#drawing fanart is great & all but there r Some Things that I *need* that just rn't possible for me to conceptualize in a way i can *draw*

[the-yearning-astronaut]

I think.... over the last two days I think I've read just about every Murderbot fic on AO3 that meets all my (current) filter criteria... I'm pretty sure the only one I have left now is a 200k epic....

[eileen-crys]

What do you think about the ethics of RPF? Like especially shipping them with people they didn’t have a romantic relationship irl. (Which doesn’t apply to you but does to the fandom in general)

Oooh Anon this is always a super tricky territory and this is one of the hardest questions. Pretty sure someone would take my answer to create drama or yell at me so feel free to DM me if you want to discuss it further in private, I’ll answer when I can (because I’m awfully busy these days)

Something I openly think about RPF is that while we write/draw/read about real people, everything should be thought and presented as fictional, even if it’s based on real events. We can’t know the real people, the real events, and we’re tied to narratives, plots and dialogues. (I also care about reminding others that many of my Johnica artworks and all the fics are fictional, even if the couple is real!!!) Some exceptions can be obviously made for artworks that are based on photos or videos, of course 😅

I’m really not a fan of people who forget the F in RPF stands for “fictional” and take non-canon shipping way too seriously and starts preaching about in-band relationships being real in secret, claiming Queen hated their irl partners, or stuff like that. The friendships in Queen are amazing and worth to be praised, and they all had/have meaningful relationships with other people, no need to become tin hatters. I’m okay with people shipping the boys, as long as we’re all aware it’s fictional and there’s no hate for other ships involved. (then of course I have some notps hahah but again who doesn’t)

And I can never stress enough that if anyone wants to show some art to the real people involved should take the person in account and ask “is it appropriate to tag/send this to them?” and it’s not just about non-canon ships, I wouldn’t send him Branita p0rn either 🤣💀 Just be mindful, because I’ve seen people getting upset that he blocked them after they tagged him in nsfw fanarts, as it was his fault.

I personally care also about the overall respect being given to the real people that inspire our fictional characters, and I know my alignment might be different from others, so I care to stay away from fics/content that depict some of them in behaviours I don’t like, make me uncomfortable or I find less “realistic” to my view. Am I upset that someone writes John as a necrophile serial killer or Freddie as a r+pist? Or many other things? Yes, absolutely. But I do rant privately about it instead of making a mob against the author. I hope the real people involved won’t see any of that and I do my best to take care of my own experience online by stepping back from content I’m not forced to look at, exactly as I stay away from my NOTPs.

Fanfics (and fanarts!) can be a great getaway for creativity and it’s always interesting to explore the lives of real people who inspire us or to put them in different situations, it can be a serious tribute or just for fun, so I try to see the positive aspect to it and enjoy the creativity! Don’t like? Don’t read, tags exist for a reason 🙏💕

[thespoonisvictory]

Okay, I need your input on the Wilbur-Quackity /r thing. Because I'm no shipper, but this just reads as ... barely subtextual. Like just a little bit more and it's just blatant text in my opinion.

Like, that most recent stream when you look at Wilbur's facecam. Boy, oh boy ...

This touches generally on romantic relationships within the story of the Dream SMP, where I feel like fans are oftentimes more "restrained" than the creators themselves (which is funny, because usually in fandoms it's the other way around). I feel like sometimes the fandom leaves some interesting analysis on the table there.

finally getting around to answering this yee haw

my thoughts are as follows, and it's a pretty subjective matter so feel free to disagree:

at this point, c!tntduo is too explicit in the text to ignore it. you can't ignore that wilbur's feeling some sort of way about quackity without shifting the text or ignoring parts of it to make that make sense. even if you're against shipping, I don't think it's reasonable to except c!tntduo and the possibility of romance between them to be excluded from wilbur analysis, as it's clearly part of his character.

it's also obvious that cc!wilbur and cc!quackity are doing this intentionally to lead the audience in that direction, or at least not actively trying to stop it by any means. while that's not a "yes go ahead ship us", I don't think it's fair to hold it against viewers for picking up on the subtext/literal text that's obviously being put down.

also- this is firmly in the realm of characters, more so than, say, even c!beeduo. cc!wilbur and cc!quackity don't act at all like this outside of lore, this is purely a character thing, and c!wilbur's theoretical reasoning for being drawn to c!quackity is one that only makes sense in the context of his dsmp character. it's not irl fic, essentially.

c!quackity makes c!wilbur feel human, as stated verbatim, and that in itself is not only great basis for analysis, but also something exclusive to the characters and not in any way the ccs. shipping feels fine to me, not in the sense that you're writing nsfw fic about them, but if you're drawing fanart of wilbur blushing and generally rooting for them to get together, I don't really see how that's a problem when that's what's explicitly being supported by the narrative at that moment.

basically: analysis should be 100% fine because it's so present in canon at this point that ignoring it would give an inaccurate reflection of c!wilbur, and shipping is ok because again, this is about explicitly fictional characters and their staged interactions, but like, don't be weird about it.

[offical-ranter]

SPOILERS FOR MS. MARVEL

ok guys i expected this show to be pretty average.. nope. it was great. just 1 episode in and its already one of my favorite marvel shows. heres a bit of my thoughts on it -its so cool to see more representation. im not Muslim or Pakistani so i cant say anything about those aspects (tho im sure u could find stuff about it online from those more knowledgeable) other than its great to see other cultures and languages in a production like this. and like MoonKight they had what i assume to be cultural music, which was also rlly cool -ITS SO RELATABLE! LIKE SKDFJSGS;, i dont have the words. the fact that she daydreams all day about being a superhero, doodles during class, is a literal fangirl, and has parents who doesnt understand what she likes, is. so. relatable. this is the most ive ever seen myself in a marvel character, which is kinda the point of the show. but still. i was watching her talk about making her cosplay and looking at fanart and its just, i do those things. i have marvel shirts and dream about going to cons. the amount of, just feeling, i felt when her mom completely shut down her plan to go to AvengerCon is just, immense. like wow, so many ppls parents judge their kids for the things they like. the scene where Kamala tried to put something around her hips after her mom told her the outfit was too skimpy or tight (without even seeing it i might add) was something i just immediately felt. she didnt even need to monologue about why she felt the need to do it, i could instantly understand based on her action and expression. i cant put into words how this feels like a show that just gets us -her friendship with Bruno (im still not over that song why would u do this to me Disney). its so accurate to how friendship is and its so wholesome to watch. Kamala feeling out of place in school and being quite to meeting with Bruno and talking about the con? thats great, thats the friendships i wanna see. there was no romance, tho there may be based on the look they shared on the roof, but im surprisingly open to it. i usually never like romance in action based shows but they understand each other so well. their struggles and dreams, like even if their love is just platonic its still there. and i love to watch it (not to mention its the literal perfect superhero partner dynamic, the one who fights and the one in the chair) -the directing. ive had a lot of problems with Disney directing as of late (cough cough Boba Fett) but marvel shows have always been fine. WandaVision was rlly unique in its idea, so was Hawkeye, but none have stood out in just plain directing so far. until this. theres no weird shaky camera for no reason, no weird up close face shots (im looking at u The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), nothing like that. just good camera work and going 100% with the theme. the drawings coming to life on the walls and their texts becoming signs and Kamala's planning being animated/drawn. its like spider-verse and i love it. it seems so true to her character and the vibe of the show. reminds me of a movie i think exists where some guy in high school has the ability to make the things he draws real, but im not sure if i just made that up lol -references. some ppl call them easter eggs but either way their great. like me tell u i was screaming whenever i saw something from the greater mcu. even before the show started i noticed how MoonKight is now in the intro logo. there was a lot but some things i remember r the og captain america song at the con, the drawing mentioning his ass, also at the con, the trust a bro truck and original ms. marvel design as art during the end credits. im sure there was more and im kinda disappointed im not remembering them after just watching it -the mysteries. whyd the bracelet (idk if thats what its called but for now bracelet) give her powers? who r the ppl in the end scene (i dont think any other marvel show has had an end scene first ep)? will her old friend refriend her? OMG SHE STILL HAS THE POWER TO EXTEND HER LIMBS?? BUT NOW ITS LIKE CRYSTALS???

[jelloopy]

TAZ Grad Ep 27

The boys are in front of the Godscar chasm  (This is spooky right off the bat lets see where this goes)

FUCK Argo rolled a 1 and is being strongly affected by the chasm he grabs onto Fitz’ shoulder for balance (Maplekeen shippers come get yall juice.)

T h e m u s i c (I will lose my mind as soon as this album is out good lord)

Argo is seeing himself attacking his boys? (Holy shit where is this going?)

IT WAS A FUCKING DREAM THANK FUCKING GOD (This better not be one of those things like Duck had in Amnesty I’ll fight.)

Griffin being pissed that he rolled a nat 20 on perception in a fucking dream and declaring that he’s withholding that until a more opportune time.

Uh oh…. Where are Firbolg and Fitz?

awe they left him a note! It’s okay!

GRAY BETTER BACK OFF IM ALREADY PISSED IM NOT EVEN 6 MIN INTO THE EPISODE AND IM ALREADY DONE. THIS MOTHER FUCKER NEEDS TO DIE AND QUICK. s t o p h u r t i n g a r g o 2 0 2 0

”That’s just dad’s inner monologue” that’s… awe come on “sorry my son came in here and said that bullshit” “awe Henry come on man” “being a bad son is genetic it seems” (Pure gold I love this family)

Sabor saying he was “somewhere else for a second” (does not give me the best vibes ngl…. Sabor’s p sus)

Justin’s new podcast law around Sabor and Firbolg. (Tbh I was a big fan of the slow arduous talking scenes but I will live I suppose…)

Sabor…………………… why are you so sus rn. Ur just tired. Stop being cryptic p l e a s e.

”I have been giving this much thought” “hell yes.”

FESTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THE MUSIC CAME ON AND I BECAME INSTANTLY FERAL HOLY CRAP FESTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (I have been waiting for their return omfg)

”Would you like to party with the fairy’s?” “I need some sort of survival guarantee that I’ll make it through the evening” (This is an extremely viable request)

“Snippers don’t be like that…” “It’s okay I’m flattered!” (I need subtitles for Snippers p l e a s e)

“But this Lil guy is my familiar. He’s not the source of my magical powers, as far as I know… that would be a pretty late season twist.” “DAMNIT GRIFFIN YOU FIGURED IT OUT! All magic in Nua flows through snippers”

FESTO AND GORDY HAVE PARTIED TOGETHER WHAT A DUO (I need fanart of them STAT)

damnit they haven’t partied with Chaos

OH SHIT they don’t know about Fitzroy’s connection with Chaos

oop this is…. Oop. “if your source of magic is external you should not have been able to access it within the crypt.”

 “I also have a habit of delighting people” “HM!”

He lovingly refers to them as his “Boys”

“that wasn’t Argo that was your dad” “CLINT?! THE POWERFUL WIZARD!?” (Clint is truly a multidimensional and plane hopping wizard. We stan)

“we need a name for this multiverse that Clint Travels through” “How about the Clinterous” “TRAVIS. Honestly Travis! Are you fucking kidding me?!” (I………… why Travis… why)

Thank god they all use the restroom before they leave

Argo was literally stabbing in his sleep….?

Firbolg’s first pair of shorts! ‘N he enjoys them. V v happy with this

This means that Gray is actively in Argo’s mind, twisting what he hears! That’s dogshit he needs to stop (s t o p h u r t i n g a r g o 2 0 2 0)

Firbolg has yet to tell them about his dad’s passing and Fitz’ respects that. Argo on the other hand goes ahead and pries in on it.

(Fits their characters tbh)

“Are we just not going to class anymore?” “It’s all Virtual” (I had to stop and laugh for a good minute bc of the delivery by Justin. It got me)

Hero is in front of the Chasm… bb are you ok...

Fitz’ whistling to get Hero’s attention… (Fitz… he’s not a Dog anymore bud…)

Hero has been working up the courage to explore the Chasms! (Pls take him with you)

“you were a dog for a long time you think that you’d be used to people cleaning up your mess” it gets a smile out of hero AND Firby starts to dance! (I need all of the Firby cosplayers to make a TikTok with this and I need all artists to draw this stat. I need the dopamine p l e a s e)

“He does this any time he makes a slam dunk of a joke we just have to let him finish”

God I love when they back up for a min and do some good ol table talk

”I’m talking as a human being Justin Mcelroy father of two.”

“If you guys win a demon war? It’s at least an A-” “what would it take to get the A+?” “You could bring me a fruit basket” (The absolute Corruption… lmao)

Niceee Hero is gonna go work with Althea this is gonna be great.

Yes griffin giving that perception check NO CLINT WITH THAT FUCKING NAT 1 (Clint needs new dice that are blessed please)

Fitz sees Argo take out his blade and sees a look in his eyes. Firby sees it too. (aaaaaand I was right it was one of those “Duck” scenarios ….. damnit)

Firby uses thorn whip around Argo’s wrist and he doesn’t fight it. ( :(  )

Fitz insists that he goes into Argo’s mind to see what’s going on and Argo agrees but as Fitz gets near him he puts up a fight… (This is getting quite concerning)

FIRBOLG CASTS HOLD PERSON. HOLY SHIT. BRO. (I did not know he could do that… damn alright…)

Clint your VA is so good I adore you so much. (I just need to tell him that he is doing an amazing job. Pulling at my heartstrings constantly)

Maplekeen shippers come get your angst (I don’t ship it myself but I cannot imagine what the tags are gonna look like after this bc damn…)

CLINT YOU NEED TO FUCKING GET RID OF THAT D20 DUDE

Gray is in Argo’s mindscape. Mother FUCKER.

Fitz casts Thunderwave at Gray on-site and a Lil to cocky like Gray puts up a hand to block it but underestimates Fitz and goes flying about 10ft back (This is… mmmmm yes I’m very comfortable with the energy we’ve created in the studio today)

“Stop fucking cheating!” (YO HE CURSED REALLY WELL!!!!!! He’s learning!)

YEAH! THAT’S RIGHT MOTHER FUCKER BE SURPRISED BY FITZ AND RUN AWAY YOU COWARD (God I hate this dude)

“Festo wouldn’t do anything to hurt me” *silence* (Sus)

The portal in the Chasm... ever-growing… Opalescent being with white eyes...

ORDER?!

I’m very intrigued. I enjoy how Fitz is annoyed instead of angry most of the time. It really brings into perspective that this is kinda a useless war that doesn’t need to happen. That also the Warforged from the last episode was onto something with the question of “why six months?).

[shirbertshitposts]

Things you can do to help Anne With An E be Renewed

There are so many different ways big and small you can help in the fight to get Anne With an E renewed. I’ll do my best to compile all the ways you can contribute.

1) One of the easiest ways to let networks know there is a demand for more Anne With an E is to request it on their help page. Request Anne with an E season 4 so they know you want the show to continue. There is also no limit to the number of times you submit requests.

https://help.netflix.com/en/titlerequest

https://help.disneyplus.com/csp

For Disney+ click “Give Feedback” then “Request a film or show” then you can type in Anne with an E season 4

2) Watch Anne with an E on Netflix. Just constantly stream it in the lead up to the season 3 premiere. When the show premieres Jan 3rd make sure you stream the new season that day and in the days after. Not only do we want Netflix to know that the new season has a big audience, but we also want as many people watching at the same time for the show to make it to the “Popular on Netflix” category. New people may be attracted to the show if they see it is popular on Netflix.

3) Write emails to Networks. Netflix and CBC are not the only options when it comes to Networks that could renew Anne with an E, since it seems that the rights to the show are currently owned by Northwood Entertainment the production company behind Anne with an E. Many other fans have done the hard work of compiling lists of emails of network executives. I will provide links to various tweets I have seen with important emails. (of note, most will probably not check their work emails again until after the holidays, so you can draft emails now and send them out after Jan 1st) Also below is a google doc that includes emails of many network executives.

https://twitter.com/LeaOux/status/1205485569691680768

https://twitter.com/KindredsParty/status/1208518970002870272

https://twitter.com/KatVal11/status/1206141522820976640

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1StN_dHgHjhPhYkfgS_7AbeMbmu0KXhrtJW1ytAASUaw/mobilebasic

Template for writing emails and email addresses to send emails to: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nkEu-ZyIiBkCABleKRBLU21T8lRSwRxwWXuVDZ7cxeo/mobilebasic

4) Write emails to magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. Any form of Press about Anne with an E will draw attention to the show from people who may not have heard of it before. You could write emails to ask them to cover the news of the show's cancellation, to review the new season, to discuss certain topics the show addresses that set it aside from other shows and more. Anything that you could dream up that could be an article that could be written about Anne With an E you could pitch the idea to someone to write about. 

5) Appealing to other fandoms with similar interests. Two big movies that are about to drop that have an audience that may be interested in a show like Anne With An E, would be Little Women and P.S. I Still Love You (To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before sequel). Little Women is also a period piece with a feminist heroine, so you could point out the similarities in the stories’ themes to appeal to fans of that film (which premieres Dec. 26th). For P.S. I Still Love You, the big connection is that in the third book of the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, Forever and Always, Lara Jean,  Lara Jean states that Gilbert Blythe is her ideal man. Screenshots of this quote have been going around all over tumblr and twitter since the P.S. I Still Love You trailer dropped. The selling point could be that if you enjoy the films and relate to Lara Jean then you should check out the stories and adaptions of those stories that Lara Jean considers peak romance. ( It also helps that the premise of the films relies on love letters and AWAE season 3 features love letters as well). When entering into other fandoms tags to recommend Anne With An E make sure you are always being RESPECTFUL and don’t just spam the tags with Anne promotion. You could always create side by side edits of the two programs to demonstrate how similar they are. Basically, make sure your posts in their tag don’t seem like a blatant promotion for AWAE.

6) Rate Anne with an E on IMDb. (Note: It is listed as Anne(2017) on IMDb). Right now Anne is listed in Top 250 TV Shows, but it is toward the bottom of the list at #248, with an average show rating of 8.4 stars. If enough fans rate it, the show could move up on the list, which may attract new people to watch the show. You can rate the show overall, and rate each episode individually. Plus you can leave a review. 

7) Watch the Anne With An E Netflix trailer and share it with others. The more views on the trailer the better. The trailer is available on Youtube and Instagram. On twitter, people are organizing trailer boosting parties for Dec 23rd - Dec 30th. 

This calendar shows when trailer boosting parties have been planned detailed descriptions of what those events include with links to tweets and posters

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=potatolightbulbs%40gmail.com&ctz=America%2FNew_York

8) Sign the petition for the show to be renewed and get anyone you know who likes the show as well to sign it as well.

https://www.change.org/p/netlfix-awae-fans-renew-anne-with-an-e-for-season-4?recruiter=916548586&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition

9) Recommend the show everywhere. On twitter search “What to watch on Netflix” or “tv show recommendation” and reply to any of these tweets with Anne With An E and maybe a reason why you recommend the show. If someone has already recommended Anne With An E don’t recommend it again, we don’t want to spam or annoy strangers. This can also be done on reddit search “What to watch” , “Netflix recommendations” , “Period Piece” and comment on any of the relevant results with Anne With An E.

10) Tell EVERYONE you know to watch Anne With an E. A great way to spread the popularity of the show is by word of mouth. People trust the opinions of people they know, so your friends and family are more likely to listen to your recommendations than strangers on the internet (but there is no harm in trying #9 anyway). 

11) Continue to be your amazing creative selves. Gif sets, fanart, video edits, memes, etc. All of these can help attract new fans to the show, so continue to create and post things related to Anne With An E.

12) Make bookmarks or small promotional posters and leave them in public places. I have seen a trend of this on twitter and it's not a bad idea. One amazing fan even took it to the next level and made tiny posters that have QR codes on it that when scanned takes people to the Anne with an E trailer or the show on Netflix. Below is a link to tweets showing what those looked like and how they dispersed them.

https://twitter.com/itsMaeWithAnE/status/1208618422768033792?s=20

Here is a tweet thread with templates for the posters if you want to print them out yourself:

https://twitter.com/itsMaeWithAnE/status/1208816797555671040?s=20

13) Buy official merchandise for the show and wear it around. You could be a walking advertisement for the show if you want (and can afford to). There is different merch available on the official Anne With An E shop website and on Amazon.  Also sales of the merch may be considered by networks when they consider whether to renew the show. 

https://shopannewithane.com

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/A8C18641-8ECE-4892-A276-6A0A952A125C

14) Join the r/Anne community on reddit. There has been some encouragement to grow the size of the community on this thread because it shows a static number of how many people are apart of it. This number could be used to approximate how much interest there is in the show. It currently only has 2.5K members. Even if you’re not very active on reddit, joining the subreddit would be helpful.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Anne/

15) Donate to the campaign to have a billboard to promote the show. Details can be found on the gofundme page.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/renew-anne-with-an-e?sharetype=teams&member=3295372&rcid=r01-157601384514-6d847f2ab5bb49bd&pc=tw_co_campmgmt_w&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet

16) Donate to campaign to run instagram ads for Anne With An E. More details on the gofundme page below.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/anne-with-an-e-season-3-ad-campaign

17) Let’s Make Some Noise Campaign. Some fans are encouraging people to write messages on white rags, like the ones the avonlea students use during their protest, and sending them to various streaming networks or Northwood Entertainment, the production company behind the show. Details can be found in the tweet below.

https://twitter.com/kindredsparty/status/1206624186342559745?s=21

18) Rate and review Anne With An E on Rotten Tomatoes. You can do this for each season. Currently there are a fair amount of negative reviews so it would be incredibly helpful to explain why you love the show. Good reviews would attract new potential fans to start watching.

19) Vote Anne With An E up on Ranker.com lists. This might attract new get people interested in the show if it consistently ranks high on lists of best shows.

https://m.ranker.com/list/the-best-new-original-shows-on-netflix-hulu-and-amazon-of-the-last-few-years/ranker-streaming?ref=also_ranked&pos=2&a=0&l=85370943&ltype=n&g=0

20) Take care of yourself. THIS ONE IS MOST IMPORTANT. Don’t sacrifice your health in your efforts to get the show renewed. If you need to take a break please do. Also don’t feel guilty if you need to step away or you can only do one or two things on this list. Every effort counts and is greatly appreciated.

I’ll try to update this as more stuff comes up. Good luck with all your efforts Kindred Spirits!

Remember “Dreamers change the world”

[cosmiciaria]

The Dragon Prince Season 3 scattered thoughts:

MILD SPOILERS MIND YOU

How much better can the animation GET? BECAUSE THIS SEEMS PEAK PERFORMANCE

Is every f*cking elf in this story SO GORGEOUSLY BEAUTIFUL? That guy with the wing arms *kisses fingertips* PERFECTION

CALLUM AND RAYLA ARE SO CUTE OMG???? I HAVEN’T BEEN THIS INVESTED IN A SHIP SINCE I BOARDED THE TITANIC

Only RESPECT for my one true king

Soren has been redeemed - Sometimes I feel sorry for him, but he’s so hilarious I can forgive him anything. Also great character development there

I also feel terrible for Claudia. I can FEEL her torn between her father and her brother. And her distress for trying to keep her family together - man that girl is going to end up too  b r o k e n

I had the Gandalf and the LOTR vibes towards the end, you know what I mean

Amaya STILL SLAY QUEEN YASSS also Gren is back I love my son so much

I need to draw fanart of this season idk what but i will do something at least some sketches of Ezran because he deserves it

Idk if it was mentioned in the previous seasons but?? was i the only one who had the feeling that… Viren was in love with Sarai??? for a moment there i thought he was gonna use his own blood you know for what

I read somewhere here in tumblr that this season was about manipulation and toxic relationships and you know what Y E S Soren is a great example and I felt so happy for him when he realized it, and also Viren and his bug pet friend. Soren has a really important and heavy line towards the end and it went something like “if someone tells you to do something evil and they convince you that it’s something good, then that’s bad”. Lads, lasses, non-binary people: TATTOO THIS ON YOUR FACES. Actually look for the real quote because my memory sucks

I love that they know how to subvert expectations, not like other two guys whose surnames start with D’s and resemble an all time favorite board game known for their reptiles with wings and long and narrow spaces where you battle monsters to death

I MEAN SEASON 4 IS A THING NO??

Also i forgot to say i’m so happy Rayla is taller than Callum you know what boyz fuck those stupid stereotypes you know what this SHOW IS SUCH A DELIGHT IN THOSE ASPECTS like you know what?? your king has dark skin, you have lesbians and gays all around, and the girl is actually taller than the boy i’m just??? THANK YOU FOR EXISTING THAT’S ALL

[omega-deku]

So I would love to progress on my art and try comics any tips? ÙwÚ

Hi! I’m so sorry about the late reply. D: I hope you don’t mind if I take this opportunity to address all the anon messages about how we can improve as artists. 

I have a tough time answering this question because there is so much I need to learn. I’m super flattered that some of you feel that my art is good enough to ask me for tips, first of all!! So thank you, guys.

It’s a struggle because I only recently started taking up art again. So I’ve forgotten a lot of the things. So I’m probably not the best person to ask about this.

I used to draw all the time as a kid, but after high school, I stopped drawing. I stopped drawing for almost a decade, pretty much. I really regret it. I feel like I could have come such a long way if I did keep going. My parents really discouraged me from pursuing art, even just as a hobby, too. Even when I left home (I’m back now tho), my ex-spouse, greatly discouraged me from doing art too. I mean, “proper” art. They told me my art wasn’t “real art” because it’s not studio art, it’s “sellout” art, like anime/cartoons/fanart. I had even worse self-esteem as I do now, and I listened to them and gave up. I convinced myself I hated drawing. 

Please don’t deny yourself things that make you feel engaged and connected. If drawing makes you feel good, if it makes you not realize how much time has passed and makes you feel like you’re accomplishing things, even little by little, please don’t stop. Even if you suffer from depression and feel like things like this are pointless, remember that just doing things in general will help you. Drawing is an awesome way to get into the flow state. To me personally, it’s almost like a meditative state and I find it helpful in dealing with chronic pain and mental health issues. 

Anyways, I’ll try to compile some advice sort of things.

ART IN GENERAL

1. Draw what you enjoy! I think the most important thing is to draw what you like. It’s okay if it’s “dumb stuff”. Draw your favorite characters or pairings from your favorite tv shows if that tickles your fancy! You’re much more likely to be spending more time drawing if you’re drawing stuff you like. And as long as you’re drawing, you’re improving. (But still, challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone!)

Especially for those of you who are planning to pursue art as a career, it’s essential that you don’t view practicing art as a chore. 

2. Draw from life. If you really want to take your art to the next level, drawing from life is vital! I think many of us have come across artists who are just amazing, but there are things that look a little “off”. For example, the anatomy doesn’t look quite right, or the perspective is a little wonky. Things like that can be a tell that they’ve learned to draw from other people’s art rather than from life. Or just haven’t practiced the basics enough. (My art isn’t amazing or anything close to that lmao, but it definitely suffers from this. I need lots of life drawing practice.)

There is nothing wrong with learning from your favorite artists, but to really train your “artist’s eye”, you need to strip away all the stylistic choices and go back to the basics. Training that Eye is one of the most crucial things you could do as an artist. 

Just take a piece of paper, a pencil and start drawing what you see. If you can, take figure drawing classes at your local community college, or draw the animals you see at the zoo. Sit on a bench and draw the scenery in front of you. Over time, you’ll start to recognize common patterns, simplify/think of things in terms of lines and shapes.

If you can’t afford a class or have the ability to go outside easily, drawing from photographs can be the next best thing. (See the Resources below for an online figure drawing tool.) I’m not experienced enough to definitively say why this isn’t the #1 idea, but from what I hear, there are things that you’ll miss out on, such as subtle shifts in shadows, colors, and other things that will happen from small movements in pose changes, a cloud moving, or whatever else. A different “feel”, if you will.

With the digital art boom, a lot of artists are learning how to do cool digital effects and fancy things, but forgoing basic anatomy, perspective, shading, etc. Which is all fine if you’re just having fun, but isn’t the best idea if you’re really serious about improving. Practice the fundamentals!

(If you have been dreaming about CalArts at one point like I did when I was in high school, one advice I came across from everyone who went there was to draw from life. All the time. It’s not an answer I expected from people who draw funny looking characters all day. You mean all these people who draw such simplified cartoon people and animals can actually draw like masters? Perfectly rendered bowls of fruit? I didn’t realize how much work goes into animating simple characters.)

3. Put in the time. 

It’s really easy to get suckered into just watching “how to improve” videos all day and thinking about improving. Watching how other artists work is an important learning tool, but you’ll never actually make progress if you aren’t practicing. 

Sometimes, the best thing to do is to not think about it. Just do it. 

It’s like when I’m spending a whole lotta time thinking about getting physically fit than just, you know.. just doing it. “Tomorrow for sure.” 

It may seem like it’s worthless, but doing those lame 5 push-ups a day instead of the 20-minute workout you wanted to put in, is better than nothing at all. You are making progress, no matter how small it may seem.  

Make it a habit to practice every day. That way, you don’t even hesitate. It’s as automatic as brushing your teeth.

All the artists you see who have fantastic, awe-inspiring art may seem like Unreachable Gods sometimes, but those artists didn’t just pull that out of their ass one day. They put in hours and hours and hours of work. Let’s not disrespect other artists by ignoring that and chalking it up to “talent”. No one is born with an innate ability to draw. WE can get there too if we practice!

I want to get good enough to draw the things I have in my head one day!

Some resources that may be helpful:

Draw a Box - This is a site for free lessons for absolute beginners. Look under “Lessons” to learn. The creator of the site is the mod for r/ArtFundamentals. You can post your work there to get critiqued.

Check out Proko’s videos on gesture drawing, art fundamentals, etc. Daily routines of successful artists.

Use this site to practice figure drawing, gesture drawing - Set aside some time to practice drawing people and animals every day. Start trying to see things as lines, shapes, and go big. Don’t get too caught up in the details, and tiny drawings. Learning to draw fast (not draw FAST as in speed, but as in capture the gesture in a post, the “feel” of the movement) will force you to do this more, and with more experience, make your figures less stiff looking. 

And it’s okay if you’re aren’t good at it. You’ll make loads and loads of shit drawings until you can get decent. 

I’m most definitely in this stage right now, trying to train my Artist’s Eye. As in, I can’t just draw a figure from memory. I don’t really know what goes where without a reference, or how they move, etc. You can tell by how stiff my drawings look.

Lulusketches How to Improve video - She has similar advice, but her point about looking at “Art of” books something I have come across from multiple professional artists; Her advice on worrying about finding your own “style” is really good too. Do challenges like she said!

Her playlist of art tutorials & advice is great. They’re short and sweet. Her beginner digital art tutorial got me started on digital art (the one with Ginny Weasley). 

Not free ($30 a month), but these online Schoolism classes look helpful. It’s run by Bobbie Chiu. I saw some great reviews and I want to try them someday. They’re taught by artists in the animation/film industry. But you gotta have a basic grasp on digital art/photoshop for many of the classes, I think? I’m not 100% sure. They’re pre-recorded video lessons. 

You can pay more for feedback from the teachers, but you can also just use it as a self-learning guide. 

This drawing faces from any angle video was pretty helpful for me. The artist has loads of other tutorials.

COMICS

I don’t feel qualified enough to give much advice on comics. I mean, I don’t even draw the lines for the boxes, haha.. However, these comic books are basically required reading for some courses:

Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics & Making Comics.

I can’t remember which one it is that I read, I think it was Making Comics? But wow, if I remember correctly, it was FULL of really useful things about how to make effective comics. I lost the book while moving years ago, but it was FANTASTIC learning material. I loved every panel of it. 

He talks about everything from perspective, placement of characters, speech bubbles, how big panels should be, etc. 

If you can afford it, get a used one and start reading! Even if you don’t want to make comics just yet, it’s super interesting. 

[paperwick]

Artist Interview with Kallie LeFave

Last week I got to sit down and interview an artist I admire, Kallie LeFave. Her work has inspired me for a while, and she very kindly agreed to take the time to chat with me about her social media, past struggles, and how fanart has impacted her freelance business.

Kallie Lefave is a self-taught illustrator with a focus in fantasy, and has been successfully freelancing for nearly 7 years. She has a keen eye for color and shape dynamics.

D: You're pretty active on social media, at least from what I've seen on Twitter. How many platforms do you maintain?

K: Right now I'm active on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, all of which I can be found under @kallielef

D: How much of your day, or week, do you devote to your social media? Not just posting and retweeting/reblogging other's work, but also creating the artwork you use on social.

K: Well, my schedule has changed a lot with a toddler, but I'd say right now I devote about 2-3 hours of the day to creating work along with posting to my platforms. So, perhaps 30 minutes retweeting/reblogging/liking art and maybe 1-2 hours painting and drawing.

Weekends I get a little more free time, so maybe 3-4 hours then, but that can always change with a kiddo.

D: I believe it! Starting a family will shake up any schedule for sure. Has it impacted your approach or your artwork in unforeseen ways?

K: Oh, definitely! I waited (and contemplated) on having a child for almost ten years because I was worried about how it would affect my time to create. My daughter had some complications, a breathing issue after she was born which made my brain switch gears, and all my focus went towards her. For a while I found myself frustrated needing a creative outlet, but ultimately having a child helped me learn balance and selflessness. Because of her, not only do I have a more structured and valued appreciation for time dedicated to creating art, but being around a child really has expanded the way I look at and feel about art.

D: Oh wow, even in retrospect that’s scary to think about, I'm glad things worked out! It sounds like it's really changed things up for you. Did you struggle with balance before you had your daughter?

K: Yes, I did struggle, but in the sense that I had so much time on my hands and not enough discipline, and I would overwork myself. My schedule was a hodgepodge of doing studies, learning more about digital art, learning and practicing fundamentals, free art and commission work. Now, I know for the most part what to expect of the day and myself, but also that everything can change and I need to make the most of the time I'm given.

D: That's encouraging, I feel like it's a pretty common problem among artists to struggle with discipline and overwork. Do you have any general advice for people who are facing those same troubles?

K: Yeah, for sure! I always look at a creator like George R R Martin and Stephen King; both incredibly talented and creative artists, but very different disciplines when it comes to creating. I had a professor once tell me that I had a "dancing brush", which she said meant that I traveled a lot around a painting, not settling on one thing for too long. That's very much how my mind feels, constantly dancing and entertaining ideas. If I feel myself getting too overwhelmed or overworking something, sometimes I just have to verbally tell myself to stop and move on, otherwise I'll just get stuck. If I'm afraid to try something or don't have the confidence, or lack of motivation, I like what Even Amundsen once said, "f*!%$ it, Let's DO IT!"

D: Ha ha, I like that a lot!

K: Yes, it's on a sticky note on my computer!

D: How long has it taken you to build up a following? Was there anything that kick-started that process for you, like a shift in what or how you posted content? Or has it been a steady increase from the start?

K: I started working in digital art in 2014, where I began scanning in penciled drawings of all the Hobbit characters, and that was my introduction into fandoms. It wasn't until about a year later when I discovered A Song of Ice and Fire, along with the Game of Thrones series, that I really got invested in a fandom. That's where I created a piece of Sandor Clegane "The Hound" and Arya Stark, posting on Deviantart and got one of their Daily Deviations. I didn't know what that was at the time, but saw that it brought in a lot of new followers and interest to my work. That was exciting, I love having conversations with people and the fan art engaged me with so many other fans. So, I had a small following start there which grew a lot for some time in the GoT fandom. After that, I created works for The Hobbit and Dragon Age fandom, which I'm still currently creating artwork of, but I'm not certain my following has grown very much-it's been steady, but small. That used to disappoint me some, that I didn't have a huge following, but I kind of like my small groups; I get to spend more time talking to people and less pressure on myself.

D: Fan art has been a large part of your online work, how has it informed your professional work? Has having a fan-base built on fanworks impacted your business significantly?

K: A lot of the work I do professionally is because clients found me through fandoms, and it's definitely impacted my business. But one thing that is always flattering and fun are the clients who want me to create their original characters or concepts. For them to feel confident enough in my abilities to recreate their ideas means a lot and tells me I must be doing something right! That also helps give me encouragement to create my own characters, and hopefully one day make solely original content to sell (like Pete Morbacher, Charlie Bowater, Eli Baum, Valentina Remenar, Lois van Baarle, and Minna Sundberg).

D:Do you have a commissions page?

K: Thank you very much! At the moment I don't, but I'll be setting something up in the near future. I'll definitely let people know when I'm taking commission work again.

D: As a self taught artist, how do you feel about the art college dilemma? Especially with online course schools like schoolism and CTRL+Paint available?

K: Ha, I was just reading about the topic in imagineFX magazine. I went to school for traditional art with a focus in abstract expressionism and conceptualism. I'm not sure I really learned anything, unfortunately, BUT the discipline, structure,  connections and social networking I made at that time were helpful. I think a lot of digital artists would agree that going to art school has those same benefits and can help a lot of people who are lacking in discipline, creating a daily syllabi and have a hard time meeting people. But also, I have taken a few self taught Schoolism courses, and loved them. I think if you have the time to invest in courses like that (or the free ones like ctrl paint), and are willing to be disciplined, they can be very effective. In short, I feel both traditional and online schools have a lot to offer, it’s just a matter of what you're willing to invest in.

*when I say I didn't learn anything from school, I mean the fundamentals or "how to paint", haha. I did learn a lot otherwise.

D: What has been the most challenging thing for you in art?

K: The first thing that comes to mind is building up a memory of what I'm trying to learn or practice, like how light hits the planes of a face or how a figure should look when turned at a certain angle. I still have to reference things as my memory can betray me lol, but I'm starting to see things being remembered and clicking.

D: Is there someone lately whose art has really inspired you? Or some recommended reading you'd like to share?

K: A lot of the Pixar/Disney art teams, like Mingju Helen Chen, Corey Loftis, Minkyu Lee. I'm learning a lot about shape language looking at their art. There's always Charlie Bowater, too, who I think is a bit of a wizard with her brush. Art related reading-I have been listening to Bobby Chiu's "The Perfect Bait" on youtube, hopefully it will be in print again one day because it's a very resourceful art book. Non art-I read devotionals daily, currently one about the ego and it just helps keep me grounded.

Kallie has a lot of great insight, and is just an incredible artist. You can find Kallie’s work on most social media platforms under her handle kallielef:

https://twitter.com/kallielef

https://kallielef.tumblr.com/

https://www.instagram.com/kallielef/

[twrlvepercent]

nice work, kid

post-hoco / pre-infinity war (the sweet spot)

read on ao3

reposting one of my sweeter fluff fics because the angst fic i'm writing now is draining my happiness

———

A young boy is lost in the stampede of terrified people, fleeing the Stark Expo at the sight of armed robots.

The boy tightens his plastic Iron Man mask, the quiet act rolling back his fear underneath the safety of his hero’s identity.

The crowd has mostly cleared, a few stragglers still finding the exit, and the five-year-old boy is unable to find any sign of his aunt or uncle. He turns around at the sound of robotic joints and sees the haunting, metallic eyes that would remain in his mind for years.

As Iron Man would, he raises a hand to fend off the much taller robot. It falls to pieces under a repulsor blast and the boy jumps back, confused and startled.

The boy's confusion only lasts a second. Iron Man himself glances down at him for just a moment, needed elsewhere.

———

"Nice work, kid."

"Nice work, kid," Tony says, spinning his rolling chair around to face Peter as he enters. "Heard about your decathlon win."

"How?" Peter leaves his backpack by the door and joins Tony at the lab table. "I literally just got back."

He shrugs. "Word travels." Under Peter's questioning stare, Tony shrugs. "If I can't be there, Happy fills me in. That's why the divider goes up."

Peter scoffs. "His motivations are different than I thought."

"First of all, Hap doesn't think you're annoying," Tony says, nonchalant. His next words are lower—Peter only picked up on it because of his enhanced hearing. "I believe the actual word he used was 'insufferable.'"

"I must be hanging out with you too much then, Mr. Stark."

"Uncalled for. I didn't even know you were capable of sass." Tony points a screwdriver accusingly at him. He uses it to point to a metal shelf across the room. "Just for that, you have to grab the spares box from the shelf."

"Fine, fine," Peter says, hands up in surrender. He finishes tightening a screw and gets up, steadying his chair.

"Surprised you haven't already talked my ear off about it. Nationals or not, the team tends to come up a lot."

Peter goes uncharacteristically quiet for a moment and the only sound in the lab is that of paper rustling. "I definitely think that talking about decathlon will have to wait, then."

Tony raises a brow, his project losing his attention as he watches Peter sift through a box of papers. Peter studies one carefully and smiles. "I cannoy believe you keep fanart," he says, a teasing tone underlining his voice. “Don’t you take pride in being, well, rated R?”

"Children are my most loyal fanbase." Tony leans back in his chair and Peter brings the box to the table. He grabs the paper Peter held, tracing his finger over messy lines, colored with cheap crayons. "Most of them are too young for mommy to explain why I'm a terrible person."

Normally, a comment like that would've sent Peter into an illustrated, seven-hour-long lecture on the wonders of Iron Man-slash-Tony Stark. This time, it only gets him a disapproving glare.

In a moment, Peter's attention is on something else. He pulls another drawing from the box, holding it like it’s an award. "Is this one your favorite? Maybe even fridge-worthy?" Peter grins, his words rushed with excitement.

The picture itself could only be interpreted as an Iron Man drawing because of the crude red and gold stick figure that stood next to a much shorter stick figure. The coloring isn't nearly accurate but Tony chalked that up to age.

"You know, picking a favorite drawing has got to be harder than picking a favorite kid."

Peter smirks. "Gotta say, if you pick this as your favorite drawing, you're essentially picking a favorite kid." He flips the paper over and points to a rough signature in the corner. "I did this."

"You did not," Tony says, reaching for the paper in disbelief. There, right on the back, is written Peter Parker, both P's backward. Five-year-old Peter had written thank yu under his name. "Who's Yu?" Tony jokes. "Why do I have to thank him?"

Peter rolls his eyes. "I think I sent this after you, y'know, saved my life."

"Germany?" Tony breathes a laugh. "I think we should sign you up for some drawing lessons. Definitely spelling classes."

"This was way, way, way before Germany! It was at, uh, Stark Expo." Peter pulls out his phone, fingers flying over the keyboard as he searches for a video. "I was five or six."

"You're just now telling me?" Tony asks, incredulous. "I've heard you mention more facts about Legos I think I would ever need and you're just now telling me that I saved your life when you were five."

"It never came up."

"Neither did Legos!"

"Found it!" Peter declares, turning his phone around for Tony to see. The video buffers for a split second but that still is all he needs to see for him to remember.

That kid scared him. Made him wonder how many other kids got hurt thinking they could be Iron Man.

Now that he knows it’s Peter, the video is different. The telltale curls beneath the mask, the surprise when the robot got blasted.

"Good to see your reckless trait didn't spontaneously generate," Tony mutters, almost as a note to himself. "That kid—you—nearly gave me a heart attack that night so I guess it's also good to know you didn't need to be bitten by a spider to do that." Tony eyes the teen critically. “Spider bite really only made you hear good, huh?”

“Among other things.” The video ends and Peter looks back at the drawing wistfully. "Well, thanks for not letting me kill myself."

"Someone's gotta look out for the Iron Man ripoffs."

"And I'm sure 'Yu' does a great job with that."

Tony laughs. When Peter leaves to go back to his apartment, Tony looks for an open spot on the fridge. With a Spider-Man magnet, he hangs up Peter’s old drawing, knowing it’s the one drawing that really matters.

[edwardslostalchemy]

I want to share some Shouto headcanons with y’all because I love that boy so much. They range from his high school days to his pro hero days so they’re all over the place. Also there are some with tododeku so there’s that. I’ve had discussions with @brightismarstonight and @alartes-draws over some of these, too. :)

His nerves can get damaged if he uses too much of his power. So he can have like fried nerves on his left side and frozen nerves on his right side. 

Because of this, he feels numbness at times. 

It’s gonna sound gross, but he carries a bottle/vile of Katsuki’s sweat. Whenever he needs some fire power (haha pun intended), he throws it at a villain and then shoots his fire and BOOM. 

He’s more of a long-range fighter, but he’s been training for short-range attacks, too. When he’s fighting an opponent and dodges them with his arms, he activates his quirk so by touching them, he can freeze or burn them, depending where he’s touching like an arm or a leg.

He has multiple burns on his left side.

Because of the burn on his left eye, he lost sight in it and now he’s blind in that eye. He has a kick ass support item/prosthetic eye designed by Mei and she has all these features he can use like infrared/heat-sensing/night vision. So he has that advantage over people because nobody can sneak up on him from behind. 

That prosthetic requires a support item to be attached to his head so that it can receive environmental signals and relay it to his prosthetic so he has a green earring on his left ear. It also records information and stores data so it’s useful when he’s working on investigations. 

He and Ochako train together because she needs training against long-range fighters and Shouto needs training against short-range fighters. Even though Shouto can freeze her in place, she touches him and sends him out of the space they train in. 

The dekusquad works out together and helps each other out, especially when motivating each other while lifting weights and working on particularly difficult exercises. 

Shouto likes sitting on Izuku’s back while Izuku does push-ups. He usually reads a book or eats soba, or he counts for Izuku and cheers for him. Yes, this is a reference to that one fanart, but I can’t find it so if someone could get the link for me, I’d really appreciate it. 

Izuku is the toughest when it comes to working out. Shouto likes to train with him when he wants a solid workout because Izuku is not his boyfriend when they train. Izuku takes things very seriously and Shouto enjoys that attitude. He also thinks it’s hot when Izuku yells at him. 

He believes he is not fast enough, so he trains with Tenya and has asked him about exercises to help with his speed. 

Shouto lets his hair grow long because he wants to look like his mom. He’s tried dying it to cover his crimson hair, but the dye dissolves when he uses his flames. He asked Mei to make him a special, fire/heat resistant dye and she was more than happy to oblige. 

Honestly he’s her favorite customer besides Izuku and Tenya. 

He is weak around children. To the point where he will weep if they are being extra cute or if they dress up like him. When he is a pro hero and he sees kids dressed up as him, he feels so happy about it and tells them they look amazing. 

He doesn’t get involved in politics, but he has spoken out on his disapproval of quirk marriages and they should be illegal. He also advocates/supports people who have been abused and visits centers to volunteer. 

When he rescues kids, he makes sure to give them a smile and to reassure them that they will be alright. He provides warmth with his left side to help them feel safer. It’s always a great feeling when the kids hold on to him and smile back even if they were just rescued from danger. 

Izuku and him have the best teamwork and Aizawa has praised them for it. “You don’t have synergy with your quirks, but your teamwork is so good it doesn’t matter.” 

As a pro hero, he likes to take on interns who have fire/ice/strength quirks. The first two because he himself has them, and the latter because he knows the mechanics of a strength quirk thanks to Izuku. 

He doesn’t like to use kettles to boil water, so he uses a pan and boils water there or heats water in the microwave instead. Kettles give him anxiety and when they whistle, he panics. So no kettles allowed whenever he is in the general vicinity. The dekusquad will kill the kettle. I got inspired by this fanart/headcanon set for this one.

When he’s older and he and Izuku are together/married, he wears his t-shirts, like 100% Beef or Training To Be Like All Might, and because Izuku has worn them in public before, there’s pictures of him with them on. So if Shouto gets asked about the shirts, he just says they’re Izuku’s. That’s it, nobody needs that much context. 

When his mother is released from the hospital, Shouto goes to live with her. He takes her out to eat or to go shopping or just to spend time together. He buys her gifts and spoils her. And he is always hugging and kissing her. 

When he’s older, he becomes less oblivious, but he pretends to not understand so people can back off, mainly reporters. 

Speaking of the media, he doesn’t like to share his personal/private information with the media except for a few occasions. When a reporter was curious about his orientation, he didn’t want to answer because he didn’t think it mattered what his preference was. But the reporter asked him if it would embarrass his father and that instantly convinced him to grab the microphone, look at the camera, and announce he was gay. RIP Endeav*r. 

Again speaking of the media, he may not like talking to them, but he isn’t rude about it. He answers quick questions and then excuses himself. But he is VERY nice to the public and will sign autographs and take pictures with people. 

He likes to talk about All Might so whenever he and Izuku start talking, they don’t stop. They can talk for DAYS and won’t run out of things to discuss. 

He focuses a lot more on teamwork rather than working alone because he has experienced that working with others gets better results than working individually. He also never takes credit for what he does, even if he was involved. He doesn’t need to take credit to know he did his job. 

Because of this, he doesn’t care about ranks anymore. If he’s a top hero, that’s great, but he doesn’t need a rank to be a hero. He’s a hero because he wants to save people and be like All Might, and be the kind of hero he wants to be. Doing it just for a rank would make him feel hollow and hypocritical. 

He refuses to work for his father after he graduates from UA. Instead, he works for Tensei Iida over at his agency and gets great experience and grows as a person and as a hero because Tensei is an open and honest boss with ideals that match Shouto’s. 

When he and Izuku have more experience and money, they set up their own hero agency and become a duo. They have multiple sidekicks and heroes working for them. They also accept interns and have even request the whole Class 1A from UA every year, but they always get turned down and are told they can only have up to 2 interns. 

He’s very careful with his quirk output, when he has to, he goes all out and lets loose. Like he will use both fire and ice together and cause big ass explosions like he did in the sports festival. He has multiple attacks like this that work well against larger villains. 

He is intimidating even when he isn’t mad. He has a resting bitch face and people are scared of him. But when he opens his mouth and starts talking, it’s all Gucci because he’s not that scary once he talks about random things like his favorite heroes. 

Speaking of his favorites, he shamelessly wears their merch and will promote them, like All Might and his classmates from 1A. (You think Izuku is the only one doing this??? Of course not! 1A is family and love and support each other throughout their careers. Shouto does his part and wears their shirts.)

He loves Izuku’s mother. When they met, they instantly clicked and wouldn’t stop talking about cooking and baking and other things (like Izuku). She showed him baby pictures of Izuku and he came so close to crying because he couldn’t believe how cute he was as a kid. He fawned over the pictures and asked for copies. This made Izuku very flustered and Inko very happy. Instant son-in-law.

When he gets the chance, he can sleep all day. His friends get concerned when they don’t see him come out of his room and think he’s hurt or dead, but he was just sleeping. After living in the dorms for a few weeks, the kids are used to it by now and don’t worry it. 

He and Aizawa have talks sometimes and it gets very deep. They both have monotone voices so when someone overhears them, it sounds funny even if they’re both being serious. 

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Episode #100 Highlights!

That’s right: 100 EPISODES. That’s a lot of great questions, greater answers, questionable pronunciations of usernames, even more questionable uses of overlays, and a++++ excellent dogs. 

The entire cast is answering questions this week!

Max runs an (adorable) intro in the above puppet theater, and each cast member gets a title. Laura is The Heart, Sam is The “Funny Guy”, Travis is The Brawn, Liam is The Actor, Matt is The Brains, Marisha is The Face, Taliesin is The Pyramid, Brian is The Convict, and Ashley is The Favorite.

The cast’s entrance is majestic. There are balloons, sashes, tiaras, and champagne. Henry has a tiara too!

The Search for Grog will air this Friday, February 22 at 7 PM Pacific on twitch.tv/criticalrole. If you miss the stream, it’ll be available Saturday morning on CR’s YouTube channel!

Talks Machina and CR will air on CR’s official channels starting today! Starting next episode, TM will be available on CR’s YouTube channel on Thursday at 7 Pacific, and also in podcast form!

Stats: in 100 episodes of TM, there’s been 81 episodes of Brian’s glorious beard. There have been 9 Skype/FaceTime call-ins! There were 244 guest misnomers before that well ran dry. 93 episodes of pre-show hijinks (thanks to Max James!). 95 episodes of Arsequeef. 826 days of being on the internet!

Brian: "The concept of creating a talk show about a D&D campaign has always been absurd to me, so we wanted to embrace that terribleness.”

There’s now a Steve Cam (quietly reading, meal prepping, and ignoring the show), and a Zach Cam (staring at a monitor that’s all just Liam’s chest hair and the Fjord bust), and a Max Cam (dancing in a stripper cop outfit), Lockey Cam (practicing with a sword in front of a mirror and then charging at Daniel for filming it - Brian: “Hopefully Daniel’s non-union.”), Ed Cam (drinking scotch and counting down the days until football returns, and also lint rolling his new goatee), Chris Cam (rapping in the VO booth), Brittany Cam (dancing with a unicorn blanket, huffing compressed air - Brian: “You can’t show that on Twitch!”).

Matt is asked how his DMing style has evolved with campaign 2. “Well... I’ve been forced to embrace a little more of the tragedy in the characters’ backstories.” The internal and external conflict has been really interesting for him to watch and react to. “I’ve learned to be very proud of my players for mucking up my perception of where things are going to go.”

Coming to Xhorhas, Nott’s thrilled to no longer have to worry about the mask. Sam’s excited about the City of Beasts “to see what kind of fucked-up individuals we’re going to find and seeing how Nott will react to that.”

Yasha definitely sympathizes with Nott trying to save her spouse, but “there’s a lot going on with her going back to Xhorhas. It’s definitely triggering for her, but she understands the need to want to go back. I wish I could go to Xhorhas. We’ll see what happens.” Travis: “I’m pretty sure once we go to a place we can never go back.”

Favorite item on the Talks shelves? Taliesin mentions a magnetic Percy mini, Sam likes the tiny Sams (”It looks like my bedroom!”), Ashley and Brian are partial to the Sully painting, Laura loves the Pike painting, Marisha loves all the stuff the cast bought on a hungover voyage to the flea market when they were first building the set, Matt loves a very cool dice tower. Brian likes the Vecna with Marisha’s face. Matt: “I don’t know if I like that one.”

Laura doesn’t like the party using the derogatory term for the Krynn, because she wants people to be happy even if she doesn’t know them. Sam: “I haven’t been the best for that, but if Jester wants me to... I guess I’ll change.”

There are new wipe transitions featuring the Matt pillow and the Fjord bust. It’s glorious.

Gif of the week: Sam calling Travis “studly” for catching the candy. Laura: “...I like that I’ve been cut out of it completely.”

Arsequeef gets the Lifetime Achievement Award for Gif of the Week. He wins Max’s 2006 Honda Accord.

On Caleb taking off his bandages because there’s nothing to hide anymore: “Was that terrifying for him, or a relief?” Liam: “Yes!” He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it feels good. He’s got f...r...iends?” Marisha: “I love that sitcom. (weakly) F...r...iends?”

Caduceus being a source of comfort, insight, and advice was built into the character. Taliesin looked at low INT high WIS, and Matt immediately started laughing and told Taliesin he’d do well with that. Taliesin: “There’s plenty of things that will eventually flap that, but we haven’t hit them yet.”

As a player, Travis doesn’t like to weigh things carefully all the time, so a lot of Fjord’s leardership has been a bit about pressing fast-forward. Marisha: “So what you’re saying is that your Grog’s poking through.” Matt points out that if both characters have a trait, it’s probably just Travis. 

Liam: “I’ve got a little Travis poking me from behind.” Marisha, musing: “So many conflicting beards...”

Beau’s prayer to Ioun mostly came from a “couldn’t hurt” perspective. “I’ll try it out. Give it a spin.” When Travis asks, Marisha clarifies that it was Ioun specifically because of the Cobalt Soul. Travis: “Oh yeah, I totally knew the relationship there. I just wanted to make sure the audience did.”

Bugbear friend or bugbear foe? Sam: “He speaks goblin, he seems cool, his name’s Gluzo. He has a hard-to-pin-down accent, but it’s amazing.” Taliesin: “You have a hard-to-pin-down accent, too. It’s something you have in common.” Taliesin gets asked if his insight check revealed that the bugbear is secretly pretending to be someone else. “Yes, he’s just pretending to be a bugbear. He’s actually Matt Mercer.” Laura: “I like him. ‘Cause he’s cute and he let me give him a tattoo.”

Sam: “Nott trusts her friends to be as strong as they can be, and at this point, I don’t know if she’s as concerned with one of them dying as just getting to her husband in time before he dies. If we lose one along the way, Nott will probably cry a little, but will move on.” What if it were Fjord? “Fjord’s expjendable.”

Matt: “I’ve reached a point where Travis controls Yasha in combat, but I don’t consider any of his roleplay canon.” Ashley: “I trust Travis. Barbarian respect.” Laura: “Don’t give him that.” Ashley: “Travis himself is like a Deck of Many things. This is risky, but it’s kind of fun!”

Sam: “That dunamancy shit is lit.” Liam: “And it’s tied up in everything that Caleb wants, so if he can get on the entropy shit and the gravity shit, you know he’s going to go back in time, motherfucker.” Sam is so excited to have these mystery spells because they’re so new, and they’re inherently something they don’t know how to counter or prepare for. Travis: “It’s almost like every time we play D&D.”

Fanart of the Week: a spectacular group shot.

Everyone freaks out over how good Travis looks with glasses. He takes them off and puts them back on sexily for a while. I was too slow grabbing a screencap, but don’t worry, the gifs will be everywhere.

Laura: “Jester hasn’t experienced a lot of emotions. She hasn’t experienced a lot of anything, really. She’s definitely dealt with sadness in her life, but I don’t think it’s been so in-your-face constantly, just the trauma of it all.” Liam: “Yeah, she’s with some very terrible people.” Laura: “While it is traumatic, it’s also been a great adventure, and she’s enjoying being out and doing things. Even if it might hurt her, it’s so much better than reading about it, drawing it, just imagining how it would be.”

Caleb’s still feeling out the shift in his relationship with Nott, but there’s no question that everything they’ve gone through can’t be forgotten or overlooked. “He sees her as an absolute ally no matter what, and will do anything for her. In a weird way, he feels like they’re even more alike than he thought they were, and he loves her and wants her to succeed in what she’s doing, and hopes that the things that he wants don’t fuck it up entirely.” Sam: “Are you talking about Liam and Sam right now?”

Caduceus’ thoughts on Xhorhas? “A new environment, certainly, and a new aspect of nature that he’s unfamiliar with. This is just more terrain to him at this point. He’s also very unaware of the political realities. He’s vaguely aware there is war. He’s still not sure why we can’t just go up and ask for directions from everyone.”

Brian: “That tiara is the most blessed image.”

Travis on the Captain Tusktooth tattoo: “Brand recognition is huge in Xhorhas.” Taliesin: “Viral marketing.” Laura confirms that it’s not likely to change apart from some small differences from tattoo to tattoo. “Each person gets a special google.”

Laura on fans actually getting this tattoo: “I am ALL ABOUT IT.”

Marisha: “Guys! How about instead of M9 tattoos...” Sam: “We let Laura tattoo us? I would legitimately be down with that!” Ashley: “I’m kind of into it.” Liam: “This is what splits us apart.” Laura: “Everybody gets a dick.” Travis: “How would we explain that to our kid? ‘What’s that?’ ‘Your mom did that.’”

Beau is holding back a bit since her impulsiveness started having negative repercussions. “I think it’s about accountability. She’s started to learn--- especially when she first joined M9, she didn’t have friends, really. I think you had to learn, oh, my actions do affect others around me. I think that’s something you can learn and you can grow in, but yeah, she is trying to not be a total fuckwad anymore. Trying. But old habits...”

Favorite TM moments? Travis: “Do you remember that episode where Brian wasn’t the host?” Brian remembers Travis throwing the card that almost took him out. Ashley fondly remembers PullOutKing. Laura remembers Taliesin saying the phrase “I love teenage assholes” (referring to Percy acting immature), and Taliesin is super glad someone brought that up again just when the tweets were finally starting to die down. 

Ashley talks about how proud she is about how far Brian’s come, and how great he’s doing at this. Everyone has an uncharacteristically sincere moment of applause for Brian. Liam: “Everyone take 30 seconds to drop the bit that we think you’re a total fucking weirdo. You’re so good at this, and you’re such a good friend, and we’re so glad you’re part of this family.”

Marisha pitches the idea of trying to sell TM syndicated on LifeTime now that they have 100 episodes.

Brian remembers having food poisoning that led to him running off-screen, throwing up in the middle of the show, and then having to come back. Marisha remembers Travis texting everyone that night with “lol, did Brian just yarf on TV?”

Matt talks about how proud he is of Brian for going from zero tabletop experience to co-running his own game.

Talks Machina After Dog ft. Sleepy Boi Henry

“This is the best dog-petting show ever.”

Liam was skeptical about TM initially, because he was worried it would take away from what would be shared in-game. Marisha: “I was stoked for it, not gonna lie. I was very misunderstood and people hated my character, so I was kind of stoked to just get to explain it.” Travis was sold once they picked the name.

Marisha: “It also set the precedent for really dumb, punny names.” Brian points out that, as a channel, they now can’t stick with serious names as their final choice.

Laura’s sister has been watching the show, and she texted Laura after the show to ask what the whisper was, so Laura’s going to tell her and no one else. Liam: “You’re gonna tell your real sibling?”

There’s a horrified discussion about giraffe fighting. Some segues happened in there.

What’s something their characters have done that’s made them proud? Liam: Caleb using the Wall of Fire. Marisha: the Plank King execution episode as a whole (everyone agrees). Travis: “I was proud of hooking up with an NPC when my wife wasn’t here to threaten me with death.” (he immediately turns to Taliesin: “Help.” Taliesin: “No god can help you now.”) Taliesin: “I sunk a boat.” Laura: Proud of not getting caught with Nott in the Platinum Dragon sanctuary. Sam: Taking the blow for Jester so she could escape. Liam: “Molly showing his dick covered in eggs.”

Matt: “I’m proud of you guys not entirely descending into evil madness. I’m proud of the character arcs of being broken, terrible people, and finding out that it’s okay to be broken; you’re not necessarily terrible.” Liam: “The entire cast went, ‘He’s talking about everyone but me’.” Matt thought it was going to be very hard to keep the group together, but the party turned it into character growth moments. “I’m proud of you.” Laura: “Thanks, Dad.”

Yasha loved the arm wrestling. “Oh man, it’s so fun to be the tank.”

Laura: “I’m really proud of us for saving Kiri!”

Everyone has Liam’s chest hair:

Wishes for the next 100 episodes? More Ashley. 

Brian: “I hate this coffee table more than anything in the whole, entire world.”

What’s something that should never change about the show? How ridiculous it is, the barrel, Dani. Also always have a dog. They fundamentally do the show for themselves, still, and that’s made it a really good environment for them to open up about the show and their characters.

Liam: “There’s a lot of beauty to what we do, but it’s also inherently silly. And to deny that is silly.”

Matt likes that it’s unpolished and imperfect. “Things are going to go wrong regardless, and you can either get angry and frustrated about the lack of control, or you can embrace it.” Sam: “None of this is real anyway.” 

Brian points out that this is not an excuse to stop paying him.

And that’s a wrap! This is the last After Dark for a while, but there are some big ideas in the works for the coming weeks!

[lost-incident-kid]

Happy Birthday Miyu Sugisaki (for tommorow) might do some art for her idk

———

Edit: ah heck! Ive had this queued for months, but i forgot to actually do the art haha, i’ll get something done overnight so it might be rushed and look like trash, it might look reasonably ok. Who knows at this point. I dont trust the sleepy version of myself to create anything good but hey, theyv created some stuff that wasn’t horrifying before :/

Ok, starting here i legit just start live-blogging myself staying up alnight drawing. Ignore me. I didnt know where else to say it. I’ll delete it later.

Edit 2: this isnt gonna be done. Like frick, i just spent 6 hours on miyu’s fricking hairstyle, thats all done and even shaded and looking fabulous but ive only got a rough lineart for litterally everything else. This might not be done, but if it is then her hair is gonna be a fuckign masterpiece (i hope). Im writing this edit at 1:42am, and im gonna go to bed somewhere between 4 and 5, lets go! Hell yeah! I might do this! Perhaps! Im gonna try! 3-4 sprint time! Yeah!

Edit 3: frick, im failing to do this, miserably. Its 3:03am and i got distracted playing mobile games and didn’t get anything done. My existence is futile, existentially im a waste and I should not exist. The atoms within me deserve to be part of something better. Sorry. I’m a f*ck up and unless I get my sh*t together in the next like 5 mins (unlikely) then this aint gonna be finished.

Edit 4: ok, meltdown like 20% over. Its 3:52am, I think the issue then was the face. Faces r hard bruh, they suck do draw. They a festive lil ho ho ho. I was drawing everything too high up on the face cuz my dumb *ss forgot to draw the line thingys on the face or even look at a reference image for proportions. Ive done it now amd life is now a bit more on track. Might get this done if I continue work in the morning.

Edit 4.5: nothin much (hence the .5), its 4:14am, just downed 4 cups o tea for caffeine and sugar (all the coffee we got is decaf lol). I’m gonna get this sh*t done! Ive litterally only coloured down to the face, neck and the hair but still.... I’m gonna get it done anyway! I dont care about going to bed between 4-5 anymore! I’m getting this done!

Edit 5: its less than ten mins later (4:22am) and im taking a quick 20m break to watch youtube while I wait for the caffeine to kick in because im too braindead to continue right now. Like what art style am i even trying? Idk... its really fricking complex tho. Lowkey pretty tho, like if i finish this im gonna be so proud of it like it looks great. But its taking forever and im need break.

Edit 6: ok we back. Its 4:41am, caffeine has not really kicked in but i cant permit myself any more time anyway. Back to drawning.

Edit 7: holy frick, new episode of the vrains dub came out. Man... im leaving vrains fanart to watch the vrains dub. Am I obsessed? Is this hyperfixation? Probably? Either way, its 4:50am and im going to go watch the new episode. I’ll come back to this when im done.

Edit 8: HOLY FRICK GUYS! THE DRAWING APP IM USING KEEPS CRASHING AND SAYS ITS STILL THERE BUT WONT LET ME CONTINUE AND KICKING ME OFF THE APP?!?! ITS 5:06AM AND THE PANIC ATTAC IS BACC! The new episode of the dub isnt completely out yet, im watching that version on yt where its just smol clips of it. Not all the clips r up yet. I was just going on it while waiting for the next clips to go up and thats when the app did the thing and life got 280% sucky-er.

Edit: 8.5 wahoot it stopped kicking me off the app and it let me continue. Its 5:12am and we are FINALLY continuing.

Edit 9: its 5:36 Im tired sleep time I’ll finis thos in the morning goodbye yall have a greatt day

Edit 10: ok, so im a failure. We live in the timeline that god abandoned. I cannot sleep. I shall get more cups of tea, watch yt until the caffeine actually kicks in, and then continue. Its 6:03 right now, I shall be back. Perhaps half an hour?

Edit 10.5: its 6:11am. Not much has happened, just a slight change of plans. Ik its irrelevant but im liveblogging so i gotta say, my eye hurts so im gonna stop looking at screens. Perhaps gonna try to sleep again, if not then i’ll put read a book, redo my makeup (it smudgey) or straight up just listen to music and stare into the void. Litterally anything other than look at my laptop/phone. Peace out homies, i’ll be back at some point before 7 probably (unless i do go to sleep).

Edit 11: Its 6:41am, my eye hurts. Ive been staring into the darkness and listening to various fallout boy songs. Now i feel edgy. Its been half an hour, so im gonna continue drawing. Caffeine and sugar has worn off again so im tired and unmotivated but yno what, it is what it is. Aint life nifty, i gotta get this done.

Edit 12: 6:52 everything burns im in pain my eye is on frickign fire and it looks bloodshot but now also weird azz headache that i never got one like this before so im gonna turn off all lights cuz that seems to make it marginally better am i dying probably idk either way im not gonna continue for multiple hours it is stare into the void time and stare into the void time alone ok this should be the last update

Edit 13: It is 3:16pm, didn’t continue liveblogging cuz i got one heck of a migrane. Im back and well... Happy birthday Miyu for today! I’m still gonna try to get this god forsaken art done, but holy shit what is that art style i did. Its genuinely nothing like anything ive done before, I don’t remember doing any of the colouring but apparently I did and it looks better than anything ive done before and idk if non-fricked up me can replicate it. I’m starting to wonder if i got bored and just copied it or something, like idk how i did it. Look at it

The grey is the lineart I remember doing but man tHE FRICKIGN HAIR like i couldnt have created that, could I? I can see why it was taking so long yesterday like holy shit man that stuff takes time yno

[jinjojess]

One of the main things I get asked about or have mentioned to me is why I don’t as zealously translate things on my blog anymore.

There’s a lot of reasons, some of which I’ve addressed in the past, but they’re kind of persistent issues that don’t only affect me. They affect just about every other fan translator that I’ve had the pleasure of working with and they’re why you don’t tend to see the same people stick around for a long period of time.

This is going to come across as a vent-type thing, and it isn’t aimed at anyone in particular, but just at certain trends in fandom and social media spaces in general, so I’m not calling anyone out or anything.

Like I mentioned before, you tend to notice that a lot of people who translate things for a particular fandom will drift away after a certain amount of time. This isn’t an accident, nor does it necessarily need to be an eventuality. Some people will always move on because they lose interest in the source material, but I’m not talking about that today.

Reason #1: Work and Real Life

The biggest, most persistent issue for me is my job. I work long hours, I have a two-hour commute on a train each day, and my work is very stressful and demanding. Would I rather be translating? Hell yes! Can I support myself doing translations for free? Hell no!

When I was doing really hardcore translation stuff, it was basically me not sleeping. That was a thing I could do because my hours were shorter then and I got long breaks throughout the year. I was home and in my house by 18:30 every night which meant I had way, way more free time than I’ve had in the last couple years.

I’m not in school anymore, nor do I work part time, nor am I figuring things out at my parents’ or anything. I’m also getting older and more tired. That means I can’t afford to be translating a bunch of text for free and sacrificing all my free time and time to sleep. It’s a little unfair to expect me to compete with pro translators, people who work part time, or are in university, or NEETs who happen to be doing translation stuff.

Reason #2: Lack of Motivation/Lack of “Customer Loyalty”

I was going to call this “lack of reward” but there is an inherent reward to doing this kind of work and lots of people have been very vocal and kind about their gratitude, so it’s not necessarily that you never are rewarded.

However, I do need to address the elephant in the room.

Fandom is a fickle and impatient creature. It doesn’t care about quality, it cares about speed. The second biggest reason I don’t try to keep up the pace I was going at a few years ago is because there’s really not any strong motivation to do so aside from my own pride and a handful of people.

Let me try to explain what I mean: when you’re cranking out translations quickly, before anyone else has touched anything, then people will respond well. They’ll reblog your posts, donate small amounts of money, draw you fanart, send you nice messages. The second you stop cranking things out as quickly though, all of that dries up. Yes, a core group of people will stick with you, but the majority of the fandom just kind of moves on and latches onto whoever’s faster.

And it’s frustrating. It’s annoying that I can spend hours and hours and hours putting something together, only for it to get like 50 notes. My DRT summaries have been read by countless people, but the posts themselves have less than 10 notes in most cases. 

People don’t really appreciate that translation is ultimately a creative act--it’s not just a mechanical process of Language In > Language Out, it require you to be creative in your word choices. Also they don’t appreciate the hidden work, like all the money spent procuring the original source material (which I always tried to do since I prefer to be self-reliant like a dumbass), or the formatting, or the TIME. 

Meanwhile, people will reblog visual art that looks similar with no qualms, but if it’s a long translation, they won’t even bother to read other interpretations, much less spread them.

People remember the names of visual artists, and will promote them and yell about how they need to be paid and whatnot, but they don’t tend to remember the names of people who translated things. Fandom just doesn’t do that. Unless you stay relevant and in the public eye as it were, fandom at large doesn’t remember the people who did seminal translations of works.

They don’t have to, of course, but I gotta admit that it doesn’t really make me want to pour hours of my own limited free time into working on something that no one will care about or remember I did after the fact.

Reason #3: Cutthroat Tactics

As you can imagine, when speed is the only thing that matters, the situation turns toxic real quick. While you’ll meet a lot of other great translators, and everyone I’ve personally worked with has been fantastic, but I think the incident that best shows off what I mean is what happened with Yaz and someone taking his raws to release their own version before shslscans did. That happens all the damn time.

While a certain group of people will cooperate and try not to step on others’ toes or be respectful (the reason why I never finished kamase-megane’s DRK1 translation), there will always be other people who just jump in and do stuff and don’t even recognize you--they can’t, because if they do, they run the risk of people going to read your stuff instead of theirs, and as we established, the fandom will only read one translation and nothing else.

There’s also the issue of the audience themselves, who will do things like nitpick everything you post if they don’t like it (which happened to a friend of mine, who ended up having people attack them because their interpretation of the vaguely worded source text didn’t line up with what they wanted to hear). 

There are also people who very clearly want to use you for their own advantage. You can always tell who these people are, because they will be up in your face and promoting you left and right until you need to take a breather, at which point they will drop you like a sack of potatoes and heavily promote someone who is doing the thing they want, but faster. They will also not circle back around and promote your version once you finish it.

The fandom will take your scans and your translations and use them without credit, gaining way more notoriety and attention than you ever could on your own (this happened to me last year on Twitter, where someone took a photo and translation I uploaded to my blog in 2014 and used it to garner LOADS of attention--while the Tumblr post that talked about the tweet credited me, the original thief never did, despite me politely asking).

Fandom will also turn their nose up at anything that isn’t a word-for-word translation. My summaries for the side novels are extremely detailed and I end up translating large passages anyway, and STILL people bitch that they won’t engage with summaries because they’re inferior. r/choosingbeggars much?

Part of the reason that no one remembers the translator or sticks with them if their pace drops is because there’s an unspoken expectation that the fandom is owed the translations. It doesn’t matter who they come from, but clearly someone has to do it, because it’s just a thing that fans are entitled to. That’s mind-boggling to me, who grew up with fan translations as the only way for me to experience a LOT of foreign language media. No one owes you translations of things as soon as they’re released!

Finally, it’s difficult to get your work even seen, because the market gets so saturated; all of the aggressive self-promotion often ignores what other people are doing, either because of sincere ignorance that your stuff exists, or because they’re intentionally ignoring you to make themselves seem like the only option.

Conclusion:

This is not a DanRon fandom problem; this is a fandom problem, full stop.

I can’t tell you what to do, or how to engage with fan translators and their work. This is more just a vent about things that irritate me about the whole scene and to explain why I don’t update as quickly or as often these days. 

I do still want to get my version out there, and I will still do it--I was doing side novel liveblogs and summaries before anyone paid attention to my blog and I will continue on after--but I do ask that maybe you be patient, or you try reading different translations of the same thing to appreciate the various approaches. Remember who translates what and makes sure that you always credit and source. Reblog translation posts, don’t just like them. 

Basically, treat us the way you treat visual artists.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to all the folks who have stuck with me through the years. Everyone who sends me nice asks and who has sent me art or liked or reblogged my posts, I appreciate all of that. You should be the norm, but you aren’t, and so I really love you guys. I’ll have some stuff for you very soon!

[ghosty-schnibibit]

finally found time to listen to the first ep of graduation and holy shit!!! i love it so much!!!!! liveblog below ^u^

so i’ve stayed off tumblr for the last five days to avoid any spoilers and damn it was both hard and worth the wait, i am so hype for the rest of this season!!! i think this may be the longest liveblog i’ve ever done so apologies in advance to mobile users if the readmore doesn’t work.

oh dang! starting off with narration!

newa? oh cool we're not in faerun

“a blessing of unicorns” travis i am in love with your world already

loving the spookiness of the place names

trav i love it but this is so much lore so quickly bud i've had to pause to take notes like three times

"and our deaths become all but inevitable" jesus travis

i am so excited, this is going to be so much fun

this music is giving me such dreamworks vibes

AND A CAT :D

SPECTRAL CAT :O

and here's the other three boys!

griffin is getting out years of dm saltiness and i love it

a handsome half elf boy, neat

agro keen! nice name clint

his voice is like griffin put artemis sterling and indrid in a blender

sir fitzroy maplecourt, i love him already

clint no, i am too a ace for this

water genasi, that sounds fun

i cannot wait to see the fanart of this dude, he sounds so pretty

"you had me until the mustashe" same griffy, same

JUSTIN THIS CANNOT BE THE VOICE YOU USE FOR THE WHOLE CAMPAIGN, JUSTIN W H Y

clint started off vaguely crunchy and veered right into ned

this is untenable justin

just throwing this out there, just purely based on the voices, i think fitzroy is my fave so far

oh fun! like caduceus 

"that's an absolute unit!" mood

i need art of this dude so bad

... so the same name you gave the nitpicker lol

GARY THE GARGOYLE

fitzroy you precious baby boy

oh god this is bringing back memories

"what is a bunked bed?" says griffin 'every fantasy world i create contains elevators' mcelroy

"there is no shame in this" what does that mean justin

fitzroy is my sweet boy and i love him so much, my wee aristocratic dipshit

nice! 17 for the first roll of the campaign!

huh, nice! i like this mechanic

clint ilu

you mentioned maps in the ttazz trav, give me the maps

loving the verb usage lol

oh god its hagrid

i'm loving bud more and more each time he talks

"that's groundsy's place" that's where groundsy hides the bodies of students who displease him

ARGO WTF ARE YOU DOING

"both in different ways" dang

barn and battleground side... this sounds fun

does fitzroy want to be a knight? i love this

love the use of the word smooshed

hippocamp? oooooh horse mermaid, fun

BABY :D

nice, that sounds cool as hell

TRAVIS HOW HAVE YOU MADE ME CRY, THIS IS LITERALLY THE FIRST EP AND I'M LITERALLY IN TEARS OVER THIS BABY

y'know what, his voice has grown on me

justin you are crushing this entire scene and i love it

we're already getting some foreshadowing here and i am loving it

oh this music is so choice

YEAAAH first competent woman of the arc! :D

nice, go argo

"oooh, you're sir fitzroy" why does my boy have a reputation already

did my boy get kicked out of the hero tract without knowing it???

is he crying?????

"i had my feelings hurt by a strong man" b a b y  b o y

who's the asshole?

argo my sweet sarcastic boy

oh fun, new npc buddies :D

i'm getting some wicked malfoy vibes from this guy

argo is being a dick but in a very deserved way

travis was not kidding about the sheer volume of npcs, holy shit, i'm only about 45 minutes in and i think that's seven different npcs with names and distinct personalities

oh fun! fantasy wheelchair 0u0

make that ten named npcs

his full name is argonaut, cool!

i am so excited for her holy shit, i need to draw every single pc and npc but i want to draw her the most, i love her so much

fitzroy is a dipshit and i love him

ooooh i get it now, so it's almost more like an acting school, i am digging this setting so much trav

damn that is confident

... are they the only ones clapping?

higglemis is such a mood

justin ilu holy shit

i love leon so much already, he's so soft spoken and sweet

"you would not survive that" fair call lol

griffin no you're going to destroy me with second hand embarrassment

what are you doing fitzroy my dumb dumb boy

"i'm in heck" g r i f f i n

oh my sweet summer child. oh my poor baby :(

yes, what is your class my sweet failure boy

so he's a wizard boy, love it

thank you for trying bud ilu

f i t z r o y  2

druid boy!

rouge buddies :D

so we've got a druid, a wizard, and a rouge, nice balance, a little heavy to magic users but so was balance lol

... i am terrified to know what this squirrel thing is

never mind that is actually freakin adorable, and i love her so much

oh goody malfoy's back

... it's hazing. he's going to haze them.

trav’s doing a really good job of giving npcs with similar pitches of voice different cadences to their speech

the fuck griffin

"that would put me right off lemons" a r g o

oh he has a cape... i know i kept thinking of him as a sort of malfoy character but now i can't stop picturing eridan

i am genuinely loving all the hp digs, this is so good

SNEAKERY

oh nice! birdy teacher :D

griffin what owl character are you referring to??????

i love how mundane this is, no joke, it makes it feel really grounded

good to know since they don't really have a healer

they have a dedicated party class, i love this

are they actual skeletons??? holy shit travis i love this so much

he's such a nervous baby, awww

DAMN GRIFFIN NICE

i love how supportive these boys are

how did you manage that trav, dang

HE'S A WHAT GRIFFIN??? I'VE BEEN PICTURING HIM AS A LIL NERD BOY THE WHOLE TIME, HE'S A BARBARIAN????? H O W

"we don't talk about it" i love this

is that a spell? i need to look that up

i love this skeleton friend so much

clint's tradition of naming his weapons continues and i love it

clint what are you d o i n g

NICE! go argo :D

"fuck life lessons!" jesus fitzroy

so it's more of like... a vocational school, size-wise, which aligns with a lot of the background info trav's given us. nice, easy to mentally picture

blame taking???

"you're the one whose magic came and ruined everything!" i am so eager to know this magic barbarian boy's backstory

agro's going for a more errol flynn aesthetic lol

puppy :D

"we feel settled on bud" i just realized this is the second character justin's playing that we don't know the real name of lol

i am so eager to learn what the heck this is and i just know it's going to end in a cliffhanger with only 11 minutes left in the ep

"does a plant cry out? it is plant!" i love this sweet firbolg boy

awww, ranier is a sweety, i love her so much, she's my favorite npc so far

bud’s giving himself some larry bird boots lol

everyone but bud are dumb dumbs lol

this music is so good

i am so intrigued travis holy shit this is so good

a credit to trav, this is the first npc that's made me think of magnus in terms of vocal cadence and tone

oh groundsy

poor fitzroy lmao

I AM SO READY FOR THIS

in conclusion: i am so incredibly hype for the new season!!! i know this ep was mostly setup but i’m already super interested in everyone’s characters and the mystery of whatever’s going on in the spooky forest, and i’m loving the direction travis is taking with the world and how he’s combining the magical with the mundane to make a grounded yet fantastical setting! i can’t wait for the next ep and for all the great things to come this season with everyone ^u^

[inorheona]

Hi! I totally understand if you'd rather not answer this - I'm sure it's an involved answer/would mean you have to get a link or whatnot - Anyway. I've recently started debating running commissions, and I was wondering how you go about deciding how to price things? And how you decided to use paypal rather than other methods? Also, I know selling fanart is technically illegal, but people still get away with it? How? Thanks for your time

Hi! Well,no one can really say what prices are the best. A lot of artists underchargesignificantly since they are interested in getting plenty of cheap commissionsrather than waiting for a few bigger ones which they fear might not even happen.People like buying cheaper stuff, you know. I’ve read some posts on the topicand the summary of them is that you estimate how much it takes you to draw apiece in hours and charge no lower than the minimum amount of money earned perhour typical for your country. Because, like, working for less than a minimumwage is not great. The pricing also depends on the skill level, the higher theskill the higher the rates. If you’re drawing traditional art, then obviouslyyou need to take the costs of materials into consideration too.

As far as I’mconcerned, I didn’t really plan out any of that when I opened the comms. Ilooked through many, maaany commission posts of other artists, focusing on oneswhich had offered more or less the same level of skill as I’ve had and kind ofbased it off that.

Well, manypeople are familiar with paypal. It’s the main advantage, I guess? It’sinternational, works in many countries. If there are any other specific paymentmethods in your country, you can include them too, for the fellow countryfolk.Paypal has its downsides like fees, pitfalls, which you, as a seller, will haveto consider. Say, the safest method is creating invoices for customers, makingclear that you don’t need to ship the art (if it’s digital) somewhere in thenotes to the invoice and manually change every invoice after payment toindicate that you’ve processed the order and you don’t need to ship it. Just tobe on the safe side. Cuz paypal blocks accounts sometimes and shit. In short: Idon’t like Paypal much, but it gets the job done.

Yeah, it isillegal but like who cares people need to make money. Fortunately, we as aspecies went past the stage of A** R*** where she would take ppl to court overfanfics of her novels. Huge companies don’t care. I know people are selling printsand various fanart merch at cons and everyone is doing just fine (not in jail,I mean). I see no issue in selling any kind of fanart for bigger fandoms(commissions, prints, stickers, pins and whatnot), these companies won’t go bankruptbc of that. However, I will never make and sell merch for something made by smallindie companies/artists because that’s just disrespectful. Comms are kinda mehtoo, but that’s not any kind of mass production and well who will providepeople with that sweet sweet canon x OC fanart. Setting the limitations is upto you. Some artists don’t take fanart commissions at all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hope you’llfind this helpful and good luck with your commissions!