#i do NOT organize my sketchbook well so a lot of other drawings are scattered around and i think id be distracting

[upsidedowngrass]

i present some liam family members ive had for a bit :) mainly siblings because i have waaaay more ideas about them!! also some of this art is a bit older compared to others which i think Shows but thats ok

[somethinginthethunder]

Hola :] Could I pls have an Encanto matchup?

Im Bi and Demisexual

I have wavy black hair and it goes a little past my shoulders.My skin is light brown ish and I'd say im around Camilo and Mirabel's height but a few inches taller

Im not the loud type of person but im certainly not very quiet either,it usually depends on how comfortable I am around a person.The more comfortable I am,the more loud and confident (and possibly annoying) I get.Most people say that I'm kind, sweet,and that im apparently good at comforting others (this is what my friends say about me and I'm going with it cuz most of the time I don't really know myself that much)

I ramble about things a lot,especially if im hyper fixating on something, but most of the things that I ramble about are things that confuse me and I get really upset when I notice the person im talking to isn't listening/isn't interested.

I love reading and drawing so my room is filled with books, sketchbooks, pencils, notebooks filled with doodles, and more art things that you'll probably find scattered on my desk or shelves.... (I try to be organized but I never have the time)

Im also a bit of a hoarder and I tend to forget that I even kept some stuff so finding something that I don't remember I had is always a surprise (I sometimes search my room for little trinkets I kept to pass the time)

Uhhhh,hold on Im trying to remember what I was gonna say ......Oh yeah! I'm forgetful and easily distracted!

My love language is physical touch

If I get mad at my partner/if me and my partner get into an argument,I would lock myself in my room for a few minutes, sometimes hours and then after that I'll talk to them. I don't like ignoring/avoiding a problem for too long but I will need some time to cool off.

And uh– i think thats it!

thank you :]

heyo!! thanks for your request!

you’ve been matched with: julieta!

-whether you’re loud or quiet, she’ll love it all the same. the more loud and confident you are as you get comfortable with her, the more she’ll fall deeper in love with you.

-she loves how kind you are to people, and i think you both match that energy.

-she’s a great listener!!! so anything you talk about she;ll sit right next to you patiently or hum in acknowledgment as she makes some of her famous food.

-if you’re ever talking about something that confuses you she’ll try and figure it out with you!

-if julieta ever accidentally seems like she’s not interested she will do everything in her power to change that!! anything and everything she does with you will try and remind and prove to you how much she adores you.

-if you ever move into casita she will have her room accommodate your amount of books and materials! she probably writes down some of her recipes or little notes down in notebooks so don’t be surprised if you open one of them instead of a sketchbook full of doodles!

-secretly peeks at some of your doodles and it almost always fills her with instant happiness

-appreciates your attempts at being organized and often helps clean up after yourself.

-your hoarding habit can end up in surprises, and she likes to experience them with you. found an old item that does something weird? show her! found a nostalgic photo of the two of you? it’ll brighten her day for sure.

-if you ever forget something she is always ready to remind you what you were doing or had to do that day. she’s a very organized woman, of course!

-always loves hugging you and kissing you! every time you guys wake up she’s either facing you with a soft smile or hugging you like you’d dissolve if she let go.

-after arguments, julieta would let you have your space. and, of course, she’d need hers as well.

-but when you’re both ready to talk, she’ll be open to discussing what happened and figuring out how to fix it.

-she’d never be able to leave it at closed doors, she loves you too much <3

[nsfwsportsanimebabes]

S/O with the best vibes headcanons

Description: can I request kuroo, and the Miya twins w a fem s/o or crush (whichever u want:3) who’s room has just like the most chill vibes, like they have a record player, lots of plants, books, fairy lights, and a cute colour theme that they just adore. Maybe like their first time coming to visit & staying till 2am cause it’s just so welcoming and calm?

Requested: YESSSS OF COURSEEEE🥺🥺🥺 this is so pure and I’m excited to get these hashed out for you🥺🥺🥺 honestly both your admins HARDCORE relate to these vibes. Like we both have these things scattered between our apartments. So you’re really pulling on some great vibes here. I’ll try not to go too overboard 😉☺️

A/N: soooo uhhh. I’m not dead.. lolol. Just kinda reallyyyyy lost any motivation to write for not only this blog, but any writing in general honestly. BUT this blog is still kicking, we do still take requests in, and love seeing them. I plan on doing a few more requests and/or WIPS that motivation comes for. 

Also..I apologize if Osamu’s isn’t the greatest, I did his first and this is the first scenario type post I have done in a longgggggggg time. But regardless hope you all enjoy! ~Admin Crow 💚

Miya Osamu

“and if you push this button on the remote you can totally change the colors to the lights too. Pretty neat right?”

To be honest, Osamu didn’t hear much of your explanation of all the things in your room. Mostly because he was overwhelmed by the pure vibes coming from your room. He was a little surprised that you had invited him over to study. You two hadn’t been dating for very long, so inviting him over to study, in your bedroom no less, had taken him by surprise. But of course curiosity got the best of Samu, so he wasn’t about to turn down this opportunity. Looking around, he noticed the way your lights were set up to give off whatever color you wanted to hit every corner of the room. And how your cute little starter plants overtook your dresser. Candles of specific colors adorned your bookshelf where you had organized them by color to match an obvious theme you were going for. Osamu especially enjoyed the record player that had music softly playing; the record turning slowly to match the music coming out of it. He’d have to investigate your books and records later when you showed him your favorite ones. 

He took in the way your lights had pictures hanging from them, most of them were pictures you had taken with your friends. But he noticed the corner by your bed had ones the two of you had taken together. For some reason Osamu found that really sweet. 

“Samu? Did you here me? Hello, earth to Osamu.” you called out, trying to gain the attention of your boyfriend, who had been staring at your fairy lights after taking in your room for a solid 3 minutes without looking or acknowledging you comments. You were nervous about what his response to your room would be. The way you decorated your room was in a way that really showed who you were, and you didn’t want to just share that with anyone. 

Osamu finally realized you were calling him and turned to look at you with a lazy smile noticing your slightly guarded look and could tell you were waiting for a response. “Come here F/n, there’s no reason to be anxious, I totally think your set up is amazing. Show me more?” 

Miya Atsumu

 “You have so many books F/N! How the hell do you afford all of these!?” Atsumu had never seen so many books outside of a library in his life. The fact that you had two full size, five shelf book shelves in your room side by side. Each bookshelf adorned with rows and stacks of books taking up every possible space that you could cram a book into. 

You rubbed the back of your head blushing slightly “well....I found most of them at bookstores, thrift stores, sales, friends and family who gave them as gifts...” you rambled, not sure what his response would be. 

Atsumu ran to another corner of your room immediately starting to flip through your almost equally impressive stack of records. When you had invited Atsumu over to work on a school paper together, you didn’t know what his thoughts of your room would be. Even though you two had been best friends since you were 6, he had yet to been inside your room. Although your locker at school had a lot of similar vibes as your room, a few mini plants you had snuck into school were on the top shelf, pictures adorning your locker door, and other things gave Atsumu an idea of your inner vibes. 

It was something he really loved about you. He would be lying if he didn’t admit that he was dying to see what your room looked like. Any chance to get closer to you was really his end goal. I mean, he’s been trying to go over to your place for years to be shot down every time. But the opportunity had finally arrived and you had caved, finally allowing him the opportunity into your private life. 

“Hey F/N, got any secret journals hidden amongst all of these books full of secrets you haven’t shared with me?” he teased going back to the books scattered over your desk. 

Sighing, you sunk into your corner of comfy, plushy bean bag pillows and called for him to join you “Knock it off Tsumu, get over here and sit down so we can work on this paper please?” 

Atsumu took one look at the comfy looking pile before taking three long strides and plopping down onto the one next to you, jostling you and your laptop in the process. “I could really get used to hanging out here F/N. I say we start having movie nights at your place. In fact, let’s just do everything over here from now on.”

“Don’t push your luck there Tsumu.”

Kuroo Tetsurou

“can I choose the next record F/N?” 

Looking up from your sketchbook, you noticed your boyfriend looking over at you with a lazy look. To be honest, he looked completely at home, fitting in with the glow of the fairy lights that you had dimmed just enough to allow you guys to see what you were doing. 

Kuroo had been surprised when you suggested doing homework together at your house, since his room was the usual hang out spot, unless you chose to be outside in nice weather. It’s not that he didn’t think you didn’t want him in your room, he was just usually the first to suggest studying over at his place. 

But seeing the way your room just gave off vibes that were purely, you, had Kuroo ready to study and hang out here all the time. He found your room a chill environment, but still productive enough that he wasn’t wasting his time studying. He had particularly enjoyed flipping through your pile of records, and naming off fun facts of all the cute plants you had scattered in perfect places in your room to capture the sunlight. 

You nodded at Kuroo’s question, returning to your sketchbook, immediately getting lost in the drawing you were working on for class again. A few minutes later you recognized the soft melody of your and Kuroo’s favorite song coming from the record player. Suddenly two strong, volleyball and chemistry note taking worn, hands gently took your pencil and sketchbook from you. Setting them down next to you before pulling you to your feet and into your dorky boyfriend’s arms. 

“Tetsu you cannot dance for your life. What are we doing?” you laughed, letting him pull you close and swaying with him. 

“I can’t dance?! Excuse me have you not seen the grace and beauty that I have on the volleyball court? What makes you think I can’t use that to dance with my beautiful girlfriend?” he defended, although you both knew you were right. 

Laughing you took control, despite the obvious difference in sizes between you two, and spun under his arm, enjoying the quick way he caught himself from tripping. Whether the two of you could dance or not, it didn’t matter. Spending this time with Kuroo was like the world had stopped moving around you. If you could spend forever here in his arms in your room forever you certainly would. 

Although it wouldn’t be spent dancing as Kuroo ruined that moment by throwing you over his shoulder and flopping down on your bed deciding it was time for cuddles while enjoying the rest of your album playing your favorite songs. The two of you laughing and sharing special secret moments that would stay inside your four bedroom walls for eternity. 

[ariesnicolo]

teacher au preview!! @of-scythia

for context: nicky is coming to the school a few days early to set everything up in his classroom and get his orientation/paper work done, and joe stops by his room to say hello and then ends up walking him to the admin offices but they make a stop at joe’s art classroom first. not exactly fluffy pining like i said before but i wanted to show what kind of teacher joe is. pls enjoy <3 (also Alessa is the name of nicky’s younger sister)

As the two of them walk down the hallway together, Nicky remembers that they’re in the hallway for art classes. Nicky never found out which room was Joe’s during his tour with Copley, and he admits that he’s very curious to find out which room is his and what it looks like. “Which room is yours?”

“Oh, this one is mine.” Joe points to a slightly open door on the left side of the hallway, stops so he can open the door more and show Nicky inside. Nicky’s first impression of the room is that it’s a disaster. Joe’s classroom was the one Nicky saw earlier with the sketchbooks and pencils scattered around, but now that Nicky can actually take in the room, he realizes it’s much more than that.

Joe’s classroom is a lot bigger than Nicky’s, which Nicky quickly comes to understand is a necessity. Where Nicky’s classroom has about thirty individual desks, Joe’s room has six big, wooden tables scattered around the room surrounded by stools. Under all the sketch books, the tables are covered in a mess of color that Nicky can only assume is from paint and colored pencils. The walls are completely plastered in the student’s work, and Nicky spots paintings, detailed sketches, photos, and a few tasteful collages. Joe’s back counters are covered in complicated art supplies that Nicky can’t even begin to understand, and the windows in his room are covered in very thin, colorful paper, designed to look like stained-glass windows.

Nicky wants to ask if it’s actually Joe who needs help setting up his room, but he keeps that question to himself.

“It isn’t normally this messy.” Joe says, a little wince accompanying his words. “I’m just organizing the sketch books to return them to any students who aren’t taking any classes with me again.”

Nicky nods, figuring that every other part of Joe’s classroom is just as chaotic during the school year. The lack of organization for the rest of Joe’s stuff would bother Nicky, but it doesn’t seem to bother Joe, who is probably used to his room looking messy at the end of the day. Nicky can’t even imagine the horror scene an elementary school art room would be at the end of the day. “Were these all done by your students?” Nicky asks, looking around and pointing to the art on the walls.

“Yeah.” Joe sighs, and Nicky looks over at Joe to see a proud shine in his eyes. “If they’re comfortable with it, I keep all their work on the walls during the school year. I hate taking it all down at the start of the new school year, but I would never have space for anything new if I didn’t return them to the students.”

“They’re all really good. You have very talented students, Joe.” Nicky says, looking at a beautifully detailed picture of a field of wildflowers at sunset. Nicky’s eyes then catch a colored drawing of a man wearing a short, white wig and black frame glasses. Nicky does a double take on the painting, looking at it again just to be sure. “Is that… is that Danny DeVito?”

Joe laughs loudly at the surprise in Nicky’s voice, but quickly confirms that it is Danny DeVito. “I assign a portrait piece in three different mediums for all my juniors to help with their portfolios, and it can be a portrait of anybody, so Marissa- that was her name, she chose to do Danny DeVito.”  

“That’s not his real hair, is it?” Nicky had only seen one movie with him in it at Alessa’s insistence, something about a little girl with special powers, and even though Alessa made him watch the movie repeatedly when they were little, Nicky doesn’t know much about him. “It looks very realistic in the drawing.”

“No, he’s practically bald. I think.” Joe says, furrowing his eyebrows as if he has to think about it to be sure. “This was just from a show he was in that she liked.” Joe smiles, but it’s small and private, like he’s thinking of the student who did this portrait. “She graduated last year and now she’s at RISD.” Nicky doesn’t know if that’s good or bad for Marissa, and it must show on his face. “Oh, uh, it’s a college in Rhode Island that’s one of the best for fine arts.”

“That’s nice. You must have been really proud.” Nicky says, because it doesn’t take a genius to see that Joe carries his pride for his students and their work in his heart. From the way he talks about his students to how he treats their art with such respect, Nicky has no doubt that Joe is a wonderful teacher and loved by every student he comes across.

“Yeah, I am.” Joe says, but the way he says it and how he looks around at all his previous student’s art, Nicky feels like he’s intruding on something personal. Nicky lets Joe have his moment to think and reminisce and looks at more of the art on the walls. All of the pieces are exceptional and detailed and well thought out, but it’s the variety in the art that gets Nicky.

It’s clear that Joe assigns themes for each project, like portraits or nature or still life, but Nicky gets the impression that each student is allowed to take that theme and do what they want with it. Nicky spots a beautiful painting from an outsider point of view of a group of people looking up at a cloud with the outline of another person in it, like Mufasa in The Lion King. Nicky also sees an equally skilled painting of The Scream, but instead of having a person’s face, it has the face of a mouse and the background looks like it’s been placed in a cage. Nicky gets the sense that Joe loves, and even encourages, all his student’s weird artistic choices.  

Joe claps his hands together, breaking Nicky’s train of thought and directing his attention to Joe’s hands. Nicky’s brain short circuits when he sees that Joe is wearing thick, silver rings that are engraved with something Nicky can’t make out. Nicky thinks it’s really unfair that Joe is clearly a kind, thoughtful person and has an obvious love for all his students, but he also has shoulders that drive Nicky wild and he wears rings that Nicky is endlessly curious about.

[aaailieee]

♥*♡∞.｡ NaruHina Quarantine Starter Pack!! ｡.∞♡*♥

I’m probably going to annoy you all lots with my quarantine drawings! Sorryyy. But I figured I’d try to make the best out of this situation and give you guys cute drawings here and there to accompany you in this conflicated situation we’re all living. Hope my drawings can lighten up your days just enough to make the out-of-the-ordinary situation less anxiety-enducing ♡´･ᴗ･`♡ ｡.｡:∞♡*♥

Here is a bunch of my headcanons for their starterpacks !! :

→ Hinata :

Cinnamon rolls: Hinata is fond of cinnammon rolls, so it makes much sense that it is her go-to quarantine snack.

Sketchbook: Hinata likes to doodle all type of stuffs in her sketchbook. But what she likes to doodle the most his the plants in the apartment she shares with Naruto. They lighten up the rooms and make them more “alive”, that’s why she likes having them around. Naruto doesn’t mind them, he actually likes them a whole lot. She also enjoys painting with gouache and watercolors in her sketchbook, and sometimes, Naruto likes to join her and engage in drawing or painting. He says he is too chaotic to be doing art, but Hinata finds his art very expressive and vibrant. Painting together is always very fun.

Knitting material: Hinata picked up knitting as a way to relax herself. She was going through a very stressful situation when she started it as a hobby : Kurenai suggested knitting as a way to calm down. And damn did it work. She now enjoys the feeling of soft fabrics in her hands, and while it takes a whole lot of time to see the final result, she isn’t the type of person that researches instant gratification. Naruto is like this.

Typewriter: Hinata unearthed this aged gem of a typewriter in the abysses of a flea market she and Naruto attended. Bunches of old toys, antiques and used CDs encircled them, but under the thousand folds of dreary stuff, Hinata encountered this light turquoise typewriter. It was love at first sight. Of course she had to buy it. The paint layers are cracked in the corners, seeming to imitate an aligator’s skin. Yet, there is a charm to it that Hinata cannot describe. It now lays on her desk, martyr of the strong sunlight. She types cute letters to her friends or writes poems on it, and it’s very relaxing. Naruto just watches her type lyrical stuff on this recylced paper of her, hair ignited by the sun passing via the transparent window. Writing is fun and relaxing, but watching Hinata write as love songs from the 60s play through her phone’s speakers is just heavenly.

→ Naruto :

Instant Ramen: Are we really surprised? Of course Naruto’s quarantine snack is instant ramen! It is never too much ramen for Naruto, and certainly not when in quarantine. Now he has an excuse to eat all the ramen cups carefully organized under the kitchen’s sink. But of course since he now has to spend every day at home, he varies the tastes and the level of spiciness. Hinata once in a while gives in the tentation and eats a couple of cups with him, but it easily goes overboard. They end up on the floor with stuffed bellies, cups scattered around their feets.

Comic Books: Naruto enjoys reading the weekly shonen jump, but now that he can’t go out and buy the new copy in the local store, he revisits all his old comic books. Huge stacks are hidden under his bed, in some transparent organization boxes Hinata buyed him to tidy up the shared room a bit. Nostalgia fills his being like a instant drug shot everytime he runs his finger through the aged, yellowish paper. Him and Hinata, every now and then, make mint tea and sit next to each other, engulfed in her soft lavender blanket, reading those comics.

GameBoy: After rereading his old comics, Naruto just has to play the old Nintendo cartridges that painted his childhood in wild colors. The fun and vibrant games make time fly so fast he often finds himself playing at 3am on the shared bed, Hinata’s sleeping form tucked under the blanket. Of course, the following morning, he wakes up with dark moons ornamenting his sky blue eyes, but damn, he doesn’t regret playing for seven hours straight.

Board Games: Oh gosh, board games! Of course board games would be on Naruto’s quarantine starter pack! These things make time a whole joke. Hinata is actually very competitive when facing Naruto, so when these two face each other it’s life or death - well, for Naruto. Hinata doesn’t mind losing, but Naruto can’t bear seeing every single one of his Monopoly spots being taken by Hinata. It’s fun, but one might argue that Naruto’s competitive energy can be too excessive sometimes, so much so that it’s unhealthy.

Stay safe everyone ♥

[wowweeharrystyles]

Part 1 | Kindness & The Perfect Fit | 9.2k words

‘Sequins & Zippers’ Summary: An internship with Harry Lambert transformed into a job of a lifetime - Aurora Del Gatto finds herself touring the world with the one & only Harry Styles as his ‘Head of Wardrobe.’ Aurora is nothing but nerves & excitement as she packs her bags & almost 100 custom designer suits that belong to an unbelievably kind rockstar. She never thought she’d fall in love on top of it all.

A/N: So here’s part 1 of Sequins & Zippers. A MASSIVE shoutout to @niallhoranapologist​. If it weren’t for Gwen I probably wouldn’t have continued to work on this story. Thanks for always helping me brainstorm ideas, listen to me talk about these fictional characters all the time & for continuously supporting my writing. you da best. 

“Ugg, this is useless,” Aurora groans as she throws the t shirt she had in hand across the room. Aurora has been attempting to pack her suitcase for hours now. “How the hell am I supposed to pack 4 months worth of clothes in a single suitcase?” she whispers in defeat to herself.

“Rory? Everything alright?” Aurora’s mother calls from the other room. Rory is the nickname her mom gave her when she was only a baby. Her mother walks into her room and sees the frustrated look on her daughter’s face. 

“25 countries? The weather is gonna be different in every freaking country,” Rory lets out a frustrated sigh, falling onto her bed. “I can barely pack properly for a weekend trip.” 

“Hey, you’re thinking too hard and overwhelming yourself,” her mother says softly as she sits on the bed next to her. She places a hand on her shoulder, “Let me help. We’ll figure it out.” 

Aurora is currently trying to pack for her new job. After the craziest year she’s ever had, packed with graduating college, moving to London to work with one of the most well-known stylists in the fashion industry and having the time of her life doing what she loves most, she was offered a career-altering job for the next 4 months. Never did Aurora think she would be sitting in her room back home in a small suburb of New York surrounded by cardboard boxes labeled with things like: “NYC Apartment - kitchen,” “London - winter clothes,” “School things,” “London Flat - bedding,” “I have no idea, from london.” Organized Chaos explained her life best right now. 

“Rory, sweetie, where’s your list?” her mother asks, looking around to locate the papers she’s been carrying around for the past week that’s covered in scribbled notes, lists upon lists and small sketches here and there. “Should’ve really been keeping that stuff in a journal or something.” She finds the papers scattered on Aurora’s desk and a few laid on top of boxes. “Probably wouldn’t be so overwhelmed if you could be a little bit more organized,” her mother sighs gathering the papers into a stack, tapping the bottom edges on the desk to line them up. “You’re normally so much more organized,” her mother continues before pressing a kiss to Aurora’s hair. 

“It’s a lot, Mom. I don’t know where to start.” She stands up from her bed and grabs her phone as it dings, indicating she’s received an email. “Finally!” she exclaims with a sigh of relief. “Harry’s just sent me my official itinerary and all of my flight info.”

“Harry Styles himself emailed you your travel plans?” her mother asks in disbelief. 

“No, mom, Lambert. Harry Lambert, my boss.”

“Oh yeah, of course,” she laughs lightly, “How many mix ups has there been with that name?” 

Aurora’s new job is ‘Head of Wardrobe’ for Harry Styles’ Arena World Tour. In all honesty, she has no idea how she got here. Well she does, but it still doesn’t feel real. Lambert’s original hire for the tour ended up needing to stay in London to help him with his styling work there and she was next in line, but she still isn’t too sure how she got this lucky. The past year happened so fast and it was one opportunity after another that landed her here. She’s barely had a moment to breathe after the holidays and some small jobs here and there to keep her busy. Last January, just over a year ago, Aurora traveled to London for a six week menswear design course at Central Saint Martins for some extra credits before her final semester of college. During this course, she was lucky enough to met Harry Lambert. After he saw her collection of work from the past few years, what her thesis plans were and what she had been working on during the CSM course he kept her information on file for the future. When Aurora left london at the end of the course she had no idea if she would ever hear from Harry Lambert again, but around mid march she received an email from him about an internship position he needed to fill and thought she would be perfect for. Starting the internship in NYC before she even graduated, May was a whirlwind and was the perfect indication on how the rest of her year would be. She moved to London in June and was put to work without a second to spare. 

“Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do,” Aurora’s mother starts before launching into a detailed plan on how they’re both gonna tackle packing up Aurora’s life for the next 4 months on the road, traveling. They’ve got barely 3 days until her flight leaves for London.

Nearly 4 hours later and they’ve organized Aurora’s room. Unpacking the appropriate boxes, written a new packing list, and they’ve also written a shopping list. They’ve got organized piles surrounding them. Again, Organized Chaos best describes Aurora’s life, always. 

“Oh, what about that long pleated skirt you made last year? The emerald green one? You definitely need to take that.” Aurora’s eyes lit up at the idea. She loved that skirt, it was versatile enough that she could pair with heels or sneakers. Versatile pieces were key to packing she found out quickly. Her mom reaches into her closet and searches for it. “Probably at the back, haven’t worn it in awhile,” she motions towards her closet while sorting through the box of her bags, making decisions on which ones she’ll need with her. 

“Oh gosh, Rory, look what I found,” her mom emerges from the closet with a handful of rolled up posters. 

Aurora goes bright red knowing exactly what is on those posters. “Oh no. I kept those?” her mom sets them down on the floor but keeps one to unroll. Once the tape is off and her mom has got it flat, she turns it around to face Aurora. It’s a large poster of One Direction from a TigerBeat magazine. Aurora drops her face into her hands. 

“Remember when you couldn’t see a bit of the wall cause of these posters? If I remember right, you liked that blonde one yeah?” her mom laughs, rolling the poster back up. “Maybe you should take one with you and have Harry sign it? He’d get a kick out of it, I’m sure.” 

“Mom!” Aurora whines. “This is my job, my career. I have to be nothing but professional.” 

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind a joke or two. Gotta have fun still and honestly, he’d probably think it’s cute.” 

“Mom, it’s embarrassing and I’m gonna be working with him and his team for the next 4 months.” Her mother can see the panic on her face. “I cannot just show up with a One Direction poster.” 

“Ror, I’m just having a bit of fun with you. You need to relax or you’ll just be frustrated and stressed the entire time.” She sets the posters aside and goes to join Aurora on the floor. Placing a hand on her cheek, “Baby girl, my baby girl, promise me you’ll have some fun? This is a chance of a lifetime and I know you’ll work your butt off and do your job perfectly, but you need to enjoy it too. Okay?” Aurora nods slowly. She knows her mother is right, she always is. 

“Okay,” she says softly giving her mom a weary smile. 

“You’ll be okay, I know you will,” her mom says before leaning in and hugging her daughter. “I’m so proud of you.”

Aurora and her mother continue bustling around her room until the sun sets. By the time there is no daylight left there are 2 large suitcases completely full, all organized and packed with Aurora’s belongings. They spend the next hour packing up Aurora’s rolling caboodle. The large, rollable, sturdy set of drawers and compartments is from Aurora’s days as a competition dancer. It used to carry her stage makeup, extra pairs of tights, accessories and an emergency sewing kit. It was always covered in glitter and there were bobby pins in every nook and cranny, a few stray sets of false eyelashes too. But for the past 4 years, she’s used it for all things sewing and design. She never went to class or the design studio without it. Aurora and her mom empty the drawers and reorganize the contents. They make another list of things they need to pick up at the local sewing store the next day. Aurora pulls out her old sketchbooks and sets them to the side and adds a new clean book to the now empty drawer along with her cases of Micron pens, drawing pencils and prisma coloured pencils. 

Aurora continues to organize each little compartment as her mother prints out small labels and adds them to the section dividers. Aurora loves to be overly organized and have everything in its place. It keeps her calm and stops her from getting overwhelmed in stressful situations. There’s nothing she hates more than being backstage at a fashion show and needing a simple needle and thread to fix a small seam quickly and having to dig through the drawers to find what she needs. Backstage life, anywhere, fashion shows, dance competitions, or even a world tour, can be stressful if you’re not prepared properly. 

“Oh, keep the box of sequins and swarovski crystals in there. I actually might need them.” Aurora finishes the sentence with a giggle as she’s setting her scissors in their respective home. 

“Really?” her mom laughs too. 

“Yeah, some of the looks for this tour are actually pretty sparkly. You never would’ve thought. I actually might have to bedazzle a few things on the road.” 

“You’re home!” her mother sing-songs. They both laugh again thinking about the countless hours they spent bedazzling dance costumes with 100’s of crystals. 

After saying goodbye to her parents through a continuous flow of tears, Aurora got on an 8 hour flight. She kept herself busy on the flight to occupy her mind and stop her from overthinking or panicking about the next 4 months ahead of her. She landed in London on the 3rd of March, just a few days till she’d be back at this exact airport with the same luggage plus a few crates labeled ‘Wardrobe’ that she’d also have to care for. She made her way to the Air B’N’B that had been set up for her for the next few days and headed straight to bed. One thing Aurora, jokingly, prides herself on is the ability to sleep anywhere at anytime. 

When the morning rolls around and her alarm wakes her, she’s preparing herself a cup of coffee when her phone rings. She notices Lambert’s ID on the screen. She answers and they exchange good mornings before he asks her about her travels from the day before. 

“Okay, so, I’m sending a car to where you’re staying in about an hour to bring you to the arena.”

“Arena? I thought we were meeting at your studio?” 

“Oh no, change of plans, sorry should have mentioned that in an email. Harry is in full rehearsal mode and everything for the tour is at the mock stage space at Wembley Arena. They’ve just finished the final tech rehearsals and Harry will be there today to start running the show,” Lambert continues. The new knowledge of Harry Styles being there on her first day makes Aurora jittery, small butterflies erupting in her stomach. She’s met Harry before. They’re friendly, but she was only just Lambert’s shadow anytime they were together. He was sweet and kind, just as everyone always says, but she was still a tad nervous. She will be with him almost everyday, on her own, without Lambert there to be a buffer. Aurora tended to be a nervous person, especially if she doesn’t know someone all that well. She can keep her nerves at bay and save a proper panic for after the situation ends most times, which is the best she can do right now. It’s something she’s working on. It’s what she hates most about herself, not being able to keep her nerves in check. 

“Oh yeah, makes sense,” Aurora responds, surprisingly with no jitters evident in her voice. 

“Great, I can have the run of show lookbook all put together for you when you arrive and we’ll go through it and make notes.” “Do you mind if I actually set it up when I get there? I would feel much better and more settled doing it myself as we do a walkthrough of the wardrobe.” 

“Of course, Aurora, whatever you think will work best for you.” 

She thanks him and they end the phone call after confirming the time and car that will be picking her up. She finishes off her coffee and heads to the living room where she left her suitcases last night. One of the large suitcases was lying on the ground, opened, exactly where Aurora left it last night. She ruffles through the contents of her suitcase, moving around different packing cubes until she finds the cube that contains her favourite black jeans. She locates a creme hooded knit sweater and some clean undergarments. She pops into the shower and continues to bustle around the small flat getting ready. At some point she turns on some music to distract her mind. There’s an airy feeling in the flat, the sun shining in london for a change and it calms Aurora down despite the nerves running through her veins. Aurora checks her watch, 10 minutes until her car is due to pick her up. She slides on her all white leather court sneakers and laces them up, tucking in the excess laces for a clean finish. She grabs her black bomber jacket and slips her arms in, then pulls out the hood from her sweater so it lays comfortably on the outside of the jacket’s collar. She takes a quick look in the full body mirror that leans up against the white brick wall across from the large, unmade bed. She’s reminded by the reflection in her mirror to text her mother and thank her for convincing her to pack her favourite clothes instead of all her fancy stuff. She looks put together but is still extremely comfortable, prepared for anything today has to offer her. 

There’s a short honk from the street in front of the building. Aurora grabs her rolling caboodle and her purse before rushing out the door to meet the driver. 

20 minutes later she finds herself stepping out of the car and thanking the driver for holding the door. He grabs her caboodle from the trunk and hands it to Aurora and wishing her well and to have a nice day. Harry Lambert greets her at the door giving her a big hug and exclaiming about how excited he is to have her there. He takes her an office where the tour manager, Michael is set up. The office is busy with several people working at desks on laptops and people taking phone calls. Lambert introduces Aurora to the team and gets her set up with her tour pass and all the nitty gritty stuff. Within half an hour she’s all set for tour and has her new lanyard tied to her on a belt loop. They walk through the never ending halls plastered with signs that state “Treat People With Kindness” and Aurora smiles everytime she sees another. Lambert points out different places, important notes posted on bulletin boards and casually introduces her to people as they quickly pass. 

Everyone seems to be on a mission, darting in and out of rooms and talking on headsets. It’s a busy atmosphere but nobody seems stressed or upset. Aurora appreciates the hustle that everyone seems to have. There’s smiles and high fives passed between crew members and coffees getting pass along. Lambert points out where Harry’ band’s dressing room is and then Harry’s as well. Harry’s reads “Hershel” on the sign that sticks out from the wall. 

“Hershel?” Lambert chuckles when he sees the confused look on her face. 

“Yeah, Jeff, his manager, you’ve met him, calls him Hershel 95% of the time.” She nods along with a smile. After making their way through a few more halls they reach a larger dressing room. “Okay, so here’s our space for the week.” Aurora rolls her caboodle and sets it against the wall near the door for now and sets her purse down on an empty space on the counter that lines one of the shorter walls. On the wall directly across from the doorway there are 3 large black cases that stand about 6 feet tall, opened and filled with garment bags. 

“Is everything here already?” Aurora makes her way towards the case farthest left. 

“Hopefully!” Lambert picks up a large binder that’s sitting on the table across from a small leather couch. “That’s where we’re starting. Checking through each night’s look and making sure it’s all here.” She takes the binder that Lambert has handed her and opens it up to the first page.” 

“Oh wow. I almost forgot how beautiful these suits are.” Towards the end of her internship in London, Lambert let her help him pick some options for the tour. She thumbs through the book quickly to get a glimpse of the beautiful designer suits. She notices quite a few of her favourites made the cut. The 2 of them sit down and devise a plan to best get through this large task of double checking the 60 looks in front of them. They’re about ¾ the way through around 1pm when they mutually decide to take a break and grab some lunch before they power through the rest of the wardrobe. After meeting more members of the crew and grabbing another cup of coffee, Lambert and Aurora make their way back to their dressing room. 

“Hey, let’s go take a look at the stage,” Lambert said as he made a sharp turn in the opposite direction of the room they’ve been working in. “I haven’t seen the final setup yet.” 

“Oh, I’d love that!” Aurora’s face lights up at the idea. They enter from the back of the stage. The stage itself is fully constructed but the light trees are currently hanging low to the ground and crew members are working carefully to change the direction, colour or size of each bulb. Lambert excuses himself as he takes a call, telling Aurora he’ll meet her back in the dressing room in 15 minutes. Aurora continues the theme from today and introduces herself to the stage crew. “Mind if I check out the stage?” she asks Jack, one of the crew members who introduced himself as the Stage Manager. 

“Go ahead, just keep an eye out, we haven’t cleaned up much.” She nods and smiles while walking up the metal steps at the side of the stage. She takes careful steps as she steps to center stage. She looks out into the empty arena. The lights are low and the noise from the powertools is echoing through the arena. 

Though there isn’t any music, the stage lights aren’t shining, and she isn’t in one of her rhinestoned costumes, she still feels at home standing center stage. The nerves she’s been holding on to all morning wash away as she takes a deep breath. Her eyes flutter shut for a moment and she remembers the last time she performed on a stage like this one. It was her senior year of high school at nationals in New York City. It was her farewell to her dance career. A smile starts to grow on her face, the nerves from this morning, the the whole trip to get here, completely washed away now. 

“Oi!” a voice booms through the air, making Aurora jump and she searches for where it came from. She turns around, her hair following her as she turns. Her hair continues to follow her movement, falling in front of her face a bit but she can still make out the face the voice comes from. “What’re you doing on my stage?” She’s met with a smiley, broad shouldered Harry Styles. He’s got his hands in the pockets of the tartan trousers he’s wearing. The strong feeling of embarrassment brings heat to her cheeks as she looks down at the black and white vans he’s sporting. 

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry, I-,” she starts rambling apologies. She watches his vans take a few steps closer to her. Aurora’s fumbling with her hands, a nervous tick of hers. “-I was told, told, I could, could, check out the stage,” she’s stuttering over her words and pointing in the direction of Jack. She finally stops talking when she meets Harry’s eyes. He’s still beaming and her stomach drops at the fact that he’s enjoying this situation. His confidence paints an incredible stark difference from her mumbling nervousness. Her brain is a bit fuzzy right now but that doesn’t stop her from noticing the way his eyes sparkle. 

“I’m only joking, love” he says as he pulls his hands out of his pockets with a chuckle. “The stage suits you.” 

“I’m sorry,” Aurora offers again. “I’m-” She’s reaching her hand out when he cuts off her introduction.

“Love, we’ve met. How could I forget you, Aurora.” She’s startled a bit when her name comes out of his mouth. “Ya fixed the hole in my pink jacket, remember?” He’s stepping closer to her and before she’s able to process what’s happening he’s wrapped his arms around her torso, his tattooed arm rubbing her back briefly before pulling away. 

A small laugh leaves her mouth, “I remember, didn’t think you would is all.” Her voice is soft and trails off towards the end of her sentence. 

“Not got much a reputation then if I’ve got people that work with me thinking I’ll forget them.” He lets out a soft chuckle and his smile elicits a dimple on his cheek. 

“No, no, you’ve got a much better reputation than that, promise. You must meet a lot of people day to day is all.” Aurora is calming down, now, realizing that there is no reason for her to be so nervous around him. She’s interacted with him before, this shouldn’t be so jarring to her. Though this time is different. She wouldn’t be working behind Lambert or running errands. She’ll be with Harry just about everyday and she terrified she’ll never be comfortable, always anxiety ridden. Although his life is much different from hers, she’ll be getting a real taste of it and they’re close in age. They’re bound to find something in common. Right?. There’s a bit of silence before Aurora speaks up. “Well, your suits aren’t gonna organize themselves. I better go find Lambert.”

“Yes, of course. Don’t let me stop you from your work.” Aurora nods. She excuses herself as she makes a comment about how she thinks the stage looks great so far. Just after she’s walked past him she feels him grab her hand. “I’m excited to have ya on tour with us, love. Happy to have you making sure I sparkle just right on this stage.” He’s let go of her hand and presents his arms out to the sides as he mentions the stage. 

She’s beaming back at him. “Packed extra rhinestones just for you.” She’s almost skipping down the stairs after that. A weight of relief falling from her shoulders in a light sigh.  First, interaction with Harry? Check. She finds her way back to the room she’d been working in all morning. She settles down on the couch again, pulling the large binder into her lap. She jots down a few notes and adds to the ever growing list of things that need to be done. She stands up and walks over to one of the open wardrobe cases. She’s sliding hangers across the rack before she gets to the next look. Aurora takes the hanger off the rack. The sleek black hanger is labeled Yves Saint Laurent and an emerald green sequined button down shirt hangs off of it. There’s a pair of black straight leg trousers folded over the hanger as well. Aurora carries the ensemble across the room and hangs it on one of the vanity bulbs that sticks out from the light bulb framed mirror. She fixes the collar so it’s sitting straight. She takes a step back with one hand on her hip and another on her chin. 

“What’re you thinking?” Lambert asks when he sees Aurora’s furrowed brow. She hums, still processing her thoughts. 

“You know Michael Jackson’s black sequin jacket? The one he wore when he did the moonwalk for the first time?” He nods, following along. “Think we could play with that idea. What if Harry wore this open, with the Calvin tank?” In the small section of a wardrobe they’ve already gone through is a slew of clothing articles that will be used for multiple shows. The Calvin tank she’s referencing is one that will be, in Aurora’s opinion, an iconic, staple for the entire tour. It’s a simple white ribbed tank but on the left side, “Treat People With Kindness” is embroidered in black. “It’d be closer to Michael’s ‘Billie Jean’ performance in Munich that same year, but it’s the iconic sequin jacket that will sell it.”  

“You really know your stuff huh?” Lambert chuckles, impressed by her knowledge and the way her brain works. Lambert walks away and grabs the tank from the rack and brings it back to Aurora. 

A smile creeps onto Aurora’s face. “My mom loves Michael Jackson. Loves him like everyone loves Harry. I grew up dancing around the house to his music.” She takes the tank from Lambert after he slides it off the hanger. She’s quick to unbutton the YSL shirt in excitement but does it as carefully as possible. She hangs the tank under the shirt, turning it into a overshirt now. The smile on her face is growing. She’s in her element, doing exactly what she’s always wanted to do. Lambert places a hand on her shoulder and gives it a squeeze. A silent approval. Aurora walks back to the table and writes down their decision for this look in the notebook she’s been working with. They go through a few more suits and make a note that they’ll need an extra white button down from Gucci. Lambert is sending Aurora there sometime this week to pick a few more things up that are getting finished and some extra shoes for Harry as well. Lambert says Harry likes to wear his shoes to dust and that Aurora will have to make sure he doesn’t go on stage with holes in his shoes cause he will, especially his rainbow loafers.  They finish going through the rest of the suits before calling it a day. Lambert fills her in on the next few day’s timeline to prepare her for the week. Aurora leaves the arena feeling like her heart could burst. She couldn’t have imagined a better first day at her new job. Aurora heads to bed early, after she orders a Domino’s Pizza, to rest up for the days ahead and beat the jet lag that’s bound to hit her in the next few days. 

When she gets to Wembley the next morning, Aurora grabs a coffee from craft services and says hello to a few people she recognizes from yesterday. She’s thankful that everyone has a lot to get done and people are jutting off to their own areas to get to work. Aurora would be lying to herself if she didn’t acknowledge that she’s a bit overwhelmed by all of the new faces. She knows faces will become familiar as time goes on but right now she’s content with her coffee and knowing that she’s walking to a room to work on her own for awhile. 

When she finds herself in the familiar green room she sets herself up for the day. Aurora pulls her laptop out of her leather bag and presses play on her current spotify playlist. She likes working alone, but not in silence. After collecting her notebook from yesterday and the envelope of images that Lambert left for her she sits down and starts putting together the final look book for tour. She’s organizing the book by tour dates, making a section for each city. 

“Basel, Switzerland” is written on the top of the 1st page in bold all capital letters. Aurora tapes an image of the black glittered Gucci suit that Harry will wear for the opening night of his world tour. She copies any notes she made about this look from yesterday onto the space underneath the photo. After she’s finished the page for Switzerland she goes to the large cases and pulls the black glittered Gucci suit to the empty rolling rack that she set up yesterday. Each of the traveling cases will need to be organized by date to make traveling and set up easier throughout the tour. She continues this process for the next 2 hours. Once her coffee is empty at the end of the 2 hours she has almost 6 cities complete. Aurora takes her empty coffee cup as a sign for her to take a break. Before leaving the room to get more coffee she checks her phone. There’s a few notifications, emails from lists she keeps forgetting to unsubscribe to and a string of texts from her mother. She laughs at the first text - “I know you’re probably fine, but you’re in a different country and I need to hear your voice to make sure you’re still alive and it’s not some kidnapper texting me back” - then another text about 20 mins after that one reads “I love you, I know you’re busy, but please call me” and the last one delivered just a few minutes ago, “I’m your mother, it’s my job to worry.” Aurora shakes her head and feels a bit guilty because she hasn’t texted her mom as much as she probably should have and before knocking out last night she texted her back apologizing for not calling after her first day and that she was just too exhausted. 

Her mom doesn’t answer and is greeted with an automatic voicemail greeting, “Classic,” she chuckles as she hangs up without leaving a message. She shakes her head, standing in the doorway as she sends off a text saying she’s taking a break and to call her back, adding a “I’m good, everything’s amazing! Just calling to chat” as she always does so her mother doesn’t worry any more than she is. As she finishes the texts she mumbled a bit to herself about how her mother is always worrying but never picks up her dang phone. It isn’t until a familiar voice rings through the hallway that she realises she was mumbling quite clearly. 

“Sorry, everything alright, love?” Harry’s distinct voice travels closer to her as she looks up from her phone to him. She’s made her way into the arena hallway completely now. There’s a small furrow in his brow but a slight grin on his face. 

“Ah yeah, didn’t realise I was talking out loud.” She holds her phone up, “You know mothers, always worrying but never actually answering their phone when you call.” Harry laughs, his shoulders shaking. “She sent me this string of texts about being worried and 2 minutes later doesn’t pick up when I call her.” She sighs before sliding her phone into the pocket of the track jacket she’s got on today. 

“My mum does the same. Always saying we don’t talk enough or that she misses me and when I do get the chance she’ll text me back saying she’s out with friends drinking wine or s’thing like that.” Aurora laughs along with him. When she takes a proper look at him she notices he’s wearing black adidas joggers today with a white t shirt and a black nike jacket. 

“Looks like we both had the same idea when we got ready this morning,” she continues to laugh while gesturing between to two of them. They’re dressed almost identical right down to the white sneakers. Aurora’s got on her favourite black lululemon leggings instead of joggers but her tshirt and track jacket look just the same as Harry’s. Harry takes a good look at what he’s got on and back to Aurora and his eyes begin to crinkle and his nose scrunches up before he’s laughing. The laugh is almost a giggle and Aurora has to hold back from flashing him the most endearing smile. 

“Guess it’s a good thing that my Head of Wardrobe and I match. Must mean I’ve got the right person taking care of my clothing then.” He swings his arm around her shoulder before asking if she’s got a minute to grab a snack. 

“Probably should eat and I definitely need some more coffee,” she replies with a smile and shoves her hands into the pockets of her jacket not knowing what to do with them. There’s something about Harry, it’s that thing that people always talk about, his ease around everyone, the way he makes you feel like you’ve known each other forever. His kind demeanor relaxes Aurora and she’s sure this is how he makes everyone feel. Harry starts to go on about different things that are happening around the arena as they walk to the green room, pointing out different people and what they’re working on. Harry doesn’t know this, but the more Aurora knows about her surroundings and the things people are doing, the more comfortable she feels. Aurora likes knowing what’s going on. She knows it’s got something to do with wanting control over as much as she can but she also knows that there is so much going on that she can’t control anything and she especially knows that it isn’t her job. But knowing is good for her. Just as they turn the corner to the green room her phone rings. She pulls it out of her pocket and “Mother” with a pink heart is flashing on her screen. She shows the phone to Harry and she slides out from under his arm. “Rain check on the snacks?” she offers him before answering the call. She smiles as he shoots her a grin and voices an ‘of course’ before he turns around and goes back the way they had came. She questions his actions for a moment before saying hello to her mother. 

Aurora pulls out her notebook while she’s in the car the next morning to review what she needs to get done today. Written in red, at the top of the page under today’s date is: final fitting with Harry @ 12pm. She’s excited to get some of the newer pieces on him and finally have all the looks together. She’s nervous too. Lambert won’t be there again today or barely at all the rest of the week, her part time buffer ripped away sooner than expected. She knows there’s nothing to be nervous about. It’s just Harry. ‘Just Harry,’ she continues to mumble under her breath. 

“Miss Del Gatto, we’ve arrived,” Steven, her driver, who she’s come accustomed to after the past few rides, announces. Aurora looks out the window and sees the Gucci store front. 

“Thanks, Steven. I’ll only be a few minutes.” She smiles at him before stepping out of the car. She got dressed this morning in slightly more put together outfit that she had on yesterday, knowing she had to stop into a few stores on her way in to pick up some pieces that were still missing. Her black chunky heeled leather boots make a clacking sound as she walks towards the entrance. Before she can even reach for the door, she’s welcomed by a man in an all black suit that is welcoming her into the store. 

“Welcome to Gucci.” His voice is deep but bright and welcoming, she thanks him with a smile. 

Once she’s a few more steps into the door she adjusts the small gold airplane necklace that is sitting on the outside of her black turtleneck before speaking up. “I’m here to pick up some shoes for Harry,” she rattles out. A questioned look appears on the man’s face. “Harry Lambert and Styles.” She clarifies. 

“Aurora Del Gatto, yes?” another woman’s voice speaks up from across the store. 

“Uh, y-yes,” she stammers while turning towards the women. 

“I’m Lauren. Nice to meet you, Aurora. Harry told me to be expecting you this morning.” Aurora shakes Lauren’s hand with a smile. Lauren looks like a seasoned pro, her black suit fits her perfectly and her greying hair is pulled up into an elegant low bun. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable,” she says motioning towards the plush dark purple couches. “Would you like any water or coffee, dear?” 

“Oh, I’m alright actually, thank you.” 

“I’ll be right back with everything.” Aurora nods in acknowledgement while sitting down on the couch. She slides off the lightweight, long, camel coloured coat she’s wearing and drapes it over the couch next to her. She checks her watch to make sure she’s good on time. She’s got to stop at Calvin Klein as well before heading to arena to prep for Harry’s fitting. It’s just gone on 10am, she’s got plenty of time but still anxious at the thought of arriving just before the fitting, not getting a chance to set up. She’s brought back from her thoughts when Lauren returns with 3 shoe boxes in her arms and a garment bag.

“I think there are only 2 pairs of shoes I’m supposed to be picking up,” Aurora questions, “the rainbow loafers and the Spring 18 leather boots.” Lauren’s face lights up in a smile. 

“Yes, those are both here and there’s a pair of sneakers here for you as well.” Aurora’s face reflects exactly what is going through her mind: surprise, shock, and other emotions she couldn’t put words to. Her jaw has dropped and her eyes are wide. “Harry called last night and wanted us to fit you into some Ace Sneakers for the tour.” 

“Lambert said that?” Aurora is confused, giddy and nervous, always nervous. She doesn’t even know how to accept a gift like this. She’d also be lying if she hadn’t been looking at these sneakers forever. 

“No, dear, Harry Styles.” Aurora is beyond caught off guard at this point. 

“I’m sorry, I think there must be a mistake. There’s no reason for Harry to be giving me anything.”

“He specifically called these in for you. I don’t know the details, he just wanted to make sure you walked out with the perfect fit.” She set 2 of the boxes down on a glass table and brought over the 3rd box. “I grabbed the 7.5, I’m normally pretty good at guessing.” 

“Well, you would be right.” Aurora laughs nervously. She slides off her boots in order to avoid the overwhelming thoughts in her head. She’s afraid if she doesn’t keep moving she might go into shock. She’s trying on the sneakers before she speaks up again, “Uhm,” Aurora starts to speak, “Does Harry, uh, do this often? I-I mean, uh call in for gifts?” 

“I wouldn’t say often, but I’ve fulfilled a few of his gifting requests over the past few years. Just a handful though. There really hasn’t been many, if I’m honest.” 

Aurora smiles to herself. She’s still confused about it all but still that same familiar feeling rushes through her when she’s reminded of Harry’s incredible kind demeanor. And before she knew it, she's walking out of Gucci with a smile on her face, a tingle in her fingers, a garment bag and not 2 but 3 boxes of shoes.

She’s setting up one last suit on the tall silver rolling rack before she checks her watch. 11:59. She made great time getting to Wembley after grabbing the pink plaid jacket and custom boots from Calvin Klein. There’s a light knock on the slightly ajar door seconds later. 

“‘Ello, love,” Harry’s voice booms through the small, concrete walled room. Aurora turns towards the door. “All ready!” He exclaims as he makes his way towards her. 

“Hi Harry,” Aurora responds before Harry has a hand at her waist and is placing a light kiss on the top of her cheek. 

“How’s your morning been?” He’s now made his way to the rolling rack she had just filled. 

“Good,” she wants to ask him about the shoes but she doesn’t know how to bring it up. “I did uh- I, I-”

“Can I try this one on?” Harry interrupts, suddenly distracted by the garments he hasn’t seen yet. She’s grabbing her book from the table across the room when she hears the sound of hangers hitting the floor. “Oooff,” there’s a chuckle that follows. “That one’s a bit slippery.” 

“Oh gosh, yeah I need to add some hanger loops to that one,” Aurora sets her book down and rushes over to pick up the fallen garments and hangers. Harry utters a few sorry’s before stepping away. She swears she hears him mumble about being in the way. Once she’s got the fallen garments gathered on the crook of her arm, she grabs a hanger adorn in the pink plaid Calvin suit. “That’s what you get for being so nosy,” she quips at him and hands him the suit. His jaw drops slightly but before he can say a thing Aurora’s speaking again, “Try this one on first, please.” Aurora lingers on the please and shoots him a sweet smile. “There’s a small room through there you can change in.” She turns around after motioning towards the door and sees that Harry already has his trousers down to his ankles. “Orrrr you can change right there.” 

“Oh, don’t wanna make you uncomfortable, darling,” he responds as you quickly turn away, sliding the plaid trousers all the way up and buttoning them just as fast.

“Oh no, you’re fine, don’t wanna be rude is all.” Aurora is flipping through her book finding the section for Stockholm. “The black ribbed tank was on the hanger with the jacket, yeah?” She asks as she skims over the page in front of her. He hums back letting her know it’s there. Aurora lifts up her coffee cup from earlier this morning to her lips, turning around to find Harry fully dressed in the Calvin Klein suit she picked up this morning. She frowns realising there’s no coffee left in her cup. 

“What?” Harry asks, his brows knitted together in concern after seeing the frown on her face. “Does it look that bad?” He’s messing with the way he’s tucked the shirt into the waistband of the trousers. 

Aurora giggles at his frantic hands. “Harry, nothing could look bad on you.” She shakes the empty cup in front of him. “I’m out of coffee.” 

“Well, that frown was badly timed. I’ve got a brand new suit on and that’s the first reaction I get?’ 

“Oh you’ll be fine, rockstar. Plenty of ego pumping in the near future,” Aurora quips backs at him as she makes a circle around him. “They did great with this one,” she’s pulling at the shoulders of the jacket so it sits just right on his broad frame. “How do the trousers feel?” She asks as she smooths down the fabric of the sleeves before rounding back to face Harry straight on. 

“The trousers? Yeah they feel good. Fit perfect, I think.” He’s pulled up the bottom of the jacket and is twisting his hips round. “Wha’ d’ya think?” 

“I think Calvin Klein knows exactly what he’s doing,” she says with a smirk. “Okay, that one’s all set, go ahead and put this one on now.” She hands him another pink jacket, this one velvet with embellishments and it has a Gucci tag on it rather than Calvin Klein. She hands him black trousers with a gold trim as well. “You’ll wear this with a button down but just try with the tank. I just need to make sure all the alterations were done properly.” 

“Did you stop at Gucci this morning? Lambert mentioned you were going,” he asks while handing her the plaid suit he just took off. Aurora busies herself with hanging them up. 

“Yeah. Got your loafers and boots. I also-”

“Oh nooooo, Aurora,” Harry’s voice is panicky. 

“Wha-,” is all she gets out before she sees and hears the beads rolling on the floor. “Ahhh I had a feeling that was going to happen. And THIS is why we try things on 100 times. Wouldn’t want you unraveling on stage.” She runs over to her kit that stands in the corner.

“I’m sorry, not sure what I did,” Harry’s face shows worry like he’s done something wrong. 

“Hun, you didn’t do anything, promise. I think it might have been from the alterations.” Aurora is tying a knot in a piece of thread before walking over to him. “I’m just gonna close this strand up while it’s on you and I’ll re embellish it later.” The piece that’s come undone is on the right shoulder. She slides her hand under the jacket to find the back of the spot she needs to fix. Her hand brushes the skin of his shoulder, reminding her he’s only wear the tank underneath and he flinches. “Sorry, my hands are probably cold. This will only take a second.” 

“S’alright, love.” There’s silence while she focuses on the work in front of her. Once she’s finished she carefully slips a small pair of gold scissors underneath the jacket and cuts the thread and needle she had been working with loose, detaching herself from Harry’s shoulder. “That was quick,” Harry says with a tone of surprise and Aurora thinks she can hear a little bit of disappointment as well. Aurora shrugs her shoulders in response. 

“Could you put on the black version of that jacket for me?” Aurora asks as she grabs a spool of black thread. “Think we might have the same problem with that one too.” She slides the needle she’s threaded with black thread onto the cuff of her sweater so she doesn’t lose it. She helps Harry into the black jacket and hangs up the one he just had on. 

“Aannddd there it is,” Harry says with chuckle as a strand of beads comes loose on his right sleeve. Aurora gets to work on the one on his sleeve as 2 more make themselves known on his back. “So you got my boots and loafers this morning? Up to anything else before I came in and ruined all the garments?” Aurora laughs and moves to his back to take care of the broken pieces there. 

“Uhm picked up that Calvin jacket and your custom boots. Let me tell you, those boots are glorious. The glossed leather with the steel tip will look incredible with your suits. ”

“Oh can I see them when we’re done?”

“‘Course you can!” There’s some silence between them again as she concentrates on the job in front of her. She catches a glimpse of the white gucci bags that are sitting by one of the wardrobe cases and it’s like those new sneakers are burning a hole in her head. It clicks in her head now that he’s been directing the conversation this way trying to get it out of her. “Hey Harry,” she’s met with a hum, “can I ask you about something?” She continues to work on the jacket, keeping her hands busy. She’s thankful that the strand she’s working on is on his back so she doesn’t have to make eye contact with him. 

“‘Course, Aurora.” 

“Uhm, at Gucci this morning, they uh, they fitted me for sneakers,” Harry hums in response, “and um, I-I, um, that was very kind of you.” She’s stuttering through her words. It wasn’t until now that she got a tinge of nervousness. “Y-you didn’t need to do that. Really.” 

“Aurora, I wanted to. And I thought you deserved some new shoes.” She can’t see his face but she can hear the smile that’s formed on his face. “We’ve got a few countries to trek around the next few months.” 

Moments later she’s finished repairing what she can and she’s sliding Harry’s jacket off his shoulders. “Thank you, Harry,” she says finally after the black jacket is hung back on its Gucci hanger on the rolling rack near them. “Seriously, too kind.” 

“No such thing as too kind, Ror,” he quips back and before she can comment on the nickname, he’s talking again. “Now what else do you need me to try on?” 

The afternoon goes by quickly and Harry is patient with her. He stands up straight in each new piece and asks questions about different things she’s making notes of or checking off of her thousands of lists. She checks her watch quickly as she’s making one last note. 

“How is it 3 o’clock already?” Aurora stammers out. “Sorry to take your entire afternoon from you.” 

“Don’t worry about it, Ror.” Harry’s pulling down the hem of his white tshirt he walked in wearing earlier today, “Nice to spend some time with ya and seems like you’ve been able to check a lot off your list.” 

“You probably have a list a mile long of things that need to be done this week too, though,” she rebuttals. “Or do you have someone to take care of those things for you?” she jokes. 

“Oh yeah, don’t remember their name, but I just tell them everything I need done and they do it for me.” The look on Aurora’s face is utter disgust, unable to politely react because she wasn’t expecting that answer.  There was no hint of sarcasm in Harry’s voice. Harry’s face is still and he’s silent for a moment before his nose scrunches up and a giggle erupted from his mouth. “Ror, I’m totally kidding.” He’s placed a hand on her shoulder now, rubbing his thumb soothingly. 

“Harry,” she’s giggling along now too, “you had me for a second.” 

Harry thanks her for her work and the time spent together today and leaves only after giving her a hug and a short kiss on her cheek. 

The next few days are spent hand stitching gold and silver beads onto those 2 Gucci jackets, labeling every single piece of the wardrobe and then organizing the giant crates for the travel managers to take and get ready to fly. She walks through all of the wardrobes multiple time and completes fittings with all of Harry’s band members as well. Brief 1 hour time frames are scheduled with each of them, Clare, Sarah, Adam and Mitch. Lambert pops in to make sure the final fittings went well and pays complements to Aurora’s new sneakers she’s sporting with a knowing look on his face. 

There’s one day left till the first tour stop and the arena is just about empty. The stage is packed up, the wardrobe crates have been taken from Aurora and the number of people in the arena is starting to dwindle down. Since everything is already loaded on a truck making its way to the airport Aurora didn’t have much to do today but she kept herself busy at the apartment she’s been at all week for the majority of the morning. She’s repacked multiple times getting everything to fit perfectly, almost committing the perfect folding techniques and order of adding things to her suitcase to memory. Everyone is to arrive at the airport early the next morning but Harry has arranged for a group lunch at the arena for one last collective meeting before the tour starts.

Aurora arrives a few minutes early to the lunch and says hello to a few crew members she’s gotten to know. Lambert is there too - seems that Harry has invited anyone who has helped with the prep of the tour regardless if they’re coming along or not. She also meets a few more new faces like Ayae, Harry’s hair and makeup stylist. She’s new to the tour group and hasn’t been needed for prep so this his her 1st time meeting a lot of the crew too. She sits down with Aurora and Lambert at a table and is engaging in a conversation about this and that when Harry comes up to the table with Jeff. Jeff is a familiar face to Aurora even though she has only interacted with him a few times.  Jeff always seems to be everywhere - Aurora always makes mental acknowledgment about how he is consistently working on something but always is seemingly available to everyone. 

Alicia, a woman probably in her late 30’s, is following Harry and Jeff with a grey rolling cart like you would see in an old cafeteria and it’s filled with large cardboard boxes. Aurora has met Alicia and remembers Lambert introducing her as the Tour Merchandise Manager. 

“Aurora, Ayae, Harry, great to see all of you! Doing alright, I assume?” Jeff asks while rounding the cart and reaching a hand in the box. 

“Got some tour sweatshirts for everyone, treat people with kindness and all that,” Harry adds in, running a hand through his hair. It isn’t until now that Aurora notices the length of his hair. It’s not as short as it was when she first met him but it’s nowhere near the length she remembers him having while still in One Direction. There is one curl that won’t stay back no matter how many times he runs his hand through it to push it back. The lone curl falls against his forehead one last time before he gives up. 

“Oh, very humble of you, Harry,” Ayae says with a chuckle while examining the sweatshirt Alicia had just given her.

It’s a plain black Champion hoodie with 2 small pieces of embroidery, 1 on the left of the chest and the other on the inside of the right arm. Ayae is referring to the large embroidered “Harry” on the chest. Underneath his name is ‘World Tour 2018’. Hah. He’s gotta love this shit. His name written on everything. Clothing, signs, his name is branded everywhere. 

“Heyyyyy,” Harry’s voice is slightly whiny, both of his eyes scrunch up and his brows furrow. The ‘hey’ turns into a giggle and they all laugh along with him. Harry then hands Aurora her sweatshirt. “Here ya go, Ror.” She thanks him softly after taking it from him. 

Post lunch, Harry, Jeff and a few others talk about how excited they are and how successful the prep went all week. The Head Travel Manager, Daniel, reminds everyone to double check their itinerary when they get home tonight and to double, triple, quadruple check they’ve packed everything. Harry yells something about making sure everyone’s got their passport cause “long story short” he forgot his once and it was not a day full of kindness. The large group chuckles at his little antidote before the room begins to clear out and everyone heads home to get ready to travel the next day. 

Thanks for reading !!! Feedback & comments are always welcome !!! 

[stsgyuri]

writing gift exchange thing for @thetravelingdreamer97!! i hope u like it

A lean girl with dark skin and even darker hair sits on a rust ridden park bench. Her sketchbook, a small thing with crinkled pages and dirty edges, sits on her crossed legs; on top of the sketchbook sits her hand, creating sweeping gestures with a granite pencil.

The girl has always enjoyed nature: the organic shapes, the soft greens and heavy browns. It’s real, definitely, positively real. There is no denying nature, and she loves the truth of it. It does not hide behind kind lies, although flowers may deceive from time to time. She prefers to steer clear of people.

People can lie and deceive. People have lied and deceived.

But the girl would rather not think about that right now, so she simply drags her pencil loosely across the page, the lines giving the impression of a tree dancing in the wind. The park is empty at such an early hour. Oranges and reds are still painting houses in their hues. It’s worth the inevitable exhaustion that comes with being up and at it at 6 AM. No one bothers her, and she bothers no one. It’s just her and the dancing trees.

At least, until she hears a click.

Now it’s just her, the dancing trees, and a pretty photographer.

A plump girl with tan skin and sea foam dyed hair stands a few feet away, smiling brilliantly at her camera screen. She’s clad in bleached jeans, a plain white shirt, and a sap green jacket embroidered with white roses. Her hair is braided down the side, falling over her shoulder in a long rope.

A few thoughts string themselves together in the lean and dark girl’s head:

One; she has a beautiful smile.

Two; she looks like a she was a mermaid in her past life.

Three; I need to get the hell out of here before she starts speaking to me.

Attempting to draw minimal to no attention to herself, the sketch artist quietly assembles her pencils and tools, shoves them into her bag, stands up, and is about to make a break for it, until--

“Oh, hey! I didn’t expect anyone to be at the park so early in the morning on a Saturday,” the pretty photographer says from behind her. At the back of her mind, she thinks how the pretty girl has a pretty voice.

She sighs, turns around, and sees that same bright smile still plastered on the pretty girl’s face. She shrugs in response.

The photographer is not deterred. In fact, she seems to be encouraged by the silence. “I usually come here to avoid crowds. In the morning, that is,” she clarifies. “Anyways, I’m Allie,” she sticks out a hand.

The sketch artist stares for a bit. She could’ve sworn this only happens in books and movies. People actually shake hands when they meet? Nonetheless, she takes the pretty girl’s hand and offers her name in exchange: “Salem.”

Somehow, impossibly, Allie’s smile grows brighter. Salem suspects that prolonged exposure will likely cause blindness. Not that’d she mind. It is a beautiful smile. And it looks so real…

“Oh, that’s a pretty name,” Allie says. It’s weird, how it sounds like she’s telling the truth. Salem eyes her a bit warily. Why is she so nice? What’s her motive? Maybe she is genuinely nice, but maybe not.

“Thanks,” Salem responds a bit slowly. She’s not sure what else to say, curse that social anxiety, but Allie beats her to it.

“Hey, want to get some coffee? Or are you a tea person?”

Salem has not met anyone who talks so fast. She has also not met anyone who invited her to coffee twenty seconds after meeting her. She’s about to automatically refuse, but she’s curious, so instead she asks, “Why?”

Allie’s smile falters a bit. “Well, why not? It’s just so early so I thought, you know, coffee? Get to know each other? But if you don’t want to it’s completely fine! I just thought it’d be nice…?” Somehow, she got that out all in one breath.

She’s not sure why she nods and says, sure, I guess. Maybe it’s because she’s never had much of a close friend to go get coffee with. Maybe it’s because the girl is another art student, someone to relate with. Maybe it’s because the girl seems so honest and real, not a common trait among most.

So, they go to get coffee. And maybe a donut, who knows.

-x-

They talked on the way there. Well, Allie was the one who did most of the talking. Salem listened to every word, though she wouldn’t admit to the pretty photographer. In the fifteen minutes it took to reach the coffee shop, Salem learned that Allie adores cats, flowers, and art. They go to the same college, but don’t have the same classes. It’s strange how they haven’t seen each  other before, but Salem tries to avoid people for the most part and Allie is usually too focused on her new assignments to notice anyone.

Allie managed to get a few things out of Salem: she also prefers cats, though she’s not a big fan of flowers she loves trees and other plants. The walk was filled with Allie’s bright smiles and Salem’s contemplative silences.

Salem has never been on a walk with someone before.

Now, they sit at a circular table in a small coffee shop, steam wafting up into the air and tickling their faces. Allie is prattling on about her cats and how they always try to eat her food and is that normal because she’s pretty sure a cat should not be trying to eat potato chips and Salem feels a smile creeping across her lips.

“I’ve never had any pets,” she admits. “But… I’ve always wanted a kitten.” That is likely the most she’s spoken so far. Her social walls are starting to melt a little for this pretty photographer with potato chip eating cats.

Allie swallows her coffee before answering. “We had a lot of stray cats in our neighborhood and they all kept making babies. At one point we had eight cats at once. It was kind of ridiculous.”

“I can’t tell if that would be an awful experience or a cute one,” Salem says, and the pretty photographer gives her a pretty laugh. Salem didn’t know she made a joke, but she smiles anyway. Allie’s laugh is as infectious as her smile.

They talk for a few hours about nothing. Like time is nothing. It’s ten in the morning when Allie says she has to leave for class. She offers to walk Salem back to wherever she needs to go, but Salem waves her on. She’d love to walk with the pretty photographer for as long as possible, but she needs a few minutes to collect her wits.

She’s still staring at her coffee cup when Allie leaves. She whispers to herself, in all the elegance she can muster up, “Holy shit.”

-x-

They text each other. At first, it was mainly Allie keeping up the conversation. But after a few days, Salem started adding to the conversation more and more. She likes how Allie is so honest. Salem is honest in return. Allie’s text messages consist of minimal grammar and an enormous amount of emojis. Salem’s contain more grammar than necessary and, that’s it.

They meet up, occasionally. They’ll walk to the park and Allie will snatch a photo or two of Salem, who discreetly sketches the pretty photographer. They discuss their favorite artists, their favorite type of cat, their favorite anything. Salem snatches glances of Allie whenever she can and ignores the feeling in her chest as best she can.

Two weeks after they’ve met, they’re sitting on the bed in Allie’s dorm. Her roommate is gone for the day, for whatever reason. Salem didn’t pay much attention, too absorbed in looking over Allie’s side of the room.

There’s a few prints hung along the wall, both of paintings and photographs, along with a few of Allie’s own photographs. One of them is of Salem, sitting on a park bench with her sketchbook out and a wistful smile as she stares at some point past the camera. Allie’s desk has a few cat plushes, a mint green laptop, and a scattering of pens and pencils. Her schoolwork is shoved unceremoniously beneath the bed, which has soft green sheets and another cat plush.

She looks back to Allie, who’s wringing her braided her as if she’s nervous. “There’s a lot of cat stuff, I know,” she says, as if she were expecting that kind of comment.

Instead, Salem comments, “I love the green. It’s cute,” like you, she doesn’t add,

That seems to restore Allie’s mood, as she beams immediately like a sun. “Thanks! It’s my favorite color, if you can’t tell,” she adds, gesturing to her hair, her bed, her… well, everything.

“Yeah? Mine too,” Salem admits. She notices for the first time that Allie has brown eyes. Green hair, brown skin, brown eyes… Honest and real… It’s no wonder Salem fell for this pretty photographer.

Allie smiles back. Salem’s heart stutters a little.

Allie hops off the bed towards her camera, eyes twinkling. “Okay, so you’re gonna pose for me, right?” After Salem nods, she smiles. “Great! Just sit right there.” She fiddles with a few things of her camera.

“What do I need to do?” Salem asks. She’s just sitting on the rumpled bed, sketchbook thrown across her lap, hair in a messy knot on her head. Not exactly the epitome of perfection.

As if reading her thoughts, Allie smiles softly. “Nothing. You’re perfect.”

Click.

-x-

“Do you mind if I try something?” Allie asks.

They’re sitting on a park bench, the one Salem had been occupying when they first met. There’s only an inch of space between them, though they both have enough room on either side to move away if they wanted. Neither did.

Salem looks up from her sketch, a dancing tree made of charcoal strokes. Allie looks nervous, but there’s a sort of resolve in her warm brown eyes. Salem thinks that if wood nymphs existed, Allie would be the striking image of one.

It’s been two months since they first met, and in that time, Salem has come to trust Allie. She’s no longer afraid that Allie is being ingenuine, deceiving her like most people are apt to do. She’s more comfortable around the girl, has even opened up to her.

So, she says, “Sure.”

And Allie kisses her.

It’s soft, just like everything about Allie, but it still paints colors behind Salem’s eyelids. Greens and brown mixing with the soft red of passion. Her hand reaches up to tangle itself in Allie’s loose hair. Allie lifts a hand and strokes Salem’s jaw, softly, as if she were about to evaporate at any moment.

It doesn’t last long, and after they’ve caught their breaths, Allie sputters out an apology, speaking at a mile a minute. “I’m sorry, was it too soon? Too much? I didn’t mean to over step anything and I’m really sorry if you’re uncomfortable now and if you don’t want to be friends anymore I completely understa--”

Salem kisses her silent.

-x-

Allie leans over Salem’s shoulder, her arm draped around her girlfriend as she looks at the sketch. It’s a pair of soft and full lips with a small dip in the middle. They’re a little pouty.

“What’s that?” she asks, though she already knows. She just wants to hear her say it.

Salem smiles slightly, eyes flickering from Allie’s lips to the page of charcoal smudges. “Oh, you know.”

She tilts her head up and plants a brief kiss on Allie’s lips. She feels her girlfriend smile against her own mouth. Allie has a tendency to smile when they kiss. Especially when they kiss. Salem finds it a little bit adorable. Okay, a lot adorable.

Salem runs a dark hand across Allie’s still grinning lips. “Just those.”

[thedistantstorm]

A Shipwright Worth Her Salt Chapter 02

He leaves the large hunk of bread and container to go with it wrapped in a piece of cloth and hidden in a nook she had pointed out to him as he passes through to head out beyond the walls for a patrol. He’ll check it when he gets back, and as it’s been the last few times, the little crevice will be void of all food, the container washed and clean with only a crumb or two on the cloth he’s wrapped it in.

It’s barely enough for a little girl to get by on, and he doesn’t make it there for long stretches at a time, but he hopes that she’s thriving, since he hasn’t seen her in person since leaving her at the refugee camp months ago.

It’s weeks later that he happens upon it again, and with a bit more time to spare. He can’t help but quirk an eyebrow at the large piece of a Fallen pike that’s hidden beneath a large, tattered tarp inside the bombed out shelter when he makes his way inside. He lifts the faded cover away and stares down at it. It’s a larger chunk of engine block, and there’s some discarded circuitry on the ground around it. Part of the ether tank is under it, and he realizes she’s probably made some type of skid to get it into this makeshift shelter of hers. Most civilians didn’t enjoy living in the skeletal ruins of what once was, but she seemed to thrive away from prying eyes.

She’s a tinkerer, he learned. There’s little things scattered about the crumbling countertops of what he assumes was a garage or kitchenette. Discarded and reclaimed tools, bits of wire and metal, screws and bolts everywhere. He investigates the one cupboard that has a door hanging lopsidedly from it and discovers she’s created a bunk from the cupboard. She’s small, and the cupboard is likely too small, but he assumes she’s making due, since there’s not much of a roof left on the building to begin with.

There’s a sketchbook under a dirty blanket, and he flips it open to see detailed drawings of all sorts of machinery. The bits of the pike have been broken down, with annotated explanations in steady scrawl across the edges of the pages, as well as a rudimentary sparrow, the typical convoy truck that pulls wagons of refugees, and even some older vehicles he’s only seen the husks of in his journey through the EDZ.

On the third to last page is a diagram of the scout radio she repaired for him in their first meeting. To say he’s impressed with her observations is an understatement. When he sets down the book where he found it, he hears a cough behind her.

“Do ya always go through my stuff when ya come by?”

A brief flit of embarrassment crosses his face before his stoic, business-like demeanor reigns it in. He makes a non-committal hum and she huffs, blowing stringy blond hair out of her face before plopping on the ground in front of him and slinging her pack off. She yanks it open, and pulls out a bagged bundle before dumping everything else onto the ground with a loud clatter. A lot of it is fallen tech, but some of it are pieces of guardian weaponry, badly damaged, as well as a radio that looks even worse than the one that sits in on the shelf above the bunk in his barracks. Saladin had insisted he be outfitted with a better comm as his influence grew over the newer guardians.

“Ya need anything fixed up?” She asks after some time spent organizing her finds, lighting a small, dented lantern to cast light on them. Her head lifts and she meets his eyes when he doesn’t answer her.

He blinks at her, shaking his head without sound and his ghost pops out of thin air between them, whirling and chittering as she spins around the girl who looks up in surprise. “Hi there,” Amanda says shyly. The ghost bobs in front of her, shell spinning as if to indicate that her focus was narrowing.

“You again,” The reply comes, in a strangely maternal voice. The ghost advances quickly, and Amanda recoils at the intrusion to her personal space. “Find anything good out there?” She asks in her own version of a backpedal, the cyan light of her center flickering as she speaks.

“Uhh, well today I found some weapons and ammo,” She replies softly. “Most of the shank shells are from a few days ago. Was hopin’ to trade ‘em for glimmer or a toolset, but there’s lots of them being turned in, so I’ll haveta wait until the market is better since I don’t happen on a lot of ‘em.”

His ghost chatters in her electric way, computing something before responding. “Shank shells are something they’re asking for at the outpost.” She scans the girl’s haul, her lens illuminating the equipment on the ground as she rattles in tones that tell her guardian she’s making an analysis. “Probably could get a couple hundred glimmer for this, and the remains of the pike could be used to fix up your sparrow that you accidentally wrecked on our last patrol when you didn’t listen to me about flying directly into the Captain holding the scorch cannon.” Zavala rolled his eyes halfway, stopping abruptly when he notices the girl’s hopeful expression.

“I could do that!” The blonde chimes excitedly.

“No,” He says to his ghost. “Do not start this. There’s no telling when I’ll be called out, and I cannot act as an intermediary for every orphan in the city getting a raw deal at the Exchange.” The scowl on Amanda’s face was pointedly ignored.

“Yes, but every mechanic in the city has weeks of work to do before they’ll be able to get to your sparrow. It’s practically totalled anyway. May as well let her have at it, and worst case you’ll still have at least two weeks to wait for one of the city mechs to work on it.”

“You two done bickering about it?” The girl’s put away all her findings and sits back down, pulling the wrapped parcel onto her lap. “If he don’t want me to help ‘em, that’s fine, um -”

“I’m a ghost. Zavala’s ghost,” The little light says gently. “We’re partners.”

“That’s good,” Amanda says. “Havin’ someone is important.” The guardian and ghost share a pained look over her head, but the comment had no bite in it. She pulls out a crust of bread, and something that looks like a type of soup or broth. There’s not enough to share, but she offers it to him despite the rumbling he can hear from her belly. He shakes his head and she shrugs, before taking slow, concentrated bites.

He looks at his ghost, and she flickers at him pointedly, watching her try not to rush through the meal despite obvious hunger. He knows what that look and the narrowing of her optics means. Give her something to do. We have the glimmer to pay her for an odd job, that look says. It doesn’t have to be the sparrow, it can be anything. Zavala’s gaze remained stoic and firm, a reminder that it was one thing to leave a little food here and there, but he could not fight her battles for her. The world was cruel, though it felt like an arcbolt grenade to the chest to picture just want that could mean for her. Just the realization startles him. He cares for humanity, all of it. He’s a protector of all. But this is something different.

It could be his undoing. He tries not to focus on it further.

“What’s it like on a sparrow,” she asks when she’s half way done with her meal. She packs it back up, likely to have later to take the edge off. Zavala watches her expression change to interest as she regards him. His chest tightens at her hopeful, guarded excitement. “It’s gotta be like flyin’, right?”

“It is more like riding on one of those wagons people come into the city on than flying a ship,” He says slowly. “Except quite a bit faster.”

“You’ve flown a SHIP?!” Her voice is raised and incredulous.

He chuckles at her amazement, he can’t help himself. “Yes. Guardians have to travel across the globe and even to other planets for missions. I have my own.”

“That’s neat! What’re the specs on it? I watch them sometimes, when they take off from the base,” she says. “That way I’ll know if I see yours!”

His ghost, eager to please, projects an image of it directly in front of her, and she all but scampers into her cupboard sleeping area to grab her pad and pencil. She sketches it quickly as his ghost rattles off specifications that he doesn’t care to understand.

“You are interested in flying?” Zavala asks her, propping his chin up with his hand.

She nods, holding up her sketchpad and comparing it to the projection from his ghost before flipping it closed and tucking it on the ground next to her. “Always wanted to fly. See the stars, the other planets the Traveler’s touched.” She leans back and looks up at the night sky through a large chunk of missing roof. “Reckon I made it to the City, and that’s a pretty big feat,” she murmurs. “I’m good at takin’ things apart and makin’ ‘em right again, so I figure I could learn how to build my own someday. Then, head out and see just what’s goin’ on in the solar system.”

His ghost hums her approval. “That sounds like a good dream,” She says. Zavala nods.

“Not a dream,” The girl says defensively. “It’s a goal. Might take a while considerin’ I’m livin’ meal to meal right now, but I’ll get there someday. You’ll see.”

They stay in relative silence after that, listening to the sounds of crickets and rare peacefulness, until Zavala’s ghost relays a message from another titan, his voice booming and at least five times louder than any other person Amanda’s ever heard. Zavala ducks out of the girl’s shelter, laying a hand on her head as he passes, hesitating slightly - not that she noticed - but following through.

It’s the first time since well before her Pa’s died that she can remember someone touching her with fondness. Pa’d been very scattered and lost at the end, moving about life in a haze. She puts both hands on her head, commiting the warm feeling to memory. She still doesn’t feel safe here, but she sleeps more soundly than she has in months.

-/

Three days later, Amanda hears what sounds like a knock on the brick wall on the far side of her shelter. It’s rather early, and other than the blue-skinned guardian, she doesn’t get visitors. She feels panic wash over her just as she hears someone call out. “HELLO?!”

She recognizes that voice. It’s the one Zavala’s ghost relayed to him when he came to visit. Her shoulders relax marginally.

“Hiya,” She calls back, rounding a wall that separated what she’s guessing was a sitting area from the kitchen. Her gaze is calculating. The man has armor, a helmet with horns and no eye-holes, unlike Zavala who doesn’t wear a helmet - or at least not that she’s seen. He looks kind of important. And also strange, since she can’t see his eyes.

He can obviously see her, because he flicks his wrist and speaks to his ghost, who materializes just above his palm. “ZAVALA, YOU’VE SENT ME TO A LITTLE GIRL. HOW IS A LITTLE GIRL GOING TO REPAIR MY COMMUNICATOR?” His voice doesn’t sound angry, she supposes, just impatient and LOUD.

“Zavala sent you?” Amanda’s head cocks to the side at the sight of the ghost’s lens turning orange.

“Trust me, Shaxx. You will not be disappointed.” She blushes at the undertones of confidence in his voice, relayed by the ghost through a bit of static.

The large man, Shaxx, she committed to memory, sighed. “ALRIGHT, BUT IF THIS GOES WRONG, I’M HOLDING YOU RESPONSIBLE.” The ghost disappeared from sight in a shower of white sparks, and Amanda watched as he removed the armor over his right forearm. She could see the loose wires, and cracked plating. The chip in it was probably bad, too.

He holds it out to her, and his hands rest on his hips. She turns and heads into her main space, the shoddy little kitchenette, and sets it on the counter, before looking through a pile of miscellaneous radio parts she’s got stashed in a broken drawer. A rusty screwdriver, a couple sturdier wires, some salvaged plating, and one chip lifted out of a busted helmet comm later, she sat down and got to work.

“YOU REALLY DO KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING,” He said, watching her tongue peek between her teeth as she snaps the metal cover off with a bit of leverage.

“Sure do,” She says with a smile, pulling out her soldering tool to bind the chip to its casing just enough to prevent it from coming loose. “I’ll be done in just another couple’a minutes,” she says, and within five minutes, she’s handing him back the gauntlet. “Made it a bit more sturdy. You look like someone who likes to punch things.”

Shaxx chuckles. “I LIKE YOU, GIRL.” He holds his wrist up to his lips, speaking his authorization code loudly.

“Go ahead,” comes the familiar voice of her guardian friend.

“THE GIRL KNOWS WHAT SHE’S DOING, ZAVALA. SHE MADE IT STURDIER BECAUSE SHE RECOGNIZED THAT I AM A WARRIOR WHO ISN’T AFRAID TO GET HIS HANDS DIRTY.”

Amanda laughs, “Somethin’ like that.”

“SHE’S GOT SPUNK. I CAN SEE WHY YOU LIKE HER.”

She can hear the chuckle of Zavala as Shaxx cuts the comm link and wonders if he heard her. Shaxx reaches into a pouch on his belt. “WHAT’S MY BILL?”

“I - uh,” She pauses. Bill? She got to owe Zavala at least ten or fifteen favors by now. How many times has he left her something to eat? “There’s no charge,” she says quietly. “I owe your friend, the guardian, er, Zavala. A lot.” She wipes her hands off on a towel.

“NONSENSE. YOU MAY OWE ZAVALA, BUT YOU DON’T OWE ME ANYTHING.” He pulls out a larger chunk of glimmer than she’s seen. “OUR TECHS WOULDN’T DO THIS FOR LESS THAN 750 GLIMMER, AND THEY’D TAKE FAR LONGER, INCOMPETENT BUFFOONS, THE LOT OF THEM.” He puts 500 glimmer in her hand, closes her fist around it. “I’LL ASSUME YOU CHARGE LESS, SINCE YOU USE SALVAGED PARTS.” She looks up at him and guesses he’s got to be smiling under that helmet of his.

He straps on his gauntlet and nods. “MIND IF I COME BACK, SHOULD I NEED ANY MORE REPAIRS, LITTLE MECHANIC?”

She shakes her head. “Feel free,” she says with a shy smile.

When Zavala came by two weeks later, she’d had enough food to share, and he let her, eager to hear about the handful of guardians he’d sent her way. What surprised him more so, was that Shaxx had also done the same thing. It was rewarding, seeing the spark in her eyes. It reminded him of eager guardians, looking forward to their first missions. She’d found a purpose.

[mid-something]

2020 Year in Review

I wasn’t going to write one of these this year. I wasn’t sure what the point was, normally they’re a list of accomplishments, places I went, projects I worked on, events I planned. But I feel like I didn’t do anything this year. It was a year that felt more like college, with long days that melded together into walks and work sessions. I loved it, but it also lacked the intensity that usually pumps through the months. As I started writing this though, it was surprisingly easy to fill, even without my usual go-tos like travel filling it in. 

Speaking of travel

Okay, I did hop around the east coast a bit. In January I went up to Montreal for Synchrony once again. I spent the trip up making a PICO-8 sketch of the snow falling around our train up north. 

Later, in February, I went up to Pennsylvania to volunteer as a performer for a LARP for the first time. I played an animal, a cult member taking part in a sacrifice that included biting into a giant cake heart (that everyone was touching, so much for that world), and played a hellhound bringing people back to a mystery portal in the middle of a field. We camped and hiked and took day-trips to Wawa for lunch.

My last trip was to Nashville Tennessee for a library conference. I loved it, library conferences are much less vendor-focused than ed-tech ones. I got a suitcase full of free books that I’m still reading my way through. My co-worker and I stayed in cool Airbnbs and found our way to a speakeasy inside an old phone booth. I had never been to Nashville, but thought it was like a cool weird Disney land with great food and incredible music around every corner.

Afterwards I headed down to Florida to see my grandparents for a week, and then went back to New York... and didn’t go anywhere for the rest of the year. A couple weeks after I got back to my Brooklyn apartment I packed a bag and headed upstate for the next three months to play animal crossing and hang out with my parents and dog.

Coding Club

When schools shut down, a couple things happened. First, we put our school product available online for free. Second, I started a coding club for kids who were home from school. I met with kids for an hour twice a week, and really saw them grow and experiment with code. It grew to a few hundred kids each week, all meeting up to code along and share their work. I was able to get a better feel for how teachers used our product, and was able to test out project ideas live. It was such a joy, and my favorite part of my job during that time.

Livecoding in Space

I co-organized Livecoding in Space at the start of shutdown. It was a day of workshops and an evening algorave that was originally going to take place at the Kennedy Center. I made the website, ran the lineup, and managed the Twitch stream the whole day, and somehow got a p5 workshop and performance livecoding visuals to a series of poets in there at the same time. It was wild, super fun, and I’m really glad I did it. 

Performances

I continued the Twitch streak performing with musicians at sPaCYcLoUd Livecode Thursdays, bringing in what I was learning at monthly shaders workshops. Working in GLSL was a completely different experience than working with Hydra, I was much more limited with a much higher chance of things going wrong. I moved more slowly, and was really able to get lost in the performances in a way I hadn’t before.

NYC

Back in New York City in the summer, everything was boarded up. Bars had tables outside, and people were in scattered groups around Astor Place. We went out one night on St. Marks and bought pre-bottled drinks from a place that had once been an impossible to get into bar. Cop cars were driving up and down the street announcing for us to stay apart on their loudspeakers. The whole thing felt very apocalyptic. We played tennis in courts without nets, with piles of leaves that no one had cleaned up since all the parks were technically still closed. I spent time walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn, more than I ever did before. I walked 13 miles to the dentist and back, walked over the Williamsburg bridge over and over again. I met up with friends to practice skateboarding, I walked up to the Williamsburg park for a picnic with friends, I walked to Bushwick for the same. I got better at electric unicycling and did yoga in different parks staring at the trees. And when I settled back into my Bed Stuy apartment John would come over every weekend and we’d cook and get work done. I’ve never been happier in my life.

Art?

I got much better at painting this year, which is something I had wanted to experiment more with for a while. I finally understand the difference between supplies and the benefits of good paper and brushes. I took part in virtual figure drawing sessions and around the world painting lessons.

I did a lot of figure drawing this year, most of it was online. My favorite, however, was at a place called Outerspace in Brooklyn. It was an hour walk from my apartment, and I loved the walk there through Bushwick and back. I went a few times, sometimes walking back in the dark past the largest church in Brooklyn, sometimes grabbing food in one of my favorite parts of the city and taking an uber after. Figure drawing online gave me the space (literally, usually I’d be too close to other people to have them out) to start experimenting with paints, something that followed my practice throughout the year.

In March, my friend who’s an elementary school art teacher started posting her prompts for her class online, which was an awesome first way to get back into traditional sketchbooking on the floor of my bedroom upstate. Above are some of the elementary-school art prompts that kept me occupied this Spring.

I also followed along with someone I had followed on Instagram, Travel Write Draw. The whole thing was definitely a bit out of my comfort zone, my sketchbooks tend to skew stranger and she comes from the fashion world, but I had always wanted to paint more and took part. The paintings above are in the order I did them, I think I got a lot better as we went through. The places are in order: Rome, Marrakesh, Capri, Cartagena, the Serengeti, and Paris at Christmastime. 

Over the summer I took part in Arsiliath’s Intro to Biological Simulation with Compute Shaders. The above are some of the experiments from the class. I read math papers and implemented them for the first time. 

&...

I applied to grad school, which took up most of my free time and energy this fall. Nothing to share here yet, I’ll know what’s up around March/April. I took the GREs as well, and did surprisingly well given I haven’t taken a test in about a decade. 

I’m heading out to Mars now, a remote spot in Southern California, to wait out the winter and try and make the most out of a weird quarantine world. I wonder if this should be longer or more interesting, end in bullets of things I can feel proud of from my 20′s. I don’t know. When you come back to this 2021 Leandra, I hope you’re happy and have finally found your footing in a world that feels like it’s constantly trying to drown you with the next wave.

[buckyfan23]

The Strange Encounter

Three hours until my life changes forever. I am dreading the count down on my wrist hitting zero and disappearing. I grab my bag and stop at the little coffee shop on my way to Books in Wonderland. I quickly clock in and begin to organize the bookshelves in the shop along with taking inventory. I watch as people come and go as they please. Easily helping a few of the customers find what books they are looking for.

Business starts to slow down, so I pull my trusty sketchbook out of my bag. I draw my gray cat as I periodically look at the tattoo on my wrist counting down every second until I meet the name placed below the timer. Next, I draw the blurry monster that has been plaguing my dreams recently.

After hearing the bell above the door ring, I get back to work. I slam my body into something hard as my chest burns from a scorching hot liquid. The liquid smells exactly like coffee.

"I am terribly sorry. I wasn't paying too much attention as to where I was going."

"It was my fault, Sir," I take a step back from the mysterious man.

"You can call me Castiel."

"I'm Luna; is there anything I can help you with?"

"You wouldn't happen to have any books on World War Two, would you?"

"I think I have come across one or two earlier today. If you follow me, I am sure we can find them." Weaving my way through the multiple bookshelves, I glance down to my wrist to find the timer has disappeared.

"Your last name is Addams, isn't it?"

"We just met; how did you know that Luna?" A look of pure confusion spreads like a fire all over his face. I watch as his face contorts to one of realization. "Let me guess your last name is Barnes. I have been waiting for what feels like ages to finally meet you."

I finally find five books over the war to end wars. I turn to look at him. His steel blue eyes stare into my eyes as if he was looking into my soul. I hand the books over to him. "Do you want to look around for more books or go ahead and buy these?"

He smiles as he asks about the price on the WW2 books. A large group of people rush into the store and crowd around Castiel. I am shoved around until eventually being pushed out of the group.

Huh, why are they piling around him? I head behind the counter and ring up the five World War Two books. I patiently wait for the circle to leave Castiel by himself. I pull my sketchbook from the underside of the counter. Flipping to a new page, I begin to draw Castiel since I can't get seem to get the image out of my mind.

His short brown hair is styled like that out of the forties. I quickly shade the hair along with drawing his thick eyebrows. I struggle slightly with his sharp jawline. His cheekbones show prominently on his face. I fill in his jaw with the light stubble scattered across it. I begin to work on the dimple residing upon his chin.

"You are a remarkable artist," I look down as my cheeks redden at his compliment.

"Um, thank you. If you want, you can have it. May I ask why those people were crowding around you like that?"

"I guess, you don't really know who I am, do you?"

"I can't say that I do."

"I am an actor in a lot of movies and the occasional TV show." I can tell he is waiting for me to freak out. He quickly pays for the books and is off on his way to who knows where.

Of course, my soul mate has to be a famous actor. My life is definitely going to become a whole lot more difficult. I bet he covers his tattoos up for work and interviews. I kind of wonder where he went in such a hurry.

I look at the time realizing it is my lunch break. I call out to my boss asking if he wanted me to pick up something for him. After receiving his answer, I make my way to the pizza shop a couple of blocks over. Passing an alley, I could have sworn I heard an animalistic growl; However, I can't see where in the alley the sound was coming from.

I proceed on my trip to the pizza shop. After I eat my beloved pepperoni pizza, a set of eyes follow my every move. From where I'm not sure.

A rough hand yanks me into the alleyway. Another hand slips its way under my shirt. I let a growl out my throat. I try to fight the man off me, yet I couldn't get him away from me. I try to scream out for help.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sweetheart. If you play nice, I might just let you live."

He grips my throat as he slams the back of my head against the brick wall behind me.The grip on my neck shifts to my waist as a set of teeth finds its way to my pulse. The feeling is short-lived as my vision fades to black, but not before witnessing the man being thrown to the other wall.

I wake up to find the man still against the other wall. I slowly stand up and move toward him. His skin is ghostly white as if he has been drained of all his blood.

Terrified by his death, I hurry back the rest of the way to the shop; the event plays over and over in my mind.

Who could possibly have done that to someone? There is no way an average person could do something like that. Whoever killed that man so brutally has some severe issues.

My head continues to ache due to how hard I hit it against the wall. My boss walks out from the back just as I come through the door.

"What in the world happened to you?"

"I'm fine. I just-." I no longer can see as everything goes back to black yet again.

Opening my eyes, I become blinded by a bright white light above me.

"That was quite the scare you gave me, Luna."

"Well, that wasn't my intention, Steve." I groan as my eyes finally adjust to the lights in the room. "How long have I been out of it?"

"A couple of hours at the least." Steve continues to watch over me.

The doctor walks in, "Ms. Barnes, The blunt force trauma you sustained from your injuries was severe. You are extremely lucky the injuries did not kill you."

"Um, when can I go home?" I ask.

"I would like to keep you overnight. However, I understand if you feel uncomfortable staying the night. If you decide to go home, I recommend you spend the night with someone you trust. I would like to inform you of the precautions you should take."

I try to tell Steve that I will be fine alone. "I promise to call if anything happens."

Once I make it home, I proceed into my room and notice that someone broke into my apartment. My bedroom is completely trashed. I reach for my trusty bat; in case, whoever broke in is still here.

After scoping the place out, I realize I am the only person in the apartment asides my cat, Smokey. I guess I will have a scary movie night. Might as well get to work on making some popcorn. What to watch? What in the world shall I ever watch? Maybe I will look into watching one of Cas's movies.

@mahalaraewolfe

[xnxadultstore]

Adult Coloring Books for Men

I used to be attempting to determine an excellent reward for my dad who’s beginning to have indicators of Alzheimer’s for  Christmas and remembered that since he was a child, he beloved to design and paint giant mannequin airplanes… so why not coloring books for males? But in fact, he most likely wasn’t going to benefit from the flowery, tangled kind that I like so I began my search for Coloring Books for Grownup Guys.

Men’s Coloring Books for All Occasions

Intricate Ink Animals in Detail Volume three by Tim Jeffs

Son of a Mother Trucker

A Manly Adult Coloring Book: Dad Life: Clean Dad Swears & Old Coot-isms: A Unique & Funny Antistress Coloring Gift for Men

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

One of the most well-liked books for males in our coloring group proper now could be the most recent one from Kerby Rosanes World inside Worlds.

World Within Worlds

I personally personal this pretty e-book and the largest downside is deciding which cool image to paint first. Paper high quality is nice too.

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

Dad & Me Coloring Book

I obtained a replica of this lovely e-book and was very impressed with each the illustrations, the standard however principally with the distinctive concept of the softer aspect of fatherhood being present and celebrated all through the e-book. The pages are perforated and TOP sure so it’s great for lefties in addition to those that need to show their creations after you shade them in.

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

The Men’s Coloring Book by Nathaniel Wake

Nathaniel says it’s a Manly Mans Adult Coloring Book with Cyborg Women, Military Machines, Futuristic Battles, Western Armory, Fish Illustrations and Cars… nonetheless I completely beloved this e-book so that you might need to struggle your feminine vital different for among the illustrations on this e-book.

 Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada 

Mythomorphia: An Extreme Coloring and Search Challenge by Kerby Rosanes

Click to Order on Amazon:  US     UK     Canada    or   Book Depository

Animorphia

An wonderful coloring e-book for adults that includes the super-detailed animal pictures from artist Kerby Rosanes. Known for his common Sketchy Stories weblog, Kerby works in intricately detailed black and white line to create creatures, characters, patterns, and tiny components to type compositions of mind-boggling complexity. Bring your creativity to finish the breath-taking drawings and discover hidden treasures and creatures scattered all through its pages

Order on Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Canada  ~  Book Depository

Imagimorphia Coloring Book by Kerby Rosanes

Fans of grownup coloring books are invited to enter the extraordinary world of Kerby Rosanes, the illustrator behind the Sketchy Stories weblog and Animorphia, the worldwide phenomenon and New York Times bestseller. In Imagimorphia, animals, and objects morph and explode into astounding element. Bring every intricate picture to life with shade and discover the objects hidden all through the e-book.

Printed on high quality paper, Imagimorphia is a unusual coloring and search e-book for followers of grownup coloring books like no different.

Dad Life – A Manly Adult Coloring Book

Color in humorous issues that EVERYONE’s Dad says to them.

 Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada 

ColorArt Coloring Book – Real Men Color

This e-book is spiral sure eight half x 11 pages with over 100 pictures to paint in.

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

The Art of the Cigar: Vintage Labels Coloring Book

Based on the attractive lithographs of cigar field labels from years passed by. Each of the 40 gorgeous labels is pre-1920 with elegant designs that wrap you within the nostalgia of an age when life was less complicated and folks knew easy methods to benefit from the second. The pages on this e-book are one-sided professionally printed by Vintage Pen Press.

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada 

Oldtimer Grayscale Adult Coloring Book for Men

This e-book contains 43 Oldtimer Images of Vintage Rustic Cars, Trucks, Tractors, Tools, Motorcycles and different Things for Men to Color. Creator Timothy Parks has his pictures printed on eight half x 11 paper printed solely on one aspect. He has penned a couple of different coloring books with related themes however this one has the most effective opinions.

Click to Order Amazon US, UK or Canada

Die Hard Coloring Book

If you reside in a home the place Die Hard IS a Christmas film custom, then this coloring e-book is for you. All your favourite scenes and quotes are on this official Die Hard coloring and exercise e-book. This coloring e-book from Harper Design is superb high quality. I obtained a pattern of it from the writer and it’s Coloring Book Addict accepted!

Hans Gruber and his posse crash the Christmas social gathering at Nakatomi and take the tower hostage;John McClane’s limo trip with Argyle;The tension-filled crawl via the constructing vents;John’s morbid message supply to Hans (written on the corpse of one in every of Hans’ males);The well-known bloody footprints;And in fact, John leaping off the Nakatomi tower.

The Book of Beasts

A buddy of mine in Scotland (Kemberlee) ordered this e-book within the UK and he or she couldn’t cease gushing about how fabulous it was. It’s obtained a hardcover with fabulous paper and wonderful illustrations of Dragons of all kinds. Filled with legendary monsters from around the globe, The Book of Beasts will take younger readers on an epic coloring quest via historical lands and lore. As they fill within the pages, kids will encounter creatures from Aboriginal, African, Mesoamerican, Greek, Roman, Indian, Norse, Chinese, and Japanese tales. On the again of every web page, children will discover background on the beasts within the e-book.

Click to ORDER Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon Canada ~ Book Depository

Full Metal Coloring – A Book of Down Range Reflection

Along with the pages to paint, you’ll discover some historic background of the firearms and weapons on every of the pages which had been written by a aggressive shooter and veteran who can be the artist. I’ve a replica of this e-book from the artist and have gifted it to the gun fanatic in my life. Its unique artwork on respectable paper. As at all times use a sheet between your pages to keep away from bleed-through and stress marks.

Click to Order Amazon US

Bennett Klein’s model is very detailed tattoo inked line artwork. 

Colour my Sketchbook – DRAGONS by Bennett Klein

The coloured in dragons on this cowl had been executed by members of his Facebook web page linked right here.

Click to order Amazon US      Amazon UK       Amazon Canada      Book Depository

This is simply one of many Bennett Klein Books, discover the remainder right here. 

Tattoo Art Coloring Books for Men

The Tattoo Art of Freddy Negrete

I obtained this e-book from the writer and was fairly happy with the number of pictures contained inside. There is so much to select from however most do have a Hispanic, Chicano, Mexican taste to them. There are a lot of the Virgin Mary in addition to Sugar Skulls which make sense culturally. There’s even a sugar cranium Virgin Mary to paint in. As a colorist, most weren’t tremendous detailed so when you choose that kind of coloring e-book this one most likely received’t be your cup of tea, however when you like so as to add your personal patterning or are studying and working towards shading and contouring this e-book is ideal.

Click to Order Amazon US UK or Canada

Kitchen Overlord’s Colorable Compendium of Geek History: An Adult Coloring Book and Companion to the Illustrated Geek Cookbook

I haven’t seen this one in particular person, however its on my record and from the opinions, it seems enjoyable. “The creators of Kitchen Overlord’s Illustrated Geek Cookbook invite you to paint together with 120 years of geek historical past!

Start with H.G. Wells Time Machine in 1885 and produce the black and white pages to life because the world grows geekier with each decade.

See Cthulhu rise in 1928, shade Captain America in 1941, depart the Shire for Mordor in 1954, boldly go on a 5 12 months mission beginning in 1966, lastly be taught what “inconceivable” means in 1973, struggle Zuul and Gozer in 1984, assist the Scooby gang shield Sunnydale in 1997, turn into a Big Damn Hero in 2002, and assist Ichabod Crane turn into a contemporary man in 2012.

You recover from 50 enjoyable illustrations representing your favourite books, comics, motion pictures, TV, and video games – organized chronologically so you possibly can see how geekdom has developed over greater than a century.” Click to order AMAZON US AMAZON UK AMAZON CANADA BOOK DEPOSITORY

Guys have a tendency to like Science Fiction so most of the books on my nerds and geeks web page would possibly work for the boys in your record too!

Military Coloring Books for Men

The very first thing to do is work out hobbies and issues that the person in your life is into.. my dad loves airplanes and was within the USAF in order that was my first search. I discovered these two: Airplanes of the Second World War and Jet Fighters. Both are Dover Coloring Books so the worth level is correct, underneath $5.

If you want freebies take a look at the free coloring web page and e-book excepts from Dover too.

Other Military Coloring Books for Men embody:

Many of those navy books additionally work in case your man is a historical past buff.

American Muscle Cars Coloring Books for Men

Expertly rendered illustrations of quick, flashy, and highly effective sports activities vehicles, amongst them the 1962 Ford Thunderbird, 1964 Corvette Stingray, 1968 Chevy Impala SS427, 1969 Camaro Z-28, 1970 Ford Torino Fastback, 1971 Mustang Boss 351, 1974 Firebird Trans-Am, and 37 others. For coloring e-book lovers and “muscle car” followers. Click right here to Order American Muscle Cars Coloring Book There’s additionally Classic Cars of the 50’s Coloring Book Luxury Cars Coloring Book Sports Cars Coloring Book & History of Trucks

Motorcycles Coloring Book – This assortment chronicles over 100 years of bike historical past with illustrations of 45 precisely detailed fashions, together with Gottlieb Daimler Motor Bicycle (1885), 1913 Royal Enfield, 1947 Indian “Chief,” 1966 BSA A65 Lightning, and the Honda ES21 Future Motorcycle Concept Prototype.

Dover Books has an excellent number of History Coloring Books

Looking for an excellent historic coloring e-book? Dover may also help you add shade to among the most exceptional occasions in historical past! From dinosaurs, the Old West, the Civil War, Native Americans, the house race, American presidents and first women to classic cars and trains, castles and cathedrals, well-known explorers and inventors, historic structure like Famous Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright and landmarks. Black historical past coloring books function genuine illustrations in regards to the Underground Railroad, the Amistad, Barack Obama, and extra. Each version gives fantastically detailed illustrations and fact-filled captions.

Click right here to see the complete choice.

The Bicycle Coloring Book

This e-book blew me away once I began seeing coloured in photos from it. It is full of cityscapes and countryside illustrations that function a motorbike and a cat. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen earlier than. The paper is fabulous artwork high quality and the illustrations are one-sided with a middle fold-out part for a big poster-sized creation. On the dealing with aspect of the web page is an illustration of the identical cat you see in every image (generally you must hunt to seek out him) however what’s actually cool in regards to the cat is that once you flip the pages he animates. This will for certain convey you again to your faculty days once you used to make flipbooks. If you’re a bicycle fanatic or the person in your life is, you possibly can’t go fallacious with this coloring e-book. It’s eight.2 x zero.eight x 10.eight inches and has 144 pages.

Click to order Amazon US Amazon     UK Amazon    Amazon Canada    Book Depository

100 Animals by Jade Summer

An Adult Coloring Book with Lions, Elephants, Owls, Horses, Dogs, Cats and extra. 100 pictures printed on one aspect of the web page.

Click to Order Amazon US, UK & Canada

Ill-Gotten Brain Coloring Books by Chris Guest

I wished so as to add a few books from a brand new illustrator that I do know guys will love. Thanks to one in every of my coloring group, Shawn B. for the heads up about his enjoyable books! Meet Chris Guest aka IllGottenBrain. He has 2 books out, Beyond the Fairytale Forest and Monsters Eat Everything that you’re certain to get pleasure from.

His books remind me of Steve Squidoodle’s illustrations too.. enjoyable and funky, verify his work out right here.

Walking Dead Coloring Book

This e-book is completed in a graphic novel model so LOTS of black and background particulars so it’s alongside the strains of a grayscale coloring e-book. The illustrations are from the Walking Dead graphic novels and it’s very detailed. We are hoping they arrive out with one other that follows the TV present a bit extra but when you recognize a Walking Dead addict, this may be an ideal reward.

Click to order Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon Canada ~ Book Depository

Steampunk Devices

Dudes like to tinker with devices so this Steampunk Devices can be an excellent alternative for the artsy man in your purchasing record.

Click to order Amazon US   Amazon UK   Amazon Canada   Book Depository

We discover heaps extra Steampunk and Science Fiction choices for guys right here.

Intricate Ink – Animals in Detail

After seeing colorings from this e-book on Instagram I bought it on Amazon. It���s a greyscale e-book that makes your colorings actually come to life. It’s a hardbound e-book that opens on the prime so nice for left-handed colorists too.

Click to Purchase Amazon US

Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford

Although Johanna Basford is understood for her fairly flowers and delicate leaves, guys can fall just a little in love along with her illustrations in her third Inky e-book, “Lost Ocean”

Visit coral reefs and barnacle-studded shipwrecks, uncover intricate shells and pirate treasure. Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest followers and newcomers alike will welcome this artistic journey into an inky new world.

Click right here to order Lost Ocean Amazon US  Amazon Canada  Amazon UK  Book Depository

Bugs & Creepy Crawling Coloring Books for Men

Maybe your grown guys nonetheless have that little boy in them that loves spiders and snakes… There are some decisions for them too. Check out this Complicated Spiders Coloring Book… This distinctive coloring e-book is eight inches broad x 9 inches excessive, it has 25 completely different illustrations of intricately adorned spiders; every illustration is printed within the e-book twice, one on a black background and the identical illustration on a white background with mild grey strains. Lots of spider and bug e-book right here too.

Fantasy and Dragon Coloring Books For Men

Amazon has dozens of Fantasy & Dragon coloring books that guys would possibly like right here.

Funny Coloring Books

Coloring for Grown-Ups: The Adult Activity Book

Electile Disfunction – The Story of the 2016 Presidential Election Coloring Book

Click to Order Amazon US

You can see extra Political Coloring Books right here.

Unicorns Are Jerks: a coloring e-book exposing the chilly, exhausting, sparkly reality

Coloring for Grown-ups – Holiday Fun Book

There are extra right here of the extra “R” rated variations as nicely.

See a big itemizing of our favourite humorous naughty & horny coloring books right here.

Steve MacDonald’s Cityscapes e-book “Fantastic Cities“ will even attraction to the fellows our there with a e-book the place no flowers or fairies are anyplace to be seen. Steve McDonald applies his distinctive photo-based strategy to create lovely, detailed line drawings of wonderful buildings and different constructions from around the globe in Fantastic Structures and his third e-book contains less complicated designs in Fantastic Collections,

Comic Book and Graphic Novel Coloring Books

DC Comics Coloring Book

Featuring iconic paintings by famend comedian artists, DC Comics Coloring Book contains gorgeous line artwork of beloved characters corresponding to Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Click to Order on Amazon

Wonder Woman Coloring Book

This graphic novel options basic illustrations from among the most well-known Wonder Woman artists of all time, together with George Pérez, Jim Lee, Brian Bolland, Amanda Conner, Ross Andru, H.G. Peter, Cliff Chiang, and Phil Jimenez printed on each side of the web page.  Click to Order the Wonder Woman Coloring Book

Coloring DC Batman Hush Volume 1

This grownup coloring e-book options chapters from one of many biggest graphic novels of all-time, BATMAN: HUSH. Illustrated by Jim Lee, identified for his intricate strains and distinctive element, this story is ideal for coloring. Click to Order this totally illustrated Batman graphic novel right here

Civil War – All your favourite Avengers battle on this graphic novel coloring e-book

120 pages of all-out costumed warfare, that includes Steve McNiven’s exquisitely rendered paintings simply ready for you so as to add the colour! Captain America and Iron Man are the feuding Avengers main the 2 sides of heroes that battle it out over the rights and wrongs of Superhuman Registration. Click to order Civil War

Color Your Own Age of Ultron

Color in your favourite Marvel Heros and Sinister Bad guys on this graphic novel. Difficulty ranges from simple to superior so there’s something for each graphic novel fan.

Click to Order Age of Ultron Here.

Color Deadpool Graphic Novel

This e-book contains covers from New Mutants 98, old-fashioned Pool, New Pool, the Daniel Way years, and Deadpool vs; Thanos, carnage, zombies, Cable, and Spider-Man. Click to order Deadpool

Assassins Creed Coloring Book

Click to Order Assasins Creed Coloring Book

Guys which are into Science Fiction and Fantasy can discover a big number of SciFi Coloring Books right here.

Steve Squidoodle has a implausible following on Facebook which is the place I found him. Like Bennett Klein, he’s at all times gifting away freebies on his fan web page. Learn extra about Steve Turner the illustrator right here. 

Squidoodle’s Book of Fancy Letters – Click to Order

All 26 letters of the alphabet, on single aspect pages with doodles objects to paint in. Taken from the intricate hand-drawn pen drawings of Steve Turner a.ok.a Squidoodle. Each letter is detailed and ornate, with doodled objects starting with that letter.

Each letter sits centrally on the web page, away from the backbone – you possibly can minimize the letters out, shade them and provides them as presents to household or mates. All the pages inside this e-book are taken from the hand-drawn illustrations by Steve Squidoodle Turner. He rigorously chosen objects to be contained in every letter – making it enjoyable for children and adults alike. The A incorporates an astronaut, an apple, an aeroplane, an anchor…. The B incorporates a bee, Big Ben, a beetle, balloons…. you get the concept!!

Squidoodle’s Book of Fancy Letters: An Adult Coloring Book – Click to Order

A Day on the Beach by Squidoodle – Steve Turner

The Natural Atlas by Squidoodle – Steve Turner

Creative Insults for Foul-Mouthed Beasts – A UK Sweary Coloring Book by Squidoodle – Steve Turner

I STRONGLY advocate downloading the Hobby Lobby & Michaels App to your smartphone. That manner you at all times have the coupons with you. Being the clumsy particular person I’m.. I ALWAY neglect the coupons at house or within the different automotive or the opposite purse.. you get me.. proper? You can usually discover artwork provides there for a very good worth with the coupon however most frequently I purchase books and provides on Amazon.

AMAZON PRIME – If you aren’t a member it’s best to look into it. You get free 2-day transport daily at Amazon with Amazon Prime. You can attempt it for free proper now.

The Amazon Prime membership program gives different particular advantages for simply $99 per 12 months. Members can immediately watch over 40,000 motion pictures and TV episodes and borrow 1000’s of books from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Have the boys in your record loved coloring books I haven’t listed right here? Please let me know within the feedback beneath or on one in every of my social media accounts.

The post Adult Coloring Books for Men appeared first on XNX Adult Store.

[lolbtsaus]

College!Jimin

And now it is time for the first half of the Busan line, one third of the maknae line, a total cutie who is so so sweet, seeing him on Hello Counselor just makes me respect him even more, it was interesting to see that side of him, I loved it, Park Jimin aka chim chim

So this is gonna be the prequel to tattoo artist!Jimin (here)

His major is art

Jimin is really talented with a lot of things (dancing, singing, being an adorable lovable sweetheart, etc.) but he’s also v v talented with art

Especially when you consider the fact that he’s so busy and probably doesn’t have that much time to practice it so the fact that he can draw at all is amazing

He’s also really dedicated with it, like in one of the Vlive, I think he mentioned that he spent 2+ hours on a drawing for the coloring book thing they did

He tries a few different things, he does a few painting classes, he does some sculpture work but his main interest is in sketching/drawing

He does hold himself to a pretty high standard, he can be tough on himself at times so when he does something, he just throws himself into it completely, even if it isn’t something he’s extremely passionate about

So he’s not super into sculpting but he’s not gonna half ass any of it, he’s gonna take the hours it requires to make it look the way he wants it to

Forever asking you to be his model

The rest of your shared apartment is somewhat organized but his art area is a bit of a mess, not to the point where it’s too messy to stand but it’s definitely used constantly

There’s a huge sheet on the floor to catch any paint drops or scraps of clay distractedly thrown aside when he’s too busy focusing on the project in front of him (he picks them up later but in the moment, he doesn’t wanna lose his momentum and worry about finding a tiny scrap of clay to throw away)

Has about eight different sketchbooks laying in the weirdest places, one’s on top of the fridge, he’s got a couple in their actual place, one in his bag for on the go inspiration doodles and a couple more scattered around his art area

There always seems to be paint on the sheet, always paint on the back of his hands and on his arms and even a few spots on his legs bc he’s always got some painting going on

He has all the things, he has an entire draw of pencils, a pencil case filled to the brim with erasers, a few boxes of paints, chalks, clay, everything he could ever need

His concentrated face is s o nice though like sometimes he’ll be drawing while you two are just chilling in bed and you gotta admire him for a second bc wow he isn’t real

He wears lots of hats when he does art bc he doesn’t want his hair continually falling into his face so on top of his face being super nice, he also has the beanie/snapback look going on and he’s got the glasses to be able to see better so it’s just really boyfriend material

Head canon that Jungkook takes a majority of his art classes with him bc Busan bbys gotta stick together

They have these light hearted competitions with each other all term, like whoever finishes their art supply shopping first and pays less for it all will get a meal paid by the loser or who can get to class first gets to post something on the other’s social media

It’s all in fun of course but there’s definitely some teasing from both sides

“Wow so I was born in Busan first, I did the contacts first and now you’re following me into art”

“Oh my g o d”

He takes the essential classes of course but he also takes a few music classes with Yoongi and hobi, he takes a couple classes with Tae, some art, some history, some writing

They take the more needed classes that they aren’t really interested in together bc at least then, they have each other to entertain them

Jimin’s more of a hand written note taker but he has used his laptop here and there

I feel like Jimin’s notes would actually be really organized and all of the boys are kinda ?? how does that happen when you’re rushing around trying to take notes

He doesn’t l o v e using the laptop to take notes bc he just prefers hand written notes but he forgets his notebook a couple of times and one of the other boys let him borrow their laptop bc he takes some of the best notes anyways might as well share with each other

He studies a lot but it’s not daily, he tries to do it once or twice a week for a couple hours just until he’s got it down

Maknae line study sessions just think about it

Slightly chaotic, a lil loud, v v playful, they lowkey don’t study much until the last hour of it bc they’re that one group of friends that says they’re gonna study together and then ends up listening to Numa Numa at 3 AM

He is late to a few classes but he never means to be

He just wakes up too late or can’t make it across campus in time bc the language building is all the way on the other side of campus from the art building and he’s gotta book it but he’s got a bag of books and art supplies so he’s weighed down a bit

He’s never too too late but he has been like 5-10 minutes late to a couple classes here and there, for the most part he’s there on time

Seating wise, he’s a third row type of guy but he is flexible about it, he’s okay with sitting a few rows back to sit with his friends but he’s not gonna sit in the back of the classroom

He had to one class bc he got there too late and all the good seats were taken and he didn’t like it very much, he couldn’t see most of the time and it felt like the teacher was so far away, it just didn’t work out for him

The apartment you two share isn’t huge but it’s more than enough for you two and there are tons of nights where you two are huddled into the kitchen waiting for the water to boil so you can make some noodles and he always kisses your head when he adds the noodles to the water and it becomes a thing for some reason

Like one time, he makes noodles and you aren’t there and he’s just o h oh no

He gets his first tattoo the year before he goes off to college and it’s just a lil tiny tattoo on his forearm but it boosts his confidence so much, he wants to show it to everyone ever bc it looks so cool

The moment he walks into that tattoo shop, he’s just like I get it now bc he knew he wanted something with art for his major but then tattooing comes up and it matches perfectly 

And after seeing how professional his tattoo artist was and how much of an experience it was to get a tattoo, he decides he wants to do it for the rest of his life

College!Jimin is just a total art lover who l o v e s sitting there and creating things and he’s so excited to open his own tattoo shop or work in someone else’s and he’s just ready

[connorrenwick]

Where I Work: David Stark

It’s been exactly a decade since we checked in with David Stark, a New York-based event producer, designer, author, and President + Creative Director of his eponymous, full-service event design and planning firm, David Stark Design and Production. Founded in 2006, the company has become a go-to expert for fully immersive experiences providing their innovative expertise to the likes of Target, Kiehl’s, Uniqlo, non-profit The Robin Hood Foundation, The Whitney Museum of Modern Art, and The Metropolitan Opera, in addition to a range of one-of-a-kind events for a host of celebrities. He’s also collaborated with West Elm on several collections, done a “store ambush” of Haus Interior in NYC for his WOOD SHOP collection, and a limited edition collection of unique art pieces made exclusively for Bergdorf Goodman. For this month’s Where I Work, we visit the busy mogul in his company’s Industry City headquarters in Brooklyn to see where he works and how he makes it all happen.

What’s your studio/work environment like?

Our office, where we design and mastermind events is a large, light-flooded loft that overlooks a great view of the Statue of Liberty in Brooklyn’s Industry City. It’s comfortable with many conference rooms, a kitchen where the team regularly makes all kinds of yummy, home-cooked meals, a design library that houses material samples and reference books, and an open office plan, encouraging the collaborative process. We also have an area that we use as a photo studio and crafting areas where we experiment regularly. While not fastidious in an overly fussy way, the office has a quiet intensity that wonderfully exudes rapt concentration and innovative thinking.

Wood shop

Paint room

Our studio, where we build the things we design, is a few blocks away. There are buzzing wood and paint shops, crafting areas, and a floral studio with a giant floral fridge. We also have an adjacent warehouse that houses a wonderful history of items we have purchased or built over the years that we regularly transform or reutilize. Trucks pull right up to the dock, and we load straight out of roll-up garage doors. The studio is a wonderland of art-making where anything is possible. The talented and passionate team there trumpet such optimism while continuously pushing out work that is innovative and of the highest quality.

How is your space organized/arranged?

I do have a personal office with a door as well as a glass wall facing into the communal team workspace. There are a few other individual offices like that including the ones for our fabulous administrative and finance teams, but the rest of the gang works in the open plan area. The truth is that I am actually in my office proper very little. I meet with the teams daily in our design library for what we call Office Hours. During Office Hours, the teams present the projects that we are working on for feedback, we kick-off new projects, and we discuss issues related to the events we are producing. Because our projects are incredibly collaborative, it’s more common that we use our conference rooms for big, group work sessions or meetings. We use my office in this way too. I have a giant table in the center of it in which the teams will join me for conference calls with clients or group discussions.

How long have you been in this space? Where did you work before that?

We have been in our home in Industry City for about four years. We have what now feels like a very “adult office” and a much more advanced studio than we had prior. These spaces were designed and planned to be efficient and to meet the needs of our growing organization which is very different than the original spaces we were in for about 20 years prior, held together by tape, hope, and a whole lot of love and ingenuity.

You know, our previous offices and studio were first my home and painting studio/loft when I was a fine artist. I and a former partner lived there, and when our business started to grow, and when we added staff, we simply got rid of the sofa, for example, to make way for a desk. There was no planning at all, and as our business grew organically, so did the way we used (or abused!) our limited space. We were more than overdue a new home for the scale of what our company had grown into. I mean, I remember waiting in line to use the one, single stall bathroom we had in the old, two-floor office with my legs crossed in angst and anticipation. It was time to move!

If you could change something about your workspace, what would it be?

You know, there is very little I would change, to be honest – I truly LOVE it, and I can barely remember life before our current home. Our studio and office feel so, so natural and so “us.”

Is there an office pet?

There is not.

Do you require music in the background? If so, who are some favorites?

At the office, we don’t have music playing, but it is not uncommon for our team to be listening to their own tunes on their headphones while they work.

At the studio, there is music of all kinds on at all times. The gang takes turns playing their favorite mixes. For a while, Buena Vista Social Club was on a constant rotation, but sometimes I walk in and am surprised (as well as delighted) to hear classical music playing in the wood shop!

How do you record ideas?

I have a series of pads all over the house, in my office, and in the bag that I carry around with me. They are mostly nothing fancy, usually simple, blue-lined legal pads, but at home, I like the thick blocks of white paper with silver painted edges by WMS & Co. It feels really luxurious to write on those blocks, especially with a mechanical pencil. One of our wonderful designers, Daria Semenova has taught me the joys of the mechanical pencil – she’s got a whole array of them that I am envious over. I finally got one for my home, but I don’t carry it around with me because I would lose it in an instant.

My best ideas come while I am in the shower shaving. I often have to take a break to quickly write them on a pad close by in the bathroom, jumping right back, under the water to finish after. If I don’t do that, I forget the thoughts by the time I am done with the shower. I mourn the many forgotten ideas that I imagined I would remember but did not.

Do you have an inspiration board? What’s on it right now?

I used to keep traditional, black-hardbound sketchbooks where I would draw or paste in clippings or other inspirations, but I have not done that in years. Now, we typically keep track of inspiration digitally, either with Pinterest or mood boards that our team creates in InDesign.

On occasion, though, we make physical boards that are particular to a project. For example, we are currently collaborating on a new tabletop book with designer and co-author Jane Schulak and photographer Aaron Delesie. There is so much content that we need to examine simultaneously that it was natural to go old-school and create pin-up boards that allow us to see all the materials in one place.

What is your typical work style?

I am personally quite disciplined. I get up every day (Monday through Friday) somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00am. I am freshest between then and 7:00am, before the world wakes up and before I am pulled in a thousand directions. I wouldn’t say it’s easy for me to get out of bed, though. When that alarm goes off at 4:15, it’s painful, but I love the focus that I have in those early hours and being that creatively fresh overcomes the temptation to stay in bed. At 7:00am, I go to the gym to take care of my body and my mind, and then I am off and running to the office, to outside meetings, and events into the evening.

My days are very, very scheduled, generally back-to-back, and the rigor can be intense. It’s a combination of inner office meetings with the team as well as meetings with clients and potential clients outside of the office, and then there are installation and event days/nights on top of that. It’s a marathon, for sure, but I thrive on it. I suppose I have built pretty good stamina up over the years.

But because there is an intensity to the work I do, it was very important for me, when designing and conceiving of our offices, that a sense of serenity and calm were as considered as how our spaces function for the work we do.

What is your creative process and/or creative workflow like? Does it change every project or do you keep it the same?

We strategically keep our creative process similar from project to project. Because we have a large team, with multiple people collaborating on each project, it’s most productive to have systems in place, so that we’re all working towards the same milestones. We start off with a team kick-off where we share the goals of our clients. It is super important to establish from the outset what we want/need to achieve, and then we outline the plan of attack as to how we are going to achieve it. We ask ourselves: What are the presentation methods we are all agreeing upon? What is the timeline? What is the budget? How do we build-in the right check-ins along the way? This stuff sounds boring, but the structure is critical to successful workflow.

What kind of art/design/objects might you have scattered about the space?

We have a collection of sculptures of old-school phones we have recently started. One, my husband (performer and artist) Migguel Anggelo made out of matches. A few others are from past projects, and a tiny one I picked up at the Brooklyn Flea. It’s what the old telephone door-to-door salesman used to bring to “sell” the concept of a rotary phone. I love them.

We also have our light-up building number, “87” from our old digs. It’s a fun reminder of where we came from. We even took the door from our old design studio. These relics are meaningful to me. They chart our journey.

Sculptures in the process of being covered with sand

Are there tools and/or machinery in your space?

We have quite an extensive wood shop, paint room, and floral production area, so we have all the tools-of-the-trade for those pursuits. The team is particularly pumped about our new quiet air compressor! We’ve also recently started using a Hopper gun which allows us to finish off our builds with various textures: sand, plaster, glitter, and more.

What tool(s) do you most enjoy using in the design process?

It’s not a “tool” in the traditional sense but . . . I most enjoy the collaborative nature of working with a team. The old adage of Together Everyone Accomplishes More, is so true, and it’s one of the reasons why I transitioned from fine art to design. I started off as a painter which was a very solo endeavor, but I much prefer working within a thriving community of doers, and that collaboration has become an integral part of my design process!

Let’s talk about how you’re wired. Tell us about your tech arsenal/devices.

I typically have my laptop, iPad, and iPhone all going at the same time. I review designs presented to me by the various teams on my iPad, while I type them feedback on my laptop.

What design software do you use, if any, and for what?

Because our team includes technical designers that come from all kinds of architectural, stage, and industrial design backgrounds as well as graphic designers, and 3D designers, we intermingle a lot of software platforms that include: Sketchup, Vectorworks, Adobe Creative Suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop), and a whole bunch of image search engines.

David’s desk

What’s on your desk right now?

My desk is covered with stacks of books, folders with notes for our current projects, a sculpture of the Carnegie Hall building which is also a lantern. We made 70 of them as centerpieces for their gala a few years back, and I kept one!

Robin Hood to the Power of You event

Robin Hood to the Power of You event

Is there a favorite project/piece you’ve worked on?

It’s very difficult for me to cite a favorite project as they are all so meaningful to me. I am proud, though, of the long collaboration we have had with the Robin Hood Foundation, designing their big benefit at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center for so, so many years. It’s probably one of the largest projects that we work on and includes a seated dinner for about 4,500 people with another 2,000 joining for an after-party concert. It’s a giant team sport where we partner with a cast of truly inspiring, talented folks to pull off what is ultimately one of the most successful and moving fundraisers to fight poverty in NYC – or anywhere, for that matter.

Last year’s theme was Robin Hood to the Power of You. Our transformation included installations relating to math, measurement, calculations, education, and teamwork in general. Guests entered through a grand corridor of backpacks filled with school supplies that created vivid stripes on the walls. After the event, the backpacks were donated to over 7,000 New York City school kids. I loved telling an education story with materials that are meaningful and have a life after the event, so that there’s no waste.

Tell us about a current project you’re working on. What was the inspiration behind it?

We are currently designing and planning the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 150th Anniversary Gala. This is another institution near and dear to our hearts, and we have just begun to dive into the research. We love nothing more than exploring an institution’s archives to find that perfect, conceptual idea to base the whole night upon! It’s a truly exciting milestone to be part of!

Do you have anything in your home that you’ve designed/created?

Yes! I have many, many things in my home that I have designed or created, for sure, and probably too many to name in their entirety. Here are three examples:

• Upon entering my apartment there is a piece of artwork that is hanging above an entry table. It’s essentially a chalk drawing that has been sealed, but it was actually cut down from a giant set piece that was created for a benefit we designed for the Robin Hood Foundation many years ago. For this event, we rendered New York City as a giant, dimensional chalk drawing so that the guests could, as a metaphor, redraw the city as we know it, erasing poverty in the process. The remaining piece that I kept as a keep-sake is somewhat abstract, but you can make out some figures walking across a series of horizontal lines. Before the piece was cut down, it depicted the New York Public Library, with horizontal lines as the grand staircase leading from the street to the Library. A fabulous artist named Dave Singley did the drawing. He has been a central part of studio team at David Stark Design for many years as well.

• In our kitchen, a basket woven “bull’s head” presides over the central island proudly. Years ago, when I was designing a collaborative collection with West Elm, this was a sample for a product within a Picasso inspired collection. West Elm did not move our bull into production, but I kept the sample and love it as much today as I did when we first viewed it.

• I also have a set of plates that I designed for Culture Lab Detroit in collaboration with Pewabic Pottery, Detroit’s iconic ceramics house. I love these and take good care of them, because it’s impossible to replace ones that break!

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/19/where-i-work-david-stark/

[jamiekturner]

A Collection of Typography Books From Which You Can Learn About This Beautiful Art

I am featuring on this site frequent typographic designs, but if you only look at inspiration without actually learning about the elements of typography, how this type of design should be used and where, you might just be an amateur designer who tries his best and that is all.

To become a great graphic designer with serious knowledge of typography you have to learn either in an art school or from the best typography books that are available where you find almost everything useful on every topic regarding typography.

Don’t get me wrong, there are very good articles online, but the information is scattered on various typography sites and it takes a lot of time to find the useful articles. Moreover, you need to have all the info in one place so that you learn things in a certain order. This is why I’m recommending books on typography, rather than online articles.

Designing with Type, 5th Edition: The Essential Guide to Typography

Part textbook and part reference work, the fifth edition of a typographic classic begins with a thumbnail history of the development of written language and ends with a glossary; in between are in-depth looks at five classic typefaces, lessons on designing with text type, display type and color, and plenty of project assignments.

Thinking with Type, 2nd revised and expanded edition: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students

Thinking with Type is the definitive guide to using typography in visual communication, from the printed page to the computer screen.

This revised edition includes forty-eight pages of new content, including the latest information on style sheets for print and the web, the use of ornaments and captions, lining and non-lining numerals, the use of small caps and enlarged capitals, as well as information on captions, font licensing, mixing typefaces, and hand lettering.

Throughout the book, visual examples show how to be inventive within systems of typographic form—what the rules are and how to break them. Thinking with Type is a type book for everyone: designers, writers, editors, students, and anyone else who works with words.

The Anatomy of Type: A Graphic Guide to 100 Typefaces

The Anatomy of Type explores one hundred traditional and modern typefaces in loving detail, with a full spread devoted to each entry.

The full character set from each typeface is shown, and the best letters for identification are enlarged and annotated, revealing key features, anatomical details, and the finer, often-overlooked elements of type design.

The Elements of Typographic Style

Renowned typographer and poet Robert Bringhurst brings clarity to the art of typography with this masterful style guide. Combining the practical, theoretical, and historical, this edition is completely updated, with a thorough exploration of the newest innovations in intelligent font technology, and is a must-have for graphic artists, editors, or anyone working with the printed page using digital or traditional methods.

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

Just My Type investigates a range of modern mysteries, including how Helvetica took over the world, what inspires the seemingly ubiquitous use of Trajan on bad movie posters, and what makes a font look presidential, male or female, American, British, German, or Jewish.

From the typeface of Beatlemania to the graphic vision of the Obama campaign, fonts can signal a musical revolution or the rise of an American president. This book is a must-read for the design conscious that will forever change the way you look at the printed word.

Mastering Type: The Essential Guide to Typography for Print and Web Design

Packages on store shelves, posters on building walls, pages of a website—all contain information that needs to be communicated. And at the heart of that communication is type: visually interesting, interactive, expressive and captivating. Each letter must come alive; therefore, each letter must be carefully crafted or chosen. A solid foundation in typography, as well as an understanding of its nuances, will help you optimize your visual communication—in whatever form it takes.

Wolfgang Weingart: My Way to Typography

Countless designers in North America and Europe have been inspired by his teachings and lectures. In Typography, Weingart sums up an impressive lifework in 500 pages that describe his own development and the foundations of his teachings. This is a long-awaited book of epochal significance.

Logotype

Logotype is the definitive modern collection of logotypes, monograms, and other text-based corporate marks. Featuring more than 1,300 international typographic identities, by around 250 design studios, this is an indispensable handbook for every design studio, providing a valuable resource to draw on in branding and corporate identity projects. Retaining the striking black-and-white aesthetic and structure of Logo (also by Michael Evamy) and Symbol, Logotype is an important and essential companion volume.

Getting it Right with Type: The Dos and Don’ts of Typography

Typography is no longer the specialist domain of the typesetter: these days anyone who uses a computer has access to a wide range of typefaces and effects. This book offers an introduction to the basics of typography, including choosing which typeface to use; adjusting letter-, line-, and word-spacing for improved legibility; understanding kerning and leading; and mastering typographic details, such as italics, punctuation, and line endings.

The book is illustrated throughout with practical examples demonstrating good and bad solutions. There are tips for specific design tasks, such as letters, charts, tables, and design for the screen, and a glossary explaining typographic terms.

Hand to Type: Scripts, Hand-Lettering

Although, or perhaps because, most of us write less and less by hand, our fascination for handwritten letterforms is growing. Typeface designers who specialize in traditional, charming, or spectacular lettering with a handmade look have become role models for today’s young typographers and graphic design students.

1,000 Type Treatments: From Script to Serif, Letterforms Used to Perfection

1,000 Type Treatments showcases an array of fonts in a catalog-like format, making it easy for the working designer to practically shop for ideas. The book is organized by style so if a designer has a traditional, elegant, or edgy piece, they can go directly to that section of the book, where they will find a wide collection of fresh ideas in the style they are seeking.

Type Rules!: The Designer’s Guide to Professional Typography

Type Rules: The Designer’s Guide to Professional Typography, 3rd Edition is an up-to-date, thorough introduction to the principles and practices of typography. From the fundamentals to cutting-edge applications, this edition has everything today’s serious designer needs to use type effectively.

Dozens of exercises reinforce authoritative coverage on such topics as how to select the appropriate type for the job, how to set type like a pro, how to avoid common mistakes, and how to design a typeface, as well as how to fully harness the power of major design packages such as InDesign and QuarkXPress — with new coverage of their latest versions.

Typographie: A Manual of Design

Emil Ruder’s Typography is the timeless textbook from which generations of typographer and graphic designers have learned their fundamentals. Ruder, one of the great twentieth-century typographers was a pioneer who abandoned the conventional rules of his discipline and replaced them with new rules that satisfied the requirements of his new typography. Now in its sixth printing, this book has a hallowed place on the bookshelves of both students and accomplished designers.

Typography Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Working with Type

Typography Essentials is a practical, hands-on resource to distill, organize, and compartmentalize-but not to oversimplify-the many complex issues surrounding the effective use of typography. It is for designers of every medium in which type plays a major role. A deep understanding of letterforms and knowledge of the effective use of letterforms can only be obtained with constant observation and experimentation; it evolves over a lifetime of design practice and study.

Typography, Referenced: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to the Language, History, and Practice of Typography

Typography, Referenced is the single most comprehensive volume covering every aspect of typography that any design student, professional designer, or design aficionado needs to know today.

Typography Sketchbooks

Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type

Although grid systems are the foundation for almost all typographic design, they are often associated with rigid, formulaic solutions. However, the belief that all great design is nonetheless based on grid systems (even if only subverted ones) suggests that few designers truly understand the complexities and potential riches of grid composition.

Little Book of Lettering

This collection—large in scope but petite in size—surveys the recent lettering renaissance, showcasing a diverse range of talent in gorgeous, eye-catching examples and profiling today’s innovators. In a stunning little package that expertly combines a handmade feel with a modern aesthetic, this is the ultimate inspirational collection of contemporary lettering for design buffs and type enthusiasts alike.

Made with FontFont: Type for independent minds

The Bible of Illuminated Letters: A Treasury of Decorative Calligraphy

The ancient art of illuminating manuscripts is currently attracting many new enthusiasts among artists, art students, and lovers of calligraphy. The Bible of Illuminated Letters is a volume they’ll all want to add to their collections. It presents step-by-step instructions for recreating twelve illuminated alphabets. Among them are Celtic, Saxon, Gothic, Romanesque, Modern Revival, and seven more, including several modern scripts.

Typology: Type Design from the Victorian Era to the Digital Age

A must-have for designers, not to mention that quirky group in love with type for types sake (you know who you are), Typology is the most visually dynamic compendium of typefaces on the market. Its pages are profusely illustrated with hundreds of complete alphabets, and such original artifacts as typesheets, catalogs, broadsides, posters, and many other primary source examples. In all, Typology is the long-awaited type encyclopedia destined to be a standard reference work for years to come.

Logo, Font & Lettering Bible

Why be a designer who must rely upon preexisting typefaces and clip art when you can become the kind of designer who creates logos, fonts and lettering of your own? Leslie Cabarga, author of the bestselling Designer’s Guide to Color Combinations, has created a textbook of type for the experienced graphics professional as well as the beginning student of design.

New Vintage Type: Classic Fonts for the Digital Age

Choose, use, and understand great vintage type with this authoritative guide. Retro is the new modern. And nowhere is that fact more evident than in typography, which today uses vintage type in ads, book and magazine design, movies, and everywhere words convey meaning. Viewers may not even realize that the type itself conveys mood, information, and a sense of style, but graphic designers know the power of vintage type.

Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design’s Golden Age

Seen in everything from wedding invitations and birth announcements to IOUs, menus, and diplomas, script typefaces impart elegance and sophistication to a broad variety of texts. Scripts never go out of style, and the hundreds of inventive examples here are sure to inspire today’s designers. Derived from handwriting, these are typefaces that are stylized to suggest, imply, or symbolize certain traits linked to writing.

from Web Development & Designing http://www.designyourway.net/blog/resources/a-collection-of-typography-books-from-which-you-can-learn-about-this-beautiful-art/

[connorrenwick]

Where I Work: Kyle Hoff of Floyd

Detroit-based Floyd launched in 2014 with the goal of creating quality furniture that was designed for the home and not to end up in a landfill in a couple of years. Over the years, the brand, co-founded by Kyle Hoff and Alex O’Dell, has become known for their practical, well-thought out designs that are minimal and easy-to-assemble. They started with simple yet clever table legs and have since expanded their catalog to furnish just about your entire house, with a dining table, platform bed, sofa, shelving, and more. Floyd recently finished construction on their newly expanded, 5755-square-foot headquarters in Detroit’s Eastern Market district, and for this month’s Where I Work, co-founder + CEO Kyle Hoff is taking us inside the space and his work life to see more.

Kyle Hoff

What’s your studio/work environment like?

It’s an energized place with a lot of different things going on. The 34 person company is comprised of a product, marketing, customer experience, tech, and supply chain team that all work very closely together. Product is at the heart of what Floyd is and we like to think we’re building one of the most exciting places in the US for an industrial designer or engineer to come and work.

How is your space organized/arranged?

The office is pretty open and we like to think of it as a democratic space, that even includes product development. Counter to the typical practices of an “R&D Lab”, we firmly believe in open R&D that is accessible to anyone on the Floyd team and even our customer (we love sharing what’s happening in the space). We do everything we can to get all members of the team at Floyd, from tech to customer experience, to spend time in the Lab and contribute ideas. As we continue to grow, we want to treat it as the heart of the business and ensure that like our products, understanding design and the process is accessible to our customers.

How long have you been in this space? Where did you work before that?

We’ve been in our current space for about a year, and expanded it this past summer. Prior to being in Eastern Market, we spent our first few years as a company working out of a more DIY space in Detroit called Ponyride. Before that, Alex and I launched the company out of a garage in Corktown, which is quintessential to any startup story!

If you could change something about your workspace, what would it be?

More space. We would love to be able to dedicate more space to R&D and have more dedicated rooms to each project we’re launching at the company. As with any growing company, product rooms and conference rooms are a precious resource.

Is there an office pet?

So many! The Floyd team has 20 dogs and counting.

Do you require music in the background? If so, who are some favorites?

We love to have music on and the vibe depends on the day of week/weather. We have a lot of self proclaimed DJs at Floyd, so there isn’t any shortage of new music. In the R&D lab, you might hear some Theolonius Monk put on by our head of Product Development, Dan. He’s an amazing musician. If you’re looking for jazz recs around Detroit, email him – Baker’s Keyboard Lounge is a favorite.

How do you record ideas?

It’s different across the team. I use a Moleskine, but collectively when we’re working on a project, we work to document ideas and the process through decks. I know it sounds business-y, but being able to distill ideas is a really important part of how we communicate across our company and then ultimately to the customer. There’s a lot of research, thought, design, and positioning that goes into all things Floyd, so bringing it together in a cohesive way is a critical step.

Do you have an inspiration board? What’s on it right now?

We have stuff pinned up all over the place from marketing concepts to product concepts. It’s pretty fluid and transparent.

What is your typical work style?

I’m a morning person, so I like to tackle the more complex challenges in the AM and avoid using that time for email, etc. My schedule isn’t overly regimented, but I require focus time.

What is your creative process and/or creative workflow like? Does it change every project or do you keep it the same?

The framework stays pretty similar from project to project. We always start by first identifying the pain points we’re solving for and digging into what the customer needs. Thereafter, we can really identify the constraints which is really at the core of how we develop product.

What kind of art/design/objects might you have scattered about the space?

Plenty of Eames shell chairs, a few Noguchi lamps, a Nelson Day Bed… We draw a ton of inspiration from the other great furniture companies in the state (Herman Miller, Steelcase, Haworth) and designers that practiced 10 miles away at Cranbrook (the Eameses, Saarinens, Florence Knoll) – so plenty of inspiration scattered about from them.

Are there tools and/or machinery in your space?

Yes, we have an array of equipment for fast, scrappy prototyping. We’re also actively building out our R&D capabilities with the launch of the new Floyd R&D Lab.

What tool(s) do you most enjoy using in the design process?

Felt tip pen and a sketchbook is where I start. As we dig in more, I like to use an iPad Pro. It’s a great tool for communicating and working off of existing ideas. For example, I’ll often photograph prototypes and sketch over them.

What design software do you use, if any, and for what?

Once we get past the conceptual phase, the team will use SolidWorks because it’s the best way to work closely with our manufacturers, which is a critical part of the process. Plus, it keeps us honest if the product can really be produced.

What’s on your desk right now?

Nothing. We share desk space and encourage the team to move around. That said, some folks set up more of a basecamp. We’re not really hardliner “open office” people, but we take more of an organic approach to how people use the space.. Depending on the team, the space needs vary.

Is there a favorite project/piece you’ve worked on?

They’re all great, but I’ll focus on the bed frame because it’s been around the longest. It’s a quintessential Floyd piece and it’s been amazing to evolve the product over a period of 4 years. We keep making the product better – we just added underbed storage this year. I like to think we’ll still be selling it in its same form in 50 years. The bookshelf just came out and has been a quick hit with our customers. That said, the team is giddy to make it more modular and functional than it already is, for example, a cabinet add-on that we’ll be introducing this year.

Tell us about a current project you’re working on. What was the inspiration behind it?

The team has a handful of products in R&D, but I’m most excited about the dining chair because it’s something that customers have been asking for for a while. We’ve already sent a pretty lengthy survey out to our community about what they’re looking for in a chair and got some really amazing feedback. Stay tuned!

Do you have anything in your home that you’ve designed/created?

My home is, of course, full of Floyd products. Beyond that, I have some of the first Floyd legs prototyped and a few tables that predated Floyd – all of which I have a close connection with.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/17/where-i-work-kyle-hoff-of-floyd/

[connorrenwick]

Where I Work: Russell Pinch of PINCH

British furniture brand PINCH was founded in 2004 by husband and wife team, designer Russell Pinch and creative director Oona Bannon. They design furniture and lighting with an understated elegance that makes each piece perfect for passing down to the next generation. The duo splits their time between their south London studio and their two shops in the Pimlico Road district where they sell their products. In this month’s Where I Work, co-founder Russell Pinch takes us inside the company’s design world to see how and where it all happens.

What’s your studio/work environment like?

It depends on who you ask – I think it’s creative, but others might think it’s a wee bit messy. There are always a lot of ongoing projects with samples and prototypes half built or being adjusted. To the untrained eye it looks like a collection of Frankenstein models, legs missing – half finished starting points of ideas, long forgotten though to me and my team they are crucial markers of where we are with a project.

How is your space organized/arranged?

There are 2 business locations I work from – the studio in south London and the shops on the Pimlico Road. The studio is the main design office and my real home. It’s a 19th century railway shed with 30’ high tongue and groove timber ceilings, stained glass windows, and is a beast to heat – or cool. We built a mezzanine with a cast iron spiral staircase in the corner and this is where the design and procurement team sits in one long row. It’s more like the helm of a ship than an office and the Victorian era feeling is exaggerated by wood burning stoves providing smoky smelling heating in the winter.

How long have you been in this space? Where did you work before that?

Oona and I started working from our Brixton home 15 years ago where we turned the house into a showroom and everything was for sale. That worked really well up to a point. It gave a really intimate and fully domestic way of viewing the furniture but it had its downsides when people came visiting from all over the world walking up at strange hours and buying our dining table and sofa literally from under our feet. We moved into the studio about 10 years ago. About 2 years ago we opened our first store and this year our second.

If you could change something about your workspace, what would it be?

I wish the real estate in London would allow us to have the design studio and shops all combined. Alas we need the shops to be where the customers will visit – in a smart part of London and we need space and to be able to create noise and mess in the workshop / studio which can only be afforded south of the river.

Is there an office pet?

There will be shortly, Joni is only 8 weeks old but will be a permanent shadow to myself or Oona between all our spaces.

Do you require music in the background? If so, who are some favorites?

Oh yes, music is hugely important, something to retreat to but also something to change up the studio vibes when needed. The week starts off quite somber with some Nils Frahm, it starts to get a bit more Velvet Underground midweek, and then ends up with Moderat and Jon Hopkins Friday afternoon with the volume following suit.

How do you record ideas?

I have a sketchbook which I try to keep ideas in but to be honest it ends up with any corner of paper as a starting point. I use a combination of Tombow pens, which are like drawing with watercolors and a very specific fine line black pen.

Do you have an inspiration board? What’s on it right now?

No, we are not really into Pinterest or magazine tears (though Oona sometimes has weird images she collects that convey a feeling rather than a product characteristic. You might argue the whole studio is a mood board, we do have photos of exhibitions we’ve seen, graphics we love mixed with bits of found stone, shells, strange salvaged materials from all over the place. Somehow all these things converge and inspire from within, subliminally and other times directly.

What is your typical work style?

The work is varied, we’re running a mid-sized business that requires a pretty scheduled approach for all things “business”. Creative is where it goes more off piste.

There is a sadly predictable cycle that we have to go through. I usually need to take myself away to start on sketches – headphones on at the kitchen table. Day 1, I think I have no more ideas and just can’t do this anymore. Oona raises her eyes to the sky (she’s heard this all before for 20 years) and patiently suggests I keep going. Day 2, there’s a flurry of inspiration and I am itching to get straight back into the workshop and start model making to see if any of the ideas fly. Then there days and days of refining and restarting.

What follows is a much more structured cycle of commercialization involving lots of the team following the project through its development to production.

What is your creative process and/or creative workflow like? Does it change every project or do you keep it the same?

Always the same as above, sketch followed by a huge amount of modeling all at 1:5 with full-size details and material exploration. We try and make a full-size model in the workshop before even starting to talk to our workshops about prototyping which is multiple in its phases.

What kind of art/design/objects might you have scattered about the space?

There are a lot of found objects – I have parts of wooden model airplanes on my desk, a parrot mask, some French and Dutch graphic signs, countless models, molds, samples bits of rock, and strange shells. It is organized chaos. Everything has meaning to me.

Are there tools and/or machinery in your space?

Yes in the model making workshop we have most small-scale machinery, from bandsaws to bobbin and disk sanders and a lathe. We all spend a lot of time in the workshop.

What tool(s) do you most enjoy using in the design process?

A 10 A Scalpel – I think I’ve been using this since I was about 14 years old and have been making models ever since. It has to be very, very sharp and there’s not much I can’t sculpt with it.

Let’s talk about how you’re wired. Tell us about your tech arsenal/devices.

Just 3 key things: iPhone 10XS, mostly for photos and music; Bose speakers (the music again) & Bose headphones because they’re so good; and a very powerful MacBook Pro – I’m not very patient so I need my machine to be efficient.

What design software do you use, if any, and for what?

CAD Vectorworks, all things model making related, most of the Adobe suite for playing with color.

However when it comes to a beautiful curve I have to draw it full size in pencil as I think there is a difference and the hand drawn line still has its place.

What’s on your desk right now?

Pots of paint, color mixing, and model painting. Receipts I should be filing.

Is there a favorite project/piece you’ve worked on?

They are all our children and you just can’t have a favorite. I’m usually in love with the project I’m working on at that moment in time, which as I write is a four poster version of our latest bed – Christo. However, once it’s out there it’s old news creatively and I’m onto the next.

Do you have anything in your home that you’ve designed/created?

It’s simpler to ask do we have anything in our house not designed by us. From the sofa we sit on to the dining table we gather around, to the bed we sleep in. It’s important to actually use the furniture we design and test it on children and shortly on dogs.

via http://design-milk.com/

from WordPress https://connorrenwickblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/where-i-work-russell-pinch-of-pinch/