#checking how mixed media the paper was in this sketchbook

[squibo]

[nettblur01]

Colour pencils test out part 1

This image is why I decided to post it. I'm going to be talking about the colours. Of the pencils I have been planning to use and experiment with. As an artist, I have to be the least put for myself. The colours are not just the materials around me, but also what I use in it. If I can have an example, I usually use a stencil of circles or shapes like triangles, squares and hexagons. This is the simplest one, and shapes are better to use if you want to test the colours. This is more than what coloured pencils are used for. I used it with watercolour ink and acrylic paint. It is also better to check out not only the pencil colours but also the quality and the brands of the pigment I have been using. I am satisfied with the colour red,d strength and power. I usually. Leaving out some pages when I was sketching, but. When I noticed how they pressed depended so that,t I could see there were some mocks they left the pencils on our mixin; they were noted precisely the same way they came out the colour, like when I was mixing with paint. I wanted. to check out how it would work if I mixing with watercolour because this pencil is a non-watercolour pencil, and I usually see some influencer artists or vlogger artists using watercolour pencils and watercolour pencils and Posca pens and being mixed up as mixing media. Ass for experimentation with pencils whenever I go on trips because the pencils I have is such a thin layer. It's pretty challenging for me, too, as it usually sketches outside. Because it was so thi.So whenever I was on projects, I used a thin layer of a pencil to make a precede stout of drawings and with trips, and when I go outside of life drawing, I use thick coloured pencils or A sick, mixed coloured pencils, usually all chops or online. It could be byte-like as a primary base for pencils. They are mixed up The primary is based on the mixed pencils,s ares created of red, yellow, blue and green. Let's also take modern shops. Could find that for a two or 3-pounded dish. It's also simple because I could like a texture. Pattern also. Whenever I decided to do screen printing or layup printing. It's also great because it's the colours. Thiscolour is responding to me at some point before applying the black and white colour is just part one because we know the old colour I want it to be introducing .g. I want to introduce more coloured circles and not just one of its circles, but also go with triangles, square shapes,s and hexagon shapes. I used crystals because it was like testing the colours while working with my life drawing teacher. He asked us to mixthepaintingsusinggthee gthecolourationn This could be an independent study because it showed I could understand the colours because of the ofstufffI experiment with mixing spare paper or spare sketchbook, not only with coloured pencils or coloured pencils l, so I could bee like addd butt withhdifferentkindss o mat. I could have a little feel for searching for and in my old wort. Also, there are some odd books I had been searching for, and in my old, usually used pieces like a bit of stencil, but I used them. So, I'm calling this a stencil box for myself to test the materials or a plan box to test them before using them independently. Timeor in lessons, how can I support myself and get along with any other materials?. When I was doing my work.

[oh-no-boi]

me: oh hey this A5 sketchbook doesnt cost too much.. nice

me, recieving the sketchbook: .....oh its A6... i literally cant fucking read huh

its fine lol im still curious to check out the paper and how good it is with mixed media.. an artist i like on ig uses this brand so yeah.. i bought a mixed media sketchbook from curry's before but didnt rly care for the paper so curious how this one will be

i do have other mixed media sketchbooks tho that i like and are alright.. its just im always on a look out for diff paper lol

[ask-bluesman]

A summary of changes

I spent the past couple of weeks on sick leave after having my tonsils removed, which means I had some spare time to take another look at my characters and their colours. I'm going back to work tomorrow, so let's take a quick glance at the tweaks (that may or may not be permanent.. man, I don't know anymore)!

Boatswain got his baggy pants back, though somewhat lighter this time. I was going through my sketchbook and figured I liked those just a little bit more than the slim ones. Bos is small, so it's not odd for him to wear oversized clothes! I changed the bandana to an earthy orange & his cap is slightly off-white (dirty) now, with a brown rim. Went back to bubbles coming out of his pipe instead of regular smoke. The very, very first boatswain I've ever drawn was blowing bubbles!

I decided to keep the lighter beard, soles and toe claws, I believe they make him just a tad more interesting. Ol' gramps certainly enjoys having a full set of claws, no doubt about that. I keep making his nose turquoise instead of cyan. Maybe it wants to stay this way? I like both!

Captain's white cap got swapped for a dusty, dark blue one. I wanted each lad to have a different hat, just to highlight the difference between their ranks. Blue caps are generally associated with aviation, but I think it still works well for him! The little fish is made of cardboard. Packie draws them himself and glues them, then proudly parades with them on his head until they eventually fall off and he has to do that again, haha.

I experimented with his colour scheme for quite a bit, but eventually kept it as it was. Very minor change to the jacket colour. I also shaved the fuzz off his scarf and threw a checked pattern on it instead. He deserves fancy neckwear! I hope Sakura never discontinues manufacturing the particular pen I draw these lines with because the colour is just perfect.

The way I approached admiral was pretty intuitive. I didn't look at any older doodles of him and simply drew what felt right. His outfit lost some details this way. His white hat is here to stay - I just changed the shape and look of the badge a little; not sure if I want the rim to be this dark blue or brown. I made his shoulder insignia simpler, as I meant to do it earlier. Completely forgot that little buckle on the strap and the third row of buttons on his boobies. These might come back, I don't know yet - I'm sloppy, so I have to cover small details with masking fluid (that prevents them from being painted) and just like 90% of watercolourists... golly, I hate using masking fluid.

I had quite a dilemma with his gloves and boots. Ultimately made them much lighter and I think this is how I prefer them. They add some much-needed contrast as up to this point his colour scheme was on the darker side and, to be perfectly honest, I wasn't a fan of that. I believe I'm not skilled enough to make proper use of dark colours, especially in traditional media, but it's ok! I enjoy the vintage feel of admiral's current colour palette.

And as for the main colour of his uniform? I had to ditch that previous indigo because I couldn't stand how the paint handled :( The one you see here is a custom mix, which, hopefully, won't be too hard to replicate. What I like about it is that it looks like a duller shade of Prussian Blue. A colour I tend to use sparingly because it fades, but otherwise love very, very much!

Nothing really changed about Taffy except that I made her ribbon lighter here. For some reason my scanner wasn't happy about that! The purples are very pink-leaning in the scanned version, while in person they are considerably cooler. I like them in person, but here... not so much. It could be the paper though, so I'll give it another go once I use up this particular supply (I'm about to)!

Her eyes are ever so slightly green-tinted, but it doesn't show here, does it? I will add a touch more green next time. This thing is surprisingly hard to balance because with too much green in her eyes she starts to look kinda spooky.

You have to wait for a bit before you hit your final form, Taffy!

I like Mia's colours, but it took two attempts to get them right and my gosh, was the first try icky and clashing. I'm going work on her overall look at some point in the future. I hope I can push her proportions to be somewhat more cartoony & her face to be more expressive. I took a glance at my older doodles of her and she looked as if she was a Disney princess' horse, haha. We want none of that here! Silly & homely looking horses all the way.

Rookie didn't change much either, I only picked a more vibrant shade of yellow for her scarf. I'm most likely going to go back to the older, more toned-down version. I enjoy punchy & vibrant colours - just not on my little ol' characters!

I also didn't grab my best black for Roo, but thankfully I have a replacement. Notice the tiny white dots all over the black parts? This is an undesirable trait in watercolour, some pigments do it naturally, but in some cases it's the formula or paper (or both). Sometimes I'm tempted to colour her black parts with a pen, but I think that would look too harsh. But you never know before you try it!

*****

Whew! That's it for the changes. I know these may not look like much (and it's true), but in reality I ended up removing and replacing a good portion of my paints for better alternatives. This means I had to build a new palette from scratch, holy smokes. I'd better stick with these tweaks because I really don't want to do this one more time!

EDIT: Oy, one last thing I wanted to add - looking at those doodles, I realised I need to try and fix my inking. It's not very good! I typically ink with fineliners (that's the easiest and simplest way), then colour, then go over my lines again to make them darker and thicker. But it also gives them this unappealing, rugged look. Next time I'll do just a single round & see how that looks!

[legends-live-in-memories]

Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century

AYO! Day 2 of MGI Trope Tussle! Team Enemies-to-Lovers for the win. I bring you another oneshot. but this time i used 3 prompts like a dumbass.

Fics Masterlist

Daminette Oneshot 4.3K words (no warnings except slight cursing)

Summary:

“Marinette is invited to the Super-Rockin' Wedding of the Century and she needs a date. Alya is both her best and worst wingman.”

Day 2 of MGI Trope Tussle, I used 3 prompts to make this thing: 1. "You don't have to like me, you just need to pretend you do." 2. "I like your costume. You look very cute." "Are you making fun of me?" 3. 'Write about a very unusual wedding proposal.' this is the culmination of all my efforts.

without further ado:

It was the biggest news on the internet. Global sensation, international rockstar, Jagged Stone, was officially engaged to childhood friend turned manager, Penny Rolling. Memes and fan theories stormed every corner of the web. Trending topics including #rockstar_wedding and #RollingStone permeated every social media platform. Guest lists were speculated, dress designers were tagged in every post that even mentioned the words ‘wedding’ or ‘bride’. It was total mayhem but none felt it worse than up-and-coming Parisian designer, M. D. Cheng, privately known as Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

The young adult was up to her neck in design templates, and was drowning in half-baked ideas and sketches. While the internet has only heard about the proposal for a solid two weeks at this point, Marinette was in the know for six months. Jagged Stone had contacted her in advance because he needed her help with the proposal itself.

And what a proposal it was.  

Jagged had outlined his idea in simple terms but it was still so mind-boggling that Marinette needed him to draw some visual aids to completely convey his idea. Initially it sounded simple enough but the more the man spoke, the more Marinette felt her brain fry at the mental picture. It first involved recreating a scene from Penny’s favourite movie. Which sounded rather romantic, if you ignored the fact that her favourite movie was Bride of Chucky. Then it involved Jagged dressed as the Tinman from Wizard of Oz. Oh, and the proposal had to happen on Halloween because that was the anniversary of their first date apparently, and based on everything else this plan entailed it might as well have been. Marinette’s role in all of this was to simply re-make the white wedding dress Chucky’s bride, Tiffany, wore because Penny already had the leather jacket to match. Of course she did. She didn’t even want to know how Jagged acquired the Tinman suit. Not her barrel of monkeys.

While many thought Jagged was the eccentric one of the pair, due to his loud personality and being an actual rockstar, the more Marinette worked for the two of them over the years, the more she learned how absolutely wrong they all were. It turned out it was Penny’s idea for Jagged to dye his hair purple, and she was the one to ask him out on Halloween all those faithful years ago. Her calm and collected demeanor was an impressive cover for the absolute weirdo she actually was. And Jagged had planned a proposal that was undoubtedly perfect for her. Regardless of how abso-fucking-lutely bizarre it was.

To each their own and let’s move on.

The set-up for the proposal started with Jagged, dressed as the Tinman, playing the part of Chucky, who begins the body-switching chant from the movie. Everything from that point on was resting on Penny’s love for the movie. Without hesitating, Penny, dressed as Tiffany, and playing her part, knew the lines by heart and immediately began reenacting the scene with Jagged. Her lines involved telling ‘Chucky’ to kiss her while she reaches for a knife that’s supposed to be in his pocket. Instead, as Jagged was still dressed as the Tinman, Penny pulled out a slip of paper. On said paper, the words ‘All the Tinman wanted was a heart’ were written in Jagged’s almost illegible chicken scratch. When Penny was distracted with the piece of paper, Jagged had gotten down on one knee and pulled out the engagement ring. The actual words of his proposal were never actually said because, upon seeing the ring, Penny flung herself into the man, clipping her chin into his metal-plated shoulder, but she wasn’t complaining.  

So that was how the proposal went.

Wedding planning started almost immediately since the newly engaged had already picked a theme. And this is where Marinette began to regret every life choice she has made since she was thirteen; starting with opening the mysterious box she found on her desk and ending with agreeing to being the main designer for the Rockin’ Wedding of the Century. One thing that wasn’t well-known but not a secret about Jagged was that he was a superhero fan. He grew up enjoying the fictional ones in his childhood comic books and he adored the real ones he witnessed in his adult life. His song that he dedicated to the teenage Ladybug was only one part of his… appreciation. His hero-worship went so far as to beieve that a hero-themed wedding was appropriate. Or he didn’t, but also didn’t care about adhering to societal propriety and went with that theme anyways. So the Rockin’ Wedding of the Century was now the Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century. And twenty-three year old Marinette was incharge of the entire wedding party’s outfits.

Perfect.

As a small mercy from some god, both the bride and groom to-be had a rather short list of people in their parties. Marinette was also able to design appropriate hero-themed outfits for all of them and scheduled them for fittings in the coming weeks. That, surprisingly, was the easy part as there were plenty of heroes to draw inspiration from. However, that wasn’t the cause of her current crisis right now.

No. Marinette was up to her neck in unnecessary designs and ideas because she’s been avoiding one particular contingency in her acceptance of the wedding invitation.

She needed a date.

She needed a date because she had promised Penny that she wasn’t overworking herself and to prove it, she would bring a date to the wedding. Rather than call any of the people who expressed interest in her at some point in time, she designated herself to wallow in her situation and distract herself with designs. In the midst of her one person pity party, her phone rang under the sea of ripped out pages. She scoured for the device and hastily answered before she could accidently send the caller to voicemail.

“Hello?” She didn’t check the caller ID and was delighted at the sound of her best friend answering her.

“Marinette! How’s it going over there?” Alya’s voice was mixed in with the busy street life of Metropolis. She had moved there immediately after high school, snatching an internship with the Daily Planet and attending the local community college. She and Marinette don’t call often due to time differences, but when they do it’s like they’ve never parted. She always looked forward to her calls.

“It’s going great, Als,” if she ignored her current dilemma, then yeah, everything was perfect. “But you wouldn’t happen to have an available bachelor willing to be my date to the ‘Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century’ in your back pocket, would you?”  

Alya’s answering laugh was both comforting and teasing and Marinette felt herself missing her even more. What she said next, however, took Marinette by surprise.

“Actually I do.”

“Pardon?”

“Well,” she took a pause to build suspense. “I know a guy who knows a guy. But it’s nothing shady, I swear.”

“That’s not comforting.” Oh god. What has she unintentionally signed herself up for?

“You know my coworker, Jon? The guy who does the photography for all my field work?” Alya had met Jon as soon as she had started her internship. Both of his parents were top journalists at the Daily Planet so he volunteered to act as tour guide for all the new interns. He and Alya, from the exasperated stories Marinette has heard from Nino, got along like a house on fire. If he was involved, Marinette was starting to doubt even further that this was going to end well for her.

“Yes, I know Jon. How is he by the way?”

“He’s fine, but I remember him telling me how he tried to set up his best friend on several dates over the years and how they all ended poorly. He’s as approachable as a brick wall; not just a prick but the whole damn cactus. Or so Jon says.” How does that sound like someone Marinette wanted to bring along with her to the wedding? “But he’s totally your type so I could ask Jon to wrap him up in bubblewrap and send him your way whenever you want.”

“How,” and Marinette said this with a lot of feeling, “is he my type exactly?”

“Green eyes with daddy issues.”

“ALYA!” Marinette was absolutely floored at her bluntness. She wasn’t even sorry about shouting into the receiver.

“Am I wrong? You have a type and he fits that type. Jon mentioned how this guy and his dad hit several roadblocks when they first met. And I’ve seen pictures of him so ‘green eyes’ checks too.”

“That is not my type of guy.” She can’t believe this was how this conversation was going.

“Adrien.”

“I didn’t even know who his father was at the time, Alya.”

“Felix.”

“His dad is dead! That doesn’t count as ‘daddy issues.’” She can feel her cheeks flaming as the call went on. Any hotter and she was going to set her sketchbooks on fire. “Besides, I dated Luka so he doesn’t fit the criteria.”

“He’s an outlier and that’s only because his eyes are blue.” Okay, fine she had a type. “And besides, you don’t even have to date the guy. You only need him to accompany you to the wedding and you both go your separate ways after. No harm, no foul.”

Right. That was true. No strings attached. She could do that.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this but,” she held her breath and let it out loudly, ignoring Alya’s chuckle at her dramatics.” Give Jon my number to give this guy. And send his number to me.”

“Wahoo! Look at you, girl,” Alya was hooting and hollering over the speaker and Marinette found herself going along with the theatrics. “Okay, I will. But I gotta go, my cab is here. Bye!”

“Bye! Stay safe. Oh before you go, what’s Jon’s friend’s name anyways?”

“Uh, Damian, I think.” The call ended before Marinette could respond, but it was okay she mused. Tossing her phone onto her couch, she flopped down onto her floor and stared at her ceiling contemplatively.

What could go wrong?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Alya had described this Damian guy as ‘not just a prick but the whole damn cactus,’ she was right. Marinette had been texting back and forth with Damian for a month, and the guy was making this idea seem less and less worth it by the day. Whenever Marinette tried to learn more about the guy, he would ghost her for days on end before replying with a half-assed response at best. She knew nothing about him other than that his first name was Damian and that he was from Gotham. She had no idea how the ball of life that was Jon was even friends with someone like Damian. She asked as much to Alya in their most recent call.

“How did they even meet?” She was pacing the floor plan of her apartment, ready to tear her hair out. “Did Damian bully him in school or something?”

“Apparently their dads knew each other and introduced them,” Alya sounded half awake, stifling a yawn; probably because Marinette had called her at 1 am, Metropolis’s time. “Their brothers being friends also forced them to get along.”

“And that’s another thing!” Marinette had paused in her pacing and was now staring intently at a potted plant in the corner of her living room. Any more rage in her glare and the plant would have wilted and died. “He doesn’t tell me anything about him. I don’t need to know all his personal information, but if he’s going to be flying out to Paris on my behalf, I think I at least deserve to know his last name.”

“Hey, M,” another yawn echoed through the speaker, “I love you, truly, but maybe this could wait for holier day time hours?”

“I guess,” a vindictive part of Marinette felt like this was payback for all those inopportune calls when Marinette was busy with clients. “Sorry for interrupting your sleep.”

“It’s no big deal. But have you tried talking to him about it? If he’s ghosting your texts, try calling him. If he ignores you then too then maybe you should try finding another person to be your plus one.”

“The wedding is in two weeks, Alya!” Marinette partially regrets waiting so long to vent her frustration about the situation but she had tried to tough it out. “I would have much preferred if you were my plus one. You sure there’s no way to convince your parents to skip out on the family trip?”

“Sorry, M. Once the news about the proposal hit the internet, I tried everything. I even tried to use work, saying that I could cover the ceremony for the newspaper. My folks won’t budge though. My dad’s aunt is important to him and he wants us all at the funeral.”

“Right, right, I forgot about that.” Now she felt like an ass. “Send you dad my condolences when you see him again.”

“Will do. Good morning, Marinette. And don’t worry too much about the guy. Everything will turn up great. I can feel it.”

“Thanks, Alya. Good night, get some sleep.”

The line went dead and Marinette let out a rather weary exhale. She had no idea how this was going to work. She pulled up her contacts and searched for what she had Damian saved as.

‘Douche’ flashed on her screen and she hit the call button without remorse. She didn’t care that it was also currently 1 am in Gotham. He didn’t deserve that much consideration from her.

“What?” His voice was gravely and deep. And also really pissed if his clipped tone was anything to go by.

“Damian? Hi, this is Marinette, the girl you’re accompanying to the wedding in two weeks?” Her voice was pitched as if she was dealing with an irritating customer. Fake and polite.

“I know who you are. Why are you calling me at this unreasonable hour?” Fair, but Marinette was still aggravated at him so she wouldn’t concede.

“I’m calling because we need to talk.” She heard him scoff over the line and she felt her blood boil even hotter. She took several calming breaths to reign her temper in. “Don’t hang up.”

“Look,” She didn’t give him a chance to refuse and kept talking, getting everything off her chest. “This wedding is important to me and I promised the bride I would bring a date. After that you can delete my number and we never have to speak to each other ever. You don’t have to like me, you just need to pretend you do.”

“Whatever,” he sounded less annoyed from when he first answered the phone. “I will act as cordial as the situation requires, and nothing more. I also have my attire secured for the wedding and accommodations in Paris already prepared. I will see you at the wedding.”

“Than—” The sound of the call ending interrupted her and her frustration was back tenfold. With a cry in anguish she flung her phone onto her couch and stomped into her kitchen to channel her rage into baking.

Three loaves of bread and a dozen eclairs later, Marinette felt calm enough to finish the final touches on her outfit for the wedding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was the day of the Super-Rockin’ Wedding of the Century. The Rolling-Stone’s, as they were asking to be called, had kept the ceremony small. Relatively. Only two hundred invited guests, few of which were asked to bring a plus one. Marinette was over the moon at the array of outfits people were sporting. Some chose full-on cosplay while others, like herself, went for more subtle nods to the heroes. In honour of a previous Ladybug, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, Marinette based her outfit off of Wonder Woman’s uniform, Hippolyta’s daughter. A navy blue sequined halter top bodice that flows into a blood red A-line skirt. She paired it with a thick silver belt, silver gladiator heels rather than boots and broad silver arm cuffs. It was simple but effective. Besides, all attention should be on the bride and groom today.

A tap on her shoulder caught her attention and she turned only to come face first with red with black spots. Ladybug. Someone chose her as inspiration. How flattering. Looking up to see who was wearing the Ladybug-themed suit jacket, she stared at a pair of deep forest green eyes and a sneer to ruin that ridiculously handsome face. She recognized him from the photo Alya had sent some time ago. Damian.

“Hi, Damian,” at least one of them had to be civil and Marinette knew it was going to be her. But the idea that of all the heroes for him to choose from he chose her sent her into poorly stifled fits of giggling. Images of him going ‘Lucky Charm’ and ‘Miraculous Ladybug’ were almost too much to bear.

“I don’t know what’s so amusing about my choice of attire,” his face was starting to flush in similar shades to his jacket and that made Marinette laugh harder. “Ladybug is a well respected heroine and I thought it appropriate to pay homage while in her home city.”

“No. No no. There is nothing wrong with it. I like your costume, you look very cute.”

“Are you making fun of me?” His irritation was rather cathartic for the still giggling woman.

“No, I just didn’t think you would have put that much thought into your outfit for today. You always gave me the impression that you were ready to back out at any time.”

“I made a commitment and I had all intentions to see it through the end.”

“Could have fooled me.” And her snark was back. Now was not the time to pick a fight with the guy, he did fly all the way to Paris on her behalf after all.

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” and Marinette wanted to know how he managed to sound so condescending with that statement. “How did you even get an invitation to this wedding anyways? You’re not a celebrity and you don’t look like family either.”

“Actually,” she said it with more force than what was probably necessary but his slightly accusatory tone was just so irritating. “I am the lead designer for the wedding party,” her chest was swimming with confidence at the chance to talk about her job. “I’ve worked with the bride and groom for years; M. D. Cheng, Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”

Marinette will deny to her grave the rush of satisfaction at the absolute gobsmacked look on Damian’s face. A real fish out of water. Mouth open wide ready to catch flies. She wished she could capture this moment forever.

The moment was over too soon because Damian was regaining his composure and slipping into his default stoic expression. He cleared his throat and fixed a look at Marinette. It was rather intense.

“I believe I owe you an apology then.” He looked put-out at admitting something so menial. “I believed you were nothing more than a socialite chain climber.”

“A what?”

“When Jon reached out to me saying that a friend of one of his coworkers needed a date for an event, and when that event turned out to be the wedding of someone of such popularity, I figured you were only trying to increase your own social status by showing up with me on your arm.”

“And you said ‘yes’ anyways?” Marinette was confused but pieces of the mystery that is Damian were starting to fit in place. But something else stuck out as odd to her. “Also, how would you being my date increase my social status anyhow?”

He scoffs before answering. Bitch.

“What? It wouldn’t be the first time one of Jon’s set-ups ended that way. Besides, we’ve had an agreement that I can’t turn down an offer until meeting the person face to face.” Weird deal but some friendships are just like, Marinette supposes. “And being seen with me is enough to make anyone more popular.”

“...And you are?”

“Damian… Wayne…” He spoke as if he was talking to a small child. As if it should be obvious who he was like he was some celeb— Oh shit.

A name had flashed into her mind. On the finalised guest list, Marinette had only seen it once in passing, there was a name that belonged to someone Jagged was rather excited to see. He said the friend was an old college buddy. She remembered that much. She had completely forgotten that ‘a billionaire playboy’ was also attached to the name. Damian was the son of Bruce Wayne. Suddenly everything in the past few months made perfect sense. The cold shoulder, the ghosting, and his prickly disposition. He was overly guarded because he had justified reasons to be. Now she felt like an ass.

“Oh.” Real intelligent, Marinette.

“Oh? What, you didn’t know?” He sounded incredulous at the notion and he had every right to be. Marinette could only shake her head. Words were failing her now, her brain trying to rewrite the memories of every interaction the two ever had.

She was saved from further mortification by a call for everyone to find their seats. The wedding was about to begin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ceremony was beautiful. Penny’s dress was a silver grey, tied back with a golden belt. Instead of a long train, Marinette had attached a black cape that shimmered in the right lighting. Penny wore a tiara with two peaks to imitate the ‘bat-ears.’ A Batman-themed wedding dress was not something she ever saw herself making, but she was proud at how beautiful and confident Penny looked in it. Jagged was adorn in a royal blue suit with bold red lapels. He also had a matching red cape. His hair was styled in the familiar sleek way Superman wears it. The two made quite the pair.  

The reception was a lively affair. Jagged had dedicated several songs to his new wife and they dazzled the crowd on the dance floor. Marinette didn’t pay much attention to the speeches beyond a quick glance at Damian when his own father stepped up to the podium. He had buried his head in his hands, looking like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. A courtesy pat on the back was all Marinette gave to him.

The two hadn’t really spoken much since the revelation that they had completely misjudged each other. The awkward tension was almost palpable. As Marinette was gathering the courage to speak to him, to try and officially clear the air, she was being dragged by one of the bridesmaids onto the dancefloor. It was time for the bride to throw the bouquet. All the unmarried women were being corralled into a tight cluster and Marinette got swept up in the tide.

Marinette wasn’t focusing on the actual game, trying her hardest not to get trampled, when she saw something move in her periphery. Years of being Ladybug had left her with finely honed instincts so she could not be blamed when she immediately jumped and caught the incoming object. The bouquet. She had caught the bouquet. Oh that was just her luck. Deafening squeals of delight brought her out of her own head and she was suddenly being embraced in Penny’s arms. She returned the hug, sharing in her delight, before breaking away to sit down.

“Nice catch.” His voice had surprised her, she hadn’t expected him to speak to her for the rest of the night.

“Uh, thank you. Just lucky, I guess.” Damian didn’t get the chance to respond because he was being dragged by his own father to join all the bachelors in catching the garter. Marinette was equally uninterested in this spectacle and had let her mind wander to other things.

A loud uproar caught her attention again and her eyes zeroed in on Damian holding the tossed garter. He made his way back over to her, dropping himself into his seat gracelessly. The two sat in silence, contemplating the implications of them both catching the garter and bouquet. The games were done purely for tradition’s sake, with total disregard of what it was supposed to symbolise. Still. One’s mind couldn’t help but wander. Minutes ticked passed and Marinette was beginning to wonder if someone was going to talk about the elephant in the room.

“So,” Damian’s voice was slightly strained, like he wasn’t used to being this flustered. It was kind of endearing. Wait what?

“So.”

“While marriage seems far out of reach for right now,” Oh god. He was going to talk about it. “How does dinner sound, next Friday?”

“Wait,” he wanted to spend more time with her? After their disastrous first impressions? “Really?”

“Really. I believe we started off on the wrong foot,” he let out a soft chuckle, almost self-deprecating. “Which isn’t really new for me, but it’s not everyday I meet someone who doesn’t recognise me at first glance. I think you’re someone who I would like to get to know better. If that is something you are also interested in.”

“Yeah,” Marinette knows all about wanting to get acquainted with someone who she’s had a bad first impression of. Just look at her past relationships. Wow, she really does have a type. Damning thoughts for later. “Friday works for me. Seven pm?”

“Perfect. I’ll text you the details then.”

“Wonderful, I can’t wait.”

The rest of the evening was spent in companionable silence with small bouts of conversation in between. They shared a couple dances on the floor and parted ways at the end of the night with budding anticipation for Friday.

As Marinette was preparing for bed that night in the comfort of her apartment, she sent a text to Alya that her friend would see later in the day.

You were right, I do have a type :(

[inestheunicorn]

Hi guys! Happy Monday! 🍄

I’m super excited to bring you my first tutorial on how to make Pop Up Illustrations! Ever since I discovered Pop Up books I always felt this was a great way to bring life to illustrations. So I was really happy when I got the chance to learn by myself a bit of paper mechanics for a project!

I'm still learning how to make more complex mechanisms, but since I got so many requests on TikTok and Instagram, I've put together this tutorial on how you can start experimenting with Pop Up illustrations on your sketchbook, journal or even greeting cards. 

I also suggest you watch the video, since it explains how to measure the angles you’ll need.

I hope you enjoy it! 🌻

1. planning and sketching ideas

I usually start by sketching the illustration I want to turn into a pop up. In this case, it will be for one of my favourite quick recipes, which is mug cake. And I've made some tiny sketches for the main pop up with the ingredients.

We’ll have a bif pop up that will sit at the back of the pages, and this is where some small mugs will be attached. I also want to add two flaps on the bottom corners, which will have the recipe and ingredients written on the inside.

I also made a few detailed sketches of the ingredient, mugs and jars, and also defined a warm colour palette.  

2. making prototypes

I definitely recommend you make some tests before jumping into the final pop up. This will ensure you already know the correct angles and measurements before drawing your illustrations.

For my sketchbook size, I begin by folding an A5 paper sheet in half.

The first angle you need to pay attention to, is the angle between the bottom (base) of your pop up and the middle crease. 

You can go for a 90º angle, which will make your Pop Up sit at a 90º angle on your pages. However, when you look at your sketchbook, most often you’re not really at the same level. You’re usually looking from an upper angle, specially if the book is sitting on a table. 

So I personally like to go for a smaller angle, like 80º, which will tilt your pop up a bit backwards and is more comfortable to look at.

But please, keep in mind this is just my preference, so please go for any angle you like!

After setting your angle, cut the base of your pop up, leaving some tab that you’ll use to glue it to the pages.

The next step is to figure where you want your pop up to sit and mark where it meets the center of the pages.

From there, trace a 20º angle, which is the angle to how your pop up will be glued to the pages.

Next, place your pop up vertically, aligning it with the 20º angle. Close it down, making sure it’s still aligned with the angle. I’ll just mark where the pop up goes off the pages of the sketchbook and trim that excess off.

You’ll get the maximum dimensions of your pop up, so you can draw what you want within that area. 

I also made tests for the flaps at the bottom of the pages.

Now this is an example from one of my previous pop ups. As you can see, the front piece is paralell to the pop up on the back and has a small tab, which is the same size as the distance between both pieces. So, when the pop up closes, this tab pushes the front piece down, making it lay on the page. When it opens, it pulls the piece backwards, making it stand up. 

And this is the same method I'll be using for the front pieces with the mugs.

3. making the pieces

After getting all the prototypes, I transfer them to a mixed media paper. I’m using a paper that’s a bit thicker than printer paper, but is thinner than watercolour paper. I don’t want my sketchbook to get too chonky!

I paint everything with gouache and cut all the pieces.

4. attaching the pieces

This is quite a long tutorial, so I hope Tumblr allows me to post all the photos! 

Now that we have all the pieces ready, is time to glue them to the pages. We’ll start with the pop up at the back.

Firstly, apply glue to on of its bottom tabs. Align it with the 20º line on the corresponding page and press it down.

Then close the pop up and apply glue on the other tab. Close the corresponding page and press it down, to ensure your pop up gets nicely glued.

Open the pages and your main pop up is done!

Glue the tab to the pop up and then glue the front piece to the page and the tab.

Close the pages and make sure the front piece lies down correctly, making any small adjustments if needed. Repeat the same to the other piece.

Finally glue the pieces to the bottom of the pages.

And your pop up is finished!

5. a look at the final pop up

This was a simple tutorial which can help if you want to start experimenting with pop ups. Make sure to check the video on my Youtube for any questions you might still have. But feel free to send me DMs and comments with your questions! 

Stay cozy!  🍄 Inês

[ramble-writes]

So... Today is my Frank's birthday. Yes it is May 1st deal with it. BUT, here we are again with MORE of the Frank Brothers! I told myself I was gonna do this cuz it would be nice and I'm finding myself liking this AU. So James belongs to (again~) @franks-mixtape! As for the Julie (same one from the previous one) that one belongs to my bf. So.. Happy Birthday to my boy, big ol’ boofer you are. And Luke I tried to make sure I still got a mellow raven tone right cuz hi I haven’t been writing in a while.

NOTE!!!! This would take place after the valentine’s fic. So meaning that Fenik and James met in 1995 which carried onto 1996 (year in-game legion disappeared). As for the first wolf bros fic, that one was like.. an in the middle thing. So yeah.

Warning(s): cursing, teenager stuff lol

Don’t forget to like, reblog, and follow if ya wanna see more! (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

-

Due to a teacher, the pack of Fairview knew about one of Frank's birthdays. On January 18th on a Thursday, the teacher for physics during roll call had briefly announced it when he called out James’s name. This information was quick to be relayed, since Joey was there in the class to hear Julie, Susie, and the other Frank, Fenik as his middle name goes.

Good on Fenik’s part for having a free period since he was quick to leave the school and hurried off to see about something simple to get his brother. Though... Any sort of gift or a word of cheer was met with hostility and retaliation. Of course, this worried the hell out of the three. Fenik only knew about what really happened and as to why his brother hated his own birthday a few days later when the raven-haired teen came stumbling to his brother’s home drunk off his ass and told the whole story.

Damn near broke the russet-haired Morrison’s heart at it...

Fast-forward to March. It was something about after valentine’s that Julie wondered about Fenik’s birthday, and had brought up this thought to his brother, Joey, and Susie. James was quick to be against it and said to drop it with a snap. He may not know what horrors his other half went through, but Fenik’s been the wolf the longest and had yet to ever snap. And he didn’t want to risk that. The last thing he honestly wanted (but never admitted) was for there to be a fight and for any of them to be hurt or worse, killed.

Of course, it brought on determination to mix with curiosity. Which was a bad mix when it comes to Julie since she went over to the russet-haired teen's foster home. Her last class was a free period, so it made it easy to get up and leave without really sticking around. Since it's most likely the couple has his papers upon fostering, it would have his date of birth on it.

"So... He's a May baby?"

"That's right. And on the first, no less," Audrey responded with a nod. A look crossed her face, then the woman turned to look at the young girl. "Do you think he wants to do anything for his birthday? With what he's been through, I think it would be nice."

Julie casted her eyes to the side, brown orbs focusing on a cross country trophy with a figure in a running position with the words '2nd Place: Fairview' engraved at the bottom.

"His brother says it would be a bad idea to do anything after what happened on his birthday."

"You mean, the other Frank? His half brother?"

"Mhm. He doesn't know what would happen if we do something for him. Though, I do agree since raven head threw a big fit on his birthday. Frank knows what happened, but hasn't told us."

Audrey nodded in understanding. Seeing as the two have the same father, of course, they would confide in each other. She does remember back in January that night when she went to check on the (unknowingly) wolf, that she saw the two in Fenik's bed. Amber eyes had looked over with a gesture for her to be silent. From what she could see of the passed-out teenager, was that he smelt of alcohol and just barely could see cheeks stained with tears.

"Then... How about a gift?"

That made Julie think. She wouldn't really know what he would want seeing as there's quite a bit he keeps to himself and or only shares with James. So she just shrugged. At least they have till May to think it over.

-

May 1st was only about a week away. The pack had about a full month to plan on what to do. Even though it was on a Wednesday, the weekend could be used up for the group. Despite his best efforts with telling them it's a bad idea, James caved and (reluctantly) agreed to help out to see what things caught his brother's eye.

So far, nothing. But, the raven-haired 19-year-old, on his first hunt, noticed something about the russet-haired teen. It was after they took down a moose, how Fenik managed to detach the head with a snap of the spine and the sickening ripping sound of flesh and muscles. James had... no idea how much blood was truly on the both of them till Fenik shifted back.

Blood covered his mouth and chin, running down his neck to his shirt under his jacket. And his hands were *drenched* from biting and attacking the moose. Back to the point, the black pelted wolf watched how the skin on the head was cut off with a knife the other had stowed away. It clicked that way. Bones/Skulls were of his interest with how he was careful with it and set it up against a tree.

"Whatcha doin' there fuzz butt?"

"Ideas are needed. Plus, gotta draw out your first hunting band! You're a Morrison, brother. And, maybe, if you'd like. A new skull. I'm thinkin' flesh hanging off the antlers."

"That's... bitchin. But, for another day. I'm cool with the band."

Fenik nodded, then finished what he was doing before shifting back and headed back over to his brother. It did surprise James when the rust-colored wolf took a big ol' bite out of the carcass and *swallowed* it down. He decided not to make a comment and tried it out himself. Weird how as a wolf the taste of raw meats doesn't taste so bad.

-

Since the days have gotten warmer with summer coming, clothes were lighter so no one overheated. At lunch, it was clear to the others how relaxed Fenik looked, not minding when his soon-to-be teammates from track & field would come over and pat him on the back to wish him a happy 19th and some even gave him 10 or 5 bucks (10 = about 8. 5 = about 4). He didn't mind *that* part one bit.

When school was out, the pack stood outside the steps as per usual. Well, except Joey till he did hop down the steps with a pretty big grin on his face. This made the two Morrisons and Julie look over with a raised brow.

"Somethin' up, Joe?"

"Yup! So, ya know how you told us you and raven head here went on his first hunt, yeah?"

Fenik nodded slowly, suspicious of what the tallest of their group was going on about. He heard his brother sigh in his head and go on about how he tried to tell them not to. "Yeaaaah?"

"And ya got all those tattoos n such, right?"

"Joey... What did you do."

The 18-year-old smiled and took off his backpack. Opening it, he withdrew a bag (that he most likely stashed in his locker) and handed it over. The russet-haired teen blinked as he took it, peaking in with amber eyes. Reaching in, he withdrew a box no bigger than the length of his forearm.

"A stick n poke?"

"Yeah! Well, we know that you do pretty well in art and that from some of the stuff you've shown us, you do all those dots that create really cool images."

"Stipple. That's what the media is called."

"Yeah, th-"

"JOEY YOU DIDN'T WAIT FOR ME!"

Susie came running down the steps with what looks like a book in her hand that she's waving about. Turns out the book was a sketchbook. At first, there was a slow build of concern and worry with how quiet he is, that is till they all felt a wave of sadness mixed with happiness. Hearing Fenik sniffle with a smile on his face was something.

"Sorry ah... I've.. never really celebrated my birthday. Always thought of it as bad since I was put in the system a day before my birthday. And.. all the others after that in every home, they just took the extra money I was supposed to get every May."

He ended it by muttering how the families thought it was bonus money. There were shared looks at that. Put in the system before turning 8. Ouch... James then leaned onto his brother's side, feeling him lean back. He isn't good with words, but as they say, actions speak louder than words.

After that exchange was done, the five all went home. Even after that day, Fenik was a bit snide on the fact that the other two didn't really get him anything. But, maybe Joey just had a higher knowledge? Though that didn't seem right, James did know about it as well.

The silence that followed didn't make any sense till Friday.

When the russet-haired teen got home, he was confused. One moment James hurried off to his house, then the next moment he was at the door of his house with his backpack.

"Bro, what the hell are you doin?"

"Waiting on you, and the others."

"Others?"

James just motioned for him to open the door, when he did, his parents were there waiting with bags of what he could tell is camping gear.

"Uh... What is going on?"

Mitch looked up upon hearing the teen and stood there proudly with a smile on his face as he gestured to the two big bags that hold two separate tents, rolled up sleeping bags, bags that probably have food and blankets, and other things.

"When was the last time you've been camping?"

"Uh... Six years ago? I think? Why?"

"We thought it would be nice to go down to the lake. Minnewanka to be exact," Audrey exclaimed with a smile. James let out a snort of a laugh from behind at the name, which the woman ignored before turning her attention to the people that walked up to the door.

"And we thought it would be nice to bring your friends and your brother! That's why they have their bags for the weekend."

Fenik turned his head to look over his shoulder to see Susie, Joey, and Julie there with what were their backpacks that were once full of school supplies, but now hold clothing. It took a moment for him to put the pieces together and his eyes widened.

"Wait, is this for my birthday?"

The six people in the room all smiled with nods of their heads. This made him get excited and rushed over to the stairs and his steps thundered as he ran up to his room. The raven-haired teen went up after the silence that followed after his other half left, wanting to avoid the awkward standing without knowing what to say.

-

The trip was long, but the weather made up for it. Susie, Joey, and Julie were in the backseat, mainly because the brothers insisted since they wanna sit in the truck bed. Honestly, the happiness that radiated from both was astounding considering the many shit foster homes they had.

It was Fenik who insisted that they howl out along the ride, mainly to be idiots in his excitement but, as far as he knows James probably hasn't tried to before. The sound though, was loud when conjoined from the two. Joey ended up sticking his head out to do it as well, Susie had turned down her hearing aid to make it easier to join in from her head coming out of the back window. Julie just chuckled with a roll of her eyes with Mitch and Audrey.

Upon getting there, a spot was reserved for them marked in outdoor safe spray paint. What was odd was how it was marked F.J. Fenik looked to the two adults, assuming it was a way to mark as him and Julie, that was till they looked at James with worried yet hopefully glances.

"We thought it would be nice to celebrate both your birthdays. From when I last saw you, James. You passed out in your brother's arms and looked like you've been crying."

There was a visible flinch from the raven-haired teen at that. He did remember getting drunk and stumbling to the other's home. He couldn't remember all that he said in his drunken stupor, but he did remember that he mentioned why he hates his own birthday. It clicked in his head right there and he stared at the two adults before muttering a low: "Why..."

"We may not know the reason why, and we know we were told to not do anything for you in the future but..."

"What the old bag is trying to say is, why not knock out two birds with one stone in the best way possible. At least y'all can go out and let all the crazies inside, out."

Green eyes sought out to hopefully lock with amber eyes, and they did, but it felt like there was a gentle coax in James's mind.

*'Ya might as well go with it. They ain't easy with "no" for an answer. But, they mean well. Honest.'*

The 19-year-old looked back at the two adults who were scolding each other from Mitch calling Audrey an 'old bag.' Looking down to the marker, he toed at it before letting out a sigh.

"Alright. But just this once. No more shit after it," He concluded. That caught the two's attention, but they nodded in understanding. For the rest of the time till dinner, they set up the two tents. One for the adults, the other for the teenagers. It was nice that a grill was there since hamburgers, salmon, and what other things they brought in cans were cooked.

It was Susie who declared that any gifts that were brought were to be given. She ended up giving Fenik a scarf she made, an infinity scarf that's a big circle. Course, he put that on. The one from Julie was... Questionable. It was a collar and a leash which promoted James to point and cackle like a mad man.

"AWW YOU GONNA TAKE YOUR WITTLE PUBBY OUT FOR WALKIES!!" He wheezed out, just howling with laughter before yelping when his brother had taken the leash and snapped it like what people do with belts. As a joke (they both know), the younger of the two chased after the eldest yelling about tying him up to a tree. The adults didn't get it, but the teenagers did and Joey fell down from wheezing so much.

When it all calmed down, Fenik yelped at a toy hitting his head and plopping onto the ground. A *squeaky* toy. He just glared at his brother who snickered, making the joke about the collar and leash worse. He muttered a 'thanks' to it before stopping at feeling something plush be placed on his head. He let it land in his lap to see a folded up plaid blanket, blue and red in color with its usual mixed colored squares when it comes to two colors. Thick in material too, meant to keep one warm.

*'It's not every night we get to run around the forest like some shitty dystopian forest novel, so I thought why not get something that'll ease ya when we're apart.'*

Fenik brought it up to his face to rub his face on it, but the fact that it was practically coated in James's scent honestly did bring him comfort that he kinda just... sat there with his face in it silently before lifting his face up with a smile on it. It was easy to tell that he's pleased about it.

-

Did they go night swimming? Yes. There was a bit of daylight left so it made swimming perfect for the teenagers as they did their best to not be so loud to disturb other sleeping campers. Of course they couldn't help the squeaks and yelps that were let out from falling in and water being splashed. Joey ended up calling it good and declared he's heading back to dry off and sleep. Susie followed after. Julie did as well, after wishing the both of them 'Happy Birthday' and kissing the both of them on the cheek.

It left the two Morrisons there on the shoreline, sitting there gazing out as the last bit of light faded and allowed for their eyes to adjust and adapt to the dark. Fenik went over to the lump that is his towel and unrolled it to pull out his newly acquired blanket, only to see a little box plop out. Confused, he picked it up as he headed over to his brother and sat down to drape the blanket over the both of them.

Before he could even ask, James nudged him to open it. He didn't press on but listened and ended up withdrawing a cord necklace tied around what looks like a tip of an antler. It was engraved too with what appears to be a half of a wolf face, but the lines were dyed green. That's when he noticed another one with the other half of the face and lines dyed red.

The raven-haired teen took both. The one with the red lines he put on around his neck, then fitted the one with the green lines around his brother's neck. A matching set, but the one the russet-haired one had was bigger, until it clicked as to why.

"Remember that box ya showed me of those pieces of bones you've collected or snapped off?" When Fenik nodded as a response, he kept going. "I took the tip from that moose we took down, then this one that I have from the deer you told me you hunted. So I thought, why the hell not?"

"And you made a matching set out of them... Thank you..."

James nodded with a half smile, then his eyes followed as his brother stood up. He did the same and shifted after Fenik did. Compared to the walking hellfire the rusted colored wolf is, he's a shadow with orbs to lure in those that are unsuspecting. Together, it was just two big overgrown dogs that caused chaos like puppies.

[fugitivehues]

I'm a long time fan of your style and the soft but bright quality of your watercolor work! Do you have any advice for getting started learning? Or is it a matter of starting and doing?

thank you so much!! that’s very nice of you!! ⁺✧(˶´⚰︎`˵)⁺‧

sure, just starting and doing watercolor is definitely important, because experience is the only way to intuitively know which paint+water ratios give the effects you want. that's also kind of frustrating in the beginning (or at least it was for me) so maybe some tips will make that smoother...

Here's one of my old guides on mixing bright colors. Most watercolor sets at least come with a "split primary" palette, with both a cool and a warm version of each primary color. Getting familiar with the mixing behaviors of your paints will help so much!

Put more water and paint on your brush than you think you need. Watercolors become lighter when dry, and without enough water they dry too quickly on the paper.

Practice the three main techniques: wet paint on wet paper, wet paint on dry paper, and dry paint on dry paper. (I mostly use wet on dry in my art, but the others have their uses, especially in backgrounds!)

The more you rub the paper with your brush, the more it separates the fibers and makes colors less bright and clear. So try to do your layer with as few brush strokes as possible. Working from the lightest/largest areas to the darkest/smallest is recommended.

Let each layer dry completely unless you’re going for a specific effect!! If you add the next layer too soon, the one under it might get wiped away. orz

Maybe plan your colors and shadows in advance (digitally or in thumbnails). It helps me focus on painting without stopping to figure out what to do next!

Put a tissue under your hand or wear a glove while you work to prevent skin oils from repelling the water.

It’s fine if the paper starts warping while you’re painting. It’ll probably dry less warped, and you can flatten it fully once you’re done.

I’m sure you already know this, but there’s a ton of watercolor tutorials and speedpaint videos on Youtube. They’re great for seeing how others mix colors and blend with water, as well as getting an idea for how the paint moves on the paper and what it looks like when dry. Consider looking at copic/alcohol marker artists too, since they also work from lightest-to-darkest and blend colors according to similar rules. I watch videos almost every day; it’s a relaxing way to learn! ^^

Also, here's my process for painting a character, if you haven’t seen that!

Below is mostly about supplies, but it's stuff that I wish I knew in my first years of painting!

To get smooth gradients and soft blending, consider investing in good quality paper most of all. Basically, Paper > Brushes > Paint.

You can do almost anything with student-quality paints. Just check what the manufacturer says about lightfastness. Paints with a low lightfastness score will fade over time.

You only need a few decent brushes ([synthetic] sable or squirrel for large areas of color, and maybe a very small or calligraphy brush with a sharp point for details and lineart, if those are in your style). 

If you use "pan" paints, consider using an old spare brush to wet them, because pans will wear out your brushes faster than tube paint.

Your paper absolutely must be watercolor or mixed media paper, because they contain "sizing" that allows the paints to blend smoothly and not stain immediately. “Cold press 300gsm” is probably the most versatile texture and weight. Cotton paper is stronger and more forgiving than cellulose papers but is also more expensive.

Unless you’re working in a watercolor sketchbook, only one side of the paper will have sizing. The "wrong” side can't handle watercolor.

If your finished artwork won’t lay flat, then lightly wet the back of the paper with water, wipe off the excess, and flatten the damp sheet between some heavy books. 

I use mixed media paper to practice color mixtures and thumbnails. And I do a ton of color mixing just for fun. 10/10 would recommend filling pages with gradients and stuff!

SO YEAH, watercolor is totally worth the learning curve and is super fun to paint with once you’re more comfortable. I hope you have a great time with your painting! ^^ Let me know if you have any more questions!

[sometimesiwriteangst]

I Don’t Want To Die (It’s Three AM)

Summary: Deceit’s struggling, and even if he wants to be helped, he can’t bring himself to do it.

It’s three am and Deceit is tired. He forgot his medication, and he regrets it. Or, he thinks he should. He should regret not taking it, because it makes the pain worse, makes the memories play on loop, makes him stop sleeping.

He doesn’t want to sleep though. His heart races, flashes of faces leaning over him cross his mind when he closes his eyes. His present is empty but his head won’t let him stop.

He wonders how the others would feel about his medication. The post it notes hiding and correcting the flaws in his art, the out of proportion eyes, the wonky hands, the bad perspective.

He glances at his sketchbook, feeling the urge to draw, to paint, create. He could show the twins, show them that he appreciates their work, show that they inspire him.

He reaches over, opens it slowly, glancing at the vibrant pastels, the dull grey marker, the incomplete works he abandoned last month.

The urge is there, but his hand shakes when he lifts the pen, and he changes his mind, throwing it aside and trying to sleep again.

It’s three am and Deceit is fed up of hearing Virgil next door, music still playing from the other resident insomniac. He can’t bring himself to cry when Virgil is so close by, in case he’s heard, in case his ex-friend comes to ask what’s wrong.

He holds his breath, rolls over and buries his head under a pillow, clenching and unclenching his fists, hissing quietly to himself that he needs to sleep, needs to rest, needs to keep going, for Thomas.

He doesn’t linger on what he means, closing his eyes and picturing smooth pixels on multiply, pastel painted dots below line art.

He falls asleep to the thought of what his art could be, and wakes up with the idea now distant in his head.

It’s three am and Remus is there, talking about things Deceit enjoys, whilst Deceit tries to be patient. Whilst he tries to tell himself that he should enjoy being with his friends, that it’s good to have company when he feels so low.

“Did you take your medication?” Remus asks suddenly, and Deceit shrugs.

“I think so,” he lies, knowing there’s six days of tablets he’s forgotten to take, too busy trying and failing to sleep to remember to take them. Too busy trying to live day to day.

“You should check-”

“I mean, I did,” he lies again, charcoal lines smudging, the black grinding harsh, sticking to his hands and bleeding slow, “don’t worry, I know I need to take them.”

Remus looks unconvinced, but Deceit smiles, shows him a warm colour palette, and Remus drops it, onto the next subject, unaware of how desperately Deceit just wants to be alone.

And it’s five am but he can’t sleep, can’t think, can’t make, can’t lie, but he’s tired and wonders what it’s like to destroy a piece of art in progress.

It’s three am and he doesn’t know why he’s looking at a cheery vision, a patchy impressionist painting reminiscent of Roman’s ideas.

“I’m Dr Emile Picani!” the fuzzy vision says with a grin, “I think Thomas is trying to design my character a bit more for the next Cartoon Therapy.”

Deceit blinks slowly. Right. Dr Picani the therapist. How ironic, coming across him in his current state.

“Can you actually help people?” he asks, unsure of how long the idea will be around for.

“I believe so! What do you need?”

“...I need...I need...”

Over saturated watercolours drip down the page.

“I need you to...to help me...stay alive...”

The idea looks confused, and Deceit continues, the empty vision the only thing he can say the words aloud to.

“Because...I don’t want to die.”

He thought when he said it (a truth, a lie, two inks bleeding together) it’d be loud and angry and distraught, tears and confessions and desperation. Deep slashes through layers of still drying oil.

But instead it’s simple, defeated, tired. Less oil built up on canvas, more scratches of biro on graph paper. Less Renaissance, more tired high school student.

The idea frowns, tilting it’s head and adjusting it’s glasses.

“Why would you die?” it asks, and Deceit doesn’t have a response.

He doesn’t want to die. He wants to die. He can’t die. He can fade. He wants to fade. He doesn’t want to fade. Framed prints behind glass behind velvet curtains.

“You should talk to someone more real than me,” the idea says softly, and Deceit shrugs.

“There’s nothing more real than us right now,” he replies, glancing around the empty room, and when he looks back the idea is gone.

Art is brief and fleeting, and his canvas bleeds, silvery watercolour dripping down unsuitable paper, leaving wrinkles in its wake.

It’s three am and his phone is beeping, one of the others asking him why he’s still online, ignoring the perfect irony. He regrets them knowing his tumblr account, regrets them seeing his trauma, seeing his pain laid out in perfect black and white photographs.

He reaches out, opens up the app, glances at Roman’s messages, sees the days of notifications he’s been ignoring.

U ok? Not seen you recently.

He wants to reach out, call for help, tell him he’s lonely and sad and hurting and god he doesn’t want to die, if only because he’s scared and Thomas needs him still.

I’m not doing so well, Roman. I really want to die.

He deletes the message, deciding not to send it. He doesn’t want to be vulnerable, paint so carefully laid out, still wet, still easy to smudge. He doesn’t want them to worry, he doesn’t want to admit to the pain, he doesn’t want to die but he doesn’t want to live.

Sorry, being antisocial lol. I’m fine. U?

He chucks his phone away and buries himself back under blankets, knowing he’s only postponing his final message.

It’s three am and he knows he’s messing up. He knows he needs to take his medication, needs to eat, needs to talk, tell people he’s struggling.

He forgets to talk Thomas out of thinking of his existential crisis, and Thomas is still awake, living proof that Deceit keeps failing even when all he has to do is his one job. Lie, keep lying, keep Thomas alive, healthy, keep him fighting.

Bristles fall out of brushes when you leave them in water long enough, and it damages the canvas, leaves bits of paintbrush in the art.

He looks to his sketchbook, gathering dust, and wonders what the point would be any more. He can’t complete anything, he has no skill. He’s not designed to create, not designed to be passionate, he’s designed to lie.

He can’t get rid of the faces, and he can’t sketch them out, show them simply to the others, can’t word them, the thoughts, the images, like an old worn out film on repeat.

“Sorry, Thomas,” he mumbles, and rolls over, trying to sleep.

It’s three am but Patton is sat with him, asking him why he won’t sleep, asking him why he looks so ill, asking him questions Deceit can’t answer, doesn’t want to answer.

“We’ll help you if you need anything,” the moral side tells him, and his eyes are so hopeful, dusky watercolours lined with ink, soft but sharp, “you know that, right?”

And oh, Deceit knows. He knows they’d help, wants to ask for the help, but he doesn’t, and he can’t explain why. He nods and lies his way out of the interrogation, getting Patton to leave, and tries to ignore the way his heart stings at his self imposed isolation.

His room is empty and devoid of the passion he thinks he could have. But it feels so full, full to the brink of long gone shadows, the past weighing in like a thick fog, clouding his head until he falls to the floor in silent tears, not daring to be loud, not daring to let Patton know how much it hurts.

He’s struggling, a shaky sketch doomed to be scrapped, and still all he knows is that he doesn’t want to die.

He doesn’t know what time it is, but the other sides have sat him down, firing questions at him. What is he doing, how is he doing, what does he need, why is he ignoring them?

“Don’t you want to get better?” Logan asks, as if it’s ever been that simple.

Deceit reaches for an answer, an explanation, hesitating between stubs of oil pastel and harsh messy chalk on black paper. But whatever he does, the piece is too abstract and surreal for an explanation to take form in his voice.

“Deceit, we don’t get why you’re doing this to yourself,” Virgil says, struggling with the words, as if Deceit knows any more than he does.

“We’re here to help,” Roman adds, “we just need to know how.”

The canvas is tearing at the seams. Deceit hates when his canvas’ tear. He can’t hide it, even with all the collage and mixed media in the world, watching it bend out of shape.

“I want to get better,” he says, a truth, drops of ink in calligraphy pens.

“Then tell us how we can help!” Patton pleads.

And Deceit shakes his head, head blurry and unsure of how to explain. He doesn’t know how, he doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t believe they can help push out the voices of the past.

(The sketch is still there underneath the line art.)

He doesn’t know what time it is, but he’s scared, and he doesn’t want to die.

“I could kill you,” the past taunts him, sly and low and echoing through his ears.

He doesn’t want to die any more than he did back then.

He doesn’t know what time it is, but he’s run out of colour, and you can only paint a canvas black for so long before you scrap it altogether.

[mydarlingvioletine]

‘Just a Puppy Crush’ - Chapter Six

Ship(s): Violet/Clementine Media: The Walking Dead (Season 4)

          Clementine’s name snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked up at Brody, who was smiling down at the journal in her hands. Violet had moved back to her original position, sitting stiffly with her eyes on the trophy case. 

So, she blacked out for the entirety of Violet’s origin story. She was having a bone thrown at her to learn more about the mysteriously cool blonde to the left of her, but she dropped the ball.

         Real good detective work, Clementine.

She knew bits and pieces. That her dad was a drunk and that she barely spent time with her mom because she worked a bunch of jobs. To pay for her husband’s very expensive habit. That Violet had a “someone” in her past, named Minerva. Louis brought her up once, but dropped it because Violet was visibly upset. That was the last she’d heard about her.

       “‘A girl and her brother arrived here the other day. Her father got a teaching opportunity here, so they moved across the country. Mr. Everett’s cool. He’s a good teacher. His wife is really nice, too. I went in for pre-session and met her. She brought in coffee and an omelette for Mr. Everett, and told me that she had a daughter around my age. Clementine. She warned me she was a little grizzly, but had a big heart and could use a friend right now.’“

“Carley..” Clem scoffed to herself, pinching the top of her nose with a mix of frustration and adoration. “Did she pay you to talk to me too?”

        Brody giggled, shaking her head and flipping the page. 

“‘I met Clementine today. She’s a sweetheart. A little bit standoff-ish, but really kind. We passed notes during math class, and she doodled flowers on the bottom of my classwork.’“ Brody held out the journal, finger on a scrap of paper with a couple detailed flowers, taped to the page. “‘She’s talented, really really talented. She’s even better at realistic stuff.’“

      Clementine’s smile dropped in an instant, noticeable to Violet and Louis. Brody, oblivious, kept reading, skipping a couple pages ahead.

“‘I didn’t mean to do it. I don’t have heavy footsteps, I just walk quietly on instinct.’” Brody’s eyes flickered towards Clementine, who nodded, biting down on her thumb. “’I saw her drawing in a sketchbook, and leaned over her shoulder to look at it. It was so, so realistic. It didn’t even take a full glance for me to realize who it was of. I told her it was really good, but she was embarrassed, and got mad at me for sneaking up on her. She made me promise not to te-’”

         “-Um, have you guys seen Captain Marvel? Carley works at the police station and she was able to snag an illegal version of it.” Clementine interrupted loudly, quickly rising to her feet. Brody took the hint, and clasped the notebook shut, upset with herself that she’d almost broken her promise.

“No, yeah, let’s watch it.” Brody stammered, shoving her diary back into her bag so it couldn’t hurt anyone else. Louis and Violet exchanged a worried look, as Clementine rounded the corner and darted up the stairs.

        She couldn’t find the movie. Carley had lost it or dropped it somewhere, and she had to go back to them empty-handed. Stalling, she took solace in James’ presence, standing beside him to help with the dishes.

They had a routine that dated back to when Clementine first got here. Clementine washed, James dried. AJ usually spot-checked, but he’d gone to sleep hours ago. They both worked in silence, both wracked with nerves and concern. 

       “James?” Clem broke the silence, soaping up the inside of a glass. 

“You okay?” James asked, setting the bowl down to look at his younger sister, her face struck with something sad that anybody other than her family would have missed. 

      Clementine cleared her throat, scrubbing the frosting off of the cake-covered plate. “I’m good. I just.. good.”

James nodded, not wanting to push her past her point of comfort. He took the plate from her hands, rinsing it off as her focus set on the window, vines from the garden flowing down the side of her house like her own curly hair.

     “You have no idea how good it is to see you,” Clementine breathed out, swiftly wrapping her arms around her brother, burying her face into his college sweatshirt.

James returned the hug, resting his chin on his little sister’s head. “Back atcha, kid. I really missed you.” Clementine stepped away from her brother, her eyebrows shooting up as she heard Louis singing off-key from downstairs. “I’ll be here all break, you know. C’mon, don’t miss out on your own birthday.”

        Clementine pursed her lips, and let out a hearty sigh. “Hey, James?”

“What’s up, Clem?”

“You don’t have to answer. It’s kinda dumb, but... I’m just curious. Were you sure Charlie liked you when you asked him out?” Clementine whispered, resting her elbows on the kitchen counter.

         A soft smile crept over James’ lips, and he softly shook his head. He turned towards her, and held out his pinky. “Promise you won’t tell Mom.”

Clementine nodded, wrapping her pinky finger around his. They shook on it, and James pressed his back against the kitchen counter, hands gripping the railing as he started recollecting.

     “I didn’t know, Clem. All I knew was that I was tired of carrying it on my back and just wanted it out there. And with the help of my good friend, Mr. Alcohol, I was able to say ‘fuck it’ and just go for it.” James smirked, sternness crossing his face after a couple seconds. “Don’t take this as advice. I also took a whole bite out of a pumpkin that night.”

Clem giggled, her stress lifting into nothingness as she laughed. “You’re telling me, James Abbott, honor student, class president, star of the lacrosse team and salutatorian, drunkenly asked a guy out and took a bite of a pumpkin, all in one night. Illegally, might I add.”

     James playfully shushed her, slinging his arm around the little sister he cared so much for. “Why are you asking, exactly?”

Clementine’s shoulders stiffened, and her cheeks turned pink in an instant. “No reason in particular.”

             “It’s Violet, isn’t it?”

Clementine grabbed a spoon out of the sink, and pointed it threateningly towards him. “Shut your fucking mouth.”

       James looked down at the adorable, rosy-cheeked kid who he’d made an internal oath to do anything for, the day he met her. The day of Lee and Carley’s wedding, she dropped her hat into the lake, and he jumped in without thinking, completely ruining his suit. 

He didn’t care though; Clementine’s relief and smile as she put the sopping wet hat back on her head was reward enough.

       “Honestly, Clem, it’s almost impossible to know for sure. Even if you were 100% sure your feelings were reciprocated, it’s human to be nervous and unsure. But..” He paused, pursing his lips together in thought. “You won’t know if you don’t act on your feelings. I think you’ll be okay, Clementine.”

Clem huffed as James pulled her into a side-hug, crossing her arms tightly across herself. “Thanks, weirdo.”

         “No problem, weirdo.” James paused for a second, then grabbed at his backpack, strewing the contents across the kitchen table. He gave a short “aha!” before cupping his treasured picture of him and Charlie in his hand, leaning it towards Clementine so she could see. “The risk is worth it.”

With a solemn nod, Clem started back down the stairs, opening the door to the lounge room. Louis was on top of the coffee table, holding a hairbrush as if it were a microphone, screaming the lyrics to American Boy by Estelle. Clem internally thanked whatever was out there that the soundproofing was good in this room.

        He wasn’t alone though. Brody was laying across the couch, holding her phone high as the music played. Her eyes landed on Violet, who took Louis’ hand and allowed herself to be twirled around the table. She was singing too, though it was almost impossible to hear over Louis.

Louis’ eyes landed on Clementine, and he stopped in his tracks. Violet didn’t get the memo though, swaying happily, a water bottle in her hand being her choice of a make-shift microphone.

“Like the way he’s speakin’, his confidence is peakin’ Don’t like his baggy jeans but I might like what’s undernea- SHIT”

Violet clasped her hands over her mouth, wide eyes on Clementine, who she’d just noticed was standing in the doorway. Brody quickly struggled to pause the music, and Louis stepped down from the coffee table. 

    “Uh, so you mentioned karaoke earlier but you left, and Brody has a karaoke app on her phone so we just... uh,” Violet stammered, crossing her arms tightly across her chest.

Clementine rolled her eyes, grabbing the hairbrush from Louis’ hands. “You were really singing an Estelle song without me? In my house? On my birthday?”

      “Uh... happy birthday?” Louis squeaked, ducking just in time to dodge a pillow Clem flung at him. She cleared her throat, and climbed onto the coffee table with Violet’s help.

“Brody, if you will,” Clem stretched her arms over her head. Brody happily hit the play button again, and Clementine jumped in right in time for the chorus.

          “Take me on a trip, I’d like to go someday”

Clementine reached down for Violet’s hand, and twirled her as she sang. Taken aback, Violet’s movements were stiff and cautious. It didn’t take long before she melted into the rhythm, singing along, her voice hardly over a whisper.

          “Take me to New York, I’d love to see LA”

Clementine hopped down from the table, the floor shaking beneath her impact. Her grip on Violet’s wrist, she slung her free arm across Violet’s shoulder, dropping the hairbrush to the floor.

           “I really want to come kick it with you”

Violet took in a deep breath, cautiously placing her hand on Clementine’s shoulder. An encouraging smile from Clem was all she needed to calm her nerves, her volume almost matching Clementine’s. 

           “You’ll be my American boy”

They fit well together. Violet’s slight rasp and gravelly voice complimented Clem’s smooth, silvery tone in an intimate way. Violet’s breath tickled her nose, reminding Clementine of how close they were. Inches away from Violet’s face, she pondered how easy it would be to just press their lips together. She knew she couldn’t, though.

               “La, la la, la la eya~”

Fuck it. Clem’s hands found their way to the small of Violet’s back, and she took a prominent step forward, dipping the flustered blonde as far as she could, given her prosthetic.

        Brody and Louis were clapping and hollering at the performance. Clementine pulled Violet back to her feet, and dropped her hands back to her sides. With a lopsided smile, she turned towards her friends and bowed. Oblivious to the breathless Violet behind her, Clem grabbed her water bottle off the table and took a huge gulp.

Once the song petered out, Violet set foot back in reality. Eyes wide and lips parted, she let go of the breath she’d been holding in when Clementine placed her hands on her back. Holy shit.

     The confidence that struck Clementine disappeared as quickly as it entered her life, leaving her stunned. The spark that hit her when she took Violet’s hand was still sizzling through her nerves, her stomach warm and full of butterflies.

She turned on her heel to say something, anything to Violet, but she had disappeared.

[that-bookworm-guy]

I like your art! Any tips on how I can improve?

Hey thank you kind anon :)

I have a few:

1. Practise whenever you canIf that’s everyday or a few times a week it doesn’t matter. I know everyday isn’t realistic for some people. Hell, I don’t draw every day. But realistically, the more hours you put into practise the better you will get. It’s like anything. If you take a long break (I had a confidence knock and didn’t draw for a few years) you will lose some of your skills.

2. Remember some people are lucky enough to be born with a nature talent, most are not. Most people have practised.Please don’t feel disheartened if you see someone is better than you. You will always be better than someone else and someone else will always be better than you. Some rare people were blessed with nature talent, but even they have worked on their talent to improve.

3. Coming off the previous one. Find your things.Find your own style and remember not everyone will like it. Art is very subjective, what one person likes, another may think it’s the worse thing, but art is mostly for yourself, enjoy it. If it’s not fun anymore, figure out why and find the passion. Art is an amazing stress relief, it should always be fun.

Some people draw portraits, some people draw landscapes. Some people do realistic art, some people so surrealism, some do abstract. Some do something that is complete unique. Find what you love to draw.

4. Not everyone can draw everything. In college, my friend was jealous that I could draw a skull anatomically correct from memory (I did an art project about it a few times in different styles, took me way too long to learn how to do it and I was drawing for like 7 hours a day just skulls. I can’t do them as well anymore because I stopped practising.) Whereas I was jealous of the fact she could draw people with absolute ease. (still can’t draw people)

Even now, my friend gets jealous of what I can draw and I get jealous of what she can draw. BUT art isn’t a contest. We find it fun to try and tutor each other in drawing techniques.  

5. Sometime price of art equipment matters, most of the time it doesn’tI’ve had packs of £1 pencils that are amazing and I’ve had a pack of pencils for £10 that are amazing. I’ve also had a pack of pencils for £10 that are absolutely horrible that I can’t work with. Once you get going a bit you’ll work out what works for you. I’ve bought a pack of 10 brushes or £2 that I’ve loved, I also work with a pack of 5 brushes that cost £15 that I only do watercolour with. It depends on the media you use and the make. People can give you recommendations but honestly you need to figure it out for yourself. 

In college we all got the same equipment. Someone in my class absolutely hated the watercolour pencils we were given and ended up replacing them with their own ones. I LOVE them and still use them now, I will eventually buy the exact same set when they become unusable. 

6. Experiment and inspirationExperiment with different medias, mix the medias, different paper, time limits, use weird objects to paint with, use your body (Someone in college painted using just their nose.), close your eyes, swap hands, just have fun. You’ll learn as you go.

Kinda going hand in hand with experimenting, draw inspiration from anything and everything. It can be how a shadow falls on an object, it can be the colours around you, it could be the sounds. It could also be a program you watched. Draw your favourite characters, draw an animal. Take a photo of something you thought was pretty and do an artistic interpretation of it. 

7. TutorialsARE A GOD SEND. Don’t know how to use a certain media, google it. Youtube it. We are all learning constantly. Need to know how to draw a certain thing? Youtube it. Tutorial books, go to the library, visit a book shop, go to an art lesson. 

8. ReferencesYears ago someone told me using a reference is cheating. This stuck with me and throughout college my tutor tried to drill it into me to use references and when I explained why I didn’t like them he sighed so loudly and told me that person was an imbecile. References are how we learn and how we check that we are drawing the right thing. We took our own photos and drew from them and we also took photos from the internet and studied and drew them. 

9. Art MuseumsMe and my best friend go to art museums in London, sit with a sketchbook and pencil case full of pens pencils and crayons (Crayons are so fun, it makes you feel like a child again and honestly they make you enjoy drawing whatever you’re drawing so much more). We sit in the museum and draw bits and pieces from the paintings and people around us. (If you see us in the national portrait gallery feel free to say hi) It’s fun and it’s great practise. 

10. Be ProudBelieve in yourself which I know from experience can be harder than it sounds. But be proud of how far you have come, be proud of your achievements. But always work towards improving. But probably the most important thing, keep it fun.

I hope at least one of these helps :) Thank you for the ask

[brandonedwards-creative-blog]

Exhibition Piece

Tuesday 5th March

I began working on my piece for the exhibition after our lecture was cancelled and I knew I had the whole day to sit and concentrate on my piece. I wanted this to be my best work going into the show so I wanted to be ambitious with my work and wow people, instead of throwing in a piece of artwork I had already created. I chose to make my largest ever piece. I had a week to complete the piece and planned to go home for the weekend so I had to spend my time wisely. It was a very anxious week.

I came up with a plan of the piece I wanted to make, which involved combining the images I had taken a few weeks back. These images I had already been working on to create several smaller paintings so I wanted to extend this series on a larger scale. I used the Procreate app on my iPad to juxtapose the images together and then filled in the gaps using the pen tool. I wanted the faces to be connected but to also show the restriction anxiety can have on the body.

I first cut the piece of paper and laid it out so I could see how big the piece really was. I then used a thick brush to coat the paper in a light wash of grey watercolour. This took me a while as the watercolour pan was so small and I had to keep remixing the paint to make it the same shade. The paper absorbed the water instantly and was quite difficult to work with due to the amount of bumps that formed. I waited a few hours for the paper to completely dry and then began marking out the grid lines to match my digital image. I did this to help make the painting as accurate as possible to the image as I wanted the proportions to be correct. I stayed in the studios until 8:00 that night because the paper was so huge and I only had a 30cm ruler. If I plan on using his technique is in the future, I will get a meter stick to draw the lines as it was very tedious.

Wednesday 6th March

I spent the day mapping out the basic outline in the squares in pencil, to make the piece accurate to the image. Once the basic outline is done I will be able to adjust the other areas to my liking and tweak any other areas. I just needed that basic guideline as I am working on a larger scale to usual.

I planned on using ink for this piece as I wanted it to have a high contrast with the pale wash of the grey background. I found the bumps in the paper began to lessen as I was working on the paper. My choice to use ink was also inspired by fact I had chosen to make my image black and white. I wanted the black to be strong and show depth in the piece.

Thursday 7th March

After completing the outline I began working with the black ink on the face. I decided against using watercolour as I wanted to use as minimal liquid on the paper to reduce the bumps, the ink settled well on the paper and did not spread as quickly as the watercolour. The only problem I faced with the black ink was that it sometimes appeared patchy and required a few coats and also there was no mid tone. I needed to make an artistic decision which would affect the way the piece was viewed. I chose to create some small samples in my sketchbook to see how different mediums would work together and how they would layer. I did not plan on making this piece a mixed media piece. But after a chat with my peers I was convinced to use more than one media and to not limit my possibilities and to also help me with the mid tone areas.

I first made a choice to use charcoal as this would easily blend into the paper and I could create darker and lighter areas. I also wanted to use charcoal within he rope as I found the texture worked really well based on the samples in my sketchbook. I continued working on the ink sections of the piece for the faces and then decided to work on the charcoal areas tomorrow.

Friday 8th March

I had a few hours to work in the studio before I had to catch my three hour train home for the weekend so I wanted to make the most of my time. I started with the charcoal. I first drew the basic outline of the rope in the charcoal and then smudged the charcoal to add some medium tones to the light areas. I then repeated the outline and added some lines and texture to the bends in the rope.

I thought about the paper and how these bumps would never leave. I had a thought about exaggerating these by completely screwing up the paper into a ball and then opening it back out. I also really liked the raw edges of the piece and decided to keep these torn. My piece is about anxiety and how this can be a restriction to the body. I thought this would be a good way to show myself overcoming anxiety.

Monday 9th March

We had all actually set this date as the deadline to have our work done at our meeting on Tuesday 5th so that we wouldn't need to worry, but unfortunately this was not the case for everybody! I had been checking up on everybody's work in the studio to monitor their progress and compare it to mine to see if I was the only one who was behind. Myself and Lucy both began our pieces on the same day and were both working consistently at the same times.

I arrived back to uni late afternoon from my weekend away and went straight to the studio to continue with my piece. I managed to complete all of the rope that was shown in my image, but found this wasn't enough and there were several gaps. This was there I needed to use my creativity and imagine what should go where. I decided to leave my image behind and not be so controlled and reliant on the image. I added in some more rope where I thought necessary around the border of the piece. I also tore the edges of he piece to create more of a raw feel and to make the piece look more square.

Tuesday 10th March

I came into the studio for registration and carried on working on my piece. It was helpful to work in the studio on the Tuesday as everybody was in and I could have the opinions of my fellow course mates, it was especially helpful to have Cara work by me as she could see the piece progress each day and give me advice on what she feels would work best.

The last few days I wanted to work all day and night to get the piece complete so I decided it would be in my best interest to work on the piece at home as I get my sudden bursts of creativity late in the evening when the studios are closed. I also needed to make sure that it was completed in time, so I wanted to work constantly to make sure it was to a high standard. I also did this because I was working late in the studios every night until 8/9 and I needed to make sure I could manage my time better and get the right amount of sleep I needed.

Wednesday 11th March

I worked at home all day on the piece. I decided to add some more faces into the painting as I felt the image on this scale did not work as well. I felt that it needed to have more of an impact and also have hidden faces. I also reflected on what Zander had said about not limiting myself to one media and decided to add a layer of black acrylic into the charcoal rope. I did this to make the rope stand out more and also add further detail. I also added some different shades of grey into faces to add depth, light and shadow. Adding the acrylic also allowed me to fix certain areas I was unhappy with, as I could over paint them.

I noticed something didn't seem completely finished and the work needed something else. I was really unsure about what to do so asked for some feedback from my housemates. I noticed there was a lot of empty space at the top and at the bottom left corner of the piece. So I added another closed eye at the top centre and also added further rope in the bottom left. I feel doing this brought all of the sections together

After making some last minute adjustments, I finally completed the piece at 11:30am just in time to be taken to paradise works tomorrow morning.

I was planning to completely screw this piece up and video myself doing it, but after creating it, I made the artistic choice not to do so. I did this because I was happy with the way it looked and I felt it didn't need to have that appearance as there was already a texture to the paper which I liked.

Thursday 12th March

I arrived into uni to take the work to paradise works. I rolled up my artwork in the morning and sealed it with black bags, so that the weather wouldn't cause damage to the work. I didn't choose to use a cardboard tube to transport my work as I didn't mind the fact it could be mashed or crushed by the Van as I wanted to keep my work textured and the rawness was apart of my work.

[pink-pearl-universe]

Hey copic community! I got some Ohuhu markers but I can't seem to find the right shade of oink for my Pink Pearl skin (frankly not the hair either but I can live with #8 from Ohuhu), they're either too dark or too fleshy, so I'm turning to copic, I was considering ordering Pink (RV11S), Light Pink (RV21S), Sugar Almond Pink (RV02S), Shadow Pink (RV32S), Cotton Candy (RV52S), or Rose quartz (V0000S). I could possibly order them all today but I was hoping if any of you owned these colors if you could share how they look on paper? I own a XL Canson Mix Media sketchbook if that helps, but basically I need a really, REALLY light pink, that I can use without having to dilute with rubbing alcohol; nothing too purple, either. I'm going to check out the tags to see if anyone has posted a Swatch already. Thanks for reading my post!

[comicsbeat]

Continuing with our wide-ranging survey of creators from every end of the business on what happened and what’s coming. A lot of people who responded e this year talked about the development of a new distribution system or channel for comics as being a big story for 2019. It seem there is a lot of dissatisfaction with how comics are sold these days, no duh. What do you think?  Is there a savior on the horizon? You can check out the other parts of the survey here.

Kwanza Osajyefo, writer

2019 Projects: H1 Comics from Humanoids and WHITE, the sequel to BLACK

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The growth of the graphic novels among titles that don’t perform as well in the direct market.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Comic distribution becoming more multi-channel along with the direct market

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Figuring out what is going on in Paper Girls

Who inspired you in 2018? Everyone, I think so many of our peers have been operating on ten this year. I think the flood of comics content into the mainstream has really gotten us fired up, not to get our work into other mediums but to imagine on a larger scale.

  Tony Shenton. Sales rep and consultant

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The death of Stan Lee

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? The ongoing legal battle Cody Pikrodt has started vs. small presses and creators

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Not a guilty pleasure at all: RUN from Abrams.

Gary Tyrrell, Blogger

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Spike Trotman. She’s tearing up the industry with Iron Circus, and she’ll be launching a YA imprint — she’s making it so a lot of future superstars have a place to start their careers.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Raina Telgemeier’s next book will have an initial print run of one million. That’s mindbending.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Perp walks of high federal officials and Trump family members. So many perp walks.

Who inspired you in 2018? Pat Race — he and his team have put together something extraordinarily special in the Alaska Robotics Comics Camp, and it’s creating new relationships and creative networks among comics creators at all stages of their careers. The future will remember it as equivalent to the Algonquin Round Table.

Mariah McCourt, Creator

2019 Projects: STITCHED #3 and a new series for AHOY! comics

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? That comics are for everyone, stories matter, and so does representation.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Hopefully more focus on amazing creators, the diversity of content, and the continuing impact and relevancy of the medium.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? No guilty pleasures here, I’m looking forward to seeing all the new books in the works!

Joe Field, Retailer

2019 Projects: A new space to expand Flying Colors for events and sales

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? There was no one biggest story in comics. It was a thousand shards of glass rather than just one big picture window.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Cruise to the Edge, a prog rock themed cruise in February. No cell phones, no worries, just some great people having a peace party at sea.

Who inspired you in 2018? My wife Libby continues to be my inspiration. We celebrate our 40th anniversary in late February (so good then, even better now). The non-profit work she does in helping women with crisis pregnancies while also managing Flying Colors’ back office and reveling in her role as a grandmother is so inspiring to me.

Amy Chu, writer

2019 Projects: Summit (Lion Forge), Sea Sirens with Janet Lee (Viking Press), Pros & Cons (Dark Horse)

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Kid’s graphic novels are $$$ – Dave Pilkey 3 million print run for his fifth Dog Man book; Raina Telgemeier 1 million for Guts

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Kid’s graphic novels

Glenn Hauman, publisher at ComicMix, designated victim of “They Keep Killing Glenn”

2019 Projects: What 2019 projects am I working on that I can talk about? More omnibus editions for GrimJack, Soulsearchers & Company, and Deadbeats, and new… oh, dammit, I can’t talk about that yet. Arrgh.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The passing of Stan Lee. We all knew it was going to happen someday, and yet… we all thought we might get a pass on this one, you know?

And speaking of Marvel greats leaving: Bendis at DC.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? The All-New, All-Different Stan Lee 2.0!

And the bankruptcy of projects intended to get money from C*****gate people.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? The resolution of certain legal proceedings.

Thomas Ragon, Publisher

2019 Projects:

Roman Muradov’s next book “The Adventures of Munich in Marcel Duchamp”.

Thierry Smolderen & Alexandre Clérisse’s (whose “Atom Empire” & “Diabolik Summer” are translated or about to be by IDW) next graphic Novel : “Une année sans Cthulhu” (A year without Cthulhu).

After Glenn Gould, Sandrine Revel’s book about Canadian painter Tom Thomson Two major sets of exhibitions, in chronological order : Blutch has several exhibitions throughout 2019 in Strasbourg, and we’re working on a monograph to be released early March. Joann Sfar will be exhibited at the Basel Cartoon Museum and Lucerne festival “Fumetto”.

Ron Wimberly’s “Prince of Cats” French edition.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Ron Wimberly’s LAAB #0 ; The French authors collective movement to obtain better social and economic conditions from both publishers and government.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Borja Gonzalez having a worldwide success with his THE BLACK HOLES.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Discovering new excellent restaurants thanks to my job. Discovering new great bookstores thanks to my job.

Who inspired you in 2018? Blutch and Joann Sfar are always inspiring me, in many ways.

Nat Gertler, writer/publisher

2019 Projects: While my 2019 writing projects are for other people to announce, my first publishing project of the new year reflects on the 90th anniversary of the Great Depression by reprinting a book of cartoons by the great Otto Soglow, done during the depression.

Preview pages below.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? The triumph of diversity against anti-diversity forces.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Good comics. It’s always good comics, and there are always good comics for the story to be about. All the industry games mean nothing without that.

Christian Beranek, Writer

2019 projects: Kelci Crawford and I will be wrapping up Validation and then moving forward with Tiny Unicorn. (See below) Also writing loads of prose stories.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? Black Panther. I wish its box office success translated into more sales, however. We have to find a way to turn film audiences onto the source material.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? A massive wave of quality comics bringing in new readers.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? Any time taken away from writing. I want to work as much as possible but know you need breaks. I plan on reading more books in the Foundation series. Looking forward to that show.

Who inspired you in 2018? Tony DiGerolamo. The guy is a writing machine and really understands the mechanics of storytelling. More companies should consider hiring him.

Sanika Phawde, Cartoonist

2019 Projects: My biggest project scheduled to be completed in 2019 is my newest graphic novel. The project is still untitled but it presents an autofiction story about the journey of learning to love myself, and learning to accept my body and sexuality, as a freshly adult immigrant in New York city .

The story communicates through mix-media drawings on location, memoir comics, sketchbook pages, illustrated poetry, and even a few instances of fold-out paper architecture.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? I am really looking forward to going back home to Mumbai after a year, and eating a Nescafe flavoured ice cream sandwich in the winter heat with my best friend, while sitting on the wall that keeps the Arabian sea out of the city.

Who inspired you in 2018? Julian Glander, Jaron Braxton, Veronica Lawlor, Nora Krug, Robert Sikoryak, Brian Rea, Alex Norris, Lizzo, Melissa Guerrero (practices activism through food), Janelle Monae

Christopher Butcher, TCAF Artistic Director & VIZ Media Editorial Consultant

2019 Projects: TCAF 2019 is gearing up and it’s going to have one of the strongest and most diverse guest lists in our history. It’s going to be a pretty amazing year to be there, whether you love kids comics, YA comics, Adult comics, North American or International Comics. We’re pretty hyped!

On the VIZ side of things, though there’s a ton still to be announced, several of the series I’ve had a hand in are starting or continuing into 2019. Look out for the YA LGBTQ series “That Blue Sky Feeling” to get its 2nd and 3rd and final volume next year, the amazing/disturbing BEASTARS will start next year (like if Zootopia were a little more food-chain accurate?), and the recently-debuted gorgeous SF title Ran and The Grey World will start to turn some heads.

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? That’s tough. The industry is so fragmented at this point, that stories that were huge in one area barely made a ripple in others. Straddling graphic novel publishing, manga publishing, and with a toe still in superhero publishing, it’s amazing the times people would pull me aside and ask “So what was that about, exactly? All I saw was the hashtag…”

So… yeah I dunno. I think the biggest ‘story’ probably wasn’t written, but it was about the continued evolution of this industry as it happened. The house-cleaning and secret-revealing that needed to happen, some of the editorial attitudes around projects looking pretty terrible when exposed to the light of day, the continued vertical integration in licensed properties, all of it points to a maturing industry, which is both good and bad. More professionalism, but less room for the sort of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants stuff that made comics very, very exciting about 10 years ago.

I think most folks involved will take ‘professionalism’ any day of the week though!

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? Pogs, baby! POGS!

No but seriously, I have no idea. There’s so much up in the air right now, 2019 is going to be bumpy for sure.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? If it’s not hurting anyone, then there’s no point in feeling guilty about pleasure. Enjoy yourselves, it’s tough out there. 🙂

Who inspired you in 2018? My husband, Andrew Woodrow-Butcher, who was enormously patient and supportive while I took risks and traveled around the world, all while working 60 hours a week making sure Canadian schools and libraries have the best comic collections in the world, re-opening the world’s first kids comic book store (Little Island Comics!), sending Canadians to comic festivals around the world, and of course, programming a big part of TCAF. He’s a constant inspiration to me, I’m lucky to have him.

Ben Towle, Cartoonist

2019 Projects: The main project I’ve been working on in 2018 is a non-fiction graphic novel for the new imprint Dead Reckoning, which specializes in comics about things historical and/or military-related.

The book’s called Four Fisted Tales and it’s a collection of real-life stories about animals used in combat.

Here’s a sample page:

And here’s an in-progress rough:

I’m also continuing to work on–albeit a lot more slowly–my book In the Weeds about cooking and playing rock music in the 1990’s. It’s my first foray into the great comics tradition of “funny animals” characters. Here’s an in-progress rough from that:

It probably seems like I’ve disappeared since Oyster War came out a few years back, but I’ve been hard at work on TWO books, I promise!

What was the biggest story in comics in 2018? That’s gotta be the announcement of not one, but TWO, forthcoming books from Raina Telgemeier. When the most highly-read and most popular cartoonist in North America announces a book, it’s a big flippin’ deal. TWO books in the same year is bonkers news.

What will be the biggest story in comics in 2019? OK…Well, it’s only a big story for ME, but I’m really excited about the upcoming D&Q Little Lulu reprint series. These are some of the best comics ever made and it’s going to be great to see them get the D&Q treatment starting in 2019.

What guilty pleasure (of any kind) are you looking forward to in 2019? I’m a huge Star Trek nerd and so I’m super-excited about whatever’s brewing with this new Picard show. Supposedly starting in 2019!

The Beat's Annual Creator Survey Part 4: with art from new projects by Amy Chu, Janet Lee, Roman Muradov, Otto Soglow, Ben Towle and more Continuing with our wide-ranging survey of creators from every end of the business on what happened and what's coming.

[artificialqueens]

Pretty Mess Chapter 6 (Chiona)

A/N: here’s chapter 6, fuckers. i told y'all i was gonna update more frequently. I ended up talking a bit about Adore’s fans in this chapter because I recently met her and I’m still incredibly soft and happy about it. Also, a couple of weeks ago she tweeted “I’d be dead without them” in regards to her fans and it gave me a bit of inspo. But anyway, I hope you enjoy!

T/W for s*lf h*rm / blood

Danny didn’t think he’d ever been this scared before. Hastily, he splashed his face with water and looked up at his reflection in the mirror, the leftover water dripping from his chin. The light in the bathroom dimly illuminated the room, and he noticed it was slightly flickering. He sighed and ran his hands through his scruffy black hair, sinking down to the ground and resting his back against the wall. 5 minutes earlier, he had woken up on the couch with a start. He had obviously had a bad dream, because he was in a cold sweat and was breathing heavy, but he couldn’t remember what it was about. Then, he saw a sleeping Roy’s arm draped around his waist and then he remembered where he was, and fragments of the dream came back to him. Roy had walked in on him cutting himself, but that was the least of his worries. Roy had grabbed the blade from his hand and was hurling insults at him, yelling straight in his face that he was frail, and pathetic and lazy, all while using the blade to cut at Danny’s thighs himself, and in the dream Danny could only watch as pools of blood stained the floor. The thought of the dream sent a shiver down his spine, and he suddenly felt incredibly claustrophobic next to Roy. So, he carefully unwrapped himself from Roy’s arms and now, here he was in the bathroom, struggling to breathe. The dream had been so vivid, and he could still see Roy’s enraged face screaming at him.

He buried his head in his hands, feeling just about ready to tear his hair out. Maybe this was he’s mind’s way of warning him against kissing Roy again, warning him against potentially becoming more than friends? The dream was only part of the reason why he was scared; the other part of it was what Roy was going to say when he woke up. Danny didn’t even know where he wanted their relationship to stand, but he knew that Roy would dismiss the events of the night before like he did last time they kissed, blaming it on the beer, or the atmosphere. And even though he was confused as to his feelings for the older man, for some reason the thought of his potential dismissal made him heartbroken. Part of him just wanted to avoid the whole situation, leave a note and leave, and then ghost Roy until the whole situation was forgotten. But then he remembered he was at his own damn house, and kicked himself. His head was spinning, going back and forth from his dream to his feelings for Roy with each passing second. He could hardly breathe as he thought about everything, thinking about how even if he did like Roy, there was no way Roy would like him back. Thoughts of self-deprecation filled his head, thinking of how he was weak, selfish and stupid he was, how he was too pathetic for Roy to even consider a relationship with him. Was that even what Danny wanted? A relationship? The comments he received on the main stage during All Stars filled his head, and he felt like the voices were screaming at him. Everything the judges had said were right.

Tears filled his eyes. He couldn’t take it anymore, and with shaking hands he opened the bathroom cabinet and loosely grasped the silver blade he kept there. Danny felt like he had blacked out for a second, and when he regained sense of what was happening around him he noticed the fresh cuts on his thighs, blood pooling from them, and small cuts along his wrists, a place he’d never brought the blade to before. With wide eyes, his hands trembled, and he dropped the blade. A small ‘clang’ noise echoed through the room, as Danny brought his legs up to his chest and sobbed into his knees, tears mixing with blood.

-

Danny wasn’t there when Roy woke up. The sun was peeking out through the blinds, stinging Roy’s eyes as he sat up on the couch. The TV was still on, muted, and the house was eerily quiet. The only sign of Danny was his phone placed on the coffee table, his ‘sick sad world’ phone case facing upwards. Roy grabbed his own phone from the coffee table, checking his social media, hoping to hear a sign of movement in the house. 10 minutes passed, and still the only noise he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. Confused, he put his phone in his pocket, looking around the house.

“Danny?” he called out, in a hoarse voice. No response. With a sigh, he stood up and walked down the hallway.

“Dan?” again, no response. He gently opened the door to the bedroom; surprisingly, the bed was made, and obviously hadn’t been touched in a while. When he walked into the room he saw what he expected Danny’s room to be; messy as hell, with clothes strewn about everywhere, letters and drawings from fans on the walls. With a soft smile, he walked over to a cluster of them on the wall next to his bed, scanning some of the letters. He really did mean so much to so many people, and all of the messages were so heartfelt. Danny treated all of his fans with so much love. Shaking the thoughts from his head and remembering what he was doing, he called out for Danny one last time. Still nothing. He checked the ensuite and Danny’s music room, but still nothing. The last place he could be was the spare bathroom. Roy went to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. Locked. He looked down at the ground and noticed the faintest light billowing out from underneath the door. Gently, he knocked.

“Danny, are you in there?”

The only reply he received was silence. Hesitantly, Roy knocked again. No movement could be heard, at all.

“Danny, don’t make me knock this goddamn door down, I’m too old for that shit” he joked, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

“J….just go away, Roy” he heard Danny reply. The voice shocked him. He could tell that Danny had been crying. After a moment, Roy sat down with his back against the door.

“You know I’m not gonna do that, Dan. What’s wrong?” he persisted, his head turned to the side so it rested against the door.

“Please, Roy” came the broken voice from behind the door “I’m fine, just leave me alone”. Danny tried to sound like he was bitter, angry even, to give Roy the message to back off, but he just ended up sounding whiny and sad.

“Danny, you’re not fine…I can tell” Roy responded. Danny didn’t say anything. “If you let me in, you don’t have to say anything. I just want to see you, and comfort you, and make sure you’re okay. Can you let me do that?”

Danny had never really heard Roy speak like that before. So kindly, so…softly. Roy heard movement; a cupboard closing, water running. And then the sound of the lock on the door turning. He stood up and pushed the door open. He was greeted with sunken, bloodshot green eyes and wet cheeks.

“Danny…” his breath hitched at the sight of the younger boy. Tentatively, he wrapped his arms around Danny’s neck and hugged him tightly. Danny responded by loosely wrapping his arms around Roy’s waist and resting his head on his shoulder. Roy rubbed his back soothingly. Danny’s body shook violently as he tried to stifle his tears.

“Shh…” Roy whispered into his ear, squeezing him tight “Everything’s okay. I’ve got you”

Danny was taken aback by Roy’s behaviour. He’d never been this, well… soft before. Normally if Danny felt like shit Roy would just hug him, and tell sarcastic jokes to lighten the mood. But now he was acting tender and caring, and it was a completely different side of him.

When they pulled apart, Danny stumbled and grabbed onto the doorframe for support, in a sudden rush of lightheadedness. He went starry eyed for a second, and he swore he was about to black out, but Roy held him up.

“Are you alright?” he asked urgently.

“I…I need some water” Danny announced, starting towards the kitchen.

“No,” Roy stopped him in his tracks “I’ll get it. Just…wait here”

Roy quickly walked over to the kitchen and poured a glass of water, as well as grabbing a half empty bag of Ruffles (Danny’s favourite) from the pantry for good measure. He grabbed Danny’s phone for him on the way out, as well. When he returned to the hallway, Danny was no longer there. Roy could still see him, though; at the end of the hall he could see him sitting on his bed, looking through a book. There were a pile of papers next to him as well. Roy slowly approached him, and as he got closer, he smiled sadly as he realised they were all letters from fans. Danny looked up and grabbed the water from Roy, gulping it down as though he’d just spent months stranded in the desert.

“Thanks” he said, in a small voice, before running his hands over the page of the book he held in his hands. Roy could now see it was a little sketchbook, filled with messy scrawl. Slowly, he sat down on the bed, careful not to disrupt the pile of papers next to Danny. Before Roy could speak, Danny broke the silence.

“Whenever I feel like shit, I look through all this stuff” he croaked, turning the page as his mouth contorted into a smile that honestly looked more like a grimace “They keep me going” he admitted. Roy smiled at him, placing a hand on his knee.

“You keep them going” he responded, causing Danny to nod and quickly wipe a tear from his cheek “So many people love you”

“No…they love Adore”

“You’re Adore, aren’t you?”

Danny paused.

“Yeah… I guess” he agreed. Recently, he’d been incorporating more of Danny into his drag persona, and it made him feel so much more confident. Danny and Adore had kind of become one.

“Who’s that from?” Roy asked, gesturing to the book Danny held in his hands. The younger boy’s face lit up as he told the story of an underage fan he met outside the venue at a show, flicking through the pages of the sketchbook and showing him all the drawings and messages the fan had left him. Then, he moved onto the next letter, in the pile, and the next one, telling Roy countless stories about some of the lovely experiences he’d had with fans, talking of his “favourite babies”, as he referred to some of them. Roy could tell that his spirits had instantly been lifted, as the only tears that fell were happy ones.

“I don’t deserve them” Danny bit his lip, shaking his head.

“Of course you do. You deserve the world, Danny” Roy looked him dead in the eye, and Danny felt a shiver down his spine. He reached over for Roy’s hand and grabbed it, giving it a small squeeze.

“I love you” he mustered, his chest tight with fear of how Roy was going to respond. He’d told him he loved him before, but this time, after the events of the night before and all the thoughts running through his head about their relationship, it felt different.

“I love you, chola” Roy responded, with a wink. Danny smiled weakly in response.

“I think I’m gonna try and get some sleep” he said, rubbing at his eyes to emphasise how tired he had suddenly become.

“That’s probably a good idea” Roy agreed, letting go of Danny’s hand and standing up “I might get going now”

Danny’s shoulders dropped slightly, but not enough for Roy to notice.

“I’ll walk you to the door-“ Danny attempted to get up, but Roy held his hand out.

“I’m fine, just get some sleep, Dan”

“Alright” Danny smiled up at him while he tied his long black hair up into a bun on the top of his head. Roy’s heart melted; he looked adorable.

“Bye, pussyfart” he leant down to hug him.

“Bye, my love” Danny responded, breaking away from the hug slightly to look at Roy. Time seemed to stand still for a second, as they looked at each other. Danny slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips against Roy’s, butterflies in his stomach. All the tension in his body released when Roy kissed back, and Danny was the one to break the kiss. He smiled up at the older man and bit his lip, unloosing his hands from his waist and shuffling towards his pillows.

“Bye, Danny” Roy said softly, swiftly exiting the room as Danny snuggled under the covers and grabbed his phone. He heard the door close as he unlocked his phone and opened twitter. After scrolling through some of his mentions and replying to DM’s, he started to write a tweet, pressing send with a smile on his face.

It read “I love you all so, so much”. Instantly, hundreds of likes and replies came through, and his heart warmed. Danny fell asleep with a smile on his face.

-

DANNY: I have a show tonight, you wanna come watch? I might just buy you a drink ;)

Roy smiled down at his phone screen. Nearly a week had passed since they last saw each other, and they hadn’t really had any other form of communication since then other than liking or commenting on each other’s instagram photos, but apart from that, nothing. So, seeing a text from Danny lightened his mood a little bit.

ROY: Of course I do, bitch. You know I’m your number 1 fan

DANNY: fuckin cool

Roy scoffed slightly at the response, taking a screenshot when Danny sent him the details for the venue. He was not only excited to see Danny, but also Adore. He hadn’t seen Adore perform in a very long time. She was a natural born performer, and she always had the widest smile on her face while on stage that made Roy so happy. He was also excited to possibly see the products of his ‘creative rush’ that made him go MIA for two weeks. When it came to music, Danny knew what the fuck he was doing, and was arguably the best drag musician out there. It made Roy so proud to see Adore receive the success she deserved. His phone buzzing dragged him out of his thoughts, and he looked down to see a twitter notification. He ignored it, standing up and walking over to his room to get changed. He realised that he’d spent the past week catching himself in the middle of deep thought about Danny. Roy didn’t know what is was; he just couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him, and the kisses they shared. Part of him loved it, and he would constantly think back to the blissful feeling of them cuddled up on the couch together. And then his mind would wander back to the night they first kissed, when Danny had pulled away so suddenly, almost as if he had been burnt by something. The thought of that night honestly made him feel sick. Roy was just baffled as to where their relationship stood, as neither of them really had the balls to discuss it properly. But maybe tonight, when they had a couple of drinks in them to boost their confidence, they would talk about shit. Roy didn’t understand why he even had an urge to talk about it in the first place; he didn’t even know what he wanted, what he thought about what had happened between them, and he was tempted to just avoid the whole situation. But, knowing what Danny was like after a few drinks, it wasn’t really something he could avoid. Roy couldn’t get his brain to shut up. This was going to be an interesting night.

[drawpaintcolor]

7 Best Sketchbooks for Markers

In this article, we will be talking about the best sketchbooks for markers. So if you are looking for a great sketchpad for your drawings, you’ve come to the right place. Read along!

Just like other media, markers need special paper so that you can make the best use out of them. Markers dispense ink that your normal, regular paper can’t handle. When you use thin paper when drawing with a marker, you’ll notice how it bleeds on the other side and sometimes stain the next page.

Wet mediums like markers are demanding and fixing mistakes can be a bit harder. That’s why having the right type of paper to draw on is important to make sure that you don’t ruin your drawings.

Marker IssuesBleeding

The biggest issue about markers for artists is that the marker ink bleeds through the paper very easily. The alcohol-based marker ink is very thin making it dry up faster and it makes the marker lines blur and spread over the contours of a paper.

You’d think that using a thicker paper will solve this issue but the thing with thicker paper is it uses up more ink making your marker finish up faster. For this same reason is why papers for watercolor and acrylic are not ideal for markers.

Most artists have simply lived with the bleeding by only using one side of the paper sheets all the time then just putting something beneath it so that they won’t stain the next page.

Ink Feathering

This term is used when the ink leaks outside the area you’ve drawn the marker to. This can happen when too much ink is applied or if the paper is too textured. Ink feathering shouldn’t be a problem when you use smooth, high-quality paper.

What to Look for in Sketchbooks for MarkersPaper Texture and Finish

Most markers bleed through papers easily and this is an important factor to keep in mind when choosing your sketchbooks. If you want to highlight details, crisp lines, and sharp edges of your art, consider getting smooth papers. They are ideal for alcohol-based markers that can refine these features.

If you want your artwork to have that dramatic brush effects while keeping the vibrance of your colors, choose rough surface papers. Also, this type of paper is mostly bleed-resistant so you can use the other side of the paper.

Avoid highly absorbent paper. Those papers made for acrylic, gouache, and watercolor paints are not suitable for markers because those papers are manufactured to be absorbent.

Paperweight and Thickness

The weight and thickness of your sketchbook paper are other things to consider. Since you will be working with markers that dispense ink, you will need a paper that does not bleed through or smear. Therefore the high-quality heavyweight paper is the most ideal option.

Brands use GSM (grams per square meter) to determine the weight of paper. Your sketchbook will need to have at least 135 gsm for optimum paperweight and thickness.

Paper Quality and Color

Another factor to look out for is the paper quality and color. Check the label of the sketchbook and make sure it is acid-free. Acid-free papers prevent discoloration and fading. It preserves the color of your art over time.

Sketchbooks also come in various paper colors. The most commonly used are white, off-white, and ivory, but there are also sketchbooks that come in darker colors of tan, beige, and gray.

Sketchbook Size

This factor will depend on your personal preference. Are you the type to bring along your sketchbooks when you go out? Do you like heading out to draw landscapes and sceneries? If so, you will want a sketchbook that will easily fit into your bag. There are many different sizes of sketchbooks you can choose from and its portability highly depends on your activities and preferences.

Sketchbook Binding and Cover

A sketchbook’s cover and binding will determine its durability and longevity. Sketchbooks with spiral binding will allow you to flip the pages easily and lay them flat on the surface for easy sketching. This is the perforated type and you’ll want this option if you want to tear the sheets easily.

If you prefer to have your pages without perforations, the glue-bound sketchbooks will be your best pick. The downside for this type is that the binding is not very durable, however, you will be able to tear your sheets neatly.

As for the cover, if you want enhanced durability, go for hardbound sketchbooks.

Price

Lastly, you might also want to consider the prices of the available sketchbooks on the market. If you’ve not yet sure about your preferences, it’s better to try the cheaper sketchbook. Test it out and figure out what you like and don’t like about it before spending more on a more expensive sketchbook.

Best Sketchbook for Markers

Canson XL Series Marker Paper Pad

Canson is one of the most reputable and trusted companies for their quality papers for different mediums and that’s why this product is number one on our list. Right off the bat, you’ll immediately know which medium this pad is for and it is specifically designed for solvent-based and Copic markers.

This sketchpad provides you the ideal drawing surface to show off your rough sketches and artistic masterpieces. Aside from markers, this sketchbook is also great for ballpoint pens and pencils.

Its paper has the right weight that’s neither too light nor too thick and holds inks very well. The paper is smooth and is ideal for detailed strokes and crisp lines. The paper is slightly translucent and can be used as tracing paper to create straight lines and detailed sketch plans. What’s even greater is that even though it is transparent, the markers don’t bleed through the paper.

This sketchpad is glue-bound and the sheets are easy to remove.

Pros:

has 100 sheets

bleed and smudge-proof

smooth paper surface

Cons:

cover is flimsy

Buy on Amazon

Copic Markers SKBK9X12 Sketch Book

If you are looking for a specific sketchbook that will cater perfectly to your Copic markers, look no further because the same company also makes sketchbooks. And this pad is a hefty one. Not only is it bleed-proof, but its papers are also smooth and white that will let you work easily on your sketches.

This sketchbook has fifty 9×12 pages that will give you more than enough space to work on.

Pros:

Spiral-bound that lays perfectly flat

Very ideal for Copic Markers

The portable size that can fit easily in a backpack

Paper is smooth providing excellent blending

The cover is thick and durable

Cons:

there is some bleeding when blending some of the copic markers

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Crescent Creative Products 12-00011 Rendr Hardbound Sketchbook

This is one of the best sketchbooks for markers and is made with a special patented technology called the Rendr no-show tech that makes it not only bleed-proof but also makes sure that what you made in front is not visible on the other side. With this feature, you can use both sides of your paper without worrying that you’ll ruin the other side. Great, right?

This sketchbook is also hardbound and has a compact size of 8×11 inches which is very handy for you to take anywhere you go.

Pros:

Hardbound so it’s very durable

Compact and portable

Can be used with other media

Bleed-proof, smudge-proof, and has no show-thru tech

has 48 pages

the paper is smooth and thick (180 GSM)

Cons:

Does not lay flat

Expensive than other options

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Bee Paper Company Bleedproof Marker Pad

This brand, although not very popular yet, is known for its quality and affordability. This sketchpad is bleed-proof and acid-free, and the papers are smooth and thick allowing beautiful blending and layering. The paper is stark white which makes your drawings and illustrations pop out with color.

The sketchbook is 8.5×11 inches in dimension and you can choose between having 30 or 50 sheets. It is suitable for ballpoint pens, inks, and alcohol-based markers. The sketchbook’s binding is meant for easy sheet removal, too.

With its acid-free white paper and bleed-free design, this Bee Paper Company book is one of the best sketchbooks for markers.

Pros:

you can choose between 30- or 50-sheets

has a classic size that will allow you enough space for drawing and sketching

this sketchbook comes in different sizes

affordable than other brands

Cons:

some bleeding is noticed when using Copic markers

the binding is not very durable

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Strathmore 566-8 500 Series Hardbound Mixed Media Art Journal

Strathmore is a reputable brand that has been providing high-quality paper products for decades. This hardbound mixed media art journal has crisp white sheets that are 8.5×11 inches in dimension. This sketchbook is great not only for markers but also for other mixed media.

This journal has 32 sheets of thick white paper that is highly bleed-proof so you can use both sides of the paper.

Pros:

Hardbound and compact

Paper is pure cotton fiber, acid-free, and lignin-free

Cons:

might have bleeding when you layer on too many colors

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U.S. Art Supply Spiral Bound Sketchbook

This sketchbook is spiral-bound and is exquisite for your marker drawings. Its design makes it easy to flip and lay flat every time you sketch or draw.

The paper of this sketchbook is smooth and can hold markers without smudging and ink feathering. It is acid-free, which prevents the paper from discoloration and becoming brittle over time. It’s not only suitable for markers, but it’s also great for pens, pencils, charcoals, pastels, and more.

This sketchbook has durable hard cardboard back so you can draw with ease even when you don’t have a flat surface.

The size is portable as well, as it’s only 5.5×8.5 inches in dimension. You might think it’s too small but it’s really designed to be pocket-sized that will allow artists to take it with them wherever they go.

Pros:

Compact and portable

smooth and acid-free papers

has 100 pages

has sturdy cardboard back for support

Cons:

Pricey for its size

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Leda Art Supply Perfect Premium A5 SketchBook for Markers

This sketchbook is perfect to take with you when traveling. Its compact size is highly portable and it has a flexible waterproof cover. The sketchbook lays flat and it has an expandable pocket inside to keep extra papers, and it also has an elastic band to keep it closed.

This sketchbook is 8.25×5.55 inches in size and has 160 pages of 130GSM cream-colored paper. Papers in this sketchbook are smooth and perfect for markers without ink feathering on the pages.

Pros:

Compact and portable

has thick pages

can be used for mixed media

has a smooth writing surface

the cover provides great all-weather protection

Cons:

Copic markers may bleed through the paper

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FAQsWhat is a sketchbook for markers?

Just like the name suggests, it is a type of notebook made specifically for markers. The paper for this sketchbook provides a great workable surface for markers that will display your drawings, illustrations, sketches beautifully.

This type of sketchbook is ideal for markers. The paper’s characteristics such as weight, texture, finish, color, and thickness are made to cater to markers.

Why do you need sketchbooks for markers?

Markers dispense ink and regular thin papers can’t handle them. When you use a marker and draw on a regular piece of paper, it would result in bleeding, smearing, ink pooling, and feathering. This will make your artwork messy and unpleasant to the eyes.

If you are serious about making art with markers as your medium, it is highly recommended that you find the best sketchbooks for markers. With these sketchbooks, you won’t have to worry about bleeding and ruined artwork.

What are the most trusted marker sketchbook brands?

Some trusted sketchbook brands include Canson, Strathmore, Bee Paper Company, US Art Supply, and Leda Art.

How to use the sketchbook?

You use these sketchbooks just like how you use any regular sketchbooks. There are no rules or guidelines. You have all the freedom to use them as you want.

Where to buy it?

These sketchbooks are available on your local arts and crafts stores and they are also available on various shops online like Amazon and eBay.

We have linked the products mentioned above and these are affiliate links, which means when you buy through the links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission to help us keep running this website.

So there you have it, we’ve gathered the best sketchbooks for markers to help you make your purchasing decision easier and more convenient. We’ve highlighted each sketchbook’s pros and cons so as to let you know what to expect when you do get them.

Overall, the choice will be entirely yours and will depend on your preferences and the techniques that you use.

Lastly, we hope this post has been helpful to you. As always, don’t forget to have fun and enjoy your art journey!

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