#and my coloring etc was best when i was using a computer

[hailthedragonmaster]

whenever i look at my old art that's good i have to remind myself that no i AM still a good artist i DO still draw good stuff even if it's not as often. because god i really was popping the fuck off with good art for so long augh

[mellowwillowy]

I NEED TO TELL A YANDERE BLOG ABOUT THIS NSFW HEADCANON I HAVE-

Imagine a yandere that bought one of those super high quality sex dolls and dresses it up as you with stolen clothes and puts a wig on to match your hair color, etc, used it constantly calling out your name, etc

Also imagine you finDING IT- oml

- ☀️anon

☀️ nonnie you beeg brained :D

ᴡʜᴏꜱᴇ ʟɪꜰᴇ-ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴅ��ʟʟ? (ɢɴ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ)

♥ warnings — general yandere warnings, reader is a dom? and yan is a subby... doll and yan wears lingerie, degradations toward yan, sub-dom, worship - Master play, slapping and mention of sounding.

—𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒓 - 𝑳𝑰𝒇𝑬 𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕, ʙʟᴜᴇ

By just dressing this silicone doll in the correct wig, outfits, and makeup and dousing it with perfume, he gets to practice all his fantasies on it. It almost looks like you now, especially with how accurately it's dressed since it is indeed your clothes that he stole. He does enjoy dressing it up with the type of outfits you wouldn't usually wear.

All is great but not the best.

Why? It's not you after all. It's just some silly expensive doll that is dressed to look like you to satiate his needs. Nonetheless, what's better than 0? 1. And that is this doll, a 1/100.

It's mostly used for menial stuffs such as a morning bed buddy, a company for breakfast and a company for when he's sat in front of the computer for a long time, alone.

But when night falls?

"Fuck–, be good." He grunts as he slams his cock into the doll, mindlessly calling out your name like some sort of prayer, eyes rolling to the back of his head. The doll is totally abused by him every night, dressed in countless themed outfits.

"Yeah, yeah, gonna cum, gonna paint you white from the inside fuck-!"

His pace grows erratic, breath raggier and tongue lolling out like a dog. He's already on cloud nine over a doll, what will it be if he's fucking the real deal instead?

"Ah- fuck, gonna cum-!"

The sound of beeping suddenly rings, cutting his panting in half as his eyes are trained toward the door.

Beep. Clack.

"Hey Blue, brought ya' the goods.... s...?"

Your eyes go up and down. Him, naked with a doll beneath him, his cock buried inside the doll, shielding your eyes from it. Hand tugging on the wig of your hairstyle and the clothes you thought you had somehow lost lying on the floor, not to mention the whole room smells like you!

"Uhh... am I supposed to... knock or ring the doorbell from now on?" You motion toward the door as you try to avert your gaze toward somewhere else. Ah yes, the framed photo of you two looks good on the cabinet.

"Wa-wait, wait, don't, I mean, stay! I mean, go-! Arghh..." Blue stutters as he pulls out, his hardened cock now on display for you to see. So he is a grower...?

"Listen, I mean, fuck, look anywhere but me!" Blush creeps into his face as he wraps the blanket around his waist, striding toward you in panic.

"I got ya' the lemonade and uh..." You fail. Your eyes are just a pair of curious souls, looking at how his bulge is seen poking through the blanket.

"... shitfuck. Never knew ya' a grower"

"This is no time for joke..."

"You want the awkwardness to die down or nah pal?"

Blue stays silent for a moment before crouching down in annoyance. He should have just chainlocked the damn door today!

"Been wondering why I've been missing some of my clothes and undies, ya' into stealing or just broke?"

His cock is supposed to be limp by now but it's not. It's twitching from your last words. What has gotten into his head?

"And that lingerie? Oo... never knew yer' a kinky one." Your foot nudges his shin before his bulging cock, giving it a rub. Blue shudders from the contact, falling backward on the butt while the blanket slips from his waist, revealing his aching cock that is leaking precum.

"Fucking masochistic aren't ya?"

You straddle him as you place the plastic bag down onto the floor, knee pressed against his bulge while your tongue licks his sweat from his face, hand slowly taking the glasses off his face, is this prescribed spectacle?

"My pretty boy."

You walk toward the bed and sit on it, your eyes trained on the naked doll, it looks almost like you, thumbs up for him for sure. You beckon him closer with your finger, and so he does.

"Would love to see you dressed in lingerie instead, come on, do a favor for me yeah doll?"

Blue gulps as he nods, slowly undressing the doll before wearing it himself, the size doesn't really fit him but it's manageable. His cock twitches every now and then as you watch his figure.

"Lovely, isn't it?"

"U-unh..."

"Did you pick this lingerie while thinking how it'll look like if it's wrapped around my body? How the color will suit me... how easy the access would be for you to just..." You sandwich his cock with your feet, rubbing it up and down, "feel me like I'm doing to you right now?"

Blue shakes as he moans out, his knees slowly turning into jellies. He needs you, to feel you all over. And so he pleads, "Please..."

You raise your eyebrows, "Please what?"

"Please... do me... yeah?"

You smack his cock with your foot, "Is that how you are supposed to talk to your Master?"

Blue gulps before kneeling down, his lip moving to your foot pressing kisses on it while occasionally licking it, "Please, Master." You try your best to bite your excitement back, eyes swirling in lust as you focus on the lovesick mutt in front of you. You'll collar him later but for now, he is your doll, yours to toy with just like how he's been toying with this doll.

"Come," You pat your thigh, "Let me feel that cheek of yours."

Blue nods and brings his face closer to yours, you can feel his breath fanning you. Your finger pokes his cheek before it turns into a palm that feels his cheek, hard. You slap him.

"Be good, else I'll fucking squeeze a pipe down your cock."

Blue shivers from the idea of sounding. That would totally feel so good, right? His cock starts leaking even more pre-cum, spoiling your thigh with the white liquid.

"Fucking mutt in heat. Why not rut yourself with my thighs?"

It only takes that for Blue to raise your legs by the ankles, his cock in between your thighs as he ruts himself in and out, panting like a dog in heat. You pinch him in response to his action, too bad you couldn't reach his nipple.

"Fucking slut." You rip the lacy lingerie as you claw him, nails digging into his hips, "Gonna fucking chew your cock off later until it's minced."

Blue's cock twitches again from your words, pace even more erratic now. "Please do so!" He is close, you can see it. But he knows better than to come before you allow him to first. "Please, please, please, lemme cum? Need one out so bad, hurts so much."

"Ah? Do I look like I care?" You scowl at him for pulling one of your legs away from him, kicking him by his shoulder, "Fucking mutt, go hold that until your balls are as good as blue and I wouldn't even care."

Blue whimpers at your words but his excitement only grows even more, it only pushes him even further from his limit.

"Please, please, please I beg you. Please..." He begs as he rubs his face against your foot, peppering it with kisses and licks, "Please let me come, just one word I'm all done, please..."

You sneer at him before kicking his face lightly, "Give me a twirl."

He twirls. "Show me how needy your cock is." He shows it to you, lifting the veil for a clearer view. "A striptease for me." He strips, eyes never leaving yours until you suddenly jerk him off, "Good boy... come on." You rub him even faster, his hip bucking toward you for a better angle, "Come, my pretty doll."

Rope of cum soils your feet not afterward, your name rings in the room as he pants, trying to grasp reality after how cum-dazed he was. You rub your spoiled feet against his pelvis, soiling it with his cum as well.

"Come," You open your arms wide for him to dive his face into your neck. You kiss his ear as you caress his hair, muttering praises at him.

"Wanna try the real deal now?"

[sakuralovespossums]

Human Frylock x GN Reader

Honestly, you getting with Frylock makes the most sense

He’s objectively the most attractive, smart, charming, good with kids, you get it

But just cuz he’s the most humble, doesn’t mean he isn’t equally insane

There was a whole episode where he went full yandere and implanted his brain in the corpse of his crush’s dead boyfriend

BUT HE’S STILL A KEEPER!!!!

Calls you “babe” or “hon” often

Always has an arm around your waist when going out

It’s also a subtle way of showing people your his when someone tries to hit on you. He doesn’t get aggressive or anything but his usual frown does deepen and his tone gets more blunt

If the harasser still doesn’t take the hint and really gets on his nerves, he’ll use one of his inventions to brutally mutilate them then act like nothing happened

Other than that, he’s still generally a pretty chill guy and is the best boyfriend

Always plans ahead for alot of things like dates, trips, grocery shopping, special events (my ADHD ass is so thankful)

For those who deal with periods, he even keeps track of your cycle for you and buys all the things you need like pills, snacks, blankets, etc.

His deep voice is so soothing and he takes full advantage of it lol

One time you saw him without his goatee and you swore for a millisecond he was someone else. It’s just so weird seeing him with a bald face

Shake is an annoying pest who’s always following you around and tries to convince you to ditch Frylock and get with him instead

Carl just thinks your a weirdo for wanting to date one of his weirdo neighbors

There are days where you just walk into your bf’s room and plop your chin on his shoulder as he types away on his computer. No words. Just silence and occasional kisses

He def wears cologne

The only guy to ever make braces look hot

It would be cute if you guys met at one of those prestigious universities like Harvard or Yale. Either you bumped into each other in the same dorm/class building or were assigned to work on a project together. You guys slowly bonded and became friends, to eventually something more

You help him put in his yellow hair dye every few weeks, but you also really like seeing his natural hair color

One time you put in the wrong hair dye by accident and Frylock was left with an ugly colored hair for weeks. You desperately tried to hold back your laughter at seeing how moody he was with messed up hair. Shake wouldn’t stop making fun of him for days

You can’t help but feel a bit bad for him as he has to deal with his chaotic roommates (mostly Shake) all the time, so you help him however you can

Cooking and bringing him food, dragging him out of the house to your place or somewhere fun, buying new science supplies or books with him

He used to go shop for those by himself, but now can’t think of doing it without you since you make it way more fun

He never quite realized how lonely he was until you came along

He teases you about wearing his red sweaters all the time like it’s yours now and sometimes chases you around the house to “get it back”

Frylock is noticeably in a better mood when he’s with you. He doesn’t smile but has an upturned smirk instead of his typical frown and always plays along with whatever joke you tell him. That’s how much in sync you guys are

Everyone sees you two as Meatwad’s parents (his teachers, the neighbors, hell even Carl and Shake)

It doesn’t help that you often go with Frylock to Meatwad’s student/teacher conferences

Or play with/babysit him when your bf’s too busy

Or how you and Frylock always hold Meatwad’s hands when walking to the park

Or come to Frylock’s aid in lecturing him why he’s still listening to MC pee pants when his bed time was an hour ago and………..

Ok maybe you are his parents

NSFW stuff

I just see him as a top. He likes being the one to lead but will let you take the reigns if you want

Again, he uses his voice to his advantage ;)

He likes using toys depending on the mood

I feel like he would tell you he doesn’t mind if you sometimes wanna go solo with your toys (nothing wrong with sexual independence) but secretly grumbles and is jealous lol

Shake has def walked in more than once just to annoy you two and ask if he can join

*slams the door in his face*

He has more length than girth

Frylock has a pretty well toned build, which really doesn’t help make you any less desperate for him

And maybe also make you feel a bit self conscious of your own body. He tells you he finds you gorgeous just the way you are

You love how his goatee scratches your skin, lips, thighs, everywhere as he kisses you all over

Is so amazing at aftercare. Always checking if he didn’t go too hard on you, gets you a towel, water, snacks, anything you need

[meirimerens]

how do you cope with boring/difficult classes and assignments or general tips on how to best enjoy and perhaps even romanticize university?

i'm going to be a hundred and also recognize how #lucky i am but I don't have boring classes. there's not one class where i'm like "damn i wish i wasn't there rn". as far as difficulty goes, it's only my first year so it's now Insanely Difficult either and basically every time i have stressed like hell for an exam SO FAR AND MAY IT STAY THAT WAY GODDESS WILLING GODDESS WILLING i've actually done real well so i'm unsure how like Compelling of tips i can give but here's what i got going on for me:

taking notes by hand. my medieval art history teacher says neuroscience shows that writing stuff down by hand makes it easier to memorize stuff, i'm finding stuff that goes in that way but i'm a firm believer of If It Works. i find taking notes by hand allows for way more freedom of form than typing; you can put arrows, do little idea "maps" or "trees" that you'd be spending 5 full minutes on on computer. it also makes me feel 1) less stressed because i don't have to worry about a very expensive piece of material being stolen/running out of battery midtype 2) like a #scholar and gives me a sense of Locking In that i don't have with typing because i spend so much time on computer typing Unscholarly things. if you catch by drift

as soon as possible after a class, condensing the lecture notes in small concise sheets that i carry around in their own dedicated small folder. it's a tip from my boss (who also did an art history degree): don't retype all of your handwritten note on computer, make like. "memory items" study sheets. i like to use different highlighter colors (orange for dates, green for places, purple for Concepts, blue for Objects,... etc) so it's easier to navigate. they can look like this. if you so desire

you'll notice all my little arrows and the drawing; all those existed in my hand-written lecture notes

3) try to eat well and sleep enough. don't do as i do. i eat well but i sleep like shit and then wonder why i feel like i'm about to snap by hour 5 of class of the day.

4) hate to say it but bring a water bottle. and on long days, bring a thermos with either hot black tea or cold energy drink, something with caffeine in it. genuinely helping me not fall asleep on my desk when 3PM hits and i've been awake since 6:30. i'm lucky enough that i only truly "need" such a pick-me-up twice a week so. don't overdo it. that could make everything worse.

as far as #romanticizing the uni life, my tips:

a) your campus probably has a library: go borrow one (1) book from it. doesn't even have to be about your major, i'd say it's Even Better if it's not about your major, but related to your interests. you'll feel like you're #taking advantage of the #unilife by borrowing a book, And you will feel good when you read it.

b) have a dedicated #lockingin behavior for studying. at home for me it's 1) a bunch of playlists. you can and will and must indulge in some "romanticizing studying and reading in a snowy day (dark academia playlist)" or "studying like a scholar in the baroque period (playlist)" who cares. 2) one (1) scented candle that i only light for #lockingin time. and 3) a snack and a tea before lol don't study on an empty stomach your brain needs fuel.

c) if you can, go study in the library. you might not have the gorgeous #academia #romantic library of the people of the world, but even just putting yourself in a sea of #knowledge and surrounded by people who equally #grind gets you in the mood. + typicall less distractions because the wifi is too bad to scroll on the apps at the same time LOLLLL

d) might be obvious but Study something you love. the reasons i am not bored in class and am willing to put myself through the stress of exams and of feeling left behind and slowly losing it etc is because i fought like a little devil to be able to get back to uni, and in this branch specifically. all of this ^ will only be a bandaid on a deeper dissatisfaction if you don't like what you're studying.

be strong... we will smoke them all. onward!!!!

[foone]

So Warframe added a "Pom-2" Alternate 1999 computer (that's needed for weird void magic future science wizardry). Thoughts?

Only thing I have that's a sort of question mark is that I don't know of many setups that would have needed a 5 1/4" floppy in 99 (or why it has both the tower and the under monitor unit)

ugh. OKAY, so... the tower and desktop combination is just weird. I have, on one occasion, run a "server" that was two towers, and the original PC supported a DUAL-DESKTOP mode, but both types together? nonsense.

dual monitor was rare but possible in 1999 (win98 added native support), so I think the best interpretation here is that this is actually two computers. maybe the one on the left is missing the keyboard and mouse because it's being used as some kind of server for the other computer? I used a little case like that to run my first linux server, which was also acting as a router for my internal network.

The OS is weird. The icons above the menu-bar look like win98, the dialog box is windows 3.x, the menu-bar icons on the bottom are pure os X (although they remind me of like a web-TV kinda system, like hotkeys for email/internet/etc), but the greyscale is very classic mac system. Actually it kinda reminds me of C64's GEOS, but GEOS was very classic-mac.

Like most CRT-filters, they turned the scanlines up WAY TOO HIGH. No CRT I've ever seen looked that fucking terrible. The monitor buttons are a bit odd: You didn't get monitors with buttons on the front until long after they were all color... but maybe it's a color monitor that's showing a monochrome OS?

as for the floppies: yeah. There are multiple mistakes here.

5.25" in 1999 is just silly. If you still had 5.25" disk drives in 1999, you were intentionally doing some retrocomputing stuff. For reference, around 2001 my PC repair job would specifically ask me to copy data off 5.25" disks, because they didn't have any 5.25" drives anymore, and I was their only tech who did.

The other mistake is that they have THREE floppy drives. so the PC doesn't really support that, natively? You can do some tricks and make it work (The youtuber Tech Tangents did a video on how it could be done), but realistically two was the normal max.

The final mistake is that all the drive activity lights are on. Those are only supposed to be on while the drive is reading or writing... and I don't see any disks in those drives! Let alone a situation that would involve turning all three on at once (I don't think that's even possible on most floppy controllers!)

In fact, the main time you'd end up with the drive lights stuck on like that is when you've installed the drive cable upside down. That ends up with them getting stuck on and non-functional. So this computer looks, to me, like it was put together incorrectly and no one noticed.

I don't believe that font would be on a black & white retro computer. Nope. Too smooth and too big.

There's also a USB icon on that OS: I don't think there's ever been a monochrome OS that supported OS, and looking at that computer case I don't believe that it has USB. Maybe the tower would, but the desktop? no.

That keyboard is off a Gateway 2000 computer. Something like this:

[kimyoonmiauthor]

HWA writer is doing a vote on Artificial Intelligence and a round up on what graphic designers actually do and why you shouldn't shoot your foot.

So writer news the HWA is voting about AI use, both in writing and covers. Most of my social media bubble is saying NO. 'cause obviously, it's stealing other people's work, but there is also this guy...

I get it, a lot of people don't understand the process that graphic designers have to go through. But it's harder than people think and some of the cost is BUYING LICENSED PICS TO USE IN YOUR COVER.

Unlike AI, graphic designers pay the photographers, etc OR have really expensive equipment to make high res images for book covers themselves. My cheap camera was 600 bucks in 2019. That does not include background, lights, etc. If you're complaining about the cost of custom covers from graphic artists, think about the cost to hire models, costume, and the camera equipment.

But it's more than Oh, snap pretty pictures or pay for it, there are other principles that go into art which include composition (which I covered many times), color and color theory knowledge (which AI can't always do well because there is also psychology per culture that one has to put in.)

There is also typography and knowledge of the market and psychology. You're paying for a lot more than Oh, just slapped pictures together. You're paying for a human who can create something unique that shows off the elements of your book in maybe ways you didn't think about.

Graphic artists are artists because we do things like arrange your websites for you to maximize psychological interaction. Graphic artists are not on the same par as AI.

So, no, this is a horrible take. I use traditional and computer media. But you can't unite if you think, OMG, you drew that in a computer v. you drew that on paper versus and think the first one is invalid. OMG, you wrote that in a computer. You wrote that on paper. The principles the human is applying are pretty similar.

Many graphic artists also draw. Many people use both media.

When Will up there can explain the positives and negatives of what a tangency is and how to color adjust a photo digitally on levels+curves, and how those things can affect the psychology of people interacting with their final product, then he can talk about OMG, how digital art is ruining covers.

Graphic Designers also know how to typeset your covers, who usually do it digitally, so don't eff with them by slamming the people that work with you. Because lemme tell you, the thing that makes your covers and the back of your books look excellent is that tight yet quite difficult art of typography. If that graphic designer really cared, they put that little extra work into eliminating the rivers on the blurb for you to make sure it was that extra bit more readable. They cared about the color of the type and the type face. And those people too are graphic designers. Psychologically, great graphic design is chef's kiss and when typography is done just so, the potential reader *feels* it through the design and the emotion your book is promising to give them.

So don't disparage graphic designers. Even for the fraction who cannot draw, when they are good they HELP with your marketing that much more.

General advice: Don't disparage platforms. Don't disparage your fellow true artists/creatives. Because it's likely you'll have the opportunity to work with them someday, and do you want to cut off the roads to making your book/product the best it can be? Uplift. Graphic designers are not the same as AI. Graphic designers pay other artists for licenses to their work.

Add to that the HWA is holding a vote about AI writing, etc. And yeah, we kinda need to spread this info around.

Dear HWA Members, An open comment period will be coming soon on the drafted Horror Writers Association Al Policy which has been diligently crafted since March. Members, please look for a Special iMailer in your inbox by the end of the month with instructions on where to send your feedback. The feedback period will be open for open for 25 days. The Board of Trustees values art and artists and looks forward to the comments from its membership. Sincerely, Maxwell Gold Executive Director, HWA

[myokk]

Hello! I have a super quick question, how are you able to upload your artwork to AO3? And do you scan your artwork and upload it to a computer? Or just take a photo with your phone?

Thank you! Hope your day/evening goes well. 😊

Hi!🫶🫶🫶

POSTING PICTURES TO AO3:

Since ao3 doesn’t host artwork, you have to post the images somewhere else. I actually created this tumblr just as a little archive to post all of my artwork in one spot for this, and somehow people found me😆

Once you have your image posted here, when you’re editing the file in ao3, you want to go to “rich mode” (NOT html). There’s an option to add images, and where it says “source” you need to put the link to your image on tumblr (just right-click on the image and select “copy image link).

I normally tend to like putting the art in my author’s notes, so I’ll go back to html view and copy/paste the code for the image to the author’s note instead!!

PHOTO EDITING:

I just take pictures with my phone😆 I find natural lighting is the best, so I take the pictures then and make sure my shadow isn’t in the way and that the light is consistent throughout the whole piece.

I occasionally go into Lightroom app to edit the lighting/make it look more consistent with how it looks irl (sunlight can fade things, shadows etc etc etc). And sometimes I then add the drawing to Procreate Pocket on my phone to clean up the background some more and add Sebastian’s freckles bc I always forget them :’)

Plus, lately I’m only drawing at night and all of the lights in my house are red😆😆😆 so I ALWAYS need to edit those, but I personally really like how soft and grey they turn out when I remove the color🫶

Some examples to show how I edit🫶🫶🫶

I hope this was useful!! And if you have more questions don’t hesitate to ask♥️ I hope YOU have a wonderful day!!

[owlchimedes]

Hi there ! I absolutely love your photos (I only just realized that a bunch of studyblr photos I've recently fallen in love with were yours!)

I was curious if you had any tips for taking good photos/editing them? I find that my photos don't seem to quite have the same good lighting as others' and would truly appreciate any advice you might have on the matter.

Thank you and have a great day!!!!

Thank you!! 🤩 (have to say, I’m a big fan of your blog)

I actually don’t edit my photos that much! Sometimes I might blur or crop out identifying information, but I rarely mess with the colors or shadows of a pic, and if I do, it’s just with the limited tools in the Apple Photos editor. I mostly curate my posts really heavily — for every posted picture, there are 24+ blurry bad ones that didn’t make the cut. Besides that, I do have a couple of general tips:

Prioritize light colored notebooks, papers, pens, etc. since they reflect more light and make an image seem brighter. Select matte over shiny. Photographing shiny black objects is very hard!

Pay attention to shadow and contrast. Hard, flat light (like full sun at an acute angle) in the warm spectrum photographs really well. Most of my favorite pics have been taken between 7-10 am or 4-7 pm. It can be helpful to haunt a handful of study spaces so that you can predict how the light will behave.

It really is about what you’re photographing. I like the way that paper, ceramic, leather, and glass refract light so I tend to have more of those objects around. I have a hard time photographing cloth, so I don’t do bed-spreads or carpet/floor layouts.

Be careful with blue light! Snapping pics of computer screens sucks because it adds a hard, blue square to an image that can be really jarring. Put f.lux or some other color filter on your laptop and take the pic from an angle to limit the amount of blue. Likewise, I try to avoid taking pics in the very early morning or under fluorescents.

Be careful with dappled or fractionated light. It can look very cool but depends on what’s being photographed (ex: left is fun, right is disorganized even though they have the same lighting situation).

It can be helpful to have a tiny guide/reference photo for each batch, or even a HEX code that you aim for. Honestly, I use the avatar thumbnail for this blog. If I put a picture next to it and squint, do they seem consistent? If they do, post! It helps with getting that warm luminous quality that I particularly like.

And lastly, always give yourself permission NOT to take a pic! My worst pictures come when I force them and the best ones are when I’m busy studying only to look up and go “woah, pretty!” You can boost your chances by sitting alone near a window & using all your favorite supplies, but it really is somewhat up to the Fates!

[shrimsour]

Brand new rebrand WOOHOOO! Here's my new sona

Her official ref sheet ^

-Read more for more info and general FAQ at the bottom

She is powered by a lemon battery (like those potato batteries children make for science projects)

The lemon that powers her is a literal actual lemon, she is just that small that it appears big

Is still functionally a lemon

But also a mech example: tail and legs

Has a shrimp cove/aquarium in her torso/body skirt thing

She doesn't know she exists

Uses any pronouns just like me but I'm using she to avoid confusion as always grumbles

She is a glorified low poly ps1,2/nintendo gamecube,ds videogame character

Meet my silly little thang lovingly dubbed Shroomp by my friend. She is the new iteration of my persona Salty/Saltsour I've had for years atp, Salty was pretty outdated. It was very important to get Shroomp right since nonetheless Saltsour has established herself in several online spaces including this one and was honestly pretty iconic! I put a lot of effort into her successor since I wanna start being a storytime ytber in the near future and maybe even a vtuber on twitch.

She is basically a combination and a love letter to everything I love and everything I am.

She was originally supposed to be realistic and humanoid like Salty herself but I found her a bit too uncanny for a main sona. (And mainly rendering a realistic fish tank everytime I wanted to color in my persona would certainly prove to be hell, I needed something simpler, but also along the way I realized, something DIFFERENT)

Now to talk a bit more about what she actually represents that's so important to me. I packed her full of little things that make me happy.

Obviously the entire mecha genre, everything cyborg, machine, robot, give it to me. Especially if it's uncanny but also sometimes silly, a bit of both worlds.

The era of semi-early internet post 2010s. I hold Windows Vista and 7 in high regards. Things like notations on YouTube seem so far away now nobody knows what I'm talking about when I'm explaining how annoying click Xs on all of them was!

Probably the most glaring thing. The heavy addition of shrimp. I like shrimp. I like eating shrimp, I like watching shrimp and I'd love to have a shrimp cove of my own they are genuinely such adorable and helpful little critters, what's not to love?

Frutiger aero. Self explanatory. The future we deserved.

Nightcore, anime and manga culture during the internet's infancy. Her big beady eyes and poses aim to replicate the artstyle of anime girls from that era

Very old videogame character models. Early 3D model presentations from Nvidia, educational games, etc. I wish I still had my PS2 and PSP

My favorite colors and compelling thought out design instead of that ugly dress/set grey fuckass lookin thing on Saltsour

Divine machinery and uncaniness of computers and machines around us

Big ass black eyes with a shine are also meant to represent the autism creature lol since I very much behave like it often times

Skirt thing - I like wearing skirts, pleated especially

Whiskers, another reference to shrimp but I also think it makes her appear subconsciously like a cat, people love cats and so do I

Triangles. They are the best shape.

These are the first early concepts for Shroomp

She was meant to be a kreaczure™️ (creature) from the very beginning it was fate

THANK YOU for scrolling and reading so far I'm gen so impressed and thankful. I must've done smth right if I kept ur attention.

Now im gonna put stuff here that most ppl probably look for in a pinned post bc I'm devious

FAQ

Commission status: CLOSED for now

Program: Clip studio paint

Tablet: XP Pen Artist 15.6 pro

Brushes: eee will link soonish maybe remind me if you care

Art tag: #shrimposting for my original works

Old art tag: #saltsour arts for my original works before the rebrand

[lasht0nl]

First post!

hello to anyone who sees this! This is my first post, I'm new to Tumblr and don't know much about how to use it. But I wanna post about headcannons about shows I like so here I am! I like south park and if you see this go ahead and give me suggestions!

Teen Stan headcannons:

On the football team

Dyes his roots blonde

Still hates Randy because of the whole weed farm

grunge style

On and off relationship with Wendy

Bi curious

prefers He/They pronouns

Best friends with Tolkien and Kyle

still friends with the goth kids

prefers to stay at Kyle's house than his own

Isn't sure if he's romantic attracted to Kyle

Not the most romantic guy ever but he kinda tries

His hoarding problem came back when Randy bought the farm but once every month Wendy and Kyle help him clean out his locker, school bags, etc

Teen Kyle headcannons:

In band and the basketball team

Wears glasses

Grew out his hair, not too long but now he can put it in a small ponytail

programs computers

His style is grunge cottagecore

Still has no luck in the dating department

Clear skin

Still wears his hat but let's some of his red hair show

Contemplated dying his hair once but Stan BEGGED him not to be cause it would mess up his curls (also because he likes to play with his hair)

Has a long hair and skin routine that Cartman makes fun of him for

Still hates Cartman

In student council with Wendy

Best friends with Stan and Wendy

Teen Kenny headcannons:

On the track team, also in art

Has a missing tooth, it comes back every time he respawns but he always finds a way to take pull it out

Once Karen turned ten he stopped dressing up as Mysterion and gave her his question mark as a necklace

He still dresses up as Mysterion when his parents are being mean to them tho

Has playboys scattered all over his room, hidden in his closet, under his mattress, everywhere

When he can't sleep he goes outside to whatever is left of SoDoDoPa and smokes there

Buys weed off Randy much to Stan's protest

Tries to take a shower as much as possible but he always ends up letting Karen use the little water they have to shower

Started working at City sushi to be able to buy Karen clothes, toys, coloring supplies, etc

Best friends with Cartman

Still wears his parka but usually has it unzipped or around his waist and wears baggy usually ripped and dirty cargo pants with a white shirt or tank top

Still loyal to the main 3 but also started hanging out with Craig's gang and Butters

Tries to get laid but his lack of hygiene doesn't help

Teen Cartman headcannons:

Too lazy to do after school sports/activities

Has a lot of acne

Tried to get back with Heidi once, did not go well

Sometimes let's Kenny take a shower at his house but usually says that he's too dirty and that he's ganna find dead fleas in his bathtub

Still a huge cat person and even though his cat is getting old he's surprisingly good with it and takes care if it well

Still really immature and rude to his mom but after she started putting her foot down on things he leveled it down a bit

Tried skincare to get rid of his acne, didn't work, so now he lashes out at Kyle for it

Best friends with Butters and Kenny

Developed a small friendship with Shelly

Has secret friendship bracelets with Butters

Still crossdresses, usually does it in private but sometimes does it with Butters

Still has clyde frog

Still in contact with Scott Tenorman

[scopostims]

stim gifs in photopea

[PT: Stim gifs in photopea /End PT]

Hello! This is my (lengthy) tutorial for how I make GIFs for stimblr using Photopea. It's not going to be as extensive as how I make for shows, celebrities, etc, because I have different processes for both, however I'm still aiming to cover everything I think necessary!

It'll be split into multiple sections with headers, so feel free to skip whatever you want if you don't find it necessary :•] Reblogs appreciated if you found it useful, but no pressure obviously!

Sections:

Getting your video

Importing into Photopea

Making the GIF

Sharpening the GIF

Coloring

Exporting & Optimization (in EZGIF)

End results, and misc tips and comments

1. Getting your video

[PT: 1. Getting your video /End PT]

Short section! These are the ways I download and source videos for use

Youtube - yt-dlp (installation instructions)

Instagram

Tiktok (Allows without watermark)

Pexels

For yt-dlp, check out this basic list of commands I made solely for downloading material to GIF! If you have further questions, either send me an ask or refer to the github page.

2. Importing into Photopea

[PT: 2. Importing into Photopea /End PT]

There are two ways to import into Photopea, the first is importing footage directly, and the second is screencapping (which I won't cover in detail, but this tutorial is for installing the program I use on mac & how to use it, and this is for installing on windows)

Option 1: Importing footage directly (see end for comments)

On the home page of Photopea, you'll want to click "Open from computer", and select your clip, upon selecting you'll be presented with a popup like below

All that really matters here is where you see "30 FPS", that's the videos native frame rate. I always put whatever that number is as my frame rate because I find it to be the best, but you can use different presets (Like ezgif, which gives you 12, 20, etc). The less frames you have, the chopper it will be. If you plan to slow it down later, I'd also recommend having more frames so it looks smoother after slowing.

Now you just have to wait for it to load all the frames, then you're set!

Option 2: Importing screencaps

This is my personal way of doing things, so this is assuming you've installed a screencapping program and already have your frames ready.

For this, when you click "open from computer", select the first frame and open it by itself. Once that's loaded, look in the top left at the "File" tab, select "Open & Place", then ctrl + shift to select the rest of your frames. Once they've all loaded in, you can either rasterize them now, or wait until after cropping and resizing (goes faster then).

What's important though, is use the shift key to select all your layers, in the top left open the "Layer" tab, hover over "Animation" at the bottom to expand it, and select "Make frames". With your frames still selected, hit the folder button in the bottom left.

Without this, Photopea won't recognize this as an animation, therefore you'll be unable to export it as a GIF.

3. Making the GIF

[PT: 3. Making the GIF /End PT]

3A. Cropping

To begin with cropping, select the crop tool, which is the fifth one down on the left bar (if you hover over, it will say the name), or the "C" key on the keyboard.

Along the top now, you should have some new options. The dropdown menu that says "Free" is going to be how you select an aspect ratio or fixed size, and I always set to 1:1 since most people on stimblr use square GIFs, but you can do whatever works for you! Make sure to leave "Delete uncropped pixels" unchecked, because that lets you move stuff around later without having to recrop.

Crop your animation down as you see fit, then either hit the enter key, or the check button along the top bar. If you're unhappy with the placement, you can undo it OR, select all your layers, then use the move tool (First icon on the left, or the "V" key) and drag it around as you see fit.

3B. Resizing

With all your layers selected still, open the "Image" tab in the top left, towards the bottom select "Image Size", then select what you want to resize to.

Tumblr's exact GIF sizing

1 per row: 540px

2 per row: 268px

3 per row: 177px

HOWEVER. For stim GIFs, I find the quality difference so negligible, you can resize to what you want. It's also better for it to be bigger and scale down, then smaller and scale up. For this reason, I typically do 268px no matter what, or 300px.

As far as resampling goes, leave it turned on, and I personally leave it on bilinear, but the different options vary slightly, so experiment and see what works for you!

If you're happy at this step, go ahead and skip down to exporting! But when doing this way, I do recommend sharpening for better quality at smaller size.

4. Sharpening the GIF

[PT: 4. Sharpening the GIF /End PT]

The fun thing about this section is you get to experiment and find what works for you! I'll give you my personal method, but you can play around, add and remove bits, etc until you get something you're happy with!

4A. High pass

High pass is my personal favorite way to sharpen GIFs, and for stim GIFs I'll often use only this.

(Steps 1-3 in image) To do, start by right clicking the *Folder* all your frames are in, and select "Duplicate Layer". Select all the frames in Only the folder on top, then go to the "Filter" tab along the top left, hover over "Other", and select "High Pass". The grey look is entirely normal! I normally set my high pass at 2-4, but play around with this step and find something you like!

Select the *Folder* all your high pass frames are in, and change the blending mode (fourth step in image) to "Soft Light", it should be on "Pass Through" initially. With that done, you've used high pass on your GIFs! If you're content here, skip the next section about smart sharpening, and see about merging animation folders under it.

4B. Smart Sharpen

Note: I recommend testing your sharpening settings on one layer BEFORE applying them to all layers, as it will be easier on your computer.

I utilize this in addition to high pass usually, but you can do it all by itself as well! To begin, select all the frames in your folder (if you used high pass, select the frames in the *Bottom* folder). Open the "Filter" tab on the top left, hover over "Sharpen", and select "Smart Sharpen". Now find what you like!

For stim GIFs, if I used high pass, I'll go for 75-110% amount, and a .1 radius. I personally don't like the look of an over sharpened GIF, so I only use smart sharpen if I want to enhance some small details high pass didn't touch enough, which is why I use so little. If you don't like high pass, you might use more here!

4C. Combining animation folders

If you used high pass, you'll notice you have two animation folders. To fix this, select both folders using ctrl + shift, open the "Layer" tab, hover over "Animation", and select "Merge". It will give you a popup to confirm, and you can go ahead and accept!

If you don't merge these, Photopea will think they're two GIFs in one document, rather than only one, which is why this step is so important.

As a note, once you merge these folders, you can no longer shift the frames around to change where they are in the crop like you could earlier.

5. Coloring (Image Heavy)

[PT: 5. Coloring (Image Heavy) /End PT]

This section is going to be less of a tutorial and more a basic rundown of the adjustment layers and what they do. Coloring will change from GIF to GIF, and you can do light or intense coloring, so this is just a guide to begin with, but really just play around and find what you like!

To access the adjustment layer menu, in the bottom right where "New Folder" was, the one directly next to it that looks like a circle made of two half-circles, will bring up your adjustment layers.

As a note, I always group my adjustment layers in a folder above my animation, for ease of hiding to compare with and without.

5A. Levels

Levels is one I almost *Always* use on a GIF because it makes it look cleaner to me. In the first box, sliding the black square on the left *increases* the blacks, sliding the white square on the right *increases* the whites, and the one in the center changes the general brightness up or down.

Sliding the black box on the bottom bar *decreases* the blacks, sliding the white box *decreases* the whites.

If you change the channel from RGB to another option, you can change the balance of reds/cyans, greens/magentas, or blue/yellows, I personally don't touch this for stim GIFs. In the RGB channel, I set the top black box at ~10, and the top white box at ~245 usually.

5B. Curves

This is another way of adjusting brightness, blacks and whites, or color balance. By adjusting the dot in the bottom corner you adjust blacks, the top corner adjusts whites, and if you make a dot in the center, it adjusts general brightness! You can also make multiple dots to separately adjust some values. By changing the channels, you adjust color channels rather than white/black.

5C. Exposure

This is another way of adjusting the lights and darks of the GIF. Sliding the exposure up and down will add/take away light from the lighter parts of your images. Adjusting the gamma correction up and down will add/take away shadow from the darker parts of your image. Offset increases/decreases the brightness of the whole thing but I almost never use it.

5D. Vibrance

Vibrance is what I like to think of as a "softer" way to increase intensity of colors, instead of using a Hue/Saturation layer. It affects warmer colours more intensely than cooler colours, whether you use the vibrance or saturation slider. The saturation slider here is more intense than the vibrance one, but less intense than saturation in a Hue/Saturation layer.

5E. Hue/Saturation

This one is simple! Sliding the hue slider changes the colour, sliding the saturation slider increases/decreases saturation, and sliding the lightness is basically like directly adding black/white to a color. I use lightness only sparingly.

What's cool here, is you can adjust the range to target a specific batch of colours! If you find your reds are too bright compared to everything else, you can target the saturation of them specifically.

5F. Color balance

This is a simple way to adjust the base colors of an image, by changing it to be more cyan or red, magenta or green, or yellow and blue. This can be useful for making a GIF appear warmer or cooler!

I almost only touch the shadows & midtones, and highlights sparingly. "Preserve Luminosity" preserves the highlights and shadows of the image, so by unchecking it, you can achieve some more intense results.

5G. Black & White

The black and white layer is useful because you can change exactly how light or dark a color appears after making it black and white. For that reason, I prefer it over a gradient map if I need to make something black and white.

5H. Photo filter

Photo filter is a simple way to add a color filter over the entire image, and adjust how strong or weak it is. "Preserve luminosity" once again just keeps the darks and whites of the original GIF.

5I. Channel mixer

I couldn’t even begin to cover channel mixer here, but this is for very intense color edits (I typically use it when I'm trying to make a GIF fit a board). However, here's another tutorial solely about channel mixer if you're interested in taking a crack at it!

5J. Selective color

Finally, selective color allows you to adjust the amounts of color or lightness/darkness of a specific batch of color.

By changing the color channel, you can affect different batches of color. The cyan slider controls cyan/red, the magenta slider controls magenta/green, the yellow slider controls yellow/blue, and the black slider controls black/white.

Checking the "absolute" is essentially like "Preserve Luminosity" in the other layers. With absolute, it's like shifting the color one way or the other, and without absolute, it's like adding to the pre-existing color.

6. Exporting and Optimization

[PT: Exporting and Optimization /End PT]

6A. Exporting

With all that done, we're ready to finish it up! To finish your GIF, open the "File" tab in the top left, go to "Export As", and select GIF!

Here you can rename, adjust the size (WILL ruin the sharpening you did), the quality (I leave at 100%), and the speed.

Another important thing to note is the "Dither". If you leave dither off, you can potentially encounter color banding, which is where (typically gradients) with look like strips of color, rather than smooth. This is because GIFs only have 256 colors they can render, so if something has too many, it bands.

By checking dither, it can get rid of color banding, at the cost of dots on the image (around where the worst color banding is usually). Sometimes the dots aren't noticeable and this is the better option, however it will Also increase your file size. It's up to you if you want to use it!

6B. Optimization

This is technically an optional step, as tumblr's GIF size limit is 10mb, so as long as you're under that, you can post, however, smaller GIFs load faster and I personally find are better for use in stimboards where you're loading a lot of GIFs! So to help this, let's head on over to the optimize section of ezgif. My personal goal is UNDER 4.5MB, ideally under 4MB.

The two main things I recommend are Lossy GIF, or removing frames, and I always start with Lossy GIF. I do anywhere from 5-15, and usually this will bring down GIFs a lot if you made them in Photopea! My example GIF was 6.7 MB to begin with, and afterwards it was 4.2MB.

However if you find that to be not enough, you can remove frames. When you remove frames, it speeds the GIF up, so I also recommend slowing it down (this is why I set my frames high in the beginning as well). I typically do "Remove every 4th frame" and slow it down to 75%-85%.

7. End results, and misc tips and comments

[PT: 7. End results, and misc tips and comments /End PT]

(source) The first GIF is without sharpening/colouring, the second is with sharpening but no colouring, and the third is with sharpening and colouring. I didn't color it much besides making it slightly warmer, but I hardly ever do much anyways!

As for misc comments:

In firefox, when you import footage directly, sometimes it glitches and tries to load 4000 blank frames, which is extremely resource intensive on a computer. The solution is import the footage in chrome, save as PSD, then open the PSD in firefox. (Or work in chrome but why do that /half silly). The other solution is screencap which I do since I do this often, but both work fine.

In firefox, sometimes you're unable to slow the GIF down upon export and it will export faster than it actually is. Slowing the video down to 50% restores it to native speed I've found, and you can do this in ezgif before other optimization.

When colouring, my number one tip is slide something all the way up first, then adjust down! By seeing it at max, you have a better idea of what's getting adjusted.

If you have any questions, drop me an ask :•]

And that concludes our tutorial! My apologies for the length, but I wanted to cover every possible thing here. It definitely seems like a lot, much more than working in ezgif, but when you get used to what you're doing, it goes extremely fast (even if you spend extra time screencapping). I personally find it worth it for the ability to sharpen GIFs alone, but as well as more detailed coloring opportunities.

Thank you for reading, I hope this has been useful!

[robertphilip]

do you have any post-disenchanted headcanons?

oh, yeah, let’s go !!!

following what the jr. novel said re: Robert’s new law firm and Giselle’s new design studio are right next door to each other — they visit each other for lunch every day. sometimes she’ll go to his office, other days, he’ll go to hers. I headcanon they used to have lunch together every day prior to moving, so being able to pick this little habit back up after the move/once everything was situated was really great for them.

I headcanon that Giselle isn’t crazy about leaving Sofia at daycare, so she brings their daughter with her to her studio. as she gets older, she chooses between going to Giselle’s studio for the day, or Robert’s office. usually, she picks Giselle’s, because it’s way more kid friendly/fun. but Robert has a side room in his office just for her, where she can watch movies, play games, color, etc. and she really loves it there, too, so sometimes it’s a bit harder for her to pick. she especially likes any time she gets to sit at Robert’s desk with him, and pretend to answer the phone, and “work” on his computer.

Morgan and Tyson start dating a week or so before summer break starts. they’re both awkward, nervous teenagers, so it took them a couple months to finally actually say something. I actually might write a little fic about this, maybe, but my idea right now is that Tyson asks her to a dance, and she awkwardly kisses his cheek when he’s dropping her off at home, and then the next day he, very awkwardly, asks her to be his girlfriend. can’t stress enough how awkward and dorky they are 💚

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I struggle a bit with Morgan, specifically what hobbies/interests she might have. I know for sure she loves drawing, and photography, but I bounce back and forth on if she’s interested in stuff like sports. right now, for some reason, I’ve been liking the idea of her playing volleyball, and I have Giselle mention it in a current little WIP, but I’m still kinda . hmmmm about it. I like the idea of her working behind the scenes for the drama club, too, so … mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I wrote a fic ages ago, and have since deleted it, but shortly after the whole wish debacle, Robert can see Giselle is still struggling mentally, and they spend the whole day painting Sofia’s new room. the productivity, and teamwork, really helps put Giselle’s mind at ease — might rewrite that someday.

Morgan’s clothes being all burned up is still a small issue for a week or so, and I headcanon she borrowed Robert’s stuff for a few days (why she didn’t do that in the movie is beyond me, I doubt his t-shirts would’ve been that big on her, but I won’t get into that here) but once they find time, Giselle takes her on a big shopping spree, similar to the first movie’s montage. it’s just the two of them, and gosh, it helps them both so much 💛

shortly after the wish debacle, Giselle and Morgan have a long talk, with Giselle apologizing because she had no idea Morgan was doubting their relationship and living in fear that she wasn’t really her daughter anymore. I’ve tried writing this a few times as well, maybe someday I’ll write a version I actually like.

Robert never likes Malvina, and I feel like Morgan wouldn’t really either, despite them both loving Tyson. makes family get togethers really fun 💕 Giselle has no issues, though, and any time Robert huffs about Malvina being around, she has to squeeze his arm, and whisper, “be nice.” to which he says, “tell her that, not me.”

according to the jr. novel, Edward and Nancy start coming over for dinner every Sunday, and I kinda love that idea. I think the portal being in their backyard makes visits way easier, and they’d definitely come by more often. Robert and Morgan groan about it, of course, but they are family 💕

I go back and forth on if I want Edward and Nancy to have any kids. I really do love the idea of them having a son, though! one that Sofia eventually becomes best friends with, they do everything together. he barely talks, he’s so shy, and usually hides behind Nancy, but he loves the Philips.

Tyson goes to Robert for dating advice once, it’s so painfully awkward, and Edward is there, which makes things even worse, because he’s demanding Tyson serenade Morgan, and Robert is like, “she’ll kill you if you do that, also please don’t come to be for advice. I might be married, but I really don’t know why she picked me.” Tyson eventually figures out things on his own 💚

Giselle and Robert have a joint office in their new home. Giselle’s desk is by the window, Robert’s is near the wall, and they absolutely love working together. they used to do something similar, where he’d be working at the dining table, while she was sewing in the living room, but now it’s even better, and a bit less cramped/cluttered, since they have an entire room dedicated to their work. they just love being together, and they actually get a lot done, despite constantly distracting each other.

I definitely have more, but I just went to the dentist, so my teeth are a bit achy, and that’s making it harder to think 💔

[ichbinmeltdown]

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT "AUTOBOT SPIKE" and I'm going to ramble about them here

Ok first of all let me say I have a very intense love-hate relationship with this episode and might be biased because I'm transhumanist and desperately want to be a robot, no matter what the side effects would be. I also have some knowledge of robotics and computers, so I'll be basing my takes on that. Please correct me if there's anything I got wrong, I really wanna have a discussion about it, I got inspired by someone mentioning this episode on my dash.

Also, spoilers if you haven't seen it.

I hated that they went with the whole "IT'S UNETHICAL TO MAKE A HUMAN A ROBOT!!!!1" angle. I fuckin HATED IT. Honestly, I would do anything to get put in a robot body. If I woke up as a Cybertronian, I'd hug and kiss Wheeljack while crying and thanking him for finally making me strong and beautiful.

First of all, the situation isn't like Frankenstein's monster at all imo because they used spare parts that they presumably had around to replace their own parts with. Honestly Autobot X is on the same level as a less cohesive-looking Dinobot, in terms of how ethical it was to make him. They didn't see anything unethical about creating the Dinobots. They're not "Frankenstein's monsters". Reckless, yes, but reckless doesn't automatically mean "monster". Why was it ok to make the Dinobots but not Autobot X????

Furthermore, they went on later in the season to make the Aerialbots out of DEACTIVATED SHIPS ON CYBERTRON. That's a lot closer to the Frankenstein's monster story! Dead machines being used to make new ones, and having Vector Sigma make fully realized sparks to place into those bodies. Why, again, was it ok to make the Aerialbots but not Autobot X? The lack of Vector Sigma's sparks? The Dinobots didn't get anything from Vector Sigma and the Autobots didn't seem to mind then!

Really the only unethical part of the Autobot X experiment was how irresponsibly the Autobots did it. They made no preparations and then got surprised that things didn't work. Yes, I get that in that instance it might've been an emergency. But Wheeljack just said "FUCK IT WE BALL" and basically threw shit at the wall to see what stuck.

What I find odd is that Autobot X... had a "personality"? IIRC they made him as sort of a walking flash drive to hold any Autobots during repair. That would be like installing Ubuntu to a flash drive and then saying "I'm gonna use this flash drive for my backups". Why didn't they just leave him as a shell? Wheeljack would've had to go out of his way to create an artificial spark. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE WHEELJACK

Honestly though I feel like, the stupidity of him not leaving Autobot X as a big shell body aside, another problem is he didn't prepare the parts. There's no problem with using mismatched parts, as Cybertronians can swap their own parts out if they get damaged just like a real-life robot could. The best comparison here is when you see those cars IRL that have a door or hood or whatever that's a different color than the rest of the car. It still works, it just looks a little funky. But Wheeljack made ABSOLUTELY NO PREPARATIONS. He and the other Autobots just welded Autobot X together and said "oh well good enough". In my interpretation, Cybertronians have drivers for their bodies so they can work properly- drivers for their optics, speech synthesizers, microphones, each part of their motor system, etc. There was absolutely no indication that Wheeljack went through and transferred over the proper drivers- even then he would've had to edit them because, for example, a cop car's locomotion drivers would be way different from a Jeep's. All these different drivers in one memory bank would... Well, if you've seen driver conflicts on a real computer it's BAAAAAAAAAD. Crashes galore. That's probably why when Autobot X was first booted up he went berserk. The poor mech was in immense pain from his drivers clashing. And then they subjected Spike to that pain too. I can only imagine how bad it would hurt if your entire body was trying to go in different directions at once- and how scary it would be if you tried to move your right arm only for your left knee to bend backwards.

And speaking of conflicts... They not only put Spike's brain on his hardware without making a backup copy (if they could put a human's brain in Cybertronian bodies, presumably they could just... make a backup to keep on Teletraan I? Like in a zip file? I mean... what if someone tripped over the cord and accidentally made Spike unlearn English or forget how to breathe?! BACK UP YOUR DATA, FOR PRIMUS'S SAKE!!! It's like playing with the Windows registry!) but they also put it there when Autobot X already had sentience! Since they transferred Spike's brain over, I assume that they digitized it and turned it to files. However, they didn't port his "code" to the native Cybertronian programming language- it's just raw data of whatever human consciousness looks like to Cybertronian hardware. Then they stuck it there when there was already data, albeit garbage data, in Autobot X's memory banks. Helloooooooo, file system conflicts! "We have these super critical files that we can't risk messing up. ... LET'S JUST HAPHAZARDLY SHOVE THEM INTO RANDOM FOLDERS IN SYSTEM32, HIT YES TO EVERY OVERWRITE DIALOGUE AND THEN PLAY WITH THE REGISTRY! It'll be so much fun!!" - Wheeljack, probably

If they had made the proper preparations, this would've gone over without a hitch imo and the Autobots didn't need to wring their hands so much about the ethical implications. It would be like having someone who was born without several organs and missing all four limbs get donated organs and limbs.

Basically, here's what Wheeljack needed to do.

MAKE A BACKUP OF SPIKE'S BRAIN IN CASE THE WASTE SLUDGE HITS THE FAN

Analyze his brain to check how his own brain communicates with his body so he can optimize the drivers

Port Spike's brain into Cybertronian programming language

Wipe Autobot X's memory banks so there's no leftover garbage data

Tweak each of the robot parts' drivers to play nice with one another

Then and only then can you install Spike's brain.

That's why I'm gonna write a fic where one of my human OCs (who's an animatronics engineer actually) discovers Autobot X and begs the Autobots to try the experiment again with the proper preparations because he, more than anything, wants to be a robot.

I could be totally wrong about all this and forgetting some detail that changes everything, if I am do let me know, sometimes I'm just kinda stupid like that XDD

PS: Autobot X looks badass, I don't know why they all thought he was ugly. I love his mismatched aesthetic. Honestly the whole concept kinda reminded me of my old pre-Transformers robosona, MAV1S. She was left unfinished by her creator and had to build herself with whatever parts were lying around and sure, she does look kinda unsettling because she doesn't have a mouth and her limbs are bare, but Autobot X is made of fully completed parts, just mismatched like a car with 4 different colored doors.

TLDR: The Autobot X project wasn't any less ethical than the Dinobots or Aerialbots. The project only failed because Wheeljack and Sparkplug were negligent as hell.

[why-the-heck-not]

Top 5 technologies that, unfortunately, have fallen out of use

okay this was interesting, had to rly think. Also idk if my definition of "technology" is right, but anything resembling will go. ALSO damn I rambled a lot, sorry abt that, apparently I like thinking about old tech

CDs. I miss owning albums, it was so nice to like actually have the physical copy of something u love. I think that's what missing now and is why I sometimes get actually annoyed abt loving a band/song (rn it's The Vantages (a band) & I'm actually mad about it) bc the "listening to it is not enough, I need to inject it to my bloodstream"-mood, which in actuality is that I'd love a physical copy to make it feel like a concrete thing. It's like the next best thing to going to a concert, and I can't keep buying merch I'll never wear outside my house to compensate. Also made u like decide on what album u want to listen to & the songs are always gonna be in the same order the artist decided them to be in, no mixing songs from the same or diff artists, you had to make A Choice. (actually my dad has my fave bands CDs (old-ish band & he an og fan) and it's kinda comforting to me that if (/when?) some Spotify apocalypse eventually happens, I'll have a way to listen to them anyways). Also been thinking for years about buying either a CD- or a vinyl player, or something like that bc I want to have physical copies of my faves (but haven't decided on what yet (probs vinyl tho. for the vibes.) and also the money aspect of it is not great)

Nokias. I just talked with my sister how we've both been thinking abt just buying an old Nokia keypad non-smart phone and just using that instead of like the current phones (but alas, not rly possible, like I can't get into my gym without a smart phone and that's just one thing, u kinda need a smartphone or life becomes unnecessarily complicated). But the durability, the worm game, the ''oh no in a hurry and need the letter s, oh shit I went overboard and went right back to p''). Also Finland represent lol

tamagotchi type things. like a "gaming console" (it's not but idk what those are called) that has the one game with abt 3 pixels and no color. Also I had one like that had a monkey that collected dropping bananas and that was the whole game, the only function that thing had (I have a suspicion I got it from McDonalds??? idk why I keep thinking that) (Googled and yes it was from McDonalds, called Aiai banana catch)

those big computers that were for the whole household. We didn't have one growing up (bc my parents had computers at their work and so we didn't need one) but the thrill of going to like a friend who lived near and they used their 1h of computer time to like play some horse game; unparalleled. Or like the games at Miniclip ?? or later on CLUB PENGUIN !!!!! (still to this day the best game that has or ever will exist) (tho I think at around club penguin-era my sister got a laptop so I used that until I got my own)

Those calculators that prints on paper what u've calculated right after, idk what they're called. Never used one & obv never had one bc was a kid, and actually not fully sure if ppl still do use them (but guessing at least that they're not as popular anymore) but damn. The pure aesthetics and vibes. Like the movie scenes of a character calculating using that while looking at bills to indicate that the said character has some finance problems? phenomenal, cinematography etc.

[haejjoon]

Hiiii

First of all I want to say that I love your art and I really admire it. It has kind of make me want to go back to drawing again. I used to draw a lot a few years ago but I stopped because I became unhappy with my progress. Now I want to go back to making art but I'm insecure about it because I'm worried I'm too old to start again (I'm 19) and whether I'm capable of relearning it properly. Do you have any tips about where to begin to learn art basics (specifically anatomy)? I would appreciate any advice.

Hello!!! Firstly thank you so much for the compliments, it really does mean so much <333

I'm nineteen, too! Of course you can start art again. I've taken a lot of breaks in between my own art, too, and it's only very recently that I started enjoying making art again (after .... like.... a year or two. lord) so I really do understand how you feel. But we're nineteen years young, and have so much time ahead of us to get back on our feet.

In my experience, improving comes quickest when you focus on one very specific skill at a time—and I mean SPECIFIC. Practicing gestures with torsos only, the muscles of the upper arm, skeleton heads in different angles. I've been studying arm anatomy (and only arm anatomy) recently, and I'm already miles ahead of how I used to draw arms in the past.

If you want a specific step by step on how I personally draw anatomy, I don't mind sharing a quick tutorial! But for general advice—form follows gesture, and gesture follows movement. The biggest mistake someone can make while drawing a body is focusing on the accuracy of the muscles/bones before getting the flow of the gesture down.

Even if the anatomy looks a bit wonky with the gesture, it's important that you capture the movement of the pose first, and then build muscle on top of that. Proko on Youtube has a very good quick drawing series on this, and explains it way better than I do, but that's the gist of it.

Also, PLEASE always use references! I know that hearing that gets old, but it's really important. If you'd like, I can make a quick tutorial on how to use references properly, too. Reference everything—pose, lighting, even art style if you're looking to switch things up (i have about 10 different tabs open on my computer with different artists I admire so I can reference their art religiously).

Speaking of referencing art styles, it's important to gather a bunch of artists you like in terms of style, and not just one. The trick is to separate them by skill—"this artist is for lining refs", "this artist is for anatomy refs", "this artist is for face refs", etc, etc.

And to jump off of That: I find that with anatomy, looking at other peoples' anatomy studies on pinterest is also very helpful. Obviously you should be referencing from real life too, but with art, it can be difficult to pin down what to put on the page and what to leave to the imagination. You wouldn't want to actually draw every single muscle in the arm individually, right? So I go and look at other artists' anatomy studies to see what they keep and what they don't keep.

(usually i find them on pinterest, and they look smth like this. the color coded ones especially help me.)

I'd recommend learning gesture and anatomy first, then building off of that to learn how to draw faces, then lining/coloring, just so that you have a solid base to work off on when it is finally time to color. (also because coloring/lighting requires a fair bit of how body anatomy works as well!!)

But yes, that's all the advice I can give from laying in my bed. I hope it helped somewhat, and if you'd like tips on how to do something more specific, I'm always willing to draw it out or go more in depth ^^ Best of luck on your art journey!

[historianroo]

how to create when you don't feel human enough for it

Some days–most days–it's hard to want to create when so much of the world feels against it.

So, in opposition to that, here are my list of things that I do to feel a little more human and get into a creative mindset.

Disclaimer: Not all of these will work for you, and all of these won't work for everyone.

It's a process to feel a little more grounded each day, so try out a few and see how it goes.

The List:

Brush your teeth, or take a shower, or do some sort of self-care thing that can help to ground you. It doesn't need to be a big thing–it could be as simple as washing your hands.

Change your clothes! You don't have to put on anything fancy–but put on something new. Even if it's just a new pair of pajamas or sweatpants.

Take 10 deep breaths–in for four out for six.

Change your setting. Move from your bedroom to the sitting room or the kitchen, or if you have the energy, go to a coffee shop or sit outside.

Turn off your phone or, if you can't turn it off, put your phone on silent. Keep it face down on the desk next to you.

Change the music you are listening too. If you've been listening to rock, try Jazz or Blues (I like Hugh Laurie specifically). If you've been listening to sad music, try some classical music (Villain Classical Music Playlists on Spotify are so fun).

If you can–just play the music outloud from your device, if you can't then use headphones.

Take breaks. I recommend every 30-45 minutes, get up and walk away from your computer or your set up. If you're at a coffee shop, get up and get a glass of water, or run to the bathroom and wash your hands.

If you are having trouble with the flow of your writing, write out beats for it–as simple as "this character goes here and says this" then "this character replies with this."

If you struggle with dialogue–try scripting your entire chapter first, just write who says what and what they say, and then turn that into a chapter (this is the way I'm writing my novel and it works so well for me).

Call a friend, or your mom, or your sibling–have some sort of human interaction that is lokey and low effort.

Jiggle your knee while sitting there–bounce it up and down, side to side, just do some sort of movement, it helps with concentration and can help with grounding (I'm doing it right now as I write this).

Sing a song! Hum along to your music!

Go for a little walk outside (weather permitting)–I walk to class most days, or at least walk up the street to buy a cup of coffee if I'm just staying in my flat all day.

Buy yourself a fun drink! Or make a fun drink! I personally love making whipped coffee which was a big trend a few years ago, the recipe is super easy:

Recipe: You'll need: Instant Coffee, Sugar, some sort of way to mix it aggressively (I use a electric coffee mixer, but you can use a fork or a hand mixer), hot water, and your choice milk. The Process: 1. Put two tablepoons of instant coffee, two tablespoons of sugar, and two tablespoons of hot water (I recommend like, almost-boiling water) in the bottom of your bowl/cup (whichever is easier to mix with). 2. Mix aggressively!!! You want it to be a light creamy color, and very fluffy! Or, at minimum, you want it to not have lumps, if you can't get it fluffy. ----Basically–this is espresso by the time you finish mixing. 3. Put it into your drinking cup, and fill the rest of the glass with milk–you can do any: oat, almond, plain, whole, chocolate (i feel like this would be yummy), etc. Optional: add ice! 4. I always add a fun color straw to it, it makes it more fun to drink! 5. enjoy!

Drink a big glass of water in one go–well, don't choke on it, but like, try to drink the whole thing without putting down the cup. Some times I find that if I put the cup down I don't actually want to finish it, so it's best to do it all in one go.

Listen to a power ballad. Something that gets you fired up and excited. Here's a list of my personal favorites:

"Dear Icarus" by Anna Miriam Brown "Free Fallin" by Tom Petty "I Won't Say I'm In Love" from Hercules "The Rider" by Paris Paloma "Now We Are Free" from Gladiator "Adiemus" by Karl Jenkins (Personal fav, and this is the guy that looked like he was wearing a costume at the coronation (there are a bunch of tweets about it, if you're curious, google "Karl Jenkins coronation tweet)). "Fire" by Katerina Gimon

Eat something!! Even if it's just toast–I love a good peice of toast with butter on it, it's low effort and yummy. If you want to make it fancier, extchange the butter for cream cheese–it's like a low effort bagel.

Cry–genuinely this makes me feel very human on days when I feel less than.

Stretch! Pop your back, roll your head around, loosen up your hands. It acts as a great moment to just center yourself.

And when you're done for the day, cuddle up and watch a movie or tv show. Something low brain energy (i love watching old disney moves from the 60s-90s), and put your phone down and away. Go to bed early, or at least go to bed before midnight, sometimes a good night of sleep can really help.

Send your writing to me. This isn't a requirement haha, but I'd love to read it!

I hope that some of these are helpful! If you have any suggestions for me to add–dm me or send an ask in! If you ever need music recommendations, ask!

I hope you can get back to creating, you're doing great and everything that you make is amazing and wonderful. Writing is a proces, it's not a sprint to the finish.

I wish you the absolute best! You've got this.