#because it’s always fun to draw in the Pokémon art style

[spittyfishy]

Tokomaru Pokémon au! Komaru has an affinity for ghost Pokémon lol hence her Shuppet, and giving her a Pawmi was mostly just based on vibes. Similarly giving Toko a Mimikyu just seemed right, and then her Nincada is because of her pet stink bug in canon. Toko can’t actually use the mega stone that’s on her tie, it’s only Syo’s (I’m thinking mega mawile 👀) and then I gave Komaru a Dynamax band bc I think she should get to use giant kaiju Pokémon, as a treat. I haven’t given too much thought to how the udg plot would fit in the Pokémon universe, but I do think the Warriors of Hope would each have one of the Unova genies instead of their giant robots (Monaca gets something bigger)

[grismavessel]

Headcanon: Instead of white stress hairs, Elesa get’s blonde little lightning bolts just to add to her electric type theme and also to make up for the fact she has two canon designs

Also when she gets older and starts to grey her hair can look like a little lightning storm!

Biggest downside of this headcanon Elesa has to have experienced a lot of stress for her hair to turn yellow but maybe that’s just from her career and obligations of being a gym leader.

[yamujiburo]

The art style for the pokemon anime and manga has shifted and changed quite a lot over the years. Is there a specific series or era style that you particularly prefer or that you think your art style is inspired/affected by when drawing the characters?

Ugh amazing question I have 3 answers (for the anime since im an anipoke girlie)

I'm a big fan of the OS anime style. The colors, the sharper style and the grainy look. I also really love the proportions from that era. Everything just felt so solid and blocky in a nice way. I also really love the expressions. There was a lot more subtlety at that time and it was really effective.

Next one and maybe the bigger influence on my own style is the SM anime. I LOVED the design change. Incredibly simple, bouncy, round fun to draw, less tied down, etc. It's just so fun! I feel like my default style has always been a bit of a mix of anime and modern western cartoons and this is the pokemon series is the closest to that vibe. Also those EXPRESSIONS. I have so many random screenshots saved from this series just because of how bonkers the expressions would get.

My #1 influence without doubt is not a specific series style or era but rather a specific artist! His name is Akihiro Tamagawa and he was one of the animation directors on pokemon from OS to I beliiiiive XY? He also did a lot of the movies! Everything about his style is just so appealing to me. The proportions, the posing, the composition, the expressions, EVERYTHING. I've definitely taken inspiration from how he draws eyes and mouths. I draw a lot of low mouths and big smiles because of this guy. I feel like once you see it you won't be able to unsee it in my work hahaha. I made a post about it before!

And here's a guide of all the episodes he directed on!

[choochooboss]

Submas sketchdump! Vol. 1

April-June 2022

Literally dumping all the presentable works as promised, whether I'm proud of them or not! This is where I started, even before the first thing I posted online (That subway station one). Many of these are not on Twitter yet so there's lots to see!

The top piece above the header is my very first digital Submas artwork!! I never finished it bc I didn't know how to pull my vision of as I wanted & started modeling the train and didn't finish that either, whoops! I really want to remake this later and make it super cool!

^^^ My reaction to breaking 500 likes & 100 followers in a single day with my first tweet (the battle subway one) all the way back in May!! I was completely floored by all the attention, oh how it skyrocketed my excitement and anxiety! Crazy times, I was so super nervous to be there with so many amazing artists and doubted if I could ever survive there ahahah!! Many had joined the community much much earlier than me, so I had arrived with a late train to PLA/neo Submas hype!

Next up is a bunch of stuff I haven't posted before:

One of my fav sketches! Been saving this for so long bc I really really want to finish this one day!

One of the first submas sketches with an actual story behind it! The subway bosses are running late for their flight because they didn't pass the safety check! The irony!! This would never happen as bosses are always on schedule. But Emmet hadn't noticed a wild Joltik hiding under his coat, so he set up the alarm and they got examined and interrogated of smuggling! How embarrassing for them! The bosses resolved the situation by catching the Joltik, but will they be able to catch their flight anymore?? Maybe if Elesa can distract the stuerts performing the safety protocol for a minute!

More sketchbook stuff...

In case you can't make any sense of it, Emmet's dreaming of different combinations of pokémon. Meanwhile Ingo snores louder than the train! HONK SHOO!

Top 7 every submas fan draws at some point!

Submas trademark posing

submas sleeping in a train

sad Emmet

Emmet with Joltik

Ingo with a cool solo pose

Emmet being chaotic & Ingo reacting to it

a bunch of mirrored submas poses

I sure have a full bingo card lmao, most of them you can see here XD

Next up is a sad man...

Stay strong our friends!

My typical sketchbook pages, crammed and messy as usual. x)

Post-PLA exploration:

A few examples of how my pencil sketches evolve.

I've done so much art experimenting with submas. I really like this black & white painting but I don't think I'll finish it anytime soon.

Where did you go?

The way I draw the twins' faces has changed a lot. They started with softer features and somewhat neutral emotions, because I wasn't as familiar with them or comfortable drawing them yet. Now there's hundreds of submas sketches, and they still keep evolving! My style is also kinda hard to pull off well, so their features differ from picture to picture.

This one was inspired by some submas music videos, can't recall their names anymore. The glowing eerie eyes and yellow&orange + black&white color schemes were neat!

I keep telling myself I need to draw more butlers, these twinks look so lean and neat and have more color and are posh with their monocles and have fun tailcoats!

(...why eyeglasses are not called binocles??)

I was there for the vinegar chaos. Good times!

That's all for now, I hope you got something fun out of this! Still got loads more art to share but I'll save them for another time. Next round I'll bring in my first submas comic!

[insecateur]

do you have any tips on where and/or how to make blinkies? i want to learn how to make them but don't know how. have a good day btw :3

hiiii i will do my best to give tips!! o7

first of all if you want to get a feel for blinkie making without diving in directly i recommend using a site like blinkies.cafe which lets you just add text to premade blinkie templates! i think it's a good way to get an eye for the blinkies "aesthetic" especially regarding the actual blinking part, the borders, all of that. and ofc the size (which for the record is traditionally 150x20px!)

if you want to actually get into Real Custom-Made Blinkies, studying ones you like up close is a great idea because it'll help you see what works and what doesn't. obviously everyone will have different design sensibilities, but that's why it's always good to take inspiration from things that you personally like!

here are things that i like, as an example:

dotted/dashed borders that blink between two colors

shadows

outlines

pixel art

keep in mind that blinking can be upsetting to the eyes for some people! i always try to not overdo it, but at the same time, they are blinkies, so it seems kind of like a waste when they don't blink at all...

traditionally, blinkies include two things: a picture, and text. they don't always! sometimes there's only a picture, and sometimes there's only text. for example, this blinkie i made of lysandre only has his card art and little hearts. this is once again going to depend on your preferences. but for the sake of explaining, let's say you want one or two simple pictures, and some text.

i find pokémon to be a pretty easy thing to make blinkies for, because you have a large panel of pixel art to choose from! for example, i made this blinkie for my blog using one of the mini scyther sprites. a lot of them are animated, too, which is fun. i can't really advise you on what program to use for animated stuff because i use really old ones LMAO but i've always had a good time using ezgif! you can just feed it your frames and use the website to put them together into an animation.

the text imo is the trickiest part. the blinkies you find on blinkies.cafe use pixelated fonts, but i've had a really hard time using them outside of that context. it's hard to get them to look good imo, especially at the small scale that blinkies end up at... so what i've been doing is making my own little pixel art alphabet. it's very fun for me and i don't think it's as difficult as it sounds, so i definitely recommend it because it gives you a lot more flexibility imo. i handdrew the text for all of my PSS blinkies, as well as the aforementioned scyther one, and this trans rights one. i actually have the trans rights and PSS alphabets completed and saved in a file for later use in case i need them, lmao:

you can see what the process is like: i make a rectangle, draw one letter, and then copy the rectangle to draw the other ones at the same size and in the same style. it's very, um, vibe-based, i guess? you just have to figure out what looks good for your Vision. but i find it super fun... so it's easy for me to do, i guess...

if you want to see the scyther blinkies text closer up, here it is at 500% size:

uncapitalized letters are more difficult than capitalized letters imo, but i think i did an ok job! maybe i'll make a full alphabet for that one too at some point, lmao. for the "tumblr" text i just copied the style of the logo (hopefully that comes through...)

i'm not sure what else to say, so feel free to ask more specific questions if you'd like! i think a lot of the other stuff is more general art/graphics advice, like color theory and the likes, which i'm not sure is worth going over LOL. but as a parting note, i'd definitely suggest not going overboard on the color palette. blinkies are pretty small at their default size, and too many colors will make them really hard to look at, let alone understand. in general, keep in mind the final size when working on something like blinkies, and make sure to zoom out periodically to double check you've got something readable!

and don't forget to have fun 👍👍👍

[phoenixisobsessed]

💕Positivity prime time! Share five things you love about yourself, four things you're excited for, OR three people you care deeply about and why. Pass this along to someone else who makes you smile💕

I’m gonna do them all because I love yapping HEUEHU. I think I already did something similar to the first one but oh well.

1. I loove my art style. It’s fun silly and whimsical.

2. I love my fashion sense. Not as fun silly and whimsical but it’s mine. Idk if I can put myself into a specific category so I just live as a silly guy.

3. I love my eeeyes I think they’re nice. Green blue grey ish lil shits with long lushes lashes you know it.

4. I love my little silly brain that gives me little silly ideas and the capacity to yap forEVER.

5. I love how much I have developed as a person over the past few years. I personally think I have evolved a bit. Like a pokémon. In many ways.

NEEXT

1. I’m excited for TRANSFORMERS: ONE of course. I’m not American so I haven’t had the privilege of watching it yet.

2. Super excited to go to LEGO-LAND with my parents soon (we’re going there as a nostalgia trip since we used to go there all the time when I was a kid…hehe.)

3. I’m excited for the weekend to start so I can draw a bunch oml.

4. I am very excited to graduate here in June. FINALLY!!

Now to people I care about:

1. My best friend of almost 10 years by now. He has stuck with me through my cringe phase and we can literally talk about anything. That’s crazy. He was also my only irl friend in majority of the years.

2. My dad, he always makes sure that I am alright, and understand how proud he and my mom are of me. He a lil’ autistic but I love him anyway.

3. My home-class teacher in the 6th grade because holy fuck I would have actually genuinely not been here today if it was not for her. She was like my personal therapist and got me through so much shit. Praise her.

Now I shall pass it along to @screamce if he wishes to do this as well…xoxo shoutout to my first mutual on this app love this guy. Y’all should check him out btw its blog is SUPER AWSOM!! And so are his ocs…GRRR (Btw I will respond to your ask soon I just want to make something for it ;3 You’ll see. EHEUEHU)

[shroomyart404]

Answering these bc no one looks at my blog so might as well

1. Procreate. That bitch fucked up my pen pressure and so I refuse to use it out of spite. Also flippaclip.

2. Facing right and I’d put money on the idea it bc I draw with my right hand

3. My current OCs for the lighthouse guidebook (and in general the want to create my own fantasy story.) I was very much into mythos and fairytales when I was little, along with being read diskworld stuff before bed.

4. Arthur bloody Kirkland, can’t draw him consistently. As for subject generally, landscapes and housing, like I love them but fuck I can’t draw them

5. I post most my art, but it’s scattered across the abyss. Some bits are on tumblr, some bits are on Instagram, some bits are on twitter. What isn’t posted is things I planned to finish then never did… my sketchbook won’t be posted bc all that’s shite

6. I can never escape BNHA, in the eyes and hair I draw ot always remind me of it. That and Pokémon.

7. 3D and animation. Like that shit takes sooo much patience, y’all have my utmost respect

8. Less loss interest and more realised what I was attempting required a lot more research and plotting than I had patience for. My little polyamorous vampire comic idea.

9. Brief description of the piece, let me grab an example for you. Sometimes it’s silly shit like ‘cringe bastard’ tho

10. I think pilot jackets, they’re fun to draw. But also corsets and silly shirts. Hijabs are also fun to draw but I need to try gather better references

11. Depends. Sometimes it’s a playlist, most times tho it’s a show or a gaming stream

12. NONE OF IT ITS ALL TRICKY (noses)

13. Uhhh a lot of artwork in museums, especially a lot of pop art. I feel bad for saying it because it has shaped a lot of modern art but sometimes I’m like ‘…huh.’

15. On the bus, currently. Or at college. Just spots where I can have a little bit of peace

16. Detailings. This could be jewellery or patterns or such. Like the end products pretty when I can be arsed, but fuuuuck I always forget and stuff.

17. Usually if I am, I’m snacking, I can’t draw and eat a proper meal. So usually it’s chocolate and lucazade.

18. Not a lot actually! Which is shocking. Uhh a couple of my oil pastels are snapped and I severely fucked up my secondary schools watercolours rip

19. None of them fuck inanimate objects (maybe weapons? I’m not good but they’re fun)

20. Probably armour. I’m shit at shading metal but I’m decent at drawing it in my personal opinion

21. You know those surrealist pieces where the faces stretch? Specifically those. Also a lot of library/lineweight heavy styles

22. None because uhhh I’m stupid

23. Yes. I would be nowhere without multiple and linear burn.

24. Stock images are more for moodboards. Every so often there’ll be one that works for poses but…not usually

28. A couple dtiys things but that’s it, I wish I was apart of a zine but I’m not so lucky yet.

30. A couple pieces I wish got more love. Personal favs of mine

Weirdly Specific Artist Ask Game

Didn't see a lot of artist ask games, wanted to make a silly one.

(I wrote this while sick out of my mind last year and it's been collecting dust in my drafts, I might as well let it run free) 1. Art programs you have but don't use

2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)

3. What ideas come from when you were little

4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw

5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself

6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)

7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate

8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in

9. What are your file name conventions

10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw

11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what

12. Easiest part of body to draw

13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing

14. Any favorite motifs

15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)

16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing

17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what

18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken

19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)

20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy

21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways

22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any

23. Do you use different layer modes

24. Do your references include stock images

25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by

26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended

27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with

28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)

29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically

30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated

[enby-trainer]

orchid ⇢ what’s a song you consider to be perfect?

This changes frequently, but right now, it's "It Tore Your Heart Out" by Dirt Poor Robins.

cactus ⇢ something you’re currently learning (about)?

I'm trying to learn more about status affecting pokémon moves in battles. My two 'mon have hard-hitting physical attacks only at the moment.

bamboo ⇢ do you change into a different outfit when you get home?

Only if I'm absolutely grungy and ew.

abelia ⇢ do you have a particular piece of jewelry you always wear or can’t part with?

I rarely wear jewelry, to be honest. The sensory issues of my autism make them feel very annoying to me...but I want to get my earlobes re-pierced sometime soon; I think I can deal with earrings.

daffodil ⇢ do you have siblings? if yes, in what ways do you think you’re similar to or different from them?

I have a half-brother who was already grown up when I was born. My mom had him when she was 19 or 20, and I was born when she was 39. We have different fathers. I am vastly different than him. I love him, and he loves me, but he's kind of an asshole about certain things.

mahonia ⇢ what place, thing, or activity inspires you most, and how do you express yourself when it does?

Listening to music, devouring new fiction media, writing, drawing, getting art commissions from artists I really like when I can afford it, and spending time with my gals. I feel really cloud nine-y when I'm in my creative groove.

chia ⇢ what’s an inside joke you have with someone else?

I kind of...don't have anything like that with anyone, really? Jeesh. I'm so boring.

sage ⇢ what ‘medium’ of art (poetry, music, fiction, paintings, statues etc.) is the most touching to you? why do you think that is?

It's a tie between the written word and art pieces. I think it's because I wish I could be that awesome with my own stuff.

edelweiss ⇢ how’d you think of your url/username? what’s it associated with to you?

Well, it's fairly straightforward. I'm enby and I have 2 'mon. Doesn't get much simpler than that.

camellia ⇢ what were you like when you were younger? do you think you’ve changed a lot?

I have changed incredibly since I was younger. I was impulsive, didn't pay attention much to the world around me (always stuck inside my head, maladaptive daydreaming and disassociating), and had at least mild PTSD from certain things -- mainly my dad.

jasmine ⇢ do you have a movie or book you loved but will never watch/read again?

Nope? I can just find all the things I've loved on the Internet again? Sorry. Nothing too dramatic here...wait! There was that one children's book I adored as a kid where a Galarian ponyta who was abnormally pink couldn't grow a horn or something, and I was so taken by the book's art style...I've never been able to find it again.

ivy ⇢ what are your ‘tells’ for your emotions and moods? how can someone tell you’re happy, annoyed, upset, or tired?

It usually shows on my face. It's hard for me to fake expressions; thus, my face is an open book when I'm really feeling something forreal.

chamomile ⇢ what kind of things do you like receiving as gifts?

Stuff that I've mentioned wanting, I suppose. I try not to ask too much of people anymore, so I just kinda keep these wants to myself nowadays. I used to be called selfish and greedy as a kid all the time and I just, don't wanna be that way again. But if someone asks I'll gladly tell 'em that I would like some more nice things for Nox and Delphine. My persian are my life.

aloe vera ⇢ what’s something (mundane) you really want to experience in life?

I'm pretty sure going up against gym leaders and then possibly the Elite Four of Unova is mundane enough since so many people try it. I don't know about the actual champion, but I would like to attempt to be a real trainer one day. My gals and I have been in a few battles for fun against others, and I'm pretty sure that's why they've evolved when my childhood meowth companions didn't; they quite simply have received more diverse life experiences than those ones ever did.

palm tree ⇢ do you have a fictional villain you shouldn’t like but love regardless?

I really like learning about this ancient guy named Volo from back when the Sinnoh region was still referred to as Hisui. He's long dead by now but he seems like the kinda lunatic Rotomblr would go nuts over if he was fictional or something.

nutmeg ⇢ how’s your room/home decorated? do you have a specific theme or style going on?

Everything in my studio apartment is pretty bare-bones. A bed, a couch, a coffee table, and a desktop computer on a desk. Everything else is for my gals' comfort -- scratching posts, toys, water dispensers, food bowls, et cetera. It's not a fancy home, but it gets the job done for a decent amount of rent.

papyrus ⇢ if you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with?

I have a bunch of playlists but none of them are for that purpose. I do have a personal playlist though that has many songs that I associate with my real life. The first song on it is "It's Alright" by Mother Mother.

taro ⇢ if someone called you right now to catch up, what’re the things you’d tell them about?

I'd tell them about the two purrloin kittens (one girl, one boy) I found a few weeks ago, which I gave to a local no-kill shelter last Saturday after about a week of keeping them in my apartment with the gals. They had no microchips, so there wasn't really any hope of finding their previous owners -- they were so clean and well-fed, they must've had an owner. Oh well, they're gonna be adopted now, I'm sure.

[thatsthat24]

Sanderstober 2022

Upon request (and because you're all amazing at them), I have a NEW Sanderstober art prompt list for you this year! Feel free to do one, some, or all of these prompts for October! Take em in any order you feel & use the hashtag #Sanderstober2022 if you’d like me to see your creations! Hope you all have fun with these if you take em on!! 🎨 

Day 1: Starting out with a traditional classic, take a character from media or OC and draw how they look on September 30th vs. how they look on October 1st. 

Day 2: Time to shine the light on the articles of clothing we all love to bust out in the fall, by CHOOSING one of those items and making a monster based on it!

Day 3: It is announced, beyond all reason, that they’re going to add a NEW suit to the deck of cards, in addition to hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades. Disregarding how much this would destroy the structure of most card games, what is this new suit called and what does it look like??

Day 4: Centaurs are half-man, half-horse. Draw another kind of fantastical creature, that’s half-man, half ANOTHER kind of animal! - Idea from Dominic!

Day 5: Take a typical children’s nursery rhyme… and create a thriller poster based off of it…

Day 6: Design Challenge - create a stylish look (clothes, makeup, whatever you like) based off a candy of your choice!

Day 7: There’s a Pokemon based off almost everything. But not everything. Take a random object, animal, etc. that a Pokemon hasn’t been based off yet… and create one, complete with a corresponding name!

Day 8: Take any piece of Western animation and re-imagine it in anime form. - Inspired by an idea from Dominic!

Day 9: Take any traditional Halloween monster and think about what TikTok challenge they probably would take on. Doesn’t even have to be a real one! 

Day 10: A dabbling in minimalism. Take one or several characters from one of your favorite pieces of media, and try to depict them using only simplistic shapes. See if you can get people to guess the characters or show/movie/video game from the shapes and color schemes. 

Day 11: Always a fave prompt of mine - depict a pleasant fall-related memory of yours using solely fall-related colors (red, orange, yellow, brown, etc.)

Day 12: What if Halloween took place at another time of the year than Fall?? How might the holiday look different? Are there any traditions that might change? Any imagery? Any houses decorated differently??? Depict any aspect of the holiday that may look different!

Day 13: Another fave of mine - Take ANY Disney character and depict what they might look like as a superpowered individual in the Marvel universe.

Day 14: It happened again. This time, they announced a NEW chess piece that would be added to the game of chess. Why are they doing this?? Once again, disregarding how much of a wrench this throws into the gameplay of chess, WHAT does this new piece look like? What is it called? And how does it move on the board? 

Day 15: Re-imagine any Halloween monster or thriller movie baddie… as a character in a fantasy world…

Day 16: Using just inspiration from items found in your kitchen, use them to create a flag for a new country - Idea from Tammy!

Day 17: Draw a dynamic duo in a dynamic couples costume (Jessie & James from Pokémon as the front and back half of a horse, etc) - Idea from Cambria!

Day 18: My first prompt where I can take Inspo from Our Flag Means Death! Take any character from pop culture who isn’t a pirate… and design what they might look like in a pirate universe. Basically… pirate-ify them.

Day 19: Taking inspiration from the Haunted Mansion paintings, where the top of the painting looks pleasant only to then pan down to show the situation is much more grim (give it a Google if you need a reference!), create your own version of one of those paintings! - Another idea from Cambria

Day 20: The return of a classic… take any character(s) from a piece of media and depict them in the style of a Tim Burton character. (Sorry, I just love what you all create with this prompt!)

Day 21: Take any social media app… and turn it into a person.

Day 22: Take any Halloween-esque or Fall-based item/imagery and depict it in the iconic style of a famous painter!

Day 23: Oh my god, they’re doing it again!! Out of the blue, Hasbro announces that Clue will now be adding a NEW guest to the game of Clue who will be joining all the other color-based guests. Why does this keep happening?? Please create this guest and what their colorful name shall be!

Day 24: Take a loved pet from any point in your life, and turn them into a MONSTER.

Day 25: Take one of the characters from our videos (or a character from another piece of your fave media if you prefer!) and draw them with an animal that you think matches them perfectly! - Idea from Cambria!

Day 26: I’m such a sucker for this prompt: Depict characters from one of your fave animated shows in the STYLE of another animated series

Day 27: Since this would probably make Remus happy… if it makes you comfortable, draw a nightmare you remember having in your life, and instead of it happening to you, depict it happening to Remus

Day 28: Since we did the opposite prompt earlier… take a superhero and depict who they’d be in any fairytale you think suits them…

Day 29: Take any Halloween/ Scary movie monster and draw a suit/dress/suitdress inspired by their style and color palette!

Day 30: At long last, it’s revealed, the reason behind ALL THESE ADDITIONS to traditional games (the fifth card suit, the new chess piece, the additional Clue guest) was ONE NEW EVIL MASTERMIND! Based on your past creations for Day 3, Day 14, and Day 23, draw what this mastermind looks like and give them a name!!!

Day 31: In typical end-of-the-month fashion, today’s prompt is all about celebrating the reason for the season, Halloween! This year, Halloween’s PR team wants you to come up with a new catchphrase/slogan for Halloween! Please create a Halloween sign/poster with the new phrase featured!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

[mieau]

Doing a round of asks answering

Ooh... oops. Thank you for telling me, I didn’t notice! It should work now.

Thanks!! Yes, using my art as an icon is perfectly okay! If you can credit somewhere, it’s appreciated but not obligatory. The only thing I’m asking is that no one try to make it seems like it’s their art but that’s kinda a different problem on its own.

Uhmmmm... I love looking at art that has a cute and soft style, use of colors is my fav thing to be inspired from! I also love cute stationary : stickers, washi tape, postcards, pencils... And collecting pokémon merch.  I think the part I enjoy the most in art is not only imagining a drawing as a flat 2D art but also to conceptualise it as a real life item from the start. How should I draw it if I want it to look the best as a pin or as a keychain, etc? Which material should I choose to suit it the best? It’s fun.

AAAaa... (First, thanks!) Yeah sorry, I’ve been away for some months, about half a year, but that wasn’t only on tumblr, I wasn’t really active on any of my social media accounts. It’s mostly because I wasn’t happy with my life at the moment and took the time to change a lot of things. I had to let go of long-term efforts in trying to build something for myself (both about my couple and my living place) but also started a lot of new things in 2021 and 2022 (got into a new relationship and moved in with them).  Truth is I still find Tumblr to be the most... clean and gallery-like social website around? I mostly use it for that. It’s a lot easier to just scroll on my page and see a lot of my art at once than anywhere else. I like Twitter though, it’s very active and bubbly and I see a lot of art I love there, but it’s hardly practical.  Even though it can be considered as a “clean gallery” too, I’ve never really liked Instagram because I’ve lived though Facebook pages and it’s basically this damn experience again. The ever-changing algo and the “pay if you want people to see this post” is tiring and the push on video content is... well... not my thing.  I’m surprised that there’s still some activity and interactions on Tumblr though, it’s nowhere near as active as it was but the culture of writing comments in the tags when reblogging was always something I liked. It feels a lot less intimidating than a direct interaction with a post author so I feel people are just more casually commenting this way? It’s always nice to read through them.

[honey-bee-imagines]

Oops More Pokémon Characters Playing The Pokémon Card Game

A couple more! I have less confidence about these though. Once again this is just some fun headcanons for if the characters got isakai'd into our world. (Part 1 here)

Professor Sycamore

Surprisingly, he shows an interest in it before you even bring it up. Maybe he saw some cards around your house or when he went shopping. Or maybe when he was online learning more about our world he stumbled across an ad for it. Either way, he wants to learn!

He finds the changes to the type classifications annoying but also isn't upset. It's possible he might even go off on a tangent about how in his universe the video games, he knows different scientists and professors would argue about that sort of thing.

In terms of strategy, I think he likes using stadiums! For those that don't know, stadium cards have different effects that apply to both players. Like certain types of pokemon take damage each turn or maybe it lets players draw an extra card. I think Sycamore would enjoy the extra challenge if the stadium benefits his opponent!

For building decks, he likes getting the ones already built and studying them before rebuilding it with stronger cards. Pre-built decks are balanced but usually weak competitively so he likes using them as a jumping off point.

Enjoys teaching kids to play once he gets the hang of it and it's very wholesome. The people at the hobby shop are always happy to see him cause he is good with kids and is accidentally a really good salesman? He believes that the game can be a great teaching tool and is happy to talk to parents who might be hesitant about it for a variety of (mostly valid) reasons.

"Its not that different from signing them up for a team sport. They make friends and learn to show good sportsmanship. Plus the cards encourage reading comprehension and reading out loud, since both players need to be aware of the card's abilities. It can be a great bonding opportunity-"

He doesn't keep a lot of extra cards tbh. He would like to build decks with his extras and then sell them online. But he also has a binder for a collection of shiny/holographic cards and "full art" cards.

Professor Laventon

This man has been homesick a lot since he ended up here. Sure learning about this new place keeps his mind busy, but his life's work was studying pokemon and those don't exist here. So even though he isn't sure he'll be good at it, he's interested in learning to play.

He is confused about the type changes but ultimately doesn't really care. Sometimes he will see a card and start info dumping about his research or asking hundreds of questions if it's a pokemon he doesn't recognize.

Laventon isn't great at playing the game. He isn't bad at it, he just doesn't pick up the strategies easily. Because of this, he doesn't have a preferred play style. He's happy to use whatever deck you give him as long as it's a fair match. Once he has some more confidence in playing he would ask for help making his own deck.

He gets to the point where he likes building decks more than playing! Surprisingly he doesn't hoard the extra cards though, he just gives them to you for safekeeping. He does start keeping a collection of cards, but he puts one of each card in even if it's not special. Sometimes he likes just sitting down and looking at them, appreciating the art, and reading what each card does. It's hard to tell if it helps with his homesickness or makes it worse. Either way, feel free to ask him about one of the cards so he can talk about his passions.

"You know, with how many cards you have in the binder, it's sort of like having a pokedex."

"I guess it is, isn't it? Will you help me complete it?"

[maudfs]

Journal for August 2022

From now on, I’ll be posting my DeviantArt journals here as well. I only write these like once or twice a year, lately...I’ll also write on the Summary of Art at the end of each year, of course. Let’s see if Tumblr’s formatting is better for it! (probably!) It’s long so here’s a readmore. By the way...

The last time I was on my computer, a tree fell on our house! :O  Well, that's what it sounded like anyway! I was on my computer watching videos when I heard a crack, a rustling, and then a very loud crash. Me and my mom looked outside to find a pine tree in the corner of the yard had snapped in half and and fallen in between our house and the next house. There was also a large branch sticking in between the fence and our house! It appears the tree had fallen more or less parallel to the fence in our yard, except for that one branch which I think hit the roof above my room and broke on impact.  Surprisingly, no one was hurt and there doesn't appear to be any damage to the house, although the fence was knocked open. We're very lucky considering all the ways the tree could have fallen, including onto an AC unit (expensive, important!), into my window (where I was sitting!) or into the neighbors window (where they were probably sleeping!). But it fell almost perfectly next to the fence instead... Gosh!  We're very lucky it didn't hit that AC unit, because it was just replaced last month, as it had stopped working! At that point the heat was already in the 80's and 90's and somewhat humid...but now? Wouldn't THAT have been terrible... but, yes, we are okay.  In other news... I have ideas to work on my website, but doing HTML is sometimes very complicated so I don't have much to show for it yet. For example, my old Windows XP acted like it didn't want to start up, so I finally copied all the files off of it, and looking through them made me nostalgic for those old fan sites on the late 90's and 2000's (example, example)... so my site might get yet another style change to show. I'm at the very same time thinking about making/adding a Pokémon section with my Fakedex... but should I really be trying to do all that at the same time? Sigh. Oh well, we'll see if I update my website anytime soon. XD  My mom has had several procedures regarding her back, so I don't do a lot of drawing or other things around these times because I am helping her with a lot. Of course, I still haven't made a Commission sheet and it sure won't get done during any of these times, lol...   If you are really interested getting a commission from me, I WILL consider, just send me a message and I'll take a look... one day I might remember to make a sheet, It just makes me nervous for some reason? It's difficult to get started... hmm.   Oh right, I meant to do Smaugust and forgot about it. Whoops! I'll probably still draw some dragons but they will be late. Is it still considered part of the challenge if I don't do it in order or all of the days? Well, I'm always glad to draw Dragons, so I suppose it doesn't matter as long as I have fun.   Hmm... what else is there to say? I'm still wearing a mask. I'm still forgetting to socialize. Oh yeah, the branch that fell in our yard? It was very big, but I moved it myself. I'm very strong >:3... I just had to clip some of the branches off first... at least we will have firewood this winter? ...It must be the end of the journal, because I've run of out things to say.

  Thank you for reading! I hope you have a wonderful day.

[ps-i-dont-even-know]

Devil may cry headcanons

You know I wasn't expecting you put a lot of Kyrie stuff in this one but I couldn't help it. Also there's dadgil in here because I really love it, sorry for no young Dante and Vergil I'm running out of ideas since I can't remember most of my childhood. Also for those who are interested, I’m thinking of starting taking request/ask for headcanons and writing, possibly drawing but their not the best, but I need to work stuff out at the moment.

Sometimes when Vergil has a mission near Nero and Kyrie, he stops by their house

The first time he did this was shocking to Nero, not only was Vergil there, but V and Urizen was there too, and it was going to be extremely ridiculous to explain this to Kyrie

And he knew how this was go and how she is protective over Nero since losing her brother and nearly losing Nero.

"Nero, who's at the... door", " Oh, um Kyrie I would like to introduce you to my dad, er … Dads?", "Your, Dads?", "Look its complicated and a long story, anyway this is my main Dad, Vergil, he's kind of nice but doesn't really talk that much. This is my dad's human half, V, he's nice, likes poems and has animals, strange one that is. And lastly is my dads demon half, um I'm not sure if he's nice or not since he raised the demon tree", "Oh that's nice, by the way which one was the one that hurt you", "Wait, Kyrie, No!"

Nero has to hold Kyrie back from trying to attack Vergil, mostly for her safety. Of course she doesn't forgive Vergil at first, because of what he has done and while she gives off a nice demeanor, her glares and scowls are anything buy warm and welcoming. Which Vergil approves of Kyrie dating Nero, having someone who will fight for you instead of turning tail when something bad happens

After a while Kyrie finally forgives Vergil, because she shouldn't hold grudges that are already in the past, and to move on. But she does tell him that if he were to do something like this again she would not hesitate to hurt him, and Vergil knowing that it would be impossible for her to hurt him agrees. And the tension is finally gone and she is more welcoming to him. Which is great for Nero's case since he felt like he was being smothered in between all their glaring and the tension.

Kyrie also makes apple pie when Vergil visits, since apples are one of his favorite fruits and because the one time he visit she made some for the orphans and she asked if he would like a slice and at first he said no, but soon gave in and had a slice, well maybe two or three but he wont admit to it.

He will also go grocery shopping with her when he has free time and Nero is busy, only to help find ingredients for new food Kyrie wants to try, and to get to know each other better.

On holidays when Vergil and Nero will help Kyrie cook some of the food. Sometimes Dante will try to sneak some sweets only for his hand to be hit by a spatula as Kyrie tells him, he needs to wait or he'll spoil his dinner. In which Dante's pouting, Nero and Nico are giggling, and Vergil is smirking.

Nero has Kyrie fix his jackets when he comes back from missions sometimes, normally he will tell her he doesn't want to put work on her, but she wants to do something nice for him. She also teachers Nero how to sew and stitch so when there are days she can't fix he can do it himself, which took a while but he got it down and not only does he fox his jacket but also helps make clothing for some of the kids, sure his stitching or sewing not the best but they love it nonetheless. Kyrie has also has sewn cat like ears on one of Nero jackets without him knowing until Dante was laughing at him, he chewed him out but still kept the ears on his hoodie because he likes it.

Kyrie got Nero into cooking and remodeling house shows, sometimes he’ll turn it on just to see how the house changed and kind of debated on doing it with their house. What surprised him was the time he came into the living room where the tv was and saw Kyrie watching crime investigator shows, saying she finds its interesting about how they solve the problems, which Nero also got into, along with most of the kids.

The kids will dog pile both Dante and Vergil, Dante loves it, play fighting with the kids and stuff. Vergil on the other hand he doesn’t expect it and isn’t used to the contact, so he gets stiff and weirded out.

Dadgil

He got a school suspension, because well doing his first judgement cut on an apple sitting on a desk while cutting the apple but also the desk was something he wasn't supposed to do, and also because there not supposed to bring weapons to school

Nero had brought the Yamato, Cerberus, Nevan, and Agni & Rudra to his school show and tell, because he want to knock the socks off the kids who brought in pets, toys, or food from a different country

Vergil was frustrated that he had gotten a call from the school that his son brought weapons to school and was being suspended because of it and was mad that Dante let the Nero bring the weapons to school in the first place because it was Dante’s day to take the kid to school and he was busy

He was proud that Nero had done a judgment cut for the first time even if it was tiny and told him not to do this again.

Nero technically has two dads. Vergil and V, he loves when V visits him because of his strange pets, and the way he acts, he's mysterious but kind and loves his poems

Nero will not sleep unless V or Vergil reads him something be it a poem or story, and will try to stay up when Vergil is out on a mission. Being read to helps Nero sleep

On that subject of sleeping, Nero has frequent nightmares. It might be something he has gotten from Vergil, but there will be times where Nero leaves his bed and walks to his dad's room asking if he can sleep in bed with him, and half awake Vergil will agree. Sometimes Vergil will softly sing to Nero because after his nightmares it takes him a while to get back to sleep, and god forbid if Dante heard him singing he knows that he will not let him live this down.

Nero wanted to learn an instrument because his dad knows how to play a violin, and his uncle knows how to play both the drums and guitar. Though the problem was he didn't know which one to go with, there was many to choose from, he kind of stuck with a trombone since it slides a lot and the style is kind of it is great, also he can get away with spitting on Dante.

Nero has only two fears, spirits/ghost and frogs. Its mostly Dante's fault for letting Nero watch paranormal horror movies at night. And Nero doesn't know why he is afraid of frogs, maybe its the way they look or something he doesn't know nor care.

When he was at the park with Nico and Kyrie, did his fear of frogs really show. They were over by the pond and Nico comes over to Nero with the frog in her hand, only for him to scream and start running, while Nico chase after him giggling. Kyrie was also giggling watching Nero run from Nico was too funny.

Nero also begged his dad and uncle for a pet, he didn't care what it was as long as its not a frog. Dante was close to getting Nero a hellhound or Cerberus, but Vergil literally had to stab smack some sense in his brother. They decided on ferret, they didn't want a cat or bird because V has one and they weren't sure if its territorial or not. Hamster and Guinea pigs are tiny and live I cates not much fun there same with Lizards. Dogs are a hassle and no one wants to clean up after it, so a Ferret is what they decided on.

Nero absolutely loves it and its a noddle he can wrap it around his neck and wiggle the creature. He decided on naming it Furret cause it looked like the Pokémon and he couldn't think of anything else

Every year for fathers day Nero will try and make Vergil something, he's make weird cup looking thing that you cant drink out of it because of holes, macaroni art, drawings, cards filled with glitter galore, paper hats, the list goes on and on. But he tried making those flower thing Dante makes, he asked him how he did it and Dante responds it comes to him naturally which doesn't help at all. So he tries only for nothing to appear to his disappointment, he tries and tries until he gets the tiniest and wimpy looking thing. But happily gives it to his dad who really appreciates it.

Vergil's refrigerator is covered with child like drawings given to him from Nero, he loves them and encourages Nero to do more and that he will be the greatest artist.

When Nero first met Patty was the same day Dante was given the mission to babysit her. She was kind of bratty and annoying at first and he didn't like that she would take all of Dante's attention. They argued a lot and Dante would yell at them to stop because it was giving him a headache and they should try to get along. After having to take Patty to retrieve her family money he did start to get along with her and they started to both annoy Dante together.

Nero absolutely loves dinosaurs and has loads of toys of them, and when he was going to the Zoo with Vergil he told him he was excited to see Dinosaurs there. Only for Vergil to tell them that there aren't any dinosaurs at the zoo. (This happened to a friend of mine).

Trish and Lady likes to take Nero out shopping, normally he doesn’t mind going with them, as long as he gets something out of it. Poor Dante and his debt when he finds out how much stuff they bough for Nero

Dante watching Nero while Vergil out can lead to many, many, different ways, and Vergil dreads all of them. Dante could feed Nero only sweets and junk food instead normal healthy food, Dante could probably lose Nero somewhere be it the park or his own damn shop, Dante could probably get Nero in danger because of the demons that show up to his shop and destroys it.

Nero does get into a lot of fights at school, half of them are kids making fun of him others are he’s a hard head and doesn’t let go of grudges. The school is very frustrated in how Nero always gets into these fights, but are nervous of his dad, because of his stubbornness and how he knows that half the time its not Nero’s fault. Like one time a teacher and Nero argued about how Demons do exist and how his dad, uncle, and two aunts go out and defeat. It resulted Nero getting embarrassed in front of the class and being sent to the office and a very angry Vergil that nearly killed the teacher.

[ayuki-ikuya]

Fellow Piers simp with a trainersona here and a separate oc with Rai: ✨Go for it homie✨ Go absolutely ape! Tell us about her

OKAY

so I've tried doing research about Johto before writing about her since I have little information about Johto.

Johto is based off from Japan (it's more eastern qualities) while Kanto was a more westernized Japan (if you watched Geisha, it shows the transition from Japan transitioning to more western style after the war.)

So the name Katsumi was given. I believe her name meaning is "eternal beauty" but I'm not sure.

If I were to describe Katsumi, she'd be a Ninetales or a Fox. She has this air about her that draws her in, it's soothing even. But as she battles, she's more two faced than she seems, being more mocking and maybe even animalistic than her kinder self.

She does restrain herself from her more dark side, because a common rule as a maiko and geisha, is to always look and be pretty to capture the attention of others.

Katsumi is based off from the Kimono Girls in Johto, the Kimono girls are actually Maiko's as they tie their obi's sash long while normal is tucked in or tied short (same with a Geisha's) however, in Pokemon, they don't wear heavy makeup that way they can battle appropriately while still maintaining looks.

Since I'm basing Katsumi from Maiko's, she learns various arts, from dance to music to cooking. And of course, even when away from Johto, she still practices dancing (she prefers dancing over music) which has caught several pokemons attention in the past.

Her Johto team consists of:

Lucario

Gyrados

And Chansey.

Her Galar team will be:

Gyrados (from her Johto team)

Eevee (who will evolve into Umbreon)

Deino (who evolves into zwelious then Hydregion)

Munchlax (evolves into Snorlax)

Kirlia (evolves into Gardevior)

And Puncham (evolves into Pangoro)

I won't disclose when she catches them (which will be in the story I'm writting) nor their abilities and move sets. I can tell you that Katsumi favors Dark Types.

Katsumi makes her first appearance in the Gym Battle Opening Ceremony! Her exotic looks catching many of the people's attention.

Having to fight the Yell team since they were blocking Budew Inn, she does her first official Pokemon Battle in Galar with her Gyrados who swept them away with Twister!

Katsumi calls out her pokemon rather eloquently. Like, "Let's dance amongst the water, Gyrados", Katsumi is a lover of drama and theatrics, so she likes to put on a show which is apart of her two faced-ness.

If I were to place Katsumi as a Game Character, she'd be an Easter Egg and a very Hidden Boss. The main Characters wouldn't be able to fight her unless level 100 as the final boss is also level 100, meaning she's far more challenging than she looks in the beginning.

You'd be able to fight her in the tournaments after becoming a Galar Champion (beating Leon) but because she makes rare appearances, it's hard to fight her. If Leon and Katsumi ever get matched up, it usually ends in either Katsumi winning or a draw depending on ALL of your Pokémon level. (All 100 = Katsumi winning)

Her relationships would mostly be the children of the house she moved to as a tenant (which is in the same place for the Opening Ceremony hence why she hasn't caught any other pokemon in Galar yet)

Katsumi prefers pokemon over people. People means maintaining herself to appear appropriately and having to be more polite than she wants to do to etiquette. While with pokemon, she can bond with them more easily through being herself (her more rougher side).

As for her league cards, she has two special league cards which is dependent on which version you're playing.

Sword version is her more wild side, showing her face during her battles (more on Leon or Raihan's battle since her face shows more during their fight)

Sword version notes: seeing the ever so gentle Johto girl being fierce to rival Raihan is an odd sight, but pleasant to finally see a crack in her ever so pretty mask.

Shield version gets her more softer side, showing her dancing in a field without knowing about the picture.

Shield version notes: A picture that was taken in secret, you can see how gentle she is with how she stands, the pokemon around her watching her still form. How can someone be this elegant?

Her normal League Card is just the standard card but she angles herself towards the left (our left mind you) with her head angled towards the camera with a serene smile.

As for her relationship with Raihan and Piers, Raihan was intrigued by her, knowing the Dragon Type master in Johto, and seeing her appear on Pokegram every once in awhile (until she got Kirlia) sends a shiver down his spine since he can sorta get a feeling that she's hiding more than she seems.

Piers never met her, but has heard of her from Team Yell and Marnie when they met up in Spikemuth. When Katsumi appeared herself, he nearly choked seeing a "Pretty lil' dainty thing in this dump". his words, not mine. But because Piers oh so happens to be a dark type gym leader, Katsumi had immediately grew attached to him which shocked a lot of people.

Katsumi, the goddess from eastern lands, paired with THE Piers? The shock was an understatement.

Piers did appreciate her adoration to dark type pokemon though. And her need to be on the same level as him in battle as it was the Johto way to be fair.

If we wanna dive into the romance interests then:

Raihan is absolutely clingy to Katsumi and always wants to fight her. It's his way showing how devoted he is to her by challenging her to fights often after training and resting. And he hopes Katsumi would notice. If we went into a more NSFW style, Raihan is the epitome of clinginess. Because he's so tall compared to Katsumi, he'd use his jacket and put it over her, forcing her to either poke her head out to see or to try and escape which ends up him wrapping his arms around her. And when he does capture her, Raihan would drag her to a more secluded area and start marking her neck with bites and hickies. If he gets REALLY worked up (specially after a battle against Katsumi) he'd take his coat off, wrap it around her, tie the sleeves and then sling her onto his shoulder and with his long ass legs, he'd be heading to his apartment.

For Piers, he's not really affectionate or seen as affectionate, but he would often be near Katsumi whenever they were both free. Whenever he is affectionate he'd wrap an arm or two around Katsumi and bring her closer to him. For NSFW, Piers would be slightly clingy, but not as bad as Raihan since Piers is busy with being an artist (music artist btw) and training Marnie to be a gym leader. But whenever they're together, Piers would be resting his head on Katsumi's shoulder or head depending on their sitting position. Anytime Katsumi gets a call or goes to escape somewhere, Piers would grab a hold of her chin and kiss her rather passionately, which would leave Katsumi breathless since Piers literally has a long tongue, and he uses it. If Katsumi is still out of it (or continues to try to escape), Piers would take her to his place or to the campsite.

Katsumi has long black hair which reaches to her lower back, having four beauty marks total on her face, two right below her right eye (our left), one below her left eye (our right) and one at the right corner of her lips (our left).

(I think of drawing as a mirror, if you draw a character's face you have to think about the blemishes placement. If their back is to you, then it's both of your rights and lefts while facing each other is their left is your right and their right is your left. Sorry if it's confusing.)

She has black eyes (whenever in an intense battle, her eyes darken with no highlight making her appear soulless but it just means her facade is cracking) and thick eyelashes, her lips are painted red on her bottom lip while the corners of her eyes are touched with a rouge since she is a Maiko Trainer.

(I made up that Kimono Girls are Maiko Trainers, meaning they wear less makeup and have a battle/formal kimono, a traveling kimono and sleep wear. Normal Maiko's wears the standard makeup and wears more formal kimono's. Maiko trainers require to wear a sort of eye shadow at the corner of their eyes in replacement for the lack of white makeup on their face, it is to signal other Maiko's what status they are. If they wear red/rogue eye shadow, then they are an advance/master maiko trainer. If blue, then they are an intermediate. If pink then they are a beginner. Maiko trainers also have to wear certain color palettes to signal what stage they are which often correlates to their eye shadow. Since Maiko's in general wear lighter colors, they wear pastels or just a light shade.)

Katsumi wears a light pink kimono that fades to a light red at the ends of her kimono. Her obi sash being a deeper red while her obiage is white. Her nagajuban is red as per tradition, her pocchuri buckle is silver flowers, while her okobo shoes still maintains the red straps and still contains bells in them.

Fun fact about Maiko's, Maiko's are usually 16-20 years old mainly because Maiko's would choose to marry around that age, while Geisha's would have to retire or runaway (depending on time period) to marry. Geisha's aren't allowed to have a spouse, the most they can have close to a spouse is an escort.

THIS IS ALL FOR NOW! I'LL PUT UP SOME DOODLES ABOUT KATSUMI (WITH AN OCCASIONAL RAIHAN/PIER OR TWO)

[itsbenedict]

I didn’t post about everything I played this year, so here’s my opinions on the stuff I played that I didn’t make a rec post for:

Raging Loop 

Raging Loop is one of them twisty meta Zero Escape-y branching-path visual novels where an ensemble cast is trapped in a mysterious circumstance where people are dying gruesomely, and you have to find out what’s happening and stop it by looping a bunch. 

I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, because... it tries to have its cake and eat it too with the supernatural elements. Clearly magic is real and has important impacts on the scenario, but then other parts are trickery you’re supposed to see through, and it’s entirely uninterested in cluing you in to how that trickery was accomplished. Not exactly a fair play mystery, in that regard- you have to kind of just be along for the ride, rather than try to figure it out.

That said, it’s a good ride- pretty strong character writing, and the central conceit of the Werewolf/Mafia-style murder scenario creates really interesting drama. It’s more concerned with making itself feel clever than letting the player feel clever, but it’s still well-paced and gripping and has a pretty decent resolution.

Detective Grimoire

I recommended Tangle Tower, the sequel, pretty strongly- and this one, while obviously a little rougher around the edges with the art and mechanics (the suspicion tracker system is a total dud; I didn’t even realize it existed until I realized I was missing an achievement for using it), it’s still pretty darn good. Really fun character designs and animations, fully-voiced, and a solid whodunit backing it all. Plus- while the two are more or less self-contained, the continuity threads with Tangle Tower raised some really interesting questions.

Contradiction - the all-video murder mystery

This one was pretty fun, largely on the strength of the actors. The main mechanic of interrogating people on evidence and using their own statements against each other was some good stuff, too. Definitely had that Phoenix Wright quality to the deductions, and Jenks is a really fun character. (Had a few points where progression was just linked to standing in a certain previously-abandoned area of the map where a clue was suddenly there for no reason, there- good thing it had a hint system.)

As a mystery, it could use a little work- most of what you end up finding out is sequel bait (for a sequel that never actually came together, unfortunately), and the actual whodunit is just sort of hiding in the cracks of all that. And... cornering the culprit just sort of happens out of nowhere once you’ve got your hands on the right piece of evidence, without much fanfare. You’re following up on leads like usual, you find a little lie in someone’s testimony, and then- oh, shit, they’re just confessing everything! Unlike all the previous times you questioned them and they were super evasive like everyone else! And then the game is over. 

All in all, it’s pretty meaty and entertaining and I’d recommend it, but unfortunately the creators have moved on to other things, so there’s not going to be any follow-up on the stuff it left unresolved.

Ikenfell

Ikenfell is a tightly-designed RPG about kids at a magic school, with Paper Mario-style action command mechanics and a battle system that makes a big deal out of careful positioning and movement, which was really enjoyable. The difficulty’s a little high (I recommend always always always speccing into max damage because killing things before they kill you is worth more than any amount of defense, speed doesn’t work, and healing is cheap), but I found it really satisfying.

There’s... something... off? About... I don’t know how to put it, it’s... doing that “yes, everyone is queer and mentally ill, deal with it” thing, which, sure, okay. But for a lot of them it’s such a background thing, like... half the playable cast is unambiguously nonbinary, but like... I don’t know if it’s trying to make some statement on how there are no rules to being NB and you can 100% perform a particular binary gender presentation but still count, or if they wrote the whole story and then changed the pronouns of some of the characters for Representation Points, or what. Probably the former? I dunno, it just feels weird. Maybe I’m just not woke enough to Get It.

(unrelatedly: why the heck is the official art they use everywhere so... off-model? none of them look like they do in-game- they look like the creator commissioned someone to draw a group shot with one reference image each and didn’t tell them anything about the characters. how much you wanna bet they commissioned a friend and it came out wrong but they were too polite to say “sorry, no, this is wrong, can you do it over?”)

Trails of Cold Steel IV

Hoo boy. It’s... not great, and it’s not great in a pretty predictable way for an even-numbered entry in the Trails series. It happens every time- first there’s a game in a new engine with new characters and a new world to explore, and it’s really nice and does interesting things... and then it ends on a cliffhanger, and then there’s a sequel game in the same engine with the same characters and the same world, reusing as many assets as possible. Also the League Of Generically Evil Anime Supervillains is there causing trouble for reasons they refuse to explain, and the plot is a storm of magicbabble and macguffin-chasing that makes little to no sense. 

Cold Steel IV is that for Cold Steel III, full stop. Welcome back to all the same places you visited last game, except this time there’s some stupid magic apocalypse happening (not that it stops you from taking the time to do random sidequests constantly, of course). The whole “oh, the evil curse mind controls people and that’s why they do stupid bullshit that’s in no one’s interest” plot point is leaned on super hard, and it’s just a big yawn the whole way through.

It’s still really fun, though, because the battle system remains really well-designed. (The same battle system that was just as fun in Cold Steel III, mind you, but it hasn’t gotten old.) And- though they’re struggling to square it with the dumb mind control apocalypse plot, the NPC dialogue continues to make the world feel believable and lived-in. They don’t slack on the parts that make Trails good- it’s just the parts that make Trails bad are making themselves more evident than ever.

did finally get to date Towa though so that’s a win

One Step From Eden

OSFE is... uh. It’s fucking hard is what it is. It’s sort of a deckbuilding roguelike, and there’s this combat that takes place on a grid, and- wait, it’s like Mega Man Battle Network, it’s exactly like Mega Man Battle Network. Man, I forgot about that, but the mechanical influence is extremely obvious. It’s MMBN meets Slay the Spire.

Except it’s super duper hard as hell, because unlike MMBN you can’t pause and swap out chips or anything- everything is just always happening so much, all at once, everywhere, and you have no recourse but to git gud and learn all the enemy patterns and the behavior of your own spells and develop the twitch reflexes necessary to not fucking die from all the shit that’s on the screen always.

(What’s the story? Uhhhh, there was some kind of magic apocalypse, and some anime girls are trying to reach a city for some reason that doesn’t really get explained ever. The game doesn’t really care to build its world at all- it’s all mechanics plus a little token character dialogue that doesn’t say much.)

The point is it’s really frickin’ hard but I am an epic pro gamer and I got ALL THE ACHIEVEMENTS, MOTHERFUCKER. If you’ve played it, I expect you to be really god damn impressed with me, okay???

A Short Hike

This one was really relaxing! It’s a platformer where you explore an Animal Crossing-y island of cartoon animal people, collecting mobility upgrades- but like, mainly it’s about straight chillin’. The flight controls are fun and there’s lots of little secrets to find and it’s just a nice time that doesn’t drag on too long. Not too much to say about this one.

Pokémon Sword

Ehhhhh.

I’m not here for the hot takes about how Dexit is good actually. Development hell happened, they had to make cuts for time, I get it. It’s disappointing and makes the game a little bit worse, but it’s not the end of the world.

Apart from that... perfectly serviceable? The Wild Area could’ve used a little more technical polish (as could most things in the game, really) but was a step in the right direction, giving the player a wider array of early-game team-building options than ever before. No HMs is good. Story and characters were kind of nothing, but that’s par for the course. “At least this time they’re not shoehorning in some kind of stupid evil-team-wants-legendary-pokemon-to-destroy-the-world apocalypse plot”, I thought to myself before they managed to shoehorn one in at the last minute with zero buildup- but, hey, beats wasting half the game on it.

It’s nothing special and it’s missing a lot of polish, but its problems are mainly due to being rushed, and presumably next gen they’ll be able to reuse a lot of the models and animations (maybe even improve the animations so they’re not so boring??? a man can dream) and make something interesting. SwSh seem like they were testing the waters for something else, and not taking too many chances in the meantime. 

(yo why would you sell all these cosmetic items and then turn them all off during gym battles, though) 

Hades

Hades is- oh, who am I kidding? Everyone knows Hades, it’s the game of the year, greatest thing since sliced bread, Supergiant are heroes, yada yada yada. I’ve played almost 300 hours of it and I’ve completed everything except all the Resources Director levels (currently a Sigma Wraith), it’s extremely fun and you don’t need me to tell you that.

Petal Crash

It was that thing the Paranatural creator helped on? It’s, uh. It’s a block-sliding puzzle game thing, sort of in a Puyo Puyo vein. It has fun character designs and some good dialogue, like you’d expect from Zack’s involvement, but it didn’t really leave an impression otherwise (besides how got dang infuriating some of its Turn Trial puzzles can be.) The story is... kinda heartwarming, kinda didactic, kinda childish, not especially deep or interesting. Hard for it to be, when it’s told through little bits of fluffy character dialogue that exist to set up a puzzle battle as quickly as possible. Not super recommended unless you really really like block-sliding puzzles.

Hollow Knight

Man, why’d I sleep on this for so long? It’s a metroidvania platformer with heavy Dark Souls inspiration, in terms of tone and difficulty and death mechanics and environmental storytelling. And it’s... apart from all that, just really good as a game, with tight controls and juicy movement and great animation. Progression is linked as much to mastery as it is to upgrades collected- I found myself in lategame areas facing down things that would’ve killed me ten times over at the start- not because I had the best gear, but because I’d learned the game’s language and understood how to move in ways that wouldn’t get me killed.

(Usually. Sometimes I’d walk into a room and sit on a bench and suddenly there’d be a boss fight and I’d get slaughtered. Ain’t that just the way it goes?)

Anyway, on top of all that it’s just charming as hell, with a really unique and well-realized world full of little bug people. I love how, like, your character is clearly some kind of eldritch abomination, but it’s small and cute and so everyone (besides enemies that attack you on sight because they’re possessed by some kinda evil mold) is like “awww, who’s this little guy? want some help, little guy?”

(except Zote, who is just an ass hole. i love him.)

[cococookiedraws]

Congrats on getting an those followers here and on webtoon!!! Your Agrestes comic is really funny and helps me get over a bad day

Btw how did you learn to draw?? I've always wanted to but I lack the commitment XD

Aww thank you so much anon!

I'm so glad it helps you on a bad day :D

I kinda learned to draw from the internet, so I'm self taught. I always had an interest, but I did small things. When I was younger, I used to copy-draw things I liked, like Pokémon, Frozen, stuff like that. I started to draw more last year by making comics on paper. My style was mostly chibi at the time. What really helped was taking pictures of other art and putting them in a folder, referencing them to learn how to draw certain things (hands, feet, clothes, hair, etc.) I recently deleted the entire folder (of 1000 pics) so I could put what was REALLY important. I also watch JaidenAnimations and other YouTube animators, and copied the hairstyles and some poses I saw into my sketchbook so I could learn how things work. References are KEY. ALWAYS USE REFERENCES. I got an Apple Pencil (in February I think?) when I wanted to draw digitally (after trying it out with a cheap stylus), and got Clip Studio Paint (they have a free 3 month trial). Digital drawing really helped me because markers and pencil were annoying for me personally (other people like it tho).

If you'll look at my first Agreste comic compared to now, you'll see that it got a LOT better. Because I'm on 17 weeks now. That's almost 4 months wait I've been doing this for how long. For Coco Comics, my very first comic (that's unpublished) was a lot messier, and drawn in September. I also didn't want to draw hands before but then I decided to, and I like it.

If you're interested in drawing, I would say draw as much as you can. Look at other artists. Look at the world around you, nature is art. Use references. Most of all, it takes TIME. Over time, your art just gets better and better. And when it does get better, look at your old art happily, and look how far you've come. Learning a new skill is super fun and I highly recommend it. Perhaps to give some motivation I MIGHT post my old stuff. Good luck!