#got an ipad so i’ve been drawing

[reddamselette]

“Your hair is getting long. Gonna cut it?” Leo asked, tilting his head to the side as he crossed his ankles and leaned against the headboard, watching from the bed as Jason rinsed his mouth of toothpaste and shut the lights off.

Jason hummed, walking over to Leo before he crawled over him and collapsed onto the bed. He propped his head up against the palm of his hand, blue eyes roaming Leo’s face with a sweet smile. “I don’t think so. We’ll be matching.”

He gripped each side of the sink, his knuckles turning white as his head hung forward and he sniffed through sobs, choking and swallowing thickly each time he drew in a deep breath. Teardrops fell into the sink along with water from soaked hair. Jason’s hair was getting long and Leo wasn’t around to see it and match.

[garden1a]

goo has to repeat the outfit😔🫰 sorry pooks

[pinkpeony1]

book!percy and book!annabeth

close-ups 💖

[iminaloine]

Just the Distortion in its two different skins :3

[iscreamkitty]

Tried to draw Mikey in a limited color palette. Art is as stressful as ever lol

[trenchcoatsbi]

Happy five months to the Trenchcoat!!

psstt check out the stuff under the cut there’s more art and it’s pretty cool stuff if i do say so myself

Hi so I’ve been meaning to draw anons, like for fun and my enrichment (<- i really like drawing things for people i like) and uh that sketching session I had like three days did net me a lot of terrible awful rough sketches I could work off of, so i kinda just bit the bullet and started doing shit. so uh yeah that’s why there’s bonus drawings this go around for the blogiversary! There’s 2 more bonus drawings on the way btw!! I just did not have the spoons (or the ability to keep my joints normal enough) to be drawing long enough everyday to finish four full drawings from scratch with multiple characters in each, so the other two will be posted in the next few daysish hopefully…

sorry to anyone not included in one of these/in the other two I did try my best to remember as many of our frequent askers as possible but a lot of the anons who haven’t been chatting recently kinda just got buried by the qsmp folks lol…. speaking of the qsmp yall are pretty much the reason there’s group drawings and not just all silly doodles like the one with me and Vale (<- which i technically drew last month and could’ve posted at literally anytime but shh that doesn’t matter). I mean group drawings are not easy either but fucking hell you guys are three drawings all on your own…

I had to try so hard not to ask you guys what you looked like since I wanted this to be a surprise and since I just made up designs for the most parts here's who's in the bonuses!

Bonus 1:

Vale (🌾🪶 anon)

Bonus 2:

official-big-q

llulah anon (twice technically lol)

wilbur (ethercollective)

bad & foolish (itty-bitty-ferns)

q!pac anon

Bonus 3 (I might repost this drawing later with edited shading. it's too dark looking at it on my computer screen ugh i hate how colors look different on different screens):

💙🐏 anon

🦁⛰️ anon

Voidling anon

[art]

Creator Spotlight: @jdebbiel

Deb JJ Lee is a non-binary Korean artist based in Brooklyn, NY. They have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, NPR, Google, Radiolab, and more. Their award-winning graphic memoir, IN LIMBO, about mental illness and difficult relationships with trauma, released in March 2023 from First Second.

Below is our interview with Deb!

Have you ever had an art block? If so, how did you overcome it?

That implies I am over my art block, but I’m still in it! I think about Kiki’s Delivery Service a lot and how she had to stop doing a thing, and that you can’t really force it, and you have to let it come back to you. It’s a pretty humbling moment, realizing there is more to life than just drawing. I’ve been trying to consume other content like reading or watching movies—anything that is not drawing-related—and to trust that it will come back to me. I think not being afraid to do the small pieces before committing to the big pieces is helpful. Because big pieces are what I am known for, I dig myself into a deeper hole, thinking that each piece has to be bigger than the last one. So yeah! Relaxing and doing the small things before overcommitting to a big piece is the best way to go about it for me.

Which 3 famous artists (dead or alive) would you invite to your dinner party?

I feel like these are all artists that I have second-degree connections with! Jillian Tamaki, Victo Ngai, and Tillie Walden would be my picks!

What are your file name conventions?

…What file name conventions? I mean, I don’t have specific file name conventions, but I actually have a public Google Drive archive! But I usually put “djjl_whatever-the-title-is_final,” and I would always know it’s the final and legit version.

What is a recent creative project that you are proud of?

I did an illustration for the whiskey brand Johnnie Walker. It’s so wild because I only had four days to finish it, and it usually takes me a week and a half if I rush. And honestly, it’s probably one of my best pieces from this year, which is funny. It was for the Mid-Autumn festival, so I made it as Korean as possible.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work?

I only use my iPad to draw everything now, and if I want to pretend that I have a steady workstation, I’ll use my Cintiq. I still am not as comfortable on the Cintiq as I am on Procreate, but it’s still pretty solid and nice. That’s the good part about technology. The bad part about technology is how AI art has been messing things up for me. I’m currently in a lawsuit about AI art as a class rep. Some of my stuff got turned into AI art late last year, so I have to give a deposition at some point. 

What is a convention experience that has stuck with you?

Honestly, they’re all good! I feel like Lightbox Expo has been really nice because it’s truly been a convention for artists. I feel like that’s where most of my audience is, and they’re all around because their purpose is to be better at art. That’s where a lot of original artists do well because they’re getting art they’re inspired by, not so much fanart. I like the Lightbox Expo because it encompasses the pure love of art very well. 

Top tips on setting up an Artist Alley booth?

Use a Y axis, not just your X axis! Take advantage of it! Branding is also something to think about. It is definitely something I’m getting better at. Having an assistant is also very important. I’ve also heard that 8.5x11 to 12x18 inches is usually a good size for prints, but I also provide postcard-sized prints because sometimes people don’t want to commit to a larger size. 

Who on Tumblr inspires you and why?

You know this is so funny. I’ve been following @alicexz for over a decade on Tumblr and other platforms. I’ve followed her work since high school, and we’ve only recently become peers. I found her, and we met for the first time in real life, and she recognized me. And then I found all my drawings from when I was in my Alice phase, back in high school, and I was like, “Yo, this is when I was trying to be you so badly!” and she was cracking up and was like “Wow, this is so good!” It was such a sweet moment. I wanted to take a picture of her holding my drawing up. It’s really nice because now we’re peers.

Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing, Deb! Be sure to check out their Tumblr blog over at @jdebbiel.

[doodledrawsthings]

you. Oh my god, you. (Positive)

listen. Before I had internet access, all I had was 1 hour of allotted browser time, bing image search, and a single dantdm play through of a hat in time that never got finished. I googled fanart and got pretty much nothing, I googled fancomics and got pretty much nothing, but you know what I did end up finding?

your art.

from ages 11-14, my goal in life, in art, was your art. I can’t tell you how much I loved finding random screenshots of your posts, because I was always just so impressed by how clean and consistent your sketches are, how the characters always stay on model, the shape language, how you could somehow sketch a character in like 20 lines when it took me 50 to draw sans in my little spiral notebook— like! Holy shit! For years I have looked up to your art! There’s still a photos folder on my dads old huge-ass 12 inch work iPad labeled “holy crap” and filled with your art. Because it inspired me so much. It’s become an undeniable part of my artstyle, now — I still have fanart I drew way back in the day of Hattie and the rest, I didn’t even know anyone’s names because I couldn’t play the game, but you’re the reason I eventually did play the game. Your coffee shop au and different versions of the prince— one of those ieterations inspired the main character of my novel! Well, novel that I tried to write, I was 13 so it was eh, but I tried!!

I’m submitting this on-anon because I don’t want to out my age on the wide internet (I like my privacy) but. Your art has really meant a lot to me. It’s the reason I played hollow knight, and it’s the reason I kept trying to develop an art style I was happy with. You’re the reason I started scribbling comics in my notebooks. Being 13-14 was pretty much the worst two years of my life, but I had Bing image search and the occasional glimpse of your signature, and I’d be so happy every time I found a new (if crusty) three-times screenshotted jpg. You literally introduced me to the concept of polyamory and nonbinary-ness with the coffee shop au. I had no other access to that in my household, and. Yeah. It meant a lot to me.

Anyway. I’m so glad I’ve finally tracked you down (in the most non-ominous way possible) and I’m so glad you’re still active— Please never stop making art. Your art is incredible, and amazing, and also you never know who’s out there on Bing image search. Thank you for creating for as long as you have. You’re pretty much the reason I’m shooting for an art degree (Wish me luck!) so just…Thank you.

(Also I had no idea you were a professional storyboarder, which is insane because that’s what I want to be when I’m through college. Hey, maybe I’ll end up storyboarding a remake of something you’ve storyboarded! hehehe)

Hi anon!

So right off the bat, I gotta tell you that this message made me start bawling when I woke up and saw it. Like I had a full-on cry session while reading your message and lying in bed for almost an hour. I am crying as I am typing this response, on my phone, still in bed. It’s 11am and i woke up at 9. So I hope it turns out coherent.

The last two years have been. weird. I say that a lot because I wanna say “rough” but that still doesn’t feel quite right. I’m almost hyper-aware that there are so many people that have it worse than me rn, so it feels hard to even acknowledge when I’m going through anything, myself, sometimes- REGARDLESS, it’s been kind of an all-time low for my mental health. There was a point within in the last year where I just HATED drawing. I struggled to bring myself to work, I struggled to bring myself to even draw for fun. It felt like I was posting just to post, trying to keep people aware of my existence and it almost felt physically painful to force myself to sit down and do it, sometimes.

I’m getting better now, I think, but. Yknow.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the “oh I can make money off this,” “oh I can get attention off this,” “oh I can prove myself a functional person in society with this,” of it all. I forget why I actually do this, sometimes, or if I even enjoy it. And then I get messages like yours, about the kid with limited internet access looking for A Hat in Time fan art on Bing image search, and I get taken back to when I was a kid scrolling Google images and deviantart for the same thing.

I don’t mean to like. Foster some kind of parasocial thing with you or any one of my followers. There’s a reason I’m saying all this, I hope it ties up in the end.

We don’t know each other. I’m not some mysterious legendary artist, or whatever. I’m a person who gets burnt out, and jealous, and insecure. I need inspiration to function, just like you, and when I don’t have it, I get art block. But I also really like to draw fictional characters kissing and hanging out. I like coming up with comics and stories and playing out dramatic and funny scenarios in my head like I’m mashing Barbies together. And when other people tell me they enjoy the stuff I put out when I do this, it makes me really, really, really happy.

I think I needed to read your message, probably. With the state of… Everything… Right now, especially recently, I feel like a lot of artists are also struggling with a sense of purpose, pride, and reason as the world makes it harder and harder to even BE an artist, these days. And when I read this message it was like Anton Ego at the end of Ratatouille, I got taken back to when I was a kid looking at my favorite artists and studying their style and striving to be better and better at it over years of my life. Not just because I wanted a job for it or cuz I wanted to be a famous Disney animator or whatever, but because it was fun and I just liked doing it.

Thank you, SO much. I say this in the most genuine and earnest way I possibly can possibly express. I wish you luck on your own path in art and art school. And if you decide that animation industry is your thing, then I wish you the best in that endeavor, as well. I think I will keep making art for a long time.

Peace and love on the planet earth ✌️✌️✌️

[lilybug-02]

Happy 2 Year Anniversary to The Chara Timeline ✨

I FINALLY made drawing references for you guys, yippie!✨

It’s wild how long I’ve been working on this comic without reference sheets. I’m never that consistent with my art style, so I figured it was a waste of time 🫥💀😔 this is my first full comic okay…

Thoughts and Feelings About the Comic Below ❤️💖💕💞

Wow. It’s been 2 years??? I thought I would be done with this comic in 2 months! I don’t know whether to feel worried or accomplished!!

(With months between each update, I understand why it’s been 2 years. I’m a slow writer and artist and well- many things have come up in my life that had to come first, like my sisters wedding! 💞 and college 😅)

I want to thank my family and friends (WHO DO NOT READ THIS COMIC- THANK GOD) 💕 AND I want to THANK YOU! The readers! 💐💐

You guys are relentless! I’m as impatient as traffic and yet you guys wait for weeks or months at a time for like 4 pages?! You guys don’t even complain!!! I truly want to thank you all for that ❤️ it helps me so much. Being busy and getting burnt out are common and it helps me feel relaxed that i'm not on a timer. Literally tho- you guys keep this comic chugging I swear. Tysm 💐

Unorganized rambling about the comic ahead :) ⭐️🔥

—

My feelings with this comic are actually so complicated. On one hand I hate looking at my older art because GOD IT LOOKS SO OFF I want to stab it, and then on the other hand I am so so proud of myself for even continuing it this far. Ngl the weird route has been one of my favorite parts of this comic. It took me FOREVER to figure out an ending, but damn do I still get chills >:) hehe.

I’m still miffed that I named this project “Deltarune: The Chara Timeline” I could have gone for something so much COOLER. Doesn’t help I use like 7 different titles for it either. We got Deltarune the Chara timeline, Deltarune chara timeline, THE Chara timeline, chara timeline, Ct??? Man,,, I’m crazy. I take after my family so hard. We have 3 names for each of our dogs 💀.

Comic/Animation Tip i have learned. It is VERY GOOD to make the character relatively simple in design. Shape language is also super important, ((but I never really got around to doing that before I was half way through the comic, woops.)) These things can make ur process go by so much faster. This whole comic has been a HUGE learning curve. LIKE OH MY GOD. I had to learn how to draw backgrounds, write dialogue, plan a story, learn how to draw fast and draw noses (which god damn I really still can’t). And I had to learn how the heck to squeeze art into a tiny page and make it not look grainy. It's intense!

Anyways.... this has been such an awesome opportunity! Thanks Toby Fox!

I totally ran out of “art time” for my iPad and wanted to finish this today. So it’s a bit rushed. I’ll add weapons and possibly the other characters later :)

Oh shi- I forgot to add this grainy image of the next few pages lmao

[not-so-daily-cleo-doodles]

[31] Happy Christmas to those who celebrate!!

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been - kinda dying lol! But I’ve got an iPad for Christmas so my motivation has spiked up like 200%! This is actually my first drawing on it

I’ll really try to be more consistent, love ya guys <3

[noblecorgi]

2024: A Re-Entry to Fandom

I guess this is a thing? (Oh shit this brackets bit was written at the end and I appear to have emotionally vomited an essay. Sorry ‘bout that.)

In late 2023 I experienced a personal tragedy and retreated to where I had always found comfort: books.

I read a series that had been recommended to me before, but I hadn’t had time to read it - The Simon Snow Trilogy by @rainbowrowell and it awoke a dormant-but-never-forgotten love of fanfiction in me.

In my teens and early 20s I wrote a lot of fan fiction on the ol’ FF net, all of it of atrocious quality I’m certain, which is why I haven’t tried to rediscover that account.

Instead I found AO3, and restarted regularly writing for fun instead of for work or study/research.

I didn’t do any summation for 2023 because I think my first fic was posted on like 10 December 2023, but AO3 tells me I wrote 4 works, all SnowBaz, at a total of 55,154 words.

In 2024, I’ve published 5 works, at a total of 94,323 words.

What truly blows me away (and honestly makes me a bit teary) is the 1013 kudos, 100 subscribers (inc 15 subscribers to just me rather than a fic!), and 222 comment threads on my works. 🥹

So: my 2024 works.

Use your words, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 3,930 words

A smutty lil gift fic wherein Baz teaches Simon how to sext.

Splendid Morons, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 12,886 words

Published for Erotic Grope Fest, aka Baz’s birthday. A collaboration with @alexalexinii and a story written to enable their amazing art of Baz in lingerie.

Precious to me for not only getting to work with Alex, but also for being the beginning of my relationship with Becky @rbkzz, my incomparable beta who has become one of the dearest people in my life.

On The Rocks, SnowBaz, Rated: E, 74,592 words (WIP)

My opus, as it were. It originated from a fluffy cute prompt of “what if Baz and Lady Ruth were work besties?!” And I came along like “YEAH! But with trauma, exploration of love in mental illness, and alcoholism!”

I began posting it in March and it’s about 2/3 done now. But for Becky it would be both an absolute pile of horse poop, and an abandoned WIP. Instead it has a clear direction and she found motifs that I’d repeatedly used by accident in my drafts and built imagery, greater meaning, and also debated me ad nauseam on my preference for spelt over spelled.

Immune Response, @lumosinlove’s Cubs, Rated: G, 1,421 words

I was a big consumer of WolfStar in my teens and was recommended Lumosinlove’s Sweater Weather and, like many before me, fell in love with the story, the original characters, and ice hockey itself (much to the surprised glee of my Canadian spouse, who for a decade has tried in vain to get me on board. Little did he know the key was obviously gays.)

This is a lil’ slice of life sick fic examining how each of the Cubs responds to getting sick.

I have a lot more unpublished drabbles about these characters and some fics that are being cocreated so stay tuned for 2025?

Preliminary, my dear Basil, SnowBaz, Rated: T, 1,494 words

A gift fic for @martsonmars as part of the Carry On Discord’s Secret Snowflake Exchange.

Among their suggestions was “Sherlock AU, but not BBC Sherlock, 19th century Sherlock” and it hooked me with the idea that Baz would absolutely fancy himself as Sherlock. I actually sketched out a plot to SnowBazify 4 of the Holmes stories, so maybe 2025 will see them unearthed.

There is one other published fic I worked on this year, but as a beta rather than a writer for @swoopswrites @rsbigbang piece Class A which was super fun to do (and got me to watch a great series - The Gentlemen on Netflix) and Swoops has a fantastic mind so I’d encourage you to to check it out.

Finally, I have always been a writer rather than an artist, but I do enjoy drawing, and the need to upgrade my iPad for work arose and so I also tried my hand at drawing again for the first time since I was 17 or so.

In order from the first one to the most recent one, the lil scribbles I did this year:

Penelope Bunce, Wolfstar on a train, Baz with coffee, cuddly Cubs, FinnLo being adorable, iconic Moony with a cane, emo Sirius Black.

And THAT was 2024 (and 2023).

@artsyunderstudy @asocialpessimist @angelsfalling16 @whatevertheweather @edenalix @emjaydellyone @erzbethluna @emeryhall @run-for-chamo-miles @raenestee @rimeswithpurple @roomwithanopenfire @thehoneyedhufflepuff @theearlgreymage @thewholelemon @lonleyhumanbeing @letraspal @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @youarenevertooold @iamamythologicalcreature @ichooseyousnowbaz @ic3-que3n @ileadacharmedlife @onepintobean @palimpsessed @prettygoododds @philaet0s @pacey-bunce-loves-joey @sorenphelps @skee3000 @stitchy-queerista @fiend-for-culture @facewithoutheart @fruitcoops @girlwithcurls96 @hushed-chorus @hihimissamericanbi @cutestkilla @cosmicalart @confused-bi-queer @noopienoopiernoopiest @messofthejess @monbons

[quibbs126]

So I’ve been making this

So basically last night, I was listening to some music, specifically Not Gonna Die by Skillet, more specifically a version on YouTube with the intro (because I’m not the biggest fan of Good to be Alive where the intro actually is). Anyways, when it’s night, my imagination tends to be more active and I tend to have more energy. While listening to the song, I eventually got this mental image in my mind of this scene with Dark Choco, and the more it crystallized the more I wanted to draw it. I was going to go to sleep and maybe do it in the morning, but I realized that I probably would forget the vibe and not have as much energy, so instead I decided to power through and draw the idea

It was a bit difficult since I had limited references for the pose I wanted, and I suppose I can admit the sword looks a bit off anatomically, but it looks good enough I think, and lets me keep the eyes revealed

I did eventually have to stop drawing, because my iPad had been worked all the way down to 4% (and it was at 30% when I started, the poor thing), not to mention it was around 11:30 already which is pretty late for me, and my earbuds had been running nonstop for over 2 hours (yes I was listening to the same song, it’s how I keep the vibe). I was at least able to get the pose, base colors and lineart done, and I’m still pretty proud of where I left things last night

Today was mostly just doing the background and lighting, which admittedly I may have fumbled. I’m not very good at backgrounds and I didn’t know how to draw lightning. I tried my best, but honestly I don’t think I got the image in my head. Didn’t help that my brain was playing the wrong Skillet song this morning

Oh yeah and by the way, the background is supposed to be from this. That’s what I used as reference

The lightning both feels like too much and too little. Like, it’s crowding the picture, and I can’t have more because it’d be way too crowded with it, but also at the same time, it doesn’t feel like enough, like there isn’t as much power as I wanted

Actually wait, maybe I can add some small particle effects to like, enhance the lightning feel. That was in the original sketch but I omitted it in the final. If you see one with that, you know I did that

Edit: I did indeed do that

To be fair though, I don’t think I have the art skill to properly convey the image in my head. Basically the scene is that Dark Choco is using absolutely every amount of his power for this final swing down, so much that it’s too powerful and the Strawberry Jam Sword completely shatters. But also it’s too powerful that Dark Choco’s body simply can’t handle it, and he basically ends up exploding. The scene depicted would be the wind up to that final swing that destroys the both of them

This isn’t necessarily the first time I’ve come up with this scenario, and the setup would basically be that he turned on the Cookies of Darkness slightly earlier, because he didn’t want to destroy his homeland again, and he tried to get rid of them while in the kingdom but not yet at the Citadel, but he ended up failing, so with nothing to lose, he chases after them and decides to put everything into destroying them, even if it likely ends in his death. After this he probably killed Pomegranate and crippled Licorice in some way (I don’t think he’d attack Poison Mushroom), so his final act did have some effect, but he’s still dead by the end of it. And he and his father never got the chance to properly reconcile because Dark Choco thought that could never be a possibility anymore and he had resigned himself to his fate

But yeah, I just don’t know how to convey that sheer overwhelming power and emotion that this scenario suggests. I tried my best though

I also want to submit this to the Dark Cacao Forever contest, but I’m not sure if it’s good enough for it. What do you think?

[randoms-fandoms]

Hi I had a request for Scott from twisters x reader

She’s an artist that works for Tyler’s team and she likes to sketch everything any anything she finds interesting and she ends up sketching Scott and the team seems to notice and someone (Tyler Boone Kate etc) let it slip to Scott who thought his feelings were unrequited leading to him to awkwardly confess his feelings to her :)

Sorry this took a minute! I’ve also been working on my longer ao3 twisters fics lol :P anyway!

Just a little warning for swearing lol

Relationship: Scott x Female! Reader

Contrary to what many casual storm chasers may assume about the Wranglers, they held no contempt for career chasers. Folks who were on business, got payed good money for risking their lives— StormPAR, of course, being this year’s friendly competition.

Scott would never admit it, but he was grateful for this. As much as he liked to roll his eyes and shake his head at their loud music, obnoxious streams, hordes of fans— there was one thing he really, really liked about the Tornado Wranglers. Well, one person.

You. You were one of three young women chasing alongside Tyler— of course he thought you were gorgeous, and absolutely brilliant when it came to storm chasing, but what he really admired about you was your appreciation for beauty.

As an artist, you knew how to find something worthwhile in every location you found yourself in. Every time he saw you, you had your sketchbook in hand, capturing the way an anvil was billowing on the horizon, or the delicate shape of a dandelion popping up on the edge of a parking lot. It was almost aloof, how you politely excused yourself from crowds of fans to instead sit in the grass nearby, or perched in the bed of Tyler’s truck, all by yourself, lost in your own world— and it was absolutely magnetic to him.

Scott was watching you now, sat cross-legged in the grass outside of a small diner, through the grimy window as he boredly listened to Javi talk business with Riggs. He wished he could just go talk to you, but there was no way he could do that… he sighed, thinking back to the first time he saw you.

He’d only grown aware of you maybe a week ago, when Javi convinced him to watch one of the Tornado Wranglers YouTube videos— but he fell fast.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Javi had said. “I like the aerial shots, really gives you an idea of the scale.”

Scott blinked. “Our PAR shit is cooler,” he replied after a moment— he wasn’t paying attention to any of the actual tornado chasing content, now that you were on screen, proudly showing off a page in your sketchbook. It was an impressive drawing of the twister, perfectly illustrating the movement and power of the thing.

Your smile was distracting though, he thought as he watched your lips pull upwards, your eyes warm ever so slightly, gazing into the camera— it was like you were looking at him. He felt his face warm with a self conscious blush, and he turned off his iPad.

“Whatever.” He said, as if he wasn’t committing your name to memory. The Wranglers are chasing in Oklahoma this season, Scott recalled. I wonder if we’ll see them. Guiltily, he hoped.

Days passed, and you and your team had made the long road trip from Little Rock, Arkansas to middle-of-nowhere Oklahoma. Lily hated being in the car for too long, but you didn’t mind it as long as you had your art supplies with you. She’d put on some music and the two of you would talk and laugh while you sketched the landscape, the buildings, the sky— anything that caught your eye.

But after six hours in the car and an exciting stream, even you were feeling a little weary— still, as the sun went down in the parking lot of that night’s motel, you wanted to enjoy the moment. The air was warm but not too hot, humid but not unpleasantly so, and the sound of crickets and distant fireside singing put you in a good mood.

You were sat in your camp chair beside the Ram, listening to Dexter explain to Ben about how Doppler machines work, absentmindedly gazing up at the thousands of stars— that’s when you saw movement out of the corner of your eye.

It was a man, hastily leaving his motel room. “Yeah, I’ll be back in a minute, I just gotta check my email— the wifi in here is so slow, I gotta head to the front.” You heard his voice float across the parking lot as he spoke over his shoulder, closing the door. He pulled out his phone and headed in the direction of the reception area of the motel, but he paused before he got there and just sat on the curb.

He was cute, you decided. Neat dark hair, nice jawline, prominent dimples appearing as he pursed his lips— even glaring down at his phone in annoyance, he was handsome.

Absentmindedly, glancing back and forth between him and your page with a smile on your face, you began to map out the features of his face.

The man started typing on his phone, frowning and leaning forward more, resting his arms on his knees. He didn’t fit in at all with the rest of the crowd in the parking lot, in his tidy white polo shirt and slacks.

You continued sketching out the lines and shapes of his build— muscular arms, long legs, broad shoulders— as you shaded in his brown hair, you came to a bothersome realization.

If he’s with StormPAR, he probably wouldn’t want to talk to me. It was no secret that StormPAR liked to keep their distance from the crowd you rolled with, groups who chased storms as a hobby. You frowned, tracing over the lines of his eyebrows again. I wish I could just talk to him… Oh well. you sighed, closing your sketchbook and standing up to head to the room you were sharing with Lily and Dani.

“Night,” Boone said. You glanced back, bidding him goodnight, attributing his playful smile to the beer he’d been drinking— you didn’t see that he’d been watching over your shoulder as you drew, after all.

The next morning, Boone had a plan. Maybe it was a bad idea, and maybe Tyler had discouraged him, but it was just too good to pass up.

Scott, meanwhile, was busy feeling sorry for himself, cornered in a booth with an investor.

“Heya, StormPAR.” Came a friendly voice from behind him. He and Javi both turned to look.

“We’re busy, Boone.” Javi said. Scott was surprised by the familiarity of it— are they friends? He wondered if maybe that meant that he could befriend you.

“I’ll get outta your hair, I just gotta talk to Scott for a sec’. It’s real important.” He grinned, and Scott raised his eyebrows. Riggs frowned.

Eager to just speed things along, Javi turned to Scott. “Do you mind?”

Scott didn’t. “No, it’s cool, I’ll catch up with you two later.” Javi stood, and Scott scooted out of the bench to follow Boone outside. The other man took a long sip of his hot cocoa.

“What is it?” Scott asked, adjusting his cap to shield from the bright sun as he squinted down at Boone.

“Are you single?”

That caught Scott entirely off guard. He felt his face warming up with a self conscious blush, glancing around to make sure nobody was around them. “The hell are you asking that for?” He asked, voice lowered.

Boone shrugged, smiling. “I know someone who likes you, that’s all.”

Scott sighed. “It’s not you, is it?”

“Nope, I’m already spoken for.” He winked. “My friend over there, though—“ he nodded in your direction. “She thinks you’re cute.”

Scott felt a funny feeling in his chest, nervous and shy and unfamiliar— it had been a long time since he’d felt like that. “…How do you know?” He whispered, all petty hostility abandoned.

“She’s an artist, y’see— an’ every time we talk about, every time I ask her ‘bout her inspiration and shit, she always says the same thing.” He shook his head contentedly. “‘I just draw what catches my eye,’” he said, giving an impression of your voice.

“And she…”

“Last night, she was drawin’ a picture of you.” Boone looked up at Scott with a smile. “Ain’t that cute?”

Scott didn’t know what to say. Of course it is, he thought, but he could never say that out loud, not to Boone of all people. So he just nodded. “I’m going to go talk to her,” he said decisively.

You always got so stuck in your head while drawing, focusing on nothing but the subject and your page. It took you a moment to realize someone was calling your name, but when you did, you startled and hurried to stand up.

“Sorry, I was—“ You paused when you turned around, realizing exactly who was talking to you. It’s the guy from last night! “I was just drawing, I didn’t hear you.” You said with a smile, showing him the picture. It was of a crow that had been pecking at the grass, but had flown away when you stood up. That’s okay, it was pretty much done.

“It looks good,” he said, eyes trained on the paper. Either he thought your drawing was really interesting, or he was feeling too shy to make eye contact. Maybe both.

“Um… anyway,” You folded your sketchbook closed. “Can I help you?”

He blinked, looking up to your face. Am I imagining it, or is he nervous? You smiled, trying your best to be friendly, and a rosy pink blush tinted his face as he looked away.

“My name’s Scott. I’m also a storm chaser.” He awkwardly held out his hand for you to shake, nodding politely. “I’m— I’m really interested in your, um, work.” He gestured to your sketchbook. “And I—“ he looked away again, laughing nervously. “I really like you, too.”

For a moment, you didn’t know what to say. Is he being serious?

“Um, would you maybe… want to go out sometime? I’m working today, but maybe tonight we could get something to eat.” He gave a smile, sincere and shy and vulnerable, and you thought he was just adorable.

“Yeah, sure!” You replied. Not wanting the conversation to be over, you were just about to offer to show him more of your drawings when somebody called his name from across the parking lot.

“Scott, we gotta go!”

At the same time, Dani jogged over to you in her cowboy boots. “Come on, we’re headin’ out.”

You and Scott looked at each other, and you both couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’ll see you out there,” he said with a smile.

You smiled right back, face warming in a blush. “Only if you can keep up!”

A/N: hope you liked this! Scott is a cutie I wish there was more content for him ^_^

[steftastan]

Carian Stroll

“Tell Blaidd, and Iji…I love them.”

Before this piece, I had been wanting for a long time to create my own piece of Elden Ring fanart featuring Ranni. I had tried several sketches unsuccessfully, just wasn’t particularly feeling the ideas I had sketched up until that point.

One day of usual internet scrolling, I stumbled upon this gorgeous piece of art by Shimomura Kanzan.

I knew immediately I wanted to do something like this for my Elden Ring fanart. In fact, if you look at this piece, there is tons of inspiration that I drew from the original artwork, such as the style of the yellow leaves and the main subject matter being a prominent silhouette of the brightest value, placed at approximately the bottom third of the image.

The main character is cleverly shrouded amidst various layers of trees and foliage, giving us the impression that we're peeking into candid moment of their life. In the case of the fox, we caught it during a mid-day snack. In the case of Ranni and her party, we caught them in a leisurely stroll, while Iji outfits the dreaded Fingercreepers with their iconic rings.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to capture a happy moment, but Ranni goes as far as to ask us to deliver to Iji and Blaidd the message that she loves them dearly as her quest draws near its end. I would imagine they all must have had fun moments together as a family. Hey, maybe even the hands liked to be around them?

The process

I started this on my iPad using the procreate app. Sadly the full process is not captured on video, as I switched to Photoshop for the rendering phase of the illustration. This video is a fun window into my chaotic process and how I iterate on the fly on the same canvas. I probably wouldn't do that in a professional setting where you often need to have color keys and iterations to be reviewed and analyzed. I like to I cut myself some slack when doing personal art to keep things fun.

Trying and failing some more

This illustration was not a straightforward path. I haven’t been very diligent about personal art, and at some point I started deviating too much from my reference by adding too many levels of depth to the background and suffocating the piece. I got into a weird loop where I would randomly open the PSD, play around with the values, pushing Iji to the back, then bringing him back, cranking all the levers on Ranni, etc., decide it would look horrible, then begrudgingly determine I’d never complete this image and go on with my life.

As artists we likely have unfinished work sitting everywhere, be it in our sketchbooks, canvases, or hard drives. But it’s a different kind of sting when you feel like you can’t even nail the fundamentals.

Anyway, so a couple weeks ago, I decided to give it another go, but this time I would get rid of all the unnecessary stuff, even stuff that I had been trying to render for ages. I would not hold on to anything, I would try and recapture what drew me to Kanzan's beautiful painting to begin with.

After it became a matter of pushing and pulling pixels until the image was finished!

That’s about it. I didn’t go crazy in depth but lately I’ve been enjoying reading into artists’ processes and I’d be remiss to not share my own thought process also.

Thank you for viewing!

[biconickyoshi]

Zuko and Aang as they appear in Book 2: Water of my slowburn Zukaang AU, The Avatar and the Fire Prince!

Overall Synopsis (for new readers):

In the year 96 AG, a freshly burned and banished 13-year-old Prince Zuko discovers a strange boy frozen in an iceberg. When Zhao interferes with Zuko's plans to deliver the Avatar to his father, Aang helps Zuko and Iroh escape. They take refuge in the abandoned Air Temples, Aang searching for any remnants of his people that he can find. Along the way, he teaches an indoctrinated Zuko about the true nature of the Air Nomads. Zuko must come to terms with the fact that everything he has been taught was a lie, while Iroh must acknowledge and face the sins of his past. Eventually, Aang and Zuko become close friends, and Zuko begins to feel things he has never felt for anyone before. However, Zhao will not give up easily, and will do whatever it takes to capture the Avatar and his traitor accomplices.

Book 2 Synopsis:

Zuko and Iroh have now officially denounced the Fire Nation and the Royal Family and are dedicating themselves to helping Aang fight against the forces of their homeland. After narrowly escaping Admiral Zhao at Crescent Island during the winter solstice of 96 AG, Aang, Zuko, and Iroh travel south in search of the Southern Water Tribe village Aang has been dreaming about. The village is in danger: the Southern Raiders are coming, and it will be up to our trio - with the help of a couple of Water Tribe siblings - to unite the remaining villages of the Southern Water Tribe so that they will stand a fighting chance.

I got an iPad for Xmas and I’ve spent the past couple days working on this! :) I’m super happy with how it turned out!

Zuko’s about 14 here - his hair length is how it looks about halfway through this Book. I’ll probably do another piece to show what he looks like at the end of the Book since his hair is a lot longer now with it being almost a year since he cut it in the AU’s timeline (we’re now approaching the Northern Water Tribe storyline). I’ve also never drawn weapons before… so I hope his broadswords don’t look too wonky 😅

Aang is about 13 here. He’s wearing a new outfit as well, which I thought made sense since this AU takes place over 3-4 years instead of less than one year like in the OG series. Aang’s gonna grow a lot over the course of this AU, so he can’t just keep wearing his Air Nomad trainee clothes indefinitely lol.

I plan to do a lot more pieces in the future as I get the hang of digital art, so I would like to draw more characters (like Iroh, Sokka, and Katara) and more looks for Aang and Zuko. I’m also really excited for Book 3, which will be Earth in my fic (Earth is my absolute favorite season of the OG show). Zuko’s hair will probably be long enough to pull back into a ponytail again at some point during that book… Though this time it will be a different style :) gotta do some brainstorming for that one!

I’m close to wrapping up the next chapter, in which our characters make a return to the Northern Air Temple! I haven’t had as much time to work on it recently just due to all the holiday stuff that’s been going on. It’s probably gonna be a shorter chapter as well (which I don’t mind, I hope y’all don’t either). But after that, we’ll finally be in the Northern Water Tribe! :)

[snartffle]

Sorry to worry anyone, I have an update.

Thank you to those that have been leaving asks and messages checking up on me. The past little bit has been…hectic to say the least.

You all know I’m a trucker. I drive 18 wheelers for a living. A couple of weeks ago I was hired to pull from Arizona to California as a route that would last about two weeks. January 7th, the wildfires started and it was fine at first. It wasn’t anywhere near where I needed to be. Then it got a lot bigger and people started evacuating and blocking the roads. My truck got stuck because people in front of us were abandoning their cars. Luckily, I was near where they started bulldozing and was able to get my truck out. My route was cancelled, obviously, so I had to make my way back home. Me and my partner ended up spending about four days ferrying a couple of evacuating families. In the mess, my iPad, my laptop, and my Switch got stolen. I don’t want to say it was from one of the families we helped, but it was around the time. I don’t blame them, though. They’d be needing all the money or happiness they can get. I wasn’t the one who lost my house.

As it is, I’ve now lost years of drawings and projects. Months of work. All of my fanart and the like. For now, until I can afford a new iPad after a few repairs to the truck, I will not be posting art. I may transition to doing little dribbles and ficlets for a bit, depending on how things go, but I do not see myself being the most active for a while.

I am sorry I was unable to keep up communication, but it was with reason.

So, for now, I am going to be taking a long hiatus. Thank you all for your interactions and I hope to be able to talk with you all soon!