#but i randomly saw that tumblr post on my pinterest and i had to do this

[amoonfullofstars]

harry after that scene where he's a drunk mess😔

[adorpheus]

Taking a Chest of Drawers I Rescued from the trash and making it rainbow!!

Hello, tumblr family. Below is a repost of an article originally posted on adorpheus.com, and is being shared here for archival purposes. Original post date: July 23, 2022.

Several years ago, I think it was 2014, I was driving around my hometown and I came across a chest of drawers someone had left on the curb for trash day, apparently throwing it out. At the time I was in need of a dresser pretty much exactly like that - my bedroom was small and I was hoping to get a chest of drawers that was taller than it was wide so it wouldn't take up too much room.

Bless this mess, lol

Originally, the dresser was a blonde wood color with blue knobs. It was also pretty beat up - the back of it was scuffed and it was missing a knob. Even still, I jumped at the chance to get the chest of drawers I was looking for FREE, have fun repainting it, and get to upcycle some trash at the same time.

When I first got it, all I did was spray paint it white. I had ideas for things I wanted to do with it, but that was the first step in getting it ready to paint. Then I didn't do anything with it for like 7 years or something, lol. Then this year, since I have been re-doing my room anyway, I realized it was time to finally get this project finished.

I love pastel rainbows, so I decided to go with that for my theme. For the paint, I went to home depot and after looking over all the paint chips, I picked out some colors I wanted and got paint samples for all of the different shades. I used matte for the drawers and semi-gloss for the white part (the spray paint job was not very good to begin with, so repainting the white base was a must). All the paint is samples of the type of paint you would use on a wall. 

After I finished painting, I felt the drawers needed an extra glaze of some kind to give them a bit of sparkle. The matte was a cool idea in theory but I wanted it to pop a bit more. I had a bottle of craft glitter clear glaze lying around so I decided to go with that. The bottle was half empty, so there wasn't much glitter left in it (plus a bunch of it chose to clump into an unusable blob at the bottom because the bottle was like 15 years old lol) but it did the job well enough. I love when I get to use up craft supplies I've had sitting around for a while.

Once the painting was complete, the last step was to figure out the knobs. Aside from the fact that I hated the original spherical knobs anyways because they were hella awkward to grab, the dresser was missing a knob sooo new knobs were an absolute must.

My original plan was to use rose shaped knobs, but the reviews I saw for those kind said the rose knobs were a bit sharp on the edges. I truly hate when things randomly have sharp edges, and last thing I need is getting pricked in the hand every time I need to grab a pair of socks. So those were ruled out.

After spending way way way too long looking at knobs, I decided on these crystal knobs (above) on amazon and decided to get them. I actually originally wanted a fancier, more expensive set, but those got sold out before I got a chance to buy them so I went with the cheaper set above. The photos didn't look quite as pretty as the ones I originally had my eyes on, but I had already spent so much time obsessing over fricking KNOBS I decided to just go with them. I'm actually really happy I went with these. The pictures don't begin to do them justice, they are way prettier in real life.

To protect the surface, I used my sewing machine to create this lavender lace altar cloth / runner type thing for the top. 

Although the drawers are a little sticky sometimes (which they were to begin with, lol) I'm pretty happy with this furniture flip!! The exact kind of dresser I was looking for fell into my lap and I was able to make it cute.

Some other happenings in the adorpheus multiverse...

I recently became a Twitch affiliate after years of trying!!! Emotes coming soon, feel free to follow me on Twitch to see when I go live! This month I'll be playing the new cat game STRAY along with some other fun titles!

Speaking of cats..!

I also adopted a new cat!! It's MEOW time!! Say hello to Artemis aka Arty for short! She is best friends with my sisters cat Luna!! I am sharing photos and videos of her and Luna on my instagram and they also have their own tiktok!!

I hope everyone is having an amazing non-binary hot gurl summer!! Have fun and stay hydrated!!!

[steamedtangerine]

A confirmation!

I started my Tumblr blog nearly 6 years ago (before the terrible cataclysm known by the refugees dwelling in the outer hills as THE BAN), and I did not hide the fact I posted NSFW content among the quirky, squinky stuff I had to share (so, if there are any under 18 hormone larvae lurking my account, I must ask you politely to POUND SAND! Beat it! Go play stickball or rob a bank or something equally productive.).

The close of 2018 cast a terrible shroud over Tumblr. For the year and half time I was on here (so far-not including the years I randomly lurked and kept holding the site up to different viewable angles to get a better grasp of what I was witnessing-I mean, I only became computer interactive back in 2010), I never once saw anything illegal. I did report one account claiming to be from Eastern Europe (that was reblogging my Silent Hill posts), that kept posting images of a shirtless boy that he claimed would come to his house to “have some fun”.

Nudity was being allowed on Pinterest and Flickr, and yet, no talk of Fosta Sesta was being applied to them. Could this be that Tumblr was purchased by the conservative corporation Verizon (home to Trump picks Ajit Pai and William Barr) in an attempt to squash the unanimous talk of Net Neutrality  that Tumblr championed (remember when that was a very BIG topic here on Tumblr?) by chasing off all us deviants who also picked on Trump and Kavanaugh and killer cops?....so, they thought.

Many of us persevered. We endured Rittenhouse trolls (oddly enough, only during the trial and no time before when the impact of the ugly murderous matter was fresh in the public’s mind), the insurrection, and Russian trolls trying to steer folks away from supporting sanctions. Pornbots still lingered in an attempt to frame smut alongside with RW politics (a complete abstraction from the years of Al Goldstein  and Larry Flynt), despite the fact that many archived accounts on Tumbex showed that many smut-loving accounts with a good eye for iconic and ironic content also were very left-leaning with every political matter that developed.

The issue of “Tumblr alternatives” came up (the point of this post), and many of them seemed too good to be true. One promised a well-moderated “Tumblr alternative” that would not allow Nazis. It was NewTumbl.

 After waiting to see if it endured, I set up an NT account before COVID. I already noticed it was a far cry from the pre-ban Tumblr: hentai was very absent, any of the usual Devainart fare that dominated pre-ban Tumblr (with fetishes ranging from furries to inflation to morphs, etc.) was nonexistent, noone was identifying actresses/models/performers, hashtags were scant, there was no creative or abstract use of images or gifs that had a self-conscious ironic take on smut in general, social interaction was nil, vintage was scant, original content died on the vine, even established accounts like the famous retro-fucking gave up after four months.

What was on the site was a lot of cruddy porn....bad, bad, bad stuff. Ugly, geriatric amateurs and people screeching “Gooner/sissy/”reblog if you....’” nonsense. There were also a lot of highly unimaginative caption posts and really bad incest fantasies. It seemed like someone wanted to troll the site....but even the usual telltale signs of 4Chan’s influence was absent from this swamp. The whole site seemed artificial and very removed from anything legitimately erotic online.

Yet, I tried to push on. My account was naturally above board. I posted vintage, ethnic, celebs, interracial, some gay, size fun, punk, public....but most of all, I did my research and made sure to list names of actresses/models (I learned the hard way, that even legit celebrities featured in mainstream movies and publications does not mean that they were “legit” at the time-that’s why it’s good to research between sites like VEF, namethatpornstar, Reddit, etc.-so, DO THE RESEARCH!) and hashtag things)....all this along with my goofy gifs, political posts, Steamables, and slack-driven content-which all pretty much was DOA from the getgo there. I was getting over five blank accounts following me daily (Dean-the supposed creator of NT-told folks not to block blank accounts, which was....odd). I noticed that the front page of NT defaulted to BS boomer MAGA crap. In fact, a lot of the RW crap on there was supported by the same insular fake crowd. Then I started noticing reposts....fake RW accounts would take rare content from me and others to pad their crap set-ups.

It got worse.

I started seeing material of questionable content. If it wasn’t straight-up “88″ Nazi shit, it was heavy drug use (ie. “slam”), bestiality, or it was gratuitous race-subjugation blogs (something absent even from pre-ban Tumblr). Then I started seeing models who seemed way too young. I started to report them; then such account activity disappeared. I thought it was just an ugly wave of some agency trying to shutdown the site.....buuuut they came back later...even heavier. Certain legit blogs were calling out the problem. I took to reporting more and more accounts, and I got the feeling that some blogs that were sent in to exclusively “follow me” were throwaways testing to see if I would report their underage content and single me out as a whistle-blower. I considered getting off the platform.....but before I could, I was banned.....never given a definite reason why....just removed permanently. No appeal. Nothing.

In the aftermath, II found at least three posts on Reddit with lots of users complaining explicitly in consistent detail the very same thing that happened to them. They were legit, longterm accounts that never posted underage content, and they had gay material and/or frequently reported the bad stuff (Nazis, pedos, etc.) flooding in. We all brainstormed on what was the gross angle of that site, and why the pedo crap persisted, despite the reportings, and we were the ones getting the boot.

Wanting to shake out that pebble in my shoe, I decided to open another NT account under a different email. Anything I did there is gone. All hastags I had are gone. I found many accounts I trusted are gone. I found Askthecrankyfairy was still around, but his last three posts for April are odd. In the first was one listing accounts that went MIA....many of them LGBT contributors. The last two laid out in full detail what had been going on at NT since October. Basically they were an appeal for any remaining folks to leave that site for good. They outlined everything from the issue with reposts to the failed reporting of underage crap to the removal of legit accounts to the MAGA dominating front page to the Nazi crap.

Yet, the most suspicious fact to surface is how some folks tried to be moderators to remove the bad stuff, and they were denied. The very accounts that were designated by staff as moderators were posting the very bad illegal stuff that banned accounts had reported (as many found out). Basically, the foxes (or pedobears) took over the security of the henhouse and were wrecking it with their garbage!!

BOTTOM LINE: I take it as a great honor to have been removed from such a horrible shitsite as NewTumbl.

....it’s just a shame there was never a decent “alternative” to Tumblr, and now that Imgur has removed NSFW content and Tumbex is having issues (again), there is a concern of where to find a decent image host site and what the landscape of NSFW material might be in the next few years. One thing is for sure, any loss to NewTumbl will go unnoticed, have zero impact on the world, and would be for the overall best.

[jeahreading]

I'm here just to see the mb and to see WIP Wednesday, this is so fun. So the origin for my two main WIPS at this point in time is

For Tots and Coffee, I was just scrolling through Pinterest when I came across Webscene on Tumblr and their popular post about how a scammer called them, I was feeling quite a bit motivated that day and so when I saw someone asking in the rb's to write a story on this...I did, my first chapter is mainly the exchange posted by webscene and the succeeding chapters are my own imagination.

For my other WIP, really nothing except for the vague outline is decided but I really do like how it is coming together, it came to me randomly when I was sitting in class one day while my teacher rambled on about literature, I was sitting with my hand supporting my head and I heard the ticking sound of my wristwatch, and then started taking apart my watch because it had a loose bottom and I am more curious than I should be, and my wip struck me full force to the face. I wrote it down immediately in my book itself. All my past wips have been random ideas floating around, I never make an outline i just pick up the laptop and start typing the first thing that comes to my mind with a vague idea about what's to happen next but I think for this one iI really wanna plan everything out.

WIP Wednesday: Origins

Good Wip Wednesday my dear writerlings. Today, I would love to hear what was the first piece of your WIP that appeared in your mind. Was it a character, more or less fully formed, leaving you with the question "neat, so what do we do with you?" Was it a scene with its dramatic and/or exciting moments already in place, begging the question "Ok, so who are these people and how do I get them here? Also where is here?" or was it something smaller. A line of dialog? A worldbuilding detail? A metaphor or simile? Did the story just kind of happen in your mind while you weren't looking? Did you perhaps just start writing one day and now you're here?

I can't wait to hear how y'all get started. Sound off in the RBs

-Peebs-

[itsallyscorner]

(picture from Pinterest)

Hey everyone! So yesterday was my birthday and I thought, why not have a lil q&a? I was supposed to post this in the 11th, but I was celebrating with the fam🥰 I’ve started posting on Tumblr earlier this year and honestly the amount of love and support I get from this blog is something I never expected! Although, I don’t think my followers know much about me, besides the fact that I like men wayyy older than me and that I write on here! So I thought let’s ✨spice✨ it up on my account a bit and let my readers get to know me better!🥰

side note: no personal personal questions, these are some basic and fun stuff:) ALSO! I tried to put the “keep reading” little thing but I’m on my phone and I don’t have my laptop on me atm😪

So here’s a list of things you guys can ask me, just send them in my asks, and I’ll try to answer them as soon as I can🥰 ASK AWAY:

How old are you?

Favorite animal?

First celebrity crush?

What is your Hogwarts house?

Hunger Games or Divergent?

Favorite Marvel character?

Chris Evans or Sebastian Stan?

Top or Bottom?

Are you a dog or cat person?

Something you love that you used to hate?

What did you want to be as a kid?

What is your dream job?

What is the last thing you bought?

What is your hair color?

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

Would you rather explore space or explore the ocean?

Would you rather talk to animals or understand every language?

Would you visit the past or visit the future?

Who is your current celebrity crush?

Which celebrity would you want to meet?

6 songs you listen to the most?

Have you ever had a pie or song written about you?

What does your latest text message say?

Do you have any strange phobias?

Do you prefer to be behind or in front of the camera?

What was the last lie you told?

Texting or calling?

Texting or FaceTime?

What is your screen time?

What is your favorite smell?

What kind of movies do you like?

Favorite musical?

Favorite Marvel movie?

East coast or west coast?

Favorite singer?

Favorite band?

Who is your favorite actor?

Who is your favorite actress?

List 5 of your favorite superheroes.

What was the last movie you saw?

What was the last song you listened to?

Are you wearing socks right now?

Are you wearing glasses or contacts right now?

Have you done all your homework?

A song you always randomly sing.

Favorite album?

What is your phone wallpaper?

Which app are you on the most?

Can you sing or do you believe you can sing?

Kiss, marry, kill (give me some options)

Favorite subject at school?

Have you ever smoked pot?

Have you ever been in love?

Have you ever confused love with lust?

Organized or disorganized?

Favorite animal?

If you could be any animal in the world what what you be?

If you could be any character in a movie or show, who would you be?

What is something you hate about yourself?

What is something you love about yourself?

If you were given the chance, who is the celebrity you’d marry?

Do you still believe in Santa?

Middle part or side part?

Do you know how to swim or no?

What was the last thing you ate?

Your favorite number?

If you were famous, what would you be famous for?

What would your lifestyle be if you were famous?

Describe your style?

Old school music or new music?

Are you in a relationship?

Are you afraid of falling in love?

Do you think anyone has feelings for you?

Were you single on Valentine’s Day?

What is your comfort movie?

Are you a morning person or a night person?

Would you rather have a big ass or big tits?

Are you friends with the people you were friends it’s two years ago?

What is something you wish you had more of?

Favorite candy at the moment?

Do you get along with girls or boys more?

How tall are you?

Do you pour milk first and then cereal? Or do you pour cereal first and then milk?

Have you ever pulled an all nighter?

When was the latest you stayed awake?

What are 3 things you like about yourself?

How do you cheer yourself up after a shitty day?

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Would you rather have a large group of friends or a small group of friends?

Would you travel by car or by plane?

Do you have a favorite tiktok song?

What was the last tiktok you saw?

What fantasy world would you like to visit the most?

What are some hobbies you have?

What is the last thing you bought?

What perfume are you wearing right now?

Are you a creative or a logical thinker?

What is your opinion on beauty in today’s society?

New York or London?

What genre of music do you listen too?

Do you have any other siblings?

Would you rather have an older brother or older sister?

Makeup or go natural?

Who is your role model?

List things that you think are overpriced?

Which actress/singer do you have a girl crush on?

How do you approach people?

Coffee or tea?

Do you enjoy talking or listening?

How often do you daydream?

Biggest turn on? Biggest turn offs?

Ham or Turkey?

What is you McDonald’s order?

What is your Dunkin order?

What time do you usually wake up?

Do you usually initiate hugs?

What is your favorite texture? Favorite thing to feel?

What is your favorite emotion to feel?

What is your favorite Christmas movie?

Do you have a favorite Christmas song?

Twitter or Instagram?

Are you clumsy?

Put your liked songs on Spotify on shuffle and see which song plays first.

Stucky or Stony?

What is your style inspiration?

What are some places you would like to visit?

How often do you curse?

How do you like your eggs?

Who is your favorite Disney princess?

What is your favorite Disney movie?

What is your favorite Pixar movie?

Heels or sneakers? Or flats?

When was the last time you used the bathroom?

YouTube or Netflix?

Netflix or Disney+?

McDonald’s or Buger King?

Starbucks or Dunkin?

[ofmythsandmists]

On Unseelie princesses, Kierarktina and binding spells – A QOAAD theory

Ok, I have been thinking about this for a while and I see no reason NOT to share it (may the gods be with whom decide to read it).

So, since Clare has presented the Unseelie King on tumblr, we know that he has fifty sons and only two daughters, she also posted a photo of them on her pinterest. Though she pointed out that the images she chooses on pinterest do not always resemble the characters they are referred to, we can see that these two girls have dark hair and are almost identical. Do you know who they resemble?

“They were close to two girls dancing together; both of them had their black hair bound up in elaborate crowns of berries and acorns. They wore dresses of russet and brown, ribbons around their slim throats.”

“Other than their different-colored eyes, they looked nearly identical.”

Yup, the two faeries who did the binding spell on Mark and Cristina. 

I know that everyone has been hoping the Unseelie princesses would be someone else, maybe someone nice (like Kit’s mother) but, mh, what’s the point in making these two faeries appear out of the blue, make them curse the main characters and then disappear? Nothing.

First of all, they seemed to know who Mark is.

“Enjoy the binding,Hunter.”

I know heterochromia is a distinctive mark of Hunters in general, but still…

Moreover, Kieran reacted nervously when he saw the mark of a ribbon on Cristina’s wrist.

“The shape of a ribbon,” he said. “You say you were tied together during a revel?”

“Yes,” said Cristina. “By two girls. They knew we were Nephilim. They laughed at us.”

Kieran’s grip on her tightened.

The answer I gave to myself for this behavior is that he knew who did the spell.

My theory on why he actually didn’t say anything about it is because he felt somewhat guilty for what happened to Mark and Cristina (and if I’m right he is not totally wrong). I have two theories about why the Unseelie princesses could have cursed Mark:

To revenge Kieran: they knew who Mark was, knew he was Kieran’s lover and saw him dancing quite intimately with a girl. Mark was, therefore, betraying his promise of the heart to Kieran, which among the Fair Falk is a great tracery. So they cursed Mark (and Cristina).

To piss off Kieran: they may be enemies of Kieran, maybe they are among the ones who plotted to send him away in the Hunt. They saw his lover (I’m always assuming they know that Mark is not just a random Hunter) and decided to have some fun mocking their little brother through making Mark suffer.

Honestly, I’m more for the first hypothesis, which may or may not made these two a little bit more likable. We should wait and see…

HOWEVER, THIS THEORY IS NOT OVER (you wished)

What made me really think about the curse is a post I read a while ago here on tumblr (I don’t really remember in which tag, if you are reading me, let me know), in which they talked about something Mark said to Cristina after the meeting with the two mysteries women:

“That could have been very bad. A binding spell like that can tie two people together and send one of them mad, make them drown themselves and pull the other in after them.”

Now, as for the faeries, we know Clare does not write things like these randomly. There as to be a connection to some future event.

Reading LOS, I had the impression that the way the curse was broken by Magnus was a little bit… rushed? I mean, of course, I did take all the book but it was way too simple.

So… What if is not actually broken? What if Magnus’ potions just slowed the effect but the curse can be broken only by the ones who made it? Which means the Unseelie princesses.

I can imagine Kieran would not know exactly how this kind of spells works, because we know he was not really trained in magic while he was in the Court. Only when something wrong will start happening to Mark and/or Cristina they will all understand that the curse is still on its way.

With these premises, I suspect Kierartina’s part in QOAAD will be mainly focused on finding Kieran’s sisters and (really) break the curse.

[scribblindown]

Get to know me tag (ﾉ･ｪ･)ﾉ

Tagged by @little-mini-me-world

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

And—god, do I even know twenty people on this site? 

Feel free to ignore me if you don’t want to do the tag. 

@gudetamazing, @blossattic, @roses-and-oceans, @sweetchocobae @cupnoodle-queen @mandakatt @eatmorepie @insomniacapples @valkyrieofardyn @xnoctits @sailormars109 @noxfreyas @jojopitcher @blondechocobobutt @promptoargentum-is-my-husband @bleucommelhiver @princerazzie @thirsty-angst-lord @wispofisis @chocobruh-art

LAST:

1. Drink: water

2. Phone call: My mom  3. Text message: From my best friend on Messenger  4. Song you listened to: Oh god—I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but “Daddy” by PSY  5. Time you cried: Hahaha, I’m not quite sure. Uhhhh, I cry slightly when I keep my eyes open for too long, or when I read sad fics, but I think it was a week ago or so I cried for real. I was on my period, and I had gotten a really bad haircut from a person my mom recommended. 

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: Uhhh, I had a girlfriend for a bit, does that count?  7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Nope.  8. Been cheated on: Nope!  9. Lost someone special: Yeah. 10. Been depressed: Yup.  11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: LOL NO 

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12-14:

Red 

Black (It’s a shade but still LUCIAN ROYAL COLORS)

I’ve been liking olive green for a while 

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Yes!  16. Fallen out of love: nope  17. Laughed until you cried: At least I don’t think I did  18. Found out someone was talking about you: Hmmm, I’m not sure if this counts as last year, but my friend’s shitty ex-boyfriend got all butthurt with my other friend and I and talked shit about us without confronting us about the issue in the first place.  20. Found out who your friends are: Yes!  21.  Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Nooooo. 

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Probably all of them, I don’t add people randomly.  23. Do you have any pets: YES. TWO AMAZING DOGGOS BY THE NAME OF LUCKY AND DINO. (I just got to 300 followers, please send me pictures of your pet as celebration, and I will send you pics of mine.)  24. Do you want to change your name: I did when I was younger, but I don’t really care right now.  25. What did you do for your last Birthday: Can’t remember to be honest XD  26. What time do you wake up: Around 7:20. 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Planning out drafts for future posts!  28. Name something you can’t wait for: THOR: RAGNAROK 29. When was the last time you saw your mom? A couple minutes ago.  30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I wish I started learning languages and art at a young age.  31. What are you listening to right now: “Immigrant song” by Led Zeppelin!  32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I talked to a Thomas, does that count?  33. Something that is getting on your nerves: Assholes who think they they own the world, and bitches with no respect.  34. Most visited website: Youtube? Facebook? Tumblr? Pinterest?  35. Mole/s: I have a beauty mark on my left cheek...Are they moles?  36. Mark/s: Lots of stretch marks.  37. Childhood dream: Embarrassing, but actress.  38. Hair color: Dark brown. 39. Long or short hair: Medium!  40. Do you have a crush on someone: Sad life, but the one and only prince. XD No one in real life. 

41. What do you like about yourself: I’m pretty creative I guess XD I mean I write fanfiction here and I take art classes.  42. Piercings: The normal ear piercings, but I haven’t worn actual earrings in ears.  43. Blood type: I asked my parents this a long time ago and they didn’t even know. My mom took a guess and said B.   44. Nicknames?: Michy, Mich, Salty, Mochi  45. Relationship status: It’s a sad life, having high expectations due to Square Enix, so single.  46. Zodiac: Scorpio 47. Pronouns: She/Her 48. Favorite TV Show: Hmmmm, Supernatural. 50. Right or left hand: Right-handed.  51. Surgery: I don’t think I ever had surgery. 52. Hair dyed in different color: Nope, I have virgin hair.  53. Sport: God, I’m the least athletic person I know. Does quidditch count?  55. Vacation: I went to Canada in my last vacation!  56. Pair of trainers: I don’t think I have any. I mostly have sneakers and too many leather boots. 

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: Like what I eat the most of? Or my favorite food? Rice if it’s what I eat the most of, bún bò Huế chay for my favorite food  58. Drinking: Water!  59. I’m about to: Go to sleep

62. Want: Better art skills  63. Get married: In the future, yeah.  64. Career: I’m not quite sure.  65. Hugs or kisses: Both!  66. Lips or eyes: Eyes. 67. Shorter or taller: Taller, (but it’s not that hard to be taller than me) 68. Older or younger: Older 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Is it selfish to say both?  71. Sensitive or loud: Loud, because I can be a bit insensitive without knowing it.  72. Hook up or relationship: Relationship.  73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a Stranger: Nope 75. Drank hard liquor: Nope 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: I always think that I lose my glasses, but they’re on my face.  77. Turned someone down: Yes...? 78. Sex on the first date: Nope 79. Broken someone’s heart: I’m pretty sarcastic, but I don’t think I’d go that far.  80. Had your heart broken: Yes, when my dogs go to someone else.  81. Been arrested: Nope.  82. Cried when someone died: Yes.  83. Fallen for a friend: I don’t think so. 

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84: Yourself: Somewhat.  85. Miracles: Yes!  86. Love at first sight: Nope.  87. Santa Claus: I’m Buddhist... 88. Kiss on the first date: If they’re promising, maybe. 

OTHER:

90. Current best friend name: Kiana 91. Eye color: Dark Brown. 92. Favorite movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Guys! It’s nineteen years later, today! I feel like a grandmother!) 

[zzpopzz]

Really long rant about how I made Vanilla Twilight, I typed it at 2am so it’s kinda crappy and boring, just skip through this post.

So I'd been thinking about it for a long time now, even before finishing Vanilla Twilight that I'd talk about it if someone asked, well that never happened so I was just thinking that I'd let it go but that post is so important to me so well fuck it I'll just talk about it anyway. I did it completely on a wimp like how cool would it be if I make a lyricstuck for Toumaki like I'd be the first (if anyone did this before me im sorry). The first song I intended to do wasn't VT, it was a much shorter and easier song. I saw the music video first time after a while and the lyrics gave me some scenes to draw right away, like the tones, the atmosphere, the lyrics all fit them very well, made me wanted to draw something happy but sad. The ending for it was a happy one instead of a sad one like other songs I did (I didn't post the ending for any of them, just let the viewers decide what it's gonna be) I was very scared like what if it won't turn out ok and people gonna hate me for it or no one even gonna look at it. Also what I visualized are mostly illustrations with backgrounds, what I never done before so high chance it won't go anywhere. I thought well let's just see how far will I get and won't talk about it at all until I post it so at least I won't be all barks no bite. I was very traumatized that someone might know about what I did so I locked all the files when I shut down my PC in case someone hack into it lmao. I started with making a storyboard(kinda) for it, this is where I first got trouble because there was some part I didn't think of when I visualized what I'd draw at first ( 'I don't feel so alone' part mostly and some in between) and it's only at this point that I realized how many I'd have to draw (over 40 images total) and it's mind blowing for someone who rarely finish a painting like me at that time, that number is more than what I'd draw in a year. VT doesn't have choruses that meant I can't do tricks like repeat some panels (I don't like this anyway). I usually painted on small canvas before that but I wanna make sure I can fix things later and some idea I had was pretty big so I used 3000x5000px canvas then trimmed them down ( I didn't know how big it was and it's huge). The idea was to make a tumblr scroll-post like a lyricstuck (my favorites are by paperseverywhere and toastyhat/emptyfeet , they made really cool tutorials about these) so I tried to drew out compositions that would look good scrolling down panel by panel and have some connections between them (this didn't turn out so good in the end because I wasn't good lol) Since I was scared that people might point out that I draw something wrong, it took me almost a week or something searching for references (check my pinterest board) like the streets, sky, houses, roads, outfits, poses,... I was going to draw. I got some knowledge about bikes by this too, like I can tell the differences between road bike, mtb, touring bikes,... I also see and captured bunches of screenshots and reread ywpd trivia countless time to make sure I won't get anything wrong. If you take notice, every outfit Toumaki wear in there are all canon, from anime or promos. The first few panels was really exciting because I had never painted so many with backgrounds before, I was really happy when I almost finished the first verse even compared to the full 3:50 of the song it was only 20 seconds and I thought maybe I can pull this after all. The last panel was intended to be Makichan standing infront of his house looking at the sky but I wanted to show the sky at the end of the panel and that wouldn't work on scroll-down post so I had to leave it for later, I repainted this panel for about 3 times and finished it just 30' before posting. The first panel of the second verse wasn't turning out alright too because that was my first time doing a 3 points perspective drawing and the colors didn't turn out as I wanted either (my intention was a green/gold dawn scene). Things kinda worked well despite that until the scene when Toudou sits in his ink, gdi I didn't know why I was so caught up in that and painted every piece of that wooden floor, it took me almost a week but turned out better than I expected so I was ok with it. I was going to make sketchy paintings for all of the panel but I did too much details on that one so it gave me the impression that I'll have to do just as much for every others. Now I still had school to go and that semester my uni got me pretty crappy schedule that made me have to wait for classes at school frequently, I was frustrated because I didn't get to paint during that time and I might finish it too late (even though I didn't set a deadline) and when I got home I just spent so much time checking twitter and just can't pick myself up to draw and ended up feeling shitty about it. *Side story*  I was so mad because I didn't get anything done and there's still more than half of the whole thing to do and the worst part is that I had no one that I can talk to because I didn't have any friend who ship Toumaki and I also don't want to publicly talk about what I was doing, I wanted to surprise people when I'm done, I didn't wanna give people the expectation then screw it up (I literally thought I'd drop a bomb not a grenade lmao) I can't remember how long was that shitty phase but I felt like it was so long, I barely finished verse 2 at that point. I was so mad at myself and my progress so I spent a few days to look at time management threads and this helped a lot, I changed my habits completely  by this and I still apply those methods now, like I used to stay up til 3am to read fics (bless you writers you fueled me with your writings bless you all) then I switch to bed before 12 and get up early for a good start or reduce working time while increasing quality* After that I kinda got things together,I just went ahead with painting tho it's still kinda tiring, I had to work on 5 essays during this time too. At this point I was like screw all, I give no shit about what everyone thinks I'm just gonna finish this and get some good nap (I practiced power nap to get more focus time for painting but dude everyone wants a good long nap) 10 days before uploading I found out that there's a Toumaki day (I'm so sorry), I was going to posted on the first sunday of June (I did researched on which was the best time to post on social medias so I randomly picked a sunday) and Toumaki day is the last sunday of May, that meant I had 10 days left and 15 panels to paint! I was going to ignore that but I already made it big I should make it right too so I shit my pants going through those last panels. I purposely hiding Toudou's face till the last verse to emphasize the feelz and got so relieved that I finally got to paint him (I read some tags that some viewers got emotional at this part so I'm so glad it worked). The whole things was put under Makichan's perspective so I was so sick of painting him at that point, he showed up in every panel and I can't paint him ugly because he's beautiful (especially his hair, I spent shitload of time painting them). I can talk lots about why I picked to do so but that's headcanon shit and it's embarrassing so let's just skip that. The last day I had only 3 panels left and I was hell confident that I've got this and somehow spent the whole evening rewatch Toumaki pingpong ep (end me). Of course that didn't end well, I managed to finish those by midnight but I still had like 3 panels that needed  repaint completely and all 43 needed retouch and edits. My plan was to post at 9am sunday (thats 9pm saturday est) so I had to get up at 5am and finish all that, I ended up cutting down 2 panels and simplified the instrumental panel (some tags said that was nice so I was at least relieved). Unlike other songs I did, the length of every line's quite different and the original sizes I did would make viewers have to scroll slower or faster at different parts. I didn't plan this beforehand and had to trim down some panels even the parts that I really liked and spent lots of time on. I also found out that people outside the homestuck fandom might not familiar with this type of post so I made a video too (I’m sorry I have zero skill in editing). After posting I was terrified of people's reactions or worse, there won't be any reaction so I turned everything off and went to sleep and woke up with an unimaginable number of notes I'd got, I set the target of 500 notes and I really didn't think that I'd get past that number like maybe 2-300 (well my other songs didnt even get 200), at the end I got 5000. I spent the next week reading and screencap tags given in reblogs, I put them on desktop and they're still my motivation til now. Vanilla Twilight is the thing I'm proud of the most even until now, when I've done other songs and projects that look somewhat better. If I have to recommend one thing on my blog I'd recommend it despite its' unskilled paneling, poor composition and muddy colors. It was the first time in my life that I'd put so much effort into something and went through such emotional roller coaster, the feelings I put into it was raw and the idea was very original compared to other songs, I improved and changed a lot during the 2 months I spent on it and never once regret doing it. ***Anyway, you sure have much free time to read it this far, here's a little game for you: I put random things in VT and HF like some characters/stuff from other series, my ocs,... (there wasn't anything purposeless in there even the logo on their cups or the bags they wear) just send me anything you find and I'll draw you something in return**

[twosidestarot]

Introducing the Minimalist Oracle: An Interview with Rachel Lieberman

You might have noticed things have been a little quiet over here on the blog - and by a little quiet, I mean, yikes, I haven't posted since November. What's up with that? Well, I'd always rather save a post until I have something truly epic to share, and while that might not have been the case for the past couple of months, I definitely have something epic for you today! 

I'm always on the lookout for new, independently published tarot and oracle decks that exemplify beautiful design and interesting, original ideas, so naturally when I came upon the Minimalist Oracle, I knew I had to have it! As is usually the way when I find a gorgeous new indie deck, I get a copy for myself, and a truckload for the shop, too. 

What better way to get to know a new oracle deck than to chat to its creator? Today, we're joined by mystical creative person, Rachel Lieberman (clearly "mystical creative person" is the best descriptor of any artist I've interviewed so far!), who's here to tell us a bit about marrying up minimalist design and divination for deep soul work!

Welcome, Rachel! Tell us a little about yourself as an artist and oracle/tarot reader and human person.

Hi! Thank you so much for having me, Marianne, and for supporting what I have created. Let’s see – I live in Portland, Oregon, where I was born and grew up, though I’ve traveled and lived in lots of different parts of the USA and world. I have a very “normal” non-creative corporate day job as a Project Manager at a large translation company. 

I live a sort of double life as a corporate employee and a mystical creative person, which I love. I am really inspired by aesthetically beautiful objects that also hold wisdom and meaning, so it would make sense that I would be drawn to tarot and oracle decks.

I actually knew absolutely nothing about tarot or divination or the mystical world until about two years ago when some unexpected life events introduced me to some unseen things I didn’t know existed. I wanted to make sense of what I was experiencing, so I turned to tools like tarot to help me process. This journey for me has turned out to be about self empowerment, self love, and some very painful but rewarding deep soul work, and the tarot was a very important guide for me.

Tell us a little about your creation, the Minimalist Oracle. Where did the inspiration for this deck first come from? What was the process of creating the deck like?

I knew I wanted to create this about a year and a half ago, but I wasn’t ready. I didn’t know how I would possibly translate the vision inside into something physical. By January of last year, the inner whisper to do it had turned into a scream, and I knew I needed to drop everything and make it happen, so I pretty much did literally that. Last minute I took a week off from my job, and spent the whole week shut in my apartment formulating what this might look like. I’ve always been attracted to minimalist art. I also loved tarot and oracle decks but wasn’t seeing something that I felt really reflected my aesthetic. So, I figured I would create it. That week I only accomplished a fraction of what would be the final deck, but at that point I knew I couldn’t stop. The art I put in the deck is a combination intuition and precise calculation. I would typically sit down and let myself go wild with the color, shape, etc. Then I would carefully edit it until I felt that the emotion I wanted to convey was distilled to the most simple and powerful form possible.

It took almost exactly a year to finish creating it, printing it, and launching it, and a lot of edits and changes took place along the way, but I made it happen! It’s exciting to do something completely new.

Backtracking a little bit, could you tell us a little about your artistic background, and how that has informed and influenced the way you envisioned and created your deck? What does your art practice look like, day-to-day?

To be honest, when I set out to create this, I really didn’t consider myself an artist. I’ve always felt the desire to create, but as an adult I didn’t make it a priority. In a way I think I had a fear and judgment of that impulse in myself, which actually has made this process even more powerful, so I’m thankful for it. Two years ago, I randomly found myself at a point in my life where I had a lot of solitude and space from the rest of the world. I started asking myself the big questions – what do I NEED to do with my life? The answer was – create something visual. So, I started painting, drawing, making paper cut outs, everything I could, just for the sheer joy of it. I had no direction or idea what I was doing, but I came home every night and worked a little bit. Eventually I found that I was getting better at taking what was in my head and finding some way to make it real.

Even now, I don’t create art everyday. Sometimes I don’t create anything for months at a time, though I think that is changing. I make sure to leave the space in my life for it, and when I feel the visceral need, I go for it. However, everyday I consume images through tumblr, instagram, blogs, pinterest. There is something inside of me that feels hungry for it, so I take a little time everyday to “feed” myself. This inspiration helps refine, expand, and stimulate my aesthetic sensibilities.

As much as you feel comfortable sharing it, what role (if any) does reading cards have in your own spiritual practice, and how has working with your own art - both making the deck and reading with it - in this setting influenced and shaped your personal journey?

This deck is, in many ways, based on my own personal journey. The cards I chose to create were themes or feelings I experienced in my own life as I decided to start overcoming fear, limited beliefs, and old patterns. Creating the deck actually helped me define and gain perspective on how I saw both myself and the world, which was really beneficial. In a way, tarot and oracle decks are an organization system for the most chaotic thing in the world – the human growth journey, in all its messy glory. To see my journey in a more objective way was helpful.

Holding my own physical deck for the first time when I printed a test copy was such a magical feeling. Then, I worked with the deck everyday on my own for months before finalizing it and printing it to be released to others. I wanted to make sure that every card’s message was clear and expressed exactly what I wanted to say. Creating this deck was a huge victory for me – it made me feel powerful, free, and confident. It has changed the way I view myself and the way I operate in the world. I’m so glad I get to share it with others but my own desire to make it and use it was really my motivation.

Because we at Two Sides Tarot can never resist a good deck recommendation, what are the tarot or oracle decks that you love to read with? Are there any decks that have been a big influence on the Minimalist Oracle?

The Osho Zen Tarot was my first deck and I would say it was my biggest inspiration for the Minimalist Oracle. It’s a quirky, playful deck with a lot of personality, and I love that about it, though I rarely use it anymore. All of the independently published decks are my favorite now – I met fellow Portlander and tarot deck creator Coleman Stevenson of The Dark Exact during this process, and I love her everything she creates, including her deck The Dark Exact Tarot. Right now I am loving Rachel Howe’s Small Spells Tarot, Spirit Speak’s Iris oracle deck, and the After Tarot.

Finally, how would you like to see the Minimalist Oracle used? Any pro tips for working with it?

I really wanted this deck to have a friendly, loving, but direct personality. It will tell you the truth, but in a thoughtful way. So, I hope that the owners of this deck develop a relationship with it as a companion. It’s a deck that can be used everyday, since it helps connect with emotions, and those are constantly changing. It’s also a great addition to tarot spreads, partially because the clean lines go nicely with almost any aesthetic, which was my intention.

I designed the packaging specifically so that it could withstand being thrown in my bag everyday and come along – it travels well. I bring mine with me everyday to work and draw a card or two for inspiration that day, or use it as a journaling aid. For me, personal growth is at its best when its practices are integrated into our day to day lives – not as something that is limited to any one time or place. Use this deck to turn anywhere into a sacred space for you to connect with yourself!

*

You can find out more about Rachel at her website, and I'm so happy to say that the Minimalist Oracle is in stock now at Two Sides Tarot! 

Thoughts? Questions for Rachel? Reflections on these beautiful cards? Leave us a note in the comments or come and say hi on Twitter!

[the-hawks-rye]

I was tagged by @sevenfairysins to do this, so here I am!

Name: Vi

Gender: Uh, female?? Non-binary? I’m not exactly sure...

Star Sign: Capricorn

Height: a little over 5′3″

Hogwarts House: Short answer: Hufflepuff. Long answer (feel free to skip!): I took it four times, first time Hufflepuff, second Slytherin, third Gryiffindor(??), and fourth was Slytherin again. I decided that I at least want to be a Hufflepuff (as in I prefer that outlook), so that’s why it’s the short answer 

Favorite Colors: Blues, greens, blueish or light- purple

Favorite Animals: Dogs, cheetahs, and foxes, to name a few!

Time right now: 2:44 pm

Average hours of sleep: 7-ish (though I used to have insomnia...)

Cat or dog person: Dogs, but I have no qualms against cats!

Favorite fictional characters: Like, pretty much every character in Fullmetal Alchemist, Zuko, Aang, Sokka, Toph, etc. Shiro, Hunk, Pidge... there’s just so many great characters...

Number of blankets I usually sleep with: 2 blankets and a sheet, or just the one in the summer

Favorite musicians: Uh, Fall Out Boy, Daughtry, P!nk?

Dream trip: I don’t really know. I don’t really think about that kind of stuff often..

Dream job: One that involves interacting with people but also the minimal amount of small talk possible. Also brains are cool so maybe something involving neurology.

When was this blog created: September 2016, so about 5 months ago

Current number of followers: 10 (~five months~)

What do you post: Mostly FMAB, some Voltron and ATLA mixed in, positivity posts

When did your blog last reach its peak: Now

Who made you join tumblr: I just saw a bunch of stuff from here on Pinterest, and then it started to take over, so I made a tumblr!

Why did you choose your url: My brother and I discovered the new Avatar were playing a video game, and one of the playable characters had a golden staff with a round crest, so he just kept on running around and saying stuff like “I will smite thee with the staff of Ra” and “Behold the power of Ra.” And I just kind of randomly remembered that and thought “the staff of Ra” sounds cool.

I’m not going to tag anyone (I feel like everyone has already done this!), but if anyone does want to try it, consider yourself tagged!

[bisociallyawkwardandchad]

tagged by @katelfiredemon !! who literally tagged everybody. so even if there were some mutuals of mine she didnt tag, i feel too lazy to tag ✋🏻🙄

why did you choose your url?

im not very creative as you see. i just took 3 traits of my personality, slapped them together and called it a day.

any sideblogs? name them and why do you have them.

w-why do you want to know?? i may have one. if you find it well, you found it ig :/ i just dont think anybody's interested, so im not saying ;)

how long have you been on tumblr?

since december 2020!! but i do remember havin an embarrasing tumblr account back in 2016 👁👁💧

do you have a queue tag?

i think i tried queue oNCE in my whole life.

why did you start your blog in the first place?

well i saw all the cool shitpost came from tumblr so i said MEH lets go directly to the source :/

why did you choose your icon?

my icon used to match piper's?? but then it didnt. this is literally a random pic on my phone. i didnt even choose it i just randomly said yeah, this'll do. and ngl i want to change it. no i dont.

why did you choose your header?

uhh bc it's pog??

what's your post with the most notes?

i once saw a rat meme on pinterest and posted it, tagged cece, sais ahah cece look, and 200+ people like 'allow us to introduce ourselves'.

how many mutuals do you have?

around 3, maybe 4 /j (idk am i supposed to counT THEM??)

how may followers do you have?

101 dalmatians to be exact.

how may people do you follow?

137, not a lot really :/

have you ever made shitpost?

gqiwiwlqsiqiwuwieue my lawyer says im not allowed to answer that.

how often do you use tumblr a day?

i once left for a whole day, leave me alone. ig it depends on the day.

did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

you see, piper doesnt like cheese in pizza. a fuck ton of people say 'uwu'. elmo doesnt look like mr. krabs. everybody has a different definition of soup. maths are not cool at all. sussy impostor. i have had some arguments around here. hskahsiwjsuw, nah but i havent been in any REAL trouble. im not a problematic person :))

how do you feel about 'you need to reblog this' posts?

stop. yes i get it, its important and so is spreading the word! but dont say someone is being a bad person for not reblogging. like,, i see one of those posts, and its important and im genuinly interested, and then it says 'if you dont reblog you dont care'. and then i go: yeah i dont think i will :/

do you like tag games?

YEAH!!

do you like ask games?

yeah those too!!

which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

simple answer: piper💫 she absolutely blew up ajwuaiyakquqkq.

also ali, i feel she knows literally everyone aksjaj

do you have a crush on any of your mutuals?

not as far as im aware 👁👁

[jeremystrele]

Sha’an d’Anthes of Furry Little Peach

Sha’an d’Anthes of Furry Little Peach

Studio Visit

Annie Portelli

Inside the Sydney studio of Sha’an d’Anthes, AKA Furry Little Peach. Photo – Rocket K.

I met Sha’an at the Adobe MAX conference in Las Vegas – here is her home-soil creative hub. Photo – Rocket K.

The 25-year-old illustrator, designer and exhibiting artist. Photo – Rocket K.

Studio details. Photo – Rocket K.

Sha’an at work on some of her signature-style watercolour illustrations. Photo – Rocket K.

‘I’m not really driven by chasing specific clients but more interested in doing work with different mediums,’ says Sha’an. Photo – Rocket K.

Artwork by Sha’an. Photo – Rocket K.

The bright and bubbly creative. Photo – Rocket K.

Sha’an’s output spans artwork, painterly illustrations, branding, decals, funky pins and linen collaborations, to name a sample. Photo – Rocket K.

Inside her her first book ‘Zoom’ teaching kids about the solar system, which was released in November. Photo – Rocket K.

illustration details. Photo – Rocket K.

Painterly work by the illustrator and artist. Photo – Rocket K.

Attending Adobe MAX this year was my first time visiting Vegas, and also attending a 12,000 visitor conference !  It was whirlwind of new and exciting things to take in – you can read some snippets in my earlier post, here.

One encounter that stood out was meeting fellow Aussie, Sha’an d’Anthes. Sha’an has a huge following under the guise of her Furry Little Peach blog and social media accounts. She was a joy to spend some time with, among the busy seminars and bright lights in Vegas!

The 25-year-old illustrator, designer and exhibiting artist recently released her first book ‘Zoom’ teaching kids about the solar system. We recently caught up with her back on home soil for a tour of her cute Sydney studio. 

How did you find your way into illustration and art?

I knew I wanted to be an artist from a super early age, but in high school I decided that art was too impractical, so I discovered design and fell in love with it. I decided to study Graphic Design.

When I started uni, I was also doing freelance art collaborations for General Pants (murals, live art, and more branding rather than actual product) as well as some other commercial brands. in this way, uni wasn’t really as much of a learning experience for me as all the real life stuff I was doing; I went there, got a piece of paper and it was great, but then I did an internship at a big digital agency, which was a turning point. Following this, I finally got a job as a digital designer doing apps and websites.

About one year ago, I realised that I was getting enough freelance work, and I was able to quit my full-time job and focus on illustration… and now I’m just loving drawing for a living!

Your Blog Furry Little Peach is hugely popular, with the Instagram having amassed more than 143,000 followers. What motivated you to start it, and the unique name?

It started from when I made my tumblr in high school in Year 11. I built it to procrastinate, because I didn’t want to study for my HSC! I was trying to come up with a URL for that, and I just liked the word peach – it was cute and fun. Originally, I was tossing up between ‘We Are Little Peaches’ and ‘Furry Little Peach’ and just went with the latter!

There’s no real meaning, and it’s a fluke that it kind of works with the work that I create now.

Where do you find inspiration?

It’s a hard question to answer because we (artists) all like other artists and different music and interests, but these don’t necessarily translate to our work.  

I think my true inspiration comes randomly, at the weirdest time, like on the bus! It’s just like this magic that you can’t manifest. The most authentic ideas come when you least expect it!

I’m a late adopter of Pinterest, but I try NOT to search for things before starting a project, and instead start them based on an idea that I have in my head.

Your output spans artwork, painterly illustrations, pins and linen collaborations to name a sample. How would you describe your style, and do you have a prefered media?

It’s vibrant, joyful and nostalgic – a mix between the world I want to live in and my experiences, things that I like, and the things I like to listen to. In my work I focus on everything that makes me happy, and I think people can see that joy, which perhaps resonates with them too.

Watercolour is my favourite medium for sure. It is like a wild animal; you put it down, it just does whatever it wants and you just have to try to tame it on the page. I love it. In visual art at uni they taught us how to do oil painting, and drawing… Water colour was really something that I saw other people doing on Tumblr and was inspired from there!

Do you have a favourite project so far?

My book, ‘Zoom’, is a big monument in my career so far.

I also recently designed some bed sheets, which was really fun because it was for a big Kickstarter project. I was just so amazing to do something so large scale, and that would be so practically useful to people’s lives. This made me fall in love with homewares, so I’d love to collaborate with ceramicists or textile designers to bring my work into everyday lives more in the future. 

Can you tell us more about ‘Zoom’ and how it came about?

When I was five I told my Mum that I wanted to write and draw my own books! It’s now happened 19 years later! I really didn’t expect it to happen this early, because I left my full-time job thinking a book would be a long term life goal. But then, somehow, my publisher ended up emailing me and asking if I had ever thought about doing a children’s book. I pitched some ideas, they loved them, and we got started!

The book follows a child character named ‘Scout’ and a rocket ‘Beattie’. I wanted to teach kids about the Solar System. I was a really visual learner at school, and I feel that I never really picked up maths or science because of this. I thought that an illustrated book could be a really visual way to teach kids about the size and order of the planets, in particular through each planet being a different animal, and driver of the narrative.

What do you think is the most exciting thing about being a creative in Sydney today?

Sydney has a really close-knit creative community; it never feels competitive and I’ve always felt like we celebrate each others’ achievements and lift each other up, which is really nice.

A huge challenge of living and working here is cost of real-estate – the rental prices here can be extortionate, and as a full-time freelancer where your income fluctuates, that can be really scary!

What did you take away from Adobe MAX?

I attended as an influencer, so I guess my job is to be the ‘eyes on the ground’ and to share the experience with my creative audience.

The thing I liked the most about Adobe MAX was the people that we got to meet – I went to really good talks by Bonnie Siegler, Aaron Draplin, and Tad Carpenter. And then you had an opportunity to form connections with people who weren’t necessarily speaking, but in a similar stage of their career as you, with the same insecurities and challenges to face. I was hanging out with filmmakers, photographers, other illustrators/watercolourists.  I found it really cool to compare everything.

Coming from this conference, I’ve seen the importance of making – for ‘just making sake’ and not being so concerned if you’re being paid for it or not. I am very project driven and I will often book too many projects at once. A big goal for me in the future is to just have a play and push my ideas further and actually create projects for myself, because that’s when you learn things and that’s when you’re most creative!

Christmas is just around the corner, so it’s been a busy time for many creative freelancers. Have you been doing any holidays themed work, and how will you be spending the break?

I’ve actually just finished a Christmas Campaign with The Streets of Barangaroo, of which I’m really proud. I created the hero artwork for their catalogues, window decals for all their stores and three sets of wrapping paper. All the artwork is centred around ‘Leisure’ as a theme. It was important for me to create something inclusive that everyone can get on board with at this time of year.

I love the holiday season! My plans include getting my online store ready for next year, wrapping up this year’s projects, watching an obnoxious number of christmas movies, and eating lots and lots!

Keep up-to-date with Sha’an d’Anthes’ work on her blog Furry Little Peach.

Annie Portelli was a guest of Adobe for the Adobe MAX conference.