#ended up rambling either way lol

[o0kawaii0o]

hello!

wanted to let you know your art has inspired me to draw again after art school made me feel like I shouldn't make art unless it's perfect. I feel like I got a piece of my soul back!

can you tell me about your process (program, brushes, fav techniques, etc), or point me in the direction of where this information already exists?

thank you my friend

- drawing dreamer in Detroit

This feels kinda formally written and I have to be honest that idk if a real person is behind this (if that makes sense), but I'll answer this just normally here :')))

Great to hear!! To think my art has that effect on you is really nice ❤ And I sort of have been there as well! I was quite a perfectionist and stiff with my art before - art pieces could take weeks for me. But I spare you my lengthy story about that lol

Anyway, I use CSP as drawing software! My go-to brush/pencil for sketching is called DAUB fine pencil normal (downloaded online, only available for CSP I think?). For colouring I use the standard (which comes with the software) Gouache brushes.

As for advice uhh it helps a lot to learn a bit of everything?? In my case, it helped a lot to watch videos and apply it in practice. My personal fave is Saito Naoki correction videos as it tackles different subjects each time. I watch those either before drawing or when I'm having lunch haha

A bit of everything includes: composition/negative space, posing, anatomy, lighting/shading, warm and cold colours, colour relativity/theory, and even more. This is quite a lot now that I'm typing it out 💀. This can be quite overwhelming but I suggest to tackle things one at a time! And while doing some specific studies can help a lot, I recommend to just draw what you want and think "this time I'll try to focus more on anatomy"

[always-a-king-or-queen]

As a boy king in Narnia, Edmund Pevensie once swore privately to the stars that should his siblings ever die in battle, he would die with them. Protecting them to the end, so their fear might be lessened by the thought that they weren’t alone. 

But irony would have it that the bloodshed of war did not bring about their end, but rather a train built of steel and glass, hurtling from its tracks onto the greenery of a steep English hillside.  

Edmund does not forget the promise he made so long ago, in another world he can no longer access. He remembers that promise in his final moments, as the train flips and rolls and flings him and his siblings like rag dolls. He feels it burning deep in his heart, feels the stars smiling somewhere in the distant past as he wraps his arms around Lucy and Peter and shuts his eyes a final time. 

Only a few minutes before the derailment, the three of them sit in an otherwise empty train compartment, silent and each occupied by their own thoughts. Edmund is gazing out the window at the flashing scenery when he gets the sensation that something is horribly wrong. 

There is a faint tingling that crawls suddenly up and down his spine, chilling him to the bone, and he sucks in a breath, eyes going glassy as the scenery blurs outside the window. For a moment he is back in Narnia, standing by Peter’s side, hair windswept and helmet tucked beneath one arm as he surveys the battlefield before them. He can almost see the army sprinting towards them over the lush grass, can almost hear the roars and yowls and screeches from both sides, can almost smell the tang of unspilled blood. His sword is nearly tangible in his fingers, heavy in his grip, the engraved hilt cold and familiar against his palms. 

The tingling against his spine swells into a roaring pressure, and Edmund is pulled roughly from the battlefields of his memory, jolting back into the present with violence. This feeling– this horrible, gut-wrenching, bone-crushing feeling that grips his throat and lungs– this is how he felt before his first battle against the Witch and her army. A sense of impending doom, scraping against his teeth with aggression and burning his heart; he knows it all too well. 

Edmund swallows again, missing the distant weight of his sword in his hands as he fully returns to himself. The train is shuddering slightly as they advance along the track, English countryside flashing by outside the windows. Next to him, Lucy hums the haunting melody of a dryad, idly sketching daisies in a blank page of her journal; across from Edmund, Peter flicks through a newspaper, brow furrowed with an intensity Edmund well recognizes from his brother’s days as High King. They are alone in the carriage, the rest of their traveling group crammed into a different car, and for the briefest, most traitorous of moments, it almost feels like their old days, just the four of them. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, together against the world. 

But Susan is no longer with them, and these are not their old days, and something is terribly wrong. 

“Pete.” Edmund keeps his voice even-keeled as always, and his brother doesn’t look up from his paper, simply answering with a distant “Hmmm?” that Edmund knows well enough to translate that he isn’t fully listening. Lucy, on the other hand, flicks her gaze towards Edmund, eyes bright and curious as always as she tips her head. Edmund doesn’t meet her questioning stare. If he dared to, she would read his face in an instant, and he doesn’t want to scare her without necessity. 

But then, he reminds himself with a self-directed scoff and a shake of his head, her title was Valiant. 

It will take more than his current fears to scare her. 

So Edmund pushes away his misgivings and tries again. “Pete,” he says a second time, louder than before. 

This time there must have been an edge to his voice, a sharpness that he’s rarely allowed to frame his words since his days as a bully. Peter looks up from his paper, seeming suddenly to recall that this was the tone Edmund always used in times of peril, and instantly recognizes the expression on Edmund’s face. Calm and controlled, but with an undercurrent of panic flickering at the edges. Panic that was not befitting of a king of Narnia, but that Edmund sometimes couldn’t keep from slipping onto his face in the early days. After all, he had only been a boy then, a boy king in a strange world. Now they are back in their own world, but it is foreign to them, and sometimes he is afraid.  

A touch to his arm. Lucy is leaning towards him, face earnest and undaunted. 

“You sense something, don’t you, Ed?” she asks him simply, and his final facade crumbles. 

He nods wordlessly, hands gripping the flaking leather seat of the train car. 

Peter moves to sit beside him, and Lucy watches them both, waiting. Edmund glances towards her. “Lu,” he says quietly, and reaches for her hand. She takes his willingly, her fingers squeezing his own, and he half-smiles, his other arm stretching towards Peter. 

The High King grasps his brother’s hand firmly, and Edmund exhales, his heart soothed by the wordless reassurance of his siblings. 

“I don’t know quite what is going to happen,” he tells them softly, voice gentle as a winter snowfall and soft as a shaft of sunlight in the western woods. “But something is coming.” 

He sees Lucy the Valiant swallow, her fingers trembling just slightly in his, and Peter the Magnificent lifts his chin, cold fear burning in his eyes. 

Edmund grips their hands tighter. 

“I won’t let anything happen,” he says fiercely. “To either of you.” 

It is a vain promise, but they cannot peer into the future. They cannot foresee the grinding, twisting metal and searing flames that await them, mere moments ahead. And so his siblings simply smile at him and scoot a little bit closer, holding his promise close and silently vowing to do the same for him. Peter sits tall and straight, his shoulder pressed against Edmund’s, and Lucy leans her head on his shoulder, her journal forgotten.

Edmund is just beginning to think that perhaps he was wrong when there is a deafening, thunderous screech from the front of the train, a grinding cacophony of clashing metal.  

The sound of the world ending. 

In the same instant, Lucy and Peter’s hands are ripped from Edmund’s with a feral violence. “Ed!” Lucy screams, thrown backwards against the wall of the car. Peter slams his head into the roof and slumps unconscious to the floor, and the car bucks wildly, windows shattering and spitting out shards of broken glass. 

Edmund tumbles head over heels as the train flips and rolls in its derailment, crashing into Lucy and Peter again and again as they each come dangerously close to being thrown from the broken windows, yet somehow escaping each time. He catches snatches of broken screams filtering from other cars, desperate and agonized, and swiftly pieces together that they have mere moments before the end.  

Lucy slams into Edmund again, hair askew as she scrabbles to grab hold of something, and Edmund wraps an arm around her, stopping her tumble midair. His other hand closes around the now-empty frame of a window, briefly anchoring them both, and the train slows suddenly in its maddening descent. Edmund has the distant thought that perhaps that is not mere coincidence, because the train seems to be rolling almost in slow motion, shards of glass flying past their faces as if in a dream. 

Peter, still unconscious with blood dripping down his forehead, tumbles over to Edmund and Lucy’s feet, faster than the train is currently moving, and Edmund makes a swift calculation. 

“Get down,” he says softly to Lucy, releasing her. She drops into a crouch next to Peter, and Edmund kneels beside her, taking a final look at the train car as it rotates with an almost magical slowness, allowing them to have a last moment together. 

Seconds. They have seconds left. He doesn’t know quite why he’s certain of that, but he is. 

Lucy has flattened herself against Peter, weeping softly and whispering with the irrationality of grief, “Wake up,” and Edmund wraps his arms over both of them and closes his eyes, hugging his siblings tightly with all the love he was never able to articulate aloud. 

“Goodbye,” he whispers, though peace fills his heart as light begins to glow through his closed eyelids. “I’ll see you both soon.” 

Lucy's hand finds his and squeezes it tight.

The train flips a final time, and glass and metal explode in a deafening burst of fire, smearing the sky in clouds of ash and smoke. A lion’s roar echoes briefly in the flames of the wreckage.

And somewhere, in a realm flooded with golden light, the Pevensies open their eyes.

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

The fanon interpretation of Vox and Valentino's relationship really is just Satan and Saddam Hussein in South Park huh.

[moreaujeans]

on a scale of one to ten how bad would it be for me personally to read all of aftg for the first time this summer (i’m going to do it anyways)

OOOHOHO going to go with 10 bc i think the answer would be a 10 for just abt anyone if you like it odds are it will suck you in and never let go (ihave unfortunately been trapped here for 5 years) and if you don’t like it you will probably Really not like it. it’s definitely a series you need to suspend your disbelief for and is absolutely by NO means “unproblematic” although i don’t think the latter will really be an issue for you given what i know of like. every tv show you post abt but anyway. but the passion and hope and desperation and second chances and sense of selfhood absolutely bleed into the pages and it is utterly intoxicating. also obligatory “please please please check the trigger warnings if that could be a problem for you” bc it has a great many. also also followup question on a scale of one to ten how bad would it be for me personally to watch iwtv for the first time this summer

[incomplete-ruler]

Ok I just woke up a bit ago, but today is the day that I finally get around to the survive drama (and also finish the i7 game) before the beast of a hyperfixation takes hold of me again...wish me luck.

[arolesbianism]

Heartbreaking! Guy who adores water based designs is currently an oni fan and also has a bunch of space themed ocs

[hatterladz]

Ok now I am wondering I saw that post about Raph. I don’t know if I fee comfortable saying Raph is the one always putting his family in danger he does try to protect them. But never mind that. Overall what is your opinion on Raph how do you feel about him from besides rise that is.

First I wanna say that Raph and Mikey are tied as my favorites overall. So I do love his character, always have since I was 8. And that I absolutely love this ask I hope you're ready for a very. Very long post.

Next I wanna mention I feel like I might've came off a little wrong? I didn't mean he always puts them in danger, and I did mention he's extremely protective of his family, however he does put them more at risk, at least, especially in Splinter and Leo's point of view.

It goes back to the "caught between wanting to do the right thing, having a sense of duty due to his strong empathy and justice", which I'd say his desire to help people is actually more then Leo's. But I'll touch on the Leo v Raph thing later.

And also caught between wanting his family safe and alive. He gets angry when his family screws off, but he freaks out the moment they're hurt. As I mentioned before he deeply cares about the people around him, he's the kinda guy who you get close to and every single time you're invited to family dinner. [Seen usually with Casey Jones]

They're two very warring desires, you can't be on the battlefield and keep your family safe too. Not that I'm sure Raph fully ever realizes this. Raph is centered around protecting people. He's always been a protector. They're two very conflicting desires. And this is brought up repeatedly in the franchise.

You see snippets in 2012, recently it was mentioned in TOTTMNT, in the Rise movie the infamous "Hero moves are totally your style" scene is also a perfect depiction of this, and one other spot you see this is again the TMNT 2007 prologue comics of how Raph became the Nightwatcher.

Since I'm pretty sure most people don't know what I mean by the 2007 Prologue comic, all of them are walking through the sewers after a patrol. They hear a man being mugged on the surface and Raph insists on helping him, but Leo tells him to leave it that it's none of their business and risking revealing themselves is too dangerous. Raph sneaks out and saves the old man anyway.

That's what I mean about how he did it anyway, at the risk of his family. Because he has a desire to help and protect the people around him.

Which leads me to the Leo and Raph conflicts. Personally I love all of them, I think they're also needed. Leo and Raph balance each other out. Leo is by far the most different by iteration but also the most consistent; he's just like Splinter. Obviously there's differences but this is about Raph not Leo.

Leo often gets caught in his plans, or his responsibilities and obligations. At the end of the day Leo easily gets swept up in his own desires or following whatever kind of rules. This is where it's important Raph's character comes in.

Leo is spiralling? Raph grounds him. Leo is being too strict and bossy and even putting his own family's wellbeing in danger because Leo is too caught up in being a leader before being a brother? Raph is quick to try to shut it down. Leo trusts some sketchy person? Raph starts being Leo's biggest pain in the ass by refusing to work with him but staying around for his brother's safety. Leo tries to sacrifice himself [again]? Raph is quick to try to get him out of the situation if he can.

Raph in a way, is like a coleader, but more then that he reminds Leo that Leo is their brother first, leader second. Because although he cares about helping people more then Leo ever could hope to, Raph is also terrified of losing his family, which is all he has.

In 2012 when Leo starts struggling with his mental wellbeing and replicating Splinter's... Less then ideal habits of being a "sensei", it's actually Mikey who flags this up and is the most worried. And Raph is immediately the one who steps up to soothe him.

Which brings me to my next point, second to Mikey he's the most emotionally intelligent and empathetic. This is due to how emotional he is himself. And whereas for Mikey he shares Leo's habit of wanting to believe in the best of people, Raph is extremely perceptive and is the first to sniff out bullshit and if someone is dangerous to be around.

It's seen in some moments in TMNT 2012, and also in 2003. He's slow to trust, but quick to defend.

But back on the self-loathing Raph has, it will not never fuck me up over the implied fact that Raph, is suicidal. At the very least in 2012 but I believe we can see this in other iterations as well. In 2012 Raph says "I don't care if I get hurt for my actions, it's different when it's my family" [<-or something similar to those lines]. And honestly you can see this with every iteration with how reckless he is in battle, and his reaction to being injured himself vs his family being injured.

Anytime his family is in danger, he snaps and immediately goes in with the very changed intent to kill. He usually doesn't succeed, but it is a point emphasized in Last Ronin before he dies. When he's injured you don't really see him mention any response to it. Maybe a spiteful "I don't want to die in THIS place" but there's never any attention done on if he cares about being injured [maybe mentions in TOTTMNT where he's scared rightfully of being sold and tortured]

Because Raph doesn't see himself in good light. I'm going to emphasize in the newest soft reboot of IDW of some of his dialogue about himself while undercover in prison [btw HIGHLY recommend picking it up it is so insanely good it's the best version of "what will the turtles do if older and separated and can do anything"].

The way he talks about himself he compares himself with being just as awful as the prisoners he's with. He has no desire to leave [outside of being undercover] because he feels he deserves to be there. He explains it's because of how violent he's been, and even mentions how upset he is about not being around his family anymore, but in a way that it sounds like he's betrayed by that [granted so far all of them seem to feel that way but I'll mention his issues with being left in a second]

When he talks about himself he compares himself to the violent criminals around him, states that violence is all he knows, and it doesn't seem like he likes that either. It's not the first time we see Raph hating his violence and anger issues, playing up being a villain or being distraught over how he hurts the people he loves around him.

There's a moment in 2003, a few in 2012, and obviously ROTTMNT, and now this newer iteration. But you also see it in 2007 when Leo gets taken after their fight.

Despite how much he cares about everyone, how much he's willing to throw away to do the right thing, how much he's willing to throw himself in danger before anyone else, he sees himself as nothing but a violent monster.

Speaking of 2007 I'm going to touch on the last part of this post; Raph hates being separated from his family. In 2007 the worst Raph Leo conflict and actual fight I've seen in TMNT thus far, goes to when Raph is upset that Leo left for 3 years, when he was supposed by back after 1.

Whereas most of their conflicts is Raph being the one telling Leo he's being stupid [or vise versa], this is the one where it's about Raph holding a grudge and struggling to manage his feelings about Leo's absence. So in a flip of roles when Leo tells Raph that Raph's sense of obligation and justice has caused more turmoil for his family by him not being there for them, and that going out as the Nightwatcher alone puts them at risk, Raph doesn't respond well.

He says "You can't leave and come back in here to play leader again" [again not direct quote but it is something similar along those lines], but it translates to "You can't leave me and come back acting like my older brother again"

Obviously we also know in ROTTMNT that Raph struggles with separation anxiety. Raph hates being separated from the people he loves, because although he'll ALWAYS try to do the right thing, he can't stand to be without his family.

[mnemo-li]

Major spoilers for Bg3 Act 3 below

I really wish the mindflayer monster romance was better written. I feel like the Emperor — AKA fucking Balduran, the founder of Baldur’s Gate — was too much of a human, and a shitty human being at that. He lusts after power, willing to kill his closest friends and allies for it (Ansur etc). He claims to have had a relationship and friendship with Belynne Stelmane, but we later (if we reject his advances and call him a freak) find out that he has been pretty much mind controlling her. And he implies that we should’ve been grateful that he’s giving us a chance to love him out of our own free will rather than being mind controlled like Stelmane was. He’s incredibly nice towards us… until we say no to him. At which point, the masks drop and he hits us with this line:

"But since you insist on thwarting my craft, let us be blunt. You are my puppet. Make no mistake. Without me, you have no value. You will take me to the brain because you have no other choice. And once we are there, you will do exactly what I tell you to. And you would do well to reconsider unlocking your potential. Your puerile attachment to your material form jeopardises us all. If I must, I will force you."

His mindset feels less like an illithid/mindflayer who operates on this blue-and-orange morality, and more like just a manipulative, narcissistic, piece of shit human tyrant.

In DnD lore, illithids are vampiric creatures who simply could not comprehend human emotions like love and care and happiness. That is why things like resonance stones exist. That is why eating a brain is such a sensual experience for them, to the point where they’d hold eating performances to extract as much emotions and memories and feelings from the brain they are consuming as much as possible. Human emotions are an object of fascination for the mind flayers.

In other words, mind flayers are anything but human. They don’t think the way we do. They don’t feel the way we do.

Meanwhile, the Emperor keeps insisting that he is “just like you”, that he is human just like us. And frankly, the writing makes him a very power hungry and selfish human being… and I don’t want that.

I want a romance with something inhuman.

The whole point of a monster romance is that you’re falling in love with something inhuman— and inhuman doesn’t have to mean evil, just not human.

It would be so interesting to be able to romance a rogue or an outcast illithid like Sangalor (who feels a lot like the inspiration for Omeluum, another friendly mindflayer NPC). I’d rather date something inhuman that finds human beings fascinating and is curious about what it means to be human, even if it can never truly comprehend it. Or, just straight up give us something inscrutable and incomprehensible, something Lovecraftian to fall in love with.

Anything but this abusive boyfriend simulator.

There’s so much potential in the Emperor’s character, it’s frustrating. If the writers are going to make him Balduran, can’t they at least use that as one of his motivations for wanting to save Baldur’s Gate? The music also went hard in this game too. The Song of Balduran is the main musical motif for Act 3. A darker version of the OST plays when we first meet the Emperor in his illithid form. A dark instrumental version of it plays too if we have sex with him. The normal version of it plays when we camp in the Elfsong Tavern.

He clearly has a musical motif to foreshadow his identity as Balduran along with his fall from grace. There’s so much more depth we could’ve had with him but it all went away the moment he gave that monologue about how we’re nothing but puppets to him. I’m just a bit sad at how much potential there is to his character — as a hero, as a villain, as a lover — but frankly the writing falls flat In the end.

[novadragoness]

Haven't actually met Mr. Yakboy mystery man yet. Saw him in a cutscene, but Builder wasn't in the cutscene so I don't think it counts as 'met'.

He'd have to be a pretty dadgum cool character to top Fang, Qi, and Unsuur imo, but mtas players really seem to like him a lot, so maybe he really is all that. Only time will tell.

[reanimatedgh0ul]

literally danny in my vamp danny au

[megsiepoo]

FLDKSNDHF

I'M FINALLY GETTING A SATURDAY OFF WORK

I'm about to write so much you guys don't even know

[obey-me-headquarters]

..... After playing the new Baxter Dlc for Our Life I don't think this will be a purely Obey Me blog...

Listen I ALWAYS loved Cove, but I played Our Life before making this blog! Now that I've played the Baxter Dlc I'm itching to write something for him! And Cove to!

[wp100]

any other WoW Delvers noticing Healer Brann standing in AoE all the time now?

He never EVER took this much damage last season. They either nerfed him to the ground or changed his AI...

He still tells me to dodge and to 'get out the way!' yet HE stands in the Fire. or Purple Shite. Or whatever AoE spell is on top of him.

for the record, I main a Balance Druid.

[heyitslapis]

Even when I thought we had boundary of just friends, she confuses me.

I tell myself to ignore it. That it's just a game for her and that she really is just comfortable with me as a friend.

But we all went out Sunday night (you, me & Sam). You asked us again if Sam & I were still "not a thing." We both told you the truth (for like the 10th time): we're not a thing. There's no sort of situationship or anything like that. We're just friends.

**((also I fucked up one of my tags I meant to say that Alice told buddy boy that I threatened to kill *him* again, not that I threatened to kill her. He sounded really serious when he said "i promise v, im leaps and bounds better than anyone shes had before. I would never hurt her." I said "Oh, im sure. Its because thats who you are Ty. Thats what you and I do. We protect people." I'll be so honest yall i was crossfaded as fuck because i was running iff 3 hours sleep & literally no food almost the whole day leading up to our outing. NOT doing that again jfc))**

[arolesbianism]

Harold tell your son to post some selfies I need to draw him stat

[rachymarie]

I was innocently searching the WorldWideWeb for "how to keep rambling to a minimum as a schizospec" "how to minimize rambling as a schizospec" (let's face it, no matter how efficient or inefficient of a googler i am, it is just hard to find actually helpful results on schizospec things, period. Beyond the usual outdated info from Healthline, WebMd, and even the NHS. Somehow, dare I say it, AI overview has actually been more helpful in that regard??), and came across this comment.

feel kinda offended as someone who is not actively in psychosis but is prone to ramble. I think even my thoughts back when I was going into my first and only psychosis had value and are still reflect issues relevant in my life that meds etc etc couldn't solve.

So (and forgive me for using this analogy for the thousandth time lol) it was like simply slapping a bandaid on a deep festering wound and hoping it would magically resolve itself, despite needing surgery to address the root cause. The root cause being the deep social issues in society that often lead us to psychosis in the first place*, such as: ever-widening rich-poor gap, poverty, mental health stigma, ambulance at the bottom of the cliff healthcare models, housing instability, power imbalance, lack or erosion of employee rights, patriarchy, etc etc (a whole host of issues really)

Tho I admit they may have some grain of truth in that if the person is in deep psychosis in my experience some of what I said probably didn't make a lot of sense to others. At least it made sense to me i guess, and i have explained a lot of the reasoning behind my delusions, thoughts, and spoken words since "recovering".

But like there were a few times that I said things that reflected things going on around me accurately that made mum laugh because I was just saying something that was actually happening. Example: apparently one nurse inappropriately asked me this leading question of: "are you hearing voices?" And I said "yes". When pressed I said "mum's voice" bc she was right there in the room and had been actually talking lol. She made a complaint abt that actually.

Another was the "operations building" - i had a delusion abt there being an operations building outside over yonder where they took ppl from mental health ward to perform evil surgeries on us. Well upon hearing my limited words expressing about that, mum was thinking "this girl has got so many screws loose I don't even know where to begin"- until she looked outside to see, lo and behold: a massive building opposite the hospital labelled "Operations Building".

Whomever smart cookie thought of the idea to place that one right outside the psych ward windows beats me lol.

So we're not actually completely "out of touch" with reality and what is going on!! In fact I provided an insight into the poor planning of building placement lol. Also I was very wary of the tank we passed on one of our group walks up a hill, bc brain decided it was the tank that Elisa Lam died in (despite this being in NZ lol) so that was kinda my brain warning me not to climb up there I guess

*And rarely actually ever get solved