#but i do like the painting part. this also works as a range in drawing thing 🤣

[blue-bird-lamentation]

Yosuke doodles from last night (basically him wearing outfits/accessories i have)

First picture without the earrings doodle (i really like these earrings). I bought them from a Portuguese artist, Lua da Carolina.

[kotori-mochi]

Can't afford art school?

After seeing post like this 👇

And this gem 👇

As well as countless of others from the AI generator community. Just talking about how "inaccessible art" is, I decided why not show how wrong these guys are while also helping anyone who actually wants to learn.

Here is the first one ART TEACHERS! There are plenty online and in places like youtube.

📺Here is my list:

Proko (Free, mostly teaches anatomy and how to draw people. But does have art talks and teaches the basics.)

Marc Brunet (Free but he does have other classes for a cheap price. Use to work for Blizzard and teaches you everything)

Aaron Rutten (free, tips about art, talks about art programs and the best products for digital art)

BoroCG (free, teaches a verity of art mediums from 3D modeling to digital painting. As well as some tips that can be used across styles)

Jesse J. Jones (free, talks about animating)

Jesus Conde (free, teaches digital painting and has classes in Spanish)

Mohammed Agbadi (free, he gives some advice in some videos and talks about art)

Ross Draws (free, he does have other classes for a good price. Mostly teaching character designs and simple backgrounds.)

SamDoesArts (free, gives good advice and critiques)

Drawfee Show (free, they do give some good advice and great inspiration)

The Art of Aaron Blaise ( useful tips for digital art and animation. Was an animator for Disney. Mostly nature art)

Bobby Chiu ( useful tips and interviews with artist who are in the industry or making a living as artist)

Sinix Design (has some tips on drawing people)

Winged canvas (art school for free on a verity of mediums)

Bob Ross (just a good time, learn how to paint, as well as how too relax when doing art. "there are no mistakes only happy accidents", this channel also provides tips from another artist)

Scott Christian Sava (Inspiration and provides tips and advice)

Pikat (art advice and critiques)

Drawbox (a suggested cheap online art school, made of a community of artist)

Skillshare (A cheap learning site that has art classes ranging from traditional to digital. As well as Animation and tutorials on art programs. All under one price, in the USA it's around $34 a month)

Human anatomy for artist (not a video or teacher but the site is full of awesome refs to practice and get better at anatomy)

Second part BOOKS, I have collected some books that have helped me and might help others.

📚Here is my list:

The "how to draw manga" series produced by Graphic-sha. These are for manga artist but they give great advice and information.

"Creating characters with personality" by Tom Bancroft. A great book that can help not just people who draw cartoons but also realistic ones. As it helps you with facial ques and how to make a character interesting.

"Albinus on anatomy" by Robert Beverly Hale and Terence Coyle. Great book to help someone learn basic anatomy.

"Artistic Anatomy" by Dr. Paul Richer and Robert Beverly Hale. A good book if you want to go further in-depth with anatomy.

"Directing the story" by Francis Glebas. A good book if you want to Story board or make comics.

"Animal Anatomy for Artists" by Eliot Goldfinger. A good book for if you want to draw animals or creatures.

"Constructive Anatomy: with almost 500 illustrations" by George B. Bridgman. A great book to help you block out shadows in your figures and see them in a more 3 diamantine way.

"Dynamic Anatomy: Revised and expand" by Burne Hogarth. A book that shows how to block out shapes and easily understand what you are looking out. When it comes to human subjects.

"An Atlas of animal anatomy for artist" by W. Ellenberger and H. Dittrich and H. Baum. This is another good one for people who want to draw animals or creatures.

Etherington Brothers, they make books and have a free blog with art tips.

📝As for Supplies, I recommend starting out cheap, buying Pencils and art paper at dollar tree or 5 below. If you want to go fancy Michaels is always a good place for traditional supplies. They also get in some good sales and discounts. For digital art, I recommend not starting with a screen art drawing tablet as they are usually more expensive.

For the Best art Tablet I recommend either Xp-pen, Bamboo or Huion. Some can range from about 40$ to the thousands.

💻As for art programs here is a list of Free to pay.

Clip Studio paint ( you can choose to pay once or sub and get updates. Galaxy, Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone, Android, or Chromebook device. )

Procreate ( pay once for $9.99 usd, IPAD & IPHONE ONLY)

Blender (for 3D modules/sculpting, animation and more. Free)

PaintTool SAI (pay but has a 31 day free trail)

Krita (Free)

mypaint (free)

FireAlpaca (free)

Aseprite ($19.99 usd but has a free trail, for pixel art Windows & macOS)

Drawpile (free and for if you want to draw with others)

IbisPaint (free, phone app ONLY)

Medibang (free, IPAD, Android and PC)

NOTE: Some of these can work on almost any computer like Clip and Sai but others will require a bit stronger computer like Blender. Please check their sites for if your computer is compatible.

So do with this information as you will but as you can tell there are ways to learn how to become an artist, without breaking the bank. The only thing that might be stopping YOU from using any of these things, is YOU.

I have made time to learn to draw and many artist have too. Either in-between working two jobs or taking care of your family and a job or regular school and chores. YOU just have to take the time or use some time management, it really doesn't take long to practice for like an hour or less. YOU also don't have to do it every day, just once or three times a week is fine.

Hope this was helpful and have a great day.

"also apologies for any spelling or grammar errors, I have Dyslexia and it makes my brain go XP when it comes to speech or writing"

[blue-arkhamknight]

SKETCHES.

Warning: None. (Damian, Jon, and reader are age ten to make the story a bit more sweeter.)

── .✦

── .★

School wasn’t so bad! If you look at it from Damian’s perspective it’s awesome. He gets to learn AND play music. He’s a very tasked kid, playing about 5 instruments. Impressive isn’t it? Violin, guitar, trumpet, viola, and harmonica. Let me say, he’s proud.

For his age the boy shared a love for classical music. A habit of scrunching his nose when he heard some of the school bands play harsh music. It wasn’t like an abomination or something, but just not his cup of tea. Jon, his friend really was just the opposite. From insulting Mozart to shredding his messy and loud electric guitar in his main solos.

Lunch was one of his favorite parts of the day. The food he got to eat and practicing of his instruments, sounds of the bow hitting the strings of his perfectly tuned instrument. Truly it was heavenly to his ears. “You messed up again.” a voice he had memorized rang in his head like an echo, immediately looking embarrassed with the biggest frown. “I certainly do not mess up. Clean your ears.” he told you with a scowl.

You looked up at him from your sketchbook, doing a sketch piece that you forgot as homework in lunch time while you listened to him play. “But you did- you played C minor instead of D.” you said and pointed at his music sheet. Damian huffed and looked where your finger pointed. “Yeah, I knew that. I was just testing you.” he said, his tone betraying him and saying in a hidden way ‘Yeah I messed up.’.

The assignment you had wasn’t difficult, hence to why you forgot to do it. The instructions were: ‘Draw someone or anything as many times as you liked, but you had to fill the whole page.’ your teacher had spoken in class. Damian tried to peek at your page, failing. Your arm was hiding it like a person who wouldn’t let anyone cheat off their exam. He fairly came to the conclusion that it wasn’t fair. You never showed him your art! He always showed you his paintings and musical errors without hiding them!

He still made no fuzz, no matter how much he wanted to look at the sketchbook he respected that maybe you didn’t feel comfortable with sharing your drawings. Damian understood how most artists were embarrassed of showing their works and that was normal. He continued playing his violin, from playing his piece to playing Howl’s Moving Castle. For a moment you stopped with the pencil strokes.

You mentioned many times before Howl’s Moving Castle, though they were mindless thoughts and some homework doodles. Damian had taken his time to memorize the famous melody in his violin. His gaze was torn between you and his fingers on the violin strings and his other hand on his bow. The gaze was intense, like a stoic way of saying ‘Hey! I learned this for you.’. Other students and teachers paused to look at Damian, ones impressed and others recognizing the tune. Equally, your gaze fixated on him also.

Soon your hand moved on the paper once again, calm with the familiar melody as you drew the familiar boy in front of you with his violin. The drawing wasn’t an exact copy of the moment of course, but it was very clear it was Damian Wayne. That was the reason you didn’t show him your drawings. It would be weird to show your friend he’s secretly your muse. The stop of the music made you look up, his face scrunched up in a way of silently saying that you should be excited. In a quick panic you just clapped your hands, making others that had heard clap along.

It was priceless. His red face full of embarrassment. The claps died down and his face went back to normal slowly. He frowned at you and gave you a huff, “I wished to be appreciated, but not from the whole school.” he stoically stated, exaggerating in the slightest. “Sorry, Wayne.” you said back apologetically, only getting a “Tt.” from him.

────

“I will walk today, Pennyworth.” the boy addressed the man through the passenger window the butler had rolled down. Alfred was indeed surprised. “Alright, Master Damian. Are you sure you will not even drop your violin in the vehicle?” his father’s butler asked, making Damian open a door and leave the violin case securely on the seat and closing the door again. He ran to his friends (whether he liked to admit it or not, you and Jon were his friends.), stopping right in front of the guitarist and artist.

After a while of friendly banter, Jon waved and walked away. Now being alone with Damian he took a notice of the hour. “I will walk you home.” he stated. Not even a ‘Can I walk you home?’. You didn’t comment on it since you didn’t have a ride home. “Okay, Damian.” you spoke with a grateful nod.

He walked with you to your home, making small talk and getting a few laughs and smiles out of you which were secretly his goal. Damian also carried your lunchbox. It was a habit he got from the first day of school, which you guys met. You had teasingly asked him to carry your lunchbox and he surprisingly did it. Grumpily, but he still did, after that he developed a habit of doing it. As you stepped foot in front of your door step you turned around, looking at the boy as he made a call for Alfred to pick him up. You dropped your bag mindlessly and companied him in front of your own house to wait for his ride.

“Thank you for walking me home.” you thanked, earning a nod from him. “No problem.” he brushed off, setting your lunchbox next to your bookbag and without you noticing he grabbed something from your bookbag and closed the zipper quietly, putting the item on the inside his jacket. “You okay?” you asked after seeing his rapid movements. “Yes, I am alright.” he said looking over at you and pretending to fix the cuffs of his jacket.

Alfred arrived after about 10-20 minutes, stopping right in front of your house. “Bye Damian! See you at school!” you said with a smile and a wave. He returned the wave and a small “Yeah, bye.”. He hopped in the back seat of the car and Alfred rolled down the window. “Thank you for waiting with him.” Alfred said gratefully, “No problem, Alfred. See you soon!” you responded. You knew the Wayne family for a bit now, Alfred and Bruce being very fond of Damian having another friend aside Jon.

You got inside your house when you took your backpack and lunch box and Alfred made sure. The car got out of view once he made sure you were safely inside. Now that Damian was alone he took out the thing he had taken. Your sketchbook. He knew he was doing something very wrong, but curiosity killed the cat. He flipped page through page of your art assignments. There were studies and all, but he mainly saw himself. Damian realized that, one; your drawings were awesome, two; he felt- happy? How would he work this out? …

How would he tell you that he was Robin?

──── ⋆˚✿˖° ────

──── ⋆˚✿˖° ────

I wrote again!! I need to add more dialogue to my stories and better them. I don’t know if i should continue this.

[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

[venerawrites]

This is my first time requesting for arcane but, can you write an Ekko x male! reader (fem or Gender neutral is fine if you can't write for male readers) where the reader is really sweet and gentle. They like to forage, bake/cook for Ekko, make toys for the kids of zaun, painting, drawing, and craft stuff like clay rings, mugs, pottery, and make clothes as well.

It can be an imagine or headcanons, I don't mind either way.

author's note: hi! I don't write male readers, but I do write gender-neutral so I hope that's okay! I actually thought this request was super cute and I loved the idea! Hope you enjoy and thank you so much for requesting!

Someone who is sweet and also artistic/crafty is going to be the perfect partner for Ekko. (Not kidding, this young man deserves all the love in the world!)

I imagine you being a part of the Firelights for a few years before Ekko gained the courage to ask you out.

Don't get me wrong, he had a crush on you way before that!

He saw something special in you the day you joined - the way you carried yourself, the little splatter of paint on your shirt, the big bag of art materials you brought with you, the way you warmly smiled at the kids and they took an immediate liking to you - it all made him look at you in a different light from everyone else.

However, having lost so many people in his life, he didn't want to risk catching feelings. So despite the initial attraction, he did keep his distance at first. He was a good leader, always making sure to check on you and ask how are you adjusting to the life as a Firelight, but he also always seemed to keep the conversations short and polite.

Ekko always had his eye on you - whenever he heard your melodic laugh or children screaming in joy (because they always did when you were around), his head whipped in your direction almost instinctively.

Because of your wide range of skills, especially when it comes to crafting things, it didn't take long for you to become everyone's favourite - you often build toys for the kids and played with them in your free time, which is why all of them got attached to you pretty quickly. When someone needed their clothes fixed or wished for a change of their usual 'uniform', they always came to you.

The man was a bit taken aback at first - he kept seeing everyone, including Scar, coming with new jackets, shirts, and even masks, yet he didn't seem to know how and where they got it from. Once he learned it was in fact you making them, he couldn't help but smile - so you were quite the crafty person, huh?

He came a few days later with his ruined jacket (he may or may have not actually ruined it on purpose), asking you to fix it. As he was the leader, you spent all afternoon sewing, so he could have it ready for the mission the next day. When you gave it to him during dinner, he was both surprised and also amazed - not only did you fix it quickly, but you also made it better by adding some details to it.

(Needless to say this became his favourite piece of clothing ever! It was also not the last time he came to you, asking you to 'fix' his clothes...)

That evening was the first time the realisation he might like you in a different way than every other member hit him like a ton of bricks.

And it did scare him! So much, so that he made it almost his mission to avoid you. Every time you entered a room, he quickly excused himself, and if by chance you caught him looking at you, he would quickly turn around, the tips of his ears going a few shades darker.

His plan didn't work that well, however, as you being one of the few people who can draw/paint, you were assigned to work on the wall mural. He had to supervise the work and therefore interact with you, and to be honest, it was quite awkward for a bit.

I imagine you would notice his weird behaviour, but would not address it as you were not sure why he was giving you mixed "hot & cold" signals. You would continue treating him like usual and eventually, after a few days of tense atmosphere between you (and also a bit of 'scolding' from Scar), he would apologize and actually relax around you.

Ekko is funny, loving, protective, kind, passionate, and a man that I cannot imagine anyone NOT falling in love with. So probably it did take you embarrassingly short time to catch feelings for him.

He may be a bit slow when it comes to his own feelings and emotions, but he is very good when it comes to reading everyone else's. So when you made him a special mug for his birthday and gave to him while your face looked like it was about to explode, he put 2+2 together.

This is when flirting Ekko unlocks and - PHEW! - this man has no mercy!

He loves to tease you just so he can see you as a flustered mess. While he is very confident as a leader and fighter, he still think it's unreal that you can catch feelings for someone like him - he comes with so much emotional baggage, that he cannot really understand what do you see in him.

(Not that he is complaining, because once he asks you out and you say 'yes', he doesn't plan to EVER let you go!)

Once you are together, he would always organise fun dates including crafting or making stuff - either he will teach you how to make tech stuff in his workshop or you will teach him how to make clay rings, dishes and pottery.

He loves how gifted you are and would often tease you by asking you: "Is there anything you can’t do?"

Very proud of you and the fact that you are his partner! He usually likes to keep his private matters to himself, but if he has a drink or two, EVERYONE is hearing about how skilled you are, how every body loves you (especially him) and how lucky he is to have you not only in his life, but also living in the Firelight base.

Speaking of living, despite the relationship progressing slowly, he would practically make you move in to his room just a few months after getting together. He loves going to sleep and waking up by your side and while usually you were staying with him only occasionally, he will have a long chat with you of the benefits to share a room.

"C'mon, don't you want to sleep in the leader's bed? Hey, hey, I'm kidding! But seriously, you come here almost every night and I do sleep better when you are by my side, so why not?"

Watching you interact with the kids in the base and even in Zaun has to be his absolute weak spot. He can never hide his smile and dreamy gaze when he watches you giving them new gifts/toys and he falls in love even deeper every time he sees you hug them and stroke their heads lovingly.

His other weak spot has to be your cooking! (The way to a man's heart is through his stomach after all!) He is pretty good cook himself, so dates in the kitchen are a pretty often occurrence for you.

Still, he can never match your skill when it comes to baking and desserts and he loves when you spoil him by making his favourite cakes/sweet food. He loves to watch you cooking, often sitting on the table and quietly sipping his tea, while observing you.

The Firelights love you as a couple and are happy it is you by Ekko's side - he suffered a lot and has been alone the majority of his life, so he deserves all the love and happiness you can offer.

cc artwork: Tekkon Kinkreet

[bangtansfavwriter]

🎨 art supplies store owner! taehyung 🎨

- You were once again out of white paint and realised that you had also lost several brushes in the limbo of your room.Every single out supply you had found its way on the floor as you were rummaging through your stuff to find that one brush that seemed to be the key for your painting to be perfect. So you were standing there in the middle of the room, ready to let your inner Monet out, easel and canvas right in front of you..... and proceeded to throw the rubbish brushes across the room. The good ones were simply nowhere to find. You sighed deeply and went to pick up the brushes since your rage quit faded away as quickly as it happened in the first place. Weirdly enough, even this moment couldn’t curb your enthusiasm to paint again after a time which felt like ages, so you picked up the phone and looked up where to find art supply stores nearby.

- And there were NONE, at least not one that seemed to fit your needs, as you knew about that one store nearby that barely had any art supplies but a whole lot of stationary stuff.

- So you decided to just do sketches instead and went on with your day, despite the lingering disappointment of unfulfilled motivation

- A few days later, as you were wandering through town in search of a bakery that had almond croissants everybody you knew seemed to obsess over.

- You walked past a place that drew your attention and you immediately walked back to take a closer look

- You were standing there, in absolute awe of the minimalist yet gorgeous showcase of beautiful paintings that were put up between fine decorations of dried flowers, old brushes and used palettes, right next to an old record player and vintage vinyls, mostly of jazz artists.

- What surprised you most about it that it all seemed so personal – like an artist who was showcasing a part of their atelier, which drew you in so much that you found yourself studying every little detail

- Mentally you were drawing a picture of that person whose paintings and belongings you were looking at. It felt like a fresh breath of air to you, yet you felt a sense of familiarity that usually grabs one when you suddenly recognise a scent that wanders through air, like a loved one’s perfume, or the scent of fresh pastries that remind you of the now closed bakery that used to frequent in your childhood days. Something about this took you right back and you found yourself lost in thought, while listening to an old street musician was playing an accordion nearby.

- “I wish I could meet you”, you thought to yourself and mentally lamented over the fact that you probably cannot ever tell this stranger what their work did to you at that very moment.

- You took a few more steps to now see the next window that was decorated similar to the one that drew you in so intensely.

- You were taken by surprise when you noticed a guy with dark brown hair and roundish glasses who was watching you through the window the entire time.

- You started laughing at yourself when you realised how you must have looked, startled, tired, fascinated and in dire need of the almond croissants.

- The stranger in the shop smiled back at you with a gorgeous, boxy smile that instantly made a warm feeling erupt through your body.

- He hinted at the door, a silently plea for you to enter and join him in the shop

 - The little bells at the door rang through the shop as you finally entered the cozy store

- You instantly realised how tough it was going to be to keep your cool around him because this man was ridiculously handsome and looked at you with his big brown and sweet-as-honey eyes... and wtf were you supposed to do but to crush on a complete stranger? Your heart could only take this much, right?

- “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” he said as he shyly scratched his head and smiled. “No worries. I suppose I was to immersed in this showcase at the front that I didn’t take notice of you over there.”

-  You both went quiet and neither seemed to be able to stop staring at the other one.

- “Uhm,” you started fidgeting with your bag, “do you... perhaps know where i can buy some high quality oil paint and ... I think they’re called filbert brushes?” He stared at you with a blank face, which suddenly made you feel confused, until he snorted and hinted at his surroundings with both hands.

- You looked around and felt pure embarrassment creeping throughout your body, as you were, in fact, standing in the middle of an art supplies store and happened to be right in front of a wall display of a whole colour palette of paint tubes.

- The stranger giggled when you mumbled “Oh my god...” and hid your face behind your hands.

- “Please don’t be like that!” he exclaimed, as he feared he made you feel self-conscious all of a sudden. “I can help you after all. Please...”. He looked at your pleadingly, waiting for your response. He huffed out in relief when you smiled at him, touched by his attempt to lift your spirits which worked instantly. You, once again, found yourself bewitched by his dazzling, boxy smile. 

- “Filbert brushes, let’s see ...” he said and started walking through the shop. Meanwhile, you let your gaze wander across the utensils that were displayed between old wooden tables and shelves that had vintage and probably hand-made carvings on them, too. You looked at the posters of Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Ella Fitzgerald and noticed the many vinyls at the opposite side of the wall. “I’m guessing the vinyls at the front are a part of this collection?” you asked loudly, unsure about where he was among the shelves. “Yup, they are my babies.” he replied, and you could swear he was smiling as he said that.

- He walked towards you, indeed with this handsome smile of his that made your knees feel weak. “You know, that’s probably my most prized possession. I have a thing for jazz, I suppose. And art, obviously. But jazz, especially on vinyl... that’s just pure class, in my humble opinion.” – “I agree. Though I think it’s a shame I can’t see Billy Holiday anywhere. Don’t you have her poster here?”

-  He was standing in front of you, his arm leaning against the wall next to you. He was observing your every feature, taking in how your lips were slightly parted and how flushed your cheeks became under his gaze. He, too, felt a blush creep upon his face, as he wondered how someone’s eyes could be so piercingly beautiful.

- “Filbert brushes! Let’s go get those brushes...” he mumbled and walked away from you instantly, but to a halt a few metres away from you. You followed him and noticed the set of four filbert brushes which he shyly handed you over.

- “You’re a life saver. Thank you so much!” you beamed. The stranger felt blood rushing to his head once again and hoped you wouldn’t notice his now deep crimson ears and the blush that made its way over his entire face. You were way too concerned with your own, though, to notice that he was as affected as you were. He nodded at you and went back to the counter, hoping to gain some composure again. He felt like he lost every ounce of it as soon as he noticed you looking at his paintings outside the shop. Seeing someone so immersed in the little display of his mind that he tried to represent over there was a huge boost to his ego but at the same time he found himself unable to look away from you. When you had noticed him, he was actually afraid you’d think of him as a creep. Hearing the bells toll inside the shop, made any worry fade, though, and replaced it with a sense of familiarity that he couldn’t quite pinpoint. Yet he knew that you were not to stay a stranger for him and tried to calm his heartbeat that rose with every inch of the red string of fate that led you to him. “Stay.” was the only thought resonating inside his mind.

- You followed suit and walked to the counter where you put down the brushes and pulled your wallet out. “No, absolutely not” he said with a stern look on his face, surprising you with his sudden change of demeanour. “Why?” you asked “Just let me pay.” You almost started laughing at the bewildered look on his face. “I’m actually serious. I’ll take it as a personal offense if you don’t accept my gift.”

- “Oh my god, ok!”. He watched you put the brushes in your bag and now smiled rather sadly. He was suddenly hoping for a rain storm, ideally with lightning strikes and such. What if you were afraid of thunder though? Would he be able to soothe you? Would you stay with him and listen to him sing My Funny Valentine to you? Oh, how he wanted to be Chet Baker for you.

- “Is everything ok?” you asked him, noticing his sudden and obviously intense train of thought. He nodded. The door suddenly seemed far to near for both of you.

- “I’ll get going now...” you said under your breath and took heavy steps towards the door. How you wished you could hear him talk about his favourite artists more. How great it would be to listen to him explaining how he came across every record of his vinyl collection. Why couldn’t you be more upfront with him and show him how utterly fascinated you were by him, how ridiculously attracted you were to him...

- “Take care...?” you said in a questioning voice, hoping to now have a name to this handsome face. “It’s Taehyung” he replied. “Please, grant me your name, too, before you leave.”

- You were sure your heart was about to jump out of your chest at his plea.

- “My name is Y/N...”

- “Y/N” he repeated slowly, with his deep, honey-like voice that made your name sound like the shortest poem you ever heard. “Oh, this is on” you thought. “There’s no way I won’t go after this connection or whatever the hell this is.”

- “Will I see you again, Y/N?” he asked.

- “You will. Pretty soon actually.”

- He looked at you in surprise, yet pleased.

- “You see, I forgot to buy white paint... A shame, really. It seems I must come here again. How about tomorrow? We could get those almond croissants from that bakery across the street. Maybe have dinner, too, I don’t know.”

- You walked towards the door, rushing every word on your way out, as you were shocked at your own sudden boldness. He grinned from ear to ear as he listened to you blurt out your ideas, which sounded absolutely heavenly to him.

- He stopped you in your tracks and grabbed your hand. “You know, you could probably lure me anywhere with these croissants. And dinner sounds lovely. I could tell you about some painting workshops I offer, what about that? Rest assured that I will drag it out as long as I can.” You two laughed. You two knew.

        “I’m counting on it, Taehyung.”

         “I’ll see you tomorrow then, lovely.”

[irish-dress-history]

Did the ancient Celts really paint themselves blue?

Part 2: Irish tattoos

Clockwise from top left: Deirdre and Naoise from the Ulster Cycle by amylouioc, detail from The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife by Daniel Maclise, a modern Celtic revival tattoo, Michael Flatley in a promotional image for the Irish step dance show 'Lord of the Dance'

This is my second post exploring the historical evidence for our modern belief that the ancient and medieval Insular Celts painted or tattooed themselves with blue pigment. In the first post, I discussed the fact that body paint seems to have been used by residents of Great Britain between approximately 50 BCE to 100 CE. In this post, I will examine the evidence for tattooing.

Once again, I am looking at sources pertaining to any ethnic group who lived in the British Isles, this time from the Roman Era to the early Middle Ages. The relevant text sources range from approximately 200 CE to 900 CE. I am including all British Isles cultures, because a) determining exactly which Insular culture various writers mean by terms like ‘Briton’, ‘Scot’, and ‘Pict’ is sometimes impossible and b) I don’t want to risk excluding any relevant evidence.

Continental Written Sources:

The earliest written source to mention tattoos in the British Isles is Herodian of Antioch’s History of the Roman Empire written circa 208 CE. In it, Herodian says of the Britons, "They tattoo their bodies with colored designs and drawings of all kinds of animals; for this reason they do not wear clothes, which would conceal the decorations on their bodies" (translation from MacQuarrie 1997). Herodian is probably reporting second-hand information given to him by soldiers who fought under Septimius Severus in Britain (MacQuarrie 1997) and shouldn't be considered a true primary source.

Also in the early 3rd century, Gaius Julius Solinus says in Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium 22.12, "regionem [Brittaniae] partim tenent barbari, quibus per artifices plagarum figuras iam inde a pueris variae animalium effigies incorporantur, inscriptisque visceribus hominis incremento pigmenti notae crescunt: nec quicquam mage patientiae loco nationes ferae ducunt, quam ut per memores cicatrices plurimum fuci artus bibant."

Translation: "The area [of Britain] is partly occupied by barbarians on whose bodies, from their childhood upwards, various forms of living creatures are represented by means of cunningly wrought marks: and when the flesh of the person has been deeply branded, then the marks of the pigment get larger as the man grows, and the barbaric nations regard it as the highest pitch of endurance to allow their limbs to drink in as much of the dye as possible through the scars which record this" (from MacQuarrie 1997).

This passage, like Herodian's, is clearly a description of tattooing, not body staining or painting. That said, I have no idea of tattoos actually work like this. I would think this would result in the adult having a faded, indistinct tattoo, but if anyone knows otherwise, please tell me.

The poet Claudian, writing in the early 5th c., is the first to specifically mention the Picts having tattoos (MacQuarrie 1997). In De Bello Gothico he says, "Venit & extremis legio praetenta Britannis,/ Quæ Scoto dat frena truci, ferroque notatas/ Perlegit exanimes Picto moriente figuras."

Translation: "The legion comes to make a trial of the most remote parts of Britain where it subdues the wild Scot and gazes on the iron-wrought figures on the face of the dying Pict" (from MacQuarrie 1997).

Last, and possibly least, of our Mediterranean sources is Isidore of Seville. In the early 7th c. he writes, "the Pictish race, their name derived from their body, which the efficient needle, with minute punctures, rubs in the juices squeezed from native plants so that it may bring these scars to its own fashion [. . .] The Scotti have their name from their own language by reason of [their] painted body, because they are marked by iron needles with dark coloring in the form of a marking of varying shapes." (translation from MacQuarrie 1997)

Isidore is the earliest writer to explicitly link the name 'Pict' to their 'painted' (Latin: pictus) i.e. tattooed bodies. Isidore probably borrowed information for his description from earlier writers like Claudian (MacQuarrie 1997).

In the 8th century, we have a source that definitely isn't Romans recycling old hearsay. In 786, a pair of papal legates visited the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria (Story 1995). In their report to Pope Hadrian, the legates condemn pagans who have "superimposed most hideous cicatrices" (i.e gotten tattoos), likening the pagan practice to coloring oneself "with dirty spots". The location of the visit indicates that these are Anglo-Saxon tattoos rather than Celtic, but some scholars have suggested that the Anglo-Saxons might have adopted the practice from the Brittonic Celts (MacQuarrie 1997).

A gloss in the margin of the late 9th c. German manuscript Fulda Aa 2 defines Stingmata [sic] as "put pictures on the bodies as the Irish (Scotti) do." (translation from MacQuarrie 1997).

Fulda Aa 2 folio 43r The gloss is on the left underlined in white.

Irish Written Sources:

Irish texts that mention tattoos date to approximately 700-900 CE, although some of them have glosses that may be slightly later, and some of them cannot be precisely dated.

The first text source is a poem known in English as "The Caldron of Poesy," written in the early 8th c. (Breatnach 1981). The poem is purportedly the work of Amairgen, ollamh of the legendary Milesian kings. In the first stanza of the poem, he introduces himself saying, "I being white-kneed, blue-shanked, grey-bearded Amairgen." (translation from Breatnach 1981)

The text of the poem with interline glosses from Trinity College Dublin MS 1337/1

The word garrglas (blue-shanked) has a Middle Irish (c. 900-1200) gloss added by a later scribe, defining garrglas as: "a tattooed shank, or who has the blue tattooed shank" (Breatnach 1981).

Although Amairgen was a mythical figure, the position ollamh was not. An ollamh was the highest rank of poet in medieval Ireland, considered worthy of the same honor-price as a king (Carey 1997, Breatnach 1981). The fact that a man of such esteemed status introduces himself with the descriptor 'blue-shanked' suggests that tattoos were a respectable thing to have in early medieval Ireland.

The leg tattoos are also mentioned c. 900 CE in Cormac’s Glossary. It defines feirenn as "a thong which is about the calf of a man whence ‘a tattooed thong is tattooed about [the] calf’" (translation from MacQuarrie 1997)

The Irish legal text Uraicecht Becc, dated to the 9th or early 10th c., includes the word creccoire on a list of low-status occupations (Szacillo 2012, MacNeill 1924). A gloss defines it as: crechad glass ar na roscaib, a phrase which Szacillo interprets as meaning "making grey-blue sore (tattooing) on the eyes" (2012). This sounds rather strange, but another early Irish text clarifies it.

The Vita sancti Colmani abbatis de Land Elo written around the 8th-9th centuries (Szacillo 2012) contains the following episode:

On another time, St Colmán, looking upon his brother, who was the son of Beugne, saw that the lids of his eyes had been secretly painted with the hyacinth colour, as it was in the custom; and it was a great offence at St Colmán’s. He said to his brother: ‘May your eyes not see the light in your life (any more). And from that hour he was blind, seeing nothing until (his) death. (translation from Szacillo 2012).

The original Latin phrase describing what so offended St Colmán "palpebre oculorum illius latenter iacinto colore" does not contain the verb paint (pingo). It just says his eyelids were hyacinth (blue) colored. This passage together with the gloss from the Uraicecht Becc implies that there was a custom of tattooing people's eyelids blue in early medieval Ireland. A creccoire* was therefore a professional eyelid tattooer or a tattoo artist.

A possible third reference to tattooing the area around the eye is found in a list of Old Irish kennings. The kenning for the letter 'B' translates as 'Beauty of the eyebrow.' This kenning is glossed with the word crecad/creccad (McManus 1988). Crecad could be translated as cauterizing, branding, or tattooing (eDIL). McManus suggests "adornment (by tattooing) of the eyebrow" as a plausible interpretation of how crecad relates to the beauty of the eyebrow (1988). The precise date of this text is not known (McManus 1988), but Old Irish was used c. 600-900 CE, meaning this text is of a similar date to the other Irish references to tattoos.

Kenning of the letter 'b' with gloss from TCD MS 1337/1

There is a sharp contrast between the association of tattoos with a venerated figure in 'The Caldron of Poesy', and their association with low-status work and divine punishment in the Uraicecht Becc and the Vita. This indicates that there was a shift in the cultural attitude towards tattoos in Ireland during the 7th-9th centuries. The fact that a Christian saint considered getting tattoos a big enough offense to punish his own brother with blindness suggests that tattooing might have been a pagan practice which gradually got pushed out by the Catholic Church. This timeline is consistent with the 786 CE report of the papal legates condemning the pagan practice of tattooing in Great Britain (MacQuarrie 1997).

There are some mentions of tattooing in Lebor Gabála Érenn, but the information largely appears to be borrowed from Isidore of Seville (MacQuarrie 1997). The fact that the writers of LGE just regurgitated Isidore's meager descriptions of Pictish and Scottish (ie Irish) tattooing without adding any details, such as the designs used or which parts of the body were tattooed, makes me think that Insular tattooing practices had passed out of living memory by the time the book was written in the 11th century.

*There is some etymological controversy over this term. Some have suggested that the Old Irish word for eyelid-tattooer should actually be crechaire. more info Even if this hypothesis is correct, and the scribe who wrote the gloss on creccoire mistook it for crechaire, this doesn't contradict my argument. The scribe clearly believed that eyelid-tattooer belonged on a list of low-status occupations.

Discussion:

Like Julius Cesar in the last post, Herodian of Antioch c. 208 CE makes some dubious claims of Celtic barbarism, stating that the Britons were: "Strangers to clothing, the Britons wear ornaments of iron at their waists and throats; considering iron a symbol of wealth, they value this metal as other barbarians value gold" (translation from MacQuarrie 1997). If the Britons wore nothing but iron jewelry, then why did they have brass torcs and 5,000 objects that look like they're meant to attach to fabric, Herodian?

Brass torc from Lochar Moss, Scotland c. 50-200 CE. Romano-British trumpet brooch from Cumbria c. 75-175 CE. image from the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Trumpet brooches are a Roman Era artifact invented in Britain, that were probably pinned to people's clothing. more info

Although Herodian and Solinus both make dubious claims, there are enough differences between them to indicate that they had 2 separate sources of information, and one was not just parroting the other. This combined with the fact that we have more-reliable sources from later centuries confirming the existence of tattoos in the British Isles makes it probable that there was at least a grain of truth to their claims of tattooing.

There is a common belief that the name Pict originated from the Latin pictus (painted), because the Picts had 'painted' or tattooed bodies. The Romans first used the name Pict to refer to inhabitants of Britain in 297 CE (Ware 2021), but the first mention of Pictish tattoos came in 402 CE (Carr 2005), and the first explicit statement that the name Pict was derived from the Picts' tattooed bodies came from Isidore of Seville c. 600 CE (MacQuarrie 1997). Unless someone can find an earlier source for this alleged etymology than Isidore, I am extremely skeptical of it.

Summary of the written evidence:

Some time between c. 79 CE (Pliny the Elder) and c. 208 CE (Herodian of Antioch) the practice of body art in Great Britain changed from staining or painting the skin to tattooing. Third century Celtic Briton tattoo designs depicted animals. Pictish tattoos are first mentioned in the 5th century.

The earliest mention of Irish tattoos comes from Isidore of Seville in the early 6th c., but since it seems to have been a pre-Christian practice, it likely started earlier. Irish tattoos of the 8-9th centuries were placed on the area around the eye and on the legs. They were a bluish color. The 8th c. Anglo-Saxons also had tattoos.

Tattooing in Ireland probably ended by the early 10th c., possibly because of Christian condemnation. Exactly when tattooing ended in Great Britain is unclear, but in the 12th c., William of Malmesbury describes it as a thing of the past (MacQuarrie 1997). None of these sources give much detail as to what the tattoos looked like.

The Archaeology of Insular Ink:

In spite of the fact that tattooing was a longer-lasting, more wide-spread practice in the British Isles than body painting, there is less archaeological evidence for it. This may be because the common tools used for tattooing, needles or blades for puncturing the skin, pigments to make the ink, and dishes to hold the ink, all had other common uses in the Middle Ages that could make an archaeologist overlook their use in tattooing. The same needle that was used to sew a tunic could also have been used to tattoo a leg (Carr 2005). A group of small, toothed bronze plates from a Romano-British site at Chalton, Hampshire might have been tattoo chisels (Carr 2005) or they might have been used to make stitching holes in leather (Cunliffe 1977).

Although the pigment used to make tattoos may be difficult to identify at archaeological sites, other lines of evidence might give us an idea of what it was. Although the written sources tell us that Irish tattoos were blue, the popular modern belief that woad was the source of the tattoo pigment is, in my opinion, extremely unlikely for a couple of reasons:

1) Blue pigment from woad doesn't seem to work as tattoo ink. The modern tattoo artists who have tried to use it have found that it burns out of the person's skin, leaving a scar with no trace of blue in it (Lambert 2004).

2) None of the historical sources actually mention tattooing with woad. Julius Cesar and Pliny the Elder mention something that might have been woad, but they were talking about body paint, not tattoos. (see previous post) Isidore of Seville claimed that the Picts were tattooing themselves with "juices squeezed from native plants", but even assuming that Isidore is a reliable source, you can't get blue from woad by just squeezing the juice out of it. In order to get blue out of woad, you have to first steep the leaves, then discard the leaves and add a base like ammonia to the vat (Carr 2005). The resulting dye vat is not something any knowledgeable person would describe as plant juice, so either Isidore had no idea what he was talking about, or he is talking about something other than blue pigment from woad.

In my opinion, the most likely pigment for early Irish and British tattoos is charcoal. Early tattoos found on mummies from Europe and Siberia all contain charcoal and no other colored pigment. These tattoos range in date from c. 3300 BCE (Ötzi the Iceman) to c. 300 CE (Oglakhty grave 4) (Samadelli et al 2015, Pankova 2013).

Despite the fact that charcoal is black, it tends to look blueish when used in tattoos (Pankova 2013). Even modern black ink tattoos that use carbon black pigment (which is effectively a purer form of charcoal) tend to look increasingly blue as they age.

A 17-year-old tattoo in carbon black ink photographed with a swatch of black Sharpie on white printer paper.

The fact that charcoal-based tattoo inks continue to be used today, more than 5,000 years after the first charcoal tattoo was given, shows that charcoal is an effective, relatively safe tattoo pigment, unlike woad. Additionally, charcoal can be easily produced with wood fires, meaning it would have been a readily available material for tattoo artists in the early medieval British Isles. We would need more direct evidence, like a tattooed body from the British Isles, to confirm its use though.

As of June 2024, there have been at least 279 bog bodies* found in the British Isles (Ó Floinn 1995, Turner 1995, Cowie, Picken, Wallace 2011, Giles 2020, BBC 2024), a handful of which have made it into modern museum collections. Unfortunately, tattoos have not been found on any of them. (We don't have a full scientific analysis for the 2023 Bellaghy find yet though.)

*This number includes some finds from fens. It does not include the Cladh Hallan composite mummies.

Tattoos in period art?

It has been suggested that the man fight a beast on Book of Kells f. 130r may be naked and covered in tattoos (MacQuarrie 1997). However, Dress in Ireland author Mairead Dunlevy interprets this illustration as a man wearing a jacket and trews (Dunlevy 1989). Looking at some of the other figures in the Book of Kells, I agree with Dunlevy. F. 97v shows the same long, fitted sleeves and round neckline. F. 292r has long, fitted leg coverings, presumably trews, and also long sleeves. The interlace and dot motifs on f. 130r's legs may be embroidery. Embroidered garments were a status symbol in early medieval Ireland (Dunlevy 1989).

Left to right: Book of Kells folios 130r, 97v, 292r

A couple of sculptures in County Fermanagh might sport depictions of Irish tattoos. The first, known as the Bishop stone, is in the Killadeas cemetery. It features a carved head with 2 marks on the left side of the face, a double line beside the mouth and a single line below the eye. These lines may represent tattoos.

The second sculpture is the Janus figure on Boa Island. (So named because it has 2 faces; it's not Roman.) It has marks under the right eye and extending from the corner of the left eye that may be tattoos.

I cannot find a definitive date for the Bishop stone head, but it bears a strong resemblance to the nearby White Island church figures. The White Island figures are stylistically dated to the 9th-10th centuries and may come from a church that was destroyed by Vikings in 837 CE (Halpin and Newman 2006, Lowry-Corry 1959). The Janus figure is believed to be Iron Age or early medieval (Halpin and Newman 2006).

Conclusions:

Despite the fact that tattooing as a custom in the British Isles lasted for more than 500 years and was practiced by at least 3 different cultures, written sources remain our only solid evidence for it. With only a dozen sources, some of which probably copied each other, to cover this time span, there are huge gaps in our knowledge. The 4th century Picts may not have had the same tattoo designs, placements or reasons for getting tattooed as the 8th c. Irish or Anglo-Saxons. These sources only give us fragments of information on who got tattooed, where the tattoos were placed, what they looked like, how the tattoos were done, and why people got tattooed. Further complicating our limited information is the fact that most of the text sources come from foreigners and/or people who were prejudiced against tattooing, which calls their accuracy into question.

'The Cauldron of Posey' is one source that provides some detail while not showing prejudice against tattoos. The author of the poem was probably Christian, but the poem appears to have been written at a time when Pagan practices were still tolerated in Ireland. I have a complete translation of the poem along with a longer discussion of religious elements here.

Leave me a tip?

Bibliography:

BBC (2024). Bellaghy bog body: Human remains are 2,000 years old https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68092307

Breatnach, L. (1981). The Cauldron of Poesy. Ériu, 32(1981), 45-93. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007454

Carey, J. (1997). The Three Things Required of a Poet. Ériu, 48(1997), 41-58. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007956

Carr, Gillian. (2005). Woad, Tattooing and Identity in Later Iron Age and Early Roman Britain. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 24(3), 273–292. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.2005.00236.x

Cowie, T., Pickin, J. and Wallace, T. (2011). Bog bodies from Scotland: old finds, new records. Journal of Wetland Archaeology 10(1): 1–45.

Cunliffe, B. (1977) The Romano-British Village at Chalton, Hants. Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society, 33(1977), 45-67.

Dunlevy, Mairead (1989). Dress in Ireland. B. T. Batsford LTD, London. 

eDIL s.v. crechad https://dil.ie/12794

Giles, Melanie. (2020). Bog Bodies Face to face with the past. Manchester University Press, Manchester. https://library.oapen.org/viewer/web/viewer.html?file=/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/46717/9781526150196_fullhl.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Halpin, A., Newman, C. (2006). Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600. Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://archive.org/details/irelandoxfordarc0000halp/page/n3/mode/2up

Hoecherl, M. (2016). Controlling Colours: Function and Meaning of Colour in the British Iron Age. Archaeopress Publishing LTD, Oxford. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Controlling_Colours/WRteEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Lambert, S. K. (2004). The Problem of the Woad. Dunsgathan.net. https://dunsgathan.net/essays/woad.htm

Lowry-Corry, D. (1959). A Newly Discovered Statue at the Church on White Island, County Fermanagh. Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 22(1959), 59-66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20567530

MacQuarrie, Charles. (1997). Insular Celtic tattooing: History, myth and metaphor. Etudes Celtiques, 33, 159-189. https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.1997.2117

McManus, D. (1988). Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings. Ériu, 39(1988), 127-168. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30024135

Ó Floinn, R. (1995). Recent research into Irish bog bodies. In R. C. Turner and R. G. Scaife (eds) Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives (p. 137–45). British Museum Press, London. ISBN: 9780714123059

Pankova, S. (2013). One More Culture with Ancient Tattoo Tradition in Southern Siberia: Tattoos on a Mummy from the Oglakhty Burial Ground, 3rd-4th century AD. Zurich Studies in Archaeology, 9(2013), 75-86.

Samadelli, M., Melisc, M., Miccolic, M., Vigld, E.E., Zinka, A.R. (2015). Complete mapping of the tattoos of the 5300-year-old Tyrolean Iceman. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 16(2015), 753–758.

Story, Joanna (1995). Charlemagne and Northumbria : the influence of Francia on Northumbrian politics in the later eighth and early ninth centuries. [Doctoral Thesis]. Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1460/

Szacillo, J. (2012). Irish hagiography and its dating: a study of the O'Donohue group of Irish saints' lives. [Doctoral Thesis]. Queen's University Belfast.

Turner, R.C. (1995). Resent Research into British Bog Bodies. In R. C. Turner and R. G. Scaife (eds) Bog Bodies: New Discoveries and New Perspectives (p. 221–34). British Museum Press, London. ISBN: 9780714123059

Ware, C. (2021). A Literary Commentary on Panegyrici Latini VI(7) An Oration Delivered Before the Emperor Constantine in Trier, ca. AD 310. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Literary_Commentary_on_Panegyrici_Lati/oEwMEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

[llamaisllama777]

THE DAILY*/WEEKLY* LAES,TSAMS,EAPS REVIEW SHOW!!!

Off the bat with an amazing episode.

I LOVED this episode. We're finally getting into all the trauma Moon has faced. Everything he's ever done. Everything he ever did. It's all coming back, and he's really not doing well. He was too afraid of Nexus to help Sun.

Moon was afraid. MOON. WAS. AFRAID.

I never thought I'd hear those words.

This episode also made me realize that Moon's sacrifice really did mean nothing! Moon died for nothing. Killcode got to live for a bit, but he still died. Moon's death led to the creation of New Moon/Nexus. If Moon had just accepted his killcode instead of trying to get rid of it, none of this would have happened. Moon's death really did do more harm than good.

Earth really came in clutch here. This was basically a pseudo-therapy episode. (I miss those episodes. Those episodes were always neat)

Earth, you say you may not know what to say sometimes or you don't know what to do but when you do you really do!

I'm also glad Earth and Monty are being more honest with the other cause they are really cute, and I want these characters to be happy.

NEXT EPISODE...

Jack and Sun? Hanging out? YYYYEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved this episode a lot, too. It's nice to Jack and Sun finally getting a chance to bond while Solar, Moon, and Monty battle the little barbershop of horrors plant outside. Sun and Jack actually make decent friends. I hope we get more of them hanging out and their dynamic. I loved how Jack finally was able to tell Sun that he felt threatened by Sun's friendship with Dazzle. I was hoping they would eventually talk that out, and I'm so glad it happened!

Things I learned in today's episode

1. Jack doesn't like ranged weapons like guns. (He likes throwing knives, though)

2. Jack has seen every James Bond film. Jack is a Bond fan.

3. Jack can kill a man with a pencil

4. Monty can build anything out of anything

Also, I really hope someone draws a picture of Jack dressed as V from V for Vendetta! Please, someone, draw that! I beg of the!

Also, I thought that scene where Jack was singing Walk the Moon's "Shut up and dance with me" when they were watching the ballroom fight scene from one John Wick movies

And lastly...

Welp. I'm glad they're friends. Shame it took the death of a kid for them to do so.

Jake was nice. He seemed so innocent. I actually felt super sad and worried when they said he died. I was like, "Oh no! Did the killer get to him?!" But no. He just passed..... I honestly think that's sadder for some reason.

Moon, Sun, and Eclipse are working through that loss, and I'm glad to see F.C. and Andrew are working through their own thing.

Yep, as I suspected F.C. is traumatized by what he saw. Seriously, Eclipse, a heads up would have been nice. I'm happy to see F.C. and Andrew get along. They have come a long way since well everything. I also thought it was funny when F.C. said he hated Andrew. I genuinely expected Andrew to be the one to hate F.C. not the other way around.

WE GOT A CLUE ON WHO THE KILLER COULD BE!!!

When F.c. and Andrew was leaving parts and service. Andrew found an open spray can of yellow paint.... the same yellow as the bunny suit the killer wore. The killer is indeed an employee or The Mimic (I will die on that hill till proven otherwise), so the Killer's suit isn't actually yellow, and he has access to the parts and service room. The Killer's identity is closer to being revealed! I. CAN'T. WAIT!

I loved today's episodes. Especially TLAES one.

12/10 👍👏

[paperstarwriters]

Hey, do you take requests? I loved your Modern Roomate Muriel X Reader fic and I would love a part 2 if you ever felt like writing it <3

Yes I take requests! But it does take a while for me to finish them cause I'm slow and this was no exception lol

thank you for waiting though! and I'm glad you like my writing enough to want more!

For this one I've tried to keep descriptions vague but also I tried to be accurate with Muriel's colors. Though if you can't tell I'm still not exactly confident with makeup lmao. Tbh i can't use it much since I'm prone to rashes, so I don't have much experience lol. Still I hope you enjoy <3

Pairing: Modern Roommates Muriel x Reader

Warnings: Lots of fluff & Author knows little about Makeup 😅.

Summary: Muriel admits that he has worn makeup before, but under such bad circumstances, you can't help but want to give him a better experience.  More important than the colours, more important than the fine lines, you want this to feel... Nice for Muriel. Like he's being pampered. He deserves that you think.

Word Count: 3, 640

Part 1 | Masterlists | The Arcana Masterlist

Painting

"So have you worn make up before?" 

Muriel pauses in making breakfast, turning to face you as you sip at your glass of water at the table. Had he not noticed you come in? He's typically very (annoyingly) good at that. Any chance of preening at your sudden ability to sneak up on your roommate falls flat as he makes a scrunched expression. Disgust perhaps? Or discomfort? You can't tell as he quickly turns back to his cooking, too soon to let you see what exactly he might have felt. 

Thankfully, he graces you with a reply. 

"I... Did before..... For a bit.... For a.... Job." 

Your stomach sinks. 

It's funny how much there is to notice. What you can pick up and understand when you live so closely with a quiet roommate. How a hum can mean a number of things, ranging from a simple yes to, "I think that's kinda dumb but you know what, you do you." or "I appreciate you too much to disagree." And for all that Muriel did not talk to you about his past, he only ever reserves the word "Job" for one job he's had in the past. Everything else is called work. This, you're sure, is better called torture. 

Asra mentioned it once to you before, when you were new roommates and he was far grouchier and colder. Muriel worked a job under some toxic super wealthy frat boy manager doing something violent and unsavory. A boxing ring you sometimes imagined, an assassination job it sometimes sounded like. In desperate need of money he had to do a lot of terrible things. It's a wonder he ever got out without someone chasing him to drag him back in, but well, thanks to the r3d outbreak getting away is way easier when your employers get sick, or when you can feign an illness and leave as the higher ups fear for their lives.

What kind of make up would that kind of job need? Maybe something black around the eyes like they do for the military with their masks? Or was it make up to appear more sick in order to escape?

Muriel sighs as he pushes your plate closer to you, startling you as you hadn't even noticed it was there. You mutter your thanks before you start eating the eggs and rice he's prepared for you, still trying to chew over what his possible past experience might have been with makeup while you try to chew your food at the same time. The result is tenuous of at best as you run very close to choking on your food a handful of times and miss your mouth once or twice when particularly deep in thought. 

What kind of makeup did Muriel even use?

...What would he look like in makeup?

On that point, what would suit him best? Something dramatic and edgy or emo? Or maybe a pop of colour? Green around his eyes might draw lovely attention to the green within, but a dark eyeliner might as well. What about contrast? Red against green? Wouldn't he look lovely in red? A lingering stain of red on his cheeks, and a bright red stain of red on his lips... Ah how kissable they would be then?

...well, anyone would consider his lips kissable if such plush things were stained a vibrant red...

"Are... Are you done?" Muriel mumbles, eyes diverted to tracing the scuffmarks at the bottom of the wall beside him.

It takes you a moment to realize that your plate is already empty, and a moment longer to realize you had been staring at Muriel for the last few minutes as you daydreamed about makeup. You're quick to rectify your mistake as you redirect your attention to your empty plate, though it takes you another moment to remember that it's your turn to wash them, plucking your plate and his from the table to go and wash.

It's silent for awhile. An anxious little silence wrought with a familiar lighthearted tension. It's more awkward than anything, but someone needs to break the silence, someone needed to say something. If you could just—

"Do you wanna try wearing makeup?" you blurt out. You don't even need to turn to look behind you to see his shocked expression at your offer, maybe even a little bit of hurt or betrayal that you just cannot bear to see. So you keep your eyes on the dishes before you, quickly scrubbing away rice with a sponge as the used pan sits below soaking in the water. "Not any battle make-up or anything, but just something... I don't know... Artsy or something? Something colourful? Something that would compliment your eyes..... Uhm not that your eyes aren't pretty or something—or that you're not pretty without makeup—or that you even need to do this at all haha!" 

Above you the light from the small kitchen's lightbulb is eclipsed by a familiar figure behind you. With a gentle touch of your shoulder, Muriel brings your attention up towards him though he still looks away, avoiding your eyes, as the corner of his lips twitches. You can't tell if he's fighting a smile or fighting a frown. 

"You don't have to, Muriel. It's just an idea..." 

And finally he meets your gaze. "I... No. I... I'd like that. It sounds...nice." 

His eyes wander away from you again, as if ashamed to confess that he'd like to wear make up—though maybe, considering what you've heard about that shitty old job, he is. Maybe his old job was the type to argue that pretty makeup was for the weak and spineless, or maybe he was convinced that pretty makeup was only for the rich and wealthy who came to watch or hire him to fight for them, all while they'd sit so far away and safe and cozy in some plush lounge seat, so far away from the danger and the violence, but getting the chance to watch, and delight in the wretched outcome.

Either case is so awfully sad. Either case only makes you want to doll him up in makeup even more.

Furiously you scrub at the pan, and within a matter of seconds you've scraped off anything that had ever threatened to stick, thoroughly scrubbed at it with soap and set it aside to dry with the plates as you wipe your hands on your shirt and nearly bolt off to your room to search for your materials. Hopefully you had colours that would work well with him. 

It takes you a moment to realize that you're alone in your room, turning with a handful of tools to find no one there behind you, and as you peek out of your door and down the hallway, you find Muriel still standing in front of the sink, staring at you with wide confused and slightly worried eyes. 

"Do you not wanna do it anymore?"

His eyes seem to go even wider for a moment, before he replies, "right now?" 

"Did you want to do it later?"

"I—no....okay!"

And back in to your room you go, this time with the added assurance that Muriel would follow, marked by the faint thud of his feet against the hallway floors.

You dig around for your cleanest brushes, and grab your most trustworthy (and thus most used) brushes alongside it, grabbing something to clean the brushes as you bolt off to the bathroom  to wash your tools, before you return to searching your assortment of tools in search for items that would suit him. The red of one lipstick would look lovely in contrast to his eyes, but a muted dusty pink might look just as pretty wouldn't it? Perhaps a bold black eyeliner, would be a bit much—and maybe a bit too similar to whatever black eye paint they used in the military if he used that stuff, so maybe a brown eyeliner would work a bit better? If you even had one of those... Though maybe brown eyeshadow would be effective enough? Ah but maybe brown wouldn't be as noticeable...

You zip back and forth between the washroom and your tools, between cleaning and searching for colours and palettes rummaging through your rather limited assortment of makeup tools. Having only ever bought stuff for yourself, you didn't really have much outside of your favourite colours or in tones that would suit your skin, but a few older products that you tried and didn't like, or a few palettes with sparsely used colours were surely somewhere within the mix. 

You only pause in your searching as you're pulling your brushes out from the washroom, having dried them off loosely with a towel to go further air dry them beside a nearby fan or in the sun by the window or something, you had been in the middle of deciding when you realized you had forgotten a crucial component. 

"Hey Muriel?" 

He sits up straight at the sound of his name, head snapping away to look out the door, as his hands ball into fists as if bracing for the touch of your brush. 

You can't help but hesitate a bit at the sight. 

"What.....?"

"Oh, uh, you should probably go wash your face, and use some cream on your skin as well. The one in the flat container should be pretty good for most skin I think?"

Muriel nods, still not looking your way as you return to your make up drawers in search for odd colours you only maybe, hopefully had for him.

When the sound of the sink finally shuts off, you take it as your cue to give up. It's an odd assortment of colors—you doubt you'd use that neon shade of green on him, even if green is his colour the brightness might be a bit...off-putting right away, but you have a general colour scheme you can follow using some of the colours on hand. 

Face ever so slightly damp and shiny from the cream, Muriel returns, looking... Anxious to say the least really.

He fiddles with his hands a bit, touching his face almost just as much, trying to wipe away invisible droplets of water, or trying to smooth down the thicker patches of the lotion you let him borrow. 

And again, you find yourself hesitant.

"Are you sure you wanna try this? No shame in backing out. It's easy to put this stuff away." 

Muriel nods, following his silence with a half whispered reply. "No, I'm ..... I'm okay. I want to try...."

You nod, and pulling your first brush from it's little cup, you settle down, and begin to get to work. 

It's a lot of careful maneuvering, carefully dabbing colours onto some places with a brush, rubbing other places with your fingers, before you lean away to check how you're doing. Were the colours too bright? Was that line off? There are a few things that you end up having to scrub off with a makeup wipe, but even with that you're careful of his skin. More important than the colours, more important than the fine lines, you want this to feel... Nice for Muriel. Like he's being pampered. Muriel barely moves through the entirety of it all, but for what little he does it means all the world to you. Silent and unmoving, eyes and mouth closed, Muriel serves as the perfect canvas, only difficult in the fact that it keeps you from seeing whether he likes it or not, if he feels pampered or not. At the very least, you hope it feels nothing like whatever his old job used to do for him. 

Ah, but you can only really hope. 

An orange-red lipstick is the final touch, but your limited supply of brushes are already all packed with colours, and you'd like to —if all possible—keep the things that touched your eyes from going towards anyone—including your own—mouth. 

So you elected a far simpler method instead. You rub your finger against the lipstick bullet, and with your finger to his lips you smudge the colour against his skin. And with a simple touch to his lips, you make him jolt, breaking his statuesque composure, for just a moment before he's still all over again, albeit maybe leaning a little more foreword than before. If he has, it's barely noticeable, and probably caused by that one jolt of movement. His lips are a bit chapped and dry, so it takes a few attempts, but you manage to stain his lips with a suitable amount of colour in your eyes. 

You take a step back to see what you've done, and smile, satisfied at your work. It's nothing special, nothing on the level of some professional in a studio with all the makeup options in the world at their fingertips, but you think that it suits him, and you're proud of that much at least.

"You can open your eyes now." 

You offer him a hand mirror, and let him examine your, admittedly shoddy work. It's not perfect, but the colours look nice you think, though you can't help but wince at the selection a little. You just didn't have a shade of green that would fit him well in your opinion, so you leaned instead into the red colours that you did have. You used the only greens you could find to add a little colour to the inner and outer corners of his eyes, and used a warm orange-y-red lipstick on his lips that turned out pretty dark against his skin, you also smudged the colour a bit along his cheeks as well, as a sort of blush really though if you could you'd like to try to capture that shade of red his face so often blooms. It really isn't your best work, limited as your colour palette was, but....

Well, the way his eyes seem to glitter more at seeing it.... Well, it would make any make up look pretty on him really.

"Can I... Ask for one thing?" 

You blink, surprised for a moment before you're immediately grabbing the makeup wipes again. 

"Sure! Do you not like the colours? Is there a colour that you'd rather wear?" 

His cheeks tint red, and you almost curse yourself for the smudge of dark red on his cheeks, making it harder to decipher that exact shade. Surely you had lipstick in that colour at least...?

"What.... What was the colour of lipstick you were wearing last night....?" 

You pause for a moment, dropping the attempt of colour matching to grab the tube of lipstick from it's place on your table. It was a dark red shade, almost like the colour of blood, a shade you specifically aimed to avoid, hoping that it wouldn't make him uncomfortable. 

"This one? You wanna try it on?" He barely even looks at it before he nods, making you sigh as you bring it closer to him to let him inspect it. "It might look different on your skin than it does on mine just an fyi, so don't be surprised if it looks different okay?" 

Muriel nods again, this time having looked at the lipstick a little more thoroughly. He doesn't react to the colour at all no trace of hesitance or weariness, so perhaps they didn't try to paint him in "blood" or anything dramatic like that. 

With your fingers once again, you press the red colour against his lips, as Muriel leans into your touch this time, eyes closed as he lets you work. The sight of it startles you for just a moment, looking as if he were leaning in for a kiss. 

Your finger slips from it's path, and a smudge of red, streaks away from his lips, but even that looks so.... Pretty against his skin. Like he's been kissed, like whatever lipstick he had been wearing had been smudged by another pair of lips eager to express their affection. 

You hesitate, staring at his lips for a moment before you finally turn away to grab more makeup wipes. When you turn back, Muriel's eyes are already open, already staring at your sloppy job with his lipstick. 

"Sorry I'll fix it. Do you like the colour though?" 

Muriel's eyes flicker to yours for a moment before he looks away, but a grin curls his painted lips, as more colour takes to his cheeks. A resounding yes, then, confirmed by a faint hum. A job well done in your books then, and thus a debt well repaid, for his gentle hand at helping you wash your own makeup off. 

You dab at his lip to wipe away the smudged lipstick, before you begin to pack up your supplies. "Feel free to wear that for however long you'd like, I...." you cut yourself off. The offer to help wash the make up from his face tucked away along with your makeup containers. Muriel helped you to clean off the makeup only because you needed his help exhausted and maybe a little drunk from your night out, but Muriel can surely handle himself. 

When you turn back around, Muriel is staring at himself in the mirror. It's the most you've seen him look in a mirror to be honest. Not including the bathroom, your room seems to be the only one in the apartment with a mirror, and though you've offered to let Muriel borrow your mirror if he needs to, or to help him buy his own, he's staunchly refused your offers. It was a small thing though, nothing that you'd feel the need to press him about. He's covered in scars after all, and you know full well how he feels about those—the whole reason why you let him use a handheld mirror than your full sized one. 

But now, as he holds your little handheld mirror up, to look at his face, you can't help but notice how he traces his own lips with a newfound reverence, fingers dancing along the flesh with the barest touch as if he were worried it would smudge, or wipe away with a mere touch. Yet even then, the corners of his lips are pulled up. Did he like it that much? You make a mental note to buy extra of that colour the next chance you get alongside some green eyeshadow perhaps, though by the looks of if, Muriel seemed to much prefer the lipstick that stained his lips than any of the other colours you've splattered on his face. 

It takes him a few moments, but when his eyes finally flicker up to you, he does so with a smile, that promptly fades into a blushy pout as he realizes your attention. It's a tragedy to see it go, but seeing his lip jut out at the attention is nearly as good. 

"Do you like it?" 

You're startled at his question, for a moment, scrambling for coherent thought to best reply to him. The reply you give in the end makes your own face grow warm, though earnest and true. 

"You look lovely." Even your expression softens a little, as your eyes flit back down to his lips.  Once more, Muriel's face picks up colour again, but try as he might, he can't quite keep the smile from curling up the corners of his mouth at his words. 

"Thank you."

Standing, Muriel fidgets with the mirror for a moment before handing it to you, mouth parting for a moment before he thinks better of it and closes it again. It continues for a moment or two, making him stay longer than you'd expect him to, as he stares anywhere but you. Familiar with the gesture, you wait for him to get his words in order, even as he looms above you while you're half sitting against the ledge of your drawers.

If anything, you take the moment to re-assess your work, recalling all the improvements you fully intended to make if he let you do this again. If you could, you'd use a shade closer to his eye colour as his eyeshadow next time, to bring more attention to the colour there. Or maybe even some sparkles next time? If he didn't mind them that is, it could be a bit irritating to try to clean off sometimes. And maybe next time you'd choose a better shade of blush that would match the actual red to rise in his cheeks. 

And the red of his lips... You're tempted to reach up, to press a finger to his lips once more, if only to feel how plush they were again, if only to give him more of that pretty red that he seemed to like so much despite his past.

And you watch as those pretty painted lips part, as those lovely emerald eyes finally dart your way. You watch as his attention finally turns to you, mouth parted as if ready to speak before he pauses, just for a breath, eyes searching your face for... Something. 

And maybe he finds it. Maybe he doesn't. But in reaction to whatever he sees, just a little bit of that tension escapes his face, shoulders sagging and the faintest curl of his lips gracing his expression. 

"Next time," the spell breaks as he speaks, mouth corralled into a pout once more as his eyes dart away from you, "Next time let me put your make up on for you."

And with that he turns away fingers just brushing against yours as he leaves your room, leaving you to blink and wonder what sort of makeup he knew to apply. 

If anything, at least he seemed to like it.

If anything, you had another reason to feel his fingers against your skin...

[crazyfandomluver]

*clears throat and leans into the mic* oc update. *disappears*

Hey!

So. I figured out a bit more about my shadow company oc, and I need to share it so here’s what it is:

I decided I didn’t want him to be a soldier, we already have plenty of those, and I know we already have a medic. I was originally thinking about making him a cook, because someone has to cook for all this hungry babies, right??? WRONG. They can make their own food for themselves and for others. What these lil fellas really need, is some gosh dang THERAPY. So he’s gonna be a therapist and help his precious buddies😌

As another thing relating to therapy, he’s pretty adamant about them not bottling up their feelings, and finding some way to unleash their feelings. If they don’t want to talk about it, he’s turned an empty office room into a rage room where they can safely destroy things (The walls do not count PIXEL. You will break your fist, PIXEL.) My oc has made sure to provide safety gear, and has had soldiers bring back items from the war zone so that the soldiers can take care of pent up energy.

However, if they DO want to talk about it, he would love to sit down and talk with them! Nothing will be shared outside of his office, and he makes sure that they can feel as comfortable as they can.

He’s also REALLY good with his hands. In a crafty way, of course. He’ll often spend most of his free time making plushies, pillows, bean bags, and other things for soldiers. He’s very skilled, and very sneaky about finding out what soldiers would like, in ways ranging from having others ask about it, to sneaking the question into the end of a session. He’ll often make something for someone while they’re on a mission, and then when they come back, he’ll either give it to them personally, or they’ll find it on their bunk with a little note :) Unfortunately due to the danger that’s normally present on missions, there has been a few times where he’ll be waiting outside of the transport vehicle with the thing he made for them, watching for the soldier to exit, only to find out that they died on the mission. He knows how to handle his own grief of course, but that doesn’t make it hurt any less.

I had started thinking about what I wanted his first name to be, (because he’s not a soldier so he doesn’t have a callsign or a number) and the first name that came to mind was Adam, and I couldn’t think of anything else so… he finally has a name now! 🥳 I also decided that his last name will be Takker, which is pronounced ‘Tah-care’

Also, here’s a plushie I decided that he would make based off this dog toy that I found!

Plushie Grandpa Russell the Opossum!! Of course, the head wouldn’t be made of rubber, but I’m sure you get the idea 😅 This is just one of the things that Adam would make, including bean bags and other things. He’s also good at painting and stuff and has even drawn on his knife that he has for self defense so it’s a neat little custom decal knife ^^

I feel like he would definitely enjoy having a family, he in fact has a sweet wife who works part time on weekends and bakes him things to take to work and to his friends, and one adorable little girl who he brings to work on ‘bring your kid to work’ day. Her name is Asher, and she carries around this little unicorn plushie that Adam made for her 🥰

I will eventually draw him. (Eventually could be anywhere from today to 5 years later)

@pampanope @mrsphillipgraves @whitewolfmystery @theseareregularthoughts

[frogsrneat]

♥️ Art resources ♥️

Hey I put together a beginner art resource list! Feel free to share, save, etc. but a lot of people don’t know where to start:

Man is this a holy grail it includes free programs, online courses, tutorials, and scholarships (us based):

A big thing you are taught early on is just hand/eye coordination. Speed drawing, or “gesture drawing” if you’re fancy, is the best practice you can do on a regular basis.As much as you hate hearing “just practice”- it matters.

The best online art course I can think of. It will literally go step by step in teaching you commands and digital painting:

YouTube anatomy holy grail:

The Loomis method for the construction of the head is very popular because it is easy to learn and remember and can be applied to any drawing of the head.

Loomis also has many published books under his name. I’m not saying you can get free books here but if you could well. Careful of fake links with this site, if you don’t see the single login.re it’s the wrong one.

If loomis method books aren’t your style and you are more of a video person try this (this is the first on a short series):

If you know me I’m barely cracking the surface with digital art but I’m actually trained in professional forensic art and hyper realistic portraits , so here is info on traditional art by media.

Little proof of some training, but if you like this, this is woodless graphite pencils on vellum- just a slightly better quality than a pencil and paper :)

Finally here are some amazing pose references. Adorkastock had moved from Pinterest and is working on their own website so check them out here:

Taco is single handed my my go to for simplified anatomy and it goes my section of the body (people have made Pinterest copies that is separated by parts of the body) but I highly recommend buying it if you’re able!

I hope that this helps at least someone find a resource they needed or wanted! Feel free to dm me or repost with comments or more resources!

[upsidedownsmore]

Hi!! I was wondering if its okay to ask what brushes u normally use in krita? I love your art!!

Thank you so much!!! I only use the ones available in Krita by default and I tend to jump around based on what I think will work best for each piece, but I can give a little rundown on which ones I use the most and what I use them for :)

Here's an image guide with each of the brushes I've used and that I recommend checking out:

I'll highlight my favorites as well with some examples where they were predominantly used! (though in some cases multiple or even all of these brushes were used)

Marker Details:

Varying opacity and size makes this one my favorites for sketching, especially since it can easily be nearly transparent or fully opaque which helps with value range.

I also like using it for silhouette sketches!

It can also be used for final linework, but it takes more work to get to a full opaque and its lack of texture makes it a little less interesting than Ink-7 Brush Rough imo.

Ink-7 Brush Rough:

Really good for linework, especially for comic styled drawings with it's slight texture, varying weight, and opaqueness.

Also good for just filling in entire areas with a single color as well as non-smoothed shading!

Wet Bristles Rough:

Actually just an amazing brush, its pressure sensitivity is crazy.

Blends strokes like paint and can vary in size and opacity.

Also has a nice subtle texture!

Amazing for smoother coloring and shading, especially if you want a more painterly style.

Watercolor Texture:

(hard to show examples of this, just assume that I've used it in any piece that has smooth shading lol)

Not the best for painting/drawing on its own, however I've found it to be really useful when set to white or black on an overlay layer for adding extra shading and/or highlighting on top of the shading I've already done.

I usually shade individual figures, objects, and parts separately, but using an overlay layer with Watercolor Texture (or even Shapes Square) on top of everything helps make the entire piece feel more cohesive.

Also adds a hint more texture!

Another thing to note is the importance of layer modes!

I know that you asked about brushes specifically, but many of these brushes (particularly those to do with effects and textures) work best when experimenting with different layer modes other than Normal. Overlay is generally a safe bet and most of the best for, well, overlaying multiple layers for interesting effects. But please try out all of them at any given opportunity, sometimes things like Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, etc can have more interesting effects!

In addition, mess with filter masks! You can even edit where they apply by drawing on the mask directly! HSV/HSL Adjustment (also accessible with ctrl+u) in particular is INSANELY useful for fiddling with the colors and balance of a piece, from individual layers to whole groups and drawings. I also really like blur filters, often times I'll duplicate a layer and make the bottom one blurred to add a glow affect to something without losing its definition.

While this latter stuff isn't about brushes specifically, its generally very important to how I use and experiment with all these different brushes!

Anyways I hope this helps!! I kinda went overboard with this post, but I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you again for the wonderful ask!! :)

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer In The Dark -- The Advocates

Hey everyone! Time to do a little worldbuilding in the Valicer In The Dark universe today, by talking about everyone's favorite cult -- the Advocates! :D While I plan for organizations and cults centered around all of the major coasters in Alton Towers to show up in some form or another in this verse (in particular, the Beornen of Wickerman will occasionally show up to cause trouble for our beloved Three Pillars), the Advocates are the ones I developed the most. Because, you know, one of the main characters belongs to this cult. XD Felt important to know what their deal was and how they operated! As such, I did a playbook write-up for them and a quick summary of their history, which I would like to share with you now:

-->Playbook Type: Cult – acolytes of the god Mar-Mal

-->Name: The Advocates

-->Reputation: Tier III (decently large and renowned cult), Strong Hold (they have a solid grip on what's theirs in terms of turf and whatnot), seen as Bizarre

-->Lair: The main cult sanctum is in Silkshore – a large building painted black and yellow, full of maze-like corridors, with private quarters (including bedrooms, kitchenettes, and bathrooms) for those who chose to live there; large communal areas with various ways for cult members to entertain themselves (ranging from music rooms to reading rooms to games rooms to – let's say "chill-out" rooms ;) ); a small radiant garden around the back and a couple of mushroom farms in the basement; various labs and workshops for experimenting with ways to spread joy; and a decent-sized main library and museum for holy texts and artifacts. The chapel to Mar-Mal sits in the center, dominated by a strange twisted and looped metal structure meant to represent the god – there is a seat in the middle of it for new Advocates undergoing their “marmalisation” ritual. Most things are painted yellow, black, white, or purple, though other colors are allowed (in fact, a lot of the stairs in the place are rainbow-colored), and many areas are marked with the distinctive swirly-eyed-and-piano-keyed smile that serves as the cult’s “logo.”

-->Deity: Mar-Mal – The Unending Smile, The Joy That Supersedes All Else! Radiant and Alluring, usually manifesting as a strange, spidery mass of twisting machinery and hypnotic lights and spirals, Mar-Mal is a being of pure happiness, and wishes to draw all of the Shattered Isles into their loving embrace, eliminating all bad feelings and bringing everyone together in perfect, blissful harmony. The main problem is, it’s still not sure why its acolytes insist things like “hunger” and “thirst” aren’t “bad feelings…”

-->Sacred Sites & Cult Practices: The Advocates’ preferred operation is Consecration – anointing more and more of Duskwall (places and people) for their deity. Naturally, the bulk of their operations are in Silkshore (given it's the "party district," so to speak), but they have other holdings across the city – an interesting mix of vice dens (Smiler isn't the only one peddling drugs – the cult is kind of known for its chemist Leeches experimenting with new concoctions to increase happiness), brothels (staffed by the most sex-positive members), theaters (they put on all sorts of shows, and have a lot of people who just travel around to other parts of the city performing for anyone who will have them – Smiler's uncle Felix is one of these), restaurants (where half the time the food is given away for free), and bunk houses (where people are encouraged to do whatever makes them happiest and told about the wonders of Mar-Mal and becoming an Advocate). They also own a dedicated shop in Nightmarket where they sell various happiness-increasing items from stationery to clothes to kitchenware to stuffed animals (this is where Matt and Carol work). Cult practices include orgies of pleasure among the congregation (this CAN be the standard sex orgy among the adults, but most of the time just means a big old party with dancing and music and food), “marmalising” new members, and blessing their various sacred sites with special artwork (generally the cult’s logo) and artifacts.

-->Special Abilities:

Chosen – Each member adds +1 to their rating for Attune, Study, or Sway! As Smiler was part of the cult before joining the Three Pillars, this is probably where they got their spare Attune dot! (Which means I could probably ditch the “it cost them two stress boxes” trade-off...but part of me wonders if it would be more interesting to have all of the Advocates have that problem with being able to take less stress...)

Zealotry – Everyone involved in The Advocates believes utterly in its message and will do anything they can to spread the will of Mar-Mal, no matter how potentially dangerous or strange! Mechanically, this means the cult's "cohorts" (NPC groups that can act on their behalf) get +1d when acting against “enemies of the faith”

Conviction – All members have the Worship vice – though, given this is Mar-Mal, it works like they all have the Pleasure vice – and when they indulge this vice by subsuming themselves and/or others in happiness, Mar-Mal takes notice and makes sure their stress is cleared without issue. Additionally, the god will happily assist its worshipers with a single action after such proof of devotion! (...this has to be somehow linked to Mar-Mal being able to safely take over Smiler's body when they have their stress-out and get the Vessel trauma – I'm just not 100% sure how yet.)

-->Upgrades:

Training: Resolve – they’re better at training any and all skills related to Attune, Command, Consort, and Sway thanks to the influence of Mar-Mal, who wants them to spread joy as far and wide as possible

Cohort: Gang – The Adepts of the cult, eager to embrace happiness and Smile Always! They are Scale 3 and Quality 3 (say 24 NPCs to fill out the cult), have the edges Loyal and Tenacious (they are devoted to Mar-Mal and will stop at nothing to spread their word and their happiness), and the flaws Unreliable and Wild (a lot of them find pleasure in drugs and alcohol, which can affect their availability, and some just don’t know when to keep their mouths shut)

Quarters – Their lair in Silkshore is intended as living quarters as well as a place of worship, and much of the cult lives within its walls

Workshop – Multiple, in fact – various chemical labs and tinkering workshops, plus a decent-sized library on happiness and whatever passes for psychology in Duskwall

Training: Prowess – Due to having been a faction in Duskwall for a while, all members know the value of knowing how to Finesse things, how to Prowl, how to survive a Skirmish, and how to Wreck things as necessary (I admit, I chose this one simply because my excuse for the Three Pillars having this same upgrade when they start their official career was the Advocates giving them assistance in this regard – I'm picturing it as them having a gym to practice fighting and prowling and giving the trio some spare equipment)

Ritual Sanctum In Lair – An additional arcane “workshop” next to the main chapel, where rituals to summon Mar-Mal’s essence and interpret its will are done

-->Claims: These are extra items, upgrades, and places that the cult has claimed during their time in Duskwall (this didn't come up for the Three Pillars because I hadn't decided what I wanted them to get at the time I did THEIR crew playbook write-up – the greenhouse would probably count as a "claim" though). So far, I have –

Main Lair & Two General Turf (to represent their general "hold" in the city)

Offertory (which gives them +2 coin for all occult operations – though rather than this being tribute from frightened locals, it’s generally donations from people who have actually had their lives improved by the Advocates)

Sanctuary (not the Sanctuary, that's Dr. Kelman's place and he's not part of the Advocates – instead, this represents the bunkhouses where they put people up who are down on their luck. As they're generally run by the most charismatic of the cultists, they get +1 to Command and Sway people as a result – they tempt a lot of people into joining their cause in these shelters!)

Vice Den (as stated previously, they've got multiple of these, with coin generated from people who pay for drugs, alcohol, games, and company)

Sacred Nexus (any spot where the glow orb grows is a place where Mar-Mal's essence is felt more strongly, so the physickers of the Advocates generally take patients to those gardens to help them recover faster – Mar-Mal is only too happy to offer a healing touch to those Advocates who are hurt! Mechanically, this means +1d to all healing rolls)

Ancient Altar (in addition to the big main altar in the center of the lair, the Advocates have also set up a smaller altar in the spot where their founder found the original glow orbs. The show of devotion mechanically gets them +1d engagement to occult plans)

-->Favorite Contact: Cuthbert Beckett, a Tycherosi (from the far-off land of Tycheros, where all the inhabitants have a bit of demon blood – his tells are his iconic red eyes with crescent-shaped pupils and hairy arms and hands with claws) occultist and historian who studies the history of the Shattered Isles and the various religions and cults that have sprung up across it, and will happily do them favors in exchange for information. As it happens, Beckett is in fact a secret vampire (one of the few who actually managed to repossess his own body after his early death back home), who leaves a small crescent mark on his victims after he feeds – the Advocates found him out, but rather than telling the Spirit Wardens, they welcomed him and let him feed on their members. This has earned them a certain degree of trust and respect from someone who is normally the most snarky person you will ever meet.

-->Faction Relationships:

On good terms with the Three Pillars, of course, as one of their own is part of that gang – I'm thinking +1 at least to start

-2 with the Beornen – neither side is yet ready to go to WAR, but Robert Wickerman and his cult hate the Advocates, and the feeling is mutual

-->Notes & History:

The head of the cult is one Dr. Gerstlauer, who in fact used to work with one Dr. Kelman on the problem of "social compliance." They hit upon the idea that happy people will be less prone to disobeying the law...and then promptly had a rift with Dr. Kelman over his rather bizarre ideas on how to make people happy (“showing them decaying animals?!? Seriously, Kellard?”)

After splitting with Kelman and going his own way, Dr. Gerstlauer stumbled across a curious fruit growing near the lightning barrier on the edge of the Spark Grounds (an open field where many circuses set up and feats of acrobatic prowess are displayed on the edge of Silkshore) – glowing yellow orbs dangling from black stems that twisted into spirals. Curiosity took him and he tried one of the fruit – and was promptly utterly subsumed in joy and contacted by the god Mar-Mal, asking him to help spread its influence over the city. Gerstlauer immediately agreed, found some people to try the fruit and teach about the god, and the cult was born!

Originally the cult was called the Ministry of Joy, with the “top brass” being the Ministers – however, one politely-worded letter from the Lord Governor saying “hey, people think you’re an actual government agency, knock it off” later, they rebranded as the “Advocates.” They still call the building the Ministry of Joy, though they often shorten it to just MOJ. Leaders are now called Smile Ministers, or SMs for short.

Spiders are holy creatures to the cult because the standard manifestation of Mar-Mal kind of looks like one (very kind of; the main body has five radial legs, and is surrounded by a mass of twisted, curling mechanical tentacles – though it’s hard to look at it too long as it makes your vision fuzz up)

A new inductee to the cult must undergo the process of “marmalisation” to become a full member (usually after they’ve been part of the cult for about half a year). Originally, this simply involved having the inductee sit within the representation of Mar-Mal that serves as the cult’s altar and having them drink glow orb juice to open their mind to the god’s influence. The process has been refined over the years, however, and now a typical “marmalisation” involves sitting within the altar, receiving an injection of Smiler’s Joy Serum, then being tickled by mechanical brushes while a flashing light disrupts the inductee’s thoughts, before a spiral array is put before them to guide them into a deep trance to help them feel Mar-Mal’s influence even more. This not only allows inductees to feel the god's will more potently, it also has a shorter recovery time (as drinking glow orb juice straight tends to completely knock people out for a while). Smiler's working on a new addition to the whole thing, Giggler Gas, which they hope also to turn into another drug to sell. A common side effect of the process is Advocates gaining permanently upturned lips (Smiler) or smiles that stretch farther across their face than should actually be possible (Matt, Carol to a lesser extent).

Despite being a very young cult (they got their start during Smiler's lifetime, to the point where Dr. Gerstlauer recognizes them when Matt and Carol first bring them in), they've grown in power and influence pretty quickly – mostly because, well, they preach a message of happiness to all who come to them, and that is in short supply in Duskwall if you ain't rich! Opinions on them from non-members range from "a little weird, but they're trying to make people happy" to "those idiots who claim to worship pure happiness" to "one of the manifestations of all that is wrong in Duskwall today" (that last one is Bob and his Beornen).

As for Smiler's personal history with the cult – as previously stated in other posts, after growing up in Dr. Kelman's Sanctuary horror-show, they ran away at age 12 with whatever money they could scrape up to sustain them. They ended up in Silkshore, where they managed to keep themselves going for a while, sleeping in alleyways and buying food from street vendors...but when the money ran out, they were utterly lost as to what they could do. Fortunately, that's when Matt and Carol Alton stumbled across them, and – upon learning they had no home – invited them to come back to the MOJ. There they were warmly accepted by the other members, including Matt's brother Felix, who – upon learning that the poor kid's name was Marmaduke – told them that they could choose whatever name they liked that best represented themselves, like he had as Felix E. Lated. The kid, already feeling happier and more at home than they ever had at the Sanctuary, chose the name Smiler, and asked to stay at the MOJ. This request was cheerfully granted, and Smiler was "officially" adopted by Matt and Carol at 13 (not that they filled out any paperwork or anything, but that's when Smiler started calling them "Dad" and "Mum") and made a proper member of the cult at 15. The very next year, they successfully invented Joy Serum, and a delighted Mar-Mal bestowed upon them a blessing, re-marmalising them in a dream and turning their formerly-green eyes a bright glowing yellow. Smiler's thus seen as the "golden child" of the cult (especially since Mar-Mal managed to bless them without turning off their ability to feel hunger and thirst and whatnot), and even when they technically leave to go live with Victor and Alice as the Three Pillars, they maintain close ties with the Advocates, who are only too happy to lend a hand to their new friends. (And THEN Smiler proves able to host Mar-Mal's essence, which really gets the attention of the other cult members...)

[intimidating-fettuccine]

This is my first time so let’s see if I do this right- Hello could I have head-canons for Bloody painter with a colourblind reader? Maybe like Reader asks him to describe a few colours to them? Thank you and have a good day -🧶

I hope I did okay on this, as I know there are many different types of color blindness. I hope you enjoy

I am gonna start this one off with a headcanon that popped into my head when I first saw your request, and that is that if Helen's partner is color blind, that he changes most of his drawings and paintings in the future to only use the colors that you're able to correctly see. Sure, he'll still do some pieces with the full range of colors, but for the most part, he likes to work in colors that you're able to see generally and differentiate, so you can see how he means for you to. 

Now, back to your actual request question, I think Helen would absolutely be willing to do something like that. If there are any colors you specifically can't see, he'd be more than willing to try describing them to you so you can imagine what they're like, and I think he'd find it quite fun. Yellow is bright and can be blinding, noticeable like a flying bee. Red is warm and deep, comforting like a rose or a mellow sunset. Green is vibrant and striking, like that of a forest surrounding you. Although, I could also see Helen describing a color like green as home to you, as green is his favorite color, due to his need to constantly be outside, hiding away in the forests, where he feels safest and most content. 

Any color you'd like for him to describe, he's happy to do so. If you also can't tell what a specific color is, he's always happy to tell you what it is, and if you assume something is one color and you get it wrong, he never teases you for that (despite how big of a tease he is), unless you say you're okay with it, and he always gently corrects you. Your color blindness doesn't bother him in the slightest bit, and if he can help you with it in any way at all, he's happy to do so, whether explaining and pointing out different colors for you, or helping you color coordinate an outfit or some furniture, he doesn't mind at all, regardless of what colors you can and can't process correctly. If anything, it makes him feel happy that he's able to be of some use to you, even if it's just for something small like that. He loves you, and he wants to help you in any way that he can.

[hawkland]

Art Masterpost: Solitudes

Story by: ilovehowyouletmefall (@angelinthefire) Art by: sidewidner (@hawkland)

It's October and that means it's @deancasbigbang season once again! This year makes for my third time around for the event, although this year I only managed to participate as an artist (I'm still in a bit of writer's burnout since the summer). But, that meant I could put all of my focus and time into doing these four pieces for @angelinthefire's wonderful story "Solitudes." I'm gonna talk a little bit about my ideas and process and share some progress pictures behind the cut in a way that might be kind of spoilery, so if you want, just go read the story now! And then you come back here later to find out more if you wish. All works were completed in watercolor with some digital effects and filtering after completion.

I was really drawn to the imagery of the architectural elements of where the story takes place (an abandoned brutalist mansion) vs. nature and decay...plus the way light and shadow seemed to play such important roles in the visual descriptions. Dean and Cas spend so much of the story separated by supernatural forces even when they are in the same room I wanted to focus on that as well: being so near yet so far apart, not quite connecting or even able to look at each other without barriers.

I started on the banner art right away, thinking of Dean in despair (for reasons in the story) and Cas yearning/wishing he could reach him. Behind them both is the concrete wall covered in mold and moss (which was a LOT of fun to paint). The actual final watercolor painting came out as so:

(This is one of my favorite Deans that I've painted. His face can be SO hard to get right!)

Working with angelinthefire's suggestions I ran some different digital filters on the photo to desaturate/emphasize the light and dark for the final banner, and then with that in mind tried to keep the other pieces in a similar color scheme and tonal range.

The atrium painting was the biggest challenge. I knew I wanted to do a piece to capture the feeling of the house, the light coming in from an open skylight falling on brambles growing out of an old fountain spot. I was thinking of the Roman villa ruins I've visited combined with some actual Brutalist/modern homes I looked up. My original drawing plan was a bit more complicated and simplifying/taking out some elements definitely makes it more creepy/mysterious looking and less like a funky modern home.

You can see the vanishing/perspective point is right where Dean is looking at Cas.

The light falling down from above was partially painted with some interference/shimmer watercolors, but I amplified it (along with the shadows) with some digital effects at the end. This was before doing any digital magic:

Dean reaching for Cas: I made myself so sad working on that piece! It was also quite the challenge to get the likeness right at that angle and do the lighting the way I wanted, so again I used some digital effects at the end to really intensify it. Painting before filters:

I think my favorite part of that one is how I dry-brushed the ash wings in one shot and they came out just how I wanted! My main reference was, heh, that old classic shot of unconscious Cas being poked with a stick. I used my own hand for Dean's reaching out to what he sees through the harsh angled light.

The final piece is a direct companion to the one above it, and one I'd been thinking about for weeks, trying to map it out mentally before tackling it. Dean's face can be so much more challenging for me to try to capture well compared to Cas's and I really wanted to get his shock and horror in that moment while also being able to show (the real) Cas in the background/shadows...this was the third drawing pass before I finally started painting it. There's only a light bit of filtering over the final piece to push Cas back in the shadows (I didn't want to do with the paints for fear of muddying the colors...plus I was already painting Cas so small any wrong brush stroke could shift his likeness/expression.)

Overall I really like how unified these pieces all ended up feeling and I hope they manage to complement the story in a way that it deserves!

[conkorse]

Can I ask how you pick your colors? I'm very fascinated by it and how well it works with your style

sure i will try my best 2 explain !!! >_<

typically i start drawing my main subjects on a grey colored background. this makes it so my color range is alot larger than if i sketched and colored on a white/lighter background because the colors that surround your piece will affect how they are perceived. i will attach an example below:

as you can see the drawing on the left (which is a wip i havent posted this drawing yet lulz) heavys skintone changes to match the context of the colors in the background which when you compare that bg to the bg on the right it is much darker in comparison. i also simply wanted to play around with colors coz i try not to restrict myself in any capacity. coloring is the most fun part of drawing to me and part of that fun comes from imposing zero limitations on myself which is why alot of my art has the most stupid ass color combinations u will eva see #live #laf #lov

this is what my drawings typically look like once i finish the actual main subject of the piece as you can see scout n pyro are in a grey void gidbles them. i typically do backgrounds last (which is something i should prbably change up sometime soon) because i tend to create them around the main drawing and it makes it easier for me to make everything more cohesive in the end because i can make the background however i want to fit the main drawing. i do not recommend doing this 24/7 becoz then u will struggle with environmental backgrounds/perspective shit and other stuff which is something i want to get better at but struggle with alot hashtag supaaa mega sad hashtag noob lyfeee

as for coloring itself and choosing colors its really just a combination of experimentation (and by that i mean i go through so much of the color wheel before i decide on something) and intuition. i already have an idea of what looks good together well in mind because well ive spent quite alot of time fine tuning ermmm idk what 2 call it i guess my color sense ??? hallppp but anyways i really recommend not just using bright/neon colors exclusively! the best way to make colors pop is to couple them with more muted ones so the contrast is better evident btwn the two. OH ANDD i tend to try not to use straight up black and white/grey to portray those colors. for example if a character has ermm lets say a white shirt i wont use white or grey colors to depict it but rather maybe a light cyan orrr yellowy green :p

i also overuse textured brushes and patterns in my art alortttt (see abovee) HALP so maybe try that??? i use clip studio paint and there are so many rly awesome textured brushes that i overuse coz they r SUPAAAA epik. IDK im just rambling but your biggest take away from this should be to GO EXPERIMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!! and have fun anddddd mix "ugly" colors 2gether coz u just can never know what will and wont work unless u try :33

ALSO I ALMOST FORGOT play around with this feature in csp if u have it coz its another way i create textures (my heavy mii shown as an example) and here is a link to a tumblr post where i link all of the brushes i use in csp 0 .o I HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEWHAT!!!!!!!!! SOZZZ I AM NOT THE BEST AT EXPLANING >_<