, with her loss against Ranma in large part due to feelings of personal emberassment at her own nudity that Shampoo has never shown.

She also in general just lacls Shampoo's comfortable with true, murderous violence as the go to answer to her problems.

Hence while it was meant to be a defining color on Shampoo, on Ukyo it was meant to be a very small yet noticable aspect of her coloring.

It is also the color of sacrifice, and more than anyone of Ranma's finacee's, Ukyo is willing to change herself if it means winning Ranma's heart.

Later down the line, this red color would also link her to her introduced at the last minute love interest Konatsu, who wore red in general.

Also, speaking of character who never got the animated treatment in the original series, Ryo Kumon stands out as not only was he given a color scheme by Rumiko, but his color scheme was speciffically influenced by the Animated color scheme of Nodoka as having purple hair, in order to contrast him with Ranma as looking far more similar to Nodoka than her flesh and blood son.

Its an interesting choice as manga Nodoka had black hair, which meant Rumiko specifficaly chose this color design to make the similarity between him and Nodoka much more obvious for when the arc was adapted for the screen(Which didn't end up happening in the first anime).

[hothammies]

an analysis of clothes in st (part i) - the meaning of yellow within the party

so, this analysis is one that has been in the making since before s4 came out - i literally had to dig through old discord messages to look for what i was talking about two years ago. i'm hoping to make this into a series because i loved analyzing the outfits back then and i wanted to share what i thought about them! the costume designers put so much thought and effort into all the clothes and i'd love to try to understand why they chose what they did for specific moments. heads up! - this analysis series will mainly cover the party members. outfits are important within the entire context of the show as well, so i may include other group members from time to time. however, my primary focus on st has always been the party members, so i'm gonna be giving them the main focus in all of the posts.

--

let's start with my favorite meaning for the clothes: yellow.

when party members wear yellow, they tend to be in situations where they are trying to fit in or act normal, typically when regarding relationships, but could also be within society, a situation, or in general. i have four examples of yellow being used as a signal that these characters are put in situations where they're trying to fit in / act normal - one of max, one of the entire party, and two of mike. let's start with max!

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example one: in s2e3, we watch max trying her best to fit in with the boys when dustin is showing them dart. despite her attitude when they first meet her, she obviously does want to be friends with these guys regardless. in this episode, max wears a yellow hoodie while all the boys wear variants of the same neutral grays/whites, dark blues and reds, showing the difference between max and the other party members. she has not "earned" her keep yet, and she's trying to fit in but she is not yet in the know of the upside down.

even el is wearing similar colors to the rest of the boys, another clear sign that she is "in" the party too, despite being away from them. they did something similar in the previous episode as well, where the boys + el wore matching costumes (boys were ghostbusters and el was a ghost), while max wore a costume that didn't have her fit in (michael myers).

all of the current party members have the colors gray, red and/or blue that tie them all together in that scene, so max's yellow hoodie makes her stick out like a sore thumb. a side note is that mike and will are the only members to have all three colors on them, and matching color outfits between couples tend to be common in the show.

--

example two: in s3e1, the opposite happens. everyone in the party except dustin is wearing a combination of blue and/or yellow. dustin is wearing primarily green, which i will explain the meaning of in another post. all i'll say about it now is that the color green most likely has to do with being comfortable or confident in your own identity.

will, however, is a special case, because he was actually not wearing yellow in that scene, only blue and a stripe of red. personally, i thought it was to set up how will's growth that season wasn't completely about societal expectations regarding romantic relationships like the rest of his season group. his character arc was much more about having to grow up and understand change when he doesn't want to because of the trauma he'd experienced the previous seasons. this is actually also reflected in his clothes - will is the only one that season to not wear any new colors (he only wears the three primary colors -> red, blue and yellow) while the rest of the party got to wear both secondary and primary colors (mike wore teal, el and max wore many different colors, lucas wore purple, and dustin wore green + orange).

back to the party - in that scene, the couples also match each others outfits. mike and el's have the same color scheme, being mainly blues with a small hint of yellow, and lumax having the perfect blend of yellow and blue together. this may be a stretch, but its a possible hint to show that lumax fit together, while mike and el don't.

the party members that were dating each other wearing yellow that season was to show their attempts to act normal via relationships. season 3 was also the one that the duffers kept referencing as the summer of love, despite all the couples that season being dysfunctional.

--

examples three and four: now, we're at the section of mike wheeler, my favorite closet case. he is the main reason as to why i noticed that there was a small pattern with the color yellow being used in the party's wardrobe.

i think we've all noticed that mike has a tendency to act very... straight when he's wearing the color yellow as his main color. this can be seen in both s3 and s4, especially during the episodes where mike is hyperfocused on his relationship with el.

when mike was wearing the first outfit in s3, he was searching for a way to make it up to el because he lied to her. though he was trying to act normal or learn to be normal for their relationship, he wasn't doing a great job of it. during that entire section, mike was going through the motions of learning how a straight man is supposed to act, with lucas by his side giving constant straight man advice. he was also not getting it.

now, onto what is possibly my favorite outfit in the entire series - mike's s4e2 outfit. first of all, he's wearing a yellow shirt over a purple undershirt, presumably for el because that's her favorite colors apparently. obviously, mike is not himself in this outfit, but he's trying to fit into this california tourist look for his girlfriend.

in this outfit, mike was trying extremely hard to only focus on being el's boyfriend and not will's best friend. we know how that went, and this outfit helped us realize how badly mike was doing trying to follow that mindset.

before s4, we were never given any indication that mike's style would be like this. michael wheeler should not be wearing an outfit that has a yellow hawaiian shirt, the color purple, a visor and sunglasses, and flip flops to top it all off. it doesn't fit his normal style that he's normally been shown wearing throughout the show, being button ups, polos, and for that season, black jeans and chuck taylors.

he was intentionally put in an outfit that did not follow his true identity. the shirt, thus the outfit and the het identity that mike was attempting to fit into, was literally called a "shitty knockoff" by argyle.

------

i'm positive there are way more examples that can be used, but these are the ones that stuck out to me the most. i'll leave off with some ending thoughts:

we as bylers have always considered will's main color to be yellow, but from what i've noticed in each season, the majority of his outfits have blue, same as mike (matching couple's colors)! in fact, s4 was the first time where the majority of the season had will wearing yellow, probably because of how he was dealing with his crush on mike at the time. i'd like to point out that the main colors that lucas and max wear are also the same, being red.

i'd love to do another one of these, the next one probably being about the color green because i think i have a grasp on the reasoning behind that color. other than that, i still really need to analyze the colors of their outfits again because i think the party's clothes specifically are most indicative of their behavior. since they are the youngest group, they are the ones who are the most volatile and it's reflected in everything, especially their clothes!

[luxeluminasoaps]

Maximus

So, I like Maximus. I think he's super interesting for a variety of reasons. I like that he's this super naïve, virginal character. In a bunch of ways. He's cautious but hungry. He wants glory SO bad, he's not only willing to kill for it, but unable to convince anyone that he didn't maim his best friend for it.

The fact that we were led to believe that HE MIGHT HAVE HURT DANE until the very last moment when THEY confirmed that he didn't, was so cool. We didn't know because he didn't. He might have gone that far to get what he wanted. He didn't, but because he would have, he had a hard time convincing anyone that he didn't.

So, obviously, his soap will have the characteristic color scheme of the Brotherhood of Steel. I think he may decide to abandon that organization in the next season, but he's still at the beginning of his arc and needs them, and his Power Armor.

So, his soap will be red and silver. Not entirely sure yet what design or how I'll pour it, but those will be the colors. If I were more talented, a little blue heart running through it for Lucy would be cute, but melt and pour soap is so MELTY.

And for the smell, I wanted it to be sweet. Because he's sweet. Sweet and a little childish in his demeanor. He's not a baby, and he's not innocent by any means, but he's just.. he's not spicy. Not yet. So, his scent is sweet. Pistachio and almond, vanilla, and salted caramel. But not JUST sweet, because he IS a Wastelander. The middle notes will include heliotrope and jasmine. Heliotrope is just a fancy flower haha.

So, the flowers and sandalwood are what ties Maximus to Lucy in regard to soap.

I think this might end up being my favorite scent, but we'll see. I love sweet smells, but I also love the idea of an orange patchouli like what I chose for The Ghoul.

NEXT UP: The Vaults

[its-stimsca]

HI HIIII I absolutely adored the red guy aromantic board u made !!! Could you do an arty Wally Darling one? I like his red orange yellow blue color Scheme ❤️🧡💛💙

This was so fun to make! Funny enough 3 out of the 4 multicolored gifs I chose ended up having eyes in them by complete coincidence and I only realized it as I put the board together, but Wally’s a spooky guy he gets some eye motifs as a treat. Happy holidays! :]

Center gif is by @cutepotatook !

🖌️ 🍎 🖌️ / 🍎 🖌️ 🍎 / 🖌️ 🍎 🖌️

[stepswordsen]

【KHR AU】 XanLena Chibi Commission by Hika ❤️💜🔥🪷

XanLena (Xanxus/Selena) Chibi Icon Commission by Hika (@/onigiwi2namayo)

Hika's Twitter: (X)

Hika's VGen: (X)

In accordance with Hika's Terms of Service (TOS), editing, using, or reposting these arts, in any way, is prohibited without explicit permission from Hika, and me, the commissioner.

Intro

I commissioned Hika to draw my beloved XanLena ❤️💜🔥🪷

Selena is my beloved KHR OC and wife 💜🪷

Her name is Nguyễn Selena, and her Vietnamese name is Nguyễn Nguyệt Vân Liên. Her Viet name, Liên, means "lotus" in Sino-Viet 🪷

She is a Viet NB assassin with a calm and aloof personality, who's reserved and mainly keeps to herself, but cheerful around people she's close to. Her design is NB flag colours 💜🖤🤍💛

She has an interest in gardening (collecting flowers, plants, learning about different types of poisons), and fashion (collecting clothes, including traditional clothes) 💐👗

Xanxus/Selena matching cheebs ❤️💜 The little Xanxus and Selena... I'm SOOOO happy!!!

My friend Snow and I used Hika's XanLena chibi icons as matching PFPs on Discord for a bit 🥰 They're just that cute 💘

Rambles

WAHHHH THE XANLENA CHIBI ICONS ❤️💜🫶 OH MY GOD THEY'RE SO CUTEEE MY BABIES!!! 🥺💗

THEY'RE SO CUTE IN HIKA'S STYLE… REALLY ADORABLE OMG I LOVE THEIR EXPRESSIONS 🥰💞💘🫶

Selena's smiley :D and Xanxus' grumpy pouty >:|

The round lines and shapes... OMGGG ✨ I love the colours too!

I love how Hika drew Selena's eyelashes and underlashes with the dots...

I asked Hika to draw TYL Xanxus' design since I felt like his TYL (Ten Years Later) design would be easier to draw.

Hika originally chose a dark blue BG colour for the both of them, but changed it to yellow and red respectively to make them stand out more!

The blue ones were nice, but omg the final versions Hika went with, do reflect their actual colours better. These fit them better! Matching eye colors (plus it makes their hair stand out from the BG more)

Since Selena and Xanxus are toned with blue/purple in Hika's colours, the new BGs have more visual contrast!

Hika was very accommodating with minor colour edits and revisions as well! 🙏

I wanna commission Hika to draw JuAli and IdaTatsu with my headcanon designs of them in the future 🥰💘✨

My Message

This was the message I left for Hika!

The finished commission arts are wonderful! Selena and Xanxus look so cute in your art style ❤️💜🥺 Really adorable~ I'm very happy with how it turned out!

I love their expressions 🥰🫶 The thick round lines and shapes in your chibi style are great. I love how you draw dot eyelashes in your chibi style!

The colours are amazing! The orange~ish red and blue tones you chose for Xanxus has such nice visual contrast!

I love how the background colours you chose match their eye colours too~ It really brings out their designs' overall colour schemes and hair ❤️💛

Thank you for being very quick and accommodating with colour revisions as well! I look forward to commissioning you again sometime in the future! 🙏 👍

Read more under the cut if you're curious!

Misc Rambles

XanLena doodles by Sen (@/stepswordsen)

I feel like the KHR ani style goes for a much more generic art style, compared to Amano's unique art style.

For Xanxus' late manga design (Rainbow arc Xanxus), Amano improves the shape of his hair and makes it more wavy and easier to draw.

Amano has an amazing art style, and really detailed lineart and inking. She's one of the biggest inspirations for me. Her style was honestly very inspirational for me...

I started drawing everyday as a kid (at 11) BECAUSE of KHR, so KHR is very important and personal to me. I first watched KHR and read the manga at 11.

Amano's style is honestly defining to my style - It shows in the way I draw faces and eyes.

I'm not big on the KHR ani's art style, but I do appreciate what it gave us with the chibi interviews, character songs, etc. It's also cuz of the KHR ani that we (somehow) get endless KHR merch.

I prefer the manga designs, but I prefer the ani's colours for the charas because the KHR ani generally gave the KHR cast more skintone variety (when everyone was pasty in the original manga)

The KHR ani did such a great job by giving the KHR charas more skintone variety... Even pale charas in the KHR ani have different skin tones from each other.

Original vs. My Edit

I headcanon Xanxus to have tanner/warmer skin.

Xanxus with darker skin (olive skin in the KHR ani, and either olive or tan skin in certain KHR ani merch arts), literally just looks better from a character design perspective, imo. That's just facts 📠

His design has much better colour contrast with the ani colours. Like the black and red colours in his design contrast better with darker skin. Also against his blood/wine red eyes. It has more colour harmony and cohesiveness in terms of the colours

Xanxus with pale skin has less cohesiveness in terms of the colours

Xanxus, Yamamoto, and Ryouhei's designs just look so much more boring, pale, imo.

For KHR, I go manga design + ani colours + my own take on the ani colours.

Since I have a tendency to saturate colours with my own arts.

As a personal HC, I think Xanxus has a very mixed ethnicity.

My Italian American friend Feuri said Southern Italy and namely Sicily has a more mixed population.

The ani colours provide a good base for me to work off of for me to improve the colours :3

I do colour edits for fun. I like playing around with colours (editing official arts to see how the colours work together) to help guide my arts. I either do colour edits first or just immediately start picking colours for my arts

...

I usually hand artists a Drive folder filled with XanLena's art refs (including my own doodles) and write some notes on their design details since this makes things easier for the artists I'm commissioning.

Selena is Vietnamese/SEAsian with light tanned skin. She has black hair with a long ponytail that goes down to around the same length as her long front hair strands, and wears a white blouse with frills and a black seam with white buttons. She wears a black pleated skirt with a white line near the ends, and black thigh highs with horizontal white diamonds, and black doll-like shoes.

Since Xanxus wears a brown fluffy accessory, red feathers (that may be dyed red -> orange -> yellow), green strings with red beads, I don't mind if the artists I comm simplify these details.

So, whenever I commission artists, I ask for them to draw my HC versions! I'm very glad that all the artists I've commissioned have been very accommodating! 🙏💖

The XanLena chibis Hika made are being used for Hika's Chibi Icon samples 🥺 Wahhhh

...

The modern remakes of old 90s - 2000s animes have such boring and bland dull colours to me.

I seriously fear that if they ever do a KHR remake or reboot, that they're gonna take away the OG KHR ani's better colours and make everyone look pasty pale (just like in the manga) just for "manga authenticity" and "loyalty to the source material" even though everyone looks so much more boring pasty pale!!! 🧍

[sketchmre]

how do you choose color schemes for your art cos they're always so good, also i looove your horror magical girls <3

<3 receiving this ask made me SO excited i love talking about processes and techniques. anon i hope you enjoy the essay

note: for anyone wondering how i get the different color strokes in my art, that's color jitter! I can answer a different question on that, but it's just a brush setting that changes the color for each stroke. This answers how I choose the base colors :)

GENERAL RULES

I think the first thing to know about my process is that I'm weirdly strict with the colors I use? I see people who color pick and wiggle the color around a bit each time and it's really cool! But my brain doesn't like me doing that, so it makes most of my color palettes a pretty closed ecosystem.

As a overview, I have 3-4 "types" of colors with their own color gradients. Be aware of tone! Don't make the types of colors the same tone. Additional colors are made from combining the types. I use 25-75% opacity for new colors instead of blending them.

This is a good example of the closed ecosystem concept:

My 3 types of color are brown, green, and pink. The circles of colors are the ones I manually picked from the color wheel. The rectangular blocks of color are the new, in-between colors.

Something to note is that my new colors aren't 25% opacity, then 50% opacity, then 75% opacity. I draw a rectangular strip of the base color and draw over it with a 25% opacity brush. Then, I draw over half of that again with the 25% opacity brush. I keep doing this until I'm satisfied with my colors.

This character is a dryad and I wanted to add more interest to the bark skin, so I used the pink for some highlights. The brown and pink are both warm colors and it made the most sense to use them together. This is how it looks without the pink accent:

It ties the brown and pink together pretty nicely, right? I usually do this because I don't really like having two types of colors that are very similar in hue. If I have a pink-red color, then all pink-reds in the piece should be a color from its gradient (or a new color made from it). This makes sure all colors in the piece have a distinct relationship to each other.

(If I'm drawing something that's predominantly one or two hues, the threshold for merging colors is higher)

If that's not the case, then I prefer to manually include a gradient relationship. This particular instance was a little weird, where the brown seems more red than it is. It's actually an orange, but because I never used a medium or light toned variant of the color it just seems red. Changing its hue to pink would be pretty noticeable, so I chose to use the gradient method here.

Here's some other examples with the types explicitly added

and some with just the swatches

As a rule of thumb, there are usually at least 3 types of colors: skin, hair, and clothing base colors. Skin and hair are generally unique, but not always.

CHOOSING GRADIENT/SHADING COLORS

This might change in the future (i want to experiment), but most of the time* when choosing my shading colors I move counterclockwise from lightest to darkest.

I originally started doing this because I use the same color for skin shading as the blush, which was tinted red. In general, this works pretty well because when moving counterclockwise from yellow the average tone of the color decreases. Purple has the darkest tone, so red/blue/purple are often my darkest colors.

*There are exceptions to this, particularly when I'm using green or blue-green. If that's the case, then I do the same thing but clockwise. Purple is still my darkest value.

It's a personal preference, but I very rarely use a yellow as the light color in a shading gradient moving towards green. You'll usually see me use yellow and then move towards orange/red OR use a yellowish green and move towards blue/purple. I'm not the biggest fan of yellow-green and use it extremely sparingly. Consequentially, this does pretty distinctly separate my warm and cool colors. It's not intentional lol

HUE RELATIONSHIPS

To be honest, I usually have two types of color schemes: Boldly different colors or similar colors with a bold accent.

If anyone has seem my art then they know i LOVE a good contrasting color scheme. I know there's actual contrasting colors-- yellow-purple, orange-blue, red-green-- but in this context I'll be using "contrasting color" to refer to the actual contrasting color and it's immediate neighbors. For example, red and blue would be contrasting in this context. Red and purple would not.

The reason I want to make this definition is because I think that you can get the same visual impact of actual contrasting colors as long as a color is the opposite mood (warm/cool) AND not next to the base color. Using the same example, red would be a warm color with green as its actual contrasting color. Yellow is also warm, so we can't use that despite it being green's neighbor. Blue works. Purple is red's neighbor, so we can't use that despite it being a cool color.

Here's some examples of color schemes with really prominent contrasting colors:

For purple/orange

For red/blue

For pink/green

As for the other type of color scheme, it's 2 or 3 neighboring colors and a contrasting color (which is usually very saturated)

In some cases, the "contrasting color" is just a very light grey/white

In both cases, you just need a color that pops from the rest! Because my color palette is so limited, this accent color ends up being used for jewelry, trimmings, embroidery, etc. It helps tie everything together.

FINAL NOTES

I can (and will!) break the rules established here. I experiment, I make the objectively bad decision, I want to try other things. That's art. If you find something here that's interesting, try it out! Make it your own! (maybe tag or dm me, id love to see it)

If anyone has any questions, please let me know! I love answering these and it's really cool knowing someone might take inspiration from this :)

[headfulloflettuce]

The Human Who Fooled All of Prythian

13. Welcome to Winter Court

Cosette and Ophelia had been very confident in their decision to travel to the Capital of Winter Court, until they stepped outside and got covered in snow by some wind. It was then the two realized they were actually extremely underdressed for the weather; the adrenaline and panic the night of their getaway had kept the feeling of cold at bay. Cosette hugged herself, trying to preserve as much heat as possible, as she and Ophelia walked through the town to a clothing store. 

On second thought, I was most likely getting stared at for going outside today in a basic maid uniform. No wonder the Winter fae stared at me as though I was crazy.

The clothing shop was thankfully not far, marked by a very simple sign that said, ‘Clothing store’. In Cosette’s humble opinion the place received points for its efficiency and lost none for its lack of creativity. 

Ophelia and Cosette breathed a sigh of relief once inside.

Neither of us were built for this weather.

The two dispersed across the store, searching for cheap, warm cloaks. Cosette, still trying to understand fae currency, would select cloaks and then bring them to Ophelia for approval.

While the Autumn Court palette had been a range of bold red to light orange hues, Winter Court’s clothes leaned into the blue color scheme. From baby blue to gray, various designs of cloaks hung around the store. Eventually the two had settled on their outfits, Cosette selecting a light, sky blue cloak and Ophelia a blue-gray one. 

I wonder what differentiates Night Court’s blue tones from Winter Court’s hues…

Cosette stood back to the side as Ophelia haggled with the store owner over prices, the fae’s eyes practically sparkling from excitement as she debated with the poor bloke. Cosette smiled, watching Ophelia expertly disarm the owner’s arguments for higher prices; something about the state of the town, and the fabric quality being subpar.

Her potential is wasted working as the maid to the Lady of a Court. She’d be amazing as a manager, or the head of an HR office. Granted, maybe that is exactly why she was hired for the position.

Within fifteen minutes the two were out in the street, fully dressed and ready to continue their journey.

“That was amazing.” Cosette complimented.

“Oh, thank you.” Ophelia blushed lightly, “I could normally resolve those kinds of disputes within five minutes…”

“Wow, humble brag much?” Cosette shoved her gently.

“Hmpf!” Ophelia shook her head, putting on a pair of thick boots she chose for herself. She then shoved a pair of boots with high heels into Cosette’s hands, “Put these on.”

“Um, why do mine have heels? We’re about to hike through a forest.” Cosette stared at her. The path to the Winter Court’s Capital from the outskirts was not well defined, but certain roads existed to preserve the safety of cargo when it was transported to the center cities from Lesser Fae or animals. It was enough that the two of them shouldn’t get lost.

“Exactly, this is your first lesson. Walking.”

“I know how to walk Ophelia; I am not a baby.” Cosette retorted but slipped on the boots anyways.

“First off you’re in your twenties, which makes you a toddler by faerie standards.”

“A toddler!?” Cosette squawked.

“Second, you walk wrong.”

“First you call me a child, then you insult my walk…” Cosette muttered, stomping ahead.

“Not my fault you have the maturity of one.” Ophelia smiled, following after her, “Your walk is fine for a human Cosette, but a fae walks differently. It’s cleaner, smoother, more perfect.”

“I think you just have a sadistic side to you, Ophelia.” Cosette snarked, “Want to watch me suffer in high heels?”

“For your information the high heels will help you fix your human-like walk.”

“Okay…fine.” Cosette conceded reluctantly, already imagining how painful walking through the forest parts of the trail would be.

Thank goodness the shoes are at least boots and are suitable for the weather.

“Think back to Eris or Beron.” Ophelia said, “Did you notice how they move elegantly?”

“I don’t know, I was too busy fighting for my life.” Cosette remarked dryly, “Though, Eris always had a way of sneaking up on me.”

“Exactly! Faes walk quietly, with poise and agility. We can’t give you inhumane speed, but we can have you smooth out your walk.” 

Cosette nodded, walking awkwardly through the snow-covered road, casting one final glance back. The strange emporium-like store stood as if it was waiting for something, its windows dark with no customers in sight. She shook her head, turning her back to it, ignoring the chill that ran down her spine.

It was just the cold, nothing more.

The sounds of the town quickly fell away behind them. Tall pine trees rested along the road’s edges, with small cedars peeking out, surrounded by bushes. Despite the snowfall, it was obvious the road was frequently used by traders, cart marks were visible where the snow was spotty. 

“See?” Ophelia pointed.

“See what?”

“The way you step on the ground. It’s too aggressive. Too desperate. Even the footprints you leave behind are messy.” she pointed to her own neat marks, “Look, mine have an even shape while yours scatter pieces of snow everywhere.”

“Huh.” Cosette took several more steps, very slowly, trying not to disturb the ground beneath her.

“There! That’s better. Now do the same thing without staring at the ground.”

Cosette kept walking, trying to follow Ophelia’s instructions, stumbling slightly.

“Think of walking as a deliberate act. The more powerful the fae the less animalistic and connected to nature they are. For example, High Fae lack a lot of the more aggressive and abrasive tendencies Lesser Fae have, however, their behavior isn’t casual. It’s deliberate. It emanates power.”

Cosette nodded, taking another step, putting thought and intent behind it, “Doesn’t the power that we feel from High Fae come from their actual magical abilities?” She really doubted that the power she sensed from the nobility of Autumn Court came from their walking habits.

“Well yes, to some extent. High Fae have a natural authority over other faes and humans but take Bero-No, Eris for example. He doesn’t activate his abilities every time he walks into a room, yet you can feel a sense of regality emanating from him. Such traits and behaviors are drilled into High Fae from birth, for average or Lesser Fae a part of it comes naturally, just in a less extreme form.” Ophelia explained, carefully jumping over a couple pieces of logs on the road, “You’re human and thus have no powers, meaning that you will only be able to create a facade of a fae’s aura. Don’t underestimate a good walk, it can fool people into thinking you’re more than you are.”

This all sounded like interview advice I’d hear back home.

Cosette’s foot got caught on one of the logs, causing her to nearly trip. She quickly recovered, resuming her previous attempt at emulating a fae’s walk, doing her best to make her movements as smooth and fluid as possible.

“Hmm.” Ophelia hummed, watching her closely, “Straighten your back and try relaxing a bit. You’re too stiff when you move.”

Cosette took a deep breath, listening to the sounds of the birds and rustling of leaves.

Imagine you’re walking to your favorite coffee shop.

She exhaled, walking once more. 

“Much better.” Ophelia smiled, “You look like you’re in your element now.”

Cosette kept walking, a small bounce appearing in her step.

“You need to act more entitled.”

“Pardon?”

“Entitled.” Ophelia repeated, “You need to show everyone that you have something you want and aren’t afraid to get it. I can’t see that in your walk right now. Sure, it has confidence, but it doesn’t scream fae entitlement. It doesn’t scream control.”

“The person you’re describing just sounds like an asshole. Besides, I have standards for how I get things done.”

Unless I am really desperate. Then survival is prioritized.

Ophelia laughed, “Well…faes are notorious for being jackasses, although that’s not my point. What’s most important is conveying the idea that you are in control of yourself. Don’t be a spoiled prick, obviously. You simply need to have confidence that is ‘otherworldly’, as you humans would say. Also, you’re slouching again.”

“Otherworldly...” Cosette muttered, straightening her back, “You sure you were a servant and not a teacher? You’re really good at nagging.”

“I am sorry, who asked to teach whom?” Ophelia raised an eyebrow.

Cosette shut her mouth, not wanting to piss off her only access to fae knowledge.

Ophelia seemed to sense her pause, laughing at her expression, “No need to look like that Cosette.”

“Like what?”

“As If I’ll turn around and leave.” Ophelia’s brown eyes met Ophelia’s green ones, “Because I am not planning on it.”

Cosette and Ophelia had stopped at one of the many towns they encountered during their hike. Even though the road went through the forest, it also crossed many rural villages and farms.

“Wow, they have farms in Winter Court?”

Ophelia nodded, adjusting her boots while they took a break, “Some species of plants can survive on the outskirts deep under the snow. Farmers grow them out here and then import into the central cities where it’s too cold to grow food.”

“Interesting.” Cosette handed Ophelia some dried turkey that she had brought from one of the inns they stayed at. Cosette was now responsible for their food bag as Ophelia nearly got sick from overeating on a previous day, her body unable to handle the mass of food after years of neglect.

“How do they get the plants out of the ground?”

“My partner mentioned that they dug it out using some custom that had been passed down for generations.” Ophelia bit into the turkey slowly.

Cosette approached a farm that was close to the road, its entire field covered in snow. A man was walking along it, crouching down every now and then to check something. Looking up he noticed Cosette, his expression turning cold instantly. 

Ah, the iconic Winter fae’s welcoming scowl.

“Hello!” Cosette waved.

The man hesitantly approached, crossing his arms, “The nearest inn is down the road.”

Damn, straight to the point.

“I had a question about the farm.”

“What?” 

“How do you grow the plants when they’re so deep underground, and how do you get the plants out once they’re fully grown? Since they’re buried deep under snow, do you use any tools? How do you know when they’re ready for harvest?” Cosette rambled, the man staring at her in slight surprise.

“We use ancient techniques passed down from our predecessors, traveler.” The man’s expression remained unchanged, but his voice didn’t sound mean, rather it was more hesitant, “The plants are native to this land, we only help them grow by sometimes making additional holes in the snow to give them access to sunlight.” he gestured to the small holes in the snow, “That’s also how we check to see if they’re ready.”

“I see.”

“As for the process of extraction, we offer a small treat to the spirits that helped the plant grow and then dig it up.”

Okay straightforward-wait, spirits?

Cosette nodded along, deciding not to question him.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to use something to pull the plant out?”

“Hmm…some people try to use nets but those result in less fruitful harvests.”

“Why?”

“The net makes it harder for the spirits to get access to the fruit or plant. They also get stuck trying to leave at times.”

“Interesting…”

“Now, if you will excuse me, I need to get back to work.”

“What are you doing right now?”

“Do you ever stop asking questions?” his annoyed tone returned once more, but seeing Cosette’s curiosity the man sighed, “Checking how many of the plants are still viable for harvest.”

“Viable for harvest?”

“If any predators ate the plants or anything of the sort.” he clarified.

“Ah I see.” she nodded, waving goodbye as the man went back to looking at the little holes in the ground. Cosette walked back to Ophelia who had finished eating and was waiting for her.

“Did you berate the man enough?” 

Cosette rolled her eyes, “Ha, ha, I just asked him a couple questions. By the way, he mentioned spirits? Do spirits help plants grow?”

Ophelia looked at her, “Sometimes I feel like you crawled out from under a rock.”

It’s not my fault I didn’t read the books in detail! Though I for the life of me cannot remember spirits besides for the Starfall event.

Seeing Cosette’s perplexed expression Ophelia sighed and began explaining, “Spirits are responsible for various aspects of the natural world, contributing to it when they can. He was probably referring to the spirits that help pollinate plants.”

“Aren’t those just bees?”

“They’re more than bees, they help spread necessary nutrients and use their power to ensure a good harvest.” Ophelia shook her head at Cosette’s ignorance, “Seriously…we’re gonna need to get you some basic history books at this rate.”

“That would probably be ideal.”

“Good, your walking has improved.”

“Yay!” Cosette cheered. She and Ophelia had resumed their journey to the Capital, the farming fields disappearing as a forest replaced their surroundings once more.

“Now onto your manner of speech.” 

“Oh no!” Cosette jokingly cried out, maintaining her posture, making sure to keep even spacing between her steps. 

These heels were going to be the death of me.

Cosette cried internally. Last night Ophelia had her soak her feet in hot water to help the calluses, putting some padding into the boots to keep her from hurting her feet further. Cosette eyed Ophelia’s shoes enviously.

Sadistic fae woman…making me walk in high heeled boots.

Cosette, however, couldn't stay mad at Ophelia, as she was currently the only person on her side. So really, Cosette couldn’t complain.

“‘Oh no’ indeed. You’re very casual when you speak, I honestly cannot wrap my head around how you survived the nobility of Autumn Court.”

Cosette’s expression fell slightly, replaced by a neutral mask, “I am smart enough to keep my mouth shut if I don’t have anything better to say.” her voice came out sharper than intended.

They like their prey to put up a fight before they fully kill it.

Ophelia laughed, the sound strained, “Well, that is half of the task is it not?” 

Cosette nodded, her body relaxing a bit. 

“Ahem, when talking with regular civilians you can speak normally, although it’s good to use terms such as sir or ma’am for elders or people in a respectable position, such as an innkeeper.”

“Basically, use those honorifics towards people I want to suck up to.”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Ophelia laughed, “When speaking to nobility you already know the gist, use terms such as ‘Your Highness’ towards heirs, or ‘High Lord’ towards the ruler. ‘Sir’ or ‘my lord’ are also acceptable depending on if the person you’re talking to requests them.”

“Or ‘High Lady’.” Cosette added on.

“Haha, yes. Or ‘High Lady’” Ophelia’s tone turned strange.

Was that a hint of condescension?

Cosette looked at Ophelia, “Do you not like Feyre?”

“It’s hard to like someone who has caused so much destruction.”

“Didn’t she save all of Prythian? I thought she was beloved by the people”

“It’s…complicated.” Ophelia sighed, “And how did you even get the idea that she was beloved? She is not exactly popular in Autumn Court.”

“Oh well, I just heard things, you know?” Cosette answered vaguely.

“Uh huh, right.” Ophelia shook her head, “To be honest, most faes don’t have much reason to like her at the moment.”

“She defeated Amaranthe.” Cosette’s curiosity only grew by the minute. The ACOTAR book series was written from a first-person perspective, which made the whole thing extremely biased. When she read the first book and other chunks of the series, she had thought certain reactions were overplayed or left unexplored, but hearing a regular person within this world share their opinions was intriguing.

“Yeah, and what has she done since then? She pretty much obliterated Spring Court which had consequences; refugees flooded other Courts, not to mention the economic crisis. Don’t get me wrong, I am thankful Amaranthe got overthrown. Woo hoo! Down with the queen and all, but things aren’t actually all that great.”

Wow, okay. Didn’t expect that response, though it’s partially true.

“Well, it’s not like Tamlin played no part. Also, isn’t an economic crisis to be expected? It takes time to rebuild.” Cosette couldn’t believe she was defending Feyre of all people. She was never a hater, but she wasn’t exactly the character’s biggest fan either.

“Oh, I am not defending him. However, at least he suffers due to his own actions. According to the guards in the dungeon he is living out the rest of his miserable life in a forsaken Court all alone.” she sighed, “Yeah sure it takes time to rebuild, but how much time will pass before things get better?”

“When the people in charge see the problem with their own eyes.” Cosette answered flatly.

Ophelia nodded in agreement, “You worked in the palace, did the food or anything seem bad or of low quality?”

Cosette shook her head.

“So, until things get so bad that the ruling parties start to suffer, nothing will change.” Ophelia kicked a stone, “Yet, the common folk, Lesser Fae in particular will have to suffer and starve. Did you notice anything about the foods we packed with us that were provided by the inns?”

Cosette thought back to the breakfast Ophelia chowed down on earlier: dried meats, stale greens, dried fruits.

“It’s all mostly dried foods.”

“Yeah, that’s not just because those are easier to travel with, those are easier to preserve. With Spring Court, one of the biggest producers of food, out of the picture the other Courts have taken a hit. No matter how wealthy they might be, eventually their economies will crumble unless they come up with a solution or make peace with Spring.” Ophelia raged.

“Feyre used to be human though.” Cosette was determined to see the positive in this bleak situation, “There is no way she would just sit by and watch all this happen without doing anything. She’s experienced suffering, she knows what it’s like to go hungry.”

The woman literally had to hunt to provide for her family.

Ophelia laughed coldly, “Right, you’d think that would have developed empathy within her, but I am pretty certain that character trait died once she became a fae. Night Court is on the other side of the damn continent; they don’t have to deal with these problems despite being actively involved in them. Feyre is probably living out her life in a palace, not even aware of half of the problems Courts in the South are dealing with.” she leaned into Cosette’s ear, despite them being all alone, “I heard the guards talking about it, apparently Night Court troops had been spotted along Spring Court borders. I wouldn’t be surprised if the inner circle decided to take action on their own and reestablish farms and trade.”

Cosette cringed. Even if the action made political sense, the idea left a bad taste in her mouth. It just seemed petty. No, not even petty, it was more malicious.

“That…sounds icky.”

“It is.” Ophelia nodded in agreement, “So, forgive me for not adoring a woman who completely abandoned all her ideals and became a trophy wife.”

Okay wow, I wasn’t a Feysand stan but like that’s just rude.

“Isn’t that harsh? She’s more than a trophy wife.” Cosette’s tone was reproachful. 

“I’ll call her a queen when she does something besides fight or twirl around ballrooms. Rhysand makes half of her decisions for her anyways.”

Cosette frowned. Even if some of the things Ophelia said were true, this woman had spent a lot of time imprisoned. A lot of what she was saying was not coming from a place of educated knowledge, but a desire to blame someone.

Sounds like Feyre is being partially used as a scapegoat.

“Then why does no one speak up?”

“Ha! You try telling her mate these things, he'd flatten you in a heartbeat.”

“Why…isn’t a High Lord lashing out at a Lesser Fae looked down on?”

Ophelia looked at her as if she was an idiot.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Cosette frowned.

“Lesser Faes are viewed as dispensable, there is no reason for anyone to care.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean that if a Lesser Fae speaks out against a High Lord and he lashes out, how is that not viewed as their fault for a lack of self-control? How are they not looked down at for choosing a weaker opponent?” Cosette clarified.

“The High Fae, especially High Lords, have never been known for self-control.”

“But you said Lesser Fae were more animalistic!”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that the High Fae are much better.” Ophelia’s tone was sour, “A Lesser Fae going against a High Fae is an insult to the natural order and therefore a High Fae punishing or putting said fae in their place would be deemed as acceptable. Probably even applauded.”

“That’s…screwed up.”

“It is.”

The two paused their discussion, both deep in thought. The snow crunched beneath Cosette’s boots as Ophelia interrupted the silence.

“You’re slouching again.”

Cosette straightened her back, seizing the opportunity to shift the subject to something less heavy, “Oh, what about palace etiquette?” She had picked up a bit from her time in Autumn Court, but she recognized that what she saw and understood was a very small portion of a larger societal structure.

“I unfortunately don’t know much about that.”

“You worked as the maid to the Lady of Autumn Court though!” Cosette was surprised.

“Okay well, I know a little bit, but it’s pretty much all the stuff I told you now. I don’t know the details of proper etiquette of speaking to a High Fae if you are on semi-equal terms with them.” Ophelia shook her head, “Overall though people tend to follow similar rules, just show respect and you’ll be fine. You won’t have to worry much about this because it’s not likely you’ll get a chance to interact with such people.”

Cosette nodded, not arguing with her local fae expert. 

“What do you want to do once we get to the capital?” Ophelia asked

“Oh, I was planning on finding a job, or opening a business.”

“A business? Good luck with that.” Ophelia smirked, though her tone was not unkind.

“Why do you say that?”

“Businesses are primarily monopolized by the High Faes or regular faes who are affiliated to nobility. It’s very hard to maintain a business otherwise.”

“Wow…I…that’s crazy.” Cosette hadn’t even thought of that aspect of the books in detail, but it was true. It seemed that everything of importance was controlled by the Court’s respective leader. 

A true monarchy.

“Is that not how it is in the human lands?” Ophelia tilted her head gently, adjusting her cloak to better cover herself from the snow that began falling.

“I…well…” Cosette smiled to herself, reminded of Earth, even if in a negative way, “It’s like that where I came from as well, though I would argue we have it a bit better. My village’s system allows for some degree of mobility within social classes.”

“That’s the first time I’ve heard of humans having it better than faes. Your village really is special.”

Cosette smiled sadly, “It is.”

“Look!” Cosette cried out, pointing at the tall, icy fort walls in the distance. The view from the town they were passing through was breathtaking. The capital was visible, small shimmering yellow lights in the distance against the harsh whites and blues created a surprisingly welcome feeling. Even if most of the Winter faes they had met had been cold, the view was definitely worth it. 

Nothing, however, was worth Cosette’s pain. The pads they put into her shoes had helped at the beginning, but her feet still cried in pain, demanding better working conditions.

“Wow…” Ophelia gasped, taken by the sight as well, “It’s gorgeous.”

“And very cold.” Cosette pipped in, quickly beginning to walk again, the chill of the air settling on her 

“You get cold quite easily.”

“Are you not cold?” Cosette tugged the cloak tighter around her body.

“No, not really, the cloak is enough.”

Cosette was salty.

“It’s probably because you’re human, you’re less resistant to the low temperatures.” Ophelia noted, “The central regions of Winter Court are known for their cold. Let’s rest for a bit before we go further.”

Cosette sighed, her human nature once again falling short of fae abilities, following Ophelia to a cafe within the town. 

A man dressed in armor, a dark blue emblem of a wolf on his chest, assisted a group of farmers to unload goods to the side of the main road. Another guard directed traffic. Cosette’s eyes however focused on the swords on their hips.

Ophelia followed her gaze, “What’s up?”

“Who are those people?”

“Royal guard. They’re mostly located in the capital and the surrounding cities to protect civilians and maintain order.”

“What are the laws in Winter Court regarding weapon use?” Cosette cringed recalling the lack of accountability of abuse in Autumn.

“It’s better than Autumn, supposedly.” Ophelia mumbled under her breath as they passed a guard, approaching a cafe, “Regular civilians are permitted to carry weapons such as knives as long as they’re concealed. Large weapons are allowed for hunting, training or in the case of an attack. Only the nobility and the royal guard are permitted to wear swords openly, but they’re not allowed to use them unless the situation is dangerous.”

Cosette nodded. Everything sounded reasonable except for the last part; who got to decide what was deemed as dangerous?

“Okay, how do you know all this? You’re like a walking encyclopedia!”

“Haha, I only know this because my partner’s brother was in the royal guard.” Ophelia spoke softly, “I never got to meet the man himself, but his brother always spoke highly of him.”

Ophelia grabbed some coins out of their bag and purchased sandwiches since their supplies had run low during their trip. Cosette relaxed in a chair, savoring the warmth of the tea Ophelia brought her. She tried to share with the fae but Ophelia insisted she keep it.

After eating they carefully walked down the hill the town was on, sticking to the pathway that led to the entrance of the city.

“Oh, I was thinking about this as we were walking, but what kind of fae am I? Like what is my identity?” Cosette turned to look at Ophelia, “I need a backstory after all. Do you think I could pass as a fae from a particular court?”

Ophelia laughed, “Frankly we should have thought of that question earlier, before your training.” she sighed, “To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t met many faes from other Courts, it’s not a common occurrence.”  Ophelia smiled gingerly, 

“Really? You all don’t travel on vacation or something?”

“Haha most don’t have the money or resources to travel so freely. Those that do tend to because of their job or due to their high standing in society. So, unfortunately, I can’t tell you if you could pass as a fae from a particular Court. You certainly wouldn’t pass as a fae from Autumn, or Winter. You’re too cheery.”

“Hm, guess I could just say I grew up in some village in a forest.”

“No one will believe that.”

“Well, that’s their problem.”

“No…it’s also your problem when they go to investigate your past.”

“Well, do you have any better ideas?”

“Nope.”

“Random village in a forest it is.”

Ophelia sighed, “At least you can pull off an oblivious country bumpkin with how many questions you ask me.”

Cosette felt insulted.

I’ll have you know I came from a semi big city!

“Will they let us in? Considering that traveling is an uncommon occurrence?” Cosette shivered as they steadily approached the small line before the fort. The walls, a misty blue color towered over them. She glanced at Ophelia, who seemed comfortable in her cloak. 

How was she not freezing?

“Oh!” Cosette’s eyes sparkled for a second, “As a fae from a mysterious village, what would I be called?”

“Miss.”

“What about ‘Lady’?”

“Never ‘Lady’, that title is reserved for the nobility.”

“Oh…” Cosette’s dreams of roleplaying as an important figure were crushed.

Ophelia cackled at her expression, trying to keep quiet to not draw attention from the people around them as they got in line.

“By the way, don’t say you're twenty-one.” Ophelia whispered.

“I am twenty-two now.”

“Wow, a year has passed since we first met.” Ophelia’s eyes grew misty, before she blinked, smiling at the blonde, “Happy Birthday, Cosette.”

Cosette cringed, reminded of her ‘birthday celebration’. 

Ophelia frowned at her reaction but continued as if nothing happened, “Considering your behavior, and lack of knowledge it would be hard to pass you off as someone who is a fully mature adult. It makes sense to keep your age somewhere close to a young adult fae. Let’s say…a hundred? It’s a little on the younger end but regardless of if you were a Lesser Fae or on the more powerful end of the spectrum, you’d still be considered an adult.” Ophelia smirked, “If you want, you’ll be able to find yourself a partner.”

Cosette nodded. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of having a partner.

I am going to leave anyway; they would only be hurt by me.

“Can you explain how fae age?”

Ophelia groaned, wiggling her body, “Anything but that!”

“Why?” Cosette smiled, enjoying Ophelia’s annoyance.

“It’s complicated.”

“Well, I am a smart girl, I can handle it.”

“I am sure you can.” Ophelia ruffled Cosette’s hair, pausing when she felt the small flinch from the younger woman. 

“It’s just really convoluted. I’ll explain it another time, okay?” Ophelia was partially lying. 

“Alright…but can’t I be fifty or something?”

“No, I am already being generous with the hundred. Unless you're planning on lying about being a High Fae, which I do not recommend, one hundred is considered of legal age for most Lesser Fae.”

Cosette sighed, “I can’t believe I am saying goodbye to my youth.”

Ophelia looked at her, exasperated, “You do realize I am one hundred and seventy?”

Cosette’s mouth dropped, “Wow, hello granny.”

Ophelia playfully smacked Cosette’s arm.

The two halted their whispers as they got closer to the guards. They waited for their turn, listening to the guards berating the people ahead of them.

“What is your reason for visiting?”

“My family.”

“Length of stay?”

“A week.”

“Are they always this critical?” Cosette whispered to Ophelia.

“I don’t know as I haven’t traveled much.” Ophelia reiterated, “But I would assume it’s worse now due to the recent war with Hybern.”

This was giving border checks during international flights.

“Let me handle the talking, okay?” Ophelia whispered to Cosette.

“Sure, but why?” Cosette was itching to test her newly studied behavior on a proper audience.

“This is too important to screw up, and I understand fae better than you.”

Despite wanting to test her capabilities Cosette knew Ophelia was right. It was too important for them to get inside the city, they couldn’t afford silly mistakes. She could practice later.

“No offense Cosette.” Ophelia winked at her.

“None taken.”

The group ahead of them moved into the city, leaving Ophelia and Cosette face to face with the guards.

“Purpose of visit?” a fae with white hair asked.

“We’re moving here from the outskirts.” Ophelia spoke.

“Moving here?” the guard perked up, his eyes narrowing, “Why?”

“Because it’s better here than out there.” Ophelia joked with ease.

The guard chuckled at her honesty, “Well, you don’t look like a person we should be letting in.”

“Why is that?” 

“We don’t need any more Lesser Fae waltzing around the streets.” he snickered.

Ophelia bristled, “We come to work, not dilly dally and waste money.”

“That’s what they all say.” the guard glared.

Ophelia glared back. 

He sighed, “Do you even have some money to your name?”

“Yes, we do.”

“How much?”

Ophelia paused - she didn’t know as Cosette was the one who carried the money.

“Ha! So stupid you don’t even know how much money you have with you?” he mocked, “I forget they don’t teach you folks math.”

“Look, we’re not here to cause trouble.” Ophelia tried to placate him, but that was the wrong move.

The man smirked, sensing a sore spot, “You barely have powers worth mentioning, what good could you even contribute to the Winter Court?”

Has this man ever met a Bogge? What is with the disrespect towards Lesser Faes??

Ophelia growled, her hands balling into fists, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, do I not?” the man taunted.

Cosette glanced at Ophelia.

She’s struggling because she let him get under her skin.

Ophelia had gone on the defensive - the last thing one should do in this situation. Not that it was easy to remain calm in such circumstances. Cosette looked around the area, a fairly large line had formed behind them due to the hold up. Ahead of them were several other guards standing next to the icy wall talking to a black-haired man in armor, the emblem on his chest silver rather than blue.

Interesting.

“Say, if you have no money, I have an idea for how else you could contribute.” he leaned into Ophelia’s personal space, running a hand through her hair, “If you’re good for me maybe I’ll let you in.”

Okay, that’s it.

“We have none.” Cosette suddenly spoke up, putting herself between the fae and Ophelia, praying her half-baked plan worked.

“None?” the guard laughed, “I thought you said you had mon-”

“None of your business. That’s how much we have.” Cosette cut him off, 

Ophelia stared at her, slightly horrified, tugging at her arm. “Cosette, what are you doing?”

Playing by the rules.

“Excuse me?” the man looked at Cosette, “Who do you think you are?”

“A civilian trying to get to my new home.”

“Ha! Your new home.” the man laughed, “Creatures like you sleep in the forest. Go back to your moss.” He tried leaning in, but quickly covered his face.

Cosette at the moment was a walking stink bomb - partially because neither she or Ophelia had washed properly over the course of the last few days, but also because she had been going out of her way to mask her human scent. Cue the literal dirt baths.

“Holy shit, have you ever thought of washing yourself?” he snarled, “I didn’t realize education was so bad amongst Lesser Fae you hadn’t heard of bathing.” he jeered.

What would piss off an egotistical, narcissistic bastard?

“And I didn’t realize that the Winter Court’s guards were this weak.” she smiled kindly, raising her voice.

“Excuse me?” the man growled.

Oh great, another dog.

Ophelia tugged on her arm, “Cosette, please…This isn’t worth it”

Cosette gently squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“You heard me. Why do you feel the need to berate us this harshly if we ‘barely have powers worth mentioning’ and no money to our name?” she tilted her head, “Your description makes us sound unthreatening.”

The man’s face turned red, “I-That’s not what this is. We don’t just let anyone into the Capital. As far as I can see you’re bad news.” trying to regain the upper hand he continued, raising his voice as well, “Lesser Fae are always just liabilities. Pathetic and weak”

The group behind Ophelia exchanged uncomfortable glances

“Then you should get your eyes checked.” Cosette remained calm, which only served to piss the guard off more. She glanced at the group of soldiers ahead of them, seeing them looking in their direction.

Good.

“You bitch!” The guard looked like he was about to explode. The veins on his neck bulged. 

“Ah, and the name calling. Really professional.” Cosette commented sarcastically.

“Cosette!” Ophelia cried out, pulling her friend back as the guard drew his sword. 

“Oh so now you’re scared?” he sneered.

“What’s going on here?” a deeper voice interrupted, the black-haired man Cosette saw earlier approached.

“C-Captain.” the guard stuttered, quickly composing himself, “These two ladies are insulting the royal guard and threatening public safety!”

“We did no such thing!” Ophelia was infuriated. 

“You called us weak!”

The captain of the guard watched the scene before him, a disappointed expression replacing his neutral one, “Stand down officer.”

“But sir-”

“Stand. Down.”

Cosette trembled, the energy around them growing heavy and oppressive.

Did the snow stop falling?

Ophelia pulled Cosette close. This felt just like when Eris sent a course of magic through her.

The white haired fae quickly sheathed his sword.

Cosette felt like she could breathe again.

“Captain, they can’t be permitted to say such things about us!”

“You just proved her claim by getting upset over such a minor comment.” 

“But sir, it doesn’t look good to let a bunch of Lesser Fae walk all over us.” the blonde fae hissed.

A flash of rage passed over the captain’s face as he looked at his subordinate.

“Officer, what doesn’t look good is you being provoked into drawing your sword in a public space for no good reason.” 

“Yeah, so? We’re at a checkpoint, we can use violence if nece-”

“If necessary.” the black-haired man cut him off, “These two women haven’t done anything. Usage of threats is not permitted to ensure safety along the border.”

“They won’t contribute anything to the Court!”

“I am sure they will contribute plenty since they actually understand our laws, unlike some.” the captain glowered, “You are dismissed officer. I want you on cleaning duty until ordered otherwise.”

The white haired fae stormed away, as the captain turned to face Cosette.

“I apologize for his behavior.”

“I am disappointed in the lack of restraint from your soldiers.” her voice was shaky as she separated from Ophelia, standing by herself.

“I have nothing to say, my officer’s behavior was unacceptable, and he will be punished accordingly.” 

“It’s fine.” Cosette shook her head, Ophelia held her hand supportingly. Cosette straightened her back, looking the main guard in the eyes. 

This wasn’t over.

“However, I would like to file a complaint.”

The man raised an eyebrow, “Go ahead.”

“Your officer, apart from being unprofessional, also tried to ask for sexual favors with my friend here.”

The man’s eyes widened, “What?”

Ophelia looked at Cosette, a strange expression on her face.

“You heard me. He attempted to proposition us.”

“I-Oh Gods.” the man muttered, “Thank you for telling me this, I will make sure he receives proper punishment.”

“I want proof.”

“Hm?”

“Proof that he will have faced consequences for his actions.”

The man nodded understandingly, “Of course, I can arrange for that. Do you know where you are staying in the city?”

“We will be staying at an inn, though we haven’t decided which yet.”

“Alright.” the man waved over a fellow soldier who quickly brought a piece of paper and pen for him. He quickly wrote something, and signed at the bottom, handing it over to Cosette, “You’re welcome to come by the training grounds, they’re adjacent to the palace. We’ll be able to fulfill your wish there, just show them this and they will let you in.”

“How long will his punishment last?”

“Until the end of the winter solstice, so you can come down until then.”

“Alright, thank you sir.” Cosette nodded respectfully.

“I recommend the Forrest inn. The man who runs it is a good guy, and the place is affordable.”

“Thank you for the advice.” Cosette paused, glancing at him, “May I ask you your name captain?”

The fae’s lips tensed as he kept himself from smiling.

“The name is Aquilo, miss.” he said, stepping to the side, giving Ophelia and Cosette space to pass, “Welcome to Winter Court, may your stay be enjoyable.”

Next: Chapter 14 - Petty Coins

Back: Chapter 12 - The Day Fern Died

Masterlist

Tag list: @rcarbo1

[stereax]

why does the nhl have 20!!! teams that are primary red or blue, meanwhile the only 2 purple teams phased it out and refuse to bring it back full time??? (orange/gold ducks redesign looking gorg though)

props to the recent expansion teams for avoiding the same red and blue half the league use but i want moreeee. utah venom being purple with red accents or something would have been so cool (but at least the shade of blue they chose is new i guess)

any teams you would straight up change the colors of? or what color combo do you go with for a blank slate new team?

nod nod nod! so blue and red are Very Used colors in sports in general, as well as graphic design. some colors like grey and brown can be too "natural" for something like a hockey jersey and can blend in too much. other colors like purple and pink can be strong and feminine-coded, which some may shy away from. blue and red are primary colors that are generally easy to replicate. plus, they're simple to remember.

(by the way, iirc, there are also issues with teams like the bruins who tried to monopolize their color scheme!)

for changing colors: I think the Canes should go back to Whalers colors. navy/green/silver is really slick. I also wish the Lightning did more with yellow/gold. the Hawks just need an entire branding change atp. and yeah I hope LA goes back to royal purple at some point.

for a NEW team: I want to see red/green/black/white. I think that would be cool. that or break out the pink.

[discotenny]

Lore(?) drop about wyclm / my new project incoming because I need to yap instead of study

Endings

There are four endings planned, based around two important affection variables of the game: Satoshi Affection and Player Affection.

Satoshi affection is obv- if he likes you or if he doesn't. This can only be gained or lost in interactions with Satoshi. Player affection is the current Player feelings towards Satoshi. This can be gained or lost in any scenario (even thoughts lolol) as it's the MC's view of how they see him.

The four endings are decided kind of like a punnet's square??? Ie, high high, low low, high low, low high levels of each variable all result in a different ending.

This means it is possible for Satoshi to lose feelings for the player.

My new project

The characters of wyclm are in the same universe as my new project (pbm02 as I'll call it) BUT it is not the same universe as wyclm. There are a few cameo moments from the characters (Elias obv but also one I won't name) but they aren't themselves from wyclm. Just like... same people different timelines.

Same goes for the pbm02 charas. Depending on how my outline goes for the upcoming wyclm days there may be cameos from them too living their alternate lives or smthn smthn.

I'll throw in a bit of my script here just because I'm dying to promote this until I can get the promo art out SOBBB

Day 2

idk if I can keep hiding it but Day 2 is mostly focused around MC's relationship with their friends rather than MC's relationship with Satoshi fewafewfewwaag

Of course there's a lot of Satoshi moments but my main goal with Day 2 was to build up the MC's characterization and hopefully make it feel realistic that they could fall for Satoshi despite years of hatred. MC's friends and their input on the situation were needed in order to make that real.

Similarly to Day 1, each branching route corresponds to a deeper character moment (Elias/Lilit/Paden/them all as a group if you chose photography lmao). There are also bonus scenes with each character in Day 2 depending on if you chose "their" branching path.

Also yeah if it isn't obvious already Elias is so down bad for the MC.

Satoshi

Also if this isn't obvious already- Satoshi is neurodivergent. Specifics of and how this affects his character will be explored in game.

Colors!!!

Satoshi = light blue | MC = pink | Lilit = dark blue | Elias = green | Paden = purple

The color scheme of wyclm is intentionally going to be these colors/brown for neutrality LMAO. And I know Lilit reads as pink but I promise guys I promise promise promise

pbm02 has a warmer color scheme (despite being set in winter woops) of pink/red/yellow/orange and blue to balance

Plushies!!!

The most minor of background lore- but of COURSE of COURSE each plushie choice at the end of Day 1 corresponds to a character. This doesn't have big branches (only bonus dialogue) but here ya go:

Satoshi = Archibald (cat) | Elias = Fish (dog) | Lilit = Smoopy Perkins (rabbit) | Paden = Smelly Shit Stain (crow)

The only info this is just what animal each character would be HAHA

[oddballism]

I redesigned the McDuck tartan for the incredibly petty reason that I just don’t like the orange and green color scheme. I still made it have the same pattern that Carl Barks designed for it. I chose two shades of blue, red, and gold because these are colors commonly associated with Scrooge.

[monarchisms]

oh yeah, now that it's closed, here's the post i wanted to make about that rt rebrand poll i made last week. this will be pretty long and kinda rambly, so feel free to just blacklist the "long post" tag :)

so like, i made the poll because of 2 main reasons: 1. because of a mix of comments i saw on other sites from people who also didn't know what color it was supposed to be, and 2. because of myself confidently believing it was some shade of orange until i switched from looking at it from my laptop screen to my phone screen.

it being a godawful shade of red/red-orange was mentioned in the article itself, which is why my question was phrased "what color do you guys think it is?" since either red or orange is both technically correct. going more into the specifics of the poll numbers:

tumblr doesn't show the specific number of people who voted for any given poll option by default, just the percentage, so i went digging and followed this tutorial to get the raw data using firefox's inspect tool. the final results are, with 934 votes total, red at 551 votes (59%), orange at 303 votes (~32.4%), and other/a secret third thing at 80 votes (~8.6%).

red winning wasn't a surprise, really, but i was pleasantly surprised at how many people didn't have a definite answer or switched between answers like i did. i can't exactly pin down why that is, but if i had to wager some guesses...

the color scheme has a high chance of being a callback to rooster teeth's Popular Web Series Red Versus Blue™:

and with a want/need for rt to rebrand, the idea of keeping the color scheme while also making it modern and pop out is really cool, but its execution is uh...

i couldn't fit everyone's tags, but you get the gist. it fucking sucks, man.

as @god-of-arts-and-crafts has pointed out:

orange and blue are complementary colors, with them being opposite each other on a color wheel except the people who made the rebrand chose a deeper shade of blue??? they couldn't even get that right, oh my fucking god, so while its technical color is red-orange, it can be overwhelmingly orange when paired with a similarly bright shade of blue, which is what's causing many people eyestrain. hell, the first time i looked at the picture when the news dropped, it literally gave me a headache lol

finally, as i've said in the tags of a different post about this eyesore, this is an accessibility nightmare. with the worst color combination possible, the colors used for the new font and logo are definitely not ada-compliant. there are free sites out there to test images for general accessibility issues. contrastchecker is what i use sometimes, and below is what i got using red-orange as the background and blue as the foreground, and vice versa:

(both versions had the same ratio and color difference lmao)

the americans with disabilities act recommends that the contrast ratio be 7 at the lowest, but should ideally be higher than that, if possible. this is objectively and subjectively a very bad corporate rebrand, and i really, really want rt to break their "no jokes on april 1st because that's our anniversary" rule this year. if for nothing else, then just so that people who haven't read the variety article and/or the reactions on social media aren't jumpscared once the new intros/endcards/whatever else start rolling in.

[your-local-uwu-artist]

mysterion design >:D

notes under the cut

-i'm imagining for this au everyone's middle school aged, so still like, kids, just a bit older

-ignore the fact that i fucked up the colors on all the text i SHOULD have had the colors shift between lines it helps legibility but i didn't fsr??? i'll figure that out in later art dw

-GOD THESE COLORS TOOK FOREVER the og colors are SUPER desaturated and also more on the pink side of purple but I prefer to use saturated colors and wanted to go more towards the blue side of purple (than the colors are closer to complimentary colors between mysterion and kenny)

-ended up going with a very soft look (rounded edges and ovals and softer lines) i was thinkng off of the batman inspo actually and thinking about that scene in the lego batman movie where the brick notes batmans design isn't very hero looking, i mean it is by western standards but like when i think of a good hero and symbol of justice and hope i think of twintaild magical girls with ultra frilly skirts and cute mascots and sparkles and stars everywhere but like.. i'm biased.... anyway I chose the softer lines to make him feel softer and instead relied any edgy vibes on the colors and body language rather than the shapes (i mean i still used triangles but yeah)

-I ended up not going with brown boots cause i didn't want to have to tie in another color, and i had the epic idea of the little question mark symbols on the soles of the shoes and the m logo on the ... toungue i think it's called?

-so I originally wasn't gonna show his hair but I thought it would help to balance the colors more as the white shorts felt too bright

-i didn't plan to post this or else i would've tried to better phrase all the writing lmao

-i went with rounded feet to make him feel like, floaty?

-one smaller challenge was keeping a short stature for kenny while still making him look like, menancing and powerful, another reason why i went with the graceful floaty feet, I also had the shorts flair out with that triangle shape like they do to emphasize and blend together the general shape of the body

-miiight have accidentally made him more androgynous~ my ass spent years studying and learning how to make characters appear masculine than said 'yeah no thankyou everyone is going to be at least a LITTLE bit pretty <3'

-ah look how nice and not over crowded the doodles are... yeah say goodbye to empty space cause Cartman/theCoon's completely lacks it. I like drawing fluffy animal ears and found the need to label all the drawings "furry" or "menance" so yeah

-i'm that one bitch that says fuck canon even canon doesn't give a shit bout canon so why should i? and never draws kenny with blue eyes, always either light brown or preferrable purple. mostly cause i feel blue + blonde is too basic and I find that the purple makes for a nicer contrast and overall pallete. Cause brown kinda just blends in, cause then his entire color scheme is all within the same hue range, but purple sticks out better + leaning into the magenta side of it looks great with orange

-petition for the southpark fan wiki to acknowledge how fuckign similar Mysterion and the mysterious mare do well are

-funfacts!! considered having the buckles be silver instead of gold (changed to balance with the blonde hair and tie back in the orange/yellow hues) considered having the inside of the cape be a lighter shade of purple either pulling in more pink or blue tinted shades, changed cause it made the overall color scheme to bright

-in case you were wondering 90% of my art has the same stupid level of thought put into it as posts i do add notes onto, I just figured most people don't want a ramble about shape launguage and colors on their silly blorbo fanart posts lmao. but if you find any of this interesting or heck if you ever have a ramble about your own art my inbox is always open~ i love getting to discuss drawing :D