#c: caspar

[warpaway]

one sided

hi it's me again. i will probably be adding this to my ooc page just so everyone possible knows it's a thing but for now here is a hc post.

i think everyone that linhardt has targetted as a research subject participant (we don't use that word, linhardt), they have developed a crush on. it's mostly to do with having REALLY INTENSE FEELINGS about their excitement for research and science and also this helps them overcome the hurdle of their introversion, so feelings get crossed and they end up conflating it for romantic feelings.

that isn't to say that like it would be a hollow relationship if anything ever came from these relationships. linhardt definitely comes to care genuinely about lysithea and marianne, and i think he would as well for like, god forbid you get a flayn/linhardt ending,

i just want to put this out there especially because linhardt totally develops a crush on, say, byleth, and there's a lot of ethical concerns there if there WASNT a yucky age gap. i just want to make it clear if anything happens in text it's one-sided and as the writer i don't necessarily want anything romantic happening okay? okay. good talk.

[transmascsunburst]

My small but growing collection! Honeycomb is my favourite and I would die for her. I also love Sweetberry too.

[raspberrie-sims]

Here's like day 30 something of me being obsessed with Alexander Goth in my Super Sim challenge lmao

bonus pics of him with his siblings cause i love them

(bella had twins apparently so i grew them up and gave them a makeover their names are Dahlia and Damien idk i thought they fit) And that's my ted talk thanks for comin.

[cherrywhite]

Midnight burger ily but can we please stop calling caspar an idiot every other episode 😭 especially since he's no less intelligent than gloria??

[conceptalbum]

[lux-vitae]

The Temple of Juno in Agrigento by Caspar David Friedrich (c. 1828-30)

[shalomniscient]

who are the top ten pussy eaters from ptn, hsr and genshin all together in your opinion? :3c not really a request but it would be nice if you wrote something dedicated to the first and the second places in the ranking *wink-wink*

well i already know who's in first place........ this one's for you @sinful-lanterns 🫡🫡🫡

VORACITY || multifandom x reader [NSFT][MDNI]

cw. cunnilingus, overstimulation, dacryphilia, squirting, edging, bondage

notes. the little 'excerpts' aren't very long, sorry anon 😭😭😭 alas i am not creative enough to come up with that many different ways to describe eating pussy 😔😔😔 hope u will enjoy <33

1ST PLACE: CABERNET FRANC

Do I even need to elaborate. This woman uses her tongue for a living, she'll be good at using it at the dinner table and between your legs (not that there's much of a difference to her).

She's tasted a lot of good things in her life. Meals made by the finest chefs in the world, and when her Sinner abilities awakened, she tasted souls themselves. But even then, nothing can compare to the taste of your slick on her tongue as she laps it up right from the source.

Cabernet's got her hands on your thighs, her grip hard enough to bruise, keeping them spread open for her to put her entire mouth on your twitching cunt. She alternates between sucking on your clit and plunging her tongue into your hole with ridiculous speed, and she doesn't stop until you're halfway passed out and oversensitive to even the slightest sensation.

You writhe on the bed as Cabernet brings you to your nth orgasm of the night, with nothing but her tongue. Your brain is foggy with pleasure, and you're sure most of it has melted and dripped out of your pussy as cum at this point, but you retain the slightest bit of coherent thought to wonder if Cabernet's knees hurt. Surely they must—she's been at this for hours.

But they do, Cabernet gives no indication, or she simply does not care. Her fiery red hair is a mess from you tangling your fingers in them, spilling like fire across your trembling thighs as Cabernet keeps her mouth firmly on your cunt. Her tongue ruthlessly plunges in and out of your dripping hole, a wet patch having formed on the bed from the times she's made you cum.

"P-please," you slur out hoarsely, hips twitching with each lick. "'S too much, 's too much, can't anymore—"

Cabernet only hums, the vibrations traveling right to your clit and making you sob. She pointedly ignores your whimpers and continues what she's doing, determined to wring yet another orgasm from you.

And fuck, she just might.

The coil in your belly is winding impossibly tight, and you squirm in her iron grip, tears spilling from your eyes now as your entire body feels like a live fucking wire. "C-Cabernet, wait, 'm gonna make a mess—"

"Go ahead," Cabernet croons against your cunt, warm breath fanning over your overstimulated nerves. "Give it all to me."

Her lips find your clit and suck hard, and you cum with a wail and an arch of your back, squirt spilling from your cunt and into her waiting, hungry mouth. Some of it splashes onto her neck and chest, and Cabernet's eyes go half-lidded with desire before she pulls back and you fall back onto the bed, gasping for air as Cabernet climbs over you, licking her lips.

"Simply delectable, my dear."

2ND PLACE: RAIDEN EI & NAVIA CASPAR

NOW BEFORE YOU YELL AT ME FOR PUTTING A TIE, HEAR ME OUT !!

These two are both fiends for sweet things. Absolute little devils for a sugar rush. And you know what they find the sweetest in the entire god damn world? Your pretty pussy of course.

They simply go a little feral between your legs, nosing into you and trying to prod their tongue into your cunt to coax more of your sweetness into their mouth. By the time you push their heads away from your overstimulated pussy, their entire lower face is shiny with slick, some of it even dripping down their neck.

"B-Babe, wait—"

Your words are cut off as she throws your legs over her shoulders, one hand on your thigh, and the other slung across your pelvis to forcibly hold you down. She pushes her face against your cunt, kissing and sucking at your clit, the wet sounds echoing throughout the room.

You arch your back, fingers digging into the sheets as she devours you. You're vaguely aware of her hips rutting against the bed too, her own core burning with need as she eats you out like a woman starved. You release the sheets and tangle a hand in her hair, fingers winding tight enough to tug at her scalp and she moans.

When she looks up at you, her eyes are glazed over, utterly drunk on your pussy. Her lower face is a mess, but she doesn't seem to mind, not as she dives right back in to prod her tongue into your needy hole and you shudder at the sensation, pleasure dancing up your spine like a lightning bolt.

You aren't walking away from this bed for the next few hours, that's for sure.

3RD PLACE: KAFKA

We all knew Kafka would be making this list.

Kafka is a little different from the other two rankings because while she has impeccable technique she doesn't get particularly pussydrunk like Cabernet, Ei or Navia.

So she'll edge you for hours with nothing but her lips and tongue, until you feel like even her just blowing on your clit would have you cumming with a cry.

Kafka is so mean.

You knew this when getting into bed with her, but it didn't really sink in until now, where she's had you tied up for the better half of an hour, your ankles anchored to each corner of the bedpost by maroon ropes, and your wrists bound above your head—all while she laps and kitten licks at your pussy, purposefully avoiding giving you too much stimulation.

Just enough to drive you crazy, but not enough to get you off.

You look down at her between your legs with a whine, need pulsing like a second heart throughout your body as you look into her eyes, dark with desire. She maintains that brutal eye contact with you as she licks a long, slow stripe up your cunt, from your hole to your clit, and you whimper.

The sound makes Kafka grin, and she brings a finger to her lips, wiping your slick off. She rubs her two fingers together, then spreads them in a v-shape, and marvels at the sticky, gossamer string connecting them.

"So pretty, doll," Kafka says, her voice a low, dangerous croon. Her hand rests on your thigh, and you tremble as she leans down and breathes ever so softly on your wetness.

"But you can hold out a little longer, right?"

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Shenhe, Mantis, Stelle and Rahu are all eager, but can be a little sloppy. It's okay though, with enough guidance they'll have you seeing stars soon enough.

Raven runs her mouth a lot, so naturally she'll be good at using it for other purposes too.

Angell gives me incredible cat vibes, and since cats have very dexterous tongues... well, you see where I'm going with this.

[batbabydamian]

DC September 2024 Solicitations - Comics Featuring Damian! 🦇

THE BOY WONDER #5 of 5

9/4/24

Written by Juni Ba

Art and Cover by Juni Ba

Variant Cover: Lea Murawiec

The Robins have united to battle their way out of the stronghold of the Demon’s Head, but Damian cutting his family ties to Ra’s al Ghul isn’t just a matter of punching his way through ninjas. Could this fairy tale possibly have a happy ending? Or is the story of Damian Wayne an inescapable tragedy?

TRINITY SPECIAL: WORLD’S FINEST

9/4/24 

Written by Tom King

Art by Belen Ortega

Cover by Daniel Sampere

Variant covers: Belen Ortega, Chrissie Zullo (1:25), Saowee (1:50)

The world’s finest heroes of tomorrow are back for more! The daughter of Wonder Woman and the Super Sons return for more stories filled with laughs, action and awe-inspiring adventure. Can Lizzie survive Darkseid and his terrifying math? Will an innocent trip to the past for homework change the future? Are Damian and Jon’s barks worse than their bite? Find out in this collection of the latest back-up stories from the hit WONDER WOMAN series!

BATMAN AND ROBIN #13

9/11/24

Written by Joshua Williamson

Art by Juan Ferreyra

Cover by Simone Di Meo

Variant covers: Travis Mercer, Christian Ward (1:25)

Batman, Robin, and Bane must escape Dinosaur Island. But they are not alone! A dangerous presence has taken over and won’t let anyone leave the island alive! Can the father and son dynamic duo return to Gotham or will this be their last adventure together?!

DC VS. VAMPIRES: WORLD WAR V #2

9/11/24

Written by Matthew Rosenburg

Art and cover by Otto Schmidt

Variant Covers: Daniele Di Nicuolo (1:25), Caspar Wijngaard, Lucio Parrillo

The peace between vampires and heroes is wearing thin. Lois Lane will try and negotiate a way to maintain a truce, but with Damian’s relentless attacks on the vampire queen and her armies, the only thing that might be able to bring them together is a…Miracle.

*Bruno Redondo Variant Cover C appearance + chance of interior feature

NIGHTWING #118

9/18/24

Written by Tom Taylor

Art and cover by Bruno Redondo

Variant Covers: Bruno Redondo, Jamal Campbell, Tirso, Nicola Scott, Serg Acuna (1:25)

Embark on an exhilarating journey through the streets of Blüdhaven as we bid a heartfelt farewell to the dynamic duo of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo in the epic conclusion to their award-winning run. With Nightwing’s fear of heights overcome, he returns to Blüdhaven for one final face-off with Heartless and Tony Zucco. It’s the battle you’ve all been waiting for! And if we’ve learned anything from Nightwing these last couple of years, we know he never has to do it alone. One thing’s for certain though: Blüdhaven will never be the same after this!

WONDER WOMAN #13

9/18/24

Written by Tom King

Art and Cover by Tony S. Daniel

Variant Covers: Gleb Melnikov (1:25), Stanley "Artgerm" Lau, Phil Jimenez, Nicola Scott

ABSOLUTE POWER TIE-IN! Gamorra found! Wonder Woman and Robin have finally located Amanda Waller’s super jail holding the powerless heroes they once fought alongside. Can the new dynamic duo break them out before they become trapped themselves? An undercover ally may hold the key to everything!

ROBIN: SON OF BATMAN BY PATRICK GLEASON: THE DELUXE EDITION

11/5/24

Written by Patrick Gleason and Ray Fawkes

Art by Patrick Gleason, Scott Mcdaniel, Mick Gray, and others

Cover by Patrick Gleason

Damian Wayne died. But like most members of the al Ghul family, he didn’t stay dead. Now that he’s back and done some soul-searching, Damian has decided he has a lot to make up for—but he won’t have to do it alone. With a young assassin named Nobody and a gargantuan dragon bat named Goliath in tow, Damian’s year of atonement will take him across the globe and reunite him with friends, foes, and his own complicated family as he seeks to prove to everyone—himself, especially—that he is a worthy member of the Bat-Family. This deluxe edition features a brand-new cover by writer/artist Patrick Gleason, development sketches, and tons more behind-the-scenes material! Collecting DC Sneak Peek: Robin: Son of Batman #1, and Robin: Son of Batman #1-13.

[trailofleaves]

Caspar David Friedrich

Waldinneres bei Mondlicht

c. 1823–1830

[transmascsunburst]

Sometimes I see the most beautiful art on here and I try and show it to my friends and they're like isn't that the Child Horse Show and I'm like ';_; yes but-'

[mikrokosmos]

The Gothic in Classical Music History (1760s-1920s)

Intro Back in high school I fell in love with two things; classical music, and Edgar Allan Poe. I’ve always loved Halloween, October, spooky things, ghost stories, horror and slasher movies, etc. And I always loved finding classical music that was also spooky, or dark, or evocative of the same eerie experience of a cold and foggy October day. Thinking about these memories made me want to put together a short list of Gothic Classical music.

But what do I mean? There is no true “Gothic music” as in a specific movement in classical history, because the traditional Gothic refers to literature. Not all art movements have corresponding trends in all mediums. Even so I thought it would be fun to say, if there was such a thing as Gothic music, what would that include?

18th Century

John Henry Fuseli - The Nightmare (1781)

Music of the 1760s-1790s, corresponding with the first wave of “Gothic Novels” in the English language. Some names in this era include Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto), Ann Radcliffe (The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Italian) and Charles Brockden Brown (Wieland). The closest we have to music of this same era would be in the Sturm und Drang style. Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress) was used to describe music written in a minor key that was restless, agitated, intense, emotional, and more extreme than the typical expectations for restraint and lightness/clarity, music that aristocrats in powdered wigs and velvet and lace could relax with. Strong changes of emotion and more emphasis on subjectivity, reflected by sudden modulations and pulsing rhythms.

The most famous piece that I associate with Sturm und Drang is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “little” g minor Symphony no.25, K.183 (1773). It is famously used in the opening of Miloš Forman’s Amadeus (1984). It is a fun piece, and that opening movement is full of fire, and probably the young Mozart having fun (he wrote it at 17. If you ever want to lower your self esteem, look up what music Mozart wrote at your current age.). Another major work would be Joseph Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony no.45 (1772), written in the very unusual for the time key of f# minor. And of course, even though he comes later, anything Ludwig van Beethoven published in a minor key has a lot of muscular passion to it, and his early/classical era of the 1790s is no joke. Check out the final movements of his Piano Trio no.3 in c minor and his Piano Sonata no.1 in f minor, or his most famous early sonata, the Pathetique.

But if the Sturm und Drang style and Gothic genre also emphasize the disturbed and the psychological, we can include programmatic works that do the same. Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni (1788) has an incredible moment in the finale. The sociopathic hedonist is confronted by the ghost of the man he murdered in the first act, who possesses a statue and confronts Don Giovanni with his sins. Don Giovanni doesn’t repent, so he is dragged into hell with a chorus of demons. Always a good reminder that Mozart wasn’t the eternal child who wrote pretty melodies.

19th Century

Caspar David Friedrich - The Abbey in the Oakwood (1810)

Music of the early 19th century corresponds better with Gothic fiction because Romanticism in art brought greater interest in the supernatural, in the subjective, in emotional reactions to the universe… major names in fiction include the poetry of Lord Byron (Darkness), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein, The Last Man), and Sir Walter Scott (The Bride of Lammermoor). Greater emphasis is put on the anxiety of the unknown, supernatural fears beyond our control.

Of all Franz Schubert’s songs, Erlkönig (1815) best exemplifies the Gothic (and this is a bold claim because I only know about a fraction of Schubert’s extensive song output). In it, a father and son are riding on horseback. The son is sick with fever. As they ride, the son cries out that he can hear the Elf King calling out to him, some evil spirit or demon that wants to take the son’s life. The father tries to calm him down, but the Elf King gets closer and closer. By the time they reach home, the son has died. Was the Elf King real? Was the son hallucinating from fever? How literal should we take this text? The ambiguity of subjective experiences and how we interpret and understand reality is a major theme in Gothic fiction.

Many famous German operas lean into the supernatural and magical. In this period we get Carl Maria von Weber’s Der Freischütz (1821), considered to be the first Romantic opera. In it, our main character Max who needs to win a shooting contest so he can be allowed to marry his lover, Agathe. He is given a gun that can shoot magic bullets by another forrester Kaspar (who has his own plans). Kaspar tells Max to meet him in the “Wolf’s Glenn” in the woods at midnight for more magic bullets. In the Wolf’s Glenn, Kaspar calls for a spirit, the Black Huntsman Samiel, to help him curse the other characters, offering Max’s soul in exchange. Making deals with demons/the devil was another fascination in Romanticism.

Legends of a diabolical nature were springing around great musicians. At the end of the 1700s, Giuseppe Tartini wrote his most famous composition, the “Devil’s Trill” Violin Sonata in g minor which is full of virtuosic passages. Tartini claimed that the Devil appeared to him in a dream, and that he sold his soul in exchange for the Devil to be his servant. He handed the Devil his violin, and the Devil “…played with such great art and intelligence, as I had never even conceived in my boldest flights of fantasy. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted: my breath failed me, and I awoke” Source

Similar stories came about with violinist Niccolò Paganini, who astonished the audiences of the early 19th century with his (for the time) otherworldly technique, dazzling them with scales and leaps and scratches the likes of which you can hear across his 24 Caprices for solo violin. A young Franz Liszt was at one of Paganini’s concerts and he was enthralled and inspired to become the “Paganini of the Piano”. He too would dazzle audiences with his percussive intensity, glittering arpeggios, and dreamy modulations to possess women with the spirits of hysteria and other dated misogynistic diseases. Cliche to say but before Bieber Fever, before Beatlemania, there was Lisztomania.

The sense of Faustian bargains comes through in the pieces Liszt wrote after Goethe’s Faust. The Faust Symphony (1857) includes a movement for Mephistopheles, the demon/ the Devil that bargains with Faust. The Mephistopheles movement has no original theme, but takes and corrupts the themes of Faust and his lover Gretchen into a mocking tone. Later on, Liszt was inspired to write a tone poem “The Dance in the Village Inn” or Mephisto Waltz no.1 (c.1862). He also wrote it for piano around the same time. The story has Mephistopheles taking Faust to a wedding in a village and playing the violin so madly, the partygoers are intoxicated by the music and go off dancing in the woods. Emotions taking over and making one act irrationally was another fascination in Gothic fiction.

Liszt would go on in his later years writing a few more Mephisto waltzes, with a lot of forward thinking harmonies and piano writing, unfortunately not as popular. Mephisto waltz no.2 (1881) has moments that make me think of Debussy, and the third (1883) has glittering and ethereal moments. But the best example of Liszt’s interest in the Gothic would be his earlier concert piece Totentanz (1949), or Dance of Death (Danse macabre). In it, the piano and orchestra play out variations on the Medieval chant Dies Irae, always reminding us of the inevitability of death. The variations depict skeletons dancing wildly all while the Mephistopheles at the piano unleashes his seductive tones.

The Dies Irae chant goes across our pop culture, with one famous iteration being a synthesized version of passages from Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique that Wendy Carlos wrote for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) after Stephen King’s novel of the same name. And it was Berlioz’s symphony that enchanted audiences in 1830 with new, titanic sounds beyond what orchestra music had been before. In the story of the Symphonie fantastique, an artist has tried to overdose on opium after feeling rejected by unrequited love, but instead he has a vivid drug induced nightmare where he is sentenced to be beheaded via guillotine, which was still a traumatic living memory for the Parisian audience. He then sees himself among ghosts and monsters during a witches’ sabbath, the lovely woman’s beautiful theme is distorted into a grotesque mockery, the Dies Irae comes back among the cackling. It was a new degree of imagination expected from the audience. Later, Berlioz would depict demons in Pandæmonium (the Capital of Hell in Dante’s Inferno) at the end of his Damnation of Faust.

Through the mid to late 19th century we get authors of Gothic literature such as Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabeth Gaskell, Emily and Charlotte Brontë, Nathaniel Hawethorne, and Victor Hugo. We also get two more operas that have Gothic themes. First is Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman (1843). In this opera, a ship on the North Sea collides with the Ghost Ship of the Flying Dutchman who is cursed to sail the seas forever, but is allowed to come ashore once every seven years and if he can find a wife, he will be freed. I’m sure you can guess how this opera ends. The overture is often played in concert for a condensed version of Wagnarian thunder and romance. The next important opera is Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth (1847), because Shakespeare was being revived and translated in different languages across Europe and Verdi loved his plays. In the opera, Macbeth comes across a chorus of witches that foretell his success and downfall. He is too ambitious and goaded by Lady Macbeth, plans to take the throne through deception and murder. Lady Macbeth is later haunted with phantom blood on her hands which only she can see. And Macbeth succumbs to his inevitable fate.

We also get two significantly “Gothic” pieces of orchestra music. They are both tone poems, which also reflects the concert goers’ tastes. The one that has always been a quintessential “Halloween classical” piece is Camille Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre (1875), opening at the stroke of midnight (softly evoked by the harp), a violin shrieks out the tritone (the “Devil’s interval” which the Romantics thought meant was cursed by the superstitious Medievals, really it was an idiom for “hard to use in music”) and introduces ballroom music along with the clacking bones of skeletons dancing in the graveyard (evoked by the xylophone). The skeletons dance through the night until the rooster crows at dawn.

The other great Halloween concert piece is Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain (1867) which depicts another witches sabbath, this time on St. John’s Night, a major holiday in Slavic Eastern Orthodox culture. Walt Disney’s Fantasia (1940) would help bring this poem to life with an animated phantasmagoria of ghouls and skeletal horses and other demons flying around the mountainous demon Chernoberg.

[Here I want to give a quick shoutout to Cesar Franck’s Le Chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman), a tone poem about a Count who doesn’t go to church one Sunday, and instead rides around to whip peasants for his own amusement, so demons drag him to hell. Not nearly as famous a concert piece as the others mentioned in this list but it has colorful orchestration so you should check it out.]

The initial idea for Fantasia was for Disney to repopularize Mickey Mouse by writing him into an animated version of Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. The original poem by Goethe was a classic that Paul Dukas set to music in 1897. In it, we hear the Sorcerer leave his Apprentice to clean the floors of his workshop. The Apprentice uses magic to bring a broom to life so it can do the chores for him. The Broom mindlessly pours buckets of water all over the floor, and the Apprentice isn’t good enough with magic to stop it. He chops it up into pieces with an ax, but they regenerate into several brooms which go back to marching water in. The Sorcerer returns to clean the mess and scolds his Apprentice. This charming tale has a darker and more diabolically fun tone in Dukas orchestra.

20th Century

Harry Clarke - Illustration for "Masque of the Red Death" (1919)

In the same exact year of Dukas’ tone poem, we get Bram Stoker’s Dracula. At this turn of the century other major names include Gaston Luroux (The Phantom of the Opera), Robert Lewis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), Henry James (The Turn of the Screw), Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray). At this time, there are a few more pieces that continue trying to evoke Gothic subject matter. One comes from Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no.7 (1905), sometimes dubbed “Song of the Night”. Two of the symphonies five movements are titled “Nachtmusik” (night music), the first is more in line with Gothic anxiety and spookiness than the second which is more like a serenade. But the most Gothic movement is the Scherzo which sits in the middle of the symphony and is like a Viennese ballroom full of dancing corpses and skeletons as waltz music decays with them.

A surprising example (at least, because of how relatively obscure it is) comes from Claude Debussy with parts of an opera based on Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher that he worked on between 1908-1917. Not too much a surprise on the one hand because French translations of Poe’s work became popular and influential. On the other hand Debussy is more known for evocative sound pictures, unique musical colors, and subtlety. Perhaps he was drawn to symbolist and psychosexual interpretations of The House of Usher, the same interests that preoccupied him with his only finished opera Pelleas et Melisande. Roger Orledge reconstructed the opera and tried to stay true to Debussy’s style, so what we do have is passable and as shadowy and vague as his other orchestral masterpieces.

Maybe the hardest work to recommend (but I do recommend regardless, give it a chance) is a Modernist song cycle for chamber ensemble. Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire (1910) uses freely chromatic atonality to give a demented color of psychosis experienced by Pierrot, personified version of a stock character for old Commedia dell Arte plays, a clown who over time became the “sad clown”. Maybe a precursor to the demon from Stephen King’s It, or the demented clowns and jesters that laugh at the madness of the cosmos across Thomas Ligotti’s short stories.

This was only meant to be a small overview of works that could fit my own view of the Gothic in music. There are more examples I could include, so as a hint toward today, I’ll end with a piece that was written about a century ago, yet sounds as if it could have been written today. Henry Cowell’s The Banshee (1925) is a short piano piece, so if you can, at least listen to this one. Instead of playing with the keys like you’re “supposed to”, Cowell asks the performer to drag their fingers along the wires directly. This creates disturbing reverberations and scratching sounds that tingle the back of your neck, that feel like the otherworldly cry of a Banshee.

Happy Halloween.

[monstermonger]

Hi, I’ve been trying to practice my inking skills and love how you’ve captured the scenery and characters with such lovely shading.

Have you ever posted any of your pencil sketches that you do before inking? I struggle so hard going from pencil to pen with my drawings.

First of all, I apologize how long this took to answer :"D It took particularly long because my inking process involves me sketching->inking->erasing in increments... And I kept forgetting to take photos before I erased :"""")

Anyway I finally remembered for a piece I'm working on atm!!

Sketch (bad quality photo sorry):

It's quite rough. I like to focus exclusively on fundamental big shapes and getting the perspective figured out in the sketch.

My inking process involves me taking one of these "shapes" at a time and texturing/shading to my heart's content.

[I was using Caspar David Friedrich's: Wanderer above a Sea of Clouds as reference btw. Using references can help a lot with both fundamental shapes + the texturing]

But yeah, to elaborate on what I said earlier and what might help you for if you feel overwhelmed- this is a complicated piece, with a detailed foreground and background. So to prevent myself from being too overwhelmed, I:

made a "detailed" sketch of the foreground + very lightly made shapes for the background (you can barely see it in my crappy photo lol).

I inked the foreground and erased it.

I moved on to make the "detailed" sketch of the background.

Lastly, inked the background.

So yeah, it's a lot of breaking things down.

I've had a lot of practice with inks and art in general, so i can do a lot of inking with less clean sketch. But it all depends on your comfort. Hope that helps a bit C:

[mmoneystones]

She is incapable of adequately returning his attempt of a handwave, but gives a partial nod of the head in recognition. It helps that the top of her figure isn't totally covered by luggage anymore.

"If that is the case, then this has been a wonderful coincidence!" Citrinne cheers in a feeble attempt to match Caspar's energy. "We can group our baggings together for the same end location then. But oh, allow me to handle the unpacking once we arrive. I insist."

So he is a student of the academy. Not much of a surprise, seeing how he appears to be younger than her. The latter comment does make Citrinne pause for a moment.

"Green Rats...? That's what we are?" she ponders as they reach the doors to their house, which she knows is now apparently a house of mouse. Was it plastered on the bandana that she swiftly equipped without second thought? It's not the most demoralizing team name, but...rats? Really?

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Caspar," Citrinne transitions back. "I serve as a Knight of Seiros, although...I suppose you have seen my bane of strength firsthand. If there ever is any other front I could assist you in, I assure you that I shall not disappoint."

"Whoa, do you need some help with that?"

Caspar points openly at the luggage the woman drags along the path toward their housing. Around his arm is a bandana in the same green hue as the one around her forehead. His own baggage jostles against his back from where it hangs off his shoulders, a large and fairly simple rucksack crafted out of sturdy leather.

Her bags look heavier than his, truth be told-- but it's nothing he can't handle...!

"The faster we all get our stuff dropped off, the faster we can all check out the beaches. Sounds like a win for all of us if you ask me!"

A high-pitched voice calls to her while the dormitory for her team is comfortably within view. That being said, her pull on the small set of bags has been anything but comfortable. So when the boy offers to assist Citrinne in such a straightforward manner, she cannot help but smile in relief.

"Oh...no, I couldn't-" she struggles to politely decline only to "accidentally" drop off one of her lighter pieces of luggage: a brown leather case with hairpins and jeweled earrings. She reasons that it is safe enough to trust a stranger - and fair, too. He shouldn't have to suffer from her pack rat nature.

Citrinne sighs at the removal of some of her load, literally lifting a weight off her shoulders. "You should only need to trouble yourself with this temporarily. My room should be...near the end of the east wing. Carry it to the entrance, and I can handle the rest."

The noble couldn't agree more with the youth's desire to scope out the coasts after the unloading is behind them. And now that she has gotten a better look at his person thanks to her lighter load, Citrinne notices the light green cloth wrapped around his arm.

"Of course, we are on the same team, aren't we?" they are in no position to shake hands in greeting, but Citrinne attempts to back up her welcome with a refined, kind tone. "I would see fit to repay you nevertheless, but it is only fitting for teammates to look out for one another. If you ever need anything, allow me, Citrinne of Brodia, to be of assistance."

"What about you? What is the name of the strong soldier that has come to my aid?"

[stigmatam4rtyr]

Winter Landscape (c. 1811 / oil on canvas) | Caspar David Friedrich

[meisterdrucke]

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, c. 1817 by Caspar David Friedrich

[weirdlookindog]

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) - Landscape with Grave, Coffin and Owl, c. 1837