#for 2023 I think I plan to mostly focus on ocs so

[koifee]

Happy new year! ✨🎊

[determinedwriter]

Meet Aurora

I think before I post Whumptober 2023 this year, it would be good to introduce my OC who will be at the center of it. My ocs are often self inserts so I'd say that's also the case here.

So let me get started with basic stuff. Not sure if anyone will care about my posts but here we go anyways. :) credit to gif makers btw give them love.

Aurora Stark portrayed by Daisy Edgar-Jones

This is Aurora "Ro" Anthony Stark. My one-shots/prompt things will take place in a sort of floating timeline where she is anywhere between 15-18 and is sometimes specified in my writing but not always.

She is the daughter of Tony Stark and Ivy Harper (OC) after a one night stand. Ivy and her family are on the run from HYDRA, Ivy's parents knowing more than HYDRA wants them to in fear of being exposed. They are forced to hide away in an unspecified location near Wheeler Springs, California.

Ivy's parents are killed on a supply run, Ivy left to care for herself. On one of her own supply runs she meets Tony at a bar, one thing leading to another and resulting in Aurora.

Ivy Harper portrayed by Anne Hathaway

Ivy keeps her pregnancy a secret from Tony, never seeing him again as she raises Aurora alone for nine years before a HYDRA super soldier finds their hideout and kills Ivy.

Before being killed, Ro is given a letter by her mother with an address on it. Tony's address. Aurora hits the road on her own as a little girl and ends up at Tony's doorstep. Tony soon learns of the circumstances, completely dumbfounded.

Young (9-14ish) Aurora Stark is portrayed by Cailey Fleming

Aurora is touched by Loki's scepter and gains the power of precognition, getting visions of the future from time to time that she can't control. During Iron Man 3, she is experimented on with Extremis to lure Tony just as Pepper is in the og movie. But unlike Pepper, Ro isn't fully fixed by Tony and she gets pyrokinetic powers.

As a teen, Ro goes to Midtown Tech and meets Peter, Ned, and MJ. I want to write a full story on here with the backstory and what happens to Ro during Infinity War and then on, so that's as far as I'll elaborate with the timeline without spoiling what my plans are. :)

Aurora is incredibly smart like her father and creates an AI of her own like JARVIS and FRIDAY, hers being called ARIES. (Aurora's Really Interesting Expert System) and is mostly in the form of an earpiece or in her hero suit as her persona, The Flare.

The best way to explain the way ARIES looks and is like is Aloy's focus in Horizon Zero Dawn.

(Her earpiece. I couldn't find a good gif on here but you can search that if you're curious)

Ro and Tony work in his workshop a lot to bond, Tony being pretty proud of her smarts and different abilities at her young age. Like father like daughter.

To finish this off, I'll share some Daisy Edgar Jones GIFs that I feel show my vision of Ro Stark the best. If you read this far, thanks! And stay tuned for her story and whump related stuff because I hurt my poor OCs lol.

Have a great day, you guys.

Okay I'm done lol. If any of the GIF owners want me to remove their gifs, I will happily do so. You can click on the original creators in the corner there by the gifs themselves to see more. GIF makers doing God's work frfrfr.

anyway, thank you again :)

[pine-niidles]

Looking Back on 2023

Heyyy folks! Long time no news from me huh. 

I'm struggling to think of what to even say about my silence. I've not been doing so bad I'd call myself depressed, but I'm doing a tad worse than just a slump. It's been a rough 6 months, not because of one big thing. Instead, a bunch of medium-sized reasons all piled up on top of each other to leave me extremely drained. I've mostly been working on the two commissions I still had in my queue (thank you to my commissioners for being so patient with me, I'm so sorry to make you wait so long <3). I've done a little personal art other than that but didn't have the leftover focus to keep up with sharing it on social media or writing up any updates about my situation. I've pretty much only been active sharing things in my art discord. I'd like to say I've been doing better in the last month or so, but I hesitate to make any promises at this point! We'll just have to see how things go :)

Artfight

So you were promised a more in depth artfight review but I think I missed the right timeframe for that... instead have this look at 3 years of unfinished artfight thumbnails from my new year's wip clean-out!

Year of Art Summary

All things considered I made a lot of art this year, and I'm really happy with how most of it turned out ☺ I did a bunch of experimenting with more playful techniques and color schemes and I think they suit my style a lot. I want to try and much those limits even more next year to see what kind of fun art I can create! Something with colors specifically really clicked in my brain after that witch drawing I did in April, before then I would spend a long time figuring out the perfect color scheme and doing a bunch of adjustments but ever since that drawing things have really been coming together super quick? I'm not sure what changed but no complaints from me. 

Life Drawing Summary 

I rarely post my life drawing but I've been keeping at it! Actually, I put together a few pdfs showcasing all my life drawing going back to 2022, you can download them for free in my itch or ko-fi shops! :>

I also put together a yearly art improvement comparison going back to 2015 that I was planning to put here. However, seeing how long this is already getting... I'll make a separate post for it.

Commissions

I've been gearing up to open commissions again after that unintended hiatus. I don't want to open slots until I'm sure I'm back to being able to finish them in a reasonable timeframe, so I've been using that leftover energy I do have to think about revamping some things and new styles to offer. Back in November I ran a survey on what people want to see from me (it's still open if you'd like to fill it out and help me get more stats!) 

here's a preview of what's to come based on that & my whims:

- stamp commissions were super well received so they'll be added to my main repertoire

- A combo of me reading too much dun meshi and wanting to offer some kind of comicky commissions led to this idea of comic pages of characters eating together, I have a couple examples in progress, when they're done I'll add this style to my main offerings!

- I'm still not 100% set on sketchpages but I like the idea of them so if this test goes well I'll add them as an option

Onward to 2024! 

I already completed my new year's resolution on day 1 of 2024, it was to pet a cat. I've made a second one which is to get a library card whenever my visa is approved and I move back home. It's been something I've been wanting to do for a while but never got around to, hoping this will be the excuse I need to do it.

Art-wise it's not a new goal, but I've been trying to focus on improving my rendering! Though I've also been playing around a lot with screentone... the two don't have to be at odds 🤔 

I'm dedicating this year's personal art time to making new references for as many ocs as possible with nude bases so I can easily design new outfits for them whenever I want to without fully making a new ref from scratch.

Otherwise I'm just trying to take it slow, work on things one at a time and see what happens from there.

[jade-everstone]

Art Goals for 2024

This post is a mirror of a post on my website (here)

It’s a few days into the new year. While the feelings of uncertainty from 2023 still lingers, I set myself a handful of goals going forward to give myself some sense of direction, 8 in fact, though I’ll mostly be focusing on my art-related goals here.

Technical improvement isn’t a major focus this year (I mean, I just did 4+ years of that lol). I think it’s time to focus on more external factors of art, like gaining some stability, pouring more focus into doing it part-time while maintaining the personal side. As well as strengthening skills not directly related to illustration. It’s something that’s fell to the wayside until senior year of college, and now that I’m out of school I think at least for this year I can let these factors overtake direct art improvement.

-

Finish PC-Mania!

My short webseries! This was launched as part of my senior thesis, but has had multiple hiccups in terms of production. This year I want to smooth out those bumps & be able to wrap it up by the end of this year. The reason I say by the end of this year? My drafts are roughly 40 pages, and even with my other plans for this year I’ll have more time on my hands to focus on comics. So I’m pretty confident I can wrap it up regardless of how it happens.

-

Launch Support Streams related to my art

This one was inevitable. Even if it’s a goal of part time vs. full time, I want to be able to do art as a career. Meaning I have to have some form of income to be able to continue doing it comfortably. This one will need time to sort-out though since there are hurtles; Notably my overall lack of reach, as well as inflation times.

Lack of reach is likely due to struggling with consistent posting (even reposts & WIPs slip by me), not wanting to completely bend my practices to algorithms, and migrating between platforms. So that one may be harder to sort-out while keeping it fair to my self & my limits. Inflation is tricky. Art is a luxury afterall, and when the cost of living has skyrocketed across the board I don’t blame people for choosing food and rent over art. I’m likely going to keep it to one-time payments & tip jars indefinitely since I don’t want to launch subscriptions in a time where people looking to cancel them to make ends meet. Plus, with my issues with consistent posting, I’m not in a position to be doing subscription-based works & would also like to better sort out my boundaries before even considering (ie: I don’t want anything that could potentially lead to people feeling entitled to my attention).

I still want to try pushing for commissions & freelance, even with a lack of success over the past few years. Though I also want to look more into online shops & tabling since last year, all of the money I made from art was from IRL sales. So it’s a matter finding those events that are original-art & zine friendly (I’m uninterested in monetizing fanart beyond commissions. Fanart to me = Personal art & I’d like to keep it that way). As well as researching more into online shops as a means to get things out there outside of the convention space.

-

Better-establish OC Lore & Worlds

This one is likely gonna be harder than it sounds. Because on one hand I am excited about these project, but I’ve always struggled with getting ideas-to-paper. While I don’t want to claim much since I don’t have an official diagnosis as of writing, I’m very sure I have ADHD meaning getting down schedules, and getting projects done before I jump to another interest has been a long-term struggle. It’s part of what hampered PC-Mania & reach, and hampers my ability to put more info about the projects I’m working on & are excited about (hell last year, I think I ended up drawing Io way more than art for said projects…).

I don’t know if there’s any “ADHD-friendly guides to maintaining projects before you forget them” out there (I’d argue most project guides & tips I’ve seen don’t consider it), so I’m pretty sure I’m on my own in this department. Currently I’m thinking about leveraging my website for this since it’s meant to be a work archive as is, and even if progress is inconsistent it’ll at least give me a central hub to link back to.

If you are curious, the main one I want to establish is Doverhill! It’s where a PC-Mania takes place for reference, and it’s set in modern times in the fictional town of Doverhill MA. Perfectly normal, except for the occasional paranormal encounter. The main cast that has to deal with them are a group of friends & neighbors who live in an apartment complex together. Story-wise it’s an episodic comedy about the sheer absurdity that is life. Even if it’s not a hard world-building project, it deserves a central hub to link back to.

The other one I’m debating on is Fang and Iron, a dark-sci-fantasy world building project about demon-hunting androids. But I think it needs more time in the oven, and I don’t plan on making it a main focus for a long time.

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Learn Blender for making assets & Blocking

I’ve thought about the other skills I’d like to strengthen & learn for future projects, notably writing skills, drawing mecha, desktop publishing software, and 3D. But I picked learning 3D, since I feel like this one will have a ton of versatility in terms of making references for myself. If you’re wondering using 3D assets for references is extremely common, especially within the world of comics where you need to re-draw backgrounds and props. So having knowledge on how to block out scenes in blender will help massively in the long run, especially when my schedule starts filling up again.

(now I just need to finish that donut)

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Shorter Comic Project?

I’m considering this one optional, but if I can squeeze in another smaller 8-16pg comic or zine along the lines of 9:15 Slushie I’d like to. I have an Idea I want to do for it (an idea that existed before 9:15 slushie did!) so the next step is carving out time to make it happen

Those are my main art goals of 2024. For the other 3 main resolutions of mine, I’ll list a short summary of those instead:

Get a job alongside art (I’ll need it. Bills be upon me + even with help from family members, I’d like to transition into being self-sustaining & be able to front the costs for my supplies & projects going forward)

Get my Drivers License (Also needed, especially if I want to continue tabling & other hobbies, and for getting to whatever job I end up at)

Get better at IIDX (and by extension BMS) so I can say I suck at normal 7’s vs normal 4’s lol (my only “hobby” goal of this year. I’ve wanted to get into IIDX for a long time too, so since I’m planning on getting my license & income anyways, I’ll see if I can squeeze this one in)

[gammacousin]

FIC WRITING REVIEW 2023

Thanks for the shoutout and tag @voiceoffenrisulfr

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please don’t eat glass but don’t feel like you have to do this either. (Copied and pasted)

Words and Fics

Word Count:

157,812

Fic Count:

18 started. Most completed

Most productive month:

Not sure

Top Five by Hits

Just Forget the World- 1,385

Landslide- 868

Christmas in L.A.- 747

The Ghost of You- 732

Finding Skaar- 724

Top Five by Kudos

Just Forget the World- 51

Christmas in L.A- 44

Landslide- 40

The Ghost of You- 39

The Sound of Science- 30

Fandom events:

A lot…Mostly Bingos

Upcoming Plans:

To Complete:

Dicey Situations

The Trial of Bruce Banner (not on Ao3)

A Safe Place to Land

Other Ideas:

Want to finish my Bingo prompts

Romanoff Girls (Rebecca and Natasha adventures)

As more ideas come to me, I’ll share them

Reflection

This year I stopped writing with a focus on appeasing my readers and just writing what I want to write. Whether people connect with it or not (and so many have, I love you all for that!) this is a pastime that helps me stay sane. It’s a super fun hobby.

It’s hard to pick favorites but I think if I needed to choose, they’d be Finding Skaar, The Sound of Science, and Turbulence. In that order.

Thanks for sticking around and for the support. In the words of an OC; Hope you all have a ‘sick’ 2024.

Laters Gators. 📝

Would love to see all of your 2023 writing reviews and Ao3 summaries even if you weren’t tagged! Chances are high I read your shtuff.

@broadwayfan92 @celestialsister0918 @alies22 @reviiely

[allen309]

Happy New Years Everyone!! 🎉

It’s the start of a new year. I don’t like making New Year’s resolutions because I can never stick to one thing at a time, especially for an entire year. However, I think I’ll continue to focus on my mental health and continue making personal achievements.

This year has been a really good year for me, especially mentally. A few highlights from 2023:

1. Started a YouTube channel:

* I still have no plans to grow my channel. It’s just something to do for fun. I’m hoping to get better at editing and making my content better.

2. I finally got my driver’s license and made a few small road trips around my home state this past summer

3. Went to Fan Expo in Boston with my friend.

* While at Fan Expo I met the voice actress that voiced the original Dora. The meet and greet was fun, but no one cared about Dora. Basically, Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime, was about two tables over and his line was backed up. There were a few people who passed by and would excitedly make a comment about “oh it’s Dora!”, but the people would just continue walking by to get in line for Peter Cullen. Overall, Dora wasn’t in a good location. She was placed next to three big names; Richard Horvitz, Brandon Rogers, and Peter Cullen. (I might upload the video that I took in a different post to show the line difference)

4. Got back into re-exploring and trying to write my OC’s:

* Even though there was an attempt at writing something down; I just never finish writing. I’m still not sure if it’s me not liking my writing or if it’s just ADHD procrastination.

* I still enjoy my rather large fictional world and characters, but as an autistic bean I just struggle to get what’s going on inside my head down on paper. My friend sat and read through several lengthy phone texts last last year (2022) that were just about each character, and she introduced me to picrew to at least provide a visual for a few characters.

+I have Pinterest. Maybe I’ll start an OC board for each character to show their likes and such. It’ll definitely provide more options for characters compared to picrew. Also, hoping to cosplay a few characters on my YouTube channel, but that’s still up in the air.

5. Made a Tumblr account:

* I sent a few Ask Questions to some people on Tumblr and even left a comment on other people’s posts…although a few Ask were sent anonymously, and pre-written several times on my phone notes before committing to sending. But with my mild social anxiety, it’s a big step for me, so I’m counting it as a small achievement.

* I even made two mutuals on Tumblr, which are my first two official mutuals, besides my two friends that are on Tumblr. Hopefully, I can make more mutuals on Tumblr. I’m really enjoying meeting people outside the small town that I live in.

6. I also made friends with my friend’s cousin. (Having two Filipino friends, they like throwing parties and hosting. Which is fun, but karaoke is still not an option if you go, even if it’s just three people at the party)

7. I also had a great year in Splatoon. I’m still mostly playing Turf War, and occasionally play anarchy splat zones. Maybe this year I’ll try the other anarchy modes. The other anarchy modes seem pretty straight forward; rainmaker is really the only confusing one.

* I’m still kinda playing Splatoon solo. My friend left me for TF2, and the digital friends that I made through Splatoon mostly only play turf war, and Salmon Run. There’s no way of communicating, so I feel nervous joining anyone during turf war because I don’t know if they already have friends playing, especially if they make a room.

* December was my first time playing some Salmon Run alone. People are much more friendlier and more welcoming than I allow myself to think; both on Splatoon and Tumblr. The team that I was randomly assigned to would just vibe while we all waited for each new round

* I have a personal record in splat zones that I haven’t been able to break since March. My team did lose unfortunately