#have a sneak peek into my brain

[chiliger]

Hush little brother, don’t cry out. Brother’s gonna keep you safe and sound.

[emry-stars-art]

hey! i’m so in awe of your art! can i ask how you get your pictures of your traditional art so nice? i want to start posting my traditional art but the lighting is so bad, i have no clue how people do it flawlessly

Hello!! Sorry for the delay ahh but I would love to share so we have whalemack here to help me explain

So my plain old pictures don't look great either, I never post without at least a little bit of photo editing. I usually go from this:

To this:

using an app called Snapseed!

You really just need decent/even lighting and an okay camera. I use my iPad camera and make sure there's no shadows over the drawing and it usually works out for the sizes I draw at

And here I made a video of how I use Snapseed to edit my traditional art - it's a bit of an older tutorial but I use basically the same process still. If you end up using that app too you should obviously mess around with it and see what works for you! I haven't had any real issues with it and I've been using it for years, so I don't know enough about other apps to recommend other options 😅 but it's definitely worth a look

Hope this helps, good luck! 💕

[keter-class-anomaly]

Something something… Roger and centipedes

Maybe he likes them, maybe they live in his head, Roger with centipedes <33333

[chimerahyperfix]

I’m working on something. Cooking, even,,,,,,, when you make a loop version of [loud static sound]

[candyriku]

I unfortunately find myself unable to work on my current Soriku fic today due to my mental state, but I was able to make a bit of a teaser for the next big Soriku fanfiction that will be coming sometime after JTSYS is finished.

You can read it under the cut, but TW for blood, death, and uh, general misery. This has been cathartic for me to write but the whole idea of this fic is that things are impossibly doomed, so be warned - this is not the happy fun zone.

Blood. There was so much blood.

He had smelled it before even seeing it, the metallic scent thick in his nose before he had even rounded the corner. He had tried to convince himself that it was his own bleeding wound that he smelled, or maybe the blood of something else, someone else, but in his heart, he knew the truth. He picked up his pace, sprinting at top speed now, his sneakers splashing through shallow puddles on the wet pavement. 

When his eyes finally came to rest on the crumpled form at the end of the alley, the breath was knocked out of his chest as though someone had taken a baseball bat to his sternum. He knew, of course he knew, but he had hoped-

No. It didn’t matter what he hoped for. Hopes and wishes weren’t for people that walked his path. He had been denied the right to hope for anything ages ago. When he had signed that contract, signed away his soul, he forfeited all the cushy pleasures of a normal life. He had given up his chance of knowing peace.

But it had been worth it. If it was for Sora, anything was worth it.

Standing over Sora’s blood-soaked body, Riku tried to remind himself of that truth, the one thing that he had tethered his heart to all this time. It was worth it. Even if the chance of Sora making it out alive were next to none, there was still a chance. He could still fight.

One of these loops, Riku would get it right. He would figure out how to keep Sora safe, how to protect him from this accursed dimension where everything was designed to end his life. They would break out and live a normal life together, just the way they had always planned. 

There was a happy future waiting somewhere for the two of them. There had to be. Riku had gambled everything on it.

He crouched down, his shaking fingers gently brushing Sora’s tear-stained cheek. He could hardly stand to look at his face, but the sight of his broken, bleeding body was no better. The wounds were precise and lethal, and Riku was far too late.

No matter how many dozens of times he had watched Sora die, it never got easier. It never stopped feeling like his chest was a black hole caving in on itself, his heart squeezed until it was nothing more than dust. 

He couldn’t look. He couldn't look away.

Riku kneeled and placed both of Sora’s hands over his heart. He was about to speak and begin the incantation that would throw them both back to the starting point again, but Sora suddenly stirred, weakly reaching one hand up towards Riku’s face.

“Riku…” his voice was barely more than a whisper. 

“I’m here,” Riku said, the words catching in his throat. “Don’t speak. You can rest now. It’s okay.”

He hated to say it. He wanted to plead with Sora, wanted to beg him to stay. But if Riku had learned anything throughout the loops, it was that nothing came of begging. There was no one to answer his prayers; benevolent forces did not dwell here. At best, all it would accomplish would be making Sora sad in his final moments. At worst, future loops would be impacted by Riku’s words to Sora, twisting the knife further. He had seen it enough to know what to avoid now.

“I don’t want…” There was a weighted pause. “...Don’t want to leave you.” The pool of blood continued to grow. Riku knew - though he wished that he didn’t - that Sora wouldn’t be able to maintain consciousness for much longer at this rate. He could hardly believe Sora was awake even now. 

“We’ll meet again.” he assured Sora softly, trying to keep his voice steady. “Don’t worry. It'll be okay.” 

“You…” This pause was longer, much longer, and Riku was all but sure that Sora would not speak again. Finally, with a wet cough, Sora continued. “You promise?”

“I promise.” Riku lied. He leaned forward and kissed Sora’s forehead, his lips lingering there for several long moments as he took steadying breaths. 

“Mm… ‘kay.” Sora managed. “Love you… so much.” 

“I love you too.” Riku said, clenching his teeth so hard his jaw popped. He wanted to scream. After taking a moment to compose himself, he sat up and offered his best imitation of a smile to Sora. Better for him to see that than to see how broken Riku really was. 

The all-too-familiar faraway look settled on Sora’s face as the last of his breath left his body. Riku collapsed over him, the tears finally coming, the weight hitting him all at once with the force of a tidal wave. Even knowing that he would see Sora alive and well again in mere moments did nothing to comfort him. 

It didn't matter how many times Riku had seen it. It never got any easier to watch Sora die.

[the-lavender-clown]

Ok you guys get a little sneak peek at the next future au/cassatello fic because I physically cannot get over these lines I came up with while spacing out

“Shelldon shut. Himself. DOWN, MIKEY!!

“His systems weren’t made to handle the amount of pain he’s in! He’s grieving so much it’s killing him!”

[louroth]

forgive me if this has been asked before, but will there be deaths for our Hunter to get before the actual ending? 👀 if yes, will we know our ROs reactions, like aftermath POVs or something? sorry if that's too spoilery

MCs death is my favorite flavor of angst, especially if ROs are somehow involved in what lead to it :D

I think it's safe to say that every RO goes batshit crazy. But just in what way, you're going to have to find out for yourself...

Thanks for the ask nony!! 🖤

[redo-rewind-if]

I feel like neither Amara nor the MC really thought this one through, huh?

[fruityfroggy]

AUGHHH WHY DID I CHOOSE SUCH A COMPLEX HAIRSTYLE AS INSPO

IS THIS SLAYFUL? IT BETTER BE ONCE IM FINISHED

[shima-draws]

shima it's been so much fun seeing your art on my dash this year!!! genuinely so glad you got out of your slump and are passionate abt drawing again. good luck w/ the charms ! can't wait to see how they turn out (:

SOBSSSSS THANK YOU OMG that means a lot for me to hear!! Especially since like. Me personally, I was very frustrated at the lack of art last year. Ofc none of that was really my fault, like I’ve mentioned before I had fucking awful chronic back pain last year that lasted like six months so I couldn’t even sit down in a chair properly for more than an hour at a time. (And on the other side, depression was hitting HARD. It’s never easy to draw when you’re just Sad. Or when you have major art block which I ALSO had RIP)

So now that I’m doing art again and way more frequently I’ve been SO happy…mostly bc I just. Love to create!! I love making things!! And I love sharing them with you guys! And seeing and hearing your reactions to them!! It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve been in such a good place with my art. Hopefully I don’t run out of steam anytime soon and can keep drawing fun silly cute things 🥰

And thank you aaaa!! I just finished designing all of the One Piece charms I want to make, so things are progressing smoothly. Once I get closer to finishing all the designs I’ll be sure to share them with you guys ;)

[jamiesfootball]

Tagged here by @antitheticallyargumentative and @flyingcoffeemugs2 at my main blog so I’m just gonna answer all at once

1. Immigrants (We Get the Job Done) - Riz Ahmed, Residente, Snow Tha Product, K'naan

2. Girls Against God - Florence + the Machine

3. Hold Me Like a Grudge - Fall Out Boy

4. Heaven Sent Is a Coffee Cup - Bears in Trees

5. X Gon’ Give It To Ya - DMX

6. Drops of Jupiter - Train

7. Henrietta - The Fratellis

8. Thought Contagion - Muse

9. I Don’t Like Who I Was Then - The Wonder Years

10. The Distance - CAKE

EDIT: FOR THE SHUFFLE GAME. THE PUT YOUR REPEAT PLAYLIST ON SHUFFLE AND LIST THE FIRST 10 SONGS GAME. GODDAMNIT

FURTHER EDIT: I AM TAGGING EVERYONE IF YOU ARE READING THIS- BOOM. TAGGED.

[zannolin]

okay i make zero promises abt when this will be done bc i'm still attempting to hold true to my homework grind. but. u guys can all have this before i go to bed.

[belethlegwen]

Okay- I gotta know- what is your secret for writing characters? I adore your writing, but above all its your ability to make characters that are just

A) Very real in their environment and the way they interact with others

B) Realistic and "deep feeling"

Do you have a process or a method?? Like ANY character building advice would make me go feral.

God this ask had me reeling today trying to think of answers for you, and also just: aaaaa thank you so so so much for the compliments for real ;-;

This is going to be very much kind of flow-of-thinking writing, and I apologize. It's been a long day and I really can't settle on anything of a clear answer, but I'm gonna do my best.

So my approach to characters, specifically ones that are more of the main/core casts, is to specifically treat them like other, real people. There are some characters that are more background, that are more narrative, and that's not to say they aren't 'real people' within that world, but from the perspective of the story and the characters who we are getting the perspectives of, they are less complex and less deep. An example would be Thorne. We know as much about the man as anyone really truly cares to among the main cast, and given his position and power as it pertains specifically to the narrative of The Stranding, we won't be giving a damn about how the man likes his eggs, unlike with someone like Daniel.

Melanie and Henry as our main characters are ones we tend to get to be deep into the cores of. We're going to be in their heads and seeing through their eyes the most out of everyone, so it's not as much of a surprise that by the end of however-many chapters, you know their favourite colours and foods, what times of the day they like to wake up, and a bit of background things that build up the main gears of their decision-making processes. We're going to be seeing them do the most changing over the narrative and see more deeply how the narrative effects them.

Daniel and Peter we ALSO get into the heads of a fair bit. I'll be honest with you, I wasn't expecting when I started to write The Stranding to ever really jump directly into Daniel's perspective like I do with the others, but the more I wrote for them all and saw how important Daniel was to Peter's whole being-- they both effect each other's decision making processes a wild, wild amount-- it became almost natural to wind up behind his eyes at points.

I think that's where a lot of my character-creation and really getting into the core of people really, honestly comes from. It's thinking of how these characters connect/have connected/will connect with the main characters in the story. Why are they connecting that way, why do they have the effects that they do? There's so many layers of complexities to every relationship that you, as a person have with other real people, that once you have things set up, things just start to click into place.

Henry and Daniel do not get along. Why?

They used to get along. What happened, why did it happen, why are they still carrying these feelings? Why did they get along before? How did they click, where did they chafe against each other, etc.

What flaws are they both portraying that make this conflict worse? Have either of them learned or changed in a way that might have made it better? Can they change in a way that might make it better? How would that have to happen?

It's through these interactions-- big and small, though not in the usual way I use those words haw haw-- that you start to piece together who a character is, specifically by contrasting them against another that you might already know (or that you might think you already know-- those are the fun ones).

Here's a sneak peek at the next chapter of The Stranding, whenever I manage to get around to writing and editing again when everything here has settled down more:

-----------------------------

The sailor eased himself into the chair and groaned as loudly as the planks did while the Pyrrohn adjusted course. “She wasn’t aware--” he tried to barrel out another excuse, this time for her. Daniel was not about to have it.

“Do not feed me horse shit,” the words hissed out of him, and the spots of heat on his face made him hope his rage was obvious. Perhaps if he looked as angry as he felt, the man across from him would understand how serious this actually was. “What she did was tantamount to assault of an officer, and that will be discussed with the weight it deserves once we’re back with the Commander.”

If there was something to be said for Lemuels, it was that he was rarely an obvious man. At least, he hadn’t been back in the older days. Since he had returned, however, his expressions were larger. More varied. Readable in a way they hadn’t been before, but also now like an untranslated poem in a foreign language. Every time Grant believed he was close to understanding what Lemuels was feeling, the man did something wholly erratic in response.

Such as now, while he waited for the sailor to argue. To jump to defense. To find some excuse as to why his fifty-foot menace should avoid any punishment or consequence. Such as now, when he did the opposite.

“You’re right, she will be, and I merely want you to understand that she will be just as upset as you are that any of it happened,” Lemuels explained, a hand coming to brush the loose hairs away from his face. 

“I don’t--” Grant began to snap at the man.

“Daniel, just understand that she already understands that she shouldn’t have. That’s all.”

He wanted to shout at the man in the stupid blue coat. He wanted to demand an explanation, some kind of clarification.

But there it was, that obvious expression again: Henry Lemuels looking tired and bitter-- bitter!-- at the wall of the tiny cabin.

‘He should be preening,’ Daniel thought, shaking what the sailor had said out of his thoughts like a duck shedding water. ‘He always preened and swelled with obnoxious pride after any Naval drill or operation. The man looks like driftwood in the rain.’

“We shall see,” the Captain said tersely, eyes dropping from the sight. “Once we’re back, we shall see.”

-----------------------------

It's their mix of familiarity and strangeness with each other that I feel draws out a lot of their deeper parts. Every person you meet is a gem of many facets, and the light will hit a different side depending on the situations they're in and the other people they're interacting with. In The Stranding, they're seeing some of the old facets they were familiar with before, but also seeing new ones. They're also shining the light on facets of each other that they had been trying to hide or thought they had moved past.

Another thing I really like to do when developing/exploring a character, even for my own sake, is to remember the golden truth of writing.

You are every character you make.

In some way or another, every character is you. You are following your own logic to make decisions for them, to create the paths they're choosing to forge. Lean into this. Let it be you. Even when you're writing a character who's a foil, or someone who's there to specifically act against and conflict with your main characters, your heroes, the goals you want them to achieve... don't distance yourself from it.

You've been a 'terrible person' in your past, from someone's perspective. You've made mistakes, you've been in bad places and you've learned and grown from them. Think back to your past self, think back to the you that made those mistakes and throw away what cringe comes from it; the person you were made the decisions you made for reasons. Try to empathetic of that. Try to understand that everyone around you is always several lessons ahead of you, and several lessons behind you, in a myriad of different categories.

If you need a character, especially a more main-one, to make a decision to push the plot forward and you, yourself can not get into their head enough to find a reason why they would do it-- something with a core, something with a goal, something with a trail that led to it that you could describe as a logic that you understand, even if just a little!-- then you need to step back and rethink what you're hoping to achieve. See if there's another way to get to it.

Something your main characters/audience/someone hoping to reach the end-goal of your story will not like needs to happen, you still need to be able to go 'Yeah Daniel's being a prick, but he has his reasons. He is compelled to do these things because _____', and that core reason? A lot of the time, it can be really simple at a glance, and diving deeper into it you can discover all kinds of new, incredibly nuanced things about the characters, world and story you've created/are creating.

Daniel's core often comes back to doing what's best for The Eastern Coastal Watch. He wants it to be strong, he wants it to be able to continue to operate, he wants it to be good.

When you explore deeper into why, you find out things like the reason he's so attached to the Watch is not just because Peter's in charge and he wants to help Peter, but because he truly believes it's a branch that focuses on helping people, helping the towns and people nearby, helping the kingdom as a whole, whereas he feels the others are increasingly more about expansion, growth, power in ways that lose that noble pursuit of simply being there when they're needed by the people, etc.

Why does helping citizenry in those ways matter so much? Where did that start? These are the fun threads I really like to pull when you're getting to the core of people.

SO ANYWAY, I am sorry if this is just... wild rambling. My head's still scrambled eggs from everything going on IRL, but I really really loved getting this ask and thinking about it, and it gave me a nice chance to drag poor Daniel back out of brain storage to rotate him in the blorbo-rotator again as examples, hahaha. I don't know if this is necessarily helpful, but I hope it is? At least in some weird way? This is the kind of shit I could talk about forever if I had the spoons to go grab a coffee with someone and the coffee shop owners wouldn't be mad that I'd be there for 3-4 hours just yammering.

Whenever I'm actually like, settled and things are stable again, maybe we can connect in DMs or something and chatter about this and pick the process apart together sometime!

Much love always,

~ Belle

[candyunicornsateme]

I dont usually do this but having some fun w this. Trying more painty stuff. I never talk about it much but I do love the royal Kyle vibes, elfish or not... actually have some rlly specific au ideas I’ve dabbled with in my head for years...👉👈 Edit: wow wasnt expecting any likes on this rn,,...

[oldworldwidgets]

instead of acknowledging the very real possibility that i fell in love with deacon in particular because i have terrible authority issues and he's outspoken about hating authority and will do anything he can to spite the authority in the commonwealth even to the extent of dedicating his life to fighting for the little guy, i think i will simply continue to pretend that i love him because teehee funny sunglass man make joke :) silly :)