#easy to follow (and stick | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

feroluce · 1 year

Text

Extremely in love with the idea of a time loop scenario for submas, because PLA made it just so PERFECT for them. ♡♡♡

I love thinking of it from Ingo's POV because that would be so confusing. Like he goes to bed with Emmet totally normal and fine one night, and the next morning, the change is just so. STARK.

Emmet looks exhausted, in a way that Ingo has no idea how to deal with, because it doesn't look as simple as Emmet not having slept well. He's tired in a way that sleep won't fix, he's listless, he's quiet, all of his energy and chipper attitude that Emmet usually displays even in the early hours of the morning has been completely sucked away and left him looking hollow and empty.

Emmet seems resigned to something, and Ingo has no idea what it is or what to do about it.

Ingo himself has had a strange anxiety lately, something he's left unspoken so as not to worry his darling brother, an odd ominous sensation that haunts him constantly, but all of it goes on the back burner immediately. It's probably nothing. It's certainly not his main concern anymore.

His day only gets weirder as it goes. Not only does Emmet evade Ingo's questions trying to figure out what's wrong with him, he also refuses to explain odd things that he shouldn't have or know. Ingo finds a pokeball that doesn't match any of their team, it's one he's never seen or even heard of before, gold on one side and silver on the other-

Emmet lays his hand over Ingo's, carefully takes the pokeball from him, quietly tells him not to worry about it. Everything will be ok. Emmet will explain everything, he promises. But later...ok?

Ingo doesn't push. Emmet goes back to cooking breakfast. He somehow manages to make exactly what Ingo's craving.

÷÷÷

When they get to Gear Station, Emmet asks to do the multi train instead of running their own separate lines, and Ingo is so distressed about Emmet's behavior so far that he doesn't have it in him to refuse. Ingo would do just about anything right then to see Emmet actually smile, not the crestfallen, stitched-on expression that's been fooling everyone else all day.

Emmet goes on to correctly predict every single pair of trainers they face that day, to the point that it becomes uncanny. He's always been an extremely able battler, Emmet has excellent intuition and he can quickly adapt to almost anything thrown his way. Ingo has always admired and been so, so proud of him.

But that's a little different from Emmet adjusting to a trainer's attack pattern before they even toss out their pokeball.

Over their lunchbreak, Emmet doesn't leave Ingo's side for even a moment, much as he's done for the entire day. They normally stick pretty close together, they prefer to function as a pair after all, but there's a strange desperation to it today. Emmet pulls out the lunches he'd made that morning; it's all of their favorites.

Ingo watches Emmet savor it like a last meal.

And then, that night, at the end of their shift, well after dark when the hour is closing in on midnight. Ingo gets a message that a bright light was seen down in one of the abandoned subway tunnels. Must be a flashlight; a trespasser, probably. Ingo turns to tell Emmet to go home without him; Ingo is the night owl between them and Emmet has had an off day. He deserves to go home and rest, Ingo will be home as soon as he's done with some more work.

Ingo has no more opened his mouth when he realizes Emmet already has all his things gathered and is taking his hand. "I'm going down with you."

Ingo hadn't told him about the message yet. He shouldn't have known.

÷÷÷

The whole way down the tunnels, Emmet has a vice grip on Ingo's hand, fingers laced tight together. He barely even seems to investigate, he just kind of walks with Ingo, pace slower than usual, always watching their steps.

Ingo sticks his head around a corner to check for intruders, and hears a quiet intake of breath behind him before the hand in his suddenly redoubles its grip.

Ingo turns around. Emmet is looking down. Ingo follows his gaze.

There is light. Bright, searing, white light, that is not Emmet's flashlight, not Ingo's flashlight, but is wrapped around Ingo himself, coming up from the bottoms of his shoes.

Ingo tries to jump back but finds that he can't move, he's rooted to the spot, there is light pouring out of him and flooding the ground, spreading outwards, lapping at Emmet's ankles who is suddenly right up against Ingo and holding onto him like he might disappear.

"I am sorry. Ingo, I am so, so sorry." Ingo pushes at Emmet's arms, but he won't budge, he won't get out of the way- "I tried. I really did!" the light wants Ingo, just him, he can feel it, Emmet needs to get away from him- "Many, maaaaany times!" he has no idea what he's talking about but he can't let Emmet be collateral, he can't, he can't, Ingo shoves at him again, harder, Emmet stubbornly clings on, Ingo's panic is rising like the tide, like bile in his throat, only growing more desperate in the face of Emmet's disarming calm, the light is obscuring everything, warping it, twisting it- "But I could not keep you here with me."

Everything, all of it, his entire world turns violently on its head, and when the light finally lets him go, Ingo sees bright blue sky all around him. Emmet looks up at him, the force of the shift having put them at arm's length, but unable to break their grip on each other. He can see the entire expanse of the landscape sprawled behind his brother, far far below. Pinpricks of tears bubble up from Emmet's eyes and spatter against Ingo's cheeks as they hurtle like a comet towards the ground.

"So let's Fall together."

#blankshipping #submas #pokemon ingo #pokemon emmet #subway master ingo #JUST. OUGH #that gap between Ingo having no idea what's going on while Emmet knows exactly what's happening #the implied horror of Emmet going through loop after loop after loop trying so so hard to keep Ingo with him Unova and never succeeding #and realizing that. he's never going to succeed. he wasn't meant to. he won't be allowed to.#and now he has a decision to make. Emmet can either let Ingo go- make his peace with the loss of his brother and try to live without him-#-or he can go with him. Emmet can give up everything and everyone he's ever known and throw himself into the rift with Ingo to follow him #and maybe it's an easy decision. but it is not one he makes happily or without agonizing. but he still makes it.#Emmet knows exactly what he's doing and that it will be the most horrible thing he will ever experience in his entire life #and still he does it because Ingo is worth it. Ingo is worth EVERYTHING to him- even the loss of their home.#so all that's left is to try to get in one last good day before they lose everything #Emmet makes Ingo his favorite foods and savors his own last meal because he doesn’t know when he'll ever be able to eat it again #Emmet gets them to do one last run on the multi line because that was always his favorite- getting to battle as a team with Ingo at his side #and he sticks by Ingo's side all day so that he'll be ready #because whatever wants Ingo is going to have to take him too #ingo #emmet #time loops #my fics

96 notes · View notes

tbcanary · 1 year

Note

Hi! Do you happen to have basic/simple/easy tutorials for editing comic panels to recommend?

i do not actually have one to refer you to, but i’m happy to write some things up! i’m assuming this is just for removing backgrounds and creating icons; if you want a how-to on the way i animate panels, that lives here.

i use photoshop cs6, but the same general principles should work in other editors. also, there are probably easier or faster ways to do the things i do. i like my methods and i’m comfortable with them, but i’d recommend experimenting to find what works best for you.

and... yeah! let's get into it.

step one: finding a panel

i save panels as i’m reading comics. they all live in one PSD file named “panels,” and i make a new one for each run. anything that seems pretty or thematically resonant gets copied and pasted in there. this way, i don’t have to dig through endless comic issues to find a specific image that stuck with me. i usually save the full page just so the edges are clean and everything is included.

let’s go with this page from birds of prey:

step two: cropping

the way i crop the image depends on two things: what i’m hoping to make, and what the image looks like. here, i’m just doing a basic portrait, and helena is taller than she is wide. that makes it easy; let’s crop it so she takes up most of the frame.

(my preferred ratios are 4x6 for smaller panel edits like this; for banners, i usually do 2x1, but if the framing works better as 3x2, I have done that, too. just feel it out. actual pixel sizes depend on the size of the original image.)

step three: removing the background

this part is, I think, the area with the most room for personal preference. we need to erase the background, and there are a LOT of tools to do this. each one varies depending on what the image itself looks like. there’s the magic selection tool, the eraser, or the lasso or magnetic selection tool.

(i don’t use the lasso or magnet because they’re evil, to me, but they work reasonably well when you have a character on a mostly solid background and art with thick, defined lines. i have no real advice other than that.)

here, we can mix and match some things. i’m going to start by using the magic selection tool to grab all the white or solid colors and remove them with the delete key, like so:

surprise! gone.

after that, for the more finicky areas, i am a perfectionist and i go in and erase pixels using the eraser tool at 4-5px width. i start by outlining the character, like so:

from there, you can use the lasso tool to select all of the remaining background and delete it. i usually hide the white background layer at this step, too. (i'm also going to color the smoke and the man in the foreground black and redraw the crossbow string with the paintbrush tool. this ain't about him.)

you should end up with something like this:

step four: cleaning the linework

this part is mostly using the layer style stroke and the tool refine edge.

so, because of how selection tools and erasers work, there are a bunch of hidden pixels throughout the image you can’t really see. this drives me absolutely bonkers. at this point, i combine all the layers of the paint i've done so far -- everything except for the transparent background. select the layer with the character — Helena — and apply the layer style stroke, set to “outside” at 3px.

those little black dots are what we're after. there aren't too many right now, because this was a fairly clean edit; sometimes, it looks scary and messy, but that’s okay. the layer style has just outlined all those invisible pixels. i go through and erase them — especially in tight places like corners. for example, this pesky area between strands of hair:

(before vs. after)

once you’ve erased all of those pixels and cleaned up the image, you can go back into the stroke layer style.

you’ve done a lot of erasing and feathering and cleaning up, so chances are, the line work is not nearly as crisp as it looked in the original panel. that’s fine! shift the settings to “inside” and 1px, like so:

sometimes it’ll need to be 2-3 px, sometimes it’ll need to be center-aligned, and sometimes you might even decide it looks better outside or without the stroke style at all! this is all personal preference. do whatever you like.

once it's where you want it to be, i like to duplicate the layer -- to save the one without the new outline in case anything goes wonky. then right click the copy of the layer and "rasterize style" to get a flat image with new linework.

your workspace should look something like this:

if it happens to feel like the edges are a little harsh — which happens sometimes! especially when using selection instead of eraser — you can select the whole image and use refine edge. this softens it. you don’t need to do much; i usually do 2-3px of feathering, a couple pixels of smoothing, and some contrast, depending on how it looks. see below:

you'll have three layers now. it gets confusing, so try to keep track of which one is your active layer. you can delete old ones, if you want; i generally don't, just in case.

there isn’t a hard and fast rule for this part. do what you think looks good. and if you want to refine the edge before you add the new linework, that can work! do another stroke layer style after the first round! test things out and find out what you like. most of the time, it depends on the image and your preference.

after all that, this is the helena we now have:

step five: creating a new background!

this part is easy. create a new layer, pick a color you like — i tend to pull from the actual background using an eye dropper tool, or if it’s for a multiple-part edit, I use the swatches i’ve decided on for the color scheme of the whole thing — and paint bucket that thing right on there. this is some of the blue that was behind her originally:

i don’t like flat colors, pretty much ever, because they feel harsh to me. so i go back and add artistic touches and mess around with the filters a lot. sometimes i pull text or accents from other panels and follow the same steps as above to incorporate them into the edit; sometimes, i don’t. no rules just vibes.

in this case, i want it to be pretty simple. so i’ll make a new layer, then fill it in with a gradient tool. i usually make a custom gradient; one side is the color of the background and the other side is either black or white, depending on the vibe I want.

i do an orbital gradient most of the time — circles are your friend — and focus the center on something that I want to draw the eye to. here, i’m going to do helena’s face.

then i mess around with the opacity until it looks the way i want it to. like this:

step six: final steps

congrats! you have an edited panel! you’re perfectly fine to post/share/use it at this point, but there are a couple other things i like to do to give it that final polish:

if you want to jazz up your edits, try messing around with outer glow, or drop shadow. both of those layer styles can add some emphasis to your focal point. (i prefer those be kept at a low opacity, when i use them, which isn’t often.)

i'd also recommend messing around with gradient maps if you want to superimpose a larger silhouette over the background. that would take more room than i have left in this already far too long guide, but it does add something to have it in there.

i dislike having text bubbles in my edits unless i specifically put them there, so i do have a process for removing them, much like the smoke or the man in the foreground. again, we are running long already, so i won't get into that here. my recommendation if you don't want to deal with entirely removing a bubble is to just paint over the text inside with white so you have an empty text box or speech bubble instead. it's simpler, quicker, and honestly the more common practice based on what i've seen.

that being said, if you want to know how i paint over them -- or how to do anything i didn't get into here -- feel free to ask. i don't mind writing these up.

i have a guide on how i size my images here, which walks through the exporting process. it’s not strictly necessary, but i like for my edits to remain consistent in size, so i do usually follow it.

and that’s it! you’re now ready to edit comic panels to your heart’s content. happy cropping and so on, and thanks for asking me. <3

#how to #ask.tb #anonymous #i hope this answered your question #and i especially hope it did so in a simple and easy to follow manner. despite how lengthy it got. i tried to stick to basics here.#but yeah! thank you for asking #best of luck!

33 notes · View notes

roseverdict · 10 months

Text

don't cry. pour a small-seeming serving of any pasta noodle you'd like in a deep microwave-safe bowl, just barely cover the noodles with water, microwave for roughly 2 minutes 30 seconds, stir, microwave for 2 more minutes, carefully drain the pasta water from the pasta, liberally mix shredded non-mozzarella cheese into the hot noodles, and pour small amounts of milk in (maaaybe a school milk carton's worth or two at most) to taste and to make it creamier, okay?

#rosie babbles #nightblogging #recipe #macaroni #nothing against mozzarella ofc. it's just that the traits that make it perfect for mozza sticks and string cheese make for abysmal sauce #and you Will want to be careful with your water levels.#either that or be ready to use a sizable amt of paper towel to mop up the microwave platter.#also the timing can be fiddled with. experimentation is fun :)#you can also be like me and add garlic salt to the cheese sauce but i'm well aware i'm probably a bit of a freak like that xD #the fun thing abt this is that it's quicker than making actual boxes of macaroni #but allows for much more fiddling than Follow The EasyMac Instructions #literally the only bad-tasting version of this i've made so far was the one where i forgot to drain the water first.#also re: the water #depending on the bowl and your arm/wrist/grip strength you can carefully tilt the bowl over the sink #and use a spoon to hold the noodles back as you drain it #noodles that have been tested: egg. macaroni. small shells. bowtie (better eaten w/fork not spoon).#cheeses that have been tested: 'mexican-blend' shredded. additional pcs from sliced cheddar and colby jack #cheeses to avoid: mozzarella #i'd test this with lactose-free dairy #but i live in a house where cow milk is king and dairy substitutes are always easy targets for complaining #i can't think of any reason swapping out dairy for non-dairy or regular noodles for gluten-free noodles would cause issues tho

24 notes · View notes

icewindandboringhorror · 3 months

Text

Apparently I can meet my goal of roughly 400,000 words in 6 months if I just somehow write at least 2,200 words a day ghbjh... Almost 2,500 today... huzzah...

#Definitely not going to be able to stick with it just due to like... being realistic about my energy levels and etc. ESPECIALLY as we #enter the Evil Summer and it becomes hot all the time. But... one can attempt.. at least...#I'm also a very slow writer since I tend to re-read and edit while I write. and only move onto the next section once what I'm writing #seems okay. Which is easy for visual novel type stuff. since ''sections'' of a conversation are more clearly marked (like if you #have a menu option with 5 different dialogue choices. finish the character's response for choice 1 before moving onto 2. etc.)#Especially since when I'm done with a whole quest I always follow it up by playing through it and picking every option and making sure it #actually all works okay and etc. So I am already going to see it all a second time. Then I can go back and reorder a few words or remove #certain sentences that don't sound natural when I read them out loud (I always read it all outloud to myself since it is... just peple #talking.. it should sound like natural dialogue in their voice. etc). But my ''first draft'' is kind of not as first drafty since I pause t #edit a lot as I go along. So it also takes longer probably than it would take other people who I think treat a first draft as more #of a loose guideline or something. AANYWAY...#80F in my bedroom right now again... huzzah... I did end up finishing and recording that sims build video before the heat wave (or is #it really a heat wave if it's just summer..?? lol) came in.. but now... augh.. the editing... plus the costume photos and all else... Much #to do as always.. Often such a long todo list.. a giant scroll hung upon the walls of the evil hermit wizard tower..#Anyhow.. I hope I can finish getting ready for bed early in time to reward myself with a game of tripeaks solitaire whilst I snack on #cheddar cheese and some of those preserved artichokes in a jar. hrgm... I actually have nasturtiums (ultimate best flower) on the #deck again this year but I had to move them all into a corner today because the leaves were getting burnt by the sun lol.. Also am now more #cautiously weaving through social media to ignore all dragon age news. NOT bc of spoilers (I actually love spoilers/literally never play #any game until there's full guides on it I can read to plan my entire playthrough based on knowing exactly what I want to happen lol + mods #and etc.) but just because I'm so busy with my ownprojects I simply do not have the brainspace to dedicate... Yes I love to think #about elves and fictional universe lore. but no.. I pretend I do not see it. Does not exist to me actually. ghgj.. OHH also took som #cool pictures of flowers in the garden section of a store and I wanted to do like.. character designs based on the colors of the flowers o #something. but that might just be another unnecessary project to add to the pile.. I want to commit to the daunting task of dyeing my #hair again some time.. hrm.. this is all of the updates I can think of. As if a bunch of random tags make up for never posting anything for #weeks on end lol.. alas.. too warm to think properly I suppose.. .. I neeeeeed a long lost relative to leave me some million dollar #estate in their will so I can have the resources to move to a colder climate or something ..augh #.. but for now.. I shall toil away in my little wizard tower trying to write 2000 something words a day whilst sweating and such ghbj

8 notes · View notes

impossible-rat-babies · 30 days

Text

I feel like I say it every day at this point to myself but I have GOT to replay HW

#owen talks #I gotta stick estinien in a blender #and I wanna puzzle out eyrie and ysayle’s friendship too like that shit was important #they believed in here sincerity and earnest hope for the future. that the cycle could be broken #also eyrie and alphinaud’s friendship as it mends and grows #bc eyrie does apologize for their harsh words following the banquet #but he still remained remorseful + embarrassed #it’s a fun mess of stuff going on in HW and I almost? have it ironed out in my head #but I wanna replay stuff just to really sit in it #also piss easy to unsync stuff so if I wanna sit and admire a dungeon or trial I can just do that #I will not be Beholden to the Queue

4 notes · View notes

opens-up-4-nobody · 1 year

Text

...

#well. today was a nice day of not doing anything but drawing really. theres an au where i went to art school and am a happier person lol #except not really bc im sure my head would ruin that too. anyway. its a shame i have to return to the pain tomorrow. i have so much to grade #plus a paper to write plus data to work with. a protocol to figure out. and an exam to study for and a final project thatll kill me #god. i also have to get ready for lab Monday. christ. and what shall i say to my therapist Tuesday? well we could try to tackle the deep set #looming issue that prevents me from getting better in our tiny 50min session or i could be like listen. just fucking listen. let me give u #the case 4 and against me having adhd so i can stop feeling fucking nuts. just like give me feedback. ya kno?#it would b inattentive bc im not hyper unless im losing my mind and bordering on hyp0mania. but my focus is something i cant control #executive functioning has always been a problem but now im so worn down im in danger of actual consequences. and its not just things i dont #wanna do. im not just anxiously avoiding. i cant start tasks and stick with them. i flip back and forth and get nothing done. i spiral #sometimes for hours. im not doing anything fun im just not doing anything. frozen in anguish. i dont even wanna think abt how much money ive #lost by not filling out reimbursement sheets which arent hard to do. theyre easy i just never do them. why??? i dont fucking kno. but im not #forgetful. im thinking constantly abt these things. i just cant make them happen. theyre stuck buffering. i do have memory issues tho #my short term working memory is like that of a literal child. so i cant follow complex instructions. i constantly need new info. constantly #need sound. spoken words plus music at the same time. but the main reason i need an answer to this is the reading issue. which is that im #dyslexic but also my thoughts r like an interfering frequency. without realizing ill b thinking and not reading. its a problem no matter #what im reading. its severely disruptive. i will physically read out loud to try to hold my attention in place and still get distracted by #my own head. do u kno how frustrating it is to read something aloud 3 times and not know wtf u just read bc u arent thinking abt anything #interesting u would rsther b reading but u can't fucking pay attention long enough. genuinely if its not adhd and i cant get medication to #fix my focus issues i dont kno wtf im gonna do. im so bad at reading and its extremely frustrating. but is it just dyslexia? idk what i #described doesn't fucking seem normal or like a reading problem. sounds like a focus issue. so riddle me that #idk ive got adhd on both sides of my family plus my focus fluctuates with ny hormones plus homones possibly induce hyp0mania. like i mean #ive got other issues which make a diagnosis difficult to parse but like i feel like that's decent evidence for possibly adhd? my friend said #she was always worried she had a brain tumor before she was diagnosed. to me ive always felt like my brain is full of holes. im missing the #parts that would let it operate correctly. the frontal lobe is just fucked. ugh. i wonder how much accommodation i could get from the #disability office if i actually went to them. i wont bc im fucked up and i dont think they could actually do anything for me at this stage #but alas im curious. ugh. y do i do this to myself? i kno y but not enough time for that in 50min. bad attitude mostly. half my brain #just craves death. the other half is just trying to tread water but its hard with someone trying to drown u. so its all fucked #unrelated

6 notes · View notes

fragrantpines · 1 year

Text

I have a lot mixed feelings about the second part of the event.

#it's both good and bad feelings #warning for spoilers below about story so i will take about the grinding stages first #bad: i'm going to strangle cherry with my own hands #what do you MEAN he heals 50% of his hp after his passive aoe hits #excuse my language but what the FUCK #thought second grinding stage would be as easy as first grinding stage but nooooo #as expected of the man who took 120+ pulls and refused to come home #okay story spoilers below proceed with caution #good: i adore loulan's main story a lot; the concept of evil and good which gets blurrier the more someone tries to differiate them is hnggg #also the fact that dongbi is obsessed with catching a-yu is because a-yu is what he wants to be but could never become #a fugitive who fights for his own principles in the shadows; someone who doesn't think twice before following what he thinks is right #he envies that a-yu has the freedom to do what he wants so he's desperately trying to capture him in order to prove to himself that #the path he walked down was right.... even though that costed him so many things.... too many things #meanwhile a-yu envies that dongbi has an identity; a set of principles that he will stick to no matter what #everything a-yu ever wanted was lost in that fire so he has nothing left to fight for #the thrills of theiving and the amusement of this cat and mouse chase is only to distract him from the fact that he will never get-#-what he truly wants for they've long slipped out of his grasp before he realised how truly precious they were to him #ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh god i love this event so much it's so good #please read the story with cn dubbing for full immersion it's so so good #now back to the grind for a-yu and shifu #tale of food #the tale of food #▪︎ edits #cherry biluo

10 notes · View notes

oftheblue · 1 year

Note

When you get this, you have to answer with 5 things you like about yourself, publicly. Then, send this ask to 10 of your favorite followers (non-negotiable, positivity is cool)✨!

🌷🌟🌸

Hi, lovely!! Thanks for sending me this~ 💖 (even tho I need some time to really think about it heh)

Okay so, 5 things I like about myself:

My imagination (I like how I can make even mundane things feel more fun for me)

My curiosity (I know there's that saying "curiosity killed the cat" but in this case I feel it always enriched my life and still continues to do so)

My intuition about people

The care that I have for others (if there's something that I feel I can honestly be proud of, it's this)

My hands (idk, i find them pretty :))

#to be honest this kind of served as some time for reflection in a way #it was a reminder of how difficult it was to name five good things and how easy it actually was thinking about things i don't like #but that's because we don't usually look at our stronger points #we're always more focused on those bad qualities of ours #and a lot of the time that's not even something that's done consciously #it's just the way it is i guess #because it's something we're more used to #so much that even saying all that i do like felt like sounding a bit arrogant at first because it was all 'me myself and i'#but that's just something i need to work on because there's no need to feel like that #i think it's easy saying “be kind to yourself”#but now taking this as an example i feel it's also not that hard to actually follow through with that saying #something just needs to click #like it did to me now #i've been chasing after this feeling again and now that it's here i'll try my best to make it stick for as long as possible #so thank you for this one more time <3

7 notes · View notes

bmpmp3 · 2 years

Photo

SIREN wearing some pirate coat he probably took off someone he defeated on his shoulders

#art #traditional art #watercolour #oc art #ocs #oc group: unsorted #oc: siren #so like 99% of my art is painted with a waterbrush #used to use the largest round koi branded ones but ive switched to the largest round pentel ones because the koi ones like to clog up fast #BUT anyway i basically always use a waterbrush because its easy and im too lazy to get a cup for paint water most of the time #BUT today all my bones hurt so i decided to use....an actual brush for the first time in months HJKALSDJfds #(i love my waterbrushes but sometimes squeezing the barrel can give a bit of hand fatigue)#ANYWAY it was an interesting experience #i gotta get used to how much water to keep in the brush lol you can see my paint getting dry around his wings #BUT it kinda looks cool anyway........a hint of drybrushing never hurt no one #I DO need to put some grips or i dunno just a shitload of silicone tape on the brush handles tho #some of these brushes have SKINNY handles #NOTE to any followers with a need for like pencil grips on everything like me: if somethings too skinny to put a pencil grip on #SILICONE TAPE is ur best friend i use it SO much #sticks only to itself (and probably some other silicones) so theres no residue if u have to replace it #and u can wrap it around the brushes or whatever else in different ways to get different sizes and shapes of grip #smells kinda bad when u first get it tho (just general new plastic smell) but after a few days its fine~#MY BESTIE silicone tape

5 notes · View notes

hithoeshi · 2 years

Text

—so apparently I hit 200+ followers without realizing it? it def has to do with the fact that I’m rarely on here lately lol

But I’ve got a long fic in the works as a thank you (think shinsou x kisses!) & I’m opening my requests ! even for rantings about bakugou or shinsou or any other character really lol

I love you all and thank you for sticking with me through my disappearances and late postings! 😭

#nettie talks #I really appreciate you all #I know it’s not easy following someone who barely posts new content #I’m trying I really am #thanks for sticking with me!

2 notes · View notes

sleepinglionhearts · 2 years

Text

Hating the torment of being home and not technically sick, so I've had energy to want and do home improvement projects but

My arms hurt too much ;;m;;

Going back to work is gonna suck ;;A;;

#the rash is no longer oozing!#so it is not much of a contagion risk anymore!#ah.. wearing longsleeves.. keeping up w bandaging my wounds... not being able to lift/move things easily.......#that shall be hell #i already overheat real easy for no goddamn reason #and i can't even draw for extended periods of time still so there's that distraction gone #apparently it won't be unusual if the rash discoloration sticks around a while but i really hope it won't #especially around my eyes #i look like I'm following a really shitty makeup trend #hhhhgh.. anyway #cooking tonight was difficult #the hell continues

6 notes · View notes

staff · 1 year

Text

Tumblr’s Core Product Strategy

Here at Tumblr, we’ve been working hard on reorganizing how we work in a bid to gain more users. A larger user base means a more sustainable company, and means we get to stick around and do this thing with you all a bit longer. What follows is the strategy we're using to accomplish the goal of user growth. The @labs group has published a bit already, but this is bigger. We’re publishing it publicly for the first time, in an effort to work more transparently with all of you in the Tumblr community. This strategy provides guidance amid limited resources, allowing our teams to focus on specific key areas to ensure Tumblr’s future.

The Diagnosis

In order for Tumblr to grow, we need to fix the core experience that makes Tumblr a useful place for users. The underlying problem is that Tumblr is not easy to use. Historically, we have expected users to curate their feeds and lean into curating their experience. But this expectation introduces friction to the user experience and only serves a small portion of our audience.

Tumblr’s competitive advantage lies in its unique content and vibrant communities. As the forerunner of internet culture, Tumblr encompasses a wide range of interests, such as entertainment, art, gaming, fandom, fashion, and music. People come to Tumblr to immerse themselves in this culture, making it essential for us to ensure a seamless connection between people and content.

To guarantee Tumblr’s continued success, we’ve got to prioritize fostering that seamless connection between people and content. This involves attracting and retaining new users and creators, nurturing their growth, and encouraging frequent engagement with the platform.

Our Guiding Principles

To enhance Tumblr’s usability, we must address these core guiding principles.

Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Retain and grow our creator base.

Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Improve the platform’s performance, stability, and quality.

Below is a deep dive into each of these principles.

Principle 1: Expand the ways new users can discover and sign up for Tumblr.

Tumblr has a “top of the funnel” issue in converting non-users into engaged logged-in users. We also have not invested in industry standard SEO practices to ensure a robust top of the funnel. The referral traffic that we do get from external sources is dispersed across different pages with inconsistent user experiences, which results in a missed opportunity to convert these users into regular Tumblr users. For example, users from search engines often land on pages within the blog network and blog view—where there isn’t much of a reason to sign up.

We need to experiment with logged-out tumblr.com to ensure we are capturing the highest potential conversion rate for visitors into sign-ups and log-ins. We might want to explore showing the potential future user the full breadth of content that Tumblr has to offer on our logged-out pages. We want people to be able to easily understand the potential behind Tumblr without having to navigate multiple tabs and pages to figure it out. Our current logged-out explore page does very little to help users understand “what is Tumblr.” which is a missed opportunity to get people excited about joining the site.

Actions & Next Steps

Improving Tumblr’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices to be in line with industry standards.

Experiment with logged out tumblr.com to achieve the highest conversion rate for sign-ups and log-ins, explore ways for visitors to “get” Tumblr and entice them to sign up.

Principle 2: Provide high-quality content with every app launch.

We need to ensure the highest quality user experience by presenting fresh and relevant content tailored to the user’s diverse interests during each session. If the user has a bad content experience, the fault lies with the product.

The default position should always be that the user does not know how to navigate the application. Additionally, we need to ensure that when people search for content related to their interests, it is easily accessible without any confusing limitations or unexpected roadblocks in their journey.

Being a 15-year-old brand is tough because the brand carries the baggage of a person’s preconceived impressions of Tumblr. On average, a user only sees 25 posts per session, so the first 25 posts have to convey the value of Tumblr: it is a vibrant community with lots of untapped potential. We never want to leave the user believing that Tumblr is a place that is stale and not relevant.

Actions & Next Steps

Deliver great content each time the app is opened.

Make it easier for users to understand where the vibrant communities on Tumblr are.

Improve our algorithmic ranking capabilities across all feeds.

Principle 3: Facilitate easier user participation in conversations.

Part of Tumblr’s charm lies in its capacity to showcase the evolution of conversations and the clever remarks found within reblog chains and replies. Engaging in these discussions should be enjoyable and effortless.

Unfortunately, the current way that conversations work on Tumblr across replies and reblogs is confusing for new users. The limitations around engaging with individual reblogs, replies only applying to the original post, and the inability to easily follow threaded conversations make it difficult for users to join the conversation.

Actions & Next Steps

Address the confusion within replies and reblogs.

Improve the conversational posting features around replies and reblogs.

Allow engagements on individual replies and reblogs.

Make it easier for users to follow the various conversation paths within a reblog thread.

Remove clutter in the conversation by collapsing reblog threads.

Explore the feasibility of removing duplicate reblogs within a user’s Following feed.

Principle 4: Retain and grow our creator base.

Creators are essential to the Tumblr community. However, we haven’t always had a consistent and coordinated effort around retaining, nurturing, and growing our creator base.

Being a new creator on Tumblr can be intimidating, with a high likelihood of leaving or disappointment upon sharing creations without receiving engagement or feedback. We need to ensure that we have the expected creator tools and foster the rewarding feedback loops that keep creators around and enable them to thrive.

The lack of feedback stems from the outdated decision to only show content from followed blogs on the main dashboard feed (“Following”), perpetuating a cycle where popular blogs continue to gain more visibility at the expense of helping new creators. To address this, we need to prioritize supporting and nurturing the growth of new creators on the platform.

It is also imperative that creators, like everyone on Tumblr, feel safe and in control of their experience. Whether it be an ask from the community or engagement on a post, being successful on Tumblr should never feel like a punishing experience.

Actions & Next Steps

Get creators’ new content in front of people who are interested in it.

Improve the feedback loop for creators, incentivizing them to continue posting.

Build mechanisms to protect creators from being spammed by notifications when they go viral.

Expand ways to co-create content, such as by adding the capability to embed Tumblr links in posts.

Principle 5: Create patterns that encourage users to keep returning to Tumblr.

Push notifications and emails are essential tools to increase user engagement, improve user retention, and facilitate content discovery. Our strategy of reaching out to you, the user, should be well-coordinated across product, commercial, and marketing teams.

Our messaging strategy needs to be personalized and adapt to a user’s shifting interests. Our messages should keep users in the know on the latest activity in their community, as well as keeping Tumblr top of mind as the place to go for witty takes and remixes of the latest shows and real-life events.

Most importantly, our messages should be thoughtful and should never come across as spammy.

Actions & Next Steps

Conduct an audit of our messaging strategy.

Address the issue of notifications getting too noisy; throttle, collapse or mute notifications where necessary.

Identify opportunities for personalization within our email messages.

Test what the right daily push notification limit is.

Send emails when a user has push notifications switched off.

Principle 6: Performance, stability and quality.

The stability and performance of our mobile apps have declined. There is a large backlog of production issues, with more bugs created than resolved over the last 300 days. If this continues, roughly one new unresolved production issue will be created every two days. Apps and backend systems that work well and don't crash are the foundation of a great Tumblr experience. Improving performance, stability, and quality will help us achieve sustainable operations for Tumblr.

Improve performance and stability: deliver crash-free, responsive, and fast-loading apps on Android, iOS, and web.

Improve quality: deliver the highest quality Tumblr experience to our users.

Move faster: provide APIs and services to unblock core product initiatives and launch new features coming out of Labs.

Conclusion

Our mission has always been to empower the world’s creators. We are wholly committed to ensuring Tumblr evolves in a way that supports our current users while improving areas that attract new creators, artists, and users. You deserve a digital home that works for you. You deserve the best tools and features to connect with your communities on a platform that prioritizes the easy discoverability of high-quality content. This is an invigorating time for Tumblr, and we couldn’t be more excited about our current strategy.

#tumblr #engineering #core product strategy

65K notes · View notes

thiriumstains · 3 months

Text

been thinking out lil scenes for my transfem connor fic and like it so cool going into her brain and being like ‘how does this bitch perceive gender’

#cause . connor is very connor #i don’t think she’s go about it the way i went about my gender experince #she’d be doing a bunch of statistics and probabilities and outcomes and shit #i still haven’t decided if she’d stick with the name connor or choose an alternate like connie or carrie or a whole new name all together #would she care about if her name is traditionally fem or not? probably not #but would she feel weird about connor being assigned to her by cyberlife before she knew anything about herself?#maybe…. hm. brainstorm #i think i might have her experiment then return to the name connor. or just see where the journey takes her #most of the time the characters write their own story and i just follow along putting it all into words #anyways. expect some cool shit with connor and the garden and amanda and flowers #also i find it interesting how much connor would want to go about the easy android way and how much she’d want to go the intimate time —#consuming human way yknow?#would she just alert her appearance like that? put effort into wearing mascara? grow out her curls in a second? manually upgrade her body?#it’s so interesting to think about what the character would think in these moments yknow #blue’s transmissions #dbh connor

1 note · View note

screampied · 4 months

Text

✧ ⁺˳ cw. fem! reader, praise, size kink, fıngering, dirty talk, oral fixation, mdni.

“easy, easy,” sukuna groans, having you laid on his broad, empty lap. you’re straddling him, chewing on your bottom lip as he’s knuckles deep into your drooling cunt. already, a clear sheet of slick coats down a single finger of his and you’re twitching from his hold. a cocky grin paints against his lips as one of his free hands attach to your waist. “ah, c’mon. not that bad. ‘s just one finger, princess.”

“y- your fingers are s-so thick, ‘kuna,” you babble out in broken words, and it doesn’t take long before your muscles tighten. indeed, he had much length to his fingers. he was easing you up because just moments ago, you insisted on how you could easily take him on the first try. of course, he decided to help you out anyway, finding amusement in how you’re already about to gush out from just a single digit. the stretch was immaculate, your tummy churns in a line of zig zags as you feel him slowly insert yet another finger inside. “fuck, ‘s long.”

with a breathy chortle, he makes you slump forward into his chest. “such a weak girl,” and his voice pitches against your ear — his breath, hot and fanning near the soft lobe of your ear. “if you can barely handle two fingers, what makes you think you can take two of my cocks, little one?”

your moans become more loud, echoing through the bouncy walls of his devilish, isolated chambers.

your body fails to remain still, grinding against his hand directly underneath you. “k- kunaaa,” you huff, your own jaw becoming loose and dangling itself agape.

it was so delicious . . the stretch, oh the stretch,

the way his two fingers curl into a salacious circular motion, rotating around the goopy insides of your sopping pussy. you were weak, so so weak.

he groans, hearing the slosh slosh squelches your own mess sings from the impact. “hah, ‘s good. i can take one more, please.”

chuckling, his lips press against your forehead. “hm, dunno. maybe i should take ‘em out..”

“s- sukuna,” you whimper, hearing him snickering at your desperate plea. your walls were more clingy than you were on a daily basis, sticking against the texture of his fingers like glue. with your face buried into the crook of his neck, you gasp once you feel the alleviated pressure arise furthermore. “pleaseplease, more. i can take another finger. need another finger.”

“girl,” he snarls, a single fang baring and you jolt into his chest once he spanks your pussy once.

the brief sting that follows makes you throb and it scratches such a good itch in your brain. “what did i tell ya? you don’t need, you want. repeat that sentence for me, pretty.”

“i— i want another finger inside,” you correct yourself, your eye twitching at his familiar sass. sukuna remained seated on his notorious throne, sexily manspread with you on top of him also. your legs felt like mush practically, and the stimulation has you swooning for more. gasping, you bite down on the breaking skin of your lip once more. “want it, ryo. want you.”

“good grief, does fingering make ya forget manners too?” he slyly grins, ruby red eyes peering into the depths of your precious soul.

you sigh, knowing what that meant. as he’s still got two fingers tucked away deeply into your cunt, your arms sling over his tense shoulders. “p- please.”

“atta girllll,” he praises, another one of his hands tugging against the fabric of your blouse.

as you still make a cute attempt at rocking your hips against his lap. he slowly inserts another thick finger inside. tightening around each one individually, you whine before your entire body jitters.

sukuna chuckles deeply against your ear, feeling the claws of your nails seep into the flesh of his arm. “oooh, so three is the limit. i see,” and within three seconds, his digits pull out of your cunt. a slimey string of your filth sticks against his fingers. as he looks down with an utmost hungry gaze, he brings his fingers up to his mouth before sniffing them.

“mhm,” and with glossy eyes, you stare as the demon pops his three fingers right into his mouth. you’re still taking your seat on his lap, watching as his forked tongue devours your enchanted taste. slit eyebrows furrow in arousal before he takes it back out, bringing his fingers toward your quavering lips. “open. taste it, girl,” and as your lips happily part, he slides two fingers inside your mouth, watching you suck against them. he groans, imagining you were putting your cute throat to use on his cock— not his fingers. your pink tongue swishes around, curling against the digits and you taste the bitter taste of your own sweet. “messy fuckin’ woman. taste how dirty you are for me? yeahhh, lick it all up ‘cause ‘m gonna put ‘em right back in. gotta train this weak cunt for the real thing.”

your head bobbles a bit— every few seconds sukuna’s lengthy fingers would thrash back against your uvula, causing you to almost gag. as you lick them clean, tasting his own syrupy saliva in the process, he quickly pulls them out before stuffing them right back into your greedy cunt as promised.

sukuna raises a brow as your head lowers onto his chest. “eh,” and as your tongue playfully licks against his neglected nipples, his breath hitches. you catch him off guard and he grunts at the suddenly sensitivity. “fuck are ya doin’ brat. didn’t tell you to s-suck on . . mhm, those.”

he doesn’t exactly pull you away.

instead, he drags your head closer, looking down embarrassed as your mouth latches onto his thickset pecs like a leech.

it felt odd, strangely new.

you’re sucking against his swollen perky nipples, lolling your tongue around before that’s when he abruptly pulls you off. with a new look of neediness in his eyes, sukuna watches as a trail of your own spit departs from his nipples. you leer back up at him with a teasing grin forming on your lips and he scoffs.

sukuna ryōmen was flustered..

“y’er .. fuckin’ weird,” he grouses, and once he sees your growing simper, he uses a hand to make your head move back toward its former placement near his now dampened pecs.

“keep .. doin’ that. never told ya to stop, little girl. phew, i- i liked that.”

11K notes · View notes