#but who knows! there's a lot of people id like to draw portraits of but im annoyingly unproductive without deadlines 🙈

[yyokkki]

Asking to Sketch Them

HEARTSLABYUL

Riddle Rosehearts

Honestly a bit shocked you’d ask him

But he’s had practice from posing for family portraits, so he isn’t too nervous

Until you say you want the backdrop to be Heartslabyul’s garden

It doesn’t break any rules… but that doesn’t mean someone else won’t break any rules

He doesn’t collar people as often as he used to, but he still makes it a point to lecture rulebreakers on the importance of said rule

So imagine the strain on his face when Ace walks by with a vase full of roses and it’s Wednesday.

In the end Ace sits beside you while Riddle gives a long lecture, keeping the rest of his body perfectly still so it doesn’t interfere with your work

You are sweating in fear. 6/10 a good model but it’s hard to draw when your model is half yelling at the dude sitting right next to you

Trey Clover

Might hesitate to say yes because he’s a busy guy,,

I mean they have tea parties like everyday and he’s always in charge of sweets-

You say he can go about his business and that you’re going to capture him in his natural habitat then he agrees

Raises an eyebrow cuz you make it sound like you’re on national geographic but ok

Anyways you’re drawing him while he’s baking and damnnn those biceps pop when he’s whisking

Secretly, however, he’s been holding back for a while now/

When you’re least expecting it he comes closer to you… and bam whipped cream on the side of your face

Devolves into flour tossing and chaos

6/10 you got whipped cream on your sketchbook and it was half finished but it was a fun memory

Cater Diamond

“OMS YAY of course ;DD”

Internally screaming because his makeup isn’t that good today and why him I mean there are better looking people in nrc and maybe he can get his clone to do it instead-

Overthinker fr

He’s a bit stiff at first, trying to only show his good side and checking his camera constantly to see if his smile looks good

If you’re close and you start talking to him about something he’s passionate about while you’re sketching he’ll loosen up a bit and his pose becomes a lot more natural

Eventually forgets you’re even drawing him and now it’s just him showing his true colours

Takes a pic of your finished sketch along with the both of you and posts it on magicam #muse #artistbestie

8/10 the sketch turned out well and you had a nice chat 

Deuce Spade

Has never been asked this question in his life

Boy is so stiff and awkward pls baby

He smiles like Oga from Beelzebub at first

Pls pls pls get this boy to do something else while you’re drawing him to get him to relax

Might be studying across the table from you while having a nice chat

Forgets you’re drawing him eventually pt.2

Tbh moves around a lot especially if a senior enters the room cuz he makes it a point to turn around and greet them while standing up

Is a bit surprised when you say you’re done because shit I forgot and I moved so much im sorry-

Also takes a picture of the sketch

Texts his mom the pic “I made a really good friend who’s great at drawing :D”

Will ask if you can draw a portrait of him and his mom together when you get the chance (will pay for it he just doesn’t know about the concept of commissions TT)

4/10 he’s so precious but not the best model tbh id still ask him again idc

Ace Trappola

Little shit (affectionate)

Not hard to make him agree but boy will he give you shit for it “my face is just that handsome ig” “you want me to get nude?” someone kiss him and make him shut up

At first he’s making a bunch of dumb faces and exaggerated poses and once he determines that you’re sufficiently annoyed he starts actually posing normally

Might get up halfway through and start stretching or laying down cuz he got tired though

Depending on how late he slept the night before and if you’re keeping quiet so he doesn’t get the chance to tease you, he might fall asleep

His sleeping face is cute so it works out for you ehe

When you’re done he acts all non chalant and smug about it but inside he’s sooo happy damn tsundere

Asks if he can draw you next and draws a potato with three dots on it <3

2/10 its only easy when he falls asleep but he’s cute so ill give him 1 extra point

-----

Heartslabyul | Savanaclaw | Octavinelle | Scarabia | Pomefiore | Ignihyde | Diasomnia

Graphic design is not my passion dear lord i really need to read a guide on how to format tumblr posts TT

Also first time writing omg depending on my mood next part will either be out tomorrow or next month see yall

[seeminglydark]

hi! is there are reason that you decided that cassette tapes would be john’s chosen form of physical media? how would john organize his music (i.e., genre, band name, release date) and what would john keep his cassettes in? i can imagine him either having stuff in old shoe boxes or a cassette case that he hand-painted himself!

Yes! It's my personal favorite form of media, I'm really partial to cassettes, i think from growing up in the early 90's when it was the norm, so imprinted on my brain. I love mix tapes, jumping up to smash the record button when my fave tune came on the radio, so id always miss the first 10 seconds haha, my first several cars had tape decks. i love Walkmans, it was such a HUGE thing in my life to be able to put headphones on and take my music with me for the first time. I translate a lot of that nostalgia to john. I always imagine him with his Walkman and headphones, or small portable stereo, in bed with all the lights off except the white christmas lights that criss cross his ceiling, Creaky on his chest, listening to the episodes on repeat.

John organizes his music by How Much he Currently Likes A Band, grouped by band name and then oddly enough by album color. (so if he had several cassettes by say, Social D, they'd be next to each other in rainbow or light to dark.) He does most things by color, he's slower at reading and alphabetizing is a bit of a chore and makes him feel self-conscious and stressed. He doesn't mix music and books on tape, they each have their own shelf. He does rearrange a LOT.

Right again re: shoe box and painting the cases! I actually wrote a little snippet of this a long long time ago that didn't make it into the comic, but you can have it now, under the cut.

'Caro eyes a shoe box on the shelf curiously, its covered in stickers, anti fascism and punk rock bands. 'Can i look at this?' they ask, he nods, his back to them. They pull it down and settle it in their lap, lifting off the top to discover... cassette tapes! Oh wait, John did say Maddie recorded their show for him onto cassettes. There were at least 40, all lined up in the order of episodes. Caro pulled one out, the white paper inside the case was filled in with bright colors and shapes, elaborate images of ghosts and snakes and monsters. They pulled out another. A cartoon portrait of the little blond, violet eyes wide at the barrage of brightly colored spirits hovering behind them. 'Is this me?' they ask out loud. John turns to look and freezes. 'Oh….' embarrassed. 'Uh yeah…' 'Wow the art is so…?' they murmur, pulling out another, this one done in greens and blues with metallics. 'Ive never seen anything like these before?' They saw a lot of fanart, but this was different somehow. It felt more personal. Like the person who made them really put their soul into it, like it wasn't just fanart to the artist, but something really deeply important. 'I…um….' Johns face is bright red now..' um…I mean, you know I dont have social media..' he reminds them softly, rubbing the back of his neck. 'Wait.' Caro looks up, he's so flustered now, shuffling his feet, ears on fire. 'These are YOURS? You did these?' Somehow they've forgotten he used to fill up notebooks with colorful drawings, street art and tagging. Liquid letters and cartoon animals with thick black outlines. 'Sure.' He shrugs and turns away, back to them again, 'I would draw on them while listening, you know. It just felt kinda sad to leave them blank. Maddie showed me some of the fanart online, and the box set of the first season. I can't do the same kind of art, I'm not good like those other people, but…I didn't want to leave them blank, so I made my own I guess.' he pauses. 'I'm sorry…you must think I'm so fucking weird.' 'I don't think its weird…' they murmur looking at the tapes. 'I think its really cool. I didn't know you were such a talented artist.' He laughs, a short bark that sounds like a cough. They put the box gently back on the shelf, and sit on the bed, deciding to spare him. They can see he's smiling though, even if he's trying to hide it with his fist pressed against his lips.'

[micahruiz]

[Start ID/ A photoset of scanned pages of a zine written in pencil on lined paper. The cover reads: “my first zine by: micah ruiz!” /End ID]

(image descriptions continued under cut)

[Start ID/ Slide 2 reads: “Okay, so this isn’t my first zine. I made one in middle school with my friend about how we loved black veil brides.” There is a drawing of an eyeball with dark gothic makeup below.

Slide 3 reads: “BUT! I firmly believe my middle school actions should not have any bearing on who I am today. I’d like to say I’m cooler now, but I’m really not.”

Slide 4 reads: “Actually, there’s something very cool about being “cringy” and loudly loving what you love, not being embarrassed about what others think (or at least hiding that embarrassment). Middle schoolers are a lot cooler and stronger than people give them credit for.”

Slide 5 reads: “Something one of my middle school teachers said has always stuck with me.” Below and to the right side of that, there’s a drawing of a woman with a speech bubble coming out from her mouth. The bubble reads: “I wouldn’t be 13 again for a million dollars.”

Slide 6 reads: “Sometimes, I think about what middle school me endured and survived, and I am amazed.” Below that, there is a self portrait drawing of me as an adult. Below that, text reads: “I don’t even know how 26 year old me would handle it.”

Slide 7 reads: “I guess she’s still in me. Just like middle school you is in you somewhere too. They’re so cool and they don’t even know it.” Around the text, there is a self portrait of me as a 12 year old girl.

Slide 8 reads: “Look little you in the eyes, each time you encounter a child.” - my heroes, kimya dawson. M. Ruiz ‘24” /End ID]

[hee-blee-art]

🌈 free december portrait requests 🌈

[ID: six greyscale portraits of six different characters. in order, they are: a thin vampire with light skin and curly light hair; a stocky butch with medium light skin and short greying hair; a fat person with medium light skin and shoulder length white wavy hair; a person with medium skin, short dark spiky hair, and dragon tattoo; a nutcracker doll; and a cat marionette. end ID]

hi everyone, this month I am opening up spots for stylized greyscale portrait requests (like the ones pictured above) for free. I know a lot of people are struggling with money this holiday season so I thought it might be a nice way to offer people a free gift option, whether for loved ones or yourself, or just a little something for those who may not be able to order commissions otherwise :)

if you do want to give a few dollars (and are able to do so), I would ask you to pay-it-forward to a mutual aid post you come across, or to look into this post of palestinian donation funds (link). paying / tipping artists for their work is very important, but it is my request that those who are able to offer tips for these portraits pay it forward instead. please consider doing so if you can!

portrait details:

1 stylized digital drawing

greyscale with an accent colour of choice for the background

bust crop (from the chest up)

ocs, media characters, or irl people are okay!

non-human & complex characters are allowed (within reason)

first come, first served & one per person (I will do my best to take as many as I can, but I may have to close requests if there are too many)

just as with commissions, I may turn down a request for several different reasons. please try to be flexible & understanding of this!

if you'd like to support me & my art, please consider reblogging my commission info post (linked here), as I am also open for commissions this month for anyone interested in different types of pieces (and if you're interested in a commission, please let me know!) also just reblogging my work in general is greatly appreciated ! :)

🌈 to request a portrait, please fill out the form linked here 🌈

I wish rest, comfort, & love to anyone who sees this, happy holidays & a peaceful december to you & yours ❤️

[the-whumpening]

Meet the Character Monday #3

Ash - Tigerverse (The Caged Tiger, The Freed Tiger, The Pet Tiger)

[Image ID: A sketch of my OC Ash. The drawing is a shoulders-up portrait of Ash smiling and facing to the right side of the screen. As this is supposed to be before The Caged Tiger, his hair is shoulder-length and he is uninjured. His left eye is blank as if clouded by a cataract. He is shirtless and his muscles are clearly visible. The whole piece is done in shades of orange. /End ID]

(Ash smiling! Wow! Yes, it's possible! This drawing is representative of what he looked like right before his capture: happy, healthy, without major scars, but after he lost his stripes/tail/ears.)

Basic Info:

Name: Moss Pelt (Ash) Catteau

Age: 26(ish)

Birthday: Spring? (Aries) Ash doesn't know his specific birth date

Height: 6' 4" (193 cm)

Hair: Black

Eyes: Green

Favorite Color: Green or orange

Gender ID and Orientation: Is very comfortable as a man but has never thought about it (much more concerned about his status as human vs beast), is attracted to both men and women but once again never put much thought into it. If it needed a label, he might say he’s “my partner”-sexual. While I also wouldn’t call him “poly” per se, he’s not strictly monogamous in the traditional human way.

Pronouns: He/him (never, ever “it”)

Other: accidental autistic rep (oops), tiger-human hybrid creature

What's Ash's role in the story? Ash is a human(ish) barbarian and the protagonist of the Tigerverse series. He is the current partner of Evius, who was previously romantically involved with Ash’s whumper: Ozmund Greenthorn. Ash was originally created as a character for an ongoing DnD campaign, though the stories on this blog mostly divert from the canon of that game.

Fun Facts about Ash:

Due to his tiger heritage and upbringing, Ash can communicate with cats and (with some effort) most other animals. He’s also picked up bits and pieces of other languages based on whomever he interacts with most (including a little Elven from Kane and Infernal from Evius).

Ash, like all tigers, is red-green colorblind. He only learned this after being with the party for some time—he didn’t realize he had orange fur. In fact, Evius’ coppery tiefling skintone doesn’t look much different to Ash than his human disguise. He can, however, distinguish shades of blue and yellow. (I’m just now realizing he probably doesn’t realize Mouse’s hair is pink. Bummer.)

Even in his human form, Ash has heightened animal-like senses which often overwhelm him. For that reason, he tends to dislike crowded areas and sticks close to Evius or Kane in the city.

He does not have a barbed penis, but man do we love to joke about it lol

His intelligence is kind of paradoxical. He didn’t have any formal education, and just about everything he knows about the “civilized” world came from Kane, so he’s not exactly “book-learned.” But, for the same reasons, he doesn’t have a lot of social knowledge either. His intellect is mostly centered around his knowledge of the natural world and survival, as well as his keen skills of observation and problem-solving. When his intelligence increased from the mindflayer tadpole, it mostly just made it easier for him to learn things and put concepts together; it didn’t impart any factual knowledge on him. Almost like he had ADHD and got adderall for the first time lol

That being said, he did become more aware of all the social rules he hadn’t noticed or cared about before. Suddenly, he felt embarrassed at being seen nude because now he could put together that not everyone was as comfortable as him and that most people felt some amount of shame about nudity. It also helped him finally connect the pieces that his attraction to Evius wasn’t just platonic.

Hilarious corollary: Hsa (what the tadpole named itself) has experienced the world through Ash since it was implanted. Meaning, it has felt everything Ash has felt and seen everything he’s seen. It knows all his thoughts and feelings. It has seen aaallll of Ash and Evius’ . . . interactions.

Biggest Secret: Ash would love to have a big family and lots of babies. He’s even fantasized about being pregnant—he’s still a little shaky on exactly how humanoid biology works. (And Evius’ player has forbidden me from writing mpreg fanfic boooo)

[jammboe]

Good luck with your commission!! As someone who's thinking about opening commissions, do you have any tips/tricks for it? :>

I also love how you draw yona so much T.T

Thank you!!

I think to start with definitely don't undersell yourself, people who will want to support you will be happy to pay the price you set. Secondly id say to only take on a manageable amount of work. I used to try and take 4 or 5 commissions at a time and would feel overwhelmed and art blocked by the 3rd piece. Now i only take 2 at a time and it gives me room to breathe and i know it's what i can handle :)

same with the type of art you offer (like waist up, full body, portrait etc and if you want to do full colour or black and white) i nevr really enjoyed doing waist up drawings because of how long theyd take!! So now i simply offer portraits because i know i can easily manage them

These are the main tips i can think of and a lot you will learn as you go. Im sure you'll do fantastic :)

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Tag Game Thing

ayyyye another one (but not one from when I was drifting in the timeless void of Conceptually Tuesday), got tagged by @chthonicsiren , gonna tag @melthedwarf because I can >:) (edit: tagged the wrong person first cuz tumblr autofilled the url, sorry!)

1: Are you named after anyone? Yes! My birth name/not-quite-deadname is a tribute to my ma's maiden name. Without saying what either are, I'll just say that her maiden name followed a patronymic format (ex: Johnson), and my birth name is one of the feminine variants/related named (ex: Johanna?). My chosen name, Jordan Van Daalen, is a fun one! My friend and I were in drama class together, and were paired up for an assignment where we had to write a short script (we were given random phrases to start and end the scene with). We're both Huge Fucking Nerds, so we went Overboard, basically fleshing out both of our characters (and then we napped on each other). Jordan Van Daalen was what a random name generator gave me for my character. Less than a year later I realized I am some sort of non-binary, and decided to use that lil name as my future name, as well as eventual pen name :D

2: When was the last time you cried? Uh. Okay, so, like... sometimes when I'm really tired but can't sleep, I'll start improvising a little song? Just, like, whisper singing to myself? And it usually ends up being an emotional ballad about old traumas (or, you know, stuff from whatever media I've been binging)? also when I yawn my eyes water a tiny bit? so what I'm saying is that every time I can't sleep and end up singing dumb little songs, I end up crying. how often does that happen, you ask? well, buddy, I picked this url for a good reason. (it was probably yesterday)

3:Do you have kids? Does being the oldest in the friend group (and also being the dad friend) count? because I am the Father of some of these gremlins. no? oh. well, I am going to an auncle/ent soon, so that's close enough :D

4: Do you use sarcasm a lot? Depends on my mood? I'm less sarcastic than my brother, but definitely more sarcastic than either of my parents. I know that means nothing to any of you, but hey, that's my answer.

5: What's the first thing you notice about people? Uhhhhhhh if they give off gay vibes asdfghjkl; Honestly it varies, which I feel like is a given? I look for things that stand out- colored hair, piercings, if they have any jewelry, etc.

6: What color are your eyes? Okay, well, my ID says hazel, I used to describe it as "hazel green/green hazel", and I think a poet might describe my eyes as something like "sea foam green around sandy brown". However, a Certified Dick could just as easily call my eyes "snot green with a pinch of yellow". Could also just shrug and go "muddy green?". except in some lightings the "green" part seems like it might be vaguely blue, and I have been slowly driving myself insane trying to figure out a consistent color palette I can use when drawing self portraits/inserts because I can't get a decent pic of my eye to use a reference and I'm too awkward to ask someone (with less shaky hands) to do it for me. anyway, I spent ten minutes drawing what is arguably the best attempt I've ever made at making an accurate portrayal of my eye color:

7: Scary movies or happy endings? Generally speaking I prefer happy endings, but it feels weird to separate that from scary movies. However, I don't tend to watch many genuinely scary movies? I like horror comedies. I also very much enjoy watching shitty/low quality horror movies and roasting the fuck out of 'em. Humor is part of how I cope with actual scary movies/games too, though. That and pretending to try and scare the monsters :3 running through the scary dark hallway going "a-boogily-boogily-boo!" and rapidly snapping the camera from side to side like I'm jumping out at people. the monster goes rawr? I SAY IT LOUDER

8: Any special talents? I mean, I think most folks who follow me on here know that I've got a bit of talent in several types of art/creativity (music and writing are probably my big two)? But I can also beatbox a little, my arms are weirdly flexible (possible double-jointed at the shoulders?), and I am surprisingly good at picking things up/throwing them with my feet. That last one is 50% for throwing dog toys and 50% for picking up small things I dropped when I don't want to bend over. Weird? Yes. A talent? Probably not.

9: Where were you born? I think I was born in Seattle, WA, USA. It was definitely in the Seattle area, it just might have technically been a neighboring city.

10: What are your hobbies? Other than the aforementioned artsy shit, I play a lot of video games, in a variety of genres. My favorites are probably the Mass Effect series, Fallout: New Vegas, Persona 5: Royal, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Spider-Man PS4. I need you to know how difficult it was for me to not list over a dozen games. Please understand. THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD GAMES FUCK. Also, idk if it super counts as a hobby in other people's minds, but I love LEGOs! My room is filled with them :D

11: Have you any pets? None that are, like, fully legally mine. My household has a dog, Bella, but I am unfortunately her least favorite. She loves letting me give her chin scritches first thing in the morning though :')

12: What sports do you play/have you played? KENDO, BITCHES. GET SMACKED WITH BAMBOO

13: How tall are you? Soooooo tall. Massive. Giant. A true, genuine image of a Viking Warrior.. ... ..... in other words I'm 5 feet and 3.5 inches. the .5 is incredibly important to me. On a good day with boots I can almost pass off as 5'5" tho, soooooo. I'm also built like a shit brickhouse (yes I know that's not the correct saying), so at least tall people can't throw me (I throw them)

14: Favorite subject in school? Three-way tie between English/Language Arts, Drama/Theatre, and Art class!

15: Dream job? Writer, artist, all around generally a Professional Nuisance. Maybe taking the place of a forgotten, half-dead God at a lonely shrine, slowly restoring it until it's something worth remembering, eagerly having unforgettable conversations with the rare passerby, never gaining enough fame or worship to have any real power over the world. Just enough to be a face that lingers in your memories, in your dreams, the little voice you hear when you need it most.

[feelkindadizzy]

ID from ALT :

first slide, titled "how to draw some burn scars" with "some" being underlined. The text under reads "3rd/4th degree mostly, because most people on this website apparently never seen a burn survivor." below that is a red box with text reading "(all caps) all scars are different! (end caps) there is no one correct way to draw a scar. this is more of an overview than a step-by-step tutorial". the right side of the slide has three drawings, each showing a person's forearm. The text above them reads "there's many types of scars, actually". The first one shows a hypertrophic scar, with the text "draw a darker patch of skin and shade underneath to show depth. notes: it sticks out a bit, it can be slightly discolored (darker), it's not really this bright red color that people draw burns with, it interacts with the rest of the skin - you can see it pull skin inward". The second one shows a keloid scar, with the text "it sticks out a lot, much more discolored, it can be red, pink, purple, it doesn't with the rest of the skin as much - it has sharper, more defined edges". The third and last arm shows a severe contracture with the top of the hand resting on the forearm, with the text "burns make skin contract; scars affect range of motion (ROM) and can lock or limit movement, they afect all areas of the body vbut are most visible on the neck, joints, and hands". There's a fourth additional drawing showing a man's torso; he has a lighter burn scar on the far side of his ribcage, with his arm seemingly fused to it above the elbow. He has visible body hair but is lacking it on the scar itself. The several notes around it read "healed scars can also turn lighter; a burn scar has a tendency to pull surrounding structures* inward, here it makes a contracture. *-not only skin. scars affect cartilage (like in ears), nipples, etc. also notice the lack of hair on the scar".

second slide, titled "how do burns look like (for people who draw them but don't seem to know)". there's an arrow labeled "not like this (heart)" leading to a drawing of an anime girl with half of her skin being plain red and no other changes. text box below her reads "'don't worry man I watched ATLA when I was 14' type OC", with the following noted; "the Red, has fingernails despite 3rd degree burns, has eyebrows despite 3rd degree burns, has hair despite 3rd degree burns, eye is totally fine it's only fire LOL, nose and ears also fine, why is it red, more flexible than your average abled person, why is it red". below is a disclaimer reading "(one or two is fine, but why is it always all of it? burns do things, especially one as seveer as implied here)". the right side of the image shows pictures of body parts with burn scars on them, the first being a hand with a severe contraction in the fingers. the burn and contracted joints are labeled on the image. next to it is a drawn comparison between a non-burned hand with stretched out fingers, and a burnt hand with curled fingers. photo under that is of a pair of feet being held by a hand. the link below goes to "SurvivorNotVictim.com/Scar-Photos". my added text reads "not red! the scars mostly show through texture and tissue damage" and "no toenails". next to that is art of a scarred leg from the mid-calf down, it has visible skin pulling, no nails, and discolored patches of skin. text reads "some pinkness/redness can show, but it's A) not going to be a consistent color, B) other aspects of the scar still show up. Remember the body is 3D and skin pulls accordingly (more or less); scars form toward the ankle because it sticks out". at the bottom of the image is a portrait photo of Marzieh Ebrahimi, an Iranian woman with a chemical burn on one side of her face, smiling. Text next to her reads "a scar can be more defined in one place and less in another (forehead/chin); the skin is darker and less saturated, not red; Marzieh's scar is more visible because of her eye and nose than the discoloration". Next to that is a simplistic portrait drawing of her recreating the picture. Note reads "just some darkening of the skin, lighter and darker lines to imply skin pulling, and attention to some basic effects of burns (e.g., scar on eyebrow ridge = no eyebrow) looks more like an actual burn than the red paint thing".

Third slide, titled "skin grafts". On the right is a photo of a white woman posing with her scars visible to the camera, the source is linked as SurvivorNotVictim.com/Scar-Photo. Text reads "one of the most common visible kinds of skin grafts is the mesh one", with an arrow pointing to the woman's arm, where her skin has a mesh pattern. There is a drawn comparison of non-burnt skin and skin with the mesh graft for comparison. Text box reads "it leaves a specific kind of texture in the skin. Grafts sometimes have stronger highlights than other parts of the skin (you can see it on both photos)". Under that is a photo of Kenny Matthews (@IKenDawg), a Black man with burn scars. There is a text box on the right that reads "skin grafts will usually be thicker than the rest of the skin and thus can stick out; they can be discolored (both darker or lighter, more yellow or red, more/less saturation, etc.) and have a visible start and end. It applies to all skin colors BTW". Below that are two portrait drawings, one of a Black man with a large, darker skin graft on his cheek, and a white woman with yellowish grafts on her jaw and nose.

Fourth slide, titled "nose and eyes". The left side features various nose drawings, while right and bottom show different kinds of eyes. The text in the nose section reads "Usually if nose was visibly burned, it will be seen on the nostrils and septum". The first nose drawing shows someone with pale skin and nostrils pulling strongly downwards. Second one shows a person with darker skin and fourth degree burns; his eyes are covered by skin and the external parts of the nose are largely gone, leaving the red internal part visible. Text attached reads "With very severe burns, the external part of the nose can be removed. In this case the nose will be red because the insides of the nose are red". Third drawing shows a white man with burns below his eyes; his septum is completely gone, and the nostrils pull to the sides. Attached text reads "Nostrils can also pull to the sides, making the nose wider. Sometimes the septum will be absent if burns were severe enough. That generally causes some degree of asymmetry". Last nose drawing shows someone with a lot of keloid and hypertrophic scars on his face, with one of them formed around their nose. Text attached reads "Nose can also pull to one side. The constricted nostril can then be very flat". There's a simple sketch underneath that shows a nose with symmetric and asymmetric nostrils from below. Eye section. The first text box reads "Eyes are not affected as often as you'd probably assume (mostly because blinking and all) but eye damage is frequent in chemical burns (as opposed to thermal)". First drawing features a darkskin person with burns on their forehead and around their left eye. The skin pulls their eyelids upward and to the side at a 45-degree angle, resulting in the red of the eye showing on the sides. Attached text reads "Eye pulls out and up, so the red parts show accordingly. The eyelids themselves are stretched, eye is fine". Second drawing is of an Arab man with a chemical burn on the left side of his face. He's missing his eyebrow and eyelashes on that side. He has ptosis and his actual iris is blurrier while the white part is redder. Text reads "Here eyelids pull down so the eye looks like it's drifting up". Third drawing shows a person with tan skin and severe burns. They have no hair of any kind, and their nose bridge is significantly pushed to the side. Their right eye is wide open with a red shiny eyelid at the bottom, their iris pointing extremely outward, and blood vessels showing. Their left eye looks very small with swollen eyelids and partially opaque iris. Text reads "The redness you can sometimes see is a result of chronic conjunctivitis, it's not an open wound situation. Here the right lower eyelid is missing so it looks like it's red and shiny. The left lower one is turned outward and it causes corneal scarring, which results in parts of the eye looking white(r) and the eyelids to swell". The bottom section features four eye adjacent conditions and their characteristics. The first one shows a person with one of their eyes missing and an empty pale-red socket visible. It's titled "Enucleation". Text underneath reads "If the eye is as badly damaged as in 90% of OCs with burns then they will get it removed. Despite popular perception there is quite literally nothing 'gore' about an eye socket. The redness/whiteness is the same thing as on your eyelid when you pull it. The empty socket has a much smaller opening and is very flat in comparison to a full socket. If the character has a protruding brow ridge, the shadow will fall on the whole area". Second one features a dark-skinned person's eye, which is brown with a white spot on the lens. Text reads "Cataracts is a condition of the lens, so it affects the lens by making it to appear clouded. Causes blindness". Third one shows an eye of a pale person; it's slightly red with blood vessels visible and the irid is blurry with a large opaque spot in the middle. Text reads "Corneal scarring causes pain, red sclera, and the opaqueness that can happen over the whole eye, not just lens. Also causes blindness".

Continuation from the previous slide. Last one shows an eye with the upper eyelid fallen down. Text reads "Ptosis is caused by nerve damage more than anything else. It makes the eyelid fall down, but does not affect the eye itself. Can technically make someone unable to see if the eyelid doesn't open". Fifth slide description starts from here. It shows a three-step process of drawing the skin texture. First step shows a patch of light skin, titled "get a base". Second step puts various brown lines of different sizes on the skin, largely going from the upper left to bottom right, spreading out on the right. Text reads "Draw slightly darker lines of various lengths to imply contractures". There’s a second, smaller drawing, first with the lines going in similar direction and the other with the lines all pointing different ways and going over each other. Text above them is "try to keep them going in a direction that makes sense" and "not just random strokes" respectively. Third step adds some shadows and highlights on the scars. Text reads "add subtle shading to show texture changes, can also add highlights". Below that is a small drawing of a patch of skin with a red line going through it; one side is shaded and one isn't for comparison. The upper right has a drawing of a man shown from the back; he has burn scars on his left shoulder. That shoulder is less muscular than the right one, and he has keloids and grafts visible. Text underneath reads "You really don't have to draw 10000 lines to show the contractures. A few smaller and some bigger ones do it just fine. Remember that you can ad keloids, hypetrophic scars, and graft discoloration!".

sixth slide, titled "other things to think about". it features a few different burn survivor characters and the text "no two burn survivors are the same". first one is a Black woman with a burn just on her face and neck, empty eye socket, and no ear, wearing a very wide-brimmed sun hat. note next to her reads "sun protection". below her is a white man with scarring on the side of his head, including two large keloid scars. he's missing a lot of hair on his scalp. underneath him is a drawing of a Latino man with short black hair and contracture scars on his forearm, fusing it around the elbow; he's wearing a large compression glove on his hand. in the center of the image are two women; a South Asian young woman wearing a pastel hijab using crutches with a visible prosthetic leg, and a Black woman with short pink hair and all four limbs amputated using a powerchair. The first woman has no actual burns visible while the second one has her stumps covered in distinct discolored scars, but they're both smiling at each other. text between them reads "burns can result in amputation, either because of the initial damage or infection. sometimes burns are visible, sometimes not so much". under them is a portrait of a white woman scratching her neck with her remaining fingers. she's completely bald with scars on her head, face, and hand. her eye is slightly red with a discolored white part in the middle of the iris. text next to her reads "research actual symptoms of burn scars (like scratching) (like sun protection), etc."

Screenshot that reads, "In a 2022 survey of the burn community, Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors found 59% ranked 'burn survivors & the media: changing the portrayal of the survivor' as a top need for support."

END ID

PT : Large text reading "Disabled people are not your fucking body horror. Grow up." END PT

Overview of some topics when it comes to drawing characters who are burn survivors.

DISCLAIMER. Please keep in mind that this is an introductory overview for drawing some burn scars and has a lot of generalizations in it, so not every “X is Z” statement will be true for Actual People. I'm calling this introductory because I hope to get people to actually do their own research before drawing disabled & visibly different characters rather than just making stuff up. Think of it as a starting point and take it with a grain of salt (especially if you have a very different art style from mine).

Talking about research and learning... don't make your burn survivor characters evil. Burn survivors are normal people and don't deserve to be constantly portrayed in such a way.

edit: apparently tum "queerest place on the internet" blr hates disabled people so much that this post got automatically filtered. cool!

second way more important edit: How are people seeing this post where I specifically talk about burn survivors being normal, real people, and still tag this as "TW body horror"? Not a single one of these drawings or pictures is a fresh injury. All of them are healed. How the hell would you feel if someone tagged a photo of you as "trigger warning: gore"?

Disabled people are not your fucking body horror. Grow up.

[raatopaikka]

Hmmm this blog has gotten an unusual amount of attention lately so I'd just like to say hi! And welcome!

But I'd also like to inform you that I've recently been updating a lot of my older posts with new better tags, texts and links (so they're easier to navigate!) and some with better quality pics! So if you're at all interested, you can now find more links to other similar posts (or other pieces from the same year!) in the image descriptions and post tags✌

[strawberrylind]

On anon because I'm shy, but I just wanted to say that you're, like, my favorite artist. Both for the style and the representation. I've been overweight my entire life. Not the 'curvy' overweight with thigh dips that a lot of artist deem as plus sized, but just a square shape with weird bumps that always look awkward in clothes. To me, at least. Anyhow, I really do enjoy all the plus sized characters you draw, I see my own body in them. I remember back with your strawberry spiderman post, a little joke of 'all fat people can do this', hanging upside down. It's nice to have 'fat' be in the context of something and not just 'youre fat but you're beautiful'. Laughing at the joke just really lighten things up, yk? I've even studied your own art for my characters, since there's not a lot of rep other than 'round circle stomach'. Sorry in advance if this ask was weird to you in any way, I've been saving your art for a while to study it in my own figures and I thought id send my first ask over, thanking you for helping me feel comfortable in my own figure, much less comfortable enough to make characters out of it.

this is so kind 🥺🥺 thank you so much… i honestly receive messages like this way more often than i would expect, for doing something that seems so natural to me? but even then, it wasn’t only a few years ago! what started me off doing this was i saw this really beautiful series of portraits of people with my body type lounging in flowers. it changed me forever, and gave me that energy i needed to start drawing people like me for myself :”D and it makes me so overwhelming happy to know my art could do the same for other people :))

(this is the piece that started it all for me. i don’t actually know who the artist is, though it may be maya kern? if you know for sure lmk and i’ll be sure to add proper credit ^_^) edit: the artist is @ sergle! thanks everyone for helping me find em ^^

[uhohitsdorian]

So I’ve been talked into seeing my extended family this summer, which means I’ve gotta come out to them. Which, in my terror over the prospect of doing so, I decided was a situation that would be improved for all involved if it included a drawing of a skateboarding dinosaur. Though mostly for me.

Full graphic under the cut, if that helps anyone else in a similar boat, though I haven’t actually sent the message yet so I can’t say how effective the method is. I hope it’s very lovable. I’ve never actually had to formally come out before because most people who know me have watched me botch my way through my identity crisis from day one, so… fingers crossed.

[Image: a lineless, digital drawing of a small brown dinosaur, covered in feathers and wearing a dark blue, polka-dotted, button-up shirt and denim shorts, performing a jump on a skateboard in front of a warm, yellow background. They have short, fluffy brown hair and a long tail with a feathered fan, and the trans flag is visible on their pocket. The skateboard has one teal and one orange wheel visible on the side facing the viewer. End ID.]

[Second image: an expanded graphic featuring the original image to one side, and several paragraphs of text framed in speech bubbles from a small (human) portrait of the artist in the bottom corner.

The title reads: “Hey! You probably remember me inaccurately.”

The bubbles read: “It’s Cousin Rosie! A lot has changed since I last saw you all seven years ago. Namely, I’ve realised I’m transgender - nonbinary specifically, which for me means I don’t feel aligned with being male or female.

“It would mean the world to me if you could get used to thinking of me in such a light before I actually get to see you all. My pronouns are they/them, and while that may seem like a new concept, ‘they’ has actually seen usage as a neutral singular pronoun for over 700 years, including in the works of Shakespeare and the King James Bible, and predates singular usage of ‘you’!

“I still go by Rosie, but you can also call me Ray Ray if it makes remembering easier. I’m not a girl or a woman (I never have been and I never will be) but I’m still me, and knowing myself better has made me a much happier person, which should hopefully also make me more fun to be around this summer!

“This is all kind of nerve-racking to say, so I’ve included some examples of the grammatical usage and a drawing of a skateboarding dinosaur. I love dinosaurs. I love drawing, making music, linguistics, and playing Minecraft and Dungeons & Dragons with my friends. And I love all of you.”

Accompanying the dinosaur are a few more lines of text: “Whoa! Here comes your cousin/nephew/grandchild! They’ve drawn themself as a dinosaur on a skateboard! Their style is un-paralleled! If only they could do sick stunts like that in real life!” End ID.]

[fate-magical-girls]

I imagine the kingdom does have a proto-democratic, or at least anti-monarchic movement agitating in some corners. Beetle king's father's generation made a mess of things. The royal family was rife with nepotism, assassinations, and general bad decision-making that led to lots of power falling into the hands of regional nobility, which was in many ways worse than a centralized monarchy, as ideally a king exists to provide a check against noble power abuses and act as an arbiter between factions. The people are TIRED. There's discontent brewing over the parasitic nobles and also the kings who fail to keep them in line.

The Queen has re-centralized power, but in the process, some nobles who had their power curbed are fiddling with the idea of reaching out to the antimonarchists. The enemy of my enemy and all that. They spread a lot of rumors about how the king is only interested in bugs and the Queen is a harpy who runs roughshod over her helpless husband.

However, in this medieval-esque setting, most people are still in awe of the monarchy. And most people are less interested in philosophizing and more interested in the day to day results. The Queen's policies have improved the living standards of the majority populace, and power has been sufficiently reshuffled to grant formerly discontent minor and mid-level nobles the chance to advance. There isn't a huge amount of revolutionary sentiment so long as everyone gets fed.

Still, there are some radicals. Young well-educated college students, noble houses who fell out of favor or still haven't gotten in favor, urban guildsmen who thinks the power struggle between monarch and nobles are bad for business, outlaws who were driven from their homes due to the previous generation's civil war.

One cell of agitators set their headquarters in a comfortable mid-sized town, far from the influence of any particularly powerful noble. They rent the upper floors of the local alehouse. The hostess is a smart woman who knows how to keep a secret. She tries not to pry too much into their activities, but once the belts of her clients come loose, so do their lips. And revolutionaries aren't the only ones require some "exercise" after a day of planning. The revolutionaries are kept abreast of possible royal inspector activities in part thanks to their hostess's bosom. She half-jokingly refers to her well-dressed, well-spoken friends as her salon, and the townsfolk smile and nod and decide it's a grand thing to have a literary salon. At least her regular customers can now brag about visiting a "salon" rather than simply going to a pub or a house of ill-repute.

She has a little daughter, and one or two of her compatriots who have long memories note that the bright-eyed girl looks a bit like the portraits of the king and his deceased brothers. The mother always laughs it off as nonsense though. Even if there's royal blood somewhere in her daughter's veins, does it matter, with the dream they're working towards.

As for the Beetle king and his queen, they're aware that an antimonarchist movement exists. However, the Queen has made a conscious decision not to target and eliminate them. She believes they'll go away on their own once she gets through reforming the country. Agricultural production is already up, she's working on building up a good image in her public appearances, and some of her worst enemies at the royal court have already been eliminated. Besides, the revolutionaries are, frankly, too weak and scattered to form an actual threat. Trying to fight them will only draw attention to the fact that they exist. The King wants to get into contact with the revolutionaries to hear exactly what they want. He doesn't like being king, and he can understand if they don't want him to be king, but why would they have a problem with his queen, since she's working so hard?

The Queen is internally screaming that this is a very bad idea, but her husband is in a particularly stubborn mood and fixated on this idea...

I think the funniest dynamic for arranged-marriage royalty would be a queen who came here 100% prepared to murder her future husband and rule as a widow queen in her own right, only to discover that the king is autistic as hell and responds to her wish to rule with "oh thank god please do, I don't want to be bothered by these people. I can just tell them to go bother you instead, if you really want that. I've got beetles I wanted to study."

[barry-j-blupjeans]

for the fluff list, Blupjeans and 24!!!

[Image ID: Another ask, this time from @tentatively-positive-3, that says "#24 blupjeans?" END ID]

24. “I know you might not think so, but you look really good right now.”

((general/fluff prompts - accepting!!))

--

Barry had his backpack over one shoulder as he pushed open the door to his and Lup's quarters. The lights were dim and the blinds were shut and there was Lup, piled under a few blankets and drawing something in a journal Lucretia had given her last year. Barry's mood- it doesn't dampen, but he softens, seeing Lup like this. He shut the door gently and placed his bag next to it, before going to sit next to her.

The journal is more of a sketchbook if they were being honest. He and Lup both had dozens of journals filled with scientific findings, or just thoughts and feelings. This one doesn't have any lines on the page, and Lup was going at it with her pencil. A lot of it Barry couldn't decipher, which was concerning, but Lup was decent at drawing on a good day.

"You okay, babe?" he asked, leaning over just a bit more to get a better look at the drawings. It looked like her, over and over and over again, different each time. "What'cha drawing?"

Lup didn't say anything for a bit, her pencil paused. She rolls over onto her back and looks up at him.

"The people on this plane are dickwads," she said and Barry nodded sympathetically.

In terms of local friendliness, they were okay, but only if you looked how they wanted you to look. Unluckily for the crew, none of them matched the standards of beauty met here. The inhabitants of this world looked like gods on earth, having almost an ethereal beauty to them.

Their rejection didn't hit too hard for Barry, who already knew he was kind of plain-looking and had grown used to it. Davenport and Merle couldn't really care less, though Davenport was peeved by the fact they were not allowed into the cities. Lucretia seemed to be taking it okay, and Magnus had been offended for a bit, but Barry honestly couldn't tell if he was pretending or not.

Taako was... fine, after a few days. Insulted, of course, because if there was one thing Taako prided himself on, it was how he looked. They expected Lup to bounce back just the same, but...

It wasn't just a beauty thing, for Lup.

"I know you might not think so," Barry said gently, "but you look really good right now.”

Lup cracked a smile, but it faded after a few seconds.

"You know that's not the problem, babe," she said.

"I know," Barry said. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I dunno," Lup said, looking at the journal. "I... feel like I'm being stupid. It's not like- they're not saying I'm not a woman, they're saying we're not people, because we look so bad. But my brain is like "oh, they don't perceive you how you want to be perceived? Dysphoiraaaaa tiiiime." It fucking sucks, Bar, I hate it."

"It sounds sucky," Barry said genuinely. "I'm here for- for whatever I can do to help, Lup, I promise. Is drawing helpful?"

"The other option is finding something to blow up, so yeah, I guess," she said, turning back on her side towards the journal. "Usually when I draw myself I'm like- normal, right?" She flips back a few pages and points at a self-portrait. It was a little abstract, but beautiful nonetheless. "Good, right?"

"Yeah," Barry said.

She turned back to the page she was on and pointed at one of the various Lup's she had done. This one was messy, scribbled, and smudged. It only had one arm, and half a face, and looked, frankly, exhausted.

"That's how I feel, I guess," she said, pushing it towards him. "Metaphorically, 'cus I got my arms and my face, but it doesn't- I don't feel whole. I feel- not great. Uncomfortable, maybe. I mean there's a reason it's called dysphoria, so."

"Yeah," Barry said again, thumbing at the page. There was another sketchy Lup in the corner, rolled into a tight ball, just kinda laying there. And another about midpage, looking like she was falling through the air and desperately trying to catch herself on something. And another, hunched over, and another, pulling at her face, looking uncomfortable.

And another, and another, and another. There was barely any un-doodled on space.

"We could probably find something to blow up," Barry said after a moment of silence. "This distraction obviously isn't working, though I do like the art. It's very... it gets across your point very well. But, uh, we could definitely find something for you to blow up if you want. And then we can come back and cuddle, if you also want that."

Lup made a noise of consideration and then nodded.

"Alright," she said, sitting up a bit. "I can get down with that plan."

[a-nice-and-interpretive-fanzine]

[ID: A cream-colored banner that says "A Nice and Interpretive Fanzine: essays and art about the meanings we've found in Good Omens." There is a photo of a book page with a key on it behind the banner text. The photo source is rosy_photo on Pixabay. /end ID]

A Nice and Interpretive Fanzine: Information Masterpost

Welcome!

This is a zine for those of us who love the subtle, complex work that is Good Omens, and who’ve enjoyed the thoughtfulness of the fandom as people interpret how the many moving pieces of the story come together, creating a slightly different meaning for each of us.

To put it simply, it’s a book full of the fandom’s own analysis and commentary about the Good Omens TV show, enhanced with illustrations from our brilliant artists.

This zine is analytical in the sense that all the writers are expressing their own nonfiction thoughts and feelings about the show, rather than writing fanfic, but it is not meant to be heavily academic. Anybody who likes to pick apart the series and discuss it should be able to enjoy it.

The zine will contain essays by fans who are passionate about analyzing and interpreting different parts of Good Omens - the characters, the plot, the writing techniques for the book and script, the cinematography of the TV show, the popular content of the fandom itself. Accompanying these essays will be black and white illustrations from our artists.

How are you organizing this process?

May 1-May 15: Everyone submits their application to do writing or art through a Google form. Behind the scenes, I’ll be setting up a separate email and Discord.

May 16-20: Applicants will be screened during this time.

May 20: I’ll email everyone to let them know the outcomes of their applications. The final participants will get a link to the Discord server for the zine (totally optional, of course).

May 21: If there’s any clarification or solidifying of ideas that needs to happen, I’ll contact you and discuss with you by this point. This is also when artists will be matched up with essays.

May 22 to August 14: This will be a period of just working on our essays and art. The Discord chat and Tumblr will be there for support and for exchanging ideas!

August 15: Participants need to email their full works to the zine’s email address by this date. No special formatting is needed; I’ll do that in InDesign.

August 15 to August 31: I’ll be putting the zine together in InDesign.

September 1: Preorders will open.

September 30: Preorders will close.

October 1: The zine order will be placed!

October 15: Assuming all goes well with printing and shipping, the zines will be shipped out in waves starting on this date. If the printing or shipping from the manufacturer is delayed, then shipping will just start ASAP.

Writer Application HERE Artist Application HERE Asked and Answered Questions on Tumblr The Fanzine's Page on Twitter

Read below for more detailed information about the zine in a Q and A format!

What are the specifications for the zine contributions?

For writers, I’m starting with 3k words or fewer per essay (approximately 10 pages at the size of this book). This depends heavily on how many participants we actually get, so it may change!

For artists, I’d be looking at black and white works, 300 DPI, 5.5 x 8.5 inches or smaller. If your art is supposed to fill up the entire page (i.e. no white space), please make it a total of 5.75 x 8.75 inches with nothing too important around the edges to account for bleed during the printing process.

Can I submit an essay to this zine if I’ve already posted it on Tumblr?

Not as you’ve already posted it. We don’t want to just copy/paste the exact thing that hundreds or perhaps even thousands of people have already read.

However, it IS fine and maybe even a good idea to take the same thought from your post and refine it, preserving your same thesis. For example, a lot of Tumblr posts are just us fans jotting down 5 or 6 paragraphs of random thoughts at 2 AM, but some of them are really cool thoughts! Expanding them and turning them into a bona-fide Essay would make those posts into excellent zine chapters. And you can copy small pieces of your own language as long as the whole thing isn’t just pasted word-for-word.

How long do essays have to be? Is there a limit?

With the number of writers we have, I've calculated that each person should ideally keep their essay to about 6000 words. There is wiggle room.

There’s no real minimum for your contribution; some analytical ideas are really good but can be expressed concisely, so it’s okay if your essays only come out to a few pages typed. For reference, with our book size, a page is about 300 words.

What happens if the zine sells a lot and you end up not only breaking even, but turning a profit?

It’ll go to charity. While I’ll ask the participants what they want to do for certain if we do make enough money, my suggestion will be donating it to Alzheimer’s Research UK in honor of Sir Terry Pratchett.

I’m not really comfortable calling this a “charity zine” up front since I simply don’t know if it will raise a significant amount. For the most part, I just want the thing to physically exist, which means breaking even, and don’t want to make it more expensive for buyers than it needs to be to afford the printing costs.

What kinds of essays are you talking about? What could be included?

In short, any analytical thoughts about the Good Omens TV show - and possibly even the fandom as it interacts with the show - are possible inclusions for the zine.

To expand a bit, think about the meta posts you see floating around Tumblr. Often these involve analyzing characters, or picking up on patterns in the plot. Sometimes fans use their own background knowledge to write posts about the significance of certain costume choices or the way music plays into each individual scene. Some posts examine the ways the series approaches gender, while others might discuss ways that the characters present as neurodivergent. That’s how diverse the pool of possibilities is for subjects in this zine.

How does art come into this?

Images will be black and white, to match the bookish mood of the project overall. Images can range in size from a half page to a full page.

I’m planning to talk to the artists and authors and loosely pair artists with essays that appeal to their personal interests.

I know how to illustrate a story, but how do I illustrate an essay?

There are infinite answers to this! I’ve seen some beautiful symbolic artwork in the fandom already (e.g. a number of takes on Aziraphale munching on an apple with Crowley in snake form curving around him), and there are tons of symbolic motifs to draw from, but these are not the only options. An artist illustrating an essay about cinematography, for example, could draw a well-known scene from an alternative angle. An essay about Heaven as a capitalist corporation could be illustrated with a cartoon of Gabriel giving some sort of excruciating PowerPoint presentation. A character analysis could be accompanied by a simple portrait. And on and on. I’m not interested in limiting the possibilities by trying to make a list, but just know that there are many and you don’t have to make it complicated if you don’t want to.

If the writers can reuse their essay ideas, can artists reuse their drawings?

Similarly to the writers, if you already have an interpretive drawing that you’re in love with, artists can use the same ideas and the same fundamental composition that is present in their own existing work. However, it has to be redone in some significant way. Whether it’s taking something you drew in 2019 and redrawing it using an updated style, taking a sketch and turning it into a lined and shaded piece, or redoing a full-color drawing so it presents more strikingly in black and white, it shouldn’t be identical to the thing you’ve already posted.

So how are you choosing participants here?

It’ll be based on what people are interested in writing about (or illustrating). I’ll be looking for people who are passionate about their essays, but I’ll also be looking for variety. It all depends on what people want to offer, so I won’t know for sure what it will look like put together until everyone’s application is in.

For artists, I’ll be trying to figure out whose style looks like it would adapt well to illustrations in black and white, and also who demonstrates an interest in the same subjects as the writers.

If we don’t get a lot of applicants, I’d love to simply include everyone, but I can’t commit to that without knowing for sure how many people are involved.

Do I have to use a formal writing style to participate?

No. You should use a style that makes your thoughts and ideas as clear as possible, but as long as it’s understandable, you can also get a little artistic with it. You can “write like you speak,” though perhaps in a more organized way. You definitely don’t need to worry about stylistic rules like not using the first person. This is not academia.

Is this zine going to center only on Crowley and Aziraphale?

That remains to be seen! It depends on what ideas show up in the applications. There will be a lot of the ineffable partners for sure, but whether the whole zine will center on them or whether there’s plentiful stuff about other characters will depend on what the participants suggest.

Do we have to agree with all your personal interpretations of Good Omens to be in the zine?

No! In fact, I’m assuming that a number of essays will contradict each other, too, and that’s perfectly okay. The zine is a sampler of fan interpretations meant to inspire, not instruct. It’s not “Here’s a fan-made guide on how to understand this TV show,” it’s “Look at all these moving parts and how many meanings we can find in them. What does it mean to you?”

However, there are some basic rules and assumptions by which I’m working here.

I don’t personally have the energy to include essays that are highly critical (“negative”) in this zine. It’s analytical but also meant to be fun.

I’m pretty focused on the TV adaptation. This isn’t “no book analysis allowed” but just that the essays will end up being weighted toward subjects that apply to either the TV show or both the book and the show.

Each writer should focus on making their own points over disproving other fan interpretations. If you’re writing in an expository style, it’s normal for the essay to contain rebuttals to opposing ideas, but these should be minor supporting points, not the heart and soul of your essay. For reference, I’d say the majority of meta I see floating around on tumblr would follow this rule just fine.

Essay ideas that seem to contain bigoted or exclusionary sentiments will not be accepted (no TERFy stuff, for example).

What kinds of editing will go into the zine? Are you going to argue with us about the contents of our writing?

While I might ask you to elaborate on certain points in your writing or clarify your thoughts about your subject, I’m absolutely not here to ask you to change the thesis, opinions, or headcanons on which your writing is based. If I really have a problem with your initial idea, I’ll tell you that up front and politely decline the contribution.

While formatting the zine, I’ll make minor edits if I think I see a typo or misspelling, something small and obviously unintentional. As with any other zine, your content won’t be changed without consulting you.

Is this a SFW zine?

Yes. If people want to discuss sexuality in a theoretical way, like erotic subtext, that would be allowed. There are canon references like Newt and Anathema’s moment under the bed that might come up, too. But there will be nothing explicit, and since these are essays instead of stories, there will be no “action” going on between characters. Let’s just say sex isn’t a forbidden topic, but it will be like discussing it in English class.

As for other topics that could make the zine NSFW, like gore or extreme language, I don’t think they will be an issue. Some dark topics, like abuse by Heaven and Hell, may be discussed, but they will be warned for, and these are not stories, so you aren’t going to see violent actions playing out.

Will there be any “extras” like charms or stickers?

I’m not sure yet. I’m most inclined to keep it simple, because of the nature of the zine, but would be open to including some bonus items if there’s an artist who’s really passionate about it.

With that said, I am pretty committed to making a hardcover edition of the book available, in addition to the standard softcover version.

You’re doing this with only one mod?!

Yes. I personally find it easiest. While I’ve worked on multi-mod projects in other domains and adore all of my co-mods, it’s a little bit different when it’s a project with this many moving pieces that includes real-life components like printing and shipping. Though there are a lot of individual things to be done, I am experienced with all of them, so it’s less overwhelming to just take on the whole project. That way, I know exactly what needs to be done and when, and there are no issues with assigning tasks.

What qualifies you to run this zine?

The résumé answer: in fandom, I successfully solo-modded a large not-for-profit zine in the past, the @soulmakazine2018, and while I can’t speak for the whole fandom, it definitely seemed to be well-received. <3 In real life, I’m a case manager and this involves coordinating and communicating with a lot of different people including my 100-person caseload, budgeting services, and filling out all kinds of paperwork on the fly, all skills that can be imported into zine work.

The practical answer: well, I’m the one who decided to start this project, so if you like the sound of it, you're stuck with me. I say with encouragement and enthusiasm that if you’d like to do a different take on a commentary zine, you should absolutely do it.

[bookwyrminspiration]

Based on the new portrait of the characters, how tall do u think each of the main ones are, looks like Sophie’s the shortest, i thought marella was but she grew apparently :)

[ID: An anonymous ask reading, "main height headcanons based on the new portrait?" /End ID.]

(i'm combining these because they're very similar!! hope that's alright)

okay so as of answering this the portrait is no longer new, but! in case anyone hasn't seen it yet here is a link to the portrait on Shannon's Instagram.

This one is a little tough because as far as I can remember, there have never been any numbers given to describe anyone's heights, just a few comparison's between people. so before I do any numbers or headcanons I'm just going to look over the whole thing to kind of get a sense of where people are in relation to each other.

It looks like the shortest is actually Maruca in this drawing! but only by a very very small amount. Her hairstyle gives her the illusion of height because it rises above her head, but looking at where her head actually is she's slightly shorter than the next shortest.

The next shortest two appear to be Sophie and Linh, who are close enough in height that I'm not going to bother trying to determine exactly which one is taller right now (Linh does appear taller when you look at the heads but she's also standing further back). They've got about the same posture as well so I'd put them at nearly identical in height. I changed my mind I am going to bother; Linh seems to be fractionally shorter than Sophie, but still close enough it doesn't really matter.

I'd say Marella is next in height, but it's a very small amount. Hers is actually a little trickier to tell because she's standing in a pose that makes her look shorter than she in (her hips are tilted along with her head), but she seems about the same as Linh and Sophie, just a tiny bit taller.

After Marella is Jensi, who isn't a lot taller than her but it's not as small of an amount as all the other's have been. And right after him is Tam. The two of them are actually very close in height in this portrait, though Tam is clearly taller. His feet are also spread further apart, which probably actually puts him a little close to the next character than to Jensi.

Then it's Biana! She's nearly tied with Dex in this drawing, but alas the hair once again gives the illusion of a little height she doesn't have. Then again she too has a pose where her weight is shifted, so it might bump her up a little bit to actually match Dex. And as already said, Dex is after her in terms of height, but only by a little in this portrait.

After Dex it's Wylie, Keefe, and Stina, who are pretty close but because of the way their feet are positioned it's a little hard to tell exactly who is taller. But they're close enough it shouldn't really matter. I think it might be Keefe, Wylie, then Stina (with Stina as the tallest) but I'm not sure.

And finally!! Fitz! He's the tallest without competition. Someone take out his legs he shouldn't be this tall /j.

Okay! So now that I've laid out all their height in comparison to each other and have a sense for how close their heights are, I'm gonna offer a possible set of numbers (in order). this is done in feet and inches as I am, despite my best wishes, American

Maruca: 5'1"

Sophie: 5'2"

Linh: 5'2.5"

Marella: 5'4"

Jensi: 5'6"

Tam: 5'7"

Biana: 5'9"

Dex: 5'11"

Wylie: 6'

Keefe: 6'

Stina: 6'1"

Fitz: 6'3"

I do not know if this is the information you wanted, but now you have it! If there's something else you'd like me to look at with the new portrait, I'd be more than happy to! I got a little carried away with the numbers, but it was fun for me at least!!

also: these height headcanons are based exclusively on the portrait. I actually measured them all in relation to each other from the position of their heels to the top of their head and then compared those. There may be information in the books that directly contradict the order I've put them in, but that's because for these numbers all I looked at was the one piece of art I linked at the top of the post.

That being said...fanfic writers (those who write ships), please do enjoy!! There are definitely some fun height differences to play around with if you use these numbers.

And thank you for the prompt. again, if there's something else about the heights you want to talk about all you need to do is ask!!

[spacedlexi]

ok i got a few different messages from people so im gonna answer them under the cut but i dont think theres a whole lot more to be said so i think im done publicly responding after these

thank you to everyone who chimed in i really appreciate all the comments regardless of your opinion because in the end i just want to do better and i know this is all coming from a place of good will 💕

i get what youre saying here, and someone else mentions this down the post, but like, im drawing specific characters that are already defined. there is only so much i can exaggerate to the point where they lose their likeness and i dont want to Over exaggerate. like the other artist you mention is pretty cartoony, and thats not really exactly what im going for. spider verse is the Most cartoony id get but again its not my goal for my main art style, which is the one im assuming youre talking about. 

also not sure how you mean “when you push to exaggerate you can find more realism” because i feel like those things are at odds. you also talk about proportions which, i do try to keep, well, in proportion. i dont like pushing my proportions too much because then it becomes too exaggerated and thats not what im going for. also to reiterate im drawing already defined characters so im trying to keep their likenesses and i dont want to push them to the point where they lose that. the artist youve been referring to mostly seems to draw original characters, which is fine, but theres more freedom in that

but like ive already said im always aware of trying to make features identifiable and unique without losing that likeness. arcane has been a big inspo in that regard recently and im only just starting to really break that down specifically so youre really just gonna have to give me time to improve on that,,

thank you for the nice words and yes noses and lips can be harder for me to differentiate, more specifically lips, and the nostrils over the bridge or roundness/sharpness of the nose, but it does also come back to keeping a characters likeness so its a fine line to walk. especially when the character is more realistically portrayed and i have to figure out the best way to stylize them without Over stylizing them or missing the mark 😓

ive seen some artists with Severe same face syndromes and its always sad for me to see even when i like the art overall, so i do things like making those charts to compare features to make sure theres not too much of a visual overlap between anyone. theres only So much you can do when youre drawing a pre established character because you want them to look like themselves, but also youre stylizing them, so you gotta be careful to not push too hard. at least in my case where i dont want to be overly exaggerated bc thats not what im going for

i used to be more exaggerated in the past but over the years ive done more portrait studies and am trying to be closer to the realism side of the semi realism spectrum. at least for my main style. sometimes im more cartoony but thats not my main goal its just when im being lose or messing around. i like exaggeration of expression more than exaggeration of features, but its not like im Not defining features, theyre just not pushed to cartoony extremes. and Again im limited in how far i can push if i want a character to retain their likeness especially for a semi realistic style

so thank you for thinking im doing a good job at differentiating between characters 😭 i really do put a lot of effort into it without being too cartoony

ok yeah heres the one that pointed out im limited in just how far i can push features without a character becoming unidentifiable. everything i do or change when i draw a preestablished character is in an effort to make them look as much like themselves as possible, and Very Rarely altering things (really the only thing i can think of is i give clem slightly larger lips bc hers in game are so tiny and my girl doesnt deserve thin lips lol. theres a specific piece of concept art from s3 of clem that i absolutely adore and its where i get the blocked in upper lip from. that piece of concept art is my biggest inspo when it comes to drawing her bc i feel like its near Perfect aha the eyes are just like Slightly too far apart proportionally)

and youre right that sometimes people conflate a consistent style with same face, but i dont want to be quick to jump to conclusions, because again im trying to hear everyone out bc i know this is all coming from a place of good will and i always want to do better, especially in this regard. but some of the critique has sounded like they want me to alter my style to be more exaggerated. right now my biggest art inspo is arcane because they have such a beautiful array of distinguished faces while still being imo perfectly stylized

im glad you think i do a good job making everyone distinct,, thank you for the encouragement,,

yeah this is why ive been so confused because im being told i have same face but also that i have variation of shape and im ??? like im trying to make it make sense. this feels like a good summation of whats been going on and where the disconnect is happening. again ive been trying to not just boil it down to “thats just my style” because i want to take it seriously, but i do feel like im being asked to be more exaggerated which begins to push that line im toeing of stylized realism

in my college painting class we dove into proportions Extensively and theres so much to keep in mind when laying out a face specifically

this is just off the top of my head so i think im forgetting a thing or two, plus its fast so its a little off but this is the general idea (like i think theres about another eye length on both sides of your face between your eyes and the side of your head but idr 100%), but like no matter what your features are or how big or small they are they will Generally line up like this. so you can use this method with small faces or long faces or slim faces or wide faces, these proportions Usually hold up regardless. just like with the proportions for the rest of your body. did you know your foot is the same length as the inner part of your forearm? did you know your face is the same size as your hand? unique for everyone BUT still holds up proportionally to yourself

but the fun part about knowing proportions is being able to work with them to create identifiable faces, and thats what im trying to do. ive learned the proportions but now im just trying to push them in a way that is still “correct” but stylized, and identifiable by character

--

ive come a really long way in just the last few years, and that was off the back of a 5 year burn out hiatus. so im really happy with the progress ive made but obviously theres always room for improvement and im always looking to do so. whenever im happy with my art i always get excited thinking about how im going to continue to improve and what my art will look like in the future :) so i do appreciate people wanting to help see me do better, but on my personal blog where i post things for fun, maybe just ask if you can give critique first,, and depending on what it is maybe we can just keep it between us. i promise i wont bite aha 💕 i just need to be emotionally in the right space to receive it