#featuring their super duper art

[contronym-colours]

Made some more au version of my friend's sona again, let's add two more to the pile.

Bruh we made so many shitpost ideas of our Trasverse murder guys, all we need is killer and we got the whole murder trio and nightmare.

(the Trauma Gatos oh no)

What I used for drawing their dust version of them, btw this is their art, very cool and pawsome

[puppppppppy]

doodles of my fav sillies

anton belongs to @poicyss

[asterdotash]

my friend @wild-control and i are planning to go to a con as Postmaster Pearl and Permit Office Grian together and he wanted some stamps for his Pearl cosplay and uh....

i actually love this so much, i've always loved the like,,, chalk/pastel texture and the brush i used rlly got that roughness i wanted so i'm rlly rlly happy with it

i *wanted* to do a like,,, landscape thing of the shopping district but i couldn't find any good views of it so,,, postal bag it is lmao

[dunmeshistash]

in regards to skin tone variation in DM, i do think a lot of it is colorism/racism too. theres a few characters of color, but not many (just like how theres some fatter characters, but none of them are main characters (even senshi & other dwarves arent really depicted as fat)).

ryoko kui has surface representation for these people, but it lacks much substance, and the brown characters she does draw arent given brown facial features, and are almost always colored with very ashy skin. a lot of them just look like a recolored white person (especially cithis, kaka, & kiki). her random portraits of characters who dont actually appear in the series otherwise tend to be much better about this, but the actual characters that show up and play a part all seem to suffer from this issue.

im not saying kui is like, super-duper racist and we all need to stop reading DM etc etc, but i think its important to recognize and point out everyday/usually-overlooked colorism & racism when we see it, and i know im not the first or only person to point this out about her character designs. if she can draw fat people and actual brown people as part of the portraits, why cant she or wont she do the same for any of the featured characters in the series?

(i know the orcs are fat, but its not a good thing the only consistently fat people are the ones who are a fantasy race based off of violent racial stereotypes, who are also pig people, while none of the main cast of "real" humans are fat except *maybe* the dwarves, who still have small waists and flat stomachs, and the lord of the island, who is depicted as corrupt & decadent)

Well yeah.

I'm just a lore blog so I don't like to get too into real life issues or make assumptions about how the author feels about these subjects. What I talked about on the skin tone post was assumptions as to why she thought it would be important to show skin tone variations on certain races as a character design choice. (In the sense that her character design is very purposeful)

I realize some people over praise Kui's designs when most of it is pretty safe for what it is, but even if it's just a step closer to better representation it's something that's rare to see in anime. So I understand why some people get so excited about it.

It is important to realize this isn't the ideal either (Dark skinned characters with the same features as the others, mostly well build characters on the thinner side) but I personally don't like to criticize these type of stories on what it "could/should have been".

As someone who is fat and not white, I'm happy we get some diversity in dungeon meshi. I hope this opens up the possibility of better character design in the future even if what we got now wasn't perfect.

It shouldn't be the case that this piece of art filled me with so much joy I teared up cause I had never seen someone with a similar body to mine drawn with so much respect and objectivity. But unfortunately that's the world we live in and I don't think it's wrong to be happy for what we get for now while acknowledging it's not perfect and that it should be better.

I'm also super happy the anime chose to make the dark characters even darker.

[trees-be-drawing]

Okay… so I started reading @annzy-bananzys-corner ‘s “Snettles” as I was scrolling through Snufmin fanfics to read on AO3 back in early December, and… holy cow is it good!!!

Not only did the art cover from one of my favorite artists drew me in, but the writing was just 👌✨ GORGEOUS!!

All the characters written had such good chemistry towards each other, and Snorkmaiden ended up being the funniest to me. I couldn’t stop laughing so hard at her trying to be the voice of reason to the two lovable idiots that are Moomin and Snufkin in the early chapters.

So as typical fashion, I felt a great need to draw it. Cuz honestly, long-haired Snufkin was not something I thought was going to make me go feral but hot damn does he look so pretty in long hair!

Okay so…

SPOILERS TO THE FIC!!!

It’s pretty blurry but 1. I don’t have the best camera quality, and 2. It’s a bit faded since it took me a whole month to do this. (Update: I got a clearer picture. Sorry, I was rushing to get this out for a whole month)

But anyway, I had absolute gender envy every time I drew Snufkin with long hair. And there was definitely a lot more I wanted to draw, and felt bad I didn’t draw Little My especially.

I’m actually glad for the cover art too, it acted as a perfect reference to use but unfortunately I’m not very good at drawing Moomin and I’m envious at how @hanekdrawsmoomins draws them! They’re so fluffy and pretty!!

I definitely had to draw Snorkmaiden calling Snufkin a twink. I couldn’t resist. What I didn’t intend was for it to be right next to Snufkin having a breakdown over the overpowering song in his ears 😅 I also decided in order to differentiate Moomin and Snorkmaiden, I gave Snorkmaiden more rounder and fluffier features like her tail and ears. It’s subtle but I was pretty happy with it.

I get giddy every time I drew Moomin and Snufkin, but Snorkmaiden and Alicia needed some love too. I wanted to try some perspective which… I’ll admit I’m not very good at, but I did my best. I normally don’t draw backgrounds but I wanted to give the scenes more character and it was pretty fun, even if it’s not perfect.

I also thought to myself “maybe the reason Moomin didn’t recognize Snufkin was because he’s never seen Snufkin’s hair deflate in the water” so I drew the comparison to Snufkin and “Snettles” for that one scene where Moomin realized how similar they were. I also imagined his hair gets longer in mermaid form.. hehe! :3

I was also very excited to do my interpretation of the Lady of the Sea but I’ll be honest… I did procrastinate on it for a while which is why it took so long. I know the description said “seaweed green hair” and not the fact it’s actual seaweed but… I hope you don’t mind but I gave her seaweed hair. Made of different types of seaweed too :3 I actually want to colour it at some point but if there’s any changes I should do to her design, you can let me know. I’ve loved to get an accurate idea on her :3 I also used the mermaids from the 90’s as reference to give her fins on her head, although Snufkin doesn’t have any but I’d argue it’s cuz he’s only half mermaid.

It’s a very scattered looking comic kind of page but man! There was so many moments that were genuinely so good I felt tempted to even draw a full comic book on this!!

But no… unfortunately I am very easy to lose motivation and I’ve been and will be pretty busy for the majority of my current life cuz of college and stuff so I’m afraid I can’t draw often.

Good thing I’m on break at the moment :3

But anyway, it was super duper fun drawing these!! I’m actually super duper proud of them :3

Actually…. You wanna know how much I loved my sketch of Moomin and Snufkin on their midnight swim?

I COLOURED IT!! GONE BACK TO MY DIGITAL ART ROOTS FOR THIS!!!

Honestly I don’t think I did that great but I did this on iBisPaint, and there was a version where he had brown hair… until I read a section saying he has red hair so I quickly changed it to how it looks currently.

I also realized too late that the scales on his cheeks weren’t actually scales but freckles… which…. You know what? Fuck it. His freckles turn to fish scales. And they’re shiny :3

I also decided to make his scales glow but then remembered that doesn’t happen till Chapter 13. But hey, I think it gave it a calm feeling with how warm it must feel to be snuggled up like that on the water. Heck even my sister agreed.

Overall, Moomin fanfics have really helped with my art block.

And sorry for the really long yapping session. I like talking about my thought process on these things, and I genuinely can’t wait for the next chapter whenever or if it ever comes. I understand you’re busy so I don’t blame you but… damn you really left it on a cliffhanger huh? Still love it though! :3

Also I’m not sure why the link for the fic isn’t working properly cuz normally it would be automatic but… I’ll see if I can fix it at some point (update, I fixed it!)

[okanra]

FEW FUN BEHIND-THE-SCENES STUFF I DID FOR “THE UNSPOKEN” WEBCOMIC SERIES (still ongoing, of course)

So I’m migrating some of the (public version of) pre-production stuff I did in 2021-2023 for THE UNSPOKEN webcomic (back when it still had the old name “Trunks and Goten in High School AU”) here, since X/Twitter apparently annihilated the old Moment feature for real. These are mostly research stuff, some warm up doodles and inspiring sountrack playlists I did before a chapter or a story got made. I usually do a lot of research offline before working on any creative project, that’s why sometimes it feels like there’s so many information gets jammed into one chapter: it was mostly to make do for all the time that I didn’t get to, or wouldn’t be able to work on the comics.

Will add in the chapters along side the information paper for clearer understanding ✌️

———————————————

1. The warm-up expression practice sheet (or doodles, in my case) of Son Goten and Trunks in my webcomic series (late 2022 or early 2023):

Since the idea in mind for these two in the webcomic was to be more “mature, human-like” than the original manga version to fit with the narrative I want to tell and aim at the older demographic, practices are needed :p

2. The Martial Arts techniques research information papers - Chapter 2 and 3 aka “The Spar” 1 & “The Spar” 2 (2021-2022):

A. Goten’s techniques:

B. Trunks’s techniques:

This research about martial arts techniques was actually very fun to do due to martial arts and cultural aspects are being two of the things I enjoy the most in life. That’s probably parts of the reasons why I went back to Dragon Ball in 2020: motorbikes, martial arts and mixed races culture.

Back then I did plan on sharing my research to everyone in the form of little fun art lessons, so there were interesting tweets like this or this. Later I decided to share this somewhere else more private (like my Patreon community) since I realized pre-production researches (or something akin to visual developments) are not that well-liked for most online viewers even though it’s a very much needed process in a creative project 🤔

This martial art concept is one of the actual main themes throughout the whole webcomic series, not really the (super duper gay) b-romance relationship between Son Goten and Trunks, yes I’m very sorryyyyyyy I like them too but I like worldbuilding more lmaoooo :p

3. The brief character design sheet and Chinese-influenced culture research information papers - Chapter 4: “The Iron Woman” and Chapter 5: “Her Resolution, His Origin” (mid-2022 until now and will be continued):

A. Character Design brief sheet:

B. Culture research stuff:

The hilarious thing about researching for these chapters are: Back when “The Iron Woman” was being made, the research limited at reading articles and some books about Chinese cultures, and watching documentaries on Youtube. But when “Her Resolution, His Origin” was being made, the research tuned into a real life trip to China, to take real life reference photos and listening to real legends and stories.

This research for “Her Resolution, His Origin” will be posted to Patreon later, of course ✌️

4. The Original Comic introduction and comeback announcements in mid-2022:

I must have eaten some edibles while drawing this because the boys look so good here. Goten looks so good, I even made him the profile picture for my Patreon account lmao.

5. Soundtrack playlists for inspirations (2021 - now): always the cherry on top. I listen to these playlists everytime I work on the series.

A. Duo playlist for chapters featuring both main characters: link

B. Character playlist for chapters focusing on single character, or anything related to that character: link

———————————————

All in all, posts like this are for people who like to see what’s beneath the surface when working on a creative project. I completely guarantee you, what you’ve seen on this blog are just the tips of the ice berg 🤫

Def not a PR, but my Patreon has lots of this lmao. Half joking half serious, there’s even a “non-posted” comic up there too and many other things. I’m just stating facts.

That aside, I’m just really happy to be able to work on this webcomic. THE UNSPOKEN webcomic series has always been a long-term indie project, not a daily content so I hope the readers who like and follow this series would stay tuned for more ✌️

———————————————

For easier reading, you can either follow the links that are included above, or just read this Tapas updated version.

[nomkiwi]

->PSD Credit : @/rookmeo !

IPAD IS REPAIRED I AM FREE I CAN EDUT AGAIN

she / her and fem terms only ! 300+ EVENT ! (ENDED.)

click the „⟣ - 𝜗‿་། ི˚̣̣̣†⌞Serenades 🎼⌝“ tag to view my edits !

You called my name, did you not? I heard you before... a long, long time ago.

The conch shell whispered to me when I was little. Your voice was there… among many others… how nice. Suggestions are : OPEN FOR STIM AND MOODBOARDS ONLY 3/5

black and whitelist

What I do:

-Layouts (for almost all platforms)

-Graphics

-icons (can be a lil picky)

-replycons (can be picky)

-dividers

-PSDS

-tutorials

and maybe more if you ask nicely !

I might decline a request if I can’t work with it, don’t take it personally, I am just trying to avoid frustration <3

please be nice with me, I often interpret things as negative, and start thought spiralling. Just saying please and thank you in a request will help, plus it’s basic request etiquette !

Other then that, happy requesting, I hope you enjoy my works !

MEANINGS OF MY TAGS !

Creatures of the Rhine 🐚 = general interactions

serenades 🎼 = edits art and tutorials. The actual content.

prophecies 🫧 = BORING RANTS /ref (aka Thoughts and ideas)

rupturing waters 🌊 = actual rants, aka me using tumblr as an emotional outlet

The mermaids questions 🎶 = me abusing the poll feature cuz it’s fun

the vampiric writer ⚰️ = Tag for my very awesome qpp wife victor slash Charlotte

the traveler from space 🛰️ = tag for my super duper cool friendo Felix !

[hybbart]

Do you listen to music while drawing? If you wanna share, I'd be really interested! Also related - do you think the music influences your art?

I do! It depends how hard I gotta concentrate, sometimes when I'm in the early sketching stage and I'm thinking a lot, especially a comic, I gotta not, and sometimes if I'm not thinking at all like doing lineart I put videos on in the bg. But most of the time I listen to music. (Also sometimes when I'm super duper stressed or overwhelmed and I'm drawing to calm down I listen to the music I have on my phone or play meditation music from youtube on it, just to get my headset off my head.)

I have a couple of playlists that are just some specific songs that are a mood, usually less wordy songs from OSTs or kawaii future bass type stuff. Sometimes though I just let my music play starting from like the most recent 30 or so I added so it's usually a jumbled mess. Occassionally if a particular song inspires a mood and I'm too lazy to search if I have any songs similar enough I just play that song on repeat until it's done. Recent songs I did this with are the Dandadan full opening and Osmanthus featuring Ado (which is one of those modern songs that are obnoxiously short so... I heard that quite a few times! I was given a couple songs similar enough to it that I made a playlist though including Okayu's cover of Flos)

I mostly listen to japanese music- current fav artists are Ado and Zutomayo- but I'll listen to most anything. I have a raau playlist that's basically "what do raau ranchers listen to while driving" that's mostly country music like the chicks and johnny cash. Recently I downloaded a bunch of late 90s and early 2000s music I hadn't gotten for some reason like barenaked ladies and linkin park and green day after my notepad doc I use to write songs I hear down got a bit full after a drive with my dad.

I'd say it influences my art when I let it. I can put it on as background noise or I can let it set a tone. Maybe it's not so much that it influences my art as it is that I am in a certain mood and I put on music that fits that mood. If I wanna draw something soft and pastel I'm not exactly putting on techn9ne or man with a mission! And if I wanna draw something actiony I don't usually play imogen heap or carly rae jepson. I'll make a temporary playlist. If I'm not in any particular mood, though, I'll just let my music play whatever in order added and become background noise. Usually it all ends up back at the masic block of shemusic at the start lol. I guess they're my best of queens.

(That said there are songs- mostly dance songs or musical OSTs- that I cannot listen to while drawing. I Just end up distracted and either singing or dancing...)

Uuuh this ended up longer than needed. remind me not to answer asks right as I wake up...

[jazzy-dreamer]

HAPPY SUPER DUPER LATE HALLOWEEN YA’LL!!!!!!! I keep forgetting to post art on here I’m sorryyyyyy-

This piece features my silly lil alien gal Ari ùwú

[imustbenuts]

Dragons, Snakes, and the Missing Link

tl;dr The Missing Link is the Naga deity from Buddhism/Hinduism. (featuring jesus ichiban)

lowercase bc im tired today...

has anyone ever wondered how similar looking eastern dragons and snakes are?

the eastern dragon originates from china tradition, and is associated with the heavens, rain, thunder, fortune, strength and benevolence. it is also associated with whimsicality, being that the heavens and nature tend to be very whimsical when it came to the lives of people.

(originates from china, kind... of. bc theres more to this chinese origin. more under the cut)

further, it is said that should an emperor witness a dragon, they are guaranteed to be a good ruler and bring an era of peace and prosperity. this is effectively an approval from the heavens, ie, the Mandate of Heaven, and was as useful as the Divine Right of Kings argument for why rulers should rule.

its not too surprising that kiryu ends up also having a say in choosing Daigo or Terada as successors. (although he might have fucked up with terada, but Daigo became someone who is a good fit if not for the overwhelming odds stacked against him... theres also an arguement that kiryu wasn't quite Like A Dragon just yet in y1.)

so dragons are super duper important. and kiryu the character embodies what a dragon is, cool!

but then, we have... majima. who has the snake as a secondary motif of his irezumi, and i think has a secondary possible role that hasnt been pointed out yet in EN afaik

so, ive done some digging for why people think majima has the snake motif, and one possible explanation is that snakes are associated with immortality, a messenger to the heavens, which does fit majima. juxtaposed to the short bloomed sakura in his irezumi, it reads like a very elaborate art piece with layers of too many meaning, majima is fascinating. anyway.

this article goes into even deeper details why snakes are popularly paired up with the hannya mask, but are kind of vague about it:

what i want to zero in is... this word: Naga.

to understand why the dragon is linked to naga, i need to explain 2 things. what the heck is a naga, and how buddhism traveled.

what's a naga?

a naga is this.... not the guy sitting in the middle, that's buddha. but the multi-headed serpent itself:

so okay. this section is a very short summary and are worth reading more on your own, but here's the run down.

nagas are a class of serpent deity originating from hinduism. buddhism came due to a multitude of factors including rejecting hinduism's social caste system. as a result, it shares many deities with hinduism, including naga.

nagas can be depicted as multiheaded or single headed, and can transform between and in-between their snake and human form. nagas are based on cobras. in south and southeast asia, the naga is often depicted with a flap around the neck as characteristic of a cobra. or sometimes without the flap at all even.

this also means in some interpretations, nagas are as dangerous as they are benevolent/beneficial to humans (probably with the correct aptitude). this duality of good but bad if pissed off isn't at all exclusive to nagas, but in fact rather common with this sphere of deities. (sound familiar?)

in buddhism, the most well known one is Mucalinda, who protects and shelters buddha in his meditation to attain enlightenment. hence all those pictures above

interestingly, their abode is the deep, deep waters. :)

they are a very, very important deity in buddhism due to their strong and close role to buddha, but because buddhism frames gods as just other higher beings trying to escape the cycle of samsara, the nagas are seen as a protector rather than be a god to worship. cool? ok.

journey to the... far eastern japan

for how buddhism traveled, its something like this (source):

something to be clear about with this: buddhism did not arrive in japan without alteration. where ever buddhism traveled, it got reinterpreted as it moved on, absorbing local folklore and myth in the process, and then splashed about back and forth before hitting japan's shores. (but the scriptures was imported in its original form to my understanding. so the colloquial understanding is different from india's own.)

and hence why buddhism in japan is specifically called shinto buddhism: its a special blend.

with the case of nagas specifically, they seem to have entered china, and got mixed with the eastern dragon, and then passed onto korea and japan. some folklore of the dragon are also said to originally be stories about nagas, which we can see with the still present association with water and some divine knowledge.

but, the nagas by this point have lost their human form and gained bitty limbs and whiskers and claws and now soar through the skies rather than stay on the ground. or look a little goofy even.

(this dancing toothless dragon took off on douyin. i can attest to and confirm how much the chinese love goofy ass looking dragons)

in the chinese language, the sanskrit word naga was actually translated as dragon as well. hence all this mixing and remixing of things in the colloquial. notably also there was a chinese emperor known as Emperor Wu of Liang who was so fascinated with buddhism that he imported and promoted the religion, and likely appropriated aspects of the naga and mixed it with the dragon.

(i uh had to google in chinese to check and there was more than 1 article using the word dragon for naga. so nice to be a bye-lingual👍)

another important thing, japan already has their own big snake myths such as the yamato no orochi and tsuchinoko, but as for how influenced these are with buddhism is a bit of a toss up. there's definitely an exchange of sorts but its genuinely hard to tell where the line is.

so to summarize it all up

nagas are cobras to snakes to dragons.

both the chinese dragon and naga share similarities of being nasty when upset, and beneficial and benevolent to those they choose.

but, where the dragons are associated with the heavens and rain, the snakes are associated closer to the earth. both share an affinity with water.

effectively, cobras/snakes are the base for nagas, and nagas are the base for chinese dragons. so. majima's snake is like a stealth dragon.

but where the eastern dragon (kiryu) gives approval and disappears willy nilly, the naga (majima) stays and protect to the death.

meaning, kiryu is like a dragon, and majima may have always been like a dragon all along too B). theres also further theming with yin yang with these two, with kiryu being the passionate fire and majima being the naturing water. but thats a whole other detour. this post is getting long and insane enough as it is

oh, but buddhism isnt buddhism without the enlightened buddha. so while i havent played 3-6 yet i bet its this daigo guy whose name literally means Big Enlightenment.

大悟

you cant tell me hes got a irezumi of some buddhism/hinduism deity acala and have a name heavily associated with buddhist wisdom for no reason. and that he got effectively put into the position of the emperor of the kanto yakuza.

and given aaaaaall that ive written about above in regards to the intended function of these mythological deities/creatures, daigo fits the position of either emperor or buddha to a T.

now, a little personal opinion here, but it seems like RGG began rejecting the classism that comes along with the emperor system and really embraced the buddhist roots more as time goes on.

i say this bc even though i mentioned buddhism coming about partially as a rejection of the caste system, the social structure in old and current china and japan still has strong classism, rooted and continuing off old myth and religion (blame those old rulers for this). we see these in the theme of rgg and how even in the yakuza world theres a clear hierarchy, and in 7's civilian theres a clear undesired class of people.

then there's ichiban who keeps rejecting all of those judgey nonsense

ichibannnnn

interestingly theres also the bit where ichiban got handpicked by kiryu as well as a successor of sorts:

and also kiryu telling majima explicitly to support ichiban after hes gone in IW in that scene. theres also some little fun bits about how ichiban is framed as jesus christ:

and that according to some buddhist interpretation, jesus christ qualifies as Big Enlightened buddha material

so. uh. yeah.

majima is going to play a significant role in 9 i think.

idk how to conclude this but. i understand the writer and im going fucking insane as you might have noticed about 7/10 through this long post. anyway thanks for reading. become nuts with me.

[voidsuites]

mother maya im in search of your little guide to making two/multi character bots... blinks cutely at you

also how do you make it work for the character limit?

annie!!! ☺️🤭💗💗💗 here’s the template for my two/multi character bots— it’s got my og one linked on it as well

it should work as long as each character’s template isn’t super duper long— for instance my art and patrick “club classics” bot is only 5420/32000 with just their templates. with other features like the relationship dynamic/world-building details/example convo it only comes out to 19653/32000.

as for my art patrick tashi “spring breakers” bot, their templates together are only 6774/32000. all the other details bring it up to 16013/32000.

like i said— as long as your templates themselves aren’t super long on their own, then you shouldn’t have an issue fitting anything else you need in there. if u have any other questions just lmk :) <3

[iskander-tm]

Hi! first of all i just want to say that i love your art sm!

secondly, how do you get your art to be so not-blurry when you post? sorry if this is annoying but your formatting is so perfect i just had to ask! is there a specific image size you use? is it a settings thing? tumblr seems to hate every size i try :,)

tysm! -izzy

Hello!! Thank you!

It's actually funny that you said that my art is not blury as I add a blur effect on all of them heh. But I get what you're asking. Generally if you're looking for a good quality for raster pics use png. It's heavier than jpeg but contrary to jpeg it has a higher quality and there's a lesser chance to run into artefacts

also if you're working in photoshop( I do) I found that the best quality with the best color accuracy can be achieved through export -> quick export as png. Or export for web (in this case its like super duper good quality plus your image coded in such manner that any web page can read it easily and not fuck it up) I think other programs may also have this feature so look for it

good luck!

[kajinovaa]

Hey, can you tell us what drawing tablet you use?👀👀👀 Your art I can say looks delicious, I love how you draw teeth and expressions so vividly 😤😤

tytyyyyy~ ✨️✨️✨️ and of course i can tell you! i'll even tell you what programs i use for an added bonus :> im not at all fancy with mt equipment, i prefer the smaller stuff idk why

TABLETS

XP Pen Deco 02 (primary), $79.99 USD - my main girl in the current scene, and i won't lie about growing fond of it! my fav feature about it is the plentiful of express buttons on it (6) and the dial that allows me to adjust my brush's size on the spot without haven't to tap onto the art program's icons by hand ✨️ plus the pen itself feels like rigid material and shape, #2 pencil typebeat, really good for heavy-handed artists

Huion HS64 (NOT IN USE), $35.99 USD - this one is in the storage due to the fact i accidentally damaged the pen so i need to buy a new one and haven't gotten around that. this is THE tablet i would recommend to beginner artists. wacom is good too, but the cost isn't beginner friendly, plus the stylus sensitivity is just as good, if not better than wacom's. also, wacom drivers can be so fucky at times, and i have yet to encounter something with huion's

PROGRAMS

Paint Tool Sai (primary) - my absolute default in anything i start. simple layout, simple tool setting adjustments, super duper beginner friendly, and it's ultra light on your system's resources. also, the brush engine???? sweet fucking jesus, i have yet to find a lineart brush in Clip Studio Paint that can match the smoothness and clean lines that Sai offers, and i've been running with Clip for like 7 or so years now. i don't know how or why, Sai's line brushes are superior in my opinion

Clip Studio Paint - you've probably already heard of this one. i do use it when i want some texture to my lines, or some shortcut brushes like foliage and clouds. my primary usage nowadays is tone adjustments and effects

HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR PROGRAMS

Paint Tool Sai v.2 - sometimes i feel messing around in it cuz it handles stabilization a little differently, and the program itself is closer to the current programs out on the market, like CSP/PS/etc. it's a great middleman when you wanna transition from Sai v.1 to CSP! plus i've seen that the interface is totally customizable through a mod somewhere

Magma - bro, this... this one might be an underdog and it's why i'm mentioning it in this list. it's COMPLETELY free, browser-based, and i swear to you that if you manage to fuck around with the brush settings enough, they're so damn smooth and nearly behave like CSP's. please give it a look into if you haven't yet and you're looking for a light alternative. also, fair warning, use opera/opera gx as your browser for it. for some reason chrome/firefox give it horrible lag and it won't feel as smooth with your strokes. ALSO A BONUS TO THIS: YOU CAN COLLAB ON THE SAME CANVAS AS YOUR FRIENDS AAAAAAA

hope that helps!!!

[ghostlyminer]

I don’t know if I’ve properly revealed how big a Project Moon fan I am, but I am a big Project Moon fan.

So much so that I’ve been doing some weird 4D Fandom Crossover Chess tm and I move my bishop to Midwest Angelica X Limbus Company

(Design context down below! 👇)

Context: I was previously working on a RPG maker game a while back, that revolves around a “Multiverse” plot. Since it was the first RPG maker game I attempted to make ever, it is a bit of a mess and currently is sitting in my laptop data taking up space. But while it’s not the actual game, I still really enjoy drawing art of some of the main characters’ identities! (Hence why there’s an individual twist that’s not exactly canon-complient)

-

Nerd Allusion explanation for Nerds: (I highlighted the allusions in orange)

Main depiction here is of Dr. Ray O’Connor, one of the main researchers in Midwest Angelica. The scene depicted here is actually specifically from the video Phantoms, though a more blatant example of Dr. Evan’s infection and behavior, since Dr.Evans’ coughing fits assumably fade by the time he arrives to the facility —most likely due to his completed infection—(this universe’s version featured as the giant blurry blob in the bottom left). It is also depicting Ray O’Connor’s infection, as in the video, the very-well-implied super-duper-infected Dr. Evans replaces the water cooler (after presumably tampering with it), and proceeds to hand Dr. O’Connor the innocuous cup of super-duper-infectious water.

This being a Limbus Company identity mock-up, I just had to do that custom UI! Limbus fans probably also know how base art and uptie 3 art are typically very different, “the calm before the storm” and “the hurricane”, and, well. . . Let’s just say that this is the base identity art. And that O’Connor undergoes some. . . life-altering experiences.

[athetos]

Got the true ending + the super duper final secret in sea of stars and damn what a fucking good ass game. I had way high expectations for this one and it managed to hit all of them. For real if tears of the kingdom didn’t come out this year it would be a shoe-in for my goty. Definitely the best chrono trigger inspired game I’ve played, absolutely nails being a tribute without banking too hard on nostalgia or being tacky, and is original with enough twists and turns to keep you invested. The graphics are awesome, music is beautiful, the combat is engaging, the connections to the messenger really got to me, the designs are great. Lots of quality of life features that the jrpgs that influenced it lacked so that’s always welcome, with the addition of the relics you can turn on and off it’s very accessible difficulty wise but can also provide a challenge if you so desire. Truthfully one of the only criticisms I have is that while I liked Zale and Valere, they were pretty one-note and didn’t have much else going on personality-wise and were pretty interchangeable. It would have been cool if they had more features to distinguish them because it feels like you could read me any line of either’s dialogue and I’d have no idea which said it. As it is the rest of the cast way outshines them which is a bit of a shame. I could see Garl being a “creator’s pet” a bit too even though I personally adored him, but I can see why he might get on other people’s nerves for taking precedence over zale and valere. I love a good sidekick with no magical prowess to speak of who is unfathomably loyal and upbeat, though.

Overall I highly recommend, also play the messenger too. You don’t need to have played the messenger to play sea of stars but it’s also a fucking fantastic game that combines nes platformers in the style of, say, ninja gaiden with metroidvanias and has gorgeous art, some of the wittiest dialogue I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, and a perfect difficulty curve.

[cantquitu]

Do you think stars understand what you and that anon were saying about fandom being comforting? A place of refuge during lonely times? I wonder what it feels like to be so focused on the music making and the good collaborations with producers, photographers, designers, all that, and then the people at the end of it just talk about you being their comfort person. It must feel frustrating in a way. Like I can see that Harry seems to try to understand it and goes to an effort to say good things during shows. Or he's just a super duper nice man. But most artists ignore that - I suppose it is verging on the parasocial if it gets out of hand.

I think the question of whether or not stars understand how comforting fandom can be totally depends on the individual stars. These days, you can count on a number of stars knowing how much of a refuge fandom can be because they experienced it firsthand. Artists like Halsey and Mitski jump to mind, but across all genres you'll find artists who were passionate online fans before they became famous. They get it. Not saying they enjoy it when they themselves are the subject of the online fandom, but they understand what it means.

Then you have the artists who learned about it pretty quickly through their rapid ascent to fame. Pop artists like Harry and Taylor learned that their audiences' investment in fandom was integral to their success, and they embraced it to varying degrees and in different ways. In rock and alt/indie it's the same (I'm not familiar with other genre fandoms). Some artists engage, some don't. Some are oblivious to it and don't understand it.

I have no doubt that Harry genuinely appreciates and values the sense of community, friendship, connection, and support that his fans (not him!) have built up around him. I think he very much understands that it's not all about him.

As to artists being frustrated when they invest so much creativity and work into their art "and then people at the end of it just talk about you being your comfort person" - I don't think you're accurately representing online fandom. Yes, fans may see the artist as their comfort person but in general it's not a case of "just". It's not either/or. The part we're discussing here is the comfort/refuge of fandom; but that's additional. The crux of fandom is appreciation and emotional investment in the music. Interest in what inspired it, how and why it was made and with whom, and how it makes you feel.

Of course, online fandom spaces often skew away from the music and towards the personal - that's natural. It doesn't mean it replaces the music. For us for example, Harry hasn't released new music in nearly three years. He doesn't do reissues or remixes or featured artist collabs. We interrogated every inch of his music when it came out. He then took it on tour and we interrogated every inch of the live interpretations. It's been 18 months since he's engaged publicly. I've no interest in dredging up posts about lyrical interpretations or whatever.

But outside the online fandom space, Harry's music is part of my life. I listen to it all the time. Depending on my mood or location, I'm still discovering new connections with it. And that's predominantly where my fandom lives until he comes back to us.

Like, just last Monday I went for new year's dinner with a friend of mine at a restaurant where music is a big part of the vibe, they have DJs most nights etc. And they were playing a load of late 70s soul. My friend is a DJ and our music tastes differ hugely but converge on 90s indie and 70s funk :) So we were chatting about it when the DJ played Ain't We Funking Now by the Brothers Johnson, which Harry sampled for Daydreaming. I said it to her and she was really surprised - "Harry Styles? Really?! I'll have to check that out" - and that made me really happy cos I know she'll love it, and it's another little musical connection made.

I suppose what I'm saying is, being a fan of someone's work is not confined to online spaces. But the refuge and comfort of online fan spaces is something special and additional (and mine! 😀)