#i WANNA GET BETTER AT COLOR but AUGH

[hotdogmchiggin]

I have like 7 different drawings in progress that I wanna post eventually but I cant get myself to finish any of them 😔

[residentialsinyomakai]

I was tagged by the wonderful @jqmon ! Thank youuuu and here I go;

Favorite color: Purple, navy blue, and neons in general! They're pretty nice and can stand against a black background.

Last song i listened to: I have just had a random playlist on right now actually, but I think its called A Mask of my Own Face by Lemon Demon!

Currently Reading: "Camouflage of Great Reknown" by RatCandy! Again AUGH i love this fic Zote is me and i am Zote. Anyways, I would go on a tangent about that but this shouldn't drone on longer than my usual ramblings wahahazzzzz Also, "To Kill a Mocking Bird" By Harper Lee.

Currently watching/rewatching: "Yokai Watch!" and "Brave the Animated Series!" I've watched the latter almost 17 times in counting now aodjoeod, it's one of my faves that rivals Yokai Watch (which is pretty impressive if you know me!)

Want to watch/rewatch: "Yo-kai Watch" (OG), "Good Omens", "The Good Place", the new TMNT show and "ROTTMNT"! Quite the list but y'know =u=.

Currently craving: What I would do for some tiramisu right now...

Coffee or Tea: Same as prev, I like em both! I do like them like my chocolate though; a little more on the bitter side!

Hobbies in Mind: Drawing (digital and traditional), singing, playing videos games, and general crafts. I'd try to make anything once ○°w°○ wwwww.

Current AU: I have an unnamed Yokai Watch AU featuring my sona/character Caspian! I like making random stuff for it but I don't have a post or anything on it yet tho aifkoeod. Not to say I haven't fleshed some of it out or come up with a plot+official refs rho! (Fun fact if you've seen some of my posts; the yokai redesigns I showed yall a while ago were mostly just an excuse to show you the AU versions wwwww^) That, and a little personal world thing with two irls that I love <33 (COUGH. @samiisams and @sketchdeath22 ..... they have amazing stuff go look ooooo......)

People who I wanna get to know better: Hope y'all don't mind the tagggggggg!

@analog-smiles @c00kietin @strange0-0storm @amf-studios @aura-bug @suppai-limes @sketchdeath22 @samiisams

Love y'all!/p (hope I didn't accidently tag anyone whose already participated auiemdhjcr...)

[liquidstar]

SEASON 3 TRAILER DROPPED HERES MY THOUGHTS (LN spoilers)

BROTHER AND SISTER OF ALL TIME THEYRE SO CUTE <3 love seeing how their relationship has progressed from beako literally throwing him out a window for stuff like this to her happily playing along its so so so so so cute. genuinely just one of the cutest and sweetest dynamics in the series

hi ram roswaal and fred :) this is probably all we're going to really see of you guys this arc lol

JOSHUA REAL!!!!! but not for long (also otto in the bg foreshadowing all the drinking hes about to do this arc. hes so stressed. poor emilia is trying her best)

julius looks so babyfaced here? they really emphasized his long eyelashes just like subaru has been on about every time he mentions him. they better include the scene where he checks him out, like, if they dont animate subaru looking dead at this mans ass im going to riot

i LOVE this shot of ana. you can really tell shes up to some corrupt capitalist bullshit as we speak. love her for that. wish i had this pic when i made that one money game anastasia video

the red dress actually does look really good on crusch like it compliments the green hair really well but also the crusch we know would not walk around in such a thing so its like. damn looks like the "memories are an important part of identity" story thinks memories are an important part of identity. who knew.

ALSO LOVE FELTS NEW LOOK SO MUCH! the only complaint is i felt (felt lol) like the red brought out her eyes more but the blue also looks cool. three primary colors all being used looks nice too

whatever who cares about all that THE CUNT!!!!!!! THE CUNT IS HERE!!! I CANNOT WAIT FOR ALL THE DRAMA SHE CAUSES TO BE ANIMATED FOR REAL

no fucking way... did they actually...

THEY DID! THEY CENSORED THAT HORRIBLE FUCKING DESIGN OH MY GOD. SHES WEARING SHORTS AND JUST A CROPPED SHIRT. AND CHAPS I GUESS? BUT ALSO A LITTLE SKIRT CAPE SO NO ASS SHOTS... THIS WILL MAKE WATCHING THE SEASON SO MUCH MORE TOLERABLE. i mean not perfect but STILL.

photos taken seconds before disaster lmfao. i still love how chin thinks subaru is a freak and weirdo for being so buddy buddy with him after he and his buddies mugged him. twice. (even more times from subarus perspective. hell he stabbed subaru once) genuinely cant wait to see more of this dynamic its so stupid.

THE FUCKING CUNT!!!!!! also the apples lol

oh you poor thing. you have no idea what next level family drama bullshit awaits. good luck. get ready to kill grandma AGIAN lol

:'( emilia still misses her terrible cat dad and its kinda sad when you know were not getting a resolution on that here either. they both look so sad :(

i cannot wait for garf mommy issues round fucking 2.

THIS CRAZY BITCH!!! I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THIS CRAZY BITCH ANIMATED. I CANT WAIT TO SEE HOW THEYRE PORTRAY HER MANNERISMS. ESP W HOW WILD PETELGEUSE WAS ANIMATED IN S1. REAL LOONY TOONS BULLSHIT. AND HER POWERS ARE ALSO SOOOOOO MUCH COOLER I CANT WAIT

NO MORE DRESSES FOR CRUSCH YAY

he fucking bit it. yeah i guess thats what dogs do tho.

YOU. DIVORCE MAN. KILL YOURSELF. SLASH SERIOUS.

the empathy powers will have a glowing eye effect. very cool but i hope they dont show it too much in the first scene bc like in the LN i think its cooler if you dont know why everything is so... Wrong.

i dont rly have anything to say i just think ferris looks cool covered in blood. imagine being healed here like doctor catgirl will see you now

emilia be nice. that crazy bitch might be your mom. just like how the previous crazy bitch was in fact your dad.

THEY CHANGED UP CAPELLA'S DESIGN TOO honestly tho her being sexualized makes sense w a lot of the themes (the way its intentionally meant to be perverse and gross in a way explicitly stated) so i didnt mind as much and she still IS here but. this is still an improvement imo just a better outfit looks cooler. bug.

NAUR I DONT WANNA WAIT... OCTOBER.... AUGH

[amigac0debasic13]

AUGH. right I forgot about the ps1 models. I'm gonna put closeups AND their beast modes below the cut so I don't flood anything so I'm begging you to not just look at this small ass picture if you care

By the WAY I didn’t include Dinobot in this main photo because I actually altered his model when I first exported him (being the first one I got out) . Mainly because it kinda fucked up his beast mode textures (mouth was upsidown) and also because his tail sword got too aggressively corrupted for me to fix, but I could probably fix it now. I may make that into a separate post if I wanna stay true to the original model. I’ll put him below the cutalong with all the close ups SO in no particular order:

and these two, who don't have beast modes. I KNOW theyre ugly but its ok... I still love them... I'm sorry but the n64 models geometry is SO much better. I must admit some of the textures are pretty decent though

also!! the black spots are from where they used vertex colors instead textures. Ill fill those in with as accurate of colors as I can get when I have the motivation

I have the enemies tooooo but erm. idk what to tag those guys because they aren't in the actual show lmao

[sable-skies]

Btw. How do ya‘ll find so many Links-meet AU‘s??? Because??? I never??? find anything???

whenever I try I find only redesigns for a single Game/Link. Not a full blown AU.

Linked-Univere is the big one of course, with Linked-Maze being the second(?)

And (maybe?) yours of course!

Can thou help me? Any suggestions? I wanna stop LOOKING and start FINDING things. ToT

(I ADORE your designs fyi. Very pretty. And yes, especially Twilight and Legend. Warriors and Time after that!)

I only know a handful honestly!! I'm not that great at finding new ones, but every once in awhile I'll come across one :0c

Typically in the past I've searched for "links meet au" and that will yield results, though a lot of it is already known au's and whatnot. Otherwise I don't know what are good terms or tags to search for au's or redesigns, etc. sorry augh :'] hopefully anyone who reads this might have better suggestions!

(thank you!! i'm glad you enjoy them <33 tbh i think Twilight and Legend are my favorites out of all of them (warriors is my least favorite but thats because making primary colors + green work together is ROUGH and I hate looking at him sometimes he makes me so angry (he doesn't make me that angry i'm being dramatic but once i get my hands on him for a second draft its all over)), tho I'm thinking of repurposing those redesigns for an au of sorts. a little :3c if you will)

[bitwynn]

Playlist Clips

These are just short snippets inbetween the main fics and action, like those 4komas in mangas. Although the entire Playlist series is literally just (mostly) snippets inbetween the main action of running for your life away from the "fire nation". Also, yes its not lost on me that the entire thing is VERY similar to ATLA because, while they are running for their lives, a lot of the eps are very chill lol

Blue for Barbara, Yellow/Gold for Zhongli, Green for Wanderer, red for Diluc, Italics is Reader/General, Combined is Everyone. Colors only used for singing parts.

---

"No, no, no-- you don't just move your hand down, you're drawing a heart! Like-- half of one. Here, like this."

Barbara takes a step back, as you demonstrate. You hum as you dance, getting to the mentioned dance move.

"...I wanna know, know, know, know,"

"What is love!"

And with a swish of your hand, Barbara nods in understanding. "See? Just like that." After a moment of silence, she nods to herself.

"What if I do a little something like this?"

She does the move, drawing a half heart in the heart. But as she does so, hydro energy trails after her finger and actually drawing the heart in the air.

"Oh my god Barbara, that's actually perfect!"

She giggles as she waves away the energy into a mist of twinkling stars. "Its all thanks to you, really. I couldn't have become such a wonderful idol and Vision holder without you!"

"Awh, you're too sweet Barbs."

You could almost see the sweat drop form as she says these next words. "Although, I'd preferably become a better idol without the threat of death everywhere we go." "Gomen."

---

You were hauled over Diluc’s shoulder, as you two were running from the Treasure Hoarders you encountered while picking fruits. Wanderer was providing cover as Diluc ran, dark slashes of wind trailing down on the enemy.

But, you really needed these Hoarders off your tail and running while Wanderer wildly blasts air at them won't really do much. Diluc knows this as well, as he tightens his grip on you and puts on his game face.

"Hold on."

And as you scramble to find a good grip, Diluc skids to a stop-- practically drifting as he turns to face them. They couldn't know what was coming for them as Diluc suddenly showers them in a rain of throwing knives. All that was left to do was for Wanderer to finish them off. With a great leap, he jumps onto a tree and starts running on errant branches to reach camp.

Diluc sighs as he hears you start to giggle in his ear. "What is it this time?"

"Na na na na na na na, naaa na na na na na na, BATMAN!"

He sighs again, a smile forming on his face. No matter how much he denies it, he can see the comparison.

---

"Augh, Archons! Even babies can speak better Inazuman than you!" Wanderer was fuming as you sat with him near the fire. "The i in 'sekai' is silent, and its not pronounced like a bird caw, you imbecile!"

You wilt in your seat. "Man, I was just introducing you to a song!"

"Well, the song is in Inazuman! You think I'd just shut up here and listen to your screeching as you butcher my language?!"

Sheepish, you poke your fingers together. "Jeez, I was right to introduce you to this song..."

He raises an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

Looking away, a wry smile blooms on your face. "Because you really are the 'ichiban ohimesama'..."

"I'm going to strangle you now." "Fair."

---

He finds you in the dead of night, tears rolling down your face. He sits beside you, pressing a warm, tiny cup of tea into your hands. You curl up tighter in your balled up position, leeching off as much warmth as you can from your tea.

Zhongli's shoulder presses beside yours as he takes in a breath.

"Leaves from the vine, falling so slow,"

This pries a short laugh out of you, wet and harsh. A small, sad smile graces his lips.

"Like fragile tiny shells, drifting in the foam,"

You sniffle, wiping away some of your tears. "This'll only make me feel worse y'know?"

He hums. "I've found that... the catharsis in the reminiscing of old memories is much better than stewing in your grief." Zhongli looks down into his steaming tea. "Life must go on, even if we're without them."

You take a sip of the tea he brought you. "Do you ever stop missing them?" It's chamomile.

"No."

"Will it ever stop hurting?"

"The pain will fade."

You look at him, tears having dried on your face. "Then... I guess we'll be okay."

[wisyhana]

Hello again, so I have this question that I'll be asking all the good Yu-Gi-Oh artists I follow on this platform. I wanted to start with you first cause your art makes me self implode.

So there's this recent version of a Gacha game that came out, and I wanna use it to create content based of Yu-Gi-Oh characters and others. But my main predicament is the damn hair of the characters; how the hell do I make the hair without going through the five stages of depression?

Hello, anon!

First of all that one game caught my attention, I think imma go try to make my own characters too hahaha. And for the main question, well, it will sound very simple but when I draw a character, oh well when I'm about to draw a character I go on about 2 steps:

Observe the character and see the details. YGO character are a big brain design when it come to the hair, it's almost just shapes instead of hair, so you gotta see it as that: S H A P E S. Try looking at the different locks of hair and compare it to a simpler shape you know. For example Jack Atlas hair looks simple, just three locks of hair that go up, but HONESTLY IT'S A PAIN TO DRAW. Bc he doesnt only have three pairs of locks, but also has a weird mullet under it, then the bangs, then and then. AUGH A PAIN. But if you look at them as shapes, it makes it way easier to remember so later you dont have to see a reference to keep drawing em. I try to keep it simple and separate it from parts as well, but that only works if you observe the references. Another example for this, and I'm a little embarrassed to share it, with Yugi/Atem's hair I use Shadow the Headhog as reference, it could not make any sense, but trust me, Shadow has saved my life to understand these motherfuckers hair lolol.

Draw it the way it makes sense to you. Your question is not neccessarily about drawing, but it's part of my drawing process haha. So once you understand the basic shapes you gotta translate it with what you have in hands. I don't like going and copying exactly as it's shown, bc it's not gonna fit my artstyle. In some cases I like to see the hair as pieces of fabrics rather than actual hair, so I can play better with the movement. In this case I also go and look other artists interpretation, and see how they do so it also makes sense to me. "Oh so I could say Jack's hair is curly so I can go and make it work that way" "If I dont fully color Yugi's hair tips it makes a better sense of movement and gives him volume" and like that!

I don't know if this helps or not but it was fun to talk about the process hahaha. Hope you find a way to get those hairs done, I'll try myself as well (thank you for sharing the name too) and thank you for the ask!

[amethyst-marshmallow]

All of my Objectober art!!

(OP) Happy Halloween!! I figured I'd recap all my objectober art here so you could see it all in one place or if u missed a day xd

Day 1: Breakfast

I love cracked egg sm i am very happy with his design

Day 2: Finalist

I LOVE ROTTEN APPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 3: Cider

He's cute but my friends said he looked liek a beer-

Day 4: Pets

(this wasnt all of them but these r the best ones) soo sillyyyyy

Day 5: Song

I DREAM A DREAM WHERE NO ONE CALLS ME NEEDY‼️🔥🗣️💯

Day 6: Carnival

i changed cotton candy's design a little since then but this still looks pretty good

Day 7: Production

wow.! thats....pretty bad!!!!!!

Day 8: Rivalry

me when the colors load incorrectly💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

Day 9: Trust

bruh not coiny AGAINN🙄🙄anyway i like the shading in this one better

Day 10: Internet

They wanna beef on the INTERNET wanna get INTO IT (this drawing has nothing to do with that song)

Day 11: Sports

Would You Play Yoyle Ball?

Day 12: Season

She thought she cooked (she probably did)

Day 13: Headcanon

T4T TENGOLF 4 LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!1

Day 14: Beach

Soo eepy shhh let him finish napping

Day 15: Flowers

Oh yeah that makes sense

Day 16: Warm

mmmm...ligth....

Day 17: Card

WOw so cool uhh i actually am really proud of her design

Day 18: Maze

Fan does she LOOK ok?????????????????

Day 19: Armless

Goofy ahh box what are they doing

Day 20: Dream

woah art style change uhh anyway i think this came out pretyt good

Day 21: Silly

IMSILLYIMSILLYIMSILLYIMSILLYIMSILLYIMSILLYIMSILLYIMSI

Day 22: Farm

this isnt really that farm related

Day 23: Haunted

I made this into a gif but since it has flashing lights i didnt include it here, you can go to the original post to see it tho :3

Day 24: Neon

Augh these two i still havent drawn them but uhh for names im thinking Neon Sign/Neon (but people very close to them call them Soul) and Paint Can maybe (idk i already know like 3 object characters named spraypaint so i didnt wanna do that)

Day 25: au

wow so cool ALSO I JUST REALISED THAT IN THE ORIGINAL POST I ACCIDENTALLY PUT IT AS DAY 24 OOP i fixed it now tho

Day 26: Costume

Omg me again im sooooooooo silly

Day 27: Recovery

not me doing day 27 AFTER day 28...........

ONLY 30 IMAGES PER POST WILL BE CONTINUED IN A REBLOG

[goron-king-darunia]

DotNW Draw-a-thon Recap

Links to individual posts and the associated art at the end. But first, some thoughts.

Want to start by saying this was an excellent and very fun event and even though the English fandom is very small, it was fun to participate. I will be adding on more monsters into the sketchbook to fill it up, but probably not at the rate I've been drawing this month. I would like to someday make the complete monsterbook, including the descriptions from the game, organized in groups based on evolution, but that's a big and very casual project for the future. No promises. It's just a shame that such a resource doesn't already exist. There are videos on youtube that let you look at the monsters in a players completed monster book, but none of them go for the little descriptions and all of the videos are ancient potato-quality rips or just straight up filmed from a monitor rather than screen-capped. It's just not the same as big fancy drawings. But also I will never not be salty that you cannot rotate the monsters in the monster book. I wanna see what these guys look like! SOMEBODY PUT EFFORT INTO DESIGNING THEM, LET ME SEE THEM! AUGH!

Skills I learned from this draw a thon:

People are hard to draw. But the Loomis method for heads simplifies a lot of facial anatomy with easy proportions to remember and landmark guidelines that are more than just "draw sphere, draw a cross on that sphere, put your eyes on that cross and manifest a jaw from the ether, slap hair on that and place ears somewhere. You're on your own for the mouth and hairline. Did you do it?" The Loomis method, at least the videos I found, very gently explained where all the lines go and what they're for. Rocky start but I think I'm getting a handle on it? Not an expert, clearly, but I'm getting better.

People are hard. Hands are harder. And yet if I have a reference of exactly what gesture I want to draw, I can do it? Which is very strange. Hand construction still eludes me, so I will be practicing that, along with feet because those are also hard, but I'm actually somehow way better now at just... taking a pic of my hand on the selfie cam on my phone and just... "Okay, yeah, that's what the fingers look like. Makes sense. Let me just slap down the contours for a rough idea of the const-- Oh, nevermind. I just made the hand perfectly the first time..." So yeah, any of the good hands you see are either me looking at my own hand and drawing it directly, me looking at a reference and drawing it directly, or, especially on the monsters, me being incredibly lucky every single time. All the bad hands? Construction or agonizing over trying to utilize indirect reference.

Monsters are easy except when they aren't. Aside from a few small proportion issues that can be easily remedied during the digital inking and coloring phase, I think basically every monster is either exactly what I wanted or pretty damn close. You can see with the Polwigles from 2011 that I was not having a good time trying to construct them. Like, they're spheres, but not really? But they're not hemispheres, and definitely not a hemisphere stacked on a sphere, even though that's the closest approximation. I struggled forever trying to get the body shapes right. And then literally after like, 2 or 3 attempts not shown here on various other projects over the years, I am suddenly the expert with Polwigles? Basically every single doodle I am happy with when it comes to the wigles. They are very inconsistent design-wise between the game and the manga, and since their mouths in the game open almost all the way around during damage animations... I am opting to lean on the design sensibilities of Onshuu no Richter. Still, basically every Polwigle is constructed without reference. So I guess, somehow, after 13 years, I understand the shapes? I dunno how it happened but it did?

I think most of my troubles with the monsters boil down to one of 2 problems: Not being good at construction, that is, constructing unique poses from indirect references to make an educated guess about how a thing would look like from a different angle if we were to rotate or tweak its fundamental shapes in 3 dimensional space. And then not being able to FUCKING SEE THE MONSTERS. JUST LET ME LOOK AT THEM. There are lots of Polwigles from different angles in the manga, so if I NEEDED to use a direct reference, I could. But for the rest of these guys you basically only get the standard 3/4 facing to the left pose from the monster book and if you can even get a clear frame to look at, there's very little dynamism in the pose. The Lailah for example. I wanted to having it point a blade toward the viewer. But the blade is a complicated shape. I am poor with construction so the best I could do is imagine it as a rectangle and sort of carve the contours out of it to the best of my ability to try to get that foreshortened. Because I have no way to study the shape from other angles besides the ones shown directly in the monster book.

The rest of my problems are me standing in my own way. I did try to practice a lot of new skills. Combining references, taking risks, drawing for fun and not just drawing for a final product. And all of them were helpful to a degree. But I think part of the reason my art doesn't turn out well is because I see failing even 2% of the time as being "too much failure." I see anything less than 100% as "not good enough" so I get discouraged and stop trying. Which makes it impossible to learn and grow and also isn't a healthy way to look at art, because even the pros who do this for a living will have pieces that they tear up or don't post because they just... didn't turn out good. To be at a point in my artistic journey where I can even say I like more than half the pieces I did for this draw a thon? That's above average. That's what success looks like for most people.

I think it's the rejection sensitive dysphoria of ADHD. Because I spent so much of my early life either succeeding at everything right away (usually with help and preparation from adults like my mom) and academic "giftedness" I started seeing "success" or "good end products" as things I could reach with little effort. Especially because any time I DID run up against a roadblock or a challenge, I could usually fix it by powering through. Like, if I just did the thing a little harder, I could do it. Which is why whenever I did run up against real challenges, things that needed muscle memory, for example, like riding a bicycle or those Heelie shoes or those waveboards (My obsession with 2 wheeled modes of transportation era was fraught for real) I would have MELTDOWNS because I couldn't just get on a two wheeler bike and go without even learning or trying. Especially because if I saw peers who could do those things "right away" my assumption was always "They're just better than me, I just suck at this thing." and never "they had help learning that I didn't get" or even "different people have different learning curves for the same skills and comparing yourself is a futile exercise."

My assumption was never "that peer spent 3 hours a day for a week falling on their ass just to learn to ride their bike for 3 minutes and then those three minutes eventually became 3 hours and then indefinitely because they finally got the hang of it." My assumption was always "I suck. So if I can't get it in five minutes like they probably did, then I must not be any good and I should give up." Because 5 minutes of really intense effort used to be the magic ingredient to fix the roadblock for other tasks. So I never had reason to assume it wasn't the solution to EVERYTHING.

So I built up this mindset for myself that if I just press harder, I can fix it, and if that doesn't fix it, I can never fix it. And that's been a stumbling block for everything in my life, basically. I brute-forced my way to getting good at basically anything that I'm currently good at. And I'm having to unlearn that. Because growth isn't something you can brute force.

And growth is ALSO not something you can get without failure and risk. Because the other unhealthy mindset I built by brute-forcing my way to success was that I became unfamiliar with failure. Failure was a temporary state of self. My failures were always either easily written off as failure on someone else's part (It's not that I didn't do my homework correctly, it's that the teacher couldn't read it! That's her fault not mine! [incorrect buzzer noise from future me. There are some assignments that I still think this about but, like, no actually young me, a lot of those were actually a you problem and not a teacher problem {The ones that were teacher problems make me livid to this day, but that's another post entirely}]) or they were VERY temporary. "You got this problem incorrect." "Let me look at it again. Okay, I immediately see what I did wrong, I can fix it." "That's correct." "Easy. I just needed to work a little harder." While ADHD, being shuttled ahead through the gifted program, and with how the USAmerican education system treats failure not as a growth opportunity but as a moral failing are certainly contributing factors, I can say with certainty that a lot of the bad mindset surrounding this hurdle for me was also just my lack of drive to try things that were difficult. Why waste time on things that are difficult if there's already so much I can already do that's so easy!?

Then add the cherry on top of the culture we have around failure where it's shameful to ever admit you failed before unless you can turn it into this big inspirational story of how you "learned instantly from that one bad experience and never failed again!" Easy cocktail for an absolute clusterfuck of imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and control freak behavior on my part.

I am having to systematically reprogram my brain. Failure is a part of life. Just because you don't see other people sharing their failures, publicly, online, all the time, doesn't mean that it's not happening.

Watching Scott Christian Sava's content on Youtube has been doing a lot to help me rewire my brain. Failing is part of the process. And I need to learn to be comfortable with it.

And I think I'll have to keep relearning the lesson a few more times before I get it. Because every time I start to internalize it, I backslide and relapse and get back in that old brain-space of "that doesn't apply to me. Everything I do should be easy because that's how it's always been, and if it's not easy the first time, it's because I personally suck and not because I'm growing."

But, little by little, I'm getting better and better. I am catching up to what I used to be in 2011. And in some ways I am getting even better than I was. 10 years of art atrophy isn't great. But climbing back to the summits I've seen before and realizing that a 10 year backslide doesn't mean a 10 year climb is refreshing. I'm still not where I want to be. But I'm discovering more things I like about drawing, more things I want to contribute to my own style, more things I want to polish up on, more things I'm excited to learn.

I've started of thinking of hair as ribbons which is helping me construct more interesting hair in my art, for example. That's new. And fun. Hair is starting to be a less scary thing. I'm incorprorating more natural lip shapes but still leaning into the anime-esque simplifications and exaggerations of expression. I'm getting ever so slightly better at the shape of the palm of the hand. Fingers are still insane foreign objects to me, but I am learning.

I've developed much better line control. And learning to fail means learning that sometimes your lines won't be perfect. But I have also noticed that I'm able, more often than not, to make the strokes I want on the first try when I finalize a drawing.

I'm still messy with my sketches, which does need some work, but I'm getting better at picking the correct shapes out without agonizing over the line stage anymore.

I'm at the point where a lot of the art books I bought in my youth that were so far beyond my skills at the time are actually... full of manageable if not nearly useless advice for me now. I am growing. And while a part of me will always be dissatisfied that I'm growing so slowly, I am still happy that I'm growing.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! I loved seeing the art! I hope to get more DotNW fanfic up soon, too!

And finally, here's the links to the original posts with their original thoughts and captions.

Day 1: Brute Lualdi

Day 2: Assorted Gels

Day 3: Blast From the Past: Aqua and Polwigle sketches from 2011 and Polwigle doodles from July 3 2024

Day 4: Marta Lualdi

Day 5: Assorted Plant Monsters

Day 6: Rilena Malory

Days 7-9: More Plant Monsters

Days 10-12: Decus and Even More Plant Monsters

Days 13-15: Alice, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and STILL MORE PLANT MONSTERS

Days 16-24: Aqua, Tenebrae, the last of the Plant Monsters, and some Beast monsters

Days 25-31: A couple attempts at Richter Abend, More Polwigles (specifically Pontus from Onshuu no Richter), Emil Castagnier, Aster Laker, Ratatosk, and some more beast monsters

[galionne-vibin]

Tagged by @stingyslegslookweird! Let's go!

Favorite Color: Changes almost day to day. Right now I would say orange and pink?

Last Song i Listened To: Congratulations, You're In a Cult! by Sin Shake Sin

Currently Reading: I need to catch up on a few of my manga (+Anima, Dinosaurs Sanctuary & Vampeerz). Once I can get my Kindle back I'm planning on reading through some classic scifi/horror.

Currently Watching: I'm soooo far behind on Dungeon Meshi and Ranger Reject!

Currently Craving: mmmmm chocolate,,

Coffee or Tea: Hot chocolate. If I really have to pick one I'll go with tea. I cannot for the life of me drink coffee.

Hobbies to try: I recently got into Gunpla and I love it so so much, so I want to keep that going and get into more complex model kits. I also wanna learn how to sew and customize clothing.

Current AU: Augh, too many! The two main ones right now would be Metal Gear Solid SERPENTNEST, in which all of FOXHOUND survives and goes on a little adventure together ; and an untitled AU in which only Decoy Octopus survives, transes her gender and goes on a quest to reunite Psycho Mantis & Liquid Snake in the afterlife (among other things)

Tag 9 people you want to get to know better/want to catch up with: uuuuh uhm uhm okay uh @pleistocene-polina @doc-jay-bluebrushpainter @grimsdeadb0nes @xparkrangerx @shevuun @ruewrites @centipede-podcast @t4tliquidmantis @alexeithegoat @robot-autistic

[pearlfrye]

7 for Frye. 🫡

The FIRST question is for me! SO exciting. This one iiiis..

"what do your guys' texts/letters to each other look like?"

I decided to snip out that bitty section that included Emailing, since Whit and I really don't do that. We write each other letters a TON though, even though we're really close together almost all the time, we kinda just slip each other notes. Honestly, it isn't even a hidden thing. I go up to her and say "Hey! this is for you." She does it a lot more silently, which isn't a big dealio. We either go up to each other boldly, or we slip it under a door, maybe leaving it in the kitchen. Something like that! I'm gonna just think of a prompt here.. Hm.... Oh! I'll pretend Whitney had a bad day. It would go a 'lil something like this, here's what I'd say.

"Hey! I know you've been having a sorta difficult time, and I wanna tell you that I love you NO LESS. I'll try my absolute hardest to make you feel better, even if it's a little. I can get you your absolute favorite snacks, orrrr maybe we can take a walk. I know you LOVE that!!!! You know what I love? YOU!! It absolutely makes my day to see you smile and I want to see it on you more. NO PRESSURE THOUGH I'M JUST SAYING!! You've been right by me when I am not feeling good, so obviously I'm gonna do the same for you. Feel better soon, Whit. -Your Ducky, the one and only. 💜"

As for a more for casual note, uuusually it's not too far from what I JUST wrote up there. Like, "Hey Whitney you looked soooo pretty the other day, like WOW. I got SHY which is completely unusual for ME, which is why I'm writing this instead of being brave and telling you face to face! AUGH! This is a one-off though.. Also, mind helping me find my missing eel plush? Spark? I feel like I have looked EVERYWHERE and could use a helping hand.. or two. Since you have two hands, HAHA. I chose a kinda small piece of paper for this so I'm running out of space, soo I LOVE YOU. BYE!"

I would say the way she writes is a smidge different. Dunno how to really describe it. Definitely more monotone in comparison to mine, liiiike she'd respond to that last example in this way.. "i'm really flattered, haha. you're one to talk about beauty. i did definitely notice you acting a little peculiar, but i am really glad it wasn't over anything bad, just you being a huge dork. 🤍 of course i will help you find spark, with both of my hands. duh. i love you more, frye, more than you'll ever know. let's start searching for your little eel whenever you feel up to it again. -your whitney."

She compliments me a LOT, not even just for my looks. She calls me her little duck, specifically a paper duck. She finds them cute, and "finds (me) even cuter." We also write and color hearts on the paper, which I tried to represent with the emojis there. WHAT A RIOT! Thanks for the question!

11/05/23, Frye here! I came back and edited just a tiny bit. Thought of some other stuff to add, so I did!

[androgymagnus]

tag game!

tagged by @amiharana

rules: tag 10 people you want to get to know better

relationship status: extremely single

favorite color: green, especially darker but more vivid shades--like leaning less army and more emerald/forest

song stuck in my head: earlier i had "dream" by imagine dragons stuck in my head for some reason!

last song i listened to: the rowdy three theme (extended) -- i'm doing an animated project set to it. this is some Wreckin Shit music and i love it

three favorite foods: any form of like, loaded potato, particularly fries. or just plain hand cut fries. or cajun fries. listen i really like fries. but okay to say something other than fries...... uhhh. well i don't actually like fish and chips that much but it has emotional significance so i might count it anyway. i've developed a taste for medium rare ribeye + mashed potatoes recently. chicken tikka masala and garlic naan. i'm sure there's other stuff but nothing's coming to mind... honestly i'm pretty basic taste-wise. i'll try almost anything but i tend to stick to the same basic shit, especially potatoes and beef. ah, burgers... strawberry milkshakes. does that count. bonus if it's the artificial sweet kind with no actual strawberry bits bc i love artificial strawberry flavor so much. it tastes so pink (affectionate)

last thing i googled: "field guide to memory". it's a video game thgat was mentioned in a video i watched. looks cool!

dream trip: i have genuinely no idea. ireland? tokyo? i'd only want to go if i was friends with either a local or someone very familiar/comfortable there though bc i'd hate going somewhere new alone. oh! or i'd go to where specifically one of my internet friends live. i won't list all the locations but unfortunately they're all scattered around the globe so i'd have to choose one and augh!!!

anything i want right now: energy to do things and a hug. also a plate of hand cut fries sounds so fucking good. i WILL actually be getting some tikka masala after class but not for another literal 2+ hours. im so hungry yall.

tagging: ohhhh i don't know. it's not like mutuals and friends it's people you want to know better and i'm BLANKING

uhhhhh @oflightningandstars @itsgoghtime @shineon-abrastone @sophieswundergarten @applemyjack ??? or if you just wanna do this feel free to count this as a tag

no pressure though!

[ionicthievery]

I know I'm probably screaming into the void and not even saying anything new but i like Scooby-doo a lot and im pretty sure people in my real life probably dont want to hear me talk about Scooby-Doo for like an hour so im talking here! The new Velma show makes me so sad. Scooby Doo wasn't originally a series with characters is was a cast of roughly defined character traits. There wasnt a plot or an over arching story a lot like sunday comics. That can kinda get on my nerves but is sweet and a good concept.

(When i was younger i couldn't stand old Scooby Doo but that was because i would get stressed out about old shows and couldn't handle laugh tracks.)

The newer stuff was my favorite and looking back it was really more because they were brighter colored and had better pacing but i think both are great!

My absolute favorite moments are when the characters work like a ernest team. They have history with eachother and live in a van so of course the bicker and fight and thats okay but those moments of real wholesome mystery solving shenanigans are where its at! Where they come to this problem and are all jazzed about funding out whodunit and scared that it might be a real ghost!

I know a million people have said this but Mystery.Inc is a great place to start if you want peak Scooby Doo. Theyre a team, they love eachother but theres drama (it get a little weird but 🤷🏻)

What it sounds like to me is the Velma show is deeply uninterested in making a Scooby-Doo show and just wanna make something people can hate watch or something? Im not entirely sure i understand the point. Scooby-Doo can be witty, sarcastic and sometimes a little mean but it always has come from a love for the original concept. I dont see any of that in Velma and thats what makes me sad. The next series might follow the tradition of taking a little bit from each show and its disheartening because i know Velma a show with what read as malicious hate towards its past iterations will have a some sway in how the gang is characterized! Which would be the distilled toxic traits of every character.

Velma is mean, doesn't believe in ghosts and smarter then everyone and hates them for it

Daphne is vain, vapid always the damsel

Fred is stupid and rich

Shaggy is cowardly, lazy and doesn't know what's going on

I hate that either make them well rounded like able characters, dont make the show or make them the classic cardboard cutouts they were originally meant to be! Augh

[mochiwrites]

I have coffee. I have THOUGHTS

SONGBIRD BABIIIIIES. Do I. Do I know everything. Yes. However. Comma. It's more like I know there will be chocolate in an advent calendar but I don't know what shape the chocolate will be in, so I can still enjoy the surprise behind every door. I would still enjoy it if all of them were egg shaped.

I know it didn't change but I really love the color of Grian and Pearl's sibling relationship. It is just So. It's so good and accurate and the fact that Pearl gets up just to spend some time with Grian before work is everything to me. And also Grian's jooooooob augh the fact that it's Zedaph's lab makes me wanna bounce up and down I love zedaph so dearly.

The way you write Grian being followed, or thinking he's being followed at least, is so so so well done. The tension there is off the charts. I really really love too that it culminates in a cat showing up and Grian being so thrown off by it being a cat that he forgets there's a murderer running around.

And then the fact that the cat leads him to the manor I am. AUGH what a good way to get him into the manor - it almost felt like the scene in beauty and the beast when Belle is first stepping into the manor I LOVE that whole scene. And as someone who's currently writing Mumbo having to warm up to Grian, watching someone else run with that same concept is FASCINATING - the two different approaches are rotating in my brain.

God and Grian has no self-preservation skills either he almost doesn't leave. Even when he's not a bird he's a bird. My god. Bird brain motherfucker. I love songbird Grian SO much.

WEEEEEEEEE !!!!!!

the bonus for you knowing things is when I plan NEW, SURPRISE things >:D bc that has started. I have begun to plan new things. and I cannot WAIT

god everything after pearl and grian's relationship and interaction in this fic is so <333 writing their banter and their interactions just felt so natural and it practically wrote itself. I love their relationship so so so much, and I cannot wait for what's in store for them ehe.

SO FUN FACT LOL... grian being attacked by the vampire in the first version??? I Hated it. Despised it even. and switching it out with him running into a mysterious cat who Definitely has no bearing on the plot in any way Whatsoever??? I love that entire sequence of events a lot more now <3 and it still gets him to the manor! it just flows a lot better.

I'm so excited for mumbo to warm up to grian omg. I've got some things planned <33 and yeah, grian is literally a bird even when he isn't. man's is gonna get himself killed I stg. he's SO stupid but we love him anyways

[stonesparrow]

Puella Magi Yuzuriha Magica Ch. 2: Do You Wanna Be Magical?

Now on ao3!

Kohaku shook her head wildly. “Did th—did that thing just talk?!”

“This has got to be some sort of joke,” Yuzuriha said nervously, standing up and taking a step back. “Right?”

“Certainly not,” a soft, floaty voice said. Though the creature in front of them hadn’t moved it’s mouth at all, Yuzuriha felt instinctively that the voice was coming from it, and not from anywhere else. “And I assure you, I am no mere thing. Now, should I repeat the—“

“Oh no, we’re not sticking around,” Kohaku said firmly, grabbing Yuzuriha’s arm and dragging her away. “Not gonna deal with this today, no way!”

“Hey, hold on!” The creature leapt after them, and Yuzuriha squawked as the girls started running.

“It’s following us!”

“Go faster then!” Kohaku said.

“I’m not nearly as quick as you!”

“Wait!” The creature called. “Don’t go that way!”

All of a sudden, the world around them shifted. The walls of the alleys were suddenly washed over with swirling colors like an oil slick, and the ground started sprouting bizarre looking plants and rocks that crunched under their feet. Yuzuriha and Kohaku skidded to a stop, staring at the scenery around them with wide eyes.

“What the—what just happened?” Yuzuriha gasped. “Where did the road go?!”

Kohaku looked around wildly. “You’re seeing this stuff too, then? I’m not going crazy?”

There was a chattering noise behind them, and both girls spun around. A mass of multicolored spheres with spindly segmented limbs snapped large pincers at them, and Yuzuriha screamed.

“WHAT IS THAT?!”

“AUGH!” Kohaku shouted, throwing her arms in front of Yuzuriha as the bug-thing leapt forward.

BLAM!!

The monster slammed against a transparent green wall that suddenly materialized between it and the girls, stumbling back as if dazed. 

SLASH!!

Something shiny zipped through the air over and over, slicing the creature down the middle five ways before stabbing straight through the center. It gurgled as it fell apart, before dissolving into nothing.

“Wh—huh?!” Kohaku spluttered.

“Are you two alright?” They looked up to see two older girls standing in front of them, both dressed in gorgeously crafted outfits that took Yuzuriha’s breath away. The one who had spoken was wearing dark green, and had her blonde hair tied in two braids. The other had dark hair and was wearing dark blue, and was holding what looked like a knife tied to a long string. 

“Are you two alright?” The girl in green asked again, stepping towards them. “Neither of you are hurt, are you?”

“I…No, we’re not hurt,” Yuzuriha murmured.

“What WAS that?!” Kohaku yelped. “Where did it—did you kill it?!”

“I know you have a lot of questions, but first we need to get you two out of here right away,” the girl said. She turned to her companion. “Kirisame, could you—“

Before she could finish her sentence, the ground sunk beneath them, and they all cried out as they fell into a dark abyss.

Suddenly, Yuzuriha felt herself landing in strong arms, and she realized she had been caught by the girl in green.

“Gotcha!”

Kohaku stumbled out of the arms of the other girl, looking dazed. “Aw great, we’re stuck now…”

The girl in blue frowned. “This isn’t good. Civilians shouldn’t be in here.”

“Bit late for that now, it looks like,” the girl in green sighed. “And I think we just landed right in the heart of the Barrier too. Which means…”

Light suddenly flooded the space, and Yuzuriha and Kohaku gasped as they beheld a massive rainbow colored blob creature with hundreds of segmented legs covering its body, with enormous moth wings raised in the air from its back.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Kohaku shouted. 

“Nikki,” the girl in blue said, spinning her blade around in a circle. 

“Right, better end this fast.” A transparent green bubble surrounded Kohaku and Yuzuriha. “You two stay in there, okay?”

“Um, okay!” Yuzuriha squeaked.

The two older girls leapt forward, and Kohaku and Yuzuriha’s mouths dropped open. There was no way any ordinary girls could jump that far or that fast!

The girl in green drew two knives from her belt, slashing forward as her partner threw her own weapon. Together they rained a hail of attacks on the giant monster, unrelenting. It roared and spit a noxious looking acid at them, but the girl in green raised a shield to block the spray. When the monster opted to swing its many legs at them, the girl in blue raised her hand, wreathed in light, and suddenly the creature was knocked back, howling.

“Time to end this,” the girl in blue said. She whipped her blade around her body until it was a complete blur. “Heaven’s piercing strike!” 

Something shot forward with a dull boom, and suddenly a huge hole was ripped through the center of the monster. It froze, then collapsed in on itself, melting into sludge. As it did, the scenery faded back into the walls of the alleyway they’d been standing in before.    

“Whoa,” Yuzuriha murmured, looking around them. “We’re back?”

The older girls’ outfits suddenly dissolved away back into normal looking clothes, and the one with dark hair stepped forward to pick something off the ground, pocketing it. 

“Okay, is anyone going to explain what just happened?” Kohaku asked.

The blonde girl held up her hands. “Oh, right. Uh, well…” 

“Nikki, Kirisame, good to see you,” a high pitched floaty voice suddenly said. The girls looked up to see the white cat-creature from before sitting on a windowsill above them. It jumped to the ground, and the older girl smiled, bending down to pick it up.

“Good to see you too Kyubey,” she said, scratching behind its ears as it nuzzled her hand. 

“Wait, you know that thing?” Kohaku asked. Nikki blinked.

“Oh, so you‘ve met him before?”

Kohaku crossed her arms. “Yeah, he stole my ribbon! And then right after, we ended up in that freaky other dimension!”

“I tried to warn you,” Kyubey said, flicking his tail. “It’s not safe to enter a Witch’s Barrier if you’re not a Magical Girl.”

“Magical Girl?” Yuzuriha blinked. 

“That’s what we are,” Nikki said. “Girls who have been granted magical powers in order to fight monsters known as Witches.”

“Witches? Those things you were killing back there?” Kohaku asked.

“The smaller ones were merely Familiars,” Nikki said. “The Witch is the master of the Barrier, and is far more powerful. They feed on humans and inflict curses that end up killing innocents. In fact, many unexplained murders and suicides are caused by Witches.”

“Why are you telling them all that?” Kirisame frowned. “They’re just civilians.”

“If Kyubey revealed himself to them, then they’re already involved,” Nikki said. “Besides, we kind of owe them an explanation, don’t we?” She blinked. “Oh, gosh where are our manners? I’m Hanada Nikki, and this is my teammate, Fujioka Kirisame.”

“You didn’t need to mention that,” Kirisame frowned. 

“Um. It’s nice to meet you two,” Yuzuriha said. “I’m Ogawa Yuzuriha, and this is my friend Hoseki Kohaku.”

“Okay, we know each other’s names now,” Kohaku said. “What I want to know is why we don’t hear about more people running into these Witches if they’re so…so…like that!”

“If an ordinary person gets caught in a Barrier, there’s no escape, and they become missing persons,” Nikki said. “You two were just lucky that we happened to be hunting for Witches nearby.”

“Hunting…” Yuzuriha murmured. “So…those weapons you had, and the amazing outfits…”

“All part of the Magical Girl package,” Nikki said. “Which you could have too!”

“Eh?!” Kohaku blinked. 

Nikki winked. “Well I suspect that Kyubey must have sought you out because he sensed that you two would make good Magical Girl candidates!”

“Indeed!” Kyubey said, jumping to the ground. “I sense great potential in you both, Yuzuriha, Kohaku!”

“Hmm,” Kirisame said. “Not sure where you’re getting that…”

“You want us to be Magical Girls?” Yuzuriha frowned. “To fight those…those things?”

“Hey, it’s not a bad gig,” Nikki said. “Besides, you get to have a wish granted by Kyubey here!”

Kohaku’s eyes widened. “A wish?”

“That’s right,” Kyubey nodded. “In exchange for taking up the responsibility of hunting Witches, every contracted Magical Girl is entitled to one wish for whatever she may desire. That seems like a fair price, doesn’t it?”

Kohaku raised an eyebrow “Like…example?”

“Well, I wished to become someone strong enough to protect the innocent from harm,” Nikki said. “And I certainly think that worked out well.”

“What about you?” Yuzuriha asked Kirisame. 

The dark-haired girl turned her face away. “None of your business.”

“Geez, what’s her problem?” Kohaku muttered to Yuzuriha. 

“It is rather personal,” Nikki said placatingly. “But you really can wish for anything you want. So if you’re going to do it, you should choose carefully.”

“Anything we want…” Kohaku murmured. “That sounds pretty nice, actually…”

“Would you like to make a contract now then?” Kyubey asked.

“Hold on, Kohaku-chan!” Yuzuriha said. “You’d be tasked with hunting monsters for the rest of your life, that sounds really dangerous!”

“I can handle it!” Kohaku said. “I’m ready to make my wish now!”

“Stop.” 

Everyone stared at Kirisame, who was glaring at Kohaku fiercely. “You are being stupid and reckless. Becoming a Magical Girl is not something to be done on a mere whim.”

Kohaku blinked. “I…”

“I won’t lie that it’s hard work,” Nikki said, “and I definitely agree that you should take some time to really think it over. But like I said, it’s not a bad gig, especially if you have teammates to rely on. And we could always use the extra help. For now, why don’t we share contact info? I have to head home, but I’d totally be willing to answer any further questions you two have about being a Magical Girl.”

“Ah…I guess that’d be a good idea,” Kohaku said. “We did kind of just learn about this.”

“I’ll be ready whenever you are,” Kyubey said, bowing his little head. 

The girls exchanged contact info and parted ways, though Kirisame declined to offer her own number. 

“Just be sure not to breathe a single word of this to anyone else,” she warned them. Yuzuriha and Kohaku agreed, and the older girls left them. 

“Wow, it sure getting late,” Yuzuriha sighed. “I suppose I won’t be able to show you that anime like I promised…”

“That’s alright,” Kohaku said. “There’s always next time.”

“Mm, yeah…what a day though.”

“I know, right?”

Back at home, Yuzuriha tiredly greeted her parents and collapsed on her bed, completely spent.

It was just so much to think about! Magic being real, monstrous Witches preying on humanity, a creature who could grant any wish you desire…

She sighed and rolled over. To get a wish and become a warrior fighting evil…it did sound romantic, and those outfits really were so pretty…

Her phone pinged. Thirty unread messages?

Hey, did your battery die or something? Earth to Yuzuriha?

Senku, be patient! Maybe she’s just wrapped up in a project again. You do that a lot too!

Yuzuriha picked up her phone. Oops! Sorry guys! This afternoon has been kind of chaotic, so I didn’t really get a chance to answer.

Chaotic? What happened? 

Yuzuriha began to type out the strange events of the day, but then remembered Kirisame’s stern glare regarding secrecy and deleted the entire text.

Oh, a stray cat stole Kohaku’s uniform ribbon, so we spent the whole afternoon trying to chase it down, that’s all. We got it back though!

Seriously? You guys got run ragged by a cat?

Hey, at least you got it back! That’s good!

Yeah, no kidding!

Yuzuriha paused, then looked up at the ceiling. Had she ever lied to the boys before?

No, this was the first time. But…it was for a good reason, right? The Magical Girls needed to be kept secret, and they’d be safer without knowing the horror of the monsters that lurked in the city.

Still, it didn’t feel very good.

[lemmmmmmmmmmonade]

tagged by @missmako-chan

favorite color: gimme some ocean-y blueeeee

last song i listened to: BACKSTABBING LIAR, AND HAVE BEEN ALL ALONG, BACKSTABBING LIAR, HAS LEARNED TO WRITE SONGS

currently reading: reading slapstick (2016) (this is a comic book not a book book)

currently watching: ping-ponging betwen rewatching freakazoid and rewatching the mask animated series

currently craving: augh jason's deli beefeater sandwich with au jus sauce save me

coffee or tea: both :]

hobbies to try: i wanna get into collecting vinyl and records. that shit is cool

current AU: wouldn't you like to know weather boy

tag 9 people you want to get to know better/want to catch up with:

@royaltyfreeramblings @picrossingguard @shittier-witch @demonfella @totally-normal-snek @teleplort @xenomeowph @bloodorangesunrise @bubblymiilk