#i also feel like my art style is changing a little and i dunno how i feel about that hm..

[2aceofspades]

Lil' bunny boy

(:

[pigeonclaw]

I haven't felt very motivated to draw lately (what chronic fatigue does to a guy 😔) but I have cracked open my sketchbook a few times. Mostly to doodle TBC.

[aquarius-cookie-jar]

Right. I'mma just dump these ref sheets I made here because I'll be making some drawings with these guys, and I am bad at staying consistent within the design lmao.

I was inspired by these amazing designs, go check them out.

X || X || X.

Ramble down here, where I try to explain the ""lore"" and my design choices:

So as mentioned above, the majority of the Dark Cacao kingdom is actually composed of kirins, mainly because Cacao was already a kirin in my older designs, and I wanted more of his citizens to match him. Maybe I'll draw the other Cacao NPCs mlp-ified and what I headcanon their species to be.

I ultimately decided to give Cacao a mane and replace his long hair with that. Ngl, I was always on the fence about Cacao and Choco's designs, but yeah, I think the mane works better than just getting rid of it. (Old design below).

Btw, I dunno if I wanna give Cacao an actual crown, or just keep the additional horn things the leader of the kirins kinda have.

Dark Choco hasn't changed much, just in a different art style. I do however wanna say that he shaved off his mane out of shame and guilt for coming across the cursed sword not long after his banishment. Maybe when he and Cacao reconcile, he'll start to grow it out again, or maybe he'll keep it that way as a reminder of the past.

I actually drew (more like edited a screenshot) Caramel Arrow before, and she was originally just a pegasus, but honestly, the concept of hybrids and what they entail really intrigued me. I thought it would be fun if she were a hybrid kirin/pegasus.

Also, her horn doesn't exactly function, mainly because there's this headcanon I once came across a post that says faux alicorns do exist in the mlp canon. If you wanna know my full headcanon for this, feel free to shoot an ask, but to keep it short, for faux alicorns, either their wings are under developed, or their horn can't control the frequencies of magic that well or at all. Such is the case for Caramel Arrow. Though she has fully developed wings, she can't control magic with her horn, and if she tries to, it may cause a headache. But besides that, she's all fine and dandy.

Crunchy Chip, hm, I'd say when he was a little filly, he was found in the woods, either by Cacao, or Choco, and his horn was already broken by the time they came across him. When asked, the little guy said he was protecting the cream wolf pups from a monster, but he can't remember what else happened before he fell unconscious. As he grew older, his broken horn didn't really bother him anymore. He's adapted well, and picked up a thing or two about survival from his cream wolf pack.

Also, sidenote, the kirins' scales are actually very hard to dent, meaning their backs are usually safe from attacks. Crunchy once encountered... something when he was out on patrol, and he was out of commission for a week (to his incredible dismay + annoyance) because of how rare serious injuries to the kirins' backs occur.

Ah, Affogato. Actually, I really do like him as a character, I just tend to focus my attention towards the Celestia and Luna coded father-son duo a bit more. Oops. But anyway, I decided to make him a hybrid just like Carrow too, mainly to add both contrast and similarities between them. They're not too different, but their ideals and beliefs clash and cause conflict with one another, I just thought it was fitting. Also decided to give him a more elegant and curved horn design as a nod to his unicorn heritage. Unicorns in the Cacao kingdom (and maybe the Golden Cheese kingdom) have a curved horn, mainly because the east asian coded unicorns in the mlp canon have curved horns too, and I thought they looked beautiful. Affo is someone so elegant and refined in a land that's chaotic and holds danger everywhere.

And that's my unhinged thoughts for now. I think I'll design Licorice and the others next time, but no promises.

Anyway, thank you for reading.

[aroace-poly-show]

Hi you said you want to ramble, could you ramble some more about hollow ☆ wonderland i tried looking through your blog but search is. not working. so i failed to find anything at all

HEHEHEHEHH OF COURSE!!! and the reason for that is probably bc i haven’t posted very many details about them!! most of my rambles have been contained to dms with two of my friends and a currently 2.4k word doc of word and idea vomit 👍

anything posted before the most recent ask hasn’t been tagged correctly either, iirc i had a brief summary of the group a while ago though, tagged with “nightcord wxs” i think?? cause i didn’t have a name for them yet at the time. not changing it cause i’ve figured out more stuff since then so it’s sort of outdated. there’s probably a few posts lost in the marlo’s stuff tag, though that i didn’t tag properly but it’s okay those rambles are probably somewhere in my google doc.

anyway, since you didn’t rlly specify something in particular i’m probably just gonna ramble about whatever comes to mind. once again under the cut cause i can tell this is probably gonna get a bit long:

hollow ☆ wonderland is an online music group, and their videos are like kikuo style ones. but not necessarily ones like you are a useless child and aishite, more ones like and then you became the moon, welcome to the star inn, don’t look at me in that way, etc. pretty cutesy and happy sounding with a cute art style and then the lyrics tell a pretty dark story. that’s their general vibe. there’s a few songs i associate with them like judas by abuse (like i mentioned before) but i can’t confidently say it’s the kind of music they’d make. maybe that’ll change though we’ll see.

the group is composed of hoshi (tsukasa) the main lyricist, koki (emu), the artist, tako (rui) the animator and eventual co-lyricist, and kurage (nene), the composer.

they’re all silly online friends who like making music videos together and while none of them really talk about their issues pre-main story given that they’re not super close/don’t know each other super well yet, they still enjoy doing this together and care at least a little bit about each other.

i’m still figuring out how exactly the main story goes, but i’ve definitely made more progress now so HOPEFULLY i figure out a coherent story soon. i rlly do want to write a fic for them but don’t get your hopes up too much.

a few basic ideas i do have currently are some stuff like tsukasa, despite also being on his last hopes like the rest of them, is going to be the one to really encourage them all to start theater again. their sekai is a rundown theme park with lots of fireflies around, all the plushies are still there but they’re also worn down and have lots of patches and stuff on them. wonder stage has been closed down already, but it hasn’t been like torn down or replaced with a new attraction or anything. will it make a comeback? will hw be using it? we will see :)

i think the world hasn’t even started yet is still gonna be their untitled too. i’m thinking for their unit fits it’s gonna be something similar to the circus jester set cards? or at least the face paint thing. i’m absolutely giving them the face paint thing. and then there’s some other plot ideas i have but i’m not totally sure about them yet and i dunno how much sense they make on their own so i’m not gonna add them here.

uh. tsukasas name is hoshi since it means star iirc? so obviously he gets that name. koki meant something like to glitter, to shine, and i think emu would have liked that enough to choose it. and i already mentioned why rui and nenes names are what they are 👍

that is all for now. once again i’m more than happy to answer any other questions (like seriously i was so giddy and happy getting asked about them) so yknow feel free to ask. might answer a bit late cause i’m in school atm and have a lot to say but i will answer it eventually :3

[ms-scarletwings]

I am sorry to bother you but I have to say, I feel Dib got treated too harshly most of the time. It's the point of the story yes but at times it just feels flat out sadistic for no reason.

It's why the Gargantis Array comic storyline sucks to me, it was just two issues of buildup to make Dib a gross fat joke and humiliate him across space. Jhonen just really seems to love torturing Dib more than anyone and it's rarely even deserved.

Oh, this is the opposite of a bother, friendo!

I actually have a lot of reading to still do on the topic of the comics. I’m woefully only really up to good knowledge about issues 46-49 and a lot of bits of pieces otherwise. If what you’re saying rings true, that is sad to hear, but pretty interesting still. I’ve always in the back of my head been a little afraid that Dib’s karma could be flanderized to the point of making him a butt monkey. Especially when we all know that’s supposed to be Skoodge’s job! (waka waka)

As for the show, honestly? I think they managed the balance just fine. It’s not so much that the show was specifically cruel to him, but that sadism broadly was one of its central themes and there were no efforts made to exclude Dib from that. And why should they have? He’s not an innocent woobie, and in fact is actually in the seat of a very ambitious antagonist against the real main character’s goals. Arbitrary events of misfortune and pain were the bread and butter of the series back then, and almost no one was spared. Jhonen (who cameoed himself in the show just to choke on a fish and die for a joke) also from what I hear injected a lot of his own qualities into Dib, so I imagine it probably IS very entertaining to him to give the boy the works.

From what I have seen of the comics, that looks like a much finer line to tow. And this more of an off the cuff ramble, but you know what I think??? I think they made Dib a touch way too sympathetic actually. There’s so much more focus on just him and Zim’s side antics, and the more time you take Dib off world and away from the rest of the Earth side characters, the fewer reminders they give you about how many of his problems are majorly self inflicted and how much of a disturbance he can be to society. And, for better or worse, a less dark overall tone in the comics means that the moments of overtly black comedy are going to stand out a little more against the modernized background by contrast.

And there’s another elephant in the room that kind of gets to me, personally. As well as I can put it well, the art style change kind of really affects the lens he can be viewed through. Maybe more than most people want to admit. And I’m not dissing the rounded down, brightened up change, it’s not a better or worse direction from the show… but it is a different one with different strengths and weaknesses.

Like, look at Dib’s early season model sheets for a base of reference.

Now compare him alongside the comic and Florpus interpretation of Dib Membrane. OBVS I am simplifying a ton here, there’s a ton of room for more range than these examples.

I’m not here to say he’s a better or worse Dib visually, he’s still Dib to me! But is notable how comic Dib actually breaks a ton of the “rules” of what kind of character they wanted Dib to be. To put it one way, they sanded down some of his edges and he’s not as apparently “skrungly” as he used to be.

What I like about the change is that it actually gives the better impression of him actually being the lil dorkass kid he’s always been. He’s got a slight aesthetic shift that shows off his unique interests and it definitely sets him apart from Zim, who actually retained most of his own show design. He’s still got some funny lookin’ qualities and he’s so much more endearing

One of the downsides of all that, however, is probably that he’s so damn endearing and as a default.

I dunno if you ever watched Little Shop of Horrors, amazing musical btw, but, it’s supposed to have this whole tragic ending where the main character’s, Seymour’s, long chain of mistakes catch up with him and he meets his demise. In the movie, they casted Rick Moranis for the character, and he played such a puppy-eyed, adorkable Seymour that it made audiences suddenly too bummed out to even appreciate the dark ending. They hated it so much that the crew actually just changed the ending completely so that Seymour gets a consequence-free happy ending with everything he ever wanted. Even though he’s literally a serial murderer of sorts. You were always supposed to feel for him, but not to the point where watching him fail just makes you feel horrible.

I think Dib works kinda like that on a meta level.

If there’s any ruling on what goes over that invisible line when it comes to handling his character, I think Florpus Gaz nailed it right on the head. Dib is never supposed to just utterly break under the weight of his world. Can he sometimes crack? Yeah totally, especially in the “brink of madness” sense. Or if it’s funny. The golden rule is not to give him more than he can handle, and Dib CAN handle a lot of bullshit. He may be a frustrated lil squirt but he’s been at this for a very long time, and it’s hype af watching how he’s not slowing down even in the face of that. Dib and Zim’s biggest POSITIVE shared trait is the strength of their spirits against a world that is ultimately callous and cruel at every turn to them.

Every second you write Dib where he’s wallowing in despair or feeling sorry for himself is a second you come closer to that line and it’s what you need to dish out in wary moderation.

So I guess the TL:DR of what i think I’m getting at here is… it’s all about perspective.

But I really should read more of the comics.

[projecto2-game]

DevLog 2 - The Devining

well. it only took 3 months. but here is our new devlog! or however you call it... We did write a whole devlog for early march, but with school and work taking up most of our schedule, we did not post it, and most of our progress fell to the sands of time.

Snail (@snailmusic) -

Yeah I didn't do nearly as much as freep, so most of those changes will be down there. part of the reason though is that ive been doing a lot of work on my music (haha yes self promo) so if you want to check that out it'd be great! (most of yall are just from my acc so you probably alr know) (my current style of music is probably not representative of O2's audio style or vibe, still working towards that)

The main thing I did was improve trenchbroom (level editor)/qodot/godot interop, which can bring us closer to building some levels (and who knows, a little alpha test in the future ;)). It was actually realllyyyy annoying due to a lack of documentation for qodot 4 (and also ill admit it, a bit of my stupidity) so there was a bug that I couldn't fix for a long time but eventually it was fixed and now it works great!

I also started looking more into the art style of the game, and I'm even learning a bit of how to draw (thanks to my friends! I wouldn't be able to learn like at all without them lol).

^ guy on a cube

oh yeah speaking of outside help im getting this is (very slightly) now bigger than us two! the others aren't doing too much we can note right now (one doesnt have a tumblr acc either) but when their contributions come more into play we'll include them here.

See ya next time!

Freep (@freepdryer) -

Back in march, i spent a lot of time working on the AI, getting it to move… and run away, sort of. But more of that will come later. 

Lots of these last week or so has been on the character controller, and reinventing the wheel to introduce a state machine and get a lot cleaner code so its easier to revisit if we ever had to.

Im proud of the work that we've done so far, as we come close to a prototype with *Gameplay* 

New Things

Changed the look of the enemy slightly to remove the “amongus factor”

Rewrote the entire script for nav pathing

New enemy prototype can now feel pain / has a health pool that can be depleted using bullets from the player

Added a new line of sight for the enemy to check whether or not the player is in the area to follow

Added the ability for the enemy to hide - WIP - enemy can hide but isnt very good at it. Kinda like a child who turns away while hiding in the corner. 

Enemy can also detect when youre in a certain range, I will be adding more flags later on for detection (when the player shoots, sneezes, or explodes on accident)

New testing map!

New areas for target practice, line of sight testing, following and hiding

New player character controller!

Rewrote the entire script for the inclusion of State machines

This was painful.

Added 6(?) new states for several movement states

Added animations for 

Walking

Running

Jumping

Crouching

Fixed the stair problem

Whats next?

Continue work on enemy AI - finish hiding, add roaming, add attacking

Dunno? 

Fix the stair problem again, but more?

Weapons!

The end?

Thanks for coming to our devlog! We will be back hopefully very soon!

[teeth--thief]

Well, you know damn well we need to hear more about that comic.

-R

Alright, let's get into Chernobyl: the Fall of Atomgrad by Matyáš Namai, now that you've bribed me with another pretty picture of yours...

Positives first!

I think that the way in which all the significant people are drawn is really good! They look like their real-life counterparts while remaining in the artist's style.

I really really enjoyed that some panels were very obviously based on more or less well-known photos or stills from videos from Pripyat itself, the later liquidation, the trial, and all else. I think it really adds to the experience when you're familiar with these.

The color palette of the blue and yellow is a great choice - not only because it's the Ukrainian flag but also because the colors make for a great combo - contrasting, but at the same fitting together really nicely. And also make a cool green :)

Negatives:

The biggest offender is the actual factual information this graphic novel depicts. It's nothing new by any means, nothing we haven't seen or heard before. Some stuff is pretty minor, I didn't get into this believing it'll get every single thing right, but some are... they are. An interesting oversight is that the AZ-5 is shown as a... switch. It wasn't a switch then. It was a button, and that's where quite a handful of theories stem from. It was later changed to a switch, yes, but it wasn't a switch then. And, obviously, we have the myth of everyone scrambling to press said AZ-5 button because yes, the power definitely sky-rocketed right before the PLANNED shut down, as HBO and a few other sources would like us to believe. Also, Legasov's... stunt that was the Vienna conference is described as follows: "He didn't lie. He just didn't tell the whole truth." Aw man...

Weirdly nitpick-y, perhaps, but: Tregub, whose name is mentioned just once, is spelled as... Treburg? Which I've never seen before, I've seen many operators' names spelt weirdly, but this one is new. Also, his "design", if you will, doesn't actually seem to have been inspired by the real guy. It's not a big deal, he appears a whole lot of... two times or so, but still... you know who he is but not what he looks like? A bit lame if you'd ask me... but don't ask me, I am weirdly fixated on knowing how everyone looked.

On the same note: Yuvchenko's name is once - just once - spelt as Yushchenko. Odd.

Also, the SIUR is seated in the wrong spot in the control room. If we're looking at it from above, the SIUR's spot is on the far left and not in the middle, as this novel seems to insinuate, that would be the SIUB's spot. No biggie, but it's always something to keep in mind. But hey, you can't have everything - at least Toptunov isn't a blonde twink in this one...

I think it may be just me, but I feel like there's some... filler stuff in there. A bit too much of insignificant things, and too little of the things that actually matter. But they are the things that matter to me, so... a very objective judgement made by me. Another one of very much opinion based complaints is that it's called "The Fall of Atomgrad" - for some reason, the fact that it's neither "an Atomgrad" or "the Atomgrad" is incredibly annoying to me... dunno.

My conclusion is this: if you want to buy it for something, don't buy it for the information - buy it for the art.

[the-colourful-witch]

I absolutely adore your art style.

It has such a cozy vibe and it just fits with how the characters are described, I dunno am I making sense? I just feel like it fits in my head with how I’ve thought about them. But I think my favourite is your ginny. I love how you make her outfits and designs so warm and comfy but still make her facial expression a little hawk like. It just suits her.

the other thing I love is you Yule Ball series you did for Ginny, Hermione and Luna. I was wondering if you would be willing to draw the Patil Twins? Because the movie absolutely ruined their outfits. You don’t have to.

I really love your Art Style so I was wondering if you had any tips for people who wanna start digital art in a style similar (but not exactly the same obv) to yours? I really suck and I cant get over the ick I feel when it doesn’t look like what I want it to, so I don’t actually feel like trying again and practicing.

Sorry this was really long haha. :)

Hiya! Thank you very much! That means a lot! I am definitely going to do the Patil twins at the Yule Ball. I want to do a series for the Ball. The Patil twins, Cho Chang, Angelina Johnson, and Katie Bell, etc. They all deserve their moment in the spotlight. To answer your question, I don't know a lot about digital art either. For most of my illustration work, I use traditional techniques. I use my iPad and Procreate for these artworks because I draw them when I'm all cozied up on the sofa :) But, if you want to try some more art digitally, I can tell you this: I try to draw the same as I would in my sketchbook. I sketch out the character, then create a new layer for line art. I keep that sketchy as well, otherwise, I get pretty stiff poses. Then, I just colour them like a colouring book. You can play around with some layers with special effects, like imported textures or overlay layers, etc. Just play a bit with your effects and try to find something you like working with. It also helps to study some digital art guides on Pinterest, for example. I did that a lot when I just started out. And remember to keep having fun. Improving your drawing skills can be really tough, but as long as you still love doing it at the end of the day, you'll be grand. I really hope you found this helpful. Love XXX

[antiradqueer]

Idek like if this fits in this blog I don’t even use tumblr for the community; I use it for images and customization and whatnot but I’m accidentally 2 am doomscrolling and…

The transid stuff is truly baffling to me like it’s so beyond me. I dunno if it’s just a new breed of severe mental illness or if it’s just heaps of attention seeking. Either way from what I’ve seen it’s just plain. Just insane. I’m also confused as to what they even are? Are they trans identities as in genders? Or are they just throwing around the word trans because they’re privileged and just. Can?

Firstly, I am black and trans which comes with day to day struggles. I didn’t wake up and stretch and yawn and go yep I’m gonna be trans. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be trans. I wouldn’t want to put myself through constant oppression just because of who I am and how I feel about my own body and how I want to present MYself. It’s painful and I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone. So WHY are these people deciding they want to make their lives harder? Fully, consciously deciding that they want to change themselves purposely. Now I’ve always known I was trans but I didn’t always identify as trans because it didn’t feel right or I was scared to be judged. You cannot choose who you are but you can choose how you label yourself (which I’ve seen some crazy harmful stuff but that’s a different story.) So the fact that these people are CHOOSING to identify in ways that harm others and erase the trans community just does not make any sense to me.

Now. On to “transrace.” This has got to be some of the most privileged shit I’ve ever heard of in my life. I could probably guarantee you that a fat majority of these radqueers are white. Let’s say there’s a person who is white, but is deciding they want to say they’re black. Firstly, why??? I understand cultural appreciation but why do you want to change who you are to pretend to be someone else because there’s a “desire”? A desire to what? Be discriminated against no matter what? Not be able to graduate/get a job because of your natural hair? So on and so forth? I just don’t understand. These people are begging to be oppressed. And for what. What do they gain.

I don’t think I’ll ever understand, but I also think I’m fine with that. I don’t partake in discourse and I’m all for ‘to each his own.’ While I am not for people ignoring genuine harm being done (like the paraphiles or whatever they’re called aka groomers??? pedos??? traffickers????) I don’t believe that in the long run, it will affect either side. However. Transid people really do need to stop; especially ones acting on it in their actual.. away from the screen lives. I saw a post about a transid that revolves around intrusive thoughts. I suffer from intense intrusive and impulsive thoughts that often cause me to fall into intense episodes of mood swings, anger, confusion, depression, and more. I would NEVER romanticize these thoughts and make an identity for them. If it’s a coping mechanism, sure do whatever helps. But don’t bring that shit to others. Don’t glorify violent thoughts and mock real identities. It’s sickening.

I digress. Im stepping fully away from social media after tonight, but it was nice to be able to write this out and process how backwards we are evolving. Honestly, I will be fine with completely wiping the idea of transids away from my brain and continuing to lead a normal life.

TLDR:: I’m black and trans and I find radqueers/transids sickening, privileged, and harmful. Just my little tangents and tidbits on this subject that is quite new to me.

Bonus! I saw a genuine radqueer transid identity that was called “transartstyle.” Where one desires to have a different art style.

…

Stay safe out there

absolutely great points, i can never really get into breaking down tranrace like you did so first of all thank you,

i do think that alot of the transid/abled etc. stuff is some kind of new either mental illness or some kinda coping mechanism (or hell maybe it just is privilege and attention seeking), something like biid in a way or maybe something even similar to munchausen syndrome but not exactly it either, still doesnt take the harm those lables do away theres other, less harmful lables out there.

thank you so much for your piece here, and hey, dont let radqueers ruin your time online, especially since you dont do online discourse n all, anyway thank you and stay safe

[darth-caillic]

I'm back! (from outer space)

I know for the last month, I went against my own rule of saving posts as drafts until the end of the month. Sorry about that!

But I would say this break from writing was pretty successful! I'm still feeling anxious about certain stories, but I'm not panicking/going down a spiral like I was at the beginning of the year.

I'll give a quick TLDR for some stuff I've been thinking about and will expand on those under the cut:

New Face Claim for Tessa Brown + other story changes

Discontinuing Black Sheep?

Rewriting Apprentices of the Abyss

Final edits of Daughter of Mandalore + looking for a beta reader

Pokemon Webcomic / Ask Blog Idea

How to celebrate the competition of Heads Will Roll

New Face Claim for Tessa Brown: I've been on the hunt for a new face for Tessa for a little bit. I thought about picking Heather Langenkamp, but right now, I'm leaning more towards Ella Purnell.

I also need to find a new face claim for Tessa's mother if anyone has suggestions.

Discontinuing Black Sheep: This is something I have been sitting on for a while. I talked about before how Black Sheep is a story I'm dreading cuz I just don't like Gilmore Girls. The main things stopping me from outright discontinuing are guilt and love for Riana as a character.

Black Sheep is one of my more popular fics and I feel like I'm being mean to my audience by discontinuing the story.

Right now, I'm thinking I might just move Riana to a different fandom. If anyone has recommendations for shows/movies that take place around the 2000s that you think Riana might fit into, I am all ears!

Rewriting Apprentices of the Abyss: I'm thinking before I start posting Force of Nature: Attack of the Clones, I should go back to the previous book and rewrite it to be much more detailed.

I wanna expand on Eglantine, the 'daki family, and clear up some of the dialogue/story beats cuz it feels forced in the current version.

Beta Reader for Daughter of Mandalore: DoM is a Star Wars fanfic that takes place during Attack of the Clones. It is a sequel and follows the story of a woman trained in the ways of the Sith named Melinoe Lanami.

It is 8 chapters long and is 22386 words long.

If you're interested in beta reading and have any questions, DM me, and we can hopefully work something out.

Pokemon Web Comic Idea: I just really fell in love with this idea of a mockumentary-style Pokemon documentary about three former league champions.

I've been looking into how to do a webcomic, and a lot of the advice is to jump right in, so I'm gonna try and make it my pet art project for the year.

Completion of Heads Will Roll and how to celebrate: In the past, I used to hold giveaways when completing. I dunno, if there's interest I might do one sometime this month, but I'm not too concerned about tbh

The New Taglist: Let me know if you want to be removed/added: @bisexualterror @thehedgehogat221b @margoshansons @waterloou @aceyanaheim @jedi-valjean @asirensrage @arrthurpendragon @foxesandmagic @bi-ologistofthehills @sterling-writes @bluejay-in-write

[jaybird-baby-boy]

I love your Benrey design! Can you tell me more about his desing and about yours headcanon about him ?

Hi hi hi! My first ask! :3 I'll gladly explain my design for Benny boy.

Sorry if this goes off as a tangent, btw.

------ BENREY DESIGN ------

So, the way I draw Benrey took a little trial and error. My style shifts and changes a lot sometimes, and with certain characters it can be harder for me to find a way to draw them that I really like.

Personally, little, round headed man? pointy lil ears? I love it.

His hair has also gone through some changes in my style. When I started drawing him it was usually right at the neck/shoulders, then I started drawing him with just a mass of short lil spikey hair, and now currently we're in the 'hair almost to the bottom of the spine" length. I will always draw it as just pitch black darkness, and as scruffy as possible.

I dunno why but I absolutely love the designs of him where the shadow of his face is part of his hair, so that's what I stick with.

In his.. 'hair', are multiples of eyes and teeth, and the eyes often have their own expressions and emotions to them. Sometimes they just pop up somewhere and he ruffles his hair to make em go away.

I personally like drawing him as thin as a twig, but thicc boy benny is a very good hc as well.

When it comes to the Final Boss Benrey, my personal design for him is just this giant, vaguely human-esque inky mass of goopy flesh and eyes and limbs.

------ PERSONAL HEADCANONS ------

I don't have any full listing of my personal headcanons, but i guess now is a good time to start ^^

Please keep in mind these are just my personal headcanons, I like most hcs i find online but these are just my favorites to work with for art/rps

Benrey is an alien from Xen

Not only an alien from Xen but he also was practically raised in Black Mesa

He escaped confinement but didn't know how to get out so he just took a guard uniform to try and go undercover until he could maneuver his way out.

Heard about Gordon from other guards and scientists, so when they met he just decided to try and follow him in hopes he could lead him to the way out. The rest is history.

He struggles with speaking when he gets upset, and bonds with Joshua over this.

He loves Joshua to death, and bonds very well with the kid. They both like to harass Gordon endlessly.

He's pretty close with Tommy, they're pretty much best friends.

Personal clothing hcs for him is very much like he came straight out of Hot Topic or Spencers. I like to imagine him in shirts with psychedelia or mushroom themes. Otherwise, gaming merch.

He doesn't need to eat, sleep, nothing. But he likes doing everything human's do. He thinks its funny.

He doesn't feel pain much either, and can just regenerate/respawn or whatever when he dies. He ends up realizing that Gordon's hand won't ever regenerate, and that it was excruciatingly painful and feels extremely guilty about it.

Ship wise, I like putting him with Gordon (as i think like 70% of the fandom does), but I have grown a small interest in him and Tommy, or all three together.

If i think of anything else I'll add it to the post! If you have any more questions please feel free to ask! I'm also willing to draw anything mentioned here, I have the urge for doodles.

Thanks for the ask!~

-jaybird._.baby (ze/zir/zirs)

[catbountry]

/srs question: I looked at some of your oldest artwork on places like FA that date from 2007-09. I noticed instances of the corgi as your fursona being used as early as 2008, albeit used in tandem with a humanoidsona with similar teeth and glasses. When did you decide that the corgsona was your go-to representation of yourself?

I think I settled on the corgsona around 2009-2010 after having briefly drawn myself as a chihuahua once or twice. I drew some art of /coq/ users on +4chan as a pack of angry, yapping chihuahuas and realized I liked the small dog aesthetic. I wound up going with a corgi because a friend of mine at the time said she pictured me as being "three corgis stacked on top of each other in a trenchcoat." She said she pictured this even when we finally met IRL and would continue to hang out. Drawing myself as a corgi for the first time, I added the bow to indicate that the character is a girl. I've drawn myself with the anime nerd swirly glasses since freshman year of high school, and the fangs came in not long after, so obviously a dog version of myself would have both of those. She just sort of captures the La Creatura energy that people saw in me, and being a corgi, it better represents my short stature with a huge ass.

Also I just like corgis.

I believe this is the earliest art of the corgsona in her most recognizable form, and this would have been drawn around 2009-2010, since I had that laptop for school, and I drew the TF2 sticker of BLU Heavy and Medic with a payload, so I was already active in the TF2 fandom at that point.

I dunno, she just... fits. Like, perfectly, to the point where I identify more strongly with this drawing of a cartoon dog meant to represent me than photographs of myself, or looking at myself in the mirror. It feels like she represents my personality better than how I actually look, and has done so for long enough that over a decade later, I still draw myself this way. She is also kind of her own character, in that I write her in a comic called Cat the Dog and Fish the Frog for a zine called Rock at Night. It is not at all biographical, but she's still this exaggerated version of myself, particularly my id. I don't think I could change my fursona at this point because she just is me now, even if it would make my life easier to abandon my identity as Cat Bountry.

I kind of feel like I struck gold with a perfect combination of traits that make her instantly recognizable in anyone's art style, and just being a lot of fun to draw. It's why I've drawn my own reaction images with her. When I go places, I might draw a little version of her in a guest book or on a sidewalk; her and my cyclops cat character Blinky, who became a sort of mascot character for me before I settled on a proper fursona.

So, uh, yeah. That's about everything I have to say about the corgsona. Not sure why you're going through my ancient-ass FA account but have fun with that.

[solradguy]

Might be an odd question, and I'm sorry if it's already been asked, but how did you come up with your fursona?

Not odd at all!! But it's a long story hahah I gotta start from the very absolute beginning. Minor warning for a mention of animal death.

So the first one was an orange and white cat with an olive green trench coat, glowing neon green eyes, a red bandanna (pirate-style, not ninja-style), and they had 7 stripes on their tail. They happened sort of on accident because I was actually 12 years old and couldn't draw humans in a way I was satisfied with and just drew people with cat heads instead. Idk where I got that idea from, probably Thundercats or Swat Katz or something lol. Eventually this character evolved from being based on my actual cat, Toby, to being a character I used to represent myself, 7oby. This fursona is what I refer to as 7oby v.1. They had a sword too, Excalon, that made a blade of frozen ice that was powered by the radiation that my fursona absorbed. I wanted to write a comic with them at once point and had a whole setting and cast fleshed out but this was right around when I entered a very dark period and self-criticism kept it from ever happening.

Unfortunately, Toby, the cat 7oby v.1 was based on, passed away in early 2013. I was really close to this cat, we'd been through a lot together. Around this time I was kind of falling out with the idea of having a fursona too and Toby's death made drawing 7oby v.1 feel... depressing. I tried mixing up their design a little around this time and decided it would be best to just retire them entirely.

This led to 7oby v.2, which was an android with a powerplug tail and 4 motorcycle exhaust pipes on his head lol. I was going through a lot of identity changes around this time (2013-2014) and had a falling out with a friend where they called me a robot and I got a little spiteful about it. I still kind of like 7oby v.2's design but he was a pain in the ass to draw. He didn't last long.

In 2015 I started missing having an actual fursona. I'd gotten a little back into the fandom and having a fuzzy guy I could draw hanging out with my friends' fuzzy guys is a lot of fun. But I needed to design a fuzzy guy again. I didn't know what species to go with and I didn't want to go with a house cat again so I asked my biologist friend for ideas and he suggested a spotted hyena. This was around the time I started realizing I was probably trans so I thought female hyena biology was especially humorous. 7oby v.3 was to be a hyena.

7oby v.3 has gone through a lot of changes haha

7oby v.3 from 2015 through 2017 was just a normal spotted hyena.

From 2018 on he had a robotic endoskeleton like a Terminator and could also make super heated holographic claws and stuff.

In early 2019 I got REALLY into Legend of Zelda and Ganondorf and was like "7oby v.3 is going to be a hyena/boar hybrid now." He still had the Terminator skeleton and laser hands but now he had tusks too. I think this was around the time I gave him lightning/fire magic and decided to combine him with my art mascot, the Somnivagrant, too. Somni's a genderless, amorphous, eyeless, dream demon. It kind of looks like a white dog/wolf and has a sun orb between its ears. The Somnivagrant hitches a ride on my fursona (like a ghost) for fun.

2021 7oby v.3 (the last redesign I've done) is pretty much the same as 2019 but I cleaned up his general anatomy a little and brought back 7oby v.1's Excalon as a giant laser gunsword. Of course.

I think v.3 has gone through more changes than the other two because I've also changed an incredible amount between 2015 to now, but I think, too, that on some level I just don't entirely vibe with v.3. Like v.1 was absolutely me, v.2 was honestly just a stepping stone, and v.3's just kinda... I dunno. I think it might be time for v.4.

[happiighost]

Tagged game thingy (•‿•)

I was tagged by my friend @westmansion!! I love answering these silly things!

Are you named after anyone?

My actual name was just one my mother liked. I know my middle name came from one my favorite aunts. Said aunt has seen me off through lot major parts of my life and had my back. So its fitting

When was the last time you cried?

About two months ago, very uncertain of my future. When the path I wanted to be on didn’t happen. I’m gonna give it one more try and not give up yet.

Do you have kids?

No I do not! I wouldn’t mind having them one day in the far far future (via adoption or as a foster parent). I work with kids a lot at my job and they’re just silly little people with so much to say/share. 

Do you use sarcasm a lot?

With my family for joking around. Same goes for stuff at work with coworkers. It always pretty clear I’m just goofing off though.

What sports do you play/have you played?

I never really played or enjoyed sports much! The only ones I enjoy is biking or  swimming. 

What's the first thing you notice about other people?

Hair for some reason and clothing style! (a lot my friends like punk clothing the more think about it lol)

Eye colour?

warm brown. I do like wearing color contacts a lot though! I already need to my vision corrected why not have some colorful fun with it if I can!

Scary movies or happy endings?

I’m a horror junkie, I love all types of horror! But im also a sap for a sweet happy ending! I wont choose! 

Any special talents?

I dunno, does looking like murder scene whenever I paint count? I can climb decently well??? That mainly due to me being short so it's needed.

Where were you born?

I can’t top this response, so I’m stealing it.

What are your hobbies?

Drawing and painting (digital and traditional). Video games. Sewing, mainly making clothes adjustments.

Do you have any pets?

I have one fluffy boi! 

How tall are you?

I’m 4′11″ : (

Fave subject in school?

I like kinesiology and anatomy a lot. If I went back and took those classes sooner I might have changed my major!

Dream job?

medical illustrator/animator!

Alrighty time to tag! If those I tag don't wish to do this, feel free to ignore this post! 

@youngerfrankenstein  @wild-moss-art @kimikaami​ @fourspiceblend​ @hydrostorm​

[taiblogcomics]

Living Sheltered Lives

Hey there, celebrities on Cameo. My birthday's in five days! Let's review some more Countdown!

Here's the cover:

I dunno, DC, this Fall Guys crossover ain't gonna save this story, even if you're thirteen years early. Like, you didn't even get the art style right at all! Also, since there isn't much else to this cover, let's talk about this point: the design of the handcuffs binding Trickster and Piper together are not consistant from issue to issue, further showing how little the staff was communicating with each other. Last issue, they were thick and manacle-like, taking up half the forearm, with a big cable between them. In this one, they're basically handcuffs with a thin-ass wire connecting them. Just saying, last issue, I believed they could deal a lethal shock. This issue? Not so much.

Recap time! So Pied Piper and Trickster got apprehended and are falling from a plane. Donna Troy, Jason Todd, a Monitor, and Ryan Choi are falling into the microverse to find Ray Palmer. Mary Marvel is falling into the sway of her new powers. Jimmy Olsen is falling into the trap of finding a use for his new powers. Karate Kid is falling back into the timestream before something bad happens. And Holly Robinson is not falling for the stuff at Athena's women's shelter. And now let's us fall into this issue~

So we pick up right where we left off, where Trickster and Piper are falling out of a plane. I should also note that, like the design of the handcuffs, the plane also changes appearance between issues. Last time, it was a high-tech superhero plane. This issue, it looks like a normal commercial passenger jet. So you can tell they just wrote "handcuffs" and "plane" in the script, and nobody went and consulted the previous issue's artist. Like, the reason 52 worked so good is that despite being a multi-creator work is that they mostly all communicated. This series, they're clearly not doing so.

Anyways! Falling from a plane! Very scary. Especially coz if they fall too far from each other, it'll trigger the electric shock from their cuffs. Trickster won't take the blame for this situation, thinking they were only in a van when he jumped out. Luckily for them, Piper managed to grab the bag holding all their equipment as they jumped out. How convenient! Trickster manages to dig out his flying shoes, and both of them put on one shoe. At least this comic is smart enough to point out that even if they're about to hit water, it'll still kill them like hitting concrete if they're going too fast--just as both of them plunge into the harbour.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Olsen is trying on a superhero costume. Oh, trust me, we'll be getting to that. I really want to critique it when you guys can see it too, so wait 'til issue 38. Nonetheless, it kind of sucks, and so does his chosen supranym of "Mr. Action". Jimmy then realises he's going to be late for work if he doesn't stop admiring his shitty costume in the mirror. He gets to work, and Lois asks if he isn't hot wearing a full suit (which he's wearing his costume under) on a summer's day. Jimmy just laughs it off awkwardly, saying he's trying to look professional. Then maybe he shouldn't be wearing his Silver-Age green suit with bowtie.

Over in Gotham, it doesn't seem as hot as in Metropolis. Must be the constant cloud cover. At the very least, Mary Marvel doesn't seem bothered sitting outside in her black latex costume. The perks of magic, I guess. Speaking of, though, she's not sure what the magic is doing to her. Apparently Black Adam's powers feel way different than the old Captain Marvel powers ever did. And they seem to be a bad influence on her, given how violently she took care of Clayface. And while she's moping and brooding about this (she is in Gotham, after all, brooding capital of the world), someone mysterious observes her through a purple lens…

Hundreds of miles and microns away, Ryan Choi leads his teammates deeper into the Palmerverse. I'm just gonna keep calling it the microverse, even though that's Marvel's racket. Less confusing. The Monitor thanks Ryan for his efforts in aiding the multiverse. He's just glad to be here. (This won't last, no one in Countdown is glad of the experience in the end.) And now the most important moment in the comic: Jason notes that the Monitor doesn't have a name. So he decides to name him "Bob". "Bob" is a guy he can get casual with, unlike "the Monitor". Fantastic~

Bob and crew land in the microverse just as we cut away to Trickster and Piper hauling themselves out of the harbour. Somehow they lived through that. By sheer coincidence, they landed in Gotham. This is basically out of the frying pan and into the fire to Piper. Trickster has a plan, though. As long as they keep their heads down and don't attract attention, he knows someone who can help. This is indicated by them passing a sign for the Penguin's establishment, the Iceberg Lounge. I like this includes art for the The New Batman Adventures version of the Penguin.

Hey, remember a few issues back when this series teased at being an Amazon Attack! tie-in? Here's another flaw with this series: it's trying to tie in to an event that was running monthly, while this series is running weekly. That's why we haven't heard about it in a half-dozen issues! Anyways, we've finally caught up to that point where Supergirl and Wonder Girl side with the Amazons and hijack Air Force One--yes, that was a real thing that happened. Naturally, the American public is big mad about it, and reacting perfectly believable for the American public, they decide to protest in droves outside the Athenian Women's Shelter.

Like, seriously, they use a two-page splash to show us how big the angry crowd is. They're shouting things like "Murderers!" and "Terrorists!" Like, the President's not even confirmed dead at this point. Harley Quinn goes out to yell at the crowd that this place is just a women's shelter and they haven't even done anything, and Holly has to drag her back in when the crowd starts throwing things at her. Well, say what you will about literally anything else in this comic book, but they sure got the reactionary dumbasses of America down pat~

Now here's a weird bit I think is only in the trade, possibly to even out the page count so you always get the issue's cover on the right-hand page. But it's a fully black page with only the first panel of the opposite page in the middle, showing an establishing shot of the Fortress of Solitude. I get why it was done, but it's very odd to come across in the trade.

Anyway, the comic ends with the Legion members going home. Except Karate Kid is told he's not allowed through the time portal, as he still has something they need him to do here. At least he won't be alone, since Una (formerly Triplicate Girl and Duo Damsel before she lost her dupes) is also coming with him for the adventure.

I think the biggest problems with this issue are the aforementioned inconsistancies with the art. It doesn't say much for the story when you can't keep details like that straight. (If you're missing simple details, you're probably not setting much store by broader topics either, yeah?) This and the weird shift with trying to keep this as a tie-in to other things with a different release schedule really hurt this one. The behind-the-scenes meta stuff hurts this one more than anything in particular in its writing. And heck, it did give us Bob the Monitor~

[gotatext]

JUDE & NAOMI — DAY THIRTY-THREE.

location :   bedroom.

time :     late afternoon / early evening.

description :   jude lets naomi play dress up. she’s everything, he’s just ken.

featuring :    naomi  /   @heatwayve​

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

“do you reckon hawaiian or paisley?” jude asks, eyes finding naomi’s in the mirror. he’s holding two shirts up in front of himself chopping and changing like a paper dress-up doll.  “hawaiian shirt guy is like, guy who works in recruitment and is here to party. paisley’s like, chill dude who works in the arts and drinks merlot. i dunno what vibe i'm feeling tonight.” 

naomi santos

“ew,” naomi sits up from where she’s been laid out on the bed. she’s not much of a napper, but she didn’t get a ton of sleep last night, needed to lay down a bit. but now people are filing into the bedroom, starting to get ready for the evening, and it seems like now she’s awake to help school the fashionably challenged. “are those your only two options? hawaiian print and paisley?” he hasn’t sold either of them very well, to be honest. “let me see,” she gets up, wandering over to his wardrobe and hip-checking him out of the way a little and thumbing through the options he’s got hanging up for shirts. christ, it’s grim. “maybe you should just keep it simple tonight. do you have anything that’s like…one color?”

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

jude’s eyes dart down at the two options in front of him, suddenly sheepish, hoping to god the colour hasn’t risen in his cheeks. “yeah?” he answers, sounding unsure. honestly, jude had nabbed most of the shirts with fun patterns on their first day, but most of them suited angel more. “i just think patterns are fun. sorry that you hate fun.”  jude makes a dramatic display of being knocked out of the path of her hip thrust, stumbling back from the wardrobe to give her space, the two shirts held limply in his hands like a sports day rosette for ‘taking part’. lips pursed, he scans across the hangers of the shirts, trying to ascertain if any of them lack a print. it’s slim pickings. “i’ve got like, a red corduroy shirt. that could work. it’s just a bit… y’know. i mean aren’t plain colours a bit dry?” naomi might know more about fashion, but jude has his own sense of style. 

naomi santos

"i don't hate fun! just this shit is loud, what is this?" she asks, holding up one of the shirts, "saturday night fever? no." she gives him a look, an exaggerated roll of her eyes as jude stumbles back like he's performing for a football foul. "maybe if you have a nice, like, artistic pattern or something? just not the fucking paisley," naomi implores him. she's not trying to cramp his style completely, just trying to keep him from strutting out there like bob pinciotti. though judging by the volume in the room last night, jenny doesn't seem to really mind either way – though maybe she's gone blind. "it's too hot out for corduroy." she resists the urge to punctuate that with, duh. amazes her how helpless boys can be sometimes.

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

honestly, most of jude’s clothes are louder than on the outside, hoarded as part of his eBay haul on the first day of casa, and probably to compensate for his lack of a personality. adidas jackets and a pair of knock off levi’s don’t really cut it in the villa where everyone else is in vivienne westwood and bloody gucci. “don’t shit on saturday night fever. john travolta’s like… he’s like… an icon or some shit.” though his best role’s probably hairspray. the amount of times jude had to sit through that film as a teenager to placate his sister siobhan… insane. “also! bee gees… they’re from manc.” lifting his hand, he jabs his thumb towards himself. although technically they’re from cholton-cum-hardy where you’d pay eight quid for a schooner of ale when you could get a pint for two pound seventy down the road at spoons. posh fucks. “fine then. if my taste is so shit, you chose my outfit.” honestly, it’s not a bad idea. this could even be fun, movie montage style — he'll come out of the wardrobe in flippers and a snorkel to the sound of a canned laugh track. “bet you’d love to play dress up with me.” because she’s controlling, or whatever the current locker room narrative about naomi is. he doesn’t know much about what happened with her and josh last night, only that he probably got his ass handed to him. “how was the hideaway?” jude asks, slotting the two shirts back into the wardrobe, turning to lean his shoulder against the mirror and face her. “what’s it actually like in there? is it gaudy as fuck?”

naomi santos

she wrinkles her nose, "stop, danny zuko rights maybe, but john travolta is totally gross." she can say that because she's met him. or maybe that's especially why she shouldn't say it. whatever. "that's your style icon? the bee gees?" she asks with a laugh, eyebrows arching, "god, you need more help than i originally thought." even though he's the one who'd actually asked. all she knows about the bee gees is that it's disco, and abba is more fun anyway. naomi tries to contain the excitement that shines in her eyes when jude says that she can dress him up, because this is precisely the kind of thing that's fun for her, lizzie mcguire fashion show montage with ru paul playing in the background. and yeah, she is a bit controlling. "seriously?" alright, she smiles at him before turning around rifle through his things in the closet. he's got the worst of it, all the odds and ends of an already picked-through eBay stash, the leftovers no one wants. it's a good thing that naomi likes a challenge. she tosses him one of the shirts, "try this," she says, rifling through to dig up some kind of jean jacket, which might not even be jude's, "– oh, and this. and maybe..." she tosses him another shirt with a pattern she finds mildly acceptable. it all depends on what he's got for shoes. "oh, yeah," naomi replies, flipping her hair back over her shoulder as she turns around, deciding to stop when she notices the pile of options she's already chucked at him. "it's like. the bratz doll coke lounge. barbie's dream sex dungeon," she snorts. "you jealous?"

𝗷𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗽𝘀𝗲𝘆.

jude’s “wow” is more from astonishment at her reaction than any of the options she’s tossing him (and there’s a lot of options). if he’d known giving her free reign over his styling choices was all it took to squeeze a smile out of her, he’d have done this sooner. admittedly, it stings a little that she thinks his choice in clothes is whack. jude had always considered himself to be pretty stylish, but maybe it is time to trade in the adidas tracksuits for something more chic — which is what he’d been trying to accomplish with the patterned shirts, but it’s clearly backfired. on the outside, he’s more of a t-shirt and jeans on a night out kinda guy, simple and non-flashy, with a coloured overshirt if he’s feeling fun. “sex dungeon. woah,” jude repeats, eyes wide like one of those cat clocks whose pupils move on each tick. “jealous? of josh? no.” he answers quickly, catching another one of the shirts she tosses him and adding it to the pile of shit laid over his arm. it feels like shopping for siobhan’s prom dress all over again. “of you guys getting a night in the hideaway? yeah kinda. feel like jenny and i would proper thrive in there.” noting that his pile of shit is probably enough to be getting on with, he dumps them on the bed and pulls his current shirt up over his head. “y’want me to like, change in the hallway and walk in so you get the full effect of the fit, or just… do it in front of you?” he’s not uncomfortable with her watching him change—it would feel weird asking her to turn her back when he’s seen her in a bikini like, every day—but it dulls the effect somewhat if she’s just watching him fiddle with the buttons. “or i could try and change inside the wardrobe. pop out like one of those figures in a cuckoo clock, the sound of music style.” he reckons naomi’s probably into all that singing and dancing shit like his sister is. 

naomi santos

she snorts at that, "i meant of josh because he won a night in hideaway,"  though insinuating jude wants her is more of a funny bit than anything now, 'cause she adds, "the lad doth protest too much, huh?" quirks an eyebrow as she anticipates his firm denial. probably just as speedy as the last one. if he hesitates three times, he might invoke jenny like beetlejuice. "you would, though. you guys really get on, huh?" it's a fond question, though maybe a callback to everyone's early disbelief in them. naomi's never felt quite like that, jude's interest in jenny has always been clear to her. she just didn't enjoy how the romi thing transpired. "jude," she cracks up at the way he seems to overthink it, mirth shining in her eyes as her nose crinkles. "you're insane. i can just turn around," she says, half-pivoting on her heel before she stops, "though if you want to try the whole superman thing in the wardrobe, it might look pretty fun..." great fodder for unseen bits, really. "captain von trapp was my first crush, actually." as he should be.