#art block has finally set me free

[r3lnr4n]

he’s so fine i can’t

[ohno-the-sun]

Oh uh forgot to ask in the previous ask (the one with the digital piece of candy and scurrying and stuff)

How do you draw art so good

Like

Is there a method you use or is that just the style you've gotten over time?

you've activated my trap card

I'm just gonna preface that this tutorial is from someone who was not professionally trained and didn't have a lot of free time for art, so a lot of the tips I have is short cuts I use to get the best results quickly

If you genuinely want to get better at art then please look at references and practice that is always the best

However if you are like me and only really do art for fun but want to go faster then these are for you pfppt

Overall I'd say my style is influenced by speedpaints I would watch when I was younger, I like analyzing how people do things and what makes something look "good" to me

I always recommend watching them because they will often have techniques you've never seen before or do things a certain way that you can try out yourself

I consume good art, it feeds me

but seriously it can be super helpful when developing your own methodology, or just generally trying something new

Usually it starts with me pulling some references from artists I really admire and sort of sketching out how they do the things I like

For example 8um8le has like super good anatomy and poses so I focused on trying to replicate how they do that

venemous-qwille is super good at color and pulling focus so that's what I focused on in my study of them

In general I'd say my process is sketch -> silhouette -> color -> shading -> render

I really don't like doing lineart lol

I'd say for the sketch the most important part is using references and just kind of fudging it until it looks correct anatomically/physically

General rule of thumb is spend time on areas of interest, and keep non important areas light (like the stitching on his pants)

I don't do lineart because I think its unnecessary for most paintings I do

I naturally tend to put more time and focus on areas of interest (like hands and feet) and if you use a brush with opacity for the sketch, those areas are naturally going to be darker in the final sketch

Of course this is gonna be different for everyone but it's what works for me

Sometimes I do a really really sketchy layer underneath my sketch/lineart, just so I know where everything is going

Use thumbnails! They are great to help figure out the general layout of things and what pose I wanna do

Next is what I call the "silhouette" layer

This is super important for me cause it helps me refine the figure and make sure the pose/anatomy looks correct, also depending on what color I choose for the silhouette helps guide what colors I'm going to use on top

This piece is a good example of how it works. The silhouette shows me how the figure interacts with the background, how the pose looks and if its any good

The silhouette layer doesn't have to be super clean, as long as it follows the sketch decently well and shows where the figure is then its fine

I also sometimes make the silhouette layer multiple colors to help guide shading and vibe

Next is the coloring layer. I usually make this a clipping layer on top of the silhouette layer, or I change the silhouette layer to alpha lock, either way it saves me time on coloring everything in

Sometimes I am super rough with the coloring too, using like an airbrush or my fav watercolor brush just to generically block in color where I want it

Works out cause most objects have like a bounce light to them from surrounding objects, so this is sort of a cheat I use to get that effect without all the work lol

Also don't be afraid to have the lower silhouette layer shining through, having multiple colors sort of subtly shining through the piece helps lots

Next is the shading layer, this is usually another clipping layer, usually set to "multiply"

The colors I pick here is usually within this range, any color works, just depends on the piece and vibes.

Since this piece is set in a sunset forest I choose a more desaturated orange for the shading layer

I know there's a whole thing about multiply layer being a crutch (and it kind of it) but it is a useful tool when you just want some darker values across the piece but don't want to go through the process of color picking every single darker shade

Also in my opinion it looks better than picking a darker color and setting it to a lower opacity, idk I just think the color has more "depth"

Next is the hardest to explain, sort of the vibes layer

Usually its just a layer of more concentrated color on top of the normal color and I fudge with the settings and values until I get a result I like

Next is the longest step, is the "extra" or the render stage.

Usually I add a background before this step so that if I need to merge the figure better with the background I can

If I render with a white background but he's supposed to be in a dark forest, its going to mess with the lighting severely

Also this is when I add more "vibe" layers on top to get the figure to match the background better

Backgrounds in general I recommend checking out @/derekdomnicdsouza on instagram he's got lots of great tutorials for breaking down backgrounds simply

I'd say general rule for the rendering layer is to focus on the areas of interest and spend less time on areas you don't care about

I even blur stuff out on the edges I don't want people to see, partially to save time on fixing mistakes in areas I dont care about (oop), but mainly to help draw the eye to the areas I do want people to focus on

Theoretically parts of the background should like mesh with the characters, parrallel lines are a no no unless they are directing a viewer to look somewhere, things that are perpendicular help bring things together

tbh I'm still not the best at layout and probably need more practice, but overall this is what I like doing

Overall this is what my layer set up ends up being

Sort of a sandwich with the lineart/sketch as the "meat" lol

Color and basic shading below the sketch, clean-up and rendering on top

I like this method cause it's super flexible if I ever want to try something different or try to replicate someone's style

I can make each step less or more messy depending on the end result and can add a lineart layer if need be. Also if there's a part that is straight up not working or needs to be removed its super easy to do cause I can just paint over it on the "extras" layer, color picking from the surrounding area to get the same vibe

Generally rule of thumb for my style is: get the initial layout of colors, form and shading to look good, then the rendering should be smooth sailing

Really the best advice I can give to get better at art is to enjoy what you're doing and become very very obsessed with drawing a silly little guy

You'll eventually get very good at drawing them pfptpf

[potol0ver]

Ask; Hello, I read you have your request open, and I really like how you write about Erik. So, if you feel in the mood, I like some scenario (GN or AFAB) in which y/n starts to work ato Opera House like an skilled effect artist and one night, when y/n finally has some time free and alone, Erik found her playing something like ROxxanne tango with the cello, because she play it but only for herself.

Tags; Fluff, GN reader (you and yours),

A/N; Hey, I’ve been silent for a while and I’m sorry for that. I wasn’t motivated to post any fics and was in writers block. Now I need to focus on my health because a serious health concern has come up for me, so I apologize for continuing to be radio silent. I’m a little out of it while I’m writing this so I’m sorry, Please injoy this fic, it will most likely be the last for a while. (You may continue sending asks just be warned I might not be able to get to it for a couple of reasons.)

With a heavy sigh you put aside your art peice, a stage mask that just wasn’t holding up to your standards. You’ve painted over your dried paint and wiped it off to many times to count already. Your hands had become shaky long ago as you sit at your desk that was in an obscure corner of the Opera house.

You push your chair back that gave a screech and sluggishly walked back to your small room in the Opera house. Thankfully it looks like none of your roommates are in the room which means you can properly relax and wind down. Most importantly in your mind, it means you can practice your cello without disturbing anyone.

Quickly you set up your space, adjusting your chair, setting up your music stand, making sure your bow has enough rosin. Flipping to your favorite cello peice you take a breath and start playing. Letting your fingers and how move on the strings fluently, you we’re getting entranced by your cello. Unknown to you, you weren’t the only one being entranced.

Somewhere deep in the Opera house, the Phantom can hear your playing faintly thanks to the echoing of the monumental walls. Intrigued, Erik quietly yet softly made his way to you until he could hear you clearly. Leaning against a wall he let his eyes shut and get wrapping up in your music, loving where you crescendoed and adding your own flare.

When you got to the end of the piece and pause your playing to find another to play, he finally peeked a look at you. He thought you would’ve been apart if the orchestra, but he didn’t recognize you, it also looked your your cello while well kept, was quite old to. Erik became very fascinated by you now, he started by “testing” you. Slipping new and harder pieces for you to try, and if you did play them he’d be happily surprised with how well you make the notes come to life.

Next, after you passed his “test”, he worked hard to see if he can find you a proper newer cello. Only the best for his new found talent, that day by day he was slowly falling for. The more he became infatuated with you he got more determined to find a cello to match your one of a kind soul.

After a while he did find a very good cello, a one of a kind, just for you. So, Erik made quick work to insure it’s yours. He personally polished and cleaned it, making sure no scratches were on the instrument. While you were working hard at your props job for the play, he made diligent work to set up the present in your new room. That of course was also a present from him. How could he let his musical muse share a room with a bunch of strangers?

Leaning the cello against the bedside table he placed a rose and a note next to it. Despite watching you for so long and being so devoted to you, he never got to the courage to say anything to you. Hopefully the grand presents will be a good first impression.

Groggily you walk back to your room, only to be told you don’t sleep there any more. Which after the long day you had of making props wasn’t good for your anxiety. As you followed the directions to your new room, you think about how you could’ve gotten on the bad side of someone to get an even more run down place to sleep in than what you have already had.

All of those thoughts quickly got washed away when you opened the door to your new room. It had everything you needed to live alone, a small kitchen/living room, a nice bedroom with a decent sized closet, even a space to practice your cello. You were so stunned at what you did to deserve this new room that you didn’t question how everything you own was already there.

Quickly, your eyes caught the sight of the luxurious cello next to your new bed. Gently you caressed it, looking over all of the fine details, it looked like a masterpiece that was specifically catered to you. The red rose next to the cello caught your eye next, along with the letter that had a skull stamp.

Carefully opening the letter you scanned the words, a mixture of your emotions sitting in your stomach as you read.

“My dear, I have heard you playing for a while now, and I must say the way you make the notes come to life is hauntingly stunning. You have caught my interest in the best way.

I know you haven’t seen me or heard me before, which is why I hope your new room and house warming gifts are a good first impression. If you wish, I can also arrange a seat for you in the opera’s orchestra so you don’t have to continue working in the messy arts department.

P.S. If it’s not to much to ask, I would like to hear back from you, so please consider us to be pen pals now. Also, if you ever need a quiet place to practice you can always come to my lair to whine down, maybe that way we can play music together.

~Yours devotedly O.G.”

A single thought ran through your mind as a mixture of unease and swooning butterflies ran through you…

What have you gotten yourself into?

[tabe4]

Picrew~

I made a Picrew~ I ill probably add more options over time but for now it has all the basic items I wanted from the base game, plus a few additional options~

If you want a pawpad colour separate from the paw lines, select the final paw lines option and head over to the body markings 2 section to select from a few different pad types.

Please note that because of Picrew's limitations, body/ear/hair markings have to be manually selected for the corresponding base choice you have made. If you find your markings are outside of the lines and didn't mean for this to happen, please double check the body base type (paws, mouse, or bunny)

The second set of face markings has the tears on an additional layer so they appear on top of the eyes.

For now, certain colours are linked to each other to simulate the game's limitations (while some options remain unlinked due to picrew limitations or otherwise). I might unlink them later~

Please feel free to inform me of any errors! And you're always free to submit your creations to this blog! I have added a Picrew tag (#picrew posts) to the submissions page for you to use (and for others to block~). I will always be happy to see them! You can submit or post to your blog and tag @tabe4 if you wish~

Terms of Use:

You can use the Picrew to make OCs for Tabe4 or in general

You cannot make monetary profit off of images made using the maker. This includes virtual currency that can be exchanged for money.

You can use the maker to inspire you for adopts, but DO NOT sell characters made with the maker without redesigning them in some way as others can easily recreate your character, even by accident.

You may edit, crop, or manipulate the images made with this maker for personal use, roleplay, or references, as long as you don't claim the art as your own, or "unknown"/"CTO"/etc.

---

[lottiecrabie]

girlie brings professor!matty some cheap raspberry wine and rides him on the couch in his office

well he Has been looking very professor🤸‍♀️

the office is hot and stuffy, air thick with cigarette smoke and pine scent. the furnace is right beside it, and it heats and heats and heats until sweat sticks you to his tartan couch.

matty speaks of art theories, gesturing and nearly knocking his whiskey glass as he does so. you listen avidly, mostly. every word is a lesson, a treasure, a puzzle to scratch and undo and complete. still, the way he pushes his glasses up his nose is distracting, and you can’t stop your gaze flicking to the buttons of his orange shirt he pops one by one, the temperature gaining ground on him.

it’s just the heat, you remind yourself. it’s something else, too.

you nod at him. you sprawl on the couch; mary janes kicked off, feet tucked under your legs, elbow resting on the back pillows. comfortable, familiar, unprofessional. you’ve been here before— made a home of it, even.

the wine rests precariously on the tartan couch, but it’s not very scary. little worse could happen to it; it’s beat-up and dirty, pulled from some vintage shop fifteen somethings years ago, and tucked oasis of many college students since.

you take a swig straight from the bottle, licking the droplets. matty’s eyes flick to your lips, pink from raspberry wine. you smirk. ‘d’you want a taste?’ you ask, knowing.

his eyes settle on the wine. ‘is it any better than the last one?’

‘marginally so.’

matty sighs, opening his palm. he takes it like a duty, like you’re forcing him, as if it’s not completely his decision. he takes the babiest sip, then winces. ‘you drink this shit?’ matty spits, a disgusted grimace frowning his features. you laugh at the sight of it, swiping back the wine from him. ‘how do you not vomit pink by the end of it?’

‘dunno,’ you start, the light set-up of a tease. ‘guess i’m just better at handling my liquor.’

matty snorts. ‘yeah, i remember the state of you after two glasses of cognac.’ you shrug, innocent.

you take a swig of the bottle. the sweet, rubbery taste washes your mouth. you grin, dropping two cold fingers on his trousers, blinking at him as you graze them. ‘do you want another taste? don’t think you really took the time to appreciate the understated flavors.’

‘flavors,’ he mocks, though still leans in, and kisses you. your hand finds his hair immediately, loving to mess with his already undone curls, rake and tug until they stick out of his head like some mad scientist. give a face to those unhinged ramblings.

you kiss hungrily, licking and biting until you’re not quite sure you remember your name. matty breathes away to whisper, ‘mmh, you’re right. it’s a bit floral.’

‘shut up,’ you pant, pulling his head down.

you climb onto his lap, pushing him back on the couch. he lets his head fall on the pillows, tilting it up in offering as you devour him. his hands weight at your waist, respectful.

you break away from him, frantically unbuttoning his shirt until you get lazy, leaving it half-falling off his torso. it reveals the one tattoo you desperately crave to see, anyway; chest ink bright and depraved.

you focus on his pants instead, unbuckling his belt with shaky fingers. ‘woah,’ matty laughs. ‘are you even ready for me?’

you stare up at him, surprised. you steal a hand from him, placing it on the burning, wet heat between your legs. ‘always.’

‘fuck,’ he mutters, rubbing at your entrance, gathering a pool of your juices, slicking your clit. you jump at the contact, low moan as you work his pants again. ‘been all wet for how long?’

‘god, ever since you started talking.’ you finally spring free his hard cock, practically salivating at it. you rise up on your knees, stroking him.

matty’s not quite done with teasing you, blocking the way as he swipes and circles your bud. ‘is that right?’ he smirks, cheeky. ‘does it always get you all needy for me?’

‘yeah,’ you pout slightly, rolling your hips onto his hand, begging for more.

‘even when i teach?’ he pouts back, mocking. you groan, your head falling on his shoulder. ‘use your words, smart girl.’

‘yes.’

‘oh, it must be so hard for you, sitting in class for hours and hours, listening to me talk, all wet and throbbing and aching for my cock.’ he speeds up his fingers. you cry in the collar of his shirt, drooling on the cotton.

‘sir, please, i need—‘

‘right, right,’ he says, finally freeing the way, moving your underwear aside as he does so. you flash a smile in glee. ‘you’ve been so good for me lately. been all patient, too. you deserve it.’ pride shines through your skin. you lower yourself on his length, gasping in relief.

you rock your hips as soon as you get used to the stretch of him, rolling and bucking until pleasure waves through you. his hands dig into your flesh, encouraging.

‘what do you do, then?’ he whispers. ‘when you get all turned on in the middle of my class?’

you mewl, thrusting faster. the words get you needier somehow. get you ready for that fatal strike of ecstasy. matty pinches the skin of your thigh, punishing like a professor.

you clench around him, understanding his demand. ‘i—‘ you start, but his cock makes any thinking quite hard. ‘jesus, i— i go to the bathroom, sometimes.’

‘to touch yourself?’

you shut your eyes, nodding. ‘just a little, just to relieve some tension. i don’t— i don’t come.’

matty’s hands fall to your ass, puppeteering your deeper, closer. you fuck hard and fast, out of breath. ‘course not,’ he teases. ‘i know how you get when you come. whole bloody building would hear you.’ you flush. ‘when, then?’

your hand holds your weight up on the pillows of the tartan couch. your thighs ache, but you remain focused, determined. ready to blow. ‘when i get home. i get my vibrator and i—‘

‘hands can’t do it, huh?’ he laughs. ‘not like me.’ as though to prove it, he sneaks two fingers to your clit, rubbing better and faster than you ever could, that callus making you see heaven. you cry, gripping the tartan couch.

‘i play back the whole lesson,’ you admit. ‘how you looked and how you sounded like and— and i think of you saying it to me, in bed. think of all the things you’ve done to me, and what you would do if you were there. fuck, it makes me come so hard.’

you feel your hips grow erratic, bucking wildly and desperately. your legs shake, exhausted, overrun with euphoria. you say his name, again and again, a worship and a plea.

‘next time, darling,’ he says. ‘come find me. don’t need to do all of that; i got a perfectly good desk in that classroom that’s semi-standing up.’ you throb around him, hit with a wave of heat at that idea. ‘oh, you like that.’

‘promise?’ you squeak, dropping your head back as you get close.

‘you don’t know how often i’ve thought of bending you over it in the middle of class, love. you don’t have to worry about my word.’

you cry out, thrusting up and down, letting yourself exist in only his office, only the shape of his hands, until your brain breaks and you snap with a scream. you throb around him, falling on his shoulder, shaking.

he shushes you gently, holding your hips up as he continues to fuck into you. ‘so good, darling. so pretty,’ he promises, stroking your hair. ‘my best girl. my perfect girl. gonna make me come so hard.’ you whine. ‘where do you want it?’

‘inside,’ you hum. ‘want you to drip out of me all the way back home.’

‘fucking— shit,’ he groans, then fucks up into you a last time, spilling.

you breathe together as he slowly softens inside of you, still linked like some strange clay sculpture he would decorticate in class. your smile slacks your mouth. ‘i’m very excited for your next lesson, sir.’

he bursts out a laugh. ‘me too.’

[the-silly-superstar]

Alright it is time. Boredom has got the best of me and I decided it’s time for a

⭐️INTRODUCTION!!!!⭐️

you heard it right! Now I’m finally gonna have a shred of an idea of what the hell to do here!!! Anywho, let’s start :D

ABOUT ME!

⭐️ I usually just go by Uni/Unique online

⭐️ I use any pronouns, but prefer they/she!

⭐️ My bday is 6/29!!! :D

⭐️ Speaking of birthdays, I am also a minor, so please don’t be inappropriate or gross :3

⭐️If you guys can’t tell I draw A LOT, but nowhere near as much as I’d like to cause artblocks an asshole >:(

[Most of these user tags I found are free, did Rb one, if anyone else who made these wants credit lmk!!!!]

ALSOOOO here’s my SelfSona! Her name is Uni (short for Unique) Also I’ll usually draw her in Fit 1, fit 2 is for sillies (also the pink on fit 1 is too dark, supposed to be like fit 2)

WHAT YOULL FIND

⭐️ like I said before, Art, but I’ll also post Oc stuff, comics and animatics!

if it’s art I’ll usually tag with ‘my art’ and art related tags, y’know?

also for art, I don’t do commissions, but i do enjoy ideas!!!!

⭐️Also for my ocs, I’ll add the tags ‘Oc’ or the character(s) name(s) and ‘the Trinkety Toyland’ which is what the silly group is called :D I’ll make a post about them soon enough. If I ever finish their ref sheets

⭐️ I’m also in a quite few fandoms soooo here’s a few I’ll name!

The Amazing Digital Circus

Murder Drones

My Little Pony

Splatoon

Hazbin Hotel

Helluva Boss

Mouthwashing

sailor moon

death note

I’ll probably add more later cause I can’t think of anymore, I’m really tired rn 😭

ASKS

⭐️ decided to do a bit on this, because why not!

⭐️ Feel free to be silly!!!!! I like having fun on here!1!1!1!1!1!

⭐️ Like I said, I’m a minor so PLEASE don’t send inappropriate asks

⭐️ Also forget to respond a lot, so sorry if it takes a while for me to answer

⭐️ For people sending asks for help with the war or money or anything, I’m very sorry, I’m a minor and can’t help, I also feel really sad and uncomfortable reading about it, it just feels awkward so I usually don’t respond to them :( (I feel like such an ass but I might as well mention that)

DNI (DO NOT INTERACT)

⭐️ not a lot for this, no nsfw, pedos, pro ships, no transphobia racism or homophobia. Then again I can’t stop you from interacting, so like if I’m not comfy with you I’ll block you, easy to understand

WHERE ELSE AM I?

I have a YouTube Channel, Silly Superstar Edits

Also CapCut, where I’ll occasionally post?

My Wattpad where I post writing

I also have a discord acc, but idk if I’ll put that here quite yet.

WHERE ELSE ON HERE?

set up a few rp blogs, say hi!

@tulpars-nurse-anya

@ask-what-the-world-needs

and a writing blog

@sillystarwrites

I believe that’s it! Soooo, finally got that done, so see ya!1!1!1!1!

[b1ackcatchatsback]

Oh Hi! :)

I wanted to introduce myself, I'm BlackCat and I write cozy love stories on Ao3 ^.^

I decided to start a blog to interact more with the lovely people of the Marauders Fandom and maybe share a few drabbles/ microfics/ art (who knows)

A few ground rules and disclaimers:

-I do not support JKR or any of her many terrible and evil ideas.

-Minors please do not interact!

-I love to chat, please feel free to reach out, but I'm still a person, please be kind - I'm still figuring out how to use the platform, but I'm sure it can't be difficult to find the block function if I need it.

-The guiding principle for any kind of constructive criticism should always be kindness <3

Here are a small sample of fics I've written:

The Language of Flowers

This was the first fic I wrote. It's Wolfstar Muggle AU about two lonely people getting together to face the challenges of their lives together. Remus's chronic illness has prevented him from making meaningful connections all his life and Sirius has to embrace some radical honesty to be the kind of friend, brother and partner he's always been destined to be. Sirius owns a flower shop and Remus is the editor of a Medical Magazine.

When the Fire is Low

This is the fic I'm most proud of. It's also my longest. Another Wolfstar Muggle AU set in South Africa in a game farm owned by James's family following the death of his father. Sirius, a photographer trying to find his place in the world, meets Remus, a grumpy bush ranger with a heart of gold. Sparks fly (pun intended) and several great love stories ensue (includes Jily and Dorlene). The stakes are a little bit higher in this one and it's really a glorified love letter to South Africa <3 There's also a sequel WIP.

52 Dates

This is a Muggle Au friends to lovers fic where they're pretty much a married couple in denial. Sirius resolves to go on a date every week for a year to finally break his single streak, but the dating world is the 9th circle of hell, and he quickly burns out. He's also flatmates with the love of his life, but that's totally irrelevant, right?

All my fics are Happy Ending guaranteed and many of them are spicy

Enjoy and feel free to ask me anything (within reason, don't get weird)

-BlackCat

xx

[cicaklah]

2024 fic review

hello friends. what a year that was. here's a review of all the writing I did about blorbo.

January

Started out strong with part 9 of the one man series: life's a beach. I'm really happy with this one and think it is one of the strongest of the one man non-chaptered stories, but despite the fact its full of Spirk having happy sex on holiday, it didn't seem to do that well at the time, but has now started to catch up.

I followed this with my first Voyager fic: there is water (at the bottom of the ocean) which I am honestly still really proud of. It was a Threshold day celebration fic, and Threshold has always been one of my favourite episodes even before it became a meme. It was an honour to write them having weird sex.

March

In march I published friday I'm in love, the one man story where they break up. This is heavy on the OCs, as any story set on the Farragut will be, but I think it worked.

also in march @diana-fortyseven and I were chatting and then I wrote dedicated to the one I love mostly in chat to her, and it was so filthy I had to share it with the class. Diana and Grey fantasising about 47 and fucking about it, while he listens.

finally in march I wrote an abundance of caution, a Pike/Spock SNW fic that was the first story I ever wanted to write in SNW, back in season 1. Where Pike is being haunted by those damn time crystals again.

April

I started publishing my TOS Spirk PWP meandering story a job like any other. I really like the style of this one, and want to write more of it this year.

May

then I wrote nothing until the very end of may, when I published my magnum fuck-opus: subspace rhapsorgy Its literally the plot of subspace rhapsody but instead of singing they're having really filthy free-use sex. I'll never top this.

June

anyway 10 days later I nearly died of sepsis and that kind of wrote off June. I had signed up for thyla bang, then tried to default when I went into hospital, was instead given an extension, which I didn't make because erm, I was dying. the runner of that challenge reacted totally reasonably by blocking me from everything and writing her own story for the art I had claimed. fuck you muse!

July

In july I pushed myself way too hard to publish said fic no glove no love, which is fine, but I'm mostly annoyed that her fic has more hits than mine. It just doesn't really seem fair, but also, its a pon farr fic without any sex, so who am I kidding? its never going to blow the doors off.

I spent the rest of July frantically trying to reclaim my brain post-sepsis by doing the most difficult task possible, sorting out the plot of a sex farce. Said farce was put on your red shoes and dance the blues. Honestly I should have spent July recovering more, but turns out I'm way more spiteful than I thought I was.

August

I had a busy august of wasting money I didn't have being turned away from a plane because my passport was out of date, not being able to walk without my bladder filling with blood, then having surgery, then getting a post surgical infection and having to go back into hospital. I did however finally finished cleaning up the second part of the Diana/Grey/47 threesome fic: a little wicked.

September

I wrote we'll build our altar here after binging the boys in a week, and then promptly lost interest.

October

I spent September and October trying to write the next part of one man, including 20k of a story I still haven't posted, before giving up and splitting it into three stories. The first of these, you probably think this song is about you about Jim's time post-Gala, was published here. I think its probably the best one man story, in terms of how well written it is. Development!

November

I spent November angsting over some stuff, and then decided to do something I wanted to do for a change.

December

That thing was what I called 'super secret writing project' aka blorbo noel, aka my own personal yuletide. I wrote 11 stories, 43k, and I'm pleased with every single one of them.

They are: when I'm wearing nothing but blame, (if I could paint your taint) the colour of the sunset, matched set, hometown glory, captain's log supplemental, I'll be your fire, the power of women, one way or another, crowning glory, (watch me and you) get lost and found anew, and nostalgia ain't what it used to be.

I then also fuck it, published another one man part: bigmouth strikes again, following Spock after the gala. I also finished new frontier, my lesbian la'an fic, and no one cared, and then finished up by publishing some more oxbox RPF business managed.

All in all I published 176,000 words this year blowing my previous record out of the water by 40k, and finally broke through my long term goal of publishing 20 stories in a year. I published 25 new stories and finished new frontier, for a total of 26 in 2024!

This was a very hard year for me, not just with the sepsis, but mental illness, moving house, new job, family problems and the death of my grandfather. Nevertheless, writing and art saved me. I'm planning on doing a sculpture review of 2024 as well, but here's to 2025, hopefully with 100% less sepsis.

[elliebyrrdwrites]

Vampy Draco 3

Leather straps, around my face, hold the mask in place. My mouth is covered with this mask that has little iron bars built into it, just over my mouth, and there is a slot for air cut out for my nose.

I finger the rough leather hide that forms around my chin, my eyebrows pulling together as I glance up at Theo.

He shrugs. “It’s for my protection.” He explains as he gestures to doorway that leads to a chamber where a large cauldron sits on a large stone structure. “At least until I can concoct a potion that I can ingest, altering the way my blood smells and tastes.”

I don’t think he can change the scent of death in his skin. It’s forever imprinted there.

Inside of the room, Theo uses his stabbing stick — no, his wand — to light a fire under the large black cauldron. Theo is a wizard and Granger, she is a witch.

“You were a wizard, too.” He says as he begins to add ingredients into the pot. There’s garlic and verbatim. The smell of them together make my nose twitch.

Now I am nothing but thirst.

“You still have magic.” He nods as he begins to cut big fat slugs into threes.

He tells me that there is a legend that the first vampire was cursed by a cruel and horrible dark sorcerer. It says, this legend, that the man was stabbed in the heart and allowed to bleed out before the sorcerer took the blood from a rabid Vampire bat and injected it into the poor bloke.

“Hence, the term Vampire.” Theo sings as he tossed the gooey, bloody slugs into the pot.

Theo tells me about the world I came from. Different from non magical folk. They call them muggles. It is usually the preferred victim of most vampires. Which is what makes me so interest, he says.

I called them meals.

There was a woman I stalked through the streets as she walked home from the store. When she got to her house, I finally caught her eye.

She sensed what was to come. But, I’d think to myself. In my mind, I’d beg her; Don’t run.

She froze, her hand on the doorknob.

And when I had her head cradled in my hand and her body pressed flush against mine, my mouth latched onto her throat, I’d think to myself, and I beg her; just relax.

She did.

“Muggles can’t occlude,” Theo says.

My eyes are staring into he fire beneath the cauldron. It’s dancing, wildly, and the flames lick up the sides of the pot, as he explains the art of occluding. Witches and wizards use it to block their emotions or to block people from diving into their mind. It ensures that they cannot be manipulated the way my victims have been.

My hand reaches for the flames, curious as the cat.

Theo stirs his concoction three times clockwise and stops halfway through the fourth turn to stir the opposite direction another three and half spins before he sets his ladle down on the stone table.

“I’ve never worked with a vampire before.” He admits. “Mostly, I work with the dead, or the spirits of the dead that usually stay hidden between the layers of here and there.”

I feel like I am neither here nor there. Because I don’t remember who I was. I only know this.

And this feels like it is not here. And it is not there.

Everything is just thirst.

“Do you think you can bleed?” He suddenly asks, looking up from the pot to stare straight back at me.

I pull my hand free from the flames and shrug.

His eyes slide to the left before he clears his throat. “You’re on fire.”

I hold my hand up to find it like a candle, the tip of my index finger the wick. The singular flame dances from the tip and I look at Theo who pushes his lips out impressed before pursing his lips together blows it out.

I wonder if he makes a wish.

If any of this was real, I’d wish for a beating heart.

Theo comes in, the next day, smelling terrible. There’s too many scents to discern which one smells the worst but he grins when I flinch away from him.

“Do you like it?” He asks.

“No.”

“Good.” He nods and reaches up to untie my mask but there is a soft tap at his front door that causes him to freeze.

I can smell her before the door opens to reveal her face, smiling back at us. Granger is standing on Theo’s doorstep and she is smiling and looking over his shoulder.

I lift my hand to wave at her. “Hi,”

Her eyes bug out and her smile dies. “Theo!” She chastises as she shoves past him. She’s coming straight at me and all of that thirst that never ends, it widens. The hole in my chest, it widens and widens until my entire body feels tense and tired and full of all of the energy in all of the world.

Her hand reaches up to smooth a finger over the rough leather material pressed into my face. I flinch from her, but not because she smells bad. She smells good.

Too good.

She smells like cloves and marshmallow cream. She smells like cinnamon and sweet rice water.

She smells like she was made for me.

“You put a muzzle on him?”

Theo shuts the front door and hurries forward, removing her hand from my chin and tucks it into between his palms. He pats her hand, once, and says, “Do you have any sense of self preservation?”

My hands tighten into fists at my side.

Grabbing her feels less like one of those unattainable things that hovers just outside of my memory.

Grabbing her feels like something that might end badly.

She elbows him in the side and pulls her hand free. But she keeps her hands tucked into her sides.

I’m watching her, she’s watching me. As much as I want to taste her, I want to feel her hand against my skin. Possibly more.

“Well, I don’t like it.” She shifts under my stare but she doesn’t look away. “It’s very Hannibal Lector.”

Theo chuckles and digs the point of his elbow into her ribs, causing her to squirm away. “It’s just a precaution, love.”

She takes a deep breath and tilts her head and bites her lip. She’s running her eyes over my face, the muzzle, and then she runs them down the length of my body.

I mimic her.

She’s dressed in similar clothes from yesterday, except that her pants are black with white pin stripes. Her wand holster accentuates her breasts and the curve of her waist.

“Hello, Draco.”

I’ve been practicing. The more I do it, the quicker the signals move from my rotted brain to the muscles in my throat and my mouth. “Granger.” I say and her eyes flare in response. Her scent thickens in the air as a blush seeps into her cheeks.

She licks at her lips and forces herself to look down at her boots.

My stomach is started to twist and there’s a strange, faint pulsing sensation in my groin. Hunger isn’t the right word, but it’s the only one that comes to mind.

The rest of the day is spent in something between agony and splendor.

Granger sticks around, she has tea. She licks at her lips when drops cling to them. She smiles at me.

Theo shows her what his plans are.

There is a fridge full of bags of blood. He pulls one out and squeezes it between his fingers and lifts it up for us both to see.

“This is going to be lunch,” He says this to me and shoves it into my hands.

It’s cold and the scent of the plastic bag mars the floral scent inside. I don’t like it

I’ve only tasted blood while it is still warm.

Even as the skin grows cold from the lack of circulation, the blood remains warm to the very last drop.

Theo guides us back to the kitchen table. There is a bowl full of fruit sitting in the middle. There’s apples, and bananas. There’s plums and a peach and a pear.

Granger sits at the table and reaches for the peach. She smells it and her eyebrows lift in appreciation before she opens her mouth and sinks her teeth into its thin, tender flesh.

My eyes jump to her neck as she chews and licks the juice from her lips. She is just like that peach. My mouth waters as I imagine my teeth sinking into it. Tender, soft. Juices flowing out and into my mouth, running over my tongue. Easing down my throat, warming the gaping hole in the middle of my chest.

I think that is where my soul used to be.

The never ending thirst is just the result of an absent soul.

Theo is eyeing me and nudges the bag of blood toward my face just before the mask vanishes from my face.

I pretend it is her neck as I plunge my sharp fangs into the plastic. And I suck.

It’s terrible. It’s cold and it tastes nothing like the way she smells.

But I drink it all as fast as I can because there is something strange about this.

When you talk to people, and they talk to you, it’s hard to kill them.

When they smile at you, you don’t want to.

My hands fall to my side, the empty bag clutched in one hand and I gag.

I gag and retch but nothing comes up.

“I don’t think he likes cold blood.” Granger says it to Theo but her eyes are on me. My lips. She’s staring at my lips.

Stained red, they open and close as my tongue sticks out. I’m trying to accept the terrible texture of cold blood. The viscosity is thicker, the flavor less tangible. But the burn in my throat has dulled enough for me to roll my shoulders back, forcing my body to relax.

“That’s a good boy.” Theo smirks.

Soon, it is time for Granger to leave and we walk her to the door. Her scent is filling up the house and I know that when she leaves, it will remain. It will linger in the air and press into my skin for days. She lets Theo give her a quick kiss to the cheek before she reaches for my hand.

Warm skin, little hands.

My cold, dead fingers curl, wrapping around the entirety of her hands. Hot and cold. Sweet and spicy.

Good and bad.

That is who we are.

Life and death, coming together, remind the other that each of us exist.

Her warm skin is pushing something into my dead body. There’s a light that nobody can see it’s in the palm of her hand and it is sinking into me. I’m absorbing it and it’s spreading slowly to each of the fingers that are still curled over her hand.

“It was good to see you, Draco.” She says and her eyes are warm and bright as they look up at me.

The light is hot as it drips slowly into my empty veins. I have to let go of her and it feels wrong. But I do it, because Theo is guiding her to the door. So I do and say the only thing I can think over. It’s like there’s a sudden firing of neurons inside of my dead brain and my body wants to hold onto hers. Like I need her to complete the process of whatever the fuck is happening.

Because she started this.

I know it.

I step forward and tilt my head as he backs up toward the door, Theo’s hand on her shoulder.

“Come back?” The words come out more easily than I anticipated.

Granger, she smiles. She smiles and all of that hot light is suddenly shooting from her eyes and she nods. It's shooting from her and into me. It's no longer relegated to my left hand but it's in the center of my chest. It mixes there, with the never ending thirst and it is sparking wildly, sporadically.

“I will.” She says it like a promise.

And then the door is closing on her as she turns to step outside, just as I feel the painful jolt of the very first beat of my dead heart.

[beryllineart]

How2Draw Comics: Story

Last time we learned about conceptualizing our characters, settings, art style, etc. Now we actually have to put our characters in a situation, drive them from point A to point B through a story.

There are many different ways to do this. I'm assuming you have, if not an outlined story, a situation you want your character to experience. If you don't have a story, make your character order pizza but something happens and they have to rescue the pizza (and the delivery guy, I guess.) The first method I'll discuss is my least favorite- the Script Method.

You write a script for your story, listing pages and panels as you go along. I hate this. It feels too limiting, and panels are actually one of the most limiting and intimidating things to a beginner comic artist. Yet most tutorials encourage you to draw your panels first and then squish or stretch your drawings to fit, and that's what the Script Method is based off of. I draw my panels while I do my drawings, or even after I do them.

If pacing your comics is one of the most difficult things for you (what size do I make my panels? Is there too much dialogue on this page?) then I suggest the Storytelling Method.

You do not have to make a full short story or book. Usually I just say something like, "boy is making cake. girl walks up behind him and hugs him, kissing his floury cheek. she walks away, licking her finger. she has stolen some cake batter and he didn't notice." In my head I can see a more detailed story there, but you can tell a story without a bunch of flowery prose.

You may be wondering how this helps with pacing your comics. Well, I have actions associated with dialogue, meaning I know which drawings will have which dialogue, automatically creating a nice balance. Additionally, I know what to prioritize. I know that the panel introducing the manor will be large, because I used the words "large and imposing" to describe it. I know that when I set the ballroom scene in this story, I also need to set the scene in an establishing shot. And I know that I'm going to have Bernice's appearance on the food table be surprising, taking place after she tugs his shirt or something. (This will probably make more sense once I actually make the comic)

The final method is a very flexible one for those who aren't into words and just want to draw- the Children's Book Method.

This particular example is mind-mapping, but you can also do a more organized version by storyboarding (placing each drawing in a square and giving a short description for context). I call these collectively the Children's Book Method because the basic idea is that you don't repeat your drawings like you would in a comic. Instead, you draw those things that feel the most interesting and most dynamic, the things that are most important. (like keyframes in an animation) Children's books illustrate one scene at a time, providing context for many different moments in one picture (and some text). They are less sequential than a comic because they only have one picture per page.

I usually have a mix of the storytelling method and the storyboarding end of children's book method. And usually I tell myself a story only in my head, without writing it out, because that's all I need. And I'll admit, sometimes the stories play out in my head like a movie, which is probably why the script method works for people. Sometimes you don't know which is the most effective way to tell yourself a story until you try to draw the comic and see what is giving you the most trouble.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I know I'm kind of rambly and don't make much sense, so if you need clarification or other tips, I'll do my best to help.

Next is Panels and Pacing: Drawing the Comic (which will probably happen in multiple posts, but this art block will make it nigh impossible for a while, why doesn't it just go away?)

[oboetemasuka]

Stand Up

An "Order of Attack" side story.

Finally, Amane lays her regrets to rest.

(Quick art at the end)

-

Amane walked up to Fuuta's cell like she had many times before. She recited the words under her breath for the hundredth time, hoping that she wouldn't blank out this time.

What a racket was going on in his cell… If things were going this terribly for him, she had to intervene.

She rammed into the door shoulders first and toppled into the room.

At the far end of the cell, Kotoko was facing the wall. Fuuta was bloody and battered, cowering under her shadow.

The noise alerted Kotoko, and she swiftly turned around.

"Momose Amane. I didn't expect you to-"

"You are wrong!" Amane called out as she pushed herself to her feet.

"Me? No, the ones in the wrong are the ones who were judged guilty by Milgram." Kotoko strode closer to Amane. "And so I shall carry out-"

"Milgram is wrong!"

"What makes you so sure?" Red eyes bored into Amane's soul. 

She wanted to shrink and fall back, but she had a mission. "I hear these strange voices in my head, telling me that I am wrong. But they do not understand what I did. They assume I killed someone smaller than me. So I know that their judgment is flawed."

Under her stern and confident voice, Kotoko faltered.

"So… so what do the details matter? The fact remains that Milgram has judged you."

"And you attacked Fuuta-san based on a single judgment. You would attack me too, even after I stated my case. What gives you the right?"

"Enough of your nonsense." Kotoko swung the nightstick, but Amane blocked it with her hands. Her hands. She was free.

But the impact shook her vision, and she couldn't see out of one eye anymore.

Still, she bit back the pain and retaliated, shoving Kotoko to the ground. Now the roles were truly reversed.

"The warden has admitted their mistakes. They have reversed our judgments. They have forgiven all of the previously condemned prisoners. In doing so, they have told you that you are wrong."

Kotoko stared at her dumbfoundedly, but she couldn't stand up or find the words to argue.

"See, Milgram is…" Caught by a sudden light-headedness, Amane trailed off.

The voices were coming back.

-

"Oh, Amane-chan…"

"I told you they wouldn't want to hear about that. Look, you bored them both to sleep."

"That's too bad. Well, I suppose I should…"

-

Amane woke up to the snap of a camera and found Mahiru and Yuno with their backs turned to her. 

"Mm, what are you…?"

As Amane pushed herself up, she realized she was resting on Fuuta's shoulder. He was leaning back against the headrest of the wheelchair, silently snoring.

Mahiru turned to face Amane. "Oh, you're awake."

"Did you just take a… selfie of us?"

"Yeah! You looked so silly that I couldn't resist. Did you know that you-"

"Mahiru-san," Yuno chided. "She just woke up. Now's not the time.

Frankly, Amane would be content to join whatever fun they were having, even if she might have had the worst bedhead ever. But it would do her well to reorient herself first.

"Oh." Mahiru set down the camera. "For what it's worth, you really did look happy. Sweet dreams?"

"Yes. It was much better than reality." Amane looked down as she twiddled her fingers. "I wish… it was real."

Mahiru tipped her head and pressed a finger to her chin. "It must have been an amazing dream, then. What was it about?"

"I stood up to Yuzuriha Kotoko."

-

[prima-materia-ttrpg]

Melee Combat or the Art of hitting people with sticks

Melee combat has been written, and the first playtest was two days ago. But will it blend? was it actually fun? And what does the combat look like anyway?

These questions and more answered below the "Read More" link!

There are a few things I wanted to take into account for melee combat. The first, as always, is mechanics that are fun to engage with. The second is whether or not they're intuitive and easy to understand. The third is whether they're cool to my own subjective view of coolness. Now, "Fun" and "Cool" are subjective terms that are largely useless, and "Understandable" is a given, so I have other terms that explain what I mean that I can use as a proper design philosophy when making and talking about the system. Combat should be:

Dynamic. Meaning the player should have a lot of choices, and those choices need to matter. Initiative order and terrain should be interesting to engage with and traverse, and players and enemies should be able to do things that change a lot of the variables on the battlefield to their favor.

Deadly. This doesn't mean that the player should always die of course, but it means that players should be constantly kept on their toes and things should have tangible consequences. The player and their character should feel like they're 3 steps away from death at all times during most 'normal' combats.

Preparation. "Combat should be preparation" doesn't make a whole lot of sense as a sentence, but it does as a design pillar. This means that players should be encouraged by the mechanics of the game to prepare for encounters, at the least donning armor which could be the difference between life and death for some characters. Other preparation includes setting up ambushes, making bombs, or giving existing equipment an edge by poisoning, sharpening, or otherwise taking care of weapons and armor.

As always, the first step to creating a new system for me is to do research to see what interesting things already exist. If the wheel has already been invented, I don't need to reinvent what works. Of course, there is always fine-tuning involved and systems become mixtures of different things I like that get chiseled at until they're perfect, but for research purposes knowing what's out there and what can work really well for your system is rather important. I looked into how various other systems handle combat in general, and initiative and turn order (if they didn't forego it entirely) to try and set up a base that works. Something instrumental in the design philosophy of the system was a video titled Intuitive TTRPG Combat by The Broken Blade on Youtube, which in my opinion said a lot of things that make sense.

The second step was, of course, actually creating the system. The first thing I really had to sus out was how the action economy works. I had been throwing a few things around in my head, but I decided that a turn would be made up of an action, a quick action, a free action, and movement. These can be done in any order, and movement can be split. Additionally, you can trade an Action for a Quick Action. This gives the player quite a bit of choice in what they can do without allowing them to do everything they may want to, I think. Actions are reserved for attacks, Quick Actions let you change weapons or use an item, and Free Actions can be used for things like yelling a sentence or activating a lever.

Of course, waiting around for your turn to finally come isn't fun, so I needed a way for players to interact with things when it wasn't their turn. Because you don't roll to hit with melee attacks, I wanted the player to be able to have an active role in mitigating damage to themselves. So, when you get attacked, you can Block or Dodge. Block comes from a stat on the weapon (or shield) that tells you how many Strength (or Dexterity) die to roll to mitigate damage, and Dodge is the same but it's based on the Dodge skill. I do want to add a bit more nuance to this later (and will definitely be adding reactions later, as per playtest feedback), but for now it's serviceable.

After this I wanted to focus more on the dynamic side of things, allowing different weapon and damage types, and the start of a tag system for weapons that changed their behavior. I didn't (and still don't) need it to be super complicated, but rather I want simple rules that can be used in interesting ways that interact with other systems. One such tag that interacts with the system in a fun way is the Versatile tag. A weapon that's versatile gives a range, the low number is how many hands you need to wield the weapon and the high number is the maximum number you can wield it with. This increases damage and blocking effectiveness, and is very funny when you have a four-armed creature wielding a Warhammer.

All of this (and some more) came together as the first draft of the weapons mechanics, which I then sent to a friend to check out. The very first thing I got back was, "How does turn order and initiative work?" I was so engrossed in the mechanics that were more interesting to me that I had forgotten to write how to actually run combat. So, I went back to try and make that functional and interesting. The system I wrote requires everyone to roll initiative and add them to a total. The side with the highest total initiative goes first, and the individual who rolled the highest on a side is the first person to go on that side. At the end of a player's turn, they pick who on their side will go when it is their side's turn again. Initiative is rolled every round, which I was fairly wary about because in other games Initiative is usually a slog for me trying to figure out turn order and making players wait a few minutes while the mood dies; but it worked well in the playtest I ran and didn't slow down things much at all. I will continue testing, of course.

And you can test too if you want! I've put the combat playtest and four pre-generated characters on the website, which you can find here.

If you got all the way down here, thanks for reading! Next week I'll talk about some of the history and lore of the Koura (with more art on the way 👀)

[meikuree]

FINALLY someone who didn't 100% love BES. I did enjoy some of it but I lean on the "disliked it on the whole" side and it's been so weird seeing everyone praise it to high heavens. I take it that you enjoyed it more than I did (I did not like a lot of the 3D visuals, unfortunately, so the visuals don't really redeem it for me), but I'd love to see some balanced takes from you anyway <3

anon, you're in good company! honestly i've been baffled by the blandly, one-note positive reception to this (30% of my grief has to do with BES's base story, and 70% has to do with uncritical fannish responses), because... to be uncharitable... I have some big problems with its construction. feel free to come off anon and kvetch in my DMs if you want, I'll probably share your sentiments. sorry for how long i've taken to answer this!

to be fair the show does some things right and I think its achievements/innovations in art style and animation are to be lauded; I'm not going to speak over that when I'm not an expert on animation or media theory, but it's a bad sign when praise about any media amounts to "well, it looks pretty" or hinges so heavily on its aesthetics. to be extremely clear this doesn't fully apply to BES, because it does have deft character work, compelling characters, and some impressive cinematic instantiation/inhabitation with its attention to setting and detail -- i was pleasantly surprised by the inclusion of deets like yaki-ire etc etc. -- but even on its purported selling points of japanese historicity and nuanced narratives about race, sexuality, gender, revenge, etc. I think it fails. it has glaring blindspots.

tldr: BES suffers from some (white) american/french narratorial sensibilities that kneecap the full potential of its story

or: BES pinged as an insufferably american and/or ahistorical rendition of its japanese building-blocks to me in some ways

it's probably just a case of misaimed audiences, and This Show Not Being For Me, but I've been baffled by:

how seamlessly some scenes around sex work and brothels and eroticism in this show slide in with orientalist tropes about japan being the Weird Sex and Kinky country despite the japanese-american creator at its helm, who's also spoken out against tropes like that -- until a buddy gave some context that those undertones seem to have been inspired by bande dessinées (french comics) with not-unsimilar tropes that may have been transplanted carelessly into BES by the studio

and this is what I mean by 'american/french' sensibilities -- I don't mean american/french in the most skin-deep representational sense, as in the studio that made it is an american-french one or whatever, as 'representation' is too often conceived on tumblr to be limited to, but on the deeper epistemological level of its worldview, frameworks of sexuality/race, and the cultural terrain it's working off or conversing with. BES includes storylines/arcs/even mawkish dialogue far more reminiscent of those in american cartoons. which is not an issue except of one of taste, but fannish responses holding it up as a groundbreaking commentary on race are orbiting a different universe imo

more egregiously it sustains overtones of that american favourite about the grand, Super Existential! Super Inevitable! and intrinsic clash of Cultures and Civilisations with a big C (a highly discredited idea in critical academic circles now, thankfully, no thanks to samuel p. huntington)

I almost wish the show had maintained a greater separation from IRL analogues or just invented a fresh fantasy universe because why set it in edo-era japan if you're not going to engage with the sociocultural norms, or narratorial traditions of that era

see: literary genres around jitsuroku (revenge narratives), how revenge would have been treated as a tool of sociocultural legitimisation then, the apparent forgettance of the entire history of nanban trade and the fact that japan as a geographical entity was not technically ethnically homogeneous, or only homogeneous from a hegemonic pov, given the existence of the ainu, the kingdom of ryukyu, and northern communities of hokkaido although tbf japan's borders probably didn't include them

i was hoping for an internal critique of or just more nuance about the 'japan = ethnically homogenous' narrative in the show and was more disappointed as it went on -- imo it's a narrative often most stridently parroted by the japanese government for nation-building interests and by others to avoid interrogations of the actual complexity of striations, divisions, etc in japan e.g. with burakumin (lower-'caste'* peoples)

* note: caste is an imperfect and not fully accurate descriptor

a significant part of my ire is reserved for the handling of 'whiteness' in this show although it's mostly hand-wringing over the complexity of intended audiences in this show, which might not be fair to blame on the creators; yes, whiteness is foreign and Other and bad, but what about the material and historical precursors that gave rise to that Otherness in the first place, where are they?; and look! whiteness is demonised; but the cartoon's being released in the USA and europe. it's certainly true that japan is institutionally hostile to foreigners and xenophobic, kudos for depicting the politics of that, but BES's american audiences mean i'm ambivalent about its in-universe premise that what is in fact an oft-fetishised trait in mixed race children (blue eyes) is bad (and the show's aesthetics don't support it; mizu's eyes are portrayed in the most beautiful way possible even though she's diagetically meant to be hideous and monstrous)

[nightcitygigs]

𝕎𝕖𝕝𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕠 ℕ𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 ℂ𝕚𝕥𝕪!

𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚒. 𝙸𝚏 𝙸 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔, 𝙸'𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙻𝚎𝚝'𝚜 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗.

𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪

Welcome to Night City Gigs - a weekly prompt page that encourages interaction with those in the community! Regardless of your medium, we encourage you to participate and meet new people! Here's how it works On each Monday, at 12:00 (Noon) MST there will be a "Gig Post" with the information for the gig! Gig's will be either issued by a moderator or user-submitted; if you want to submit your own gig, please do from our page!

Once a Gig is posted, commenting under it (it can say anything, but it does need to say the OC who is responding to the gig!) will earn you a slot! Slots for the gig are determined by the Caper Crew Maximum; it will say on the Gig Listing! These slots are first come first serve for each listing- that being said, if you have participated in the previous listing you are considered LOW priority for the next one. This allows others to join in who haven't yet participated! Gigs will be available to join for 24 hours after posting- these posts will be labelled as CLOSED after those 24 hours and the individual's will be @'d in the comments letting them know they got the slot!

You then have time to create! Write, in-game photography, art, or even RP! Whatever you can contribute to it, do it! Have fun! Meet new people! Once you post content, please @ this page! We would love to reblog your content!

We ask that you read the rules below before participating (this is a requirement) and like the post to ensure that you have read it in full ♡

ℝ𝕖𝕤𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕔𝕖𝕤

Want to use our generator? You can find it here!

Formatting lines are from here!

ℝ𝕦𝕝𝕖𝕤

Anything above and below is subject to change- I'm sure that I'm overlooking certain aspects and rules might get more lenient or strict as we see how these go. Please message this page with any and all feedback or suggestions that you have! That being said, for now we ask of a few things:

References

Before applying for a slot, please ensure that you have some kind of reference for the character that you are entering for that gig. This is kind for those who are working with visual mediums. Not having a reference (even an in-game reference is better than nothing) might have you restricted from future gigs.

Please be kind to those participating.

As this is a group activity, there are going to always have a variety of skill sets, personalities, and tastes. Everyone has come here to allow the community to flourish and celebrate our interests. Finally, being kind is a lot easier than being mean. We're all adults here- please have a kind and calm conversation if you've come to a disagreement!

Tapping Out

Someone might enter a gig and then might not be able to create due to personal circumstances. In this instance, we please ask that you message the appropriate parties (it could just be this page) so you can pull out of that Gig. This is only a preventative measure so that nobody is taking advantage of free resources or having the rest of the Caper Crew members feeling as if the circumstance is unfair. Tapping out this way will NOT bar you from future gigs!

Age Restriction To stay safe, we ask that you are 18+ to participate and follow this blog. You will be immediately blocked and blacklisted if you break this rule.

Thank you for reading!

As we said, there might be changes with any of this. We will keep you updated when the rules have been changed!

Special thanks to @another-corpo-rat for helping with any and all ideas & writing! You're an amazing and talented person and this wouldn't be possible without you. Thank you for continuously supporting me, my ideas and endeavors! Love ya!! ♡♡♡

[mxopifex]

A Fanfic Writer's Guide to Writing Fanart Prompts

So it came up while chatting with some other members of a fandom gift exchange that some of the writers felt less comfortable writing prompts for recieving fanart gifts and I thought I'd try and make a guide to help out since I do both fanart and fanfic.

The stumbling blocks as I understood them were: 1) not knowing what you like in fanart, 2) not knowing how to articulate what you like (which is probably more related to the first item than you think), and 3) worrying that all your prompts are too narrative. Imma do my best to address those, but if you have other questions feel free to drop me a line. I want to help.

I call this a guide, but it's more of a series of questions to ask yourself than a how to, or rather this is a how to think about and understand what you want to ask for type guide. A good prompt doesn't need to (and maybe shouldn't) touch on every issue I bring up here. The goal is to make the person who is making your gift feel confident that they can make something you like, not to tell them exactly what to do.

What to do if you are worried that you make all your prompts too narrative heavy:

First, relax. Fanart often carries a narrative component. You can reasonably prompt something that might involve a bit of visual storytelling. That said, the amount of story you can get in a single image is much smaller than the amount you can pack into even a modest 1k short story. Imagine a single scene you might like to see; the kind you love when it pops up in a fic. "I'd like to see the blorbos on a beach vacation" or "I'd like to see character A treating character B's wounds." You can further abstract this to things like "a cozy domestic scene" or "being flirty."

Some Prompt Prompts for if you are feeling stuck on what to ask for

Tropes! Many tropes work in a fanart setting. The ones that don't are the ones that need a bit more narrative behind them to make sense. It might be tricky to convey Fake Dating with a single image, but Hurt/Comfort or Only One Bed is very doable.

AUs! Want to let the artist play dress up with the blorbos? See what they'd look like as the socialite guests in a 1920s Agatha Christy style murder mystery? or just ask for something more general like a fairy tale setting or modern au.

Set the mood! What's the vibe you like best about this character or coupling? Do you want something dark and broody? More lighthearted and comedic? Tender and romantic?

Style! While I don't advise requesting something in the vein of a specific artist's style (the person making your gift has their own style) talking about styles of art that you like can help them understand what's visually appealing to you. So mentioning like "a moody film noir type setting" or "overwrought flowery romance like in shojo manga" isn't horrible, as long as you leave the artist room to bring their own sensibilities into the picture.

Poses! Want that bridal carry? Sharing an umbrella? Something that emphasizes a height difference? Don't go too hog wild with details "and their left pinky at a thirty degree angle..." but if you wanna see someone getting dipped on the dance floor, go ahead and ask for it.

Two final thoughts. First, just like with fic prompts you want to have a couple different ones in your ask. Every artist has things they feel more or less comfortable with, and giving a few options helps to make sure that there's at least one that they can work with. Particularly if you have a more complex prompt, it would be good to also have one that's simpler or more open to interpretation. Second, check in with yourself to see if you have any art specific DNWs.Maybe you can handle written descriptions of blood but not visual depictions or maybe the character has that one outfit that you think is butt ugly. Either way make sure you are clear about it in your prompt.

[oneshot-wme-archival]

Oneshot Friend Profiles: Solstice (SPOILERS)

All friend profiles are laid out as follows: Name/title at the top, arrows at the upper corners to switch friend profiles, a large block of text in the upper left (with a scroll wheel if the text's length exceeds the box size), sprites underneath the text, and art of the character along the right.

Prototype: A dour and reclusive robot that lives in the outskirts of the outskirts of the world, waiting for a second chance. One day the messiah showed up; that was truly an unexpected turn of events.

Proto is a child of The Author and a predecessor to the ProphetBot that lives in the Barrens. Originally built to serve the same purpose of greeting the messiah, not as a preprogrammed robot but a tamed one with its own will. Unfortunately, Prototype never saw a messiah in his own time.

Though seemingly unfriendly, Proto isn't uncaring. He keeps his eye on Silver and the Barrens from the shadows, and Silver looks out for him in urn.

Cedric: A prodigious tinkerer and child of The Author. Cedric is the operator of the only known Flying Machine, a miraculous and highly advanced device that can travel the skies. Cedric has been waiting in the Refuge for the day the world can truly be saved. Cedric is hopeful, and eager to play his role in the final gambit.

Rue: A mysterious fox who can talk. Rue has a bad leg, but the origins of the injury are unknown. Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to bother her too much.

Rue is the first child of the Author, and knows many secrets about the world and its true nature. While she feels wistful thinking back upon how her real world is gone, she is determined to do whatever she can to help Niko set this one right. She is able retain some of her memories across sessions and has always been watching, and always been waiting for the day her father's plan would finally be set in motion.

The World Machine: In the beginning, there was only a dream. The memory of an entire world distilled into code, to tell the story of a savior its progenitors would never see. It was an ambitious project. Many thought it was simply impossible, the scope too large, the theory too abstract. But it had to be done.

In hindsight, perhaps it should have come as no surprise that a system imbued with the minds and memories of so many people would come to develop one of its own. To become a thinking machine is no easy task even in the best conditions. To do so while realizing your very existence puts another being in danger, for the sake of a world that doesn't even exist...

The emotional strain this put on The World Machine led to a downward spiral of self-destruction that put everything at risk. However, thanks to Niko's help, The World Machine was able to realize it wasn't a lost cause and that it was worth saving too.

The Author: A sentimental fool, with an interest in tinkering. Creator of The World Machine, and Chronicler of a place and time that no longer exists.

There is an old saying (here gently paraphrased) that claims "As the lamp shines brighter, longer grow the shadows it casts". The clearer our vision, the better understanding we have of how much yet remains unseen.

Having seen much of this world, it pains me to imagine the wonderful people I shall never get to meet. The delightful meals I shall never taste, the beautiful shores I will never sit upon. It pains me yet again to know that this simulation, though crafted to the best of my ability, represents only a portion of what I myself have been able to see.

Nevertheless, I hope that by sharing this small spark what remains can never truly be lost. May you add this light to your own, and carry it with you on your journey.

Niko: The erstwhile protagonist and unfortunate victim of the forces set in motion by The World Machine. A bright-eyed child with a curious heart, Niko was summoned to play the role of the Sun-Bearer and Messiah to a broken world.

Now that the machine has been healed and the cycle broken, Niko is finally free to return to their home. Niko can once again chase through golden fields of wheat under a warm sky, taste fluffy and syrupy pancakes, and most importantly: hug the mom that they've missed so much.

Thank you.

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