#copying tips from magazines and stuff

[sweetsundazed]

"I want to start editing, where do I begin?"

deciding on a program to use

the first step of the process is deciding what you want to use to edit. the majority of people tend to use photopea or ibispaint. ibispaint generally seems to be the easier program to make graphics in, while photopea allows you to use coloring psds. mess around with a couple different programs and settle on one you think works for you.

getting started

the biggest question i see being asked the most would be "how do you make your graphics" which really has no set answer. everyone has a different process and i cant tell you exactly what to do to get to the level you want to be at, but i can suggest a place to start.

my first tip is to start out a bit smaller and to work your way up. start with making smaller things, like icons or simple layouts, and from there begin to move out of your comfort zone.

another thing i find helpful is to not shy away from asking for critique. other people can often point out things that seem off or things you could do differently that you wouldnt otherwise think of. even if you arent a new editor this is really helpful for improvement.

dont be afraid to take inspiration from things you see. of course dont 1:1 copy anything, but if you see something you like then dont be afraid to try it out. this doesnt just have to be others edits either, anything from art composition to magazine covers.

inspiration doesnt stop at just composition and graphic stuff, you can take inspiration for colors too. see a color scheme you like? bookmark it and try to edit something based off of it!

dont be afraid to ask questions (though, do research your question a bit before asking and see if you can find an answer there) i personally dont mind answering questions so feel free to ask!

helpful links

canarysage's blog (helpful tutorials + psd colorings!) my faq masterpost (a large collection of answers) purrfect tale discord server (an editing resource server) + feel free to suggest more links to add!

anyways, i hope this was helpful for someone. I was mostly just yapping but i think i was cohesive! happy editing!

[rainedragon]

do you have any tips for scanning old magazines/catalogs? i'd like to help archive some of the publications i have, but i don't really know where to start ʕ⁠´⁠•⁠ᴥ⁠•⁠`⁠ʔ

i'm mostly concerned about binding (especially on glbs) and what scanner specifications to look at, but any other advice or resources would be appreciated too!

So, I'm not actually an archivist, I'm a web developer by trade. I own a relatively inexpensive flatbed printer/scanner, mostly because it was what I could go out to a physical store and buy for relatively cheap when I started out scanning old magazines and catalogs.

For anything that is staple bound, like a magazine, and can be put flat on a table while open, scanning is relatively easy. You just need a flatbed scanner that is bigger than the pages, and a book to put on top of the lid to keep it flat (don't use too heavy of a book or you will damage the scanner 1-2 magazines is usually good. Also, don't forget they are there, open the lid and fling them across the room). Line up a corner of the page on the corner of the scanner and you should be golden. Scan in photo mode if your scanner software has options. Ideally, for things like the GLB, you would either want a copy you can destroy (which I kind of think is what some of the 'latest magazines' scanning farms were doing in the 2010s) and to carefully unbind the whole thing and scan the pages flat (which I have no personal interest in doing because destroying books pains me and I'm not trying to digitize "clean" digital copies for any professional reason). OR, my understanding is you want something with a V-shaped cradle of some type that is specialized for scanning books, either as an actual scanner or a camera setup with software. The problem is last time I looked those were like 10K and up if you get a piece of specialized equipment.

I've vaguely dabbled with the idea of doing a very hacky version of a DIY build with boxes cut down to the right angle and some panes of glass and my DSLR for my pink house catalogs because they are too big but I never really got it fully figured out. I will admit, I haven't tried super hard. I kept getting reflections, and I had to worry about the glass scratching the pages, and I didn't feel like getting a proper light.... I know I should really try again, and try a little harder, but it's a lot and I have a lot of other stuff I need to do so it just keeps getting kicked down the road.

That said, if you want to get into trying a DIY build, there is a whole community of people who were doing that in the 2010s that have posted good info on types of glass and way more detailed suggestions than I can make here: https://diybookscanner.org/forum/index.php This box scanner is essentially what I was trying to set up and it theoretically should work, I'm pretty sure my whole issue is that I was trying to do it all quickly at like midnight one day and did not have the right lighting and didn't try too hard to fix that. Like... I could have tried a lot harder than I did https://www.instructables.com/Bargain-Price-Book-Scanner-From-A-Cardboard-Box/ (good pictures of one here: https://diybookscanner.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1202)

And then I needed to take it apart because I needed the table back...

But yeah, if you don't want to invest thousands or destroy them, I would say try a cardboard box scanner for things like the GLB, see if you can get it to work for you?

And then for things that can go flat, a combo scanner/printer that is good enough for photographs will be more than good enough for the print resolution of most magazines and the scanner/printer combos are way cheaper than dedicated scanners because they think you are going to become an ink customer and buy printer ink, so they make it cheaper. But the joke is on them. My combo scanner printer has never had ink in it before. (Note: do read reviews and make sure it's not stupid enough to require it's ink to be full to scan. I wouldn't put it past some companies to add that to their software). If you are really passionate about this, there are a lot of people who are way more dedicated to archival book scanning who have developed all sorts of DIY solutions for speeding up the process, automating parts of it, etc, and searching for terms like DIY book scanner should get you in the right place on the internet.

[yunjitsu]

Heyoo!! I really love your artwork!! I was just wondering, do you have any advice for someone who really wants to improve their art? I've been doing artwork for about a year now, and I feel a little stuck at the moment with improvement. Like when I draw from a reference, (atm I'm trying manga panel redraws from aot manga) I feel its gotta be exactly the same, and it's really making me feel a little frustrated. Do you have any tips by any chance? 🥺

Hi there and thank you so much for your mail <3 I'll be happy to share my lil point of view with you (omg there is so much I want to say- it's gonna be pretty long):

First of all, it's completely normal to feel stuck (I sometimes still do and in general I'm reaaaally hesitant about my artworks all the time). I think we've all been there at some point. Just look at your old artworks and compare it to the new ones; I'm sure you will notice some differencies and improvements!

Second: in my opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with drawing from references - but from those that capture real people, like photographies, movie screencaps, magazine shootings, sculptures etc. Observing and analyzing is literally one of the most important things when it comes to art and it allows you to learn to simplify stuff into easier shapes. I would avoid using and learning from the references that are already drawn and simplified by someone else; in my case it just didn't feel right and it didn't help at all. If you like to redraw manga panels - that's okay, I did that too and you can learn some stuff like composition like that, but still - they've already been stylised by someone else (in this case - by Isayama) and you may just feel like copying his work and way of thinking instead of learning how to bring actual reality onto your own art, if you know what I mean.

I'd suggest creating moodboards maybe, too. When you think about the thing you want to draw and you have that picture in your mind, just search for various photos that capture that vibe. Anatomy, poses, expression, environment, colours, items... and make a little collage that you can look on while creating and get inspired by that. It's like connecting the dots to bring the final effect to your art.

And consistency, of course! I noticed I started to get better only after I decided to be very consistent and stubborn about drawing.

To be honest I personally use a shit ton of reference photos because I still feel like I do not have enough knowledge to just draw proper anatomy from imagination. I often just toss them all into a folder and switch between them constantly, looking, scanning, processing, drawing. Try not to use just one, but a bunch of them.

I hope this helps you somehow 😭 I'm sorry if it's not clear enough!

English is not my first language and sometimes I get a little lost lol

[godtier]

any advices for a beginner artist pls?

hi there!

i guess it would depend on the medium you're working with or what kinds of things you'd like to do. i'll try to give some general tips that can be applied broadly!

disclaimer: a lot of "beginner" tips are going to be really, REALLY boring. developing an art style relies heavily on patience and repetition. it can get very boring and you will feel like you're not improving. but the more you do it, the more you will improve. that's what everyone says, but it's 100% true.

tip #1: start basic

if you're a super-duper beginner, you could start by taking stock photos of people and tracing over them in an art program. you could also do this on paper if you have any magazines lying around, but i know that's probs less common nowadays lol.

tracing over a human body can give you an idea of what the human form looks like and how it operates. i wouldn't recommend always doing this, of course. this is for practicing purposes if you're super new to drawing.

you could also set up the stock photo side-by-side in a canvas on a drawing program and try to copy it as closely as possible. this is what i'd recommend after tracing. you don't generally want to rely on tracing all the time since that can make your style look super stiff, so trying to copy something freehand develops your drawing style bit by bit.

if you are inclined to look through some books about figure drawing, i would highly recommend books by andrew loomis. they are from the 50s or so, but the methods and recommendations are timeless. the books are still in print for a reason.

tip #2: get a foundational understanding of the human form

another tip that a lot of people kinda roll their eyes at is the whole "get a foundation in anatomy/real figures before trying to draw stylized stuff." people don't want to hear that because, again, it's boring! but it's true: if you have a foundation in how real people look, you can easily apply that to a stylized drawing and have it look nice. beginners who don't develop a foundation can instead lean into mistakes from other artists and it can screw up their entire drawing ability. that's what i did; it took me years to undo a lot of the stuff i learned as a beginner from copying anime and manga because i didn't have the foundations of real figure drawing and i was too stubborn/bored/ADHD-brained to focus on the boring stuff first.

you can also try beginner landscapes to get and idea of perspective and form. again, another super boring tip, but it does genuinely help when it comes to figure placement in a scene and making the background not look like it's on a different plane of existence than the figure that's supposed to be in it.

tip #3: don't splurge on really expensive equipment/art supplies when you're just starting out

this is a big one. a lot of beginner artists (myself included when i was young) think that in order to make great art, they have to buy the most expensive, industry-grade equipment or art supplies. this isn't true. when you are just starting out, using basic stuff is fine to get the foundations down. i still don't use expensive pencils for my sketches! I USE TICONDEROGAS, THE BEST PENCIL EVER MADE (not sponsored).

what matters more than the utensils when you're just starting out is the paper you're using. i wouldn't use printer paper, for example, but sketch paper. here's a pretty cheap and good quality sketch book for pencil work. if you want to use other mediums, like markers, strathmore also sells good quality marker paper for cheap. is this like, PROFESSIONAL GRADE? no, not really. but you don't need professional grade to start with.

and i can say all of that, but why is that the case? well, mostly because when you're first starting out, you're going to make mistakes. a lot of mistakes. and expensive equipment and/or supplies are going to add up fast. do you want to use up all the ink on a 30 dollar set of 5 copic markers because you don't know the proper inking techniques? or do you want to use a 100 color set of crayola sketch markers to get a foundation down of how colors interact with each other for roughly the same price? (granted, copics are alcohol based and crayolas are water based. if you want to try alcohol based markers first, ohuhu makes a 48 color set for around the same price.)

tip #4: don't stress about being the best, just experiment and have fun

this is probably the BIGGEST one. you are not going to be great right away. that's just a fact. don't get hung up on how your art looks just starting out. just keep doing it. draw whatever you want. share with others or keep it to yourself. don't look at your art and give up because it's not an immediate masterpiece. just do whatever you think is most interesting and experiment!

tip #5: don't get offended by good-natured and genuine critique

last tip for today, and it's very important, just about as important as #4. there's a difference between criticizing to bring someone down and providing constructive criticism. if you ask someone who is also an artist to look at your art and have them tell you what they think, don't get upset if they tell you what they think. most artists have been in this situation. most of them are going to try to give you a "compliment sandwich:" start with a compliment, then provide critique, then end with a compliment. this is a pretty standard way of providing criticism because people will generally respond better when the positives of their attempt are highlighted first.

however, some artists or teachers might just come out the gate with criticisms. this doesn't mean they think your art is shite, but that they see potential. the worst thing for an artist is for them to surround themselves with yes-men who only praise them. that gives an artist, especially a beginner, a false sense of their current skill and can be detrimental to improvement.

if you are sharing a piece and for whatever reason don't want critique? just start with that. "i worked on this for x amount of hours and i don't want critique right now, thanks" is usually enough. but don't hide behind that. hiding from critique will make your art incredibly slow to improve.

and that's what i got for now! sorry for the massive response, but i tried to give some really basic concepts for beginners. if this ain't helpful or if you have something more specific, you can send me another ask! i'm happy to help!

[allthepandasintheworld]

Yknow what this thought is going on main:

People who are pretentious cloud-yelling old men about art book/anthology-style zines are annoying as hell and none of you have ever actually spoken to a single person who participates in and runs them before coming to wildly incorrect conclusions about what we do, how we do it, and why we do it.

No, we are not “exploiting free labor”. It’s about as exploitative as participating in a big bang or prompt week. But with a well-run zine, you can expect a decent tip and free fandom stuff. It’s not about earning money to live. It never is. And if you desperately need the money to live, don’t join a zine. spend your time on things that actually guarantee money. You have fundamentally mistaken passion-driven, fan projects with profit-driven consumer products.

No, we are not “charging too much money”. Do you want us to pay our artists and production partners or not? Do you want us to donate proceeds to charity or not? If we do it for free, are we expected to pull money out of our endless pockets to make the project? Hell, actually, plenty of people DO make full free projects (I literally just ran one, Deadly Alliance is fully free and available for download on itch io). You fundamentally do not understand how money works, bc you cannot have a project that is both free and compensates people appropriately, bc the money has to come from *somewhere*.

No, we cannot print at home. Some of us don’t have printers, for one. Also, we cannot charge enough money to even *hope* to compensate artists fairly for their labor if we attempt to sell a zine printed in black and white on printer paper. And on top of that, even if we did have printers at home, the number of zines that need to be printed is prohibitively high for one individual to undertake (why don’t *you* try printing and binding 100 copies of a 40 page magazine all by yourself? Time is one thing, but you’d have to charge even higher amounts of money to be, you know, *fairly compensated*, since that seems to be a big concern). You are ignoring the fact that we are not trying to emulate your genre of traditional zine-making, and you do not understand the division of labor bc not everything can be done by yourself.

No, we cannot lower our costs. Artists and writers working for less than industry wage or volunteering their time for a charity project is one thing, but we can’t just refuse to pay printers and manufacturers. They did not volunteer to be chosen as our production partners, and they deserve to be compensated at their expected rates. You have fundamentally misunderstood how money works, bc we need to earn money in order to spend it.

If you want to print a zine at home and sell it for $3, please by all means do this. I fully support it and if you tag me in the project and I am interested, I will certainly boost it. You can make zines however you please, that’s the beauty of self publishing. You don’t need to feel beholden to the current (quite high) standards of production quality. But at the same time, you can’t yell at people who put in extra work to create a more polished project. And you certainly can’t accuse us of “exploiting” artists when the amount of work we ask for is functionally the same as any free fandom project. We don’t even ask for copyright use of their works—at *most*, a zine mod might ask for a short exclusivity period (only until the zine is wrapped, which is between 6 months to 1 year) after which you can literally do whatever you want with your piece. No respectable fandom zine will ever ask for copyright use of your piece, and only ask for privacy to maintain *value for the customers*. And any contributor who disagrees with a zine’s policies may withdraw their piece at any time with zero consequences bc no contracts are signed and they are not obligated to stick around if they don’t want to.

And if you are upset that you weren’t invited to a project or that you were rejected from one, just… make it yourself. Zines are self-published by nature. Print it at home. Sell it for $3. I don’t care. That’s the point of zines, you do it yourself bc no one else will.

finally as a footnote, I do agree that modern fandom anthologies should have a unique name to indicate it as a sub genre of zines but atp the term is so ingrained that I don’t think new terms will catch on anytime soon. I personally differentiate them as being traditional zines vs anthology-style zines (or art book zines, for projects with art-only) or just fandom anthologies, but they all still fall under the same broader category of zine aka self published magazine. Just bc someone hired a printer (which btw, a lot of zines go with small business printers, aren’t we all about supporting small businesses?) doesn’t mean their zine is “too professional to be a zine” or don’t belong under the umbrella term.

[selfhelp4all]

From Skeptic to Believer: My Journey with the Devotion System - A Review

By : devotionsystem.com

REVIEW OF "THE DEVOTION SYSTEM" BY AMY NORTH

OVERALL: 9.7 / 10 EFFECTIVENESS: 9.9 / 10 FORMAT: 9.4 / 10 VALUE: 9.7 / 10

SUMMARY:

The Devotion System by Amy North is a welcome addition to the online world of relationship advice. A professional relationship coach by trade, Ms. North offers up her own comprehensive advice on how to find, keep, and nurture a loving relationship to women everywhere in this info-packed first ebook. It's easily the best program of its kind, and is guaranteed to be very helpful for any woman struggling to find and keep a quality man.

FULL REVIEW:

It’s hard to imagine a better, more comprehensive guide to finding and keeping a soulmate than Amy North's new program called "The Devotion System". Simply put, the innovative techniques and little-known tricks included in The Devotion System program give any woman the tools necessary to find her soulmate and build a loving relationship with him.

The Devotion System contains advice on arguably every aspect of dating for women; from getting a guy’s number and sending the first text to how to bring up the ‘M word’ (yes, the dreaded marriage talk); from keeping things sexy after children to preventing infidelity long-term. This book has advice for every woman at any stage in her quest to find love.

Maybe it’s me, but there don’t seem to be many women in the dating advice business.... or at least, there aren't many that actually offer any new advice or techniques outside of what you can already find in Cosmo magazine. That’s one reason why I found The Devotion System so refreshing. Amy North is a woman’s woman– smart, insightful and straightforward, she tells it like it is, and she cares about her clients. That fact is clear from the very beginning.

The book is divided into 3 parts, and the first is devoted completely to the importance of self-love and letting go of hang-ups and unhealthy behaviors in order to successfully find a loving relationship that lasts. North goes into great depth about the problems previous “relationship hangovers” can cause– both to one’s present happiness and future relationships– and the advice she provides in this section alone is of major value. Reading advice from a woman concerned with empowering women and helping them get what they want is a great place to start.

Add to that parts 2 and 3 (on understanding men and achieving love and commitment respectively), and you have yourself an insightful collection of advice and information that you can use over and over at different stages of your life and relationship(s).

As a relationship and dating coach, Amy North also enjoys insight from the men she works with, so there are several sections that provide information on male psychology, too. From common male fears and insecurities to their true sexual and intimacy-related desires, she offers readers a wealth of knowledge on the men they could be dating – including profiles on typical “types” and what to expect from them.

Add to that actionable psychology- and science-based tips on texting, flirting, reading him, seducing him, satisfying him and more, and you have a book that will prove useful to its owner again and again. This stuff actually works, too -- the new strategies Amy covers in The Devotion System were very effective when put to use in the real world.

If there’s a flaw to this book, it’s that there’s no physical version available yet. Currently, The Devotion System is only available in online e-book format, so if you want a paper copy for now you’ll have to print it yourself. That said, this also means that buyers get access to the program within a minute or two of completing the registration process, even if it's 3am and you're lying in bed.

The program itself is nicely divided into bite-size sections organized across The Devotion System’s private and personalized client-accessed website, making chapters easy to locate and revisit. Overall, even though the format of the program was the area given the lowest score (9.4 out of 10) in our ratings, it is still the among the best out there in terms of ease-of-use and overall presentation.

Not only that, but the book currently comes with technical and customer support included and several other bonuses, including a 13-part video training series and 3 bonus ebooks including Cheat-Proofing Your Relationship in the package.

For a limited time, The Devotion System is also being sold at a heavily-discounted introductory price of $48.25, which is a steal by any standards. Amy North also offers an unconditional 60 day money back guarantee with every copy of the program, so there's no risk to trying it out for yourself.... which means that, when you add it all up, this book is a must-have and easily the best women's dating guide available.

[stevishabitat]

This book is absolutely amazing!

I found it on what I like to call my grandma's "Pinterest Shelf" which is full of books on cooking, crafting, diy, home & car repair, and several binders of magazine and newspaper clippings of the same.

It's got everything from basics to more advanced, stuff about sewing machines and hand sewing, tips for repairing, tips for working on different types of fabric, it's an absolute goldmine. And it's not really the kind of information that ever goes out of date. So being almost 50 years old doesn't matter.

Apparently the book is still available, and there are several newer editions (including a Kindle edition), so if you do any kind of sewing and want a good reference book, definitely try to get your hands on this.

You could spend all day on Pinterest or searching the internet and never find what you're looking for, and then find it immediately in this book.

I do wish it had more diagrams for darning, but I have those in my copy of Make Do and Mend. I have saved so much of that stuff to my phone but can never find it when I need it. I always kick myself when I realize I have a print book that has exactly what I need, but didn't think to look at it because I'm too used to going to the internet for everything.

I might need to do a bit more exploring of the "Pinterest Shelf" lol.

[writeblrcafe]

Digital interview with @thewritersplace

Our editor & barista Kendra (@thewritersplace) puts the kettle on and makes herself a cup of tea, then pulls a chair up behind the counter. She is currently writing a book and is still writing fanfiction. Her favourite genres include fiction, romance, fantasy, mystery, historical fiction, and paranormal/supernatural.

What got you into writing?

It's been a long time since I started writing, so I don't recollect the first instance very well, but the most likely thing that got me into writing would probably be Nanowrimo's Young Writers Program that my 6th grade homeroom teacher suggested I look into, since I wrote a lot of what she thought were interesting stories for the English class writing prompts she gave us at the beginning of every class.

What inspires you to write?

Beyond the pettiness of I see something and think "I could do this better"? Probably just the excitement of exploring various ideas from various pieces of media that I like, or age-old tropes and concepts that I've seen in favorite books/movies.

Which are recurring themes in your writing?

You know, honestly, I'm not sure. You're probably better off asking my best friend that, since she's read pretty much everything I've ever written. I don't necessarily focus on themes when I write. So, I'd probably have to read all my stuff over again with 'themes' in mind and get back to you with an updated answer.

How would you describe your writing style?

Not to repeat myself, but what I said to the previous question also applies here. I don't know what the writing style would be since I don't really know what types/options there are. I guess I'd say mine is hopefully elegant but straight-forward and clear. I've never been a fan of flowery writing, because while it's very pretty, it's a total pain to read through. I'd have to ask my best friend what she thinks the style is because like I said in my answer to the previous question, she's read all my stuff and could probably figure out what the style is.

How do you deal with writer's block?

I don't really get writer's block, so this might be more like tips on how I avoid getting it, rather than how do I deal with it. I usually listen to music related to my WIP(s), or work on another story or fanfic, or talk with my best friend about whatever ideas and stuff I have, and where I might be getting a bit stuck. She's probably the real reason I don't get writer's block, honestly.

Do you have a wip? Tell us about it:

I do! Technically, I have six, but the main one I'm trying to focus on right now is my Dracula-inspired one, called The Road To Eternity Is Paved With Blood. I'm more or less pulling from the novel, with some other stuff being pulled from the movie Dracula Untold, and some inspiration from the anime Hellsing. The latter was actually the biggest inspiration for my novel, and I've written fanfic for it, but my story obviously is different not just for reasons like copyright, but also for the fact that I've always wanted to do a Dracula/vampire story and put my own spin on it.

Have you already published your writing? Include a link to your published work so we can share it.

When I did the Nanowrimo Young Writers Program in middle school, they published the two novels I did for the event (one for each year I did it), but I've never been able to find either version online at this point. I have hard copies of the second book, though they are lost to the abyss that is my parents' house at this point. The other two things I've published are an academic paper that was my senior thesis, and a poem to a lit magazine. Unfortunately, the lit magazine's website is currently protected by a WordPress login, so I don't have the ability to get that link to the poem, but for those interested in viewing it, here is the tumblr link (this is my main blog). You can find the academic paper here.

You can tell us more interesting stuff about you here:

I don't really have much that I deem 'interesting', but a few facts about me are that I have been writing for over a decade, and while most of that has been fanfic, I've worked on a few original works here and there, including my six current ones. Outside of writing, I'm a graduate student in her last term, and work as a part-time studio manager for a small yoga studio. For those interested in her because of the mentions I made in some of my answers, here is my best friend's tumblr @bwaldorf

Get interviewed by Writeblr Café!

Any writer can participate. Just fill in this form by clicking on the link below. Maybe we will host interviews in an audio format if you are more interested in listening to an interview than reading it.

[chintanghate]

Testing Apps

Today was a bank holiday in the UK and I wasn’t feeling like getting out of bed, so tested out some apps while lying in bed. Tested out 2 apps today.

 Apple News

I bought a new macbook recently since my last one from 2014 wasn’t able to run Xcode properly enough for me to develop updates for Exporter, or make 3D models in blender. And with that purchase I received a 3-month free subscription to Apple News+. Apple news+ has a wide variety of magazines and journals that are free to read under the subscription. I tried reading some articles from Nat Geo, T3, Mac|Life, Better Homes & Gardens, & Scientific American. Scientific American and B H & G were the new one, the other 3 I have read them previously in form of physical magazines. My dad got me some issues of Nat Geo when I was in high school. T3, my friend, Ravi’s dad had a subscription to it, and he always used to get 2 copies somehow, and since he knew that I used to enjoy reading about the latest gadgets & gizmos, I used to get the other copy of it :). I was introduced to Mac|Life by one of it’s article writers, who had featured Falcon, a note-taking app I used to develop before Google, in one of his articles. I also learned today that a swipe from bottom-left corner of the iPad inwards takes a screenshot. I have been taking an active interest in Gardening since I moved to London might pick up some tips and tricks from B H & G. Planning to read more on Apple News in the free-period, if it proves to be useful might add it to my family subscription plan.

 MarsEdit

I have been meaning to write more this year. I have already updated my regular blog this weekend where I publish my monthly/yearly summaries. Since I run it using a local ghost instance and uploading the static content to GitHub, it is harder to update it regularly. I came across a YouTube video where someone was reviewing MarsEdit when I was researching for local-first blogging apps for macOS, and thought of giving it a try. I used tumblr 8 years ago for a month, and my tumblr blog had a single post there, so decided to write this post in MarsEdit and post it to Tumblr. Never used wordpress before, so it was an easy choice.

Faced couple of issues while onboarding my blog and writing this post. While onboarding my blog, since I used gmail OAuth to sign-in in Tumblr and MarsEdit just asks for email/password I searched for a way to use that with MarsEdit, couldn’t find anything on their website or anywhere else, so had to go through the `forgot password` flow on Tumblr, create an actual password and successfully onboard my blog on MarsEdit The second issue I faced was with the editor, sometimes after switching formatting on words, the cursor seems to be misplaced. 

And third one, inserting images shouldn’t be this hard, I keep trying to add image by dragging and dropping it on a new line in the RTF editor and it keeps sending the image to top of the post, and changing blog kind from `post` to `photo`. Even in preview the image is added to the beginning of the post. Seems unintuitive. 

I was able to add these images in the correct place through Tumblr’s editor. While publishing the blog to Tumblr the first time, the app threw an error and on the second try it successfully uploaded the post. But on Tumblr, I had two copies of the post in the drafts section.

Been a productive day. Read some interesting stuff, and updated my Tumblr blog after 8 years.

[sumiink]

ALRIGHT HERES SOME ADVICE

Disclaimer: I am also new to the industry but recently took a class on this stuff and want to share some tips I’ve received

Yes, make your own website. Wix is free and easy to use. You don’t even need to buy a domain. Hiring managers literally do not care if there’s a “wix” in the url, chances are they’ll click on the hyperlink and not even look at the url. Counterpoint: If you’re an illustrator something like Artstation might work but if you don’t want to make a website, but you have far less control over how it looks and what you can put in it

As an artist, the graphic design on your website is a reflection of your artistic skill. Do put some effort into it. Keep in mind the composition and color scheme. It doesn’t need to be revolutionary, just pretty.

Be sure to test out the site before publishing it and have someone else look at it too (this is how you find out if a button doesn’t work or if the formatting it messed up on a different sized screen!)

Keep in mind that hiring managers spend and average of 45 seconds looking through a portfolio. Yes, that short. Try to impress them as quickly as possible.

Best stuff first. If you’re gonna show sketches, still lead with the final product. Pretty stuff will catch someone’s eye and first impressions are important.

Quantity over quality. 3-5 really good projects are better than 20 okay projects

Speaking of projects, do create webpages that go more in-depth on a larger project (ie. Comic, art book, video game, collabs, etc). Here, still lead with the pretty stuff, a sample of the final product at the top of the page. Then you can get into the sketches, design process, etc.

Your process is important. Hiring managers want to see that you know how to make what you’re making, that you know how to think.

TEXT. Yes, you need to write stuff about the art. Things like a description of a painting or a couple paragraphs about the process of a larger project (on that projects webpage, not your homepage). But remember when I said hiring manager spend about 45 seconds per portfolio? They’re gonna be skimming it. Break up the text into small paragraphs and bold important words. Also you don’t have to worry about writing a literary masterpiece. Just get your ideas out there, prove that you can talk about your art process.

DOUBLE CHECK SPELLING AND GRAMMAR. Seriously. Get someone to proof-read.

Mention how long a certain piece or project took. If it’s a collaboration, mention what your role was.

Listing the state or city you work in may be helpful, but not necessary. If your portfolio is publicly available don’t give too much information. You are not obligated to include a photo of yourself (I’ve seen some people draw cartoons of themselves so that’s an option if you’re in a less professional field like cartoons or video games!). You should have some sort of contact info, such as email. Never put your phone number online. Stay safe, kids.

Copying. In some fields, copying is acceptable as a portfolio project for people who are still new in that field. This is called a study. You can draw a few comic pages in the style of a certain artist (heck you can even color someone else’s lineart). You can use assets from a video game to design a new menu layout to make it look like it’s from that game. You can create a photo book using the same colors and typography as an existing magazine. A hiring manager is not looking for someone who can make a whole new product on their own, they are looking for someone who can work with a team to create for an existing IP. Showing that you can blend in to an existing company is valuable. IMPORTANT: You need to clearly label these as studies and explain what effort you put into the project, ie how much you copied and how much you changed. ALSO IMPORTANT: The point of this is to show you can work in a professional and pre-existing company. Don’t copy or borrow from independent artists, it’s just rude and your hiring managers won’t recognize the stuff.

Diversity. This may be the most important part. Your portfolio needs to show that you can draw different things in different styles, because this shows that you can work on whatever your boss needs. Comic artist? You need pin-ups AND complex establishing shots. With different lighting for different times of day. Illustration? Prove you can draw in different styles as needed and that you can draw anything in those styles. Game design? Have a cutesy mobile game but also a serious FPS. Graphic design? A brand book for a clothing company and a box for fruit snacks and an art gallery flyer. The point is, prove you can be flexible and useful. It greatly increases your chances of getting a job if you can work for a wider range of companies.

(might come back later with links to examples but I’m on mobile right now)

If any industry veterans out there have some advice please share!

God, I very much need advices on how to make an art Porfolio to get Job

[eddiemunsonspantschain]

Hidden Away - Ch.1

Note: This was previously posted with an OC. I have since decided to go reader insert friendly as it seems people prefer them more (can’t blame you). So if you’ve read this before, it’s all pretty much the same just the name and specifics taken out. Enjoy!

Pairing: Eddie Munson x secretly alternative!reader

Warnings: Eventual smut in later chapters, absent parent, upside down related stuff later, minors DNI

You do not have permission to copy, translate or repost my works onto other platforms. 18+ only.

Hawkins was about as small a town as it got. All the times your parents took you into cities, it was like a whole other world. You preferred Hawkins. The cities were too big. Too many people. In Hawkins? You knew everyone. Maybe not personally, but you saw the same people every day. You knew what to expect. Like every day in math class, Robin Buckley would drop her pencil and she’d mutter a fast apology if it got anywhere close to me. Like Jason Carver taking every chance he had to send a wink, smile, or blow a kiss to Chrissy during games so long as it didn’t affect how he was playing. Everything was predictable. Boring. But it was nice knowing what was coming. 

“Do you guys have dates yet for the Spring dance?” Chrissy asked, not looking up from the braid she was making in Bianca’s hair.

A few of the girls answered. Some with hopeful prospects from the guys off the basketball team, others confirming they had indeed found their dates. You didn’t look up from your sketchbook. You had been trying to get this line down for what felt like forever, but every time you drew it; it was slightly slanted. So you had to erase it and start over.

“Y/N?... Y/N?!” 

You looked up. Chrissy was looking at you expectantly. “What?” You asked, and she laughed.

“Do you have a date for the Spring dance!?” she asked, reaching over to shove you.

You roll my eyes and look at Chrissy. “You know I hate dances.” You answered her.

“Yeah, but you love Halloween and didn’t go to the Halloween dance. And you never go to any of the dances! C’mon! Why not come to the Spring dance?” Chrissy pleaded, “It’s one of the only ones we’re gonna have before graduation besides prom.”

You weren’t girly, really. You didn’t dress like the other girls in the squad did when they weren’t at school. Darker colors over lighter ones and a couple pieces that others would deem as ‘freak clothes’, as Sally and the girls called it. You only joined cheerleading because you couldn’t do gymnastics anywhere else. With that, though, you fell into the popular crowd. You kept your interests to yourself, though. The music your dad got you into, the horror movies you loved. Why spend four years being teased when you hid perfectly fine among the populars? The only one you really liked was Chrissy. She was nice and never condescendingly. She’d been that way with you since middle school. The other girls sometimes were mean, even if they wouldn’t outright admit it. “Cause that requires having a date or looking like a loser.” You smiled and reached over to tap the tip of her nose.

“So? I’m sure any loser would go with you.” Bianca said, as she flipped the page in her magazine.

“Thanks.” You murmur and roll your eyes. 

“Seriously, you’d think any guy would agree to go with you because of being a cheerleader alone.” Sophia agreed with a shrug.

“I think any guy would be honored if you asked him.” Chrissy interrupted, reaching out to grab your elbow, “Or hey, one of them might ask you.”

“They’re too afraid of her to ask her!” Bianca laughed, shaking her head. “I don’t blame em. Ice queen over here.” 

“As always, your input is enlightening, B.” You shot Chrissy a look, and she looked back at you apologetically.

“Whatever. I’m sure a guy will have the courage to ask you out one day.” Bianca shrugged and shut her magazine, stuffing it back into her bag. 

The bell rang just after that. You shoved your sketchbook into your bag once you closed it and got up, helping Chrissy up off the floor. Bianca had a problem with you since you joined the squad. Why? You had no idea. It wasn’t like you didn’t fit in. Did you act out of place? Sure. Occasionally. But you kept all of your music interests and everything else to yourself so as ‌to not be labeled a freak, so you could survive the rest of high school. Once you graduated though? You were outta here.

Chrissy and you broke off from the others to go to science class. You had biology together. “You ever think Bianca will get off my case?” You asked Chrissy as you walked into Mr.Hawthorns class together.

“I’m not even entirely sure what her issue is with you.” Chrissy admitted, sliding her bag off of her shoulder before sliding into her desk.

You slid into your seat beside her and sighed. “One day I’m gonna snap at her. I swear.” You grumbled, and Chrissy giggled.

“I mean, she does say everyone is afraid of you. Maybe she will be too. You are marked as the ‘mean cheerleader’.” Chrissy answered as she used air quotes when she called me the mean cheerleader.

“I just don’t like people. Especially people like Michael Barrows, who thought it was ok shoving his hand up my top.” You shrugged. You didn’t like our classmates. Except Chrissy. Somehow, her sunny disposition never bothered you. How? You weren't so sure. There were others whom you interacted with that barely bothered you. Robin Buckley was one, for example. You both had English class together and worked on projects together. She rambled, but she was nice.

A second before the bell rang, another figure walked into the classroom. Mr.Hawthorn shot the young man a look. A mop of brown curls nodded to Mr.Hawthorn before walking to the back of the classroom towards Chrissy and you. On Chrissy’s right the figure sat down heavily. Eddie Munson. Hawkins Highs resident Freak and leader of the Hellfire Club. A group of nerds and freaks, frankly. At least that has been what they said about them.

“Alright, listen up. Turn to page 87. We’re going over genetics today.” Mr.Hawthorn started writing on the blackboard.

You flipped to page 87 and took out your notebook to start your notes. Chrissy started doodling as Mr.Hawthorn spoke. You and Chrissy lived down the street from one another. You had been friends since middle school. It was only natural that in high school you stuck together. She had spent a number of nights in your house. Especially when she had wanted to get away from her mother. Her mom had a thing about Chrissy’s looks. You thought Chrissy looked beautiful. Perfect. What every girl wanted to look like. What you wish you looked like as Chrissy was a natural beauty. Just perfect features without even trying. Her mom always had something different to say. Chrissy spent a lot of time at your house, crying after her mom made a comment about how her cheer uniform fit or told her she couldn’t have a birthday cake that year. You guessed no matter what, you all had your pains. Your parents weren’t perfect either. You barely saw your dad. You guess you could thank him for what genetics he gave you. Your mom and you had one another when your dad wasn’t in town.

“Now, we’re going to have a project on genetics. And we’re gonna make it fun. So in here,” Mr.Hawthorn picked up a fishbowl he had on his desk. He smiled and shook the bowl, making all the folded pieces of paper inside move around. “I have the names of the gentlemen in this class. Ladies, you will pick a name from here and they will be your partner. You both will figure out genetically what your kids would look like. Tell us a bit about them. Get creative.” He announced and approached a girl in the first row with the bowl.

“Why can’t we just pick our own partners?” Sally asked and Mr.Hawthorn chuckled.

“Well, that makes it less interesting. This is more random like life would be.” He answered and moved on to the next girl.

Mr.Hawthorn got to the back row and held the bowl out to you. There were only four other pieces of paper in the bowl. You reached in and picked the first piece that touched your fingers. Mr.Hawthorn moved to Chrissy and held the bowl out to her. You unfolded your piece of paper and your heart sank. 

‘Eddie Munson’

You folded the piece of paper back up. Chrissy leaned over. “Who did you get?” she whispered and showed you her piece of paper. She got Patrick. At least he was her boyfriend's friend.

You looked at her and licked your lips. Then you looked past her. Your ‘partner’. Eddie was carving into the top of the desk with his pen, too busy to notice anything. You nodded at Eddie. Chrissy turned her head and stared at Eddie before quickly looking away before he could notice. This couldn’t be worse. She mouthed a ‘really?’ to you and you nodded. “Alright! Everyone has their partners. Girls, if you could read your picks aloud.” Mr.Hawthorn grabbed his clipboard he always wrote down group partners on. Oh, it could get worse! Each girl began naming the guy they were paired with. As it got closer to you, you began nervously chewing on the inside of your cheek.

Then it was your turn. You took a breath. “Eddie Munson.” You called, not looking at him at all. Immediately, a few snickers sounded in the classroom.

“Patrick McKinney!” Chrissy immediately called, trying to stop the reaction in the room. She knew how much you hated people laughing at you. You avoided any teasing, but something about people laughing at you just got to you worse. Being paired with Eddie didn’t help you hide away from everyone else and their teasing. You just had to get through this project.

Once every girl claimed their guy, Mr.Hawthorn smiled. “Alright, kids. You all have until next week to figure out your future kids' genetic makeup.” He announced, and a moment later, the bell rang. “Class dismissed. See you all tomorrow!”

You shoved your textbook into your bag and got up, following Chrissy towards the door. “Have fun with the freak.” Sally giggled as you both passed her. You shot her a look, and her smile faltered a bit. You grabbed Chrissy’s hand and tugged her out of the classroom. 

“This is humiliating.” You hissed, and Chrissy sighed.

“It isn’t that bad, Y/N!” She argued as you stopped at your locker. “It could be worse. Besides, Eddie has always been nice to the cheerleaders. He just doesn’t like Jason. Or the rest of the basketball team.” She laughed, leaning on the lockers as you opened yours and shoved your biology textbook into it. 

“You know, I worked hard to avoid teasing. Stay out of the spotlight! Stay away from being gossiped about and bullied.” You explained to Chrissy, and she nodded.

“I know, I know. But you aren’t a freak. You’re one of us.” She reassured you. 

A person walked close to you and Chrissy but before you could even realize it, you jumped from a loud noise behind your head. You turned to look at the figure looming over you. Eddie Munson stood there with a big, goofy smile on his face. His arm was behind your head with his hand resting on the locker beside yours, where he had just slammed it down onto the metal. “Ladies,” Eddie began, dropping his arm and stepping back to give you space.

“Munson.” You murmur, looking up at him.

“Hey,” Chrissy waved awkwardly.

“So, partner,” Eddie began, shoving his hands into his pockets. “When do you wanna work on this thing? I’m sure you wanna get this over with as quickly as I do?” He asked, rocking back and forward on his feet.

You looked at Chrissy and she grinned. “I’ll see you at lunch!” She cheerfully said and started backing away.

“No, no! Chrissy!” You hissed at her as she turned on her heel, green and white skirt swaying as she turned away and started down the hallway. You sighed and looked up at Eddie. Again, that smile. “Library. After school.” You murmured your instruction, turning to shove your locker door closed. 

“See you there.” Eddie agreed with a wink as you turned away from him and quickly walked away. Already, people were whispering in the hallways.

[favoure]

Sorry if you got this asked before but I'm so in love with your artwork, how did you get so good at anatomy and posing? I struggle a lot with it.

omg HI TY TY !!!! uuuhm tbh it was mainly 4 things for me: using irl pics as ref, using my artgods' art as ref, obsessing over proportions until it becomes second nature to you fr, and 3d models or posing apps .... [some examples and entire ramblings under the cut i got carried away AGH]

using irl pics as reference - i literally go on pinterest n combine several photos 2 get the pose i want, [or when it comes to hands i take pics of my own lol] i usually browse through magazine photoshoots or pics of statues n find stuff with cool poses .... this also applies to other stuff rlly like for clothing folds i would pick out parts that would look and feel right and interpret it in my own wayyy

find an artist with a Banger sense of anatomy n use their stuff as reference - bonus points if ur artgods have a semi realistic style n ur already obsessed with their stuff like Seriously the other half of my ref photos are other ppl's art and i would copy the way they draw certain things - i also actively observe How they draw these certain things like "oh this is actually in a triangle shape" or "oh theres a bump here and its followed by a straightish line" and i am mindful of these, i make sure to remember them even just the tiniest change bc that's still an improvement yk a different way of thinking abt something - love these accs for anatomy [tomfoxdraws, taco1704, kato_anatomy], this artist is great at simplifying their ref but still keeping it dynamic and flowy [UTWP_], and this acc for more general tips but with timelapses so u can see how they go about drawing something [KawaiiSensei_jp] <- theres also some anatomy stuff there toooo also SORRY literally 4/5 of these accs are in japanese or korean i just look at stuff n think about it no need to read :sob:

study up on proportions n figure out ways 2 simplify stuff using basic shapes - thanking my 12 year old self for being so nitpicky abt proportions like, i used to "measure" the length of the limbs and from doing that i learned how a bunch of stuff works like halfway point of the torso is also where elbows are, hands end midthigh, thigh usually as long as torso etcetc and since i got so used to "measuring" these it's just muscle memory for me atp, its all about the observations ur honor - for simplifying stuff its like, breaking something down to its basic shapes like how the hand can be a square or a triangle with a bunch of circles or cylinders attached to it, how the torso can be a rectangle circle or triangle depending on the body type etcetc - once again its actively observing and keeping what u learned in mind and doing it over and over again until it Sticks and u can change stuff n improve on it as u learn more about it

3d models / posing apps - literally only just started using these. a month or two ago ??? but i find these Very useful for when i have Such a specific pose in mind or when im too lazy to find or take ref pics WOOPS i also use irl ref pics when posing my 3d model btw im not That lazy KJSDFSDF

oh and i watched jjba and that singlehandedly made me like muscles and want to study how to draw them help there's that too ig ..... I HAVE NO IDEA IF THIS MAKES SENSE ITS ALL JUST MOSTLY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE HOPE THIS HELPS !!!!!!!!

[upcycleability]

Recycling Books, What to do with Old or Damaged Magazines, Textbooks, Etc

Some of us love to get new books and be transported into a new magical realm. Some of us don't enjoy books at all, and prefer to get our information in other ways. Either way, you are likely to have a lot of books, magazines, and textbooks that you may not want. What should you do with these? Let's look at some ways to reuse or recycle them!

Resell them

Selling your excess is always the best way to give your stuff a new life. This is because, unless someone specifically asks you if they can have or borrow a book, people tend to care more about something if they have to spend money on it.

reselling used books is also a good thing to do if you are given a lot of books, or you find a fair amount of them when dumpster diving. I know I find my fair share of them, and selling them helps me to pay bills or rent.

Give them away

YThis may sound odd given what I just said above, but giving them away can be beneficial as well. If someone asks you for a certain book, or you have family or friends that you know may want to read a particular book you have, then giving away your copy might be the best bet.

Also, you can have a small library if you have the ability to put one up where you life. These are small outdoor pantries that hold books that people can put in, or take out.

Cut them up and recycle them!

You cannot recycle books whole due to the covers and glue, but you CAN tear out all of the pages and recycle the pages instead. This can be great if you are recycling a workbook, if the book is otherwise heavily written in it, or if the book is damaged.

Also, some books are filled with hateful or harmful rhetoric. Giving them away or reselling them might just propagate the harmful ideas, so this is another way to give the pages a new life!

Use them for craft projects!

People have been able to take old books and turn them into beautiful works of art! This is a great way to reuse an old worn or vintage book while also stretching your creative muscles! Cutting up magazines for scrapbooking, or making paper beads, is always a fun thing to do as well!

So maybe see what you can make! Or you can try any of the other tips, and more, to make sure that books and magazines get reused or recycled instead of trashed.

***

If you like what you have read and want to support me, you can by using the shop links below! But only buy if you need new supplies, clothes, etc. Don't buy just for the sake of buying.

Upcycleability- My Etsy shop where I sell my upcycled crafts and craft supplies:

UpcycledLucy– My Poshmark to buy used clothing that I salvage from being thrown out

UpcycledLucy– My Mercari where I also sell used clothing, but cheaper

Lucienes– My eBay shop where I sell everything else that I salvage, such as books, games, boxes, and more

5-10% of all sales from the above links go towards 350 dot org, an intersectional activist organization working to fight climate change and get climate justice.

[monsterhighdiaries]

Frankie’s SDCC Diary - June 26th 12:01am MST (Monster Standard Time)

Ow-Ow-Ow! Brain freeze!

Uh, can I get up now?

Cause this bed is really uncomfortable, these straps are cutting off my circulation, and someone has dressed me in really ugly clothes. I don’t know how I know they’re ugly but yikes are they scary and not in a good way.

Mom is crying and telling me how beautiful I am. While my dad is running around like a crazy person shouting, “It’s alive!” It? I am most definitely not an “it”. What I am mostly is happy, sad, confused, enlightened, worried, hopeful and hungry – all at the same time. . . hmmm maybe I am an “It”.

Dad has stopped circling the lab long enough to un-strap me, hug me and name me. Frankie. Frankie Stein.

I like it. It seems to suit me somehow.

Dad helps me stand and he walks me over to a mirror. I can tell that he’s nervous cause this is the first time he’s stopped talking since I was born.

I like the way I look. My hair is long and straight and white with streaks of jet black. My left eye is green, my right eye blue and my lips are full with a definite pout.

I spin to see what I look like from behind and “rrrrippp”! I hear my mom say, “Honey I told you should have used the more expensive thread!”

She rushes over with her sewing kit and does a quick fix on my leg where the stitches have torn.

“Your father is a brilliant man and a great mad scientist but he’s a bit of a cheapskate.”

My dad says, “I am not a cheapskate I’m frugal.”

“Frugal my neck Bolts,” mom says back.

“Why did we have to wait until a thunderstorm rolled through to have our daughter when we could have simply used power from a wall outlet? It’s not like we’re living in the 18th century any more.”

Dad answers back, “Now dear, you know we’ve already had this discussion. A child should have a sense of tradition and if it was good enough for us it’s good enough for her.”

I think I like the idea of tradition. It makes me feel like I have a real history. I can tell mom just wanted me here sooner and that’s pretty cool too.

I’m not sure what I should do next but out of all the things I’m feeling, hungry seems to be pushing itself to the top of the list. Dad says we can fix that and heads upstairs to the kitchen.

Okay so I’m sitting at a table covered in food that looks and smells scarylicious.

The Most Scarylicious:

Pizza- How could there possibly be anything better than this?

Oranges- Peel’s nasty – inside delicious!

French Fries- Little wands of magical tasty goodness!

Chocolate – Wow! This stuff is to absolutely live for!

Ice Scream – It's just . . . Perfect.

The Just Plain Scary

Brussels Sprouts – These seem to be small yet thoroughly evil cabbages.

Liver – Am I being punished for something?

Sauerkraut – One of my dad’s experiments gone wrong?

After I’ve tried everything mom comes in with a beautiful cake and 1 candle. Dad tells me to make a wish and blow the candle out. What do you wish for when you have everything?

Dad thinks I need to get caught up on pop culture since I’ll be starting high school this year so he had Uncle Egor, he's not really related but he’s been in the family like forever, buy some "Fashion" magazines to help me. Uncle Egor seems to be very sweet but I don’t think he always brings back what he's supposed to.

I’m just not sure that articles on “Gifts Ideas for the Ghoul who has Everything” or “Tips on Turning Your Backyard Guillotine into a Food Processor” are really helpful.

Dad comes to my rescue with a copy of last year’s Monster High Yearbook.

Wow! Everybody at Monster High looks so cool! I really love the way Clawdeen Wolf dresses and Draculaura seems really sweet – at least from her paintings – Vampires don’t show up in photographs. I can’t wait to meet and get to know them.

Mom and dad pull out the old photo albums and we spend the next few hours looking at pictures from their past.

It was scary cool, especially the wedding album! Lots of guests and they were all carrying torches. Very romantic!

Mom and dad tell me they had to move a lot because of dad’s business and they didn’t want to have children until they found a place where they could really settle down. When they finally moved here they knew they were home.

We stay up through the night, me asking questions and mom and dad telling stories about their life together.

I start to yawn and mom says, “Off to sleep and a recharge for you now.”

Dad looks at his watch and says, “Just one more thing you have to see before bed.”

He leads us to the top of the house and onto a balcony facing east. The sky slowly catches fire as the sun burns off the early morning darkness. “It’s so beautiful,” I say.

Then dad and mom give me the biggest hug and tell me “It’s never been so beautiful as it is today because we get to share it with you.”

I love my life and can’t wait to see where it goes from here!

Thanks to all the mad scientists at Mattel who helped bring me and my Monster High friends to life!

♡ Frankie Stein

[akaashisupremacy]

Curiosity

Summary: Hajime Iwaizumi runs into an old friend yet again. Second chances don't come often so will he able to make a move before their time is up?

Iwaizumi x fem!reader/Oc || Read it on A03

Genre : romance, friends to lovers 

The day had gone by quicker than Hajime Iwaizumi thought it would. It was now or never.

It all began last week, when he ran into Hiromi Miura, a friend from college, in a small Vietnamese restaurant in Ginza a month after he moved to Tokyo. As he lined up for a seat, he noticed the figure in front of him was familiar. He tapped her shoulder and waved. Hiromi was so surprised that it took her a moment to realize it was her old classmate.

“Iwa??” she said in disbelief.

They got a seat together to catch up. Normally, Hiromi would be nervous about have lunch with one other man, but she had been on so many failed dates lately that at least she knew lunch with Iwa would not end in disappointment.

“You’re eating here? This place must be legit huh?” he said, remembering that she worked for a food publication. She chuckled.

“Definitely has my seal of approval.”

The restaurant was small and Iwa was rather tall. He could feel his knees touching hers from time to time. She crossed her feet behind her chair so they didn’t have to apologize mid-conversation when they bumped into each other.

“I’ve been meaning to call you by the way. Do you know any good markets around where I live?” he pulled out his phone to show her the area where he was staying, “I’m not too familiar with the area yet, so you’ll have to tell me where is it on the map.”

Iwa lived almost at fringe of the city. His home was located not too far away by bike to one of Hiromi’s favorite wet markets. She took his phone a little more enthusiastically than he expected her to and pinned a location.

Hiromi loved showing people around her favorite food spots. If being a food guide was more lucrative, she would ditch her dayjob altogether.

“Here! There’s a wet market where I’m friendly with the stall owners right here.” she pointed, “It’s about a 15 minute bike ride away from your place. I can help you get good deals. Not too many tourists too.”

And that was how Iwa found himself inside a wet market with Hiromi, on an early Monday morning. On most mornings, Iwa liked to jog and not do chores, but Hiromi had been so enthusiastic about the market that he let himself get sucked in. He tried not to yawn as she waved at every other stall.

“Another market day for work? Did the production team ask for your help again?” tutted an old woman at a vegetable stand.

Did he really look that dressed down?

“No, I’m bringing a friend around, hopefully a soon to be regular. Yamagata-san, this is Iwaizumi. He just moved here.” she chuckled, gesturing at him. Iwa politely bowed and greeted her.

As Iwa picked out some vegetables, Hiromi continued to chat with the old woman, guiding him every now and then to a vegetable that looked fresher than what he had picked out.

“I thought he was a production boy., You know one of those boys that drives your company van and carries your stuff.” Yamagata-san commented good naturally, “Too handsome for a production boy.”

When Iwa was about to pay up, Hiromi disappeared over to the next stall. He sighed and made his way to the counter at the back. Behind the desk, he saw a simply framed black and white photo of Yamagata-san with a candid smile, reaching out to a customer. The background seemed to blur and the old woman was the star. Next to that was a smaller photo of Yamagata-san and…Hiromi.

Was Hiromi some sort of MVP for this stall or something?

“Miura-chan took that photo of me,” said Yamagata-san, taking notice of Iwa, “I told her that I didn’t need such a big photo of myself so I insisted on having one with her.”

“What was the photo for?” he asked, peering again at the two photos.

“She ran an article on the oldest stalls of the market saying we were the heart of the community or something like that. When the story came out, she even gave us a glossy magazine that had my picture on it. She made us sound big and important. She was really grateful that we let her talk about us so she gave us a framed photo of ourselves to remember her milestone by. It was her big solo article I think.”

After hopping from one store to another, sometimes to say hi and others to buy produce from, they settled in for early lunch at yakitori or grill restaurant. The sun was high in the sky. While waiting to be seated, Hiromi bought cool green tea for the both of them.

“This is so good! Damn!” he sighed in pleasure. The drink relieved the sweat gathering at his back. Hiromi grinned in satisfaction.

“Iwa can I ask you something?” she tilted her head towards him.

“Shoot.” Suddenly he felt unnerved and tense. What could this be about? He bit down on the tip of the straw.

Her eyes were with amusement, “Did you not notice that the fruit vendor was making eyes at you?? She’s totally into you and I tried to wingman for, but you just shrugged and paid up.”

“Wait, for real?” he asked, taken aback by his lack of self-awareness.

Hiromi nodded her head vigorously, “That was cold!’

He slapped his hands on his forehead, “Well, I wasn’t really interested in her anyways.” he sighed, his eyes flicking towards her before looking away.

Hiromi recalled a time in college, when a circle of their friends were having lunch together. One of the girls that had a crush on Iwa tried to make a pass at him.

“I would date you if I could, Hajime-kun,” she blushed. Everybody’s eyes turned to Iwaizumi who continued eating and only stopped because someone had nudged him.

“Thanks, I’m flattered,” he nodded. It had taken him weeks to realize that she was trying to confess to him.

“Do you remember that time in colle-“ she began but was interrupted. He was cringing as he remembered the same memory.

“Don’t bring up that lunch incident, Hiromi. I know you’re going to. Just NO.”  he groaned, “I get it! I’m dense.”

Hiromi was trying to restrain her laughter. He could hear her stifle her giggle beside him. She tried not to look at him. He straightened up beside her and nudged her knee with his.

“I wasn’t interested in her anyways.” he said, thoughtfully looking at her.

“Clearly not,” she snorted, browsing through the menu, “You should see what you want to eat before they seat us.”

He placed his hand a little bit behind her and peered over her shoulder. He could feel her arm pressed against his chest. They were seated so closely his nose almost touched the side of her head. She remained oblivious to him.

After they were seated, Iwaizumi finally brought up what he had been noticing.

“How does everyone here have a photo by and with you?” he asked, “Are the photos really required by your work?”

Hiromi looked a little embarrassed. She cleared her throat and sighed, “People like to take. They take stories and never give the people they take from. They take their food and their ideas, which is really not fair.

“It took me a while to earn the trust of the community here but once I gave them a copy of their story, it made them realize I was sincere about wanting to give back to them. The black and white framed photos, that was on me. We had some budget left so I got them their own photos because they’re important even if their job is not glamorous.”

“You’re really passionate about your job huh?” he said. The food had just arrived and they began to rearrange their bowls and plates on the table.

“It’s not my job I’m passionate about, it’s people and their stories. I’m just lucky enough to be paid enough to do this.” she smiled.

“Don’t you feel the same way about your job?” she asked, “You like volleyball so much you turned it into a profession.”

“I do, but I’ve just started in my new job. Passion takes time if not at least a little bit more experience. Maybe by next year, I can feel the same way about my work.”

———————————————————————————

“Thanks for bringing me here.” he said as he loaded up his bike with his morning purchases.

“Thanks for lunch,” she said. Iwaizumi had paid while she was at the restroom to thank her for introducing him to her community market.

Urgency prodded at his back. It was now or never. As she handed him some of his packaged vegetables, he hastily turned to her.

“Can I see you again next week?” he said it so quickly, he wasn’t sure she fully understood him.

“Oh, do you want to try a different market?” she asked, carefully taking out the strawberries from her bag and transferring it to his bag.

“No, no this market looks great —“

“I know right! It’s not the best or most comprehensive market, but it’s a good market if you’re looking to build a community with.” she beamed with pride.

Iwa straightened his back and cleared his throat, “No, like a date.”

She paused and stood to meet his eye. “Oh…I guess this is why you weren’t interested in the vendor huh. I really thought she would be your type! She even plays volleyball.” She looked away while slowly recalling signs from earlier today: the knee nudge, the lunch, his lack of interest in other women in the market.

Iwa could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. He forgot how nerve-wracking it was to ask someone out. Sweat was pooling around his temples just standing there.

“Ahh not really, I am actually interested…in you. I thought you might like me too, that’s why you agreed to go out with me today…y’know to test the waters…” he stuttered, “but..ah…turns out you just really like markets. I realized that I should have been more forward.”

Hiromi was simultaneously flattered, mortified and a little confused. She kept quiet. In the back of her mind, she entertained the thought that maybe this was an unofficial date, but she had convinced herself that Iwa was invested in buying cheaper fresher produce.

“It’s ok if you don’t want to. You look uncomfortable,” he said, waving his hands side to side, breaking her out of her reverie, “We can pretend like this never happened.”

She hesitantly replied, “Well, I’m on the weekend and my hours are flexible on Thursday because it’s a reading day for me…” She was praying in her heart that she got her schedule right.

Her reply caught Iwa off guard. Nevertheless, he jumped to the chance to spend a day next week with her.

“That’s great! I’m away next weekend, but Thursday sounds great.” he smiled, looking hopeful, “Let’s meet then?”

“I know it’s kinda early, but I think I have to put it out there that my schedule’s really erratic some days. That’s kind of put some people off.” he shrugged. His schedule was one of his occupational hazards.

“We’re out on a Monday, I think I’m aware.“ she nodded. Although outwardly calm, she was ready to faint. She couldn’t wait to tell Itsumi that she had a date with a seemingly decent guy?

“Oh and Iwa?” her face schooled itself into a more serious expression as he gave her his full attention, “It’s non-negotiable for me. If you want to insist on being able to date other people, I’ll have to cancel next week.”

“I had a small spat with this guy I was dating and I…walked in on second date while he was making out with someone.” she gritted her teeth, heaving a sigh.

“Ok, I won’t see anybody else while we’re seeing each other. Deal?” he couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m not very good at dating. I haven’t been in a good relationships in awhile. I’m gonna need your patience.” she said softly, turning to him, her eyes wary.

“I’m kind of aware.” he nodded, “I’ll make the most of the time you can give me.”

When she left she felt dumbfounded. She had recently sworn off dating and now she was on another date?

“Itsumi, you’ll never guess what just happened!” she called up her coworker.

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This is part 2 of a series on Iwa living in Tokyo after he moves back from California. If you’d like to keep up with the next chapters (which will include questions to help them fall in love *hint hint*), comment or message!

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

Series taglist: @itstheee-ha-chan