#genuinely using max to try to learn how to draw

[verussy]

Happy birthday to our favourite Dutch Lion 🦁

[blueskittlesart]

Hi, I’m a huge fan of your art and I wanted to know a little bit about your comics. About how long does it take you to make one, and how do you stay efficient about it? Also, how do you decide which parts are black, which are white, and which are gray? And are any parts of the process particularly difficult? I think it’s really beautiful how you can get so much across in your comics without crowding too much in each panel, like in manga for example. Also how most of them are entirely black and white. I’m asking all of this because I have a story I’ve written, and I want to turn it into a comic, which I’ve done before. But I’ve always become discouraged when I overshoot and make it way too detailed from the beginning and not be able to get that same amount of quality with more complicated panels. Thanks if you answer this.

HIIII. so the time that it takes to do like one page of comic varies for me depending on the level of finish i put into it, but i'd say not counting the scriptwriting or layout, the actual art for one page usually takes between 1-2 hours to finish. any more than that is too much for me, personally, but one of the things i've learned at art school is that i work INSANELY abnormally fast, so that kind of pace might not be sustainable for you. (i'm currently doing 5 pages a week for my thesis which is the kind of pace that kills people. it might kill me. we'll see.)

my best advice for b/w/g placement is to have an idea of what you want your finished panel/page to look like BEFORE you start drawing it. if you're just drawing the lineart and then filling in the black and gray after the fact, it's going to be much more difficult and you're going to run into problems like tangents and legibility issues with your color placement. especially when working with a limited palette, knowing roughly where each color will go before even beginning the project helps a lot. I'd also suggest trying to limit your use of gray to like, 3 tones max. I usually only use 1 or 2 if i use gray at all. this helps keep things in high-contrast and therefore more legible. Line weight is also especially important when you're only doing black and white, because it helps create depth and ground us in space when there's no color to do so. in general, don't be afraid to go for big blocks of black, but try to think about where and why you're using them!

As for your comment about overshooting, my advice is to ration. we joke sometimes about how manga artists will use a much more simplified style up until like, a big climactic scene and then suddenly lock in, but that's a genuinely useful tactic sometimes. You don't necessarily need a background in every panel if the background isn't the focus of a scene, and that leaves more energy for you to go all out when you DO need a big fancy establishing shot or some complex perspective or whatever. obviously you shouldn't just be totally phoning it in on less complex panels, but don't try to kill yourself over the less important details. focus on what's most important to get your point across in whatever situation you're working with!

[dragon-of-grandeur]

This is a stupid fucking post but. I lost the only friend I've ever made that actually felt like there was a connection because they understood me and saw things in a similar way. While also having a similar sense of humor. Anyway... I would really like to prove to myself that they're just one person and there are more people out there I can find to talk to.

So, if any fellow narcissist wants to talk to me about themselves, feel free to DM me and I'll give you our discord. I'm also most likely autistic so bonus points if you're NPD + autistic. We'll probably be able to relate. We can also definitely relate if you're a system too.

I would be genuinely happy if you wanted to share literally anything. You wanna tell me all about an accomplishment you're proud of? You wanna tell me all about your special interest and how it works? You wanna tell me in depth about your original characters? You wanna go on a tangent about something you're passionate about? You wanna trash talk your coworker? You wanna tell me all about your favorite media and why it's the best? You wanna vent about how stupid people are? Great! All of it is great! If you're a system, I will talk to literally any and every single system member.

The only things that will definitely clash with us are: Christians, anti-endos, and any form of the usual racist, sexist, transphobic, pro-contact p*dophilia, ect. We are extremely open as long as you are trying your best. I don't expect anyone to walk on eggshells and never talk about anything problematic. In fact I love discussing veiwpoints.

Some things I'm personally interested in are: true crime, psychological horror, paranormal horror and occurrences, folk horror and cryptids, folklore, dragons, fantasy worlds and themes, restaurants, cooking, dogs, spiders and other invertebrates, animals in general, shiny rocks and gemstones, legos, miniatures, crafts, drawing, board games.

I'm also not the only one available. Our system consists mostly of three people. Myself, Alex, and Max. I'm the only one with possible NPD.

Alex is the fun one that likes to cause chaos and go on adventures, from vandalizing churches to hunting cryptids in the woods at 3am. He knows how to play around and not be too serious about anything. If he can make a dirty joke or one about how sexy he is, he will. He's obnoxious in a charming way if that makes sense. He's also very laid back and is friendly and willing to chat with most people. He likes video games, fast cars, and dinosaurs.

Max is the sweet little puppy dog that loves everyone. He's always willing to listen to people and comfort or reassure them. He loves being a good boy and helping people with their problems. He's very playful, silly, and cute. He loves toys and plushies. Especially stim toys. He also loves animals, crafts, and board games or video games.

I myself am obviously less empathetic. However, I do enjoy learning about people and their ideas and thoughts... Ok, not all of them, but if I do find someone interesting, it's going to be because of their innerworld/thought process, ideas, or creativity. I'm also good at listening to people's problems and offering perspective because I get supply from figuring that sort of thing out. I'm also always down to complain about various subjects or gossip privately if that's your thing. I'm basically happy to hear you talk if you're happy to return the favor.

I am also down for voice calls after an initial greeting.

[letmesleepwhileiwork]

Drawing/Writing Ideas for Dafpork

These are for me and anyone who comes across it as well- it helps to write out ideas! Keeps my brain going at max efficiency (no I cannot use this for schoolwork dafpork only).

Ahem, here we go:

1. Daffy trying to be sneaky with disguises but every time he’s found out by Porky, and Porky doesn’t have the heart to tell him his lisp is way too obvious even when he pitches it differently

2. Porky uses Daffy’s arm as an umbrella because water slides off the feathers, Daffy pretends to huff about it but he secretly enjoys helping out

3. Actor AU Daffy is nervous about his first performance ever because of his big ol’ celebrity crush on Porky

4. Actor AU other way around, Porky is trying to guide a new actor and can’t help but be a little gay fool cuz the new actor is a cutie pie

5. Daffy can’t find anything in his size at the mall so porky tailors something for him that fits perfectly and it’s adorable or something

6. Daffy can’t keep his hands to himself and Porky admonishes him for being grabby but then he realizes he does it to Daffy too and is embarrassed

7. Daffy tells Bugs to pretend to hit him in front of Porky as a prank, Bugs says he doesn’t want to die, Daffy flippantly tells him Porky wouldn’t hurt a fly so Bugs goes through with it then regrets it because he’s getting a death stare and many silent threats now

8. Porky helps Daffy stay warm when he has to stay behind in the winter against his instincts and nature- SUPER FLUFFY.

9. Bugs realizes that Porky gives Daffy special treatment when he tries to wheedle an extra break out of him like he saw the duck do earlier and fails miserably

10. Porky injures himself on set and the person responsible mysteriously finds themselves with bad luck and a significant target on their back for pranks

11. Daffy sheds his flight feathers and confesses the vulnerability it makes him feel to Porky- fluffy fluffy idea.. I wrote a fic like this before but I’m not v happy with it cuz I was 13 but I’m going to revisit it with a new lens!

12. Porky proposes to Daffy or vice versa, they have a goofy little wedding and they love each other and it’s great

13. Porky has a sense for Daffy’s trouble and automatically sets precautions for his tomfoolery without even realizing it. Close that window, use this fire extinguisher now, 🦆 your head here.. etc etc.

14. Someone flirts with either of the sillies and they just rant about their husband until they give up

15. Cadet finds Dodgers has been kidnapped by space pirates and a crew of Martians and finds out he’ll do anything to get his captain back! And realizes why that is along the way.. (this one’s definitely a fic idea as opposed to a drawing)

16. TLTS (not a huge fan but I do like it if I just add some tweaks to porky’s personality cause they made him too much of a pushover) Daffy doesn’t stop therapy and Porky can finally pursue something genuine with him as he learns to be a better person

17. NLT/Wabbit, Daffy admits the reason he’s been chasing after Porky and annoying him this whole time is because he likes him and doesn’t know how to ask him to hang out like a normal ass person

18. NLT/Wabbit, Cupid daffy (partially inspired by Eliza’s AU but also the episode itself) tries to relentlessly chase porky down with the love arrows but his aim is terrible and porky just feels bad for him and agrees to a date without the arrows’ help - pleasantly surprised they uhhh become boyfriends and live happily ever after :)

Ok that’s enough for today ima work on the fic I already have going on now

[thezenanna]

Your bridge started to burn when you ran all across it.

Patreon | prints | portfolio | commission | Buy Me a Coffee

story behind this weird erie looking illustration (if u dare)

I recently had a bad fallout with a fellow tattoo artist friend whom I treasured so deeply like a twin sister (she looked exactly like me). I think it's neat when you're surrounded by people who are good for you (i.e, people who respect your experience, supports your growth, but won't hesitate to call out what you can do better as well as learn from you).

But it sucked when the person I realized was good for me wasn't at all genuinely good for me.

She burned away every single bridges down to the last one which is me.

If you bump the brightness on your device to max, you can faintly see an eye lurking in the background. It was a drawing I did of her eyes.

She was and still an amazing artist. Her personality was fierce unlike my soft one. People kept mistaking us as twins everywhere we went. So we started bonding like sister. I've always longed for an older sister figure in my life. She thought that I was much better than her actual younger sister. We made a promise that if we ever did something the other didn't like, we would say it to each other's face instead of hiding it and risk it piling up til one day one of us couldn't take it anymore. She was caring and helpful to me. I've always been attentive and treated her with utmost affection (more than my actual brother even).

I could say as many admirable things about here as well as her flaws. I saw her flaws but I looked away, or at least tried to think the best of her, such as coming up with some reasonable explanation for her unreasonable actions sometimes. I was mentally justifying her problematic behaviours with other people in other words. The way she treated other people wasn't okay sometimes, and I would say something to made her feelings valid and kept my actual opinions to myself, while receiving a much different story from others. It was working until it wasn't. I didn't see it coming because I would never thought one day she would direct those problematic behaviors right back at me.

She is a narcissist. I won't go into details what exactly she did to me, but it was enough to tell me that she didn't treasure me as much as I did to her. Hells, she never really treasured me at all. I felt deeply betrayed. I'm the kind of person who wears their heart on their sleeves, so the whole thing left me devastated for weeks, even a bit now still.

My girlfriend and my other tattoo colleagues who actually care about me pointed out and analyzed how she was gaslighting me and using me. She literally had problem with each and everyone in the studio and now me, the person who has been the most affectionate to her. They didn't want to intervene because they respected my personal life choices. My tattoo mentor sort of predicted the whole thing for awhile as well. I still would like to believe that she did actually cared about me at one point but then it turned into something else selfish.

All that said, I didn't regret loving her like my twin sister. I would not change all the things I did for her. I'm a firmer believer in love and kindness are what make people even though it sucks that some doesn't think of them so. My mentor asked me if I was trying to to fix her when I was close to her. I said no, I never thought of her broken to begin with. I just felt like she was so alone and she seemed like she lacked a lot of love, so I was happy to give her.

She could have been the greatest, but shame she just had to go burn down all the bridges and pushed out everyone.

That being said, I still believe in love and kindness, and will open the doors happily for everyone who comes into my life, even if it means risking my heart.

I'm most proud of myself for not quitting art, for still getting up in the morning knowing that I lost a sister. Even when I wasn't producing any commercial illustrations that benefit my career, just drawing alone has been quite meditative in helping me process my feelings peacefully, as well as giving me something to do, keeping me away from moping in bed.

[spaceratprodigy]

✏ WIP Wednesday ✏

Thank you for the tag @the-lastcall @captastra 💖💫

I haven't got any new drawings to share just yet! I'm taking a lil break to let my body and my brain rest. But I have been excitedly planning out the things I want to work on next and I genuinely can't wait! Not putting pressure on myself, but I've been super excited to work on some smaller oc stuff, some au stuff, and hopefully I'll have the energy to make some fun things for Halloween this year! :3

I haaaave been messing around with some quick ideas in my notes app tho, so I can share those today at least. Hope y'all like reading! 👇

🔍 — Detective au

"Maximillian, could you hand me that?" she asked, a soft teasing in her voice.

Max reached for the seasoning his companion pointed at, their fingers brushing against each other during the hand-off. Losing himself only for a moment thinking about the way his name sounded on her lips.

"I've never cooked anything like this on my own" he said, holding his head over the pot to take in the aroma.

"It's never too late to learn" Faith practically sang. "Thank you, again. For helping, I mean."

Max's eyes softened looking at her, the smile on her face was genuine. One she had hardly shown during their time together on this case. He wanted to spend every day in this kitchen with her, seeing her glow like this.

"Salami soup is an interesting choice, I've never heard of it before tonight. I'm sure yours is quite the delicacy." He meant it sincerely, but couldn't resist trying to get another playful smile out of her with flattery.

He began cleaning up the mess they had made while prepping. Carefully moving the knives and cutting boards to the sink, wiping up any straggling ingredients that didn't quite make it to the pot, turning down the volume of her little kitchen radio. The way she couldn't resist dancing along to the tunes she liked filled Max's heart with a feeling he still didn't quite understand yet. One he was afraid to acknowledge.

Faith looked at him with a comfort she'd never felt before. She ladled up some broth, offering him a taste. Her smile only growing when he winced from the heat, but agreeing it was quite delicious. She didn't expect to become so fond of her new partner, even less did she think the man she met her first day on this case would enjoy the quality time as much as she did. She heard the whispers about him, the warnings, but that clearly wasn't the man that stood before her.

Faith looked back at her pot with a tired expression.

"Funnily enough, there were quite a few of us in the same crowd who had grandparents or parents that came from Puerto Rico. It was a dish we all knew well, we loved talking about the differences in our family recipes" she stirred slowly, the sounds of the kitchen becoming drowned out by her thoughts.

"But weirdly, we all knew it as Spanish Soup! What a coincidence our parents all had the same name for it" she let out a short, quiet laugh. The corners of her mouth perking up, but her eyes unchanged, fixed on the simmering.

"Not quite the right name for it, though, but a weirdly consistent one. I'm not sure if it was a language barrier translation or what..."

Faith began trailing off and mumbling, not necessarily talking to Max anymore so much as she was reminiscing to herself about mundane moments from her past.

"Sopa de salchichon" she breathed, her voice almost inaudible.

"Is it a favorite of yours?" Max asked, trying to bring her back to reality. A slight bit concerned by her sudden change in tone.

Faith blinked.

"One of them, yes. But not my absolute favorite by any means" Faith began thinking about when she should make Max cook potato soup with her next. "It brings me some comfort, though."

"Does it, now?"

"Unfortunately, yes. My dad used to make it all the time" her voice had no enthusiasm in it anymore. She inspected her brightly colored concoction carefully. "He never did figure out how to cook the potatoes all the way through."

She attempted to ladle up a little bit of everything, admiring how warm it looked. Salami. Potatoes. Pasta. Onions. They radiated in their bath of popping reds, oranges, and yellows. She looked as if she was going to give it a taste, herself, but dropped it gently back into the pot.

The shift in her attitude worried Max, who was unsure of the direction this topic was heading.

"Were you close with your father?" he finally asked.

Faith was silent for a moment.

And another moment.

And another.

Max had realized too late the weight of his question when he heard Faith start sniffling.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't.. I didn't mean to overstep-" his own voice coming out and wavering before he had time to think.

He took a step towards her, immediately wanting to make it better, wanting to go back just a few minutes ago when she was smiling and dancing around the kitchen. Not knowing how to fix it, how to comfort her, not knowing her boundaries and not wanting to cross them.

Faith wouldn't look at him, the hot tears broke through and were running down her cheeks. Her eyes stung. She was desperately trying to dry her face.

"N-no, you're fine.. you didn't.." she was trying to speak, but her cracking voice wouldn't cooperate "M-max.." she wanted to reassure him he didn't do anything wrong.

Finally, she looked at him. Max had never seen her like that before. It made his heart sink in his chest. Instinctively reaching his arms towards her before he realized what he was doing. His hand so close to cradling her cheek when–

"Fuck!" — "Jesus Christ!" they exclaimed in unison.

The intrusive ringing of her home phone made them jump. Stunning the partners in place, left staring at each other and wondering what was about to happen between them.

📿 — Midnight Mass au [previous tidbit]

The light of the morning sun kissed her skin with a comforting warmth. The scent of honeysuckle on the faint breeze. It was peaceful. Normally she would have considered this the perfect start to her day.

Today, however, was far from perfect.

The gentleness of it all, it mocked her. How can the sky be so clear, the gardens blooming so beautifully, the children laughing so innocently. How can it go on when a storm was about to blow through. A storm no one else was going to feel, to even know was happening.

Faith felt her heart cracking and crumbling. She didn't know how she was supposed to do this.

Trying to keep her breaths calm, she continued pacing around the road she knew like the back of her hand. The one she often walked with a confident stride. Today, it was a walk of shame. Guilt. Her choices finally catching up with her.

Faith plucked a small flower from a neighbor's garden, hoping they weren't around to notice. She began pulling off the petals one by one, trying to keep her shaky, fidgeting hands occupied. It was so delicate between her fingers, so pretty.

It frustrated her.

Not because it had done anything in particular to upset her. She just wanted somewhere to direct her own internal conflict, and the little flower in her hands was the closest casualty.

Faith's heart began beating hard when the church began peeking into view. She swallowed hard, not realizing how dry her throat had become.

How do I tell him?

It was her one place of solace. She was kind, caring, reserved, but never cold. Faith tried her best to be an active member in her community, but it was still a bit out of her comfort zone at times to put such a strain on her social battery. Even more so when her Hiram had left for war.

She enjoyed the solitude of the church. She enjoyed even more what she never expected to find in it.

The last thing Faith thought she'd ever learn about herself, was that she didn't actually marry the love of her life. That becoming more involved in her local church would lead her down a blasphemous path.

An adulterous one.

Finally standing before the building in question, Faith took a moment to admire the architecture. It was a stunning building, a real work of art.

She began her trek up the stairs. The weight growing on her feet with every step. It was agonizing.

With the town's vicar, no less.

Faith felt light headed when she reached the top. Her ears were ringing, darkness was peering in from her peripheral vision.

What greater sin could we have committed?

The doors were open, the morning air saving the church from its usual stuffiness. The sun rays beaming in through the stained glass windows, illuminating the space with colors and dust particles alike. Faith had eyes for only one thing that stood in that room.

Vicar Maximillian DeSoto, very carefully tending to the appearance within his church's walls.

Faith's cheeks were hot, no doubt turning red just at the sight of him. Her heart fluttered in a way no one, not even her Hiram, ever made her feel. She never quite believed in soul mates, until she met Max, and they realized they were meant to be together. Unable to bear being apart from each other's side for too long.

Faith felt the tears welling up in her eyes, not knowing how she's supposed to have this conversation with him. Not knowing what news she was supposed to tell him first.

That she was carrying his child.

Or that her husband just returned home.

🚀 — Canon (summary; not the actual wip)

Faith has an emotional moment (more like an existential crisis) in Phin's lab regarding having been spontaneously dropped into Halcyon to fend for herself + an identity crisis about who she was and who she now has to be. Finding unexpected comfort in him being the only person who believes and understands her complicated existence.

They have a proper heart to heart and Phineas apologizes for the mess he's thrown Faith into without warning or preparation, finally filling her in on what the hell is going on.

Phin confesses that during the unthawing process he saw some things that gave him a clue about Faith's past. Being concerned for her wellbeing, he brings up the uncomfortable information he discovered. His new friend, quite unhappy with him, was hoping to put as much distance as possible between her past on Earth and her newfound identity.

[lady-lostmind]

Happy Steddieversary to me.

One year ago today I posted the first chapter of my first ever fanfic. I had no idea that would lead to the biggest creative spark I've had in years, or that I would find such an amazing community to be a part of. I'm so grateful for the hold this brainrot has on me.

I've found a new love for writing, I've improved my drawing, I finally made an Etsy shop, I've learned new hobbies and skills (hello bookbinding) and I've opened myself up to try so many new things I was always too shy and reserved to do before.

And I have this little fic and all of you who read it and left me nice comments and kudos to thank. So thanks.

Snippet under the cut.

Steve stares back at him. “You don’t feel like that, do you?” He asks quietly.

Eddie just stares at him, confused. “Wha-?” He starts to ask but Steve interrupts.

“Less than. Any of us. Because you aren’t.” Steve says, worry plastered on his face.

 Eddie smirks and the genuine concern in Steve’s voice makes him feel warm. “It’s hard not to sometimes, honestly. I feel like I was forced on all of you.”

“We were all forced on each other, man.” Steve shifts slightly, leaning closer to Eddie and looking at where he’s twirling a ring around his finger. “You’re just as big a part of the group as anyone else. Henderson and all those idiots idolize you. I’ve never seen Robin be as much herself as she is around me with anyone else but you. You know how to get through to Max better than anyone else. We would all be lost without you, Eddie.” He reaches out and grabs Eddie’s hands to stop his fidgeting and meets his eye before whispering “I know I would be.”

Eddie feels like the whole world stops as he looks into Steve’s eyes. After what a disaster last night was, he can’t believe they’re back here, picking up where they left off. He pulls his hand from Steve’s, sensing that if this is going to happen, it’ll need to be him that pushes past the invisible boundary they’ve been dancing around for weeks.

He brushes a strand of hair from Steve’s eyes and sweeps down to cup the side of his face. Steve’s eyes widen and a deep blush spreads across his face as he leans his head into Eddie’s touch. Eddie leans forward, slowly closing the distance between them. Steve’s eyes flicker shut, and Eddie’s do the same as he reaches his lips and softly melds them together. Eddie can’t believe how soft they are. How lush and full they feel beneath his. He slides his hand into Steve’s hair, pulling him even closer to him, his lips becoming more urgent. Steve lets out a quiet moan that sets Eddie on fire.

He prods at Steve’s lips with his tongue, a silent question as he holds it there, waiting for Steve to respond. When Eddie feels his lips part he pushes into Steve’s mouth slowly, savoring the taste of him. Eddie groans as their tongues meet for the first time, tugging slightly on his handful of Steve’s hair and pulling a deeper moan from him. He feels Steve’s hand tentatively snake up his arm and grab onto his bicep. Eddie lets his hand slide to Steve’s side and is painfully reminded of the fact that Steve is only in his underwear. A thought that sends him into absolute overdrive. Every nerve in his body feels like it is standing on end. Every brush of Steve’s lips on his is sending a shock-wave through his body.

He grabs Steve’s hips and pulls him onto his lap, Steve gasping as he straddles him and moves his hands to Eddie’s hair. Eddie deepens the kiss and moves his hands to Steve’s back, feeling the strong muscles go taut as Steve lowers himself fully on Eddie’s lap. There’s no hiding the fact that they’re both extremely aroused, and when Eddie feels Steve’s full weight settle on him, he can’t help but grind his hips upward into him. They both let out a long moan, but as Eddie returns to the kiss, he finds Steve has frozen.

Eddie leans his face away, opening his eyes and searching Steve for any kind of distress, but he can’t help the giggle that escapes his lips as he takes in the shocked, wide eyed expression on Steve’s face.

Steve blushes and smacks his arm. “Don’t laugh at me, Munson!” His face is beat red, and he seems suddenly very shy about his lack of clothing.

Eddie runs his hands up Steve’s thighs, feeling triumphant when he feels Steve shiver and watches his blush deepen even more. “Sorry, you just looked extremely cute with the whole deer in the headlights thing you had going on.” He grins cockily, loving the way he’s clearly making Steve squirm.

He pats Steve’s leg and says teasingly “Was that a little too much, too quick for you, Stevie?”

Steve rolls his eyes as he falls back into his own seat on the bed. Eddie’s eyes drift over Steve’s body and he grins widely as he takes in the obvious bulge pushing against his briefs.

Steve runs his hands through his hair, making it stick up in ways Eddie hopes to accomplish himself, someday. “I just uh-hang on. I’m going to uh-put on some pants.” He’s mumbling mostly to himself.

Eddie watches as Steve pulls on a pair of discarded jeans and t-shirt from the floor, tripping on his own feet as he tries to step into the jeans. Eddie tries desperately to hold in his laugh, and Steve glares at him before he sits back on the bed.

Steve looks at him anxiously and takes a deep breath. “Okay, so. That happened.” 

[makkuuart]

a series of LADS redesigns / hcs: pt 1

despite being a pre-release player, I stopped playing LADS for a hot minute and only semi recently picked it back up. it has consumed my character design brain...

as someone who plays the game more for the battle (you can take the girl out of genshin but not the genshin out of the girl) and interesting lore, I spend a lot of time pondering the character designs. the goal of these hcs was to add more differences to the LIs so that they'd seem distinct in a lineup (visually, at least) and try to incorporate even more vibes/story.

disclaimer: I am not a pro character designer nor do I claim to have "fixed" the LADS designs. these are all headcanons for funsies. these may not also be entirely accurate to the full LADS lore (I'm still trying to learn more abt that as an f2p player who can't pull all the myths... agony) please have mercy!

anyways, without further ado, here are the first batch with raf, xavier, and sylus!!

commentary of choices below the cut ↓↓↓ [MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS]

RAFAYEL:

My favorite fish boy and first to get slapped with the hc cannon. I tried to maintain the flowy/elegant aesthetic he has in game...

Hair

Curtain bangs and middle part - lowkey no reason for this besides the fact I thought it was pretty. and he is very pretty <3

YES he would spend too much time styling it and making it look nice only for it to get messed up by the seaside air.

Would be interesting if his hair grew very quick as a lemurian, so he's always snip snipping it away

Face (eyes, nose, mouth)

Slightly pointy face with double monolids (genuinely the eyelid details are SOLELY for variety. no reason otherwise) and thinner eyebrows (yes he also cares for those)

Round, button nose - he gives round vibes so shape language wise he appears more friendly and harmless. or at least appears so

Long lashes and round eyes - yes I made him a pretty boy. my bad.

Skin

One of the tanner lads because he spends a lot of time outside… in the water… escaping his responsibilities…

Freckles from sun exposure. also, neat to represent where his scales used to be!

Other notable features

Pointed ears for the non humans - look, I know they're gonna make everyone think that raf's an elf. I prefer to think of it as an indication that he is NOT human. maybe he tells the press that they're fake.

My hc is that he's shortest of the gang with a swimmer’s build and long fingers (let's go mr painter!)

XAVIER:

I hope none of my choices for this sleepy guy are super contentious... a lot of them were solely "wouldn't it be cool if..." and then the attempted lore justifications came AFTER

Hair

Fluffy hair that is often a result of bedhead because honkmimimi.

very light hair so his eyebrows are nearly invisible. they are not in this drawing for the sake of being able to see expressions.

Face (eyes, nose, mouth)

Prominent nose bridge - potentially because someone punched him during training.

Not that I actually envision him with only two bottom lashes, but as a visual distinction his eyes are like that. hooray!

his left eye with the sparkle (a la khaenri'ah) is solely because an old redesign I did with xavier had it. and I thought it would be neat to show some physical manifestations of the time travel on him. he is starting to go blind in one eye, and his other one may follow.

Skin

Scars - again, from training or battles. they are probably on the older side and should be more faded than I drew them

was on the fence abt how tan he'd be... he probably sleeps indoors a lot but also is relatively active outside?

Other notable features

Tassel earring on his right ear - stolen from his lumiere design! maybe it was a gift..

sleeper build to the max. bro is STRONG but does not look like it

SYLUS:

The way I struggled with this man's hair is deeply diabolical. The original style I thought of was longer but when I started coloring I realized "oh God it's astarion bg3."

anyways he still looks like a vampire but oh whale

Hair

POINTY. his shape language is supposed to be SHARP. that man is DANGEROUS

probably styles it to be more like the game's version? he seems like he'd do the bare minimum and still look good

Face (eyes, nose, mouth)

Thinner and pointier eyes that resemble a dragon's. Also, hooded eyes and thicker eyebrows

Fangs that are only visible if he opens his mouth wide (visually represented by that little tooth !)

Not entirely straight nose bridge but not because anyone punched him. no one is landing a hit on him

Skin

Palest because he doesn't go into the sun. he would burn in the sunlight.

X shaped scar that he has just because he thought it was cool (otherwise he physically doesn’t scar LOL)

Other notable features

Also has pointed ears. here's my justification (it's bad) --

no one really mentions it because he's sylus, why would you. has anyone actually seen this guy's real face? I read an interesting theory that sylus is able to change his face somehow so the fact he has pointy ears would not be one that the entire n109 is aware of. if you somehow see his real face, you are probably about to die anyways...

probably didn't convey it well enough but I hc him having a longer neck and larger hands (dragon features!)

tallest and visually buff. this guy has an intimidating presence. one would forget the guy who keeps beating me in kitty cards is in fact a crime syndicate boss man. let's not forget!!

if you made it to the end of this ramble, I appreciate it much :D!! hope it was enjoyable to read through some of my thoughts and hcs.

[monster-rinds]

Chapter 17: Fast friends

Once Amber got up and left the room, after telling me she wanted to think about accepting my help, I spent some time talking to Felicity.

“Wriggle for ‘yes’, and stay silent for any other answer,” I told her. And then I asked, “Are you physiologically OK?”

She wriggled.

I followed up with, “Are you unhappy with what I told Amber?”

She wriggled again.

“Sorry,” I said.

Then I continued with a line of questioning to help myself understand what she was experiencing. I also told her, in pieces, my own intentions.

Eventually, we came to an agreement that we should try to find a better way of internally communicating with each other, and that I should return to my domain to do it in safety.

Despite what I’d just done to Felix, I was not eager to travel through regular spacetime to do that.

Fortunately, I was sitting on top of one of my pseudomains, which I could temporarily turn into a full domain. So I focused on doing that, making one of the cabinet doors on the back of the bar the gateway to it. If you could open the door in the way that only a monster could, you could crawl into it.

And then, so I did.

This meant that I had two domains. Which was a little risky, but much less risky than waltzing back to Gresham via the MAX and attracting anything genuinely bigger than me that might notice my presence.

I also kept my other pseudomains up, so that I could sense anyone walking the same path through the hallways that we’d taken, as a potential warning.

Once inside my new domain, I let go of my physical projection and converted it back into raw self, drawing inward so that I could focus on my own construction easier. This is a thing I have always done to go about adapting myself to new life situations, so I was very familiar with it.

Normally, those adaptations took a long time and a lot of effort to enact. I guessed that was maybe because they were done with what I thought were thin energy reserves and a paucity of food around me. I had thought it was because those kinds of changes were just that hard.

But then, just a little while ago, I’d adapted myself in seconds to take something from Felix I hadn’t been able to take before.

Which then horrified me anew, when I remembered it.

I’d eaten a part of Felix.

I’d turned myself into a teratovore.

That I’d done it with the goal of preserving a part of him, in a fit of remorse for killing him, didn’t make it any better.

That he’d been trying to eat me and that I generally hated teratovores also didn’t help. Those were things I’d already known, and mitigated nothing, no matter how many times I might renumerate the facts.

It didn’t feel like a just fate for already bad behavior, or any kind of weird human justification like that.

I’d just broken a personal boundary with myself and I didn’t like it. I’d become a thing I hated. And I’ve spent a very long time hating that thing, and an equally long time avoiding the temptation to become it.

Like, longer than anyone I likely knew could even imagine.

I had trouble imagining it myself, really, and I could still touch some memories from that long ago.

I could probably adapt myself to be able to imagine it better, but I decided not to. Because it would just make it all feel worse.

Did I even want to find out what my limits were just then? What would happen if I used up all of my energy doing so? Especially while not knowing if anyone else had already achieved what I had and already learned more than me about it?

No.

I needed to figure out what to do with Felicity, first.

And then I needed to be as cautious as possible with exploring myself and how I now affected my surroundings. And if I could get Felicity outside of myself again, maybe she could help me do that better.

So I swam my locus of awareness closer to Felicity again, to see what I could see.

And there she was.

And there I saw our first problem.

I had my old sense of self and my foothold in the monster realm, a dimension of the universal brane or something like that, to compare her against. I also could compare her to the size of the bar back in conventional spacetime, sort of, though that made slightly less sense from this perspective.

The problem was that she had grown huge.

She was still a little worm compared to my energy reserves. But I could fit my old sense of size inside of her many, many times over. I could fill her up with copies of my old self as if she was an ocean liner. And she was still growing.

Not exactly exponentially. She’d stopped eating geometrically more the larger she got. She’d managed that much. She was keeping it to a bare minimum to support her size and complexity, but there was still some growth going on.

That was not good.

If I successfully excised her, she would be a whole new being than she was used to. She could still inhabit a human psyche without causing any notable discomfort for her host, but her presence in the monster realm would be much bigger than it once was, and make her more vulnerable to others who worked from that end.

Not that she wouldn’t be able to see them coming and defend herself, but it would be a whole new experience for her. And if she didn’t learn fast enough, she could fall into traps I didn’t even yet know about, because my presence in the monster realm was even now fairly small somehow.

I still didn’t understand how I worked that way. I had to be taking up space somewhere else. But where?

And while Felicity was inside of me, in my energy reserves, she was in that space. However dangerous that space might be, she was at least protected by layers and layers of my own bulk. And ‘bulk’ is really not the word for anything in a non-corporeal dimension like that, or whatever it was, but it remains the best analog I’ve got for mortal layreaders. She had mathematical padding, and that padding was me. And once she no longer had that padding, she was more vulnerable than I was, I figured.

Because I’d apparently existed in that way for hundreds of millions of years without attack or injury.

I was deeply afraid to do anything new, even though that had already happened.

So, I thought at Felicity, not at all expecting her to hear me, “You’re huge.”

She wriggled.

Shit. What?

“Can you understand me?” I asked.

She wriggled again.

“Try talking to me like you would one of your headmates,” I instructed.

And she did, and I felt and understood her voice to ask, “What did you do to me, Synthia?”

So, that solved, we had a better conversation.

I explained to her that I had put her in my energy reserves, to keep her from eating my memetic structures, and to keep her from starving. And then that I had had to deal with some things before helping her out.

She told me that I likely could understand her now because I was finally paying attention to her. That, at least, that’s how things worked in a human psyche. And she accused me of being too much like a lifeform, from eating their emotions for too long.

We may have devolved into some mutual recriminations for a little while after that.

And then, after I finally explained to her her situation as I was able to see it (as well as a bit of my own), she still insisted on being set free. Which I was perfectly willing to do, so long as she agreed to it.

I also agreed to try to teach her how to adapt herself to a configuration like mine, even though I didn’t understand my own configuration at all. If she could store her energy reserves the way I did, we both figured she could be relatively as safe as she was before. Or close to it. Maybe safer, because she’d have those reserves. 

I did sort of wonder how much of her bulk was what she’d stored up over her millions of years of existence. But, I didn’t have any sort of a metric to measure that, and neither did she.

Anyway, whatever I learned, I would try to pass on. And in return, she agreed to help me assess my own presence in both the monster realm and the realm of life, so I could shore up my defenses better.

So my next step was to portion off the bit of myself surrounding her like an egg and expel it completely, so she could safely finish consuming it and essentially hatch. And I wanted it entirely outside of my domain, so that there was no more connection between it and myself.

But, infuriatingly, that didn’t work.

“Have you tried this before?” she asked.

“No. Of course not,” I replied. “I’ve never had anyone inside me before. It’s unprecedented. I’ve never even heard of this problem.”

“Well, you are really reclusive.”

“All monsters are reclusive.”

“You’re reclusive for an affectivore,” she said.

“You’re using my vocabulary?” I prodded her.

“Let’s stay on topic. So, you’ve never had a reason to, I don’t know, bud a part of yourself, even without another monster in it?”

“No. Have you?”

“Never,” she said. “I just thought with how ancient you are, you might have had it come up.”

“You might be surprised by just how static an affectivore can be,” I said. “Even over eons.”

“Maybe.”

“This kind of reminds me of something life did once,” I said.

“It did it just once?”

“No, of course not. But it did do it for the first time, I’m sure. I wasn’t there.”

“Synthia.”

“You know how humans figured out that cells have organelles, and then figured out what organelles were made of?” I rambled.

“Get me the fuck out of you!” she thought-shouted at me.

“I can’t,” I told her.

And then, to prove it, I genuinely tried again, telling her to pay attention. I also paid attention, as close as I could, to see what was going on.

I was able to extend something we’ll call a pseudopod, with her in it, into the physical realm of life, behind the bar of the small dance hall my domain was in. And since she didn’t take up any physical space in that realm at all, it didn’t have to be a very big pseudopod. Not physically. I made it the size, shape, texture, and color of a chicken’s egg, for shits and giggles.

But I was not able to detach myself from it, because it was me. I could not divide myself into two pieces. There was no method by which I could figure out how to do that. I just couldn’t make that part of myself not me.

It might have been severed from me if the right teratovore came along and ate the egg. Kind of like how Felicity lost a part of herself when Croc-face ate one of her hosts. But I couldn’t do it to myself. I just didn’t have the means.

And then, when I tried to push on Felicity and sever her connection to me, to stop her feeding and expel her, I had the same problem.

Either it was because there was a constant stream of me feeding into her that she was also incapable of severing, or it went deeper than that.

And I explained that to her, and begged her to stop feeding on me.

And she said a single word in response. 

“Fuck.”

---

previous

next

[rainingmbappe]

For f1: max verstappen is a racist ableist that had the entire country of mongolia petitioning the UN to ask for an apology for comments he made while insulting another driver, which he refused to give and his team, red bull, actively pushed a racist hate campaign against lewis hamilton in 2021, and fired a female employee that was sexually abused by the team manager while doing nothing to horner himself. /// all of this is bullshit but go off. Max yelled in the heat of moment retard and mongol. That was his biggest offence. He apologised to Lance. Btw those words are really commonly used in the Netherlands. Kinda like yelling idiot at someone. Everyone overreacted, and the Mongolian representative was trying to use this to draw attention to himself. As much as his words were wrong, he has learned from it and hasn't used them sinc. Imagine if Max fans were still using Lewis's transfobic and sexist remarks against him still even tho he showed he has changed. The rest is literally not true. The PA that raised a complaint against Horner was not sexual abused. She lied, and that is why she was suspended. I'm not even going to comment on the racist campaign. It literally never happened.

Ok, I'm super new to f1 and I definitely need to look into all of it for my own. If he said that with no genuine racist intends and in the heat of the moment, that's a shitty move but really not completely unpardonable. And another thing that's confusing is how big his fan base is, even on tumblr. I genuinely thought rn, if he was a racist then why in earth are people writing × reader fan fiction about him 😭. Regarding the sa, I'm definitely looking into it.

[stupidgtblog]

Uh seeing this from a super rad writer who I don’t really personally read but I see A LOT of in the g/t space was like a FNAF 2 Jumpscare at full volume so I am going to run my mouth about it.

It was kind of the opposite for me (was an artist, not a writer) and I was BAD! BAD!

I had g/t ocs since I was a little teeny baby. It took me years before I ever found a community for this and thought I was a little weirdo. I couldn’t draw for shit (not saying I’m like an art god now or anything, but improving) and couldn’t write for anything, either.

I was pretty much addicted to genai for a frighteningly long period of time. Before c.ai came out I maxed like two ChatGPT conversations OUT (yes, reached the limit, TWICE!) and didn’t get any sleep I was on it every weekend. When c.ai came out (became popular on the accursed app I no longer use)? Ohh I was COOKED! I have like 5 “characters” just sitting in virtual stillness forever. Like I was bad. It never got to that scary evil parasocial point. c.ai company has so much of my personal data anddd I have to live with that.

I wasn’t so much for the images bc I’ve always had a visceral reaction to like ai patterns (like ai’s weird swirls and shapes make my skin crawl idk why it’s physically uncomfortable for me not joking.) but like I recall trying it out couple of times.

If we are being fr, the ethics of scraping (no matter how fucked up it is to mine and others standpoint) is a matter of opinion, how you define theft, and your personal ethos and morals. Some people feel like if you still literally have the file or paper or canvas it’s not theft. Others feel like even reposting with credit without express personal permission is theft. You can debate about it forever. Womp womp.

What is NOT a matter of personal opinion is the environmental impact of Generative AI.

A generated image of your character is not worth a fucking energy crisis. The knowledge my shit AI fic garbage used the thing that used 6% of ALL of West Des Moines water and is eating up enough energy to power 33,000 homes in the baby fetal state that it’s in is terrifying!

1,000 images in Stable Diffusion being the equivalent of driving a vroom vroom car 4 miles is not good. And it won’t ever be worth it.

Especially with this being because you just do not draw? You say you cannot afford to hire an artist and don’t say you physically can’t draw yourself, so it just looks like you just “don’t.”

The joy of creation is better than sliced bread, pop rocks, and water. Like so cliche but I implore you to start somewhere. You clearly want to create good authentic art of your characters. The desire to write and draw your ocs is like universal I believe. Why deny yourself? It’s “bad”? Who cares. This especially kinda confuses me because you write. Like, good. And a lot. Was your writing always to your liking? Probably not. If AI had became available then, would you rather had started just generating stories than progressing, learning techniques, vocabulary, and just becoming a better writer? I know disparity between one skill and another skill is frustrating (my traditional art being better in my eyes than my digital art is one thing) but

I really do encourage you to try!

Free software I used for a long time:

Mobile: Ibis Paint X

Desktop: Krita (which you can animate on)

Mouse art is fine and can actually become really great with practice, but if you want a tablet

My first drawing tablet was a $19.99 toast of a thing which was the size of my hand and on sale. And I loved it and still have it around somewhere.

You can even rent them at some libraries. Rad!

Now in the case you do not like drawing, just don’t care for it like genuinely (not the product of drawing, but like the actual motion of using your hands if it pains you or you do not have the dexterity capability to create a line)

Picrew! Picrew is free af and is so expansive and great, especially for ocs. It’s a website so buttons can be made big by zooming in. (Sadly limited for people of color like most of my ocs, but they are STILL THERE just harder to find.) There are also a lot of “dress up” apps for free on phone that I used for a while, but they may be overly “cutesy” for a lot of people.

Narrans ur a rad writer. I want to write great fics like you one day. But pls reconsider? Thanks if you read this.

K bye good morning/night

I don’t expect you to answer this question publicly, but I am thoroughly disappointed that you’ve chosen to continue the use of AI art when the artists around you have begged you not to and explained in detail why it’s harmful. I truly hope you realize how much you’re hurting artists by using it and not only apologize, but delete every speck of AI art on your page. Good day.

You don't expect me to answer to answer publicly? At least I am willing to put my name on my stance "Anonymous."

To you, I say you are a coward for not addressing this to me in a way where we can have a conversation about it.

Do you know why I play around with AI generated images? Because sometimes I struggle to make rent. I struggle to obtain groceries on some days. Would you like screen shots of my bank account balance? Do you want me to beg for art for free to others who are struggling just as much as me?

No. It is not fair to the artist to ask them to spend their time making something for me for free and you are not being fair to me because you're not taking my situation under consideration.

I cannot afford to hire an artist for every idea that pops into my head that I want an image for. For things that matter, like my book covers, I have to carefully budget and pay someone to illustrate an image.

I celebrate artists and admire each and every work on every platform I am on. Every piece of fan art I have received or seen I make sure to complement and admire because that is true talent. Artists should be admired and compensated fairly, and I cannot do that on a whim.

You are out here trolling and belittling someone who merely wanted to share an idea and who can't afford to hire an artist to do so on a daily basis. If I had the finances, I would have a team of artists on call to sketch every idea that popped into my head.

But I don't...

Also, if you have a problem with me and my methods, have the courage to post under something other than "Anonymous" where we can have a discussion about options.

I do not wish you ill and do hope that you have a good day, but I ask that you consider your apparent privileged position to either create art to your heart's delight or to pay someone to do it for you because I have neither.

Cheers and, as always, stay awesome! ~Narrans

[santacarlatourism]

this is a lost boys novelization appreciation post

(+inferences and headcanons i’ve made based on the book)

I know the fandom tends to really love the prequel script. And maybe it’s less well-loved in part because it’s less accessible, but I’ve always been more drawn to the novelization. And ofc neither are canon, but there’s a lot that I love about it and draw on in how I write for the movie. I think the novelization really fleshes all the characters out more, in part because it incorporates the movie’s deleted scenes.

Star is fleshed out + we learn more about why the boys seem so standoffish with her

Star is fleshed out so much more than she is in the movie, and so is her relationship with the Lost Boys. Since she’s a POV character we get to see more of her thoughts and feelings and why she reacts the way she does. In the process, we learn more about the boys’ personalities.

We’re told that Star had run away from home and was unhoused, sleeping on the beach, until David decided to take her in. Presumably he turned her shortly after. IIRC it doesn’t specify if she knew what she was drinking and what would happen to her, or if she was tricked into it similar to Michael.

Because the Lost Boys were there for her and took her in, giving her a home and family when she had none, the book provides motivation for a lot of her choices in the movie. It describes how much she looked up to David earlier on into their friendship and the escapism from her pain that joining the Lost Boys provided her.

She doesn’t really fight against them and continues to stay with them in the hotel because she doesn’t feel that she has anywhere else to go, and also because even if they are bloodthirsty killers she feels a sense of loyalty to them because of all they’ve done for her.

Because David took her in and turned her, the book also provides potential reasoning as to why he treats her so stand offishly during the events of the film He took her in, gave her a home, a family when she had none, and now she’s rejecting it and is horrified by what they’ve turned her into. And in the actual movie David points out to Michael that he tried to make him immortal, and David doesn’t understand why Michael would reject that.

In fact, the novelization opens up the possibility that in the same way that David used Star to keep Michael coming around and get him into the gang, that he was using Michael for the same purposes to keep Star stuck in the Lost Boys:

I’ve always felt like the way the movie portrays David’s motive is jumbled. Like, how much did David want to turn Michael and have the idea himself, versus how much was he following Max’s instructions? Had he actually planned on Michael being Star’s first kill?

And I think that Star’s internal monologue here opens up the possibility that David wanted both Star and Michael in the gang, and realized he could play on their feelings for each other to further that goal. This is a reading that I think can fit in well with the idea of David, Star, and Michael all being attracted to each other, if you choose to read their relationship that way. A lot of people assume Laddie was turned to keep Star in the gang, but I think there is a possibility that that was more so what David had in mind with Michael.

So in all likelihood, taking the novelization into account, David’s treatment of Star likely stems from frustration that she isn’t coming around, feeling insulted by this, and has some genuine concern that she could actually make a go at trying to leave the gang.

Laddie + New Vampire Lore

The book does develop Laddie a bit further. It’s not a lot but in the process some really neat lore about vampirism is introduced?

The implication of “you’re not like the others” because of these memories implies that the other boys don’t remember their lives before joining the Lost Boys. This was hinted at earlier in the novelization, where one of the hotel scenes was expanded on:

While this could just be interpreted as them fucking with Michael as they are prone to do because it is shockingly easy, there’s also the potential reading that they’re joking about it and dancing around it in part because they don’t remember their actual parents. It’s likely they don’t allude to Max either because his status as the head vampire is a secret or simply because it’s not like they’re actually about to let him parent them anyways, lmao.

While the novelization gives us this image of Laddie’s family, it never tells us for sure how he came to be separated from them, or why. The novelization implies pretty consistently that regardless of the cause most people who are recruited into the Lost Boys felt lost or alone, and it’s very likely Laddie was in a similar situation.

Regardless, there is the implication that the Lost Boys might not actually even remember their old human lives. Since Star’s only been turned for roughly a month at this point and Laddie for presumably even less time and their memories are already fading, the novel seems to be implying that this memory loss is a result of vampirism more so than age and time.

The boys were turned differently than in the prequel script

In the novelization Star’s internal monologue explicitly states that Paul was turned more recently than the others. This is contrary to the prequel script, which has all four of the core boys being turned at the same time, and having been friends from their human lives.

In the novelization, Paul is described as being the newest Lost Boy before Star, and so this is probably where the novelization contradicts the prequel script the most. The novelization makes a point of saying that Paul remembers better than the others what it’s like to be lonely, reinforcing the idea that maybe all of the Lost Boys were lost and alone at one point, which of course makes the name fitting. Paul is described as the goofy, playful one (with Marko being cast as “mysterious” and Dwayne as being a little awkward).

All though Star admires and respects David in a way, Paul seems to be the one she has the most friendship with and they seem to have a playful, teasing relationship with one another.

I like the idea that they weren’t all turned at the same time, because it creates a different dynamic. They’re not just four long-time eternal best friends who have known each other since the early 1900s, plus the three specific people they just decide to turn in 1987. They’ve become a cohesive group slowly, over time, and are comprised of lonely people who didn’t want to be lonely anymore.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262  WEEK 10 - Completing the loop.

Over the past ten weeks, I have learnt a variety of skills that assist in communicating a design idea.

In the first few weeks, we practiced using pen and paper to draw basic shapes and objects to a high degree of accuracy. During this time frame, I also learnt about the usefulness of partial auxiliary views and how to draw in perspective. However, the perspective drawing task in week 4 was definitely one of the hardest tasks in this course. Whilst the other tasks so far simply just took a bit more time to do because of the sheer amount of measurements required, I genuinely struggled quite a bit to grasp the method of drawing in perspective. Though in the end, I managed to pull through after a few attempts and video tutorials.

Starting from week 6, we transitioned into the digital workspace. We learnt how to create digital renders of our design ideas and began trying out 3D modelling software such as 3DS MAX. Learning how to work digitally enabled me to create higher fidelity models and therefore improved my design communication skills. Whilst I am still not very familiar with 3DS MAX, I am able to acknowledge its ability in efficiently refining scanned models as well as creating organic shapes. It was quite unfortunate that I wasn't able to experience the scanning and 3D printing process being an online student, but it is definitely something that I am looking forward to in the future. Being a Mac user, it was quite frustrating to use 3DS MAX via MyAccess; it was fairly laggy and the response times were delayed. However, one cannot deny the usefulness of tools like 3DS MAX. As an alternative to 3DS MAX, I plan to try out Blender as it is available on Mac.

Overall, this course taught me a lot of essential skills regarding design communication. To be honest, I probably forgot some of the skills that I've learnt throughout the 10 weeks. However, because of my Tumblr blog posts, I will be able to quickly relearn a lot of the things that I may have forgotten. It was also super helpful that other classmates' blogs were available for me to see; I was able to learn from my peers as well. I enjoyed learning a myriad skills from IDES1262 and can't wait to learn more!

[reallyhardy]

went through the goes-wrong-verse playbills/programmes - that is, ‘the play that goes wrong’ and ‘peter pan goes wrong’ (thank you @cornleypolytechnicgoeswrong​ !) trying to piece together each society member’s career within the society PLUS if possible whatever it was they were doing at the polytechnic (university) course-wise, along with whatever other character snippets they give. this is mostly to inform me when writing but i thought it’d be useful for other mischief/goes wrong fans!

chris bean:

as of TPTGW is the ‘newly elected’ head of the drama society, and is known at the university for his charitable & philanhropic work. he has six acting credits within the polytechnic to his name.

i was going to presume his choice of course at the uni was acting or directing, but his PPGW bio states that his ‘dacting’ (directing and acting) is all self-taught, so who knows. maybe he’s just in the society because of his aforementioned charitable work.

robert grove:

has starred in 40 productions with the society since 2002 (when he began work at cornley polytechnic as a caretaker - i’m taking this to mean he was never actually a student there.) anyway wow explains why they call him a “veteran actor” lol.

he offers acting lessons (reacting, gesturing, emotioning and acting) and can be contacted via twitter @robertgoodactor. i’ve looked this twitter account up and it does exist it’s just not been used since 2017 - that said there are some in-character photos of henry lewis as robert and nancy zamit as annie on there and plenty of tweets.

he runs an extremely dubiously safe cornley youth theatre program and can be contacted at his email robertgoodactor@hotmail.com (membership fees are non-refundable.)

trevor watson:

in TPTGW is arbitrarily from ‘the north east’ (rob falconer’s portrayal, whereas chris leask’s portrayal is firmly and specifically scouse.)

he has a twitter account (rob falconer’s portrayal) @trevtechie, with i think probably the most tweets of the cornley twitters. stopped being updated in 2017.

his participation in haversham was to complete an electronics module - as the light and sound technician i’d assume his course was in this kinda field.

he states that after haversham he wants to never work with the cornley drama society again, but as of PPGW he’s “following in his parents footsteps” and has pivoted to possibly actually studying stage management. (his PPGW bio states that he’s in his final year at the uni for the 3rd time running. so it could mean his staying on with cornley is like partially due to failing his course?)

dennis tyde:

in his TPTGW bio it states that he joined the drama society after failing to get in to any other societies.

he didn’t live on university campus and commuted in from his parents’ house. he mostly just wanted to make friends - he’s interested in snooker and wants to meet like-minded people.

in his PPGW bio he still wants to make friends and says you can reach him via twitter @dennistyde. i checked this account too and again it does exist but hasn’t been used since 2013, and there are only 3 tweets so its much more bare-bones than the others. i like his one tweet about drinking a mug of bovril to calm his nerves before a show.

as of 2021 in promotional vids we learn that dennis and robert now live together.

max bennett:

in TPTGW bio it says he was a first year studying human geography and crime which i was surprised about but sure okay. it also says here that he happily donated “a large portion of his recent inheritance” to the society to help fund it.

at the bottom of TPTGW’s cast page it states that the west end performance of the play is “made possible by a generous legacy from claude bennett” who’s presumably max’s grandfather? or just father? idk

his TPTGW bio also says his favourite movie is the legend of bagger vance which i’ve never seen but is apparently a will smith golf movie.

his hobbies as listed in his PPGW bio are chess, cooking & hanging out with friends and fam. he also dedicates his performance in PPGW to his grandma claire, which is sweet.

annie twilloil:

as of TPTGW she’s designed, built, painted, costumed & stage managed every cornley show for the past 3 years. in the PPGW bio, it states she’s studying cognitive behavioural therapy and pottery, and has taken up life drawing at the student’s union (as the model.)

after haversham, she apparently had an internship lined up at the bolton octagon.

she has WILD backstory in her PPGW bio that says she dedicated her performance to her estranged husband julian who she hoped was in the audiance and two children frangipani and ylang-ylang. not sure if the kids are with her or with the husband but either way, wild. nuts. pretty funny but also pretty tragic.

she’s also got an ad out looking for a new bloke (i suppose if her husband isn’t in the audience) apparently she’s been left by boyfriends previously for an air hostess, a stripper, and a coal miner.

she also enjoys knitting and playing the banjolin (an instrument she made herself.) her email address is greatfunmum@hotmail.com.

she has a twitter account that again hasnt been used since 2017 (@annietwiloil). a couple tweets chronicle dave hearn’s shoulder dislocation but as max so i guess its canon that max also dislocated his shoulder, but he did it while trying to open a twix? lmao

sandra wilkinson:

in her TPTGW bio it states that haversham manor is her 11th production with the company. idk how frequently they put on shows.

she won some kind of local kids beauty pageant in 1998 and did some modelling for a local restaurant (the sunam balti house, which apparently the cornley crew frequent? or have at least been to - seems they struggled with spicyness levels there, especially dennis.)

nothing on her course at the university, i might just take a stab and assume she was actually doing acting, since her bio is mostly about her being a performer.

she’s a big fan of jeremy irvine, they mention him in both of her bios.

jonathan harris:

is a total health & fitness guy. his course at the uni is in physical education and he’s also a model, though who’s to say what for. in PPGW this is expanded and he’s moved on to being a combo model/actor/photographer/lifecoach.

he loves his outdoor sports: mountain biking & kayaking are noted.

he had a bath salts advert out and he hoped it was gonna go national.

lucy grove:

her surname IS grove! i wasn’t sure, but that’s confirmed. not really much about her in there, because the bio is written by robert and he just used it to gas himelf up.

can’t tell if she’s a student at the university or just in the society through robert. genuinely there’s just not a lot to go on when it comes to lucy.

another note is that the murder at haversham manor and the version of peter pan that the cornley crew perform are both written by ‘susie h. k. brideswell’ who i guess either chris knows or chris is a big fan of?

other notes... they try so hard to make out like the characters aren't all the same age like implying that robert is genuinely older than most of them etc etc but ofc the cast featured in the TV broadcasts are all visibly the same age... ofc all this is just comedy innit so you can take it or leave it

also i realised that the american version of TPTGW calls it “the cornley university drama society” since i guess you guys dont have polytechnics over there. a polytechnic is like... a university that offers the arts (among the classics you know science law what have you) basically. by 2021 in promotional videos etc. shields in character as chris has dropped “polytechnic” altogether from the group’s name (but varies between calling it ‘the cornley drama society’ and ‘the cornley amateur dramatics society’) i assume to reflect how much time has passed since the group put on their first production under chris’ leadership - and that now they’re simply operating unattached to the university because they’ve become a real family. love love love, sillyness and love.

[soulsuckrrs]

To say Raydan had terrible experiences with those that could wield magic was an understatement. Just like the original witch had wanted, the man had suffered through many masters that treated him horrendously. It was the main reason he hated magic and those that could use it, manipulate it like most had used him. But he was used to it, at least, he had been until he'd hunt down every single copy of that damn spell to break the cycle of being mistreated and abused. Though, it seemed one had escaped his viciously destructive efforts to free himself in some way from this curse and the young man, this Max, confirmed that he did have a copy but that it wasn't here. Raydan shifted and glanced away, annoyed. Of course he wouldn't be able to destroy it so easily but that did become his goal for however long he was to be enslaved to this magic user. In the past, it had been old age that had taken most of his masters and even that had been far too long, only a few had not been saveable by any of his efforts of protection. They had been no loss to Raydan. But with this new bond, fresh and still hot beneath his skin Raydan couldn't stop the old memories from jumping to the front of his mind, trauma building up walls between him and Max before he'd even given it a chance to try and get to know this new master.

One thing was for certain, this wasn't going to be like any of his past employment. Already Max was being far kinder than the last six to have had the hound in their employ, that family of dark and cruel magic. They had passed in a long coming and well deserved death. The ones he hadn't been able to protect, though he'd nearly lost his life still trying to do so, despite wanting their deaths himself. That was the bitch of it all, hating someone so much and not being able to harm or even think about harming them without being punished. Not even by them but by the curse he bore. That damn bitch of a witch had thought of everything when she'd cursed him. There were so many stipulations and loopholes that Raydan had discovered over the centuries but they had rarely ever been in his favor, always the one he was bound to. While the secrets of his curse had to be discovered by the one who had summoned him, Raydan knew them all and with the cool buzzing of the magic in those bracelets of his, the hound was reminded how horribly they could be used against him. He'd never give them up willingly.

But what Max said seemed genuine, Raydan didn't sense any deception in the air, didn't smell lies dripping off this man in a ghastly scent. Was he really to just be a guard dog? The thought astonished Raydan and he subconsciously licked at his lips before worrying the bottom one between his teeth, a thoughtful habit never quite caught or broken. "If you wish me to remain in my hound form, I can oblige... though, most do not care for the sight of it," he said, tone low, still annoyed but certainly less hostile, Raydan always had some edge about how he held himself regardless. Prepared for anything, like a sharp knife ready to draw blood at any given moment. He was a weapon, a soldier, a beast. He could handle a little guard dog duty if he had to but that didn't mean he trusted this kindness or this Max. Raydan glanced up to meet Max's gaze again, head tilting just slightly but otherwise expression void of any emotion other than mild exasperation.

He had to bide his time and learn more about this place, this family and Max, especially Max. "-- clothes and a tour, would do." Raydan dropped his dark gaze to the hand outstretched to him and his lip twitched some in irritation, like this was some cute little moment or friendly exchange. His eyes slid up to meet Max's again and Raydan took a slow deep breath before exhaling away his annoyance, for now it might be best to be compliant and civil. Play nice, he told himself. Before he could think about it any longer Raydan took hold of Max's hand and squeezed it, his flesh likely hotter than expected, which it was naturally so anyway but after coming through a portal of hellfire it was likely especially hot. It only lasted a few seconds before he broke the contact, frowning slightly as he shifted again, the residual magic making him antsy. Nothing good ever lasted and anything good was a lie. Raydan had experienced the darkness of the world and had long since stopped believing in the good.

Max could feel the pure and unfiltered disdain coming from the man before him. Part of his power was Empathy, after all. He could feel the swirling of emotions, and he wondered if it was somehow heightened because of the magickal bond that now dangled from their wrists. Distrust, rage, disgust. All of it was blaring like sirens, and all of it was directed at Max. He understood, and felt guilty about the entire thing. He straightened a bit as Raydan took a step towards him, and he was about to order him to stop, but the man spoke. Then called him Master in a tone that made him want to apologize. Raydan clearly did not want to be here. That made things different, although if he had gotten a canine Hellhound, he still would feel guilty if it was forced there. But, he had no choice now. With the nearly murderous air about the man, he had no doubt what would happen if he released him. As the man's gaze flickered over him, he picked up different emotions. Curiosity, suspicion, expectation. He was looking for something. "If you're looking for the spell, I had it memorized. The physical copy is hidden." He took in a deep breath and let a soft smile grace his features. "I'm Max. You... don't have to call me 'Master', Raydan. We prepared a room for you, but we were expecting... someone a little more canine in appearance. You'll sleep in my room with me until we can get an actual mattress ordered, and then you'll have your own space. All that I... my will is that you protect this home, this family. You will protect me. You'll be given your own room, food, clothing, and toiletries. Everything you'll need. I won't bark orders or force you to do anything you don't want to. You'll be expected to clean up after yourself, clean any messes you make, and help around the house occasionally. But though you may be a slave, you won't be treated as such. Not by me or my family." He hummed, taking in a breath before crunching his face and holding out a hand for the other to take. "Would you like to take a shower or anything? I can get you some sweatpants and a shirt until we can go shopping tomorrow for some clothes. But let's get out of the basement. If you don't want a shower, I can show you around the house."

[dreamwritesimagines]

Ah, Anthony and his flowers. i bet every time Percy gets into the drawing room he just ages like, a few more years and grows a few more line every time he sees the damn flowers LMAO. now, what is Cece doing with the blue drawing room?? i am very intrigued. OH MY GOD, does it have something to do with Cassie? maybe a portrait of her? or something for the family? as in Elias, Cherie and Percy? i am so curios about this omg. bc i take Elias doesn’t know about it either??

lmao Percy’s Anthony radar is ON the whole time he just knows when The Rake™️ is nearby. SALKSLASK Aunt Lavinia is so done with her brother i love it. i will say i love Cece and Anthony’s friendship so much? and look at Cece trying to get these two to spend some time together. and i know she’s doing it for Cherie mostly, i mean that’s how it started as but i’m sure it’s for both Anthony and Cherie now bc they’re just so happy together and she just wants to see her friends happy <3 OMG LMAO YES CECE. MAKE! HIM! WORK! god i love this. like help him but also guilt trip him bc he deserves it <3 also, Anthony you can’t say anything bc you owe this queen everything soooo. get that vest off, roll those sleeves so at least you’d look really good while moving the tables ya know, give us a show skksksks. but i see what you’re doing Cece, leaving this two alone so they can have some time together aah i loveee.

“I don’t think anything about you could ever escape my notice.” OBESSESED HARLOT™️ I TELL YOU. Perhaps he would kiss you again. and I–oop, looks like Anthony’s Obsessed Harlotness™️ is rubbing off on you too Cherie sksksks i don’t blame her for one bit. OH MY GOD she invited him in the library FIRST. AAH we love a role reversal!!! like back in the day it was Anthony who would ask her to meet him somewhere aloneeee. like that was the dinner right? Anthony asked her to be in the library before his family arrives? and now? oh how the table have turned!!!

“But I will do things right this time like I promised. I will be the proper gentleman you deserve.” awww pls look at that GROWTH™️ but i will say, i wonder how his I Am Gentleman™️ will last alksalsklaks i think i’ll give him...when is the ball again? right, i’ll give him three (3) days at max. if he can surpass three days without Harlotness™️ i shall applaud him. but with how Cherie is acting now? i doubt he’ll survive. i mean, here he is a couple paragraphs later saying how it will be worth it to get shot so long as he could kiss her right now LMAO. this is just going to be a battle of Obsessed Harlotness™️ between Cherie and Anthony from now on is it?

Elias is really earning his title as The Biggest Cockblocker™️ in the ton right now LMAO and i don’t know if he’s doing it unconsciously or ENTIRELY on purpose but just acting like he doesn’t know what he’s doing. either way, it’s very funny sksksk omg......fire arrows...they’re actual children alright. like i said, Cece is the only Braincell Holder™️ in this entire family i tell you. pls, Anthony and Cece’s bond genuinely will grow stronger given that both of them are/will be married to the most chaotic family in the ton. Elias eventually dragged Anthony outside another point for the Cockblocker Counter™️ for Elias lmao he’s doing his best to get them faaar from each other.

“You make him incredibly happy.” awww, this is so sweet. honestly their whole convo is so sweet like, Violet is just so thankful that Anthony is opening his heart again and Cherie is the one who got to do it <3 and gosh, the whole convo about Cassie and the whole resentment. i am so so glad that Cherie isn’t taking that path, and even better, that she’s actually learning from it. like she’s right, Cherie does have a choice and it’s good that she’s learning from her mother’s mistakes too. like people always do this whole, “be like your parents” thing and it’s really not a healthy path to follow. bc yeah, Cassie and Cherie are similar but, they’re not the same, and people shouldn’t expect Cherie to act like Cassie bc it’s just not fair. so i’m glad that while she admires her mother so much, she’s not thinking of her as someone who can do no wrong if that makes sense? she’s not painting her out to be some saint bc at the end of the day, Cassie was human who made mistakes and i’m glad Cherie is seeing that rather than idolizing her to a point.

omg.....it really did go over her head lmao i love how Violet basically implied that Cherie will throw a ball in the Bridgerton house once she becomes Viscountess but whooosh, she’s just i hope she invites me! like ma’am, you are going to be the one doing the inviting soon <;3 “But my ball is closer than yours.” sksksk Cece’s like, but before all that, let’s focus on this one first.

SINCLAIR’S POETRY READING BWAHAHAHA this is just a different kind of torture lmao this is so funny. hmm Kenneth can’t say no to Hugh can he? ahem. omg Lucie helping Iona omg i’m glad they too can spend some time together <3 omg these two Friends With Benefits™️ are just shamelessly flirting in front of everyone and passing it off as friendly banter BUT CECE IS CATCHING ON AND I NEED HER TO KNOW. i want her to tease the shit out of Hugh pleasssee. omg her and Cherie would be a force to make Hugh and Kenneth embarrassed i NEED to see it. mm-hmm, Ken and him will stay here for a while ahem.

stop Anthony is being so cute ugh he’s joking and teasing with her it’s AAAH THEY’RE ADORABLE. oh my goodness you Obsessed Harlot™️ her eyes are up there OMG CHERIE CALLED HIM OUT BWAHAHAAH. i love how she’s just tormenting him i LOVEEE. i know what she’s doing, getting him recall all those memories together so he has no choice but to think about it thus torturing him until he cracks.

Anthony just asking the lord heavens above for patience lmao he’s just trying to hard not to punch Sinclair right now and the poetry reading haven’t even started yet lmao. i love how it irks him that the poems are about Cherie. omg.......is this Jane Longmore illiter–you know what, different strokes for different folks alskalksslk maybe her and Sinclair will get married soon.

“I just don’t like him.” well, you don’t like anyone who does as much as steal a glance at Cherie so i think your judgment is screwed, sir. OMG YES YES YES I LOVE HOW SHE’S PLAYING WITH FIRE I LOVE IT!! make this man BURN Cherie like she’s just taunting him to break and i love itt. tho Anthony’s pet names is making me swoon like every time he drops a “darling” in there just my heart. “I’m trying. Fire isn’t playing with me back.” oh she’s GOOD AT THIS!!!! Anthony The Gentleman™️ it was an honor to know you. Condolences my friend, it was fun while it barely lasted. and i LOVE how you wrote that whole thing by the way. that she’s just instinctively responsive to him despite not knowing what it means. just the whole paragraph *chef’s kiss* also, Cherie, this is what the bishop was referring to during his speech at the wedding, by the way, you know Carnal Lust™️

ELIAS THE COCKBLOCKER™️ AT IT AGAIN. AHAHA in translation, Elias basically said “Anthony, you Obsessed Harlot of a Rake™️ stop giving my sister Hungry Eyes™️ you whore.” and he also said “Really? Right in front of my salad?” LMAO this guy is such a meme i swear i love him sm. tho i will say, with so many people around i can give him a pass with that interruption BUT STILL. i’m sure everyone in the ton was observing these two bc hello they’re the talk of the ton right now with this courtship so they prolly already saw just how obsessed these two are with each other with their Hungry Eyes™️ & Heart Eyes™️ lmao.

“You are going to be the death of me.” oh but what a way to goooo. wait, omg The Masquerade™️ is next chapter if i’m not mistaken? either way, i cannot WAIT FOR IT <3 this was such a fun chapter and i’m happy we now got to see the role reversal between these two. and i CANNOT wait for Anthony’s “honor that is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious with every moment I spend in your presence” to finally snap lol i mean they’ll get married soon anyway so it’s fine sksksk. i just want them to KISS AGAIN ALRIGHT–no i don’t want them to just kiss, i want them to Make Out™️ and perhaps More™️ but ahem i’ll wait till they’re engaged at least, i’m not that scandalous LMAO. lovely chapter as always! <3

– TM Anon™️

Omg loveeee hi! ❤❤❤

Oh Percy will absolutely hate the flowers and the whole courting thing😂

The blue drawing room…you will like it I thiiink😏 And no, Elias has no idea either 😏

I love Cece and Anthony’s friendship too! ❤ They went from enemies to tentative friends to besties tbh 😂

get that vest off, roll those sleeves so at least you’d look really good while moving the tables ya know, give us a show skksksks. LOLLL 😂 I don’t think he would ever miss an opportunity to show off when Cherie is arouuuund 😏

 Anthony’s Obsessed Harlotness™ I AM DYING 😂

Anthony doesn’t even know what hit him 😂 Like, Cherie inviting him to library was something he never thought would happen and now that he’s trying to be a gentleman…😏 Cherie will NOT make things easy for him at all😈

BATTLE OF OBSESSED HARLOTS😂

Elias is totally doing that intentionally 😂 Now that he knows Anthony is actually courting his sister, he will make sure to sabotage their time “together” a lot 😁

Cece is the only Braincell Holder™ in this entire family i tell you. YOU ARE RIGHT AND YOU SHOULD SAY IT😂

The convo about Cassie yessss! ❤ I think that convo is like a proof of Cherie’s whole character development since she got there, because earlier, when she had just moved there she saw her mother as her idol, like someone who could do no wrong ❤ But her time there and especially that conversation with Percy changed things for her ❤ Cassie had her flaws just like Percy, and now Cherie can actually understand that without loving her any less ❤

Cherie is usually pretty quick on those but she didn’t understand what Violet was implying at all until Cecily told her 😂 Aw but I feel like her first ball as a Viscountess would be so much fun! ❤

Kenneth and Hugh really, really like each other’s company 😏 But they both play it cool 😂

her eyes are up there This is hilarious omg 😂 That will not be the last time he does that, that’s for sure 😏

different strokes for different folks THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I’M HEARING THIS PHRASE AND I’M SO ADDING THIS TO MY VOCABULARY😂

Cherie looooves playing with fire 😈

and i LOVE how you wrote that whole thing by the way. that she’s just instinctively responsive to him despite not knowing what it means. just the whole paragraph *chef’s kiss* OMG HONEEEY-

It’s so nice to hear this! ❤ Exactly, like Cherie likes all this taunting and flirting and even if she doesn’t exactly know that that means or might turn into, she and Anthony have that dynamic ❤ And it will be fun😈

in translation, Elias basically said “Anthony, you Obsessed Harlot of a Rake™ stop giving my sister Hungry Eyes™ you whore.” THIS IS A GREAT TRANSLATION😂

 i’m sure everyone in the ton was observing these two bc hello they’re the talk of the ton right now with this courtship so they prolly already saw just how obsessed these two are with each other with their Hungry Eyes™ & Heart Eyes™ lmao. I think they did! Like, a lot of people are paying attention to everything they do, so there’s no way people missed those glances of theirs 😏

Yessss the next chapter is the masquerade and I AM SO EXCITED 😍❤ I hope you will like it! ❤

Darliiiing you’re amazing! ❤❤ Thank you so much for this! ❤❤❤