#i dont get to answer asks very often haha

[tstain-i-guess]

I like Mr. Krupp. He's a blorbo to me. I'm not talking about captain underpants, I'm talking Benjamin. He's super strict, a bad principal, literally cartoon evil. I love him. I want to give him a nice life. I'm rooting for him. I barely even started the 2017 movie and never read a book of his but I'm such a fan. I just want to ugh. It's not even romantically i just want him happy. When he's doing something that certainly is some kind of human right violation I just think that's my boy. Idk about captain i haven't gotten to that part yet but PLEASE. Ive seen a scene or two of him being on a date so maybe he's lonely. If that's the case he deserves a nice little family. Maybe he can adopt Sneedly or whatever that autistic snitch is named. Seriously though basically everything about him is autistic. "I don't get" BESTIE!!! SAME!!! He's a need and how his face LIGHTS up and he celebrates for the invention thing and needy for attention. The snitch part isn't ideal but whatev.

Anyway I just wanted to say that and you were the most recent poster about it and no way am I going to admit that to my blog because I have anxiety

Nah I feel you. Krupp is so so so good in the movie like I know we're supposed to sympathise with George and Harold but come on! Krupp for the most part is just doing his job in his eyes and to him George and Harold and mucking everything up. He's tired an burnt out. I think he needs a hug (which I am most certainly up for) and I like that in the end he got a girl (their relationship is also very sweet and the reason I got into CU by watching the movie in the first place).

OH AND MELVIN 1000% ABSOLUTELY HAS THE 'TISM AND YOU CANNOT CHANGE MY MIND

[sugahbunni]

jake as your bfs best friend except jake reallly likes you.

jake knows its just so wrong of him as heeseungs best friend, to have a crush on his gf. but how could he not? your blushing red cheeks, pouty lips and shiny eyes and perfect hair. its been months and he cant seem to get over you. he wonders how your hair feels, how your skin feels and how your lips would feel against his. when heeseung introduced you to jake, jake swears his heart flips. your puffy cheeks painted in a faint red from the cold weather. your innocent eyes flickering everywhere, and your delicate hand shaking his hand. and your voice seemed to be laced with honey. "i'm yn, nice to meet you!". jake nervously smiles, your hair distracting him. its so shiny and soft, he wonders how it must feel to tou- "right jake, ill see you around" heeseung pats jake on the shoulder, walking off with you holding his hand. "r-right" jake stutters, watching you stride away. "shes perfect".

you and jake had one class together, to his surprise you came up to him and asked if you could sit with him. "you're heeseungs friend, right?! oh my gosh im so glad i know someone here, can i sit here?". to which jake gladly says yes to. a few days in and jake realizes how this is a very distracting situation. your knee often scratches against jakes, a soft "sorry" coming from you. he can't help but feel butterflies when your elbow brushes against his. he seriosly cannot focus on anything but how close you are to him. god, this isnt helping his small crush on you.

you and jake have gotten closer over the last few weeks, cracking jokes and hanging around campus. heeseung doesnt mind, in his words "yn is completely tied to me" which jake hated to hear but what could he do?. jake often brings your favorite snacks, he loves how your face brightens up when he gives them to you. "thanks jakey" you smile at him softly. jake feels his cheeks heat up a bit, holding back a huge smile. "y-you're welcome".

jake cant seem to get over you, he managed to get a picture of you (dont ask how hes already creeped out by himself). in the picture, you're wearing a white babydoll sweater and a matching skirt. with your glittery makeup again. "fuck" jake mutters, staring at your picture and running his hand through his hair. "be mine" he groans out of frustration, placing his hands in his hands. he then goes on insta and goes to your profile, tapping through your highlight named "me!!:3". he scans your selfies throughly, a grin plastered across his face. "yns so pretty, shit" he curses. hes examining your outfits, he really likes how you wear skirts even in this cold weather. he sets his phone down and picks up the picture of you. "can't get over you".

during the end of the class, jake is distracted once again by your overall appearance. he notices you're wearing glitter in the corner of your eyes. "nice shimmer" jake comments, and you immediately reply with a thank you. "oh thank you! haha not even heeseung noticed when i wore it yesterday..". jake scrunches his nose up, he knows his best friend is not exactly the best guy to commit yourself to. he wonders if you know heeseungs long history of dating girls. how could a sweet girl like you become one of them? "i'll see you tonight? dont forget you invited me to pizza!" you pout jokingly, patting jakes shoulder. "right! tonight" he replies, watching you walk off. "tonight ..".

jake knows heeseung is not exactly the best bf. so now that you're both close, you're often calling up jake. asking where heeseung is, why heeseung isnt answering your calls and why heeseung seems distant. taking advantage of this everytime, jake invites you to his place where you ramble with snot coming out of your nose. "i swear he has something to do with this girl named karina, he said they're just friends but.." you sniffle, jake placing a napkin under your runny nose. "its ok yn, maybe you should find someone who could you treat better". he knows hes throwing heeseung under the bus for saying this but honestly? he doesnt care. he hates how heeseung treats you as an afterthought. you spend the night at jakes. and once you knocked out, jake couldn't help but stare at you in your sleeping state. your small breaths, your twitching lips and your messy hair. you looked perfect. jake carefully brushes the hair out of your face. "please be mine, yn".

you, heeseung, and jake decided to go to a cafe. you and heeseung got there before jake. so when jake came into the cafe and saw you giggling uncontrollably at whatever heeseung said, he sighed in defeat. you were leaning against heeseung, your hand intertwined with his. jake sighs again, watching you both from afar.

"i just cant come between them" jake thinks to himself. "yn is completely in love with him".

he quite literally feels nervous, he decides to just go home. he often gets stomachaches from thinking about how you're his best friends gf. and how he cant have you. it gets so had that he gets anxious from thinking about it too much. is it that serious ? yes, yes it is. like sometimes when jake passes by the libeary, he sees you and heeseung. jakes heart flushes down to his stomach when he sees you smiling brightly at heeseung. he quite literally feels sick to his stomach knowing you'll never be his.

jake lays out in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. he has your picture in his hand, rubbing his finger against your face. he gives it a soft kiss, cringing at himself for doing so but thats what you do when you like someone. jake thinks he likes you a little bit too much now, your personality is absolutely electric in his eyes. its been five months since he met you, and five months since you and heeseung have been dating.

will jake ever get over you? as long as you and heeseung are dating, he dont think he ever will.

like ever.

[anzulvr]

karma x reader — fluff, angst? (Kinda) if they had a relationship like Hanako and yashiro,, SPOILERS FOR TBHK guys I’m supposed to be doing one of the thirty requests but I thought of this and I couldn’t help it I’m sorry

Karma and you are the epitome of the scene in TBHK where Hanako goes “And guess who gets to be my little helper!” and Yashiro replies “it’s me… I’m the helper…” in the most disappointing voice as she gets her cheeks squished by him.

(If you haven’t seen it look it up on YouTube or tiktok!)

You’d be like Yashiro and Karma would be more like Hanako because of how often he gets you wrapped up in his crazy plans, most days he does something stupid and needs you to be apart of it.

Karmas personality is very bold and he definitely takes jokes too far sometimes which is why I think a confession from him could be kind of messy and in parallel to the scene where Hanako accidentally makes Yashiro cry by fake-confessing to her as apart of his plan. (Look the scene up, he stages a confession, Yashiro is disappointed and he teases her about it not realizing it upset her) — Karmas version of this would be an assassination plan on Korosensei where he lores Korosensei to whatever place planned by faking a confession to you (cause Korosensei is super nosy and would definitely snoop around given the chance no matter how sketchy things seem), Karma forgets to fill you in and now you’re hurt when you realize the confession was all apart of a stupid assassination attempt.

“Haha can you believe he fell for that, still couldn’t kill him that sucks, hey- [Name]? Dont tell me you’re disappointed the confession was staged.” He laughs but that comes to a quick stop when he realizes that was exactly the reason why you looked so sad.

He reacts differently depending on your reaction, if you’re mad at him he’ll let you tell him off, for the first time he doesn’t argue back because he realizes he seriously messed up. He asks Nagisa and to help him figure out how to win back your trust, when Nagisa’s answer is “you should just be honest about your feelings.” Karma decides to get advice from Ms.Jelavitch instead, because he’s not up to being mushy just yet. (He ends up being mushy regardless he will swallow his pride after seeing you all frowny)

If you’re more sensitive and you start crying (real) he’ll be even more lost on how to react. He’ll apologize frantically and doesn’t realize when he’s starting to say things that he’d consider cheesy in any other moment. He tells you it’s not that the confession was fake, and how he meant every word, “I didn’t think you reciprocated, I thought I could make my feelings useful for some assassination attempt without realizing you felt that way…”

pretty short sorry :) but have this 🩷!

[haolovre]

“Come and save me”

“ he’ll appeard in her dream, but now also in real life, but really. is it real life?”

superman!gunwook x reader

oneshot (but if u guys want a part 2 i ‘ll make one just let me know!)

a/n:this gunwook came up my mind today. hes so ininwijwnihnwisnzj, also these stuff take hours so bear with me. This fic has a open ending so yeah

genre: - (im stupid)

word count: idk it looks short so

divider by @cafekitsune

warnings : missspelled words, bullying

masterlist

Normal day at school, you walk in and kaboom water all over you. It was common for this to happen too you and u werent even shocked about who keeps doing them, hwang wonyoung and park eunchae, the popular kids who gets there fame by bullying people. And u were so damn lucky to be one of them. People were afraid to help you, because they dont want the sams happening too themselves. You ran to the toilets to clean urself up.

After some time you came all dry out of the bathroom. Most of the students went to class already, so you hurried to your class. Luckily u were on time..

Time skip!

School is done! Lucky for you, u still have 2 hours of tutoring sessions. So u went to the library and sat somewhere. Your junior, Kim Yujin came right on time and you started on tutoring him

As the two hours went fast u two bid eachother goodbye and you went home.

You did your homework and washed up then you hurriedly turned on your tv to be on time with Boys Planet. U watched for a bit until u were sleepy.

U went to bed with a dream that the bullying will stop.

U woke up the next day, and the cycle will not end, getting bullied, tutor a junior, do homework and sleep. The schedule went on and on. You already went to a teacher asking for help, but no luck as the two bullies came from wealth.

on saterdays u would work at en park cafe, owned by the park family. The owner is friends with your mother and that is how you got the job there. Even tho its ur bully, park eunchae’s family, there much more kind than she is. Its a small business cafe but very cozy. You often worked alone there on how small the cafe was, but mostly ms park helped you.

“Alright it’s the end of the month what means you, yoon y/n get your paycheck.” Ms park gets a envelope from the cash register. “Shh don’t tell that im giving u a tip.” She puts the envelope in ur jackets pocket. “Well off u go know its getting dark.” “Alright ms park ill be going now have a great night !” as that u opened the door and waved goodbye to her. “Bye bye sweetie.” The walk from the cafe and to your house isnt far so the walk was short.

You went to take a shower, dried off and went to sleep.

the next day your teacher announced that there will be a new student. “Well class meet park gunwook your new classmate! Please sit next to yoon y/n. Yoon y/n please raise ur hand” as you looked up seeing the student. Atleast 6 ft tall, black hair but from the lighting it looked dark gray (grandpa alert) ,” hey! Im gunwook.” He smiles “your name is yoon y/n right? Beautiful name!” “Oh yeah thank you, your name is pretty too!” You two were interrupted by the bell.

“Oh well thats the bell, what is our next class?” You quickly grabbed the schedule “math..” you answered “ in class a5”. Lets go before we get la-“ splash. Water hitted your face “HAHA! Awh poor yoon got her all wet weh weh. What are u going to do? Go cry in the washroom” hwang wonyoung great oh great. “What the hell was that! Y/n are you oke? God damn, have you gone mad” gunwook grabbed wonyoung at her collor and shoved her against a locker. “What the hell is wrong with you!” “Why do you care about her she is pathetic”

“Pathetic? You think she is pathetic? Your the pathetic one, splashing water on someone is pa.the.tic.” You were shocked. No one stood up for you ever. Wonyoung looked horrified “Well wait until my father will hear about this”

she tried to run away but gunwook’s grip was to strong. “Why are you even trying to run away? Poor y/n couldn’t so why can you?” He said in a petty tone. “I - i- u will get expelled if you keep doing this gunwook my fa-“ “im not scared of ur father.” he cutted off her sentence.

as this ‘fight’ went on u actually never paid attention to the fight. Instead u looked at his features. Gunwooks features. You didnt cared about all this for you, u only were looking at him.

ur hero with no cape

* thringgg

the bell went…

“y/n! y/n? Y/N!” You slowly woke up from your dream… “oh finally your awake its almost 7 am you need to hurry to school!” Your mom screamed at you.

You suddenly realized… it was all a dream, a dream u can only wish for it actually would happen…

You arrived at school. Surprisedly no one bullied you, nothing. What is a huge shocker. as the day went on smoothly you soon see it almost saterday.

“Well y/n my dear. You worked so hard today. My hardest worker” she patted you on the head. “Well i might also say is that someone will take over my place and will work with you!” “What? Ur retiring?” “Yeah dear i am, now let me introduce you too your new boss, park gunwook. he’s my son and..”

you didnt pay attention anymore. You heard his name. And you saw him again. But now in reality.

“Well dear here he finally is. Oh you two would make a cute couple. He is 16 so he is around your age! Also he would be joining you for class next semester! But he will be joining you next week.” next semester..? Oh yeah next week is summer break.

“Oh well nice to meet you” he smiled “park gunwook ur new boss” now he’s smilling proudly from ear to ear. “Yoon y/n” you smiled. “I hope you two will get along, you do have all summer.” Ms park winked. He chuckled.

The week started of fine. You hung alot with gunwook. Sometimes some bullying but gunwook made sure they wouldnt hurt you.

And you we’re grateful for that. Someone who stood up for you.

He protected you from the bullying.

The week went fast, no bullying just because gunwook was there. He made it stop. He might have threatened his sister and friend to stop but we like to see that

The last day working at the cafe. Well not last just before summer begins, as the shop closes in the holidays.

Gunwook is nice to work with, sometimes a bit clumsy but still helpful.

After your shift,

Summer has finally started

it has been two weeks into summer break. You and gunwook got along very well. You two have alot in common so it was easy to get along.

he often invites you to his apartment as he doesn’t live with his parents even tho he’s 16.

you two were having so much fun. And you didnt want summer to end.

you didnt want to this to end

this friendship

4 weeks into summer break. You two were still hanging out every minute that you could. You might see him as your brother on how often you see him.

You do see him getting more touchy and more cuddly the more you spend time with him.

Hands ‘accidentally’ touching.

Him not wanting to let go from a hug

Him being jealous of you hanging out with someone else, definitely if it was a boy that wasnt him.

those little things. He would always would notice.

5 weeks in summer break.

He asked you to meet at the beach. Your go to place where u confess your problems and any of that sort.

Your heart was racing. You couldn’t wait until you see him again. You two havent hung out for this week. It now a sunday. You have grown feelings for gunwook in the summer.

He was one of the people that understood you. He cared about you.

All of those thoughts sank. You saw him with another girl…

another girl. A girl that isnt you, it was hwang wonyoung

You let that sink in, him? The park gunwook that you liked, liked your bully.. hwang wonyoung

Tears running to the ground.

You ran away before he saw you. You didnt want him to see you crying. He hated seeing you cry. You quickly messaged him saying that your sick.

He answered right away. Calling you. Asking if you were oke. But you couldn’t answer the call. He shoulf be happy with another and not worry about you. The tears stained and stingt alittle but u didnt care.

He betrayed you and played your feelings. You thought he liked you, you were so sure about it.

You heard knocking on your door…

Gunwook

Gunwoom is infront of your door. “Y/n? Are you oke . Your sick, let me take care of you.” He tried calling you making sure you were oke.

You answered.. “y/n! Oh my days your oke. I was worried sic-“ “go out with your girlfriend and stop bothering me, gunwook” you hung up. Crying. Tears rolling from your eyes.

The guy you loved was two doors away from you. But he wasnt the one for you, he loved someone else…

He, helped you escape reality. Helped you with your bullying. But that was all a dream. This is reality. He wouldnt fall in love with you. He would fall in love with hwang wonyoung.

6 weeks in summer break, the last week before school started. You blocked gunwook on everything. Distance yourself from everyone. You were stuck in your room, only coming out for food and water, or going to clean yourself.

You were a mess, and all that just for a boy. Your mom was worried but let it be.

School almost started, you dont want to face him again. Not again.

A week into school, he tried to approach you many times but you just ignored him. Not wanted to get hurt again. The bullying also have stopped, you don’t know why but it did.

on friday a note was in your locker, signed with. G.W

You wanted to throw it away, but curiosity kills you. So you opened it.

Y/n, i want to talk to you. 4 pm on the roof. ps dont thow this away, please

u stood there in thought wondering if you would go….

on the other hand gunwook stood there in the corner.. seeing your reaction, but it was unreadable. He looked at the time 3:40 pm,20 minutes to see if you come and finally talk it out..

After 2 weeks no talking gunwook was going insane. Lot of thoughts going through his mind. At the beach he saw you.. he saw you with tears in your eyes, he watched as you ran away. He wantes to follow you but then that message pops up. “Im sick” those two words was enough that he was running for his life to your home. He wasnt chased or anything. Anything for you.

He is willingly to give up everything, he might also give you his whole body. Just for to stay with you. But now two weeks without and he was going insane..

4:00 pm at the school rooftop..

You came you actually came, he could hug you right now but that isnt the proper greeting someone, not right now.

“Y/n” he said with a caring voice, “how have you been?” “I have been doing fine thanks” that was a lie, you know how terrible you did after this whole situation. “Can i explain myself.. please” you heard his desperation in his voice“yeah thats the only thing why im here”

“Listen i dont like her. I brought her to de beach to give you an apology for bullying and thought that u will have a better school year with out getting bullies. Dont misunderstand think that i likes her. I dont..” you stood the frozen, not inowing what to do. He didnt likes her.. “y/n, i like you and not her..” now your mindblown first a apology and now this confession. You tried opening your mouth but nothing came out. It was too much.

How would you respond?

Was this a dream or reality?

“Gunwook i..”

[frozenjokes]

After years of thinking... I finally want to know what is CUBGUY and his boyfriend's MBTI aka the 16 personalities

You’ve opened Pandora’s box with this one my man because I am a psych major that HATES personality tests however that did not stop me from taking the test three times (this one which I hate specifically because the commercialization of personality tests to measure worth is evil BECAUSE THEY DONT WORK. THEY ARE NOT A GOOD MEASURE OF PERSONALITY OR WORTH AND HAVING TO TAKE THIS FUCKING FOR LITERALY JOB APPLICATIONS INSTEAD OF IT JUST BEING A FUN THING TODO IN YOUR FREE TIME IS FUCKING AURYRHEUSHDHUDUSHDJSHSJAHSUSUSJ KILLING BITING MAIMING GRAGAGSHGEHWDGSHHS I HATE. HER.) anyway. I can be normal about this subject I promise.

normal elsa: haha hey guys! I took the personality test for my ocs! yippeee!!! from left to right we have Cub, Scar, and Grian. thanks for the ask! this was fun!

but it’s not about having fun is it

so anyway I took notes. So you may have noticed some things don’t look quite right here. I mean, Cub looks fine! That’s pretty accurate even! Scar too, look at him go! … wait a minute. Grian’s not nice!!!! Or poetic!!!!!!! Is altruism even real????????????? (It is and I feel strongly about this but altruistic as an adjective to describe a person i believe is doing a disservice to the definition because what they MEAN is ‘selfless’ not altruistic but while we’re on the topic of selflessness Grian is fucking NOT)

So why did this happen. I don’t really care that the personality test got someone wrong, but I am interested in Why that happened, and why a test like this will never get a character like Grian correct.

Put simply, the answer is that this test wants to make you Feel Good. Now, having fun isn’t a crime and oftentimes personality tests are there to have fun, but the danger of something like this is that the MBTI isn’t presented as a low stakes fun activity, it’s presented as fact. Look. This is you! This is a good, objective measure of your personality, aren’t you great? You’re awesome :)! Here’s a list of vague-enough sentiments that probably apply to you based on the questions we asked. Yippee! its a really clever and extremely affective trick.

While the little blurb for Scar describes him relatively well, nearly every description of his ‘personality’ besides extroversion read pretty inaccurately, and that’s because the focus is so positive. The thing is, Grian and Scar are largely very self serving people (/neutral tone). They are often more worried about themselves than others, they’re impulsive, and that’s not all they are, but it’s pretty impossible to get at someone’s actual personality without recognizing what makes people flawed.

The closest I think the MBTI test gets to probing at this idea of potential selfishness are questions that are meant to test thinking versus feeling. Do you consider someone’s sensitivities in if they conflict with reason? Are you more concerned with facts or emotion? Logos versus pathos. That kinda stuff. But ultimately the MBTI test doesn’t really care about selfishness, it doesn’t care about flaws, it just cares about making you feel good baybe! So these neutral questions don’t really come back in any meaningful way. The MBTI is concerned about making caricatures of people, not accurately measuring their personality and that Matters because its so often treated as scientific, at least good enough to be used in consideration for jobs and work and school and all sorts of stuff.

And I could go on but the problem with modern personality tests goes so so so much deeper, even in more controlled, more science oriented fields like psychiatry. The system for diagnosing personality disorders is somewhat similar to a personality tests are at the very least aided by them, falling on a straight lined spectrum of Openness, Consciousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. But this system Sucks and everyone knows it sucks because comorbidity between clusters (A, B, C) of personality disorders is Insanely High. I wish I had the exact percentages, but I can’t quite find the information I’m looking for, but the point is that if the rate of comorbidity between different disorders is So High, how do you know these disorders are correctly defined at all? If a person more often than not has Disorder A and Disorder B at the same time, who’s to say they’re all that different at all? In general, a lot of the criteria for diagnosing a personality disorders is Really similar, so in general it’s a section of the DSM that needs a pretty massive overhaul.

I don’t envy personality psychologists man their job is Tough (and in my opinion, kind of impossible. there’s too many roadblocks in making an objective test. It is. Eugh.)

TLDR: the MBTI test is about as decisive as a fortune cookie and it literally can’t be anything more because then you would realize its lying to you. amen

[sporesgalaxy]

I know this is something u were probably asked before but as the guy that has a good relationship with art....how do you do that??? I mean I get that this question is vague but how do you not care if it looks bad? Do you just?? Keep on going till it looks like you want it to look? Despite the agonies? You seem like you enjoy talking abt this thats why im asking, dont feel the need to answer if u dont wanna

hmmmm. You know, I don't think about the agonies much these days. But it's not that I don't care. I guess I've become a freak who sees beauty in the agonies, sorta? It's kind of complicated! I will do my best to explain!

First of all, I know that I have the unfair advantage of having no ambition. I don't have a goal for my art besides making art when I feel like it. That makes it easy to be less judgemental-- I remember having a rockier relationship to my own art during the time when I thought I would make it my career.

This is why I like talking about my perspective, though!! I think it's important to try not to let yourself be consumed by self-criticism as an artist, even if self-criticism is necessary for you, and hopefully my carefree way of looking at things can help balance things out haha.

Anyways, ambition or not-- and I know how this sounds but bear with me-- art doesn't ever look bad.

(Barring ethically harmful art, ugh, I don't want to get into ethics so just-- surely you know what I mean!!!)

Art gets a lot less stressful if you can tell yourself that no art is bad, and remember the reasoning behind that until you really believe it. It isn't a fast process, but it's very worth the work.

The truth is that art either looks how you want it to look, or it looks different from the way you want it to look, but both are ultimately neutral. You CAN make art that looks different from what you wanted, that you still feel pleased with.

When art looks different from how you wanted, the gut reaction you have is often to call it bad or get frustrated. And of course it's frustrating! Maybe you feel it's not as effective at communicating something as you'd hoped, or you feel it's not as visually impactful as you imagined...but it's important to remember those things are only your perception. Not an objective fact. And art is a two-way street! A communication between creator and observer! And communication is really weird and complicated.

•••

Other people's perception of your work won't ever be exactly the same as yours. Sometimes this is desireable and sometimes it isn't! Maybe your art will communicate the thing better to someone than anything they've ever seen-- even if a more effective version could theoretically exist, the "imperfect" version that actually exists and communicates is all that matters to the observer. Or, maybe a feature that turned out exactly how you wanted it to will fly completely over an observer's head, and not have the effect you wanted at all. A lot of the time, you'll never even know.

An artist can NEVER fully control an observer's perspective, so at a certain point you have to live with what you have. You already do this, to some degree, if you have ever EVER decided to stop working on a piece of art and share it. You can always keep adding to something. You can always keep editing. But sometimes, you stop. And perfection doesn't exist, so when you stop it must be because the art is good enough for now. And nothing about "good enough" is objective!

And is that really so bad? Surely people who grow fruit understand that a fruit which is smaller than they imagined can still feed somebody-- that at the very least it will feed bugs and microorganisms and be useful as fertilizer to grow more apples. Your art still means something, still accomplishes something, is still worth making whether it turns out how you imagined or not.

A lot of art is learning when to quit and move on. As a habitual perfectionist, this was something I had to learn early, to stop myself from erasing holes into every piece of paper I drew on.

There's this rule I was taught in middle school drama class: if you fuck up, act like you didn't fuck up. The audience doesn't have your script memorized, so odds are they won't have any idea you fucked up unless you tell them. Other art works the same way. No one knows what you wanted to make but you. And more importantly, a "perfect" version of your art doesn't exist (no "perfect" version of anyone's art exists, or ever will).

The version you made exists, so you have to find what's worth loving about that version. You have found what's worth loving in the imperfect art of others many times. Many observers will treat your art the same way you treat others' art. Why not treat your own art that way, too?

It sounds really REALLY corny, but I try not to think of this as embracing "mistakes." I think of it as celebrating coincidences.

I really really like coincidences. I like that every circumstance wasn't guaranteed to happen, that everything comes down to chance. I think all the little random things are beautiful because they turned out however they did, and not any of the millions of other ways things might have turned out. It's a coincidence that my genes expressed the way they did. It's a coincidence that my parents met in college. It's a coincidence that my oldest friend and I both got to middle school early every day, and stayed close even when we didn't share any classes.

Art is full of coincidences! I try to draw a straight line. The line does not turn out straight, because of the way my hand is shaped and the way my muscles contracted, because my body is not exactly like anyone else's in the world. No one else would have drawn that slightly not-straight line just exactly how I did. It's mine, and it's crookedness is what makes my art mine. Okay, maybe it's a little too crooked for what I want this time-- I'll erase it and draw a new crooked line at a bit of a different angle. There we go, I like that! Now it's my beautiful, irreplaceable crooked line! And the ghost of its predecessor guides the eye just so, and no one else's two crooked lines would guide your eye the same way, only mine! Isn't that nice on its own? Just to have made something that can't ever be replicated? To have made something no one else has ever made before?

You can also apply this in a bit less dreamy and more practical ways, I promise haha.

For example...I've never been a canvas flipper, as a digital character artist. I don't mirror my canvases to see if they still look preportional to me from either direction. I also don't usually draw visual novel character sprites that need to look good mirrored in either direction to serve their function, so it's never been a practical concern of mine.

I consider many kinds of distortion on a character I've drawn to be a good part of the visual flow of the image. Like a smear frame in animation, distoriton in the right places can make character art look dynamic and energized because it can lead the eye through a certain visual flow over the form of the character. If I were to flip the canvas, that eye-leading effect might hit differently because my American eye is used to reading from left to right-- perhaps it doesn't feel as "smooth" going in the opposite direction. This doesn't mean I need to change the distortion necessarily, it just means I prefer not to flip the canvas.

Often, these distortions aren't intentional. They're a coincidence of how my muscles move as I draw, and the areas my left-to-right American eyeballs instinctively pay more attention to. But the effect is still desireable to me. So, happy coincidence!

I think...that's the best I've got for now? Feel free to ask for clarification. I hope it's not total nonsense!

[zarnzarn]

I just read your Athena stories with the rest of the gods and I absolutely adore them so much! It’s everything I’ve wanted from an athen fic and you delivered

haha aaaaaaa thank you so much!!!! i actually went searching myself and went 'okay if i cant find it i must create' and went insane lol. im glad i could deliver tho!!

also sidenote abt that story; the gods are aspects of their domains, so while writing it i wanted to actually make them interact and 'reconcile' in a way that was conducive to where their edges met and overlapped, while keeping in mind their overarching relationships and histories. i think i still sugarcoated and rushed it a little bit; it could use more starts and stops to actually be something im fully proud of- but lets say athena didnt dwell on the hiccups in her usual athena-esque manner.

although that is why hera had so much trouble connecting w her compared to everyone else! their domains barely touch apart from the valuation of loyalty imo. plus i always see them as very 'i dont know what to do w my grown stepdaughter who has been through a lot' coded.

apollo and her get along well in general, while artemis is a HUGE fan of athena, think like the most well-hidden, bursting at the seams fan of her sorta deep down. aephastus ill answer in another ask, ares is very much capital s SIBLING and aphrodite- their domains DONT overlap and they get into arguments more often than anyone else actually. but athena can love and aphrodite can be wise, and maybe thats enough as well.

[adrunkskeletonsduck]

hii could you please write a hurt/comfort fic with jake sully ? maybe the reader overworks themself during training (and in general) because they feel like they arent good enough and jake has to reign them in lol.

tysm ! and if u dont get around to writing this it's ok haha

8:55ᴘᴍ

➜ Pairing: Father!Jake Sully & Child!Reader

➜ Warnings: Gn!reader, self degrading talk, mentions of reader overworking themselves, fluff

➜ Word Count: 0.7k

➜ Notes: None

Aᴠᴀᴛᴀʀ Mᴀsᴛᴇʀʟɪsᴛ

“Thats enough for today,” Jake announced, emerging from the trees and stepping between your bow and the crooked ‘x’ you’d carved into the tree. You lowered your bow, gesturing with it as you replied.  

“No, I need more practice.” You moved to step around him, drawing your bow once again and training your eyes on the target. Jake reached out and grabbed your arm gently to draw your attention back to him. You turned to look at him, glaring harshly.

“It’s almost eclipse, you need to get back,” he told you sternly. Your eyes flicked back to the tree for a moment, then up to meet his unbending gaze before you huffed in defeat and yanked your arm back. 

“Okay,” you grumbled, slinging your bow around you and beginning to walk back. He watched as disappeared behind the underbrush of the forest, before turning to take a quick look around the area you’d been all day. There were holes around the target you’d carved yourself from previous arrows you’d shot and a few scarps of food you’d eaten earlier sat on the ground where you’d been standing. Jake had not missed the way you disappeared for the day over the last two weeks, or the growing eyebags under your eyes. It was obvious you’d been overworking yourself and he shook his head; he’d make sure to talk to you after dinner that night. 

___ 

That night, Jake found you sitting up in a nearby tree, feet dangling over the edge as you picked at your hands and nails idly. His footsteps, although quiet, jarred you out of your thoughts that swirled with distaste for yourself. You pushed them aside, listening intently to your surroundings as he got closer. Although you didn’t acknowledge him as he sat down next to, or when he wrapped an arm around you in comfort.  

“What’s been going on?” He asked gently, watching as you paused playing with your fingers, before huffing and continuing.  

“Nothing, I’m fine.”  

“It's alright to tell me, I’m your father.”  

“Really dad, I’m fine,” you insisted, and he sighed wordlessly, letting the two of you fall into an uneasy silence for a moment before trying again. It was obvious that something was bothering you, and it was very likely that that something was the reason you had been overworking yourself. Jake hated seeing you like this, and he wanted to help you with it, but he needed you to let him help you first.  

“Please tell me what's wrong,” He pressed again, making you huff frustratedly. Why couldn’t he just leave this alone? But since he wanted to know so damn bad you’d decided to just tell him, letting the dam break and all your frustrations pour out in a ramble.  

“I’m not good enough! Nothing I do is ever going to be good enough. I can't shoot a bow like Neteyam, I’m a terrible hunter and I’m not learning to be Tsahik like Kiri either so I’m just... just useless! And you probably think I’m a massive disappointment.”  

He was a bit taken aback by your outburst. It broke his heart that you thought of yourself this way, who had told you those things, and moreover, what had made you believe them? All the parents he talked to had applauded your skills as a hunter, and he often caught younger children in awe as they watched you practice.  

“Is that why you’ve been overworking yourself? Because you think your useless.” He asked, and you answered bluntly, 

“Yes.”   

He shook his head, “You’ll never be able to shoot a bow exactly like Neteyam because you're not Neteyam, but that doesn’t make you useless sweetheart. Nor does it make you a bad hunter.” You wanted to believe him, but your mind was quick to make up excuses.  

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better,” you mumbled.  

“I’m not,” he said gently, continuing when you didn’t reply, “When I look at you, I see an accomplished person, someone the younger children look up to and aspire to be like.” The sincerity in his voice and words urged you to believe them, but a small voice of insecurity in the back of your mind would not allow you to.  

“It's not good to overwork yourself, it won't help you get better, only exhaust you. For now, you should get some rest, give yourself a break and in the morning, we can work on your shooting skills together.”   

“Okay,” you agreed, voice barley above a whisper as you stood. Jake new it would take some time for you to truly believe the things he was saying, so for now he would do everything in his power to get you to see yourself in the same light everyone else did.  

[sapphicseasapphire]

I LOVE UR LIL REAPER DUDE HES SO COOL AND PRETTY AND POGGERS I ADORE HIM SO MUCH!!! He deserves to have the best bonding experience with his train,,

JUST. IM NOT OVER THE SYMBOLISM OF LIKE,,, he does the usual transporting of people and goods, but taking that to the next level and also assisting in the transport of spirits and souls to their next adventure has me SO SOFT like,, this boy is helping everyone he can get to where they need to be!

I do have a few questions aside from my gushing, though! Uh first of all, I'd have to ask, when did he die? It's alright if it's not shared yet for lore reasons or if you just haven't decided yet, but it's interesting to me! Was he always able to see spirits? Was Zelda a one time deal, or is he only able to see her for his adventure because he'd already died and become a reaper?

ALSO!!! Does his normal body get rest when his spirit does reaping stuff? Or is it just completely unrestful "sleep" and he'd need to rest normally afterward to recover? Or would it be like, his body is recovered but his spirit is still tired? Is there some sort of gap between the two?

SORRY THIS ASK IS ALL OVER THE PLACE I DONT DO THIS VERY OFTEN i just once again wanna say thank u for adding spirit tracks and,, yeah! hes so very poggers and im very excited to see his dynamics with everyone!

Hi! I’m so glad that you like the Little Guy! I’m quite fond of him as well haha!

To answer your questions:

Spirit died pretty early into his adventure. He doesn’t remember the exact moment, but do you remember in like- the opening sequence of Spirit Tracks? When Byrne attacks Alfonzo and then hits Link SO HARD. Sends him FLYING. And we don’t see him get up until after Zelda’s spirit is removed from her body. That’s when he died. That hit killed him. And that’s when he started being able to see spirits. (That’s why he was able to see Zelda)

Secondly, he kind of rests while he’s reaping. You kind of got it already- his body is able to sleep but his mind is still active. He’s actively doing his job, which is labor, but it’s not physical. His sleep schedule is almost as messed up as Sky’s haha! He appears to be unconscious more often than not, but the only time he’s truly resting is when his soul is still within his body.

I hope this answers your questions? I love Spirit and I’m glad to have him in my au! There will definitely be more Spirit related content coming soon!!

[townslore]

if you're comfortable, i would love to know more about the akechi npd headcanon. i think it's a rlly interesting take on his character and i wanna learn more abt npd bc i have bpd and ig im interested in what people experience with the other cluster b personality disorders? i just kinda wanna know why you think he has it and also maybe some of the mental stuff he has to experience with it. doesn't have to be detailed or personal i dont wanna make u uncomfy! i just cant stop thinking abt this hc haha :)

im actually on a mental health break right now, but this ask intrigued me so im answering it anyway. first off thank you for staying kind throughout the whole thing :)

its kind of hard for me to really describe why i think a character has/is something, because things like personality disorders are still a wide spectrum and every person experiences things differently, and i dont wanna make it seem like theres a one-way to have npd, but im gonna try anyway!

there is a site which helped me immensely throughout my self-diagnosis, so if you want to read more about the topic than what im gonna say here, here u go:

lets start simple and the thing that makes it most obvious to me: the engine room dialogue.

people with npd can heavily rely on other people for their self-esteem, because narcissists usually have a very low one. thats why they take on many tasks ("i was extremely particular about my life, my grades, my public image—so someone would want me around!") and might overwork themselves for more praise and acknowledgement ("you wanted to be acknowledged, didn't you? to be loved?") because its what they need to not constantly crash. a crash is something that happens when you dont get enough supply—which can be words of affection, praise, acknowledgement, etc—and you internalize it, doubt yourself, feel disgusting and generally you get to a really low point. this is just speculation, but i can see goro having a ton of those, especially during the time the phantom thieves get popular and he becomes public enemy nr 1. thats also why i drew him thinking "i really need supply rn but i'd rather die than ask for attention" because vulnerability is also a big thing people with npd can struggle with. we dont want to be seen as weak—our narcissism is essentially a shield, so we're seen as tough, when in reality, our egos can be very fragile.

one thing that the engine room makes very clear and also other interactions goro has with akira, is that hes very envious of others who have had it better than him. especially someone like akira, who was thrown away by society just like he was, was able to move past it, found friends and is acknowledged by many people. goro is jealous of it all, and thats the thing; people with npd can feel like they're supposed to be special ( and to me, with goro explaining how he got his personas, and how he often calls others stupid, its clear that he does feel that way about himself to a certain degree ) and anyone who threatens that status, anyone who seems much more special than we are is seen as a legitimate threat. its an ugly feeling and it can make us hate even those we love for some time.

this attributes to dysregulation of our emotions too. people with npd often feel their emotions, especially negative ones, way more intense than they actually should be and have difficulty calming down due to that. negative emotions often linger for a long period of time and its hard to move on so we hold grudges. now this might come to no surprise to anyone that goro is a very angry and sad person. especially in the engine room its clear that even after the others extend their hands out to him, its difficult for him to comprehend and he still acts rather mean and calls them idiots for trying to "save" him. when someone with npd is experiencing a multitude of negative emotions, it may cause them to avoid other people or act aggressive towards them because they feel trapped. theres many explanations as to why goro is the way he is in the 3rd semester, and i dont think only one of them has to be correct, but i do think that with the knowledge of whats happening ( like: being under the control of someone else again, or having to work with people who are unpredictable and who have seen you at your lowest point ) makes him act out to keep all of them, especially akira, at bay.

in the duel against akira—im sorry i cant really quote it, i just have a general idea of it in my head rn—i read what he says in a way that makes it clear that he struggles with a superiority AND inferiority complex, which sounds stupid at first i know, but its fairly easy to explain. like i already said, a narcissist's self-esteem is usually pretty low and we rely on others to know how to feel about ourselves. theres two traits of npd that are necessary traits to have: being self-centered and feeling entitled to good treatment, and seeking admiration from others/liking to be the center of attention. so there is some kind of superiority complex going on, at least thats what i would call it in goro's ( and my ) case. we can feel on top of the world in one moment, but once we have a crash or experience intense negative emotions, its back to being the worst human being on earth. i dont think its ooc to say that goro hates himself, as some like to claim he only ever thinks hes better than everyone else. i think that just attributes to harmful stigma. with everything goro experiences in life, coping with narcissism to hide a fragile sense of being just makes sense to me.

theres more i could probably add here but this thing is long enough as is. please do keep in mind that many of my headcanons for goro are me projecting—but that doesnt mean theres no basis for it in canon as well, as i've tried to explain here. at first i actually thought he could have bpd, but i dont know enough about it to really judge that—so it could still very well be that, or both, i dont really know how it works! im rather new to this as well, and at first i was scared of doing any research because npd is so heavily stigmatized. i wish there were more people like you, anon.

if you have any more questions feel free to ask them :)

[feronaville]

im deep down on megamassikalove's blog cc shopping n saw her participate in an ask game thingie n i wanna do it too even tho its like a year old LMAOO bc it looks fun n i rarely see them on my dash!

1. What’s your favourite sims death? old age ,, boring answer but i love my sims man they my babies fr any other death genuinely upsets me

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? maxis match altho i do sorta uhh maxis mix i think it's called sometimes, really i download whatever i like (mostly maxis match) i just want everything in simlish fr

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? i like when my sims gain weight bc that's how i get my body diversity but if their outfit doesnt have fat morph n i dont wanna change their outfit i do cheat it sometimessss but not very often

4. Do you use move objects? move objects is enabled in my game alwayss

5. Favorite mod? honestly im not sure! im def a big acr fan but that's just the first one that comes to mind, there's soooo many must haves imo!

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? both sims 2 pets n sims 2 seasons! my auntie bought them for us, i got soooo excited about pets n lil ol me asked her, "woah can we get monkeys??" LMAOO

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? i pronounce it like aLIVE

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? REESE BULLARD!! he was in my very first bacc years ago, he had more personality than any of my other sims ever had he was so silly

9. Have you made a simself? i have! i made one in sims 2 back in like 2018 but she didnt look like me fr haha, i made one some years ago in sims 4 n she actually looked a lotttt like me but i have lost all her pics unfortunately. now i just have a sim in one of my current 'hoods that's named after me

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? dang if only i knew myself better fr ,, hmmmm ima say animal lover, loves the outdoors, artistic, childish, socially awkward. maybe

Which is your favorite EA hair color? hmm i don't think i have one? i'll just say red

Favorite EA hair? i don't see ea hair in my game fr anymore but as a kid i think my favorite one was meg i think

Favorite life stage? im not sure honestly! i might have to go with child, or adult idk tbh

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? i only started getting into building fr last year i think, building is a struggle for me but i really enjoy it! i think i'm def more of a gameplay person tho i just feel pretty restricted building for sims 2

Are you a CC creator? i am! pretty much just recolor things but i wanna try my hand at making terrains to share, and i'm slowly starting to upload lots n want to upload sims as well. i've made splash music and loading screens too, kinda wanna get back into doing that actually

Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad? i consider @gir-sims to be my friend! yall should check out her bacc, its both on youtube n dreamwidth!

What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4) the sims 2 is my favorite game in the world, been playing since i was like four/five!

Do you have any sims merch? i have a social bunny sweatshirt that i adore! i tried to google for it but it seems the shop is closed now, i got it from etsy by littleplumbobdesigns. i found this shirt it's the same design, except what i have is a pink sweatshirt with a pink social bunny!

Do you have a YouTube for sims? i do! i currently just have my port taylor bacc series on it, it's linked on my blog :^)

How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? i spent the first manyyyy years of simming without cc ,, idk how i did it man. i used to use alpha cc for sims 4 then i ended up switching to mostly maxis match! for sims 2 i switched hair systems twice (started with new hair system, then simgaroop, now it's mostly poppet v2). i can recall switching eye defaults too. that's all i can think of

What’s your Origin ID? i think it's behindthesea00 (my mom made me the account to buy me sims 4 for christmas) BUT i share that account with my younger sister. i dont think she plays sims anymore so idk if she still gets on it, i dont either tbh i dont need origin/ea play/whatever to play my game anymore YAY

Who’s your favorite CC creator? oh gosh there are soooo many!!

How long have you had a simblr? hmmmm i think i've had this one for 3-4 years? but it's been longer than that bc i have a sims 4 simblr that i completely abandoned as i no longer play sims 4, i havent played it since right before infants came out

How do you edit your pictures? for gameplay pics i just cropped them for the most part, occasionally adding a silly lil detail to it. i add woohoo heart to censor nudity when needed. for cc i honestly seem to just do whatever i feel like doing, lately i think i just take the pic, crop it, n add text to it

What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? i only play sims 2 so no more packs for me! other than cc packs that our lovely community makes!

What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? for sims 2 hmmmm im honestly not sure, ahh this is a hard one! sims 2 has such great packs idk if i can choose! hmmmm def pets for sure n i really love open for business too

[crushedsweets]

OK I NEED TO CLEAR MY ASKBOX

IM JUST GONNA ANSWER A TON OF THEM HERE SO I DONT CLOG UP MY FEED....

hi >.<

this is so fucking sweet i remembered how happy i was when i first got my car. i cried everyday for a week straight because i was so happy. very glad yall got to watch me get my first car. i spend over an hour in her every day commuting now. LMFAOOO (i named her lindsay btw) ((after tdi lsinday)). im so sorry im late but thank you so much this meant sm !!! <3

you asked me this in august im evil oh my god. anyway i aagree. but i am always inclined to forever think he's a midwest emo guy. twin sized mattress forever

SHE NEEDS AND DESERVES SO MANY.

im immediately inclined to say clocky or toby the second i see time and fire mentions. so ticciwork. my clocky is often a bit messy so she'd be pissed and angry and upset over the sort of war she's found herself in, especially as she sees toby just falling deeper into it. 'my god, was i oblivious?' when she finally realizes toby will always, always put Slenderman before her. frustrating. 'hell stays hungry for a world so weak' natalie is hungry for a good world, but she thinks everyone is too weak for goodness, meanwhile toby is hungry for power so he can make everyone else seem weak. etc. 'they only want you to bleed' they being slendy, operator, zalgo, etc etc etc... power, being a pawn, fighting, using humans as toys in a battlefield, etc etc.. yeah

RELEASE ME JOEY

i genuinely think nina is a really good influence on so many of the creeps. like theyre all assholes, traumatized, refuse to believe in the good in the world, etc etc. but nina is traumatized and still kickin. she comes in like ^_^ hello chat. and i think that, while its still important to feel the shitty feelings, it's really grounding to see someone whos just so .. able to be happy. idk. someone who SEEKS joy, rather than expects it to fall into their lap, and blames the world when it doesnt

this si perfect idk why i forgot about bats for him. gotta get back into this idea

AHHH OK I WILL DO MORE EVENTUALLY i just wanna say thank yewww i think theyre such a good sibling dynamic. like little brothers and big sisters and both being little assholes to eachother but would die for the other. idk. ugh. important to me.

actually this sounds really sweet..... thats funny cuz i was JUST talking to a friend about who i would have EJ go endgame with if i had to, but i couldnt settle on anyone. but liu seems like a good fit for ej. i think they'd be super sweet

ANON ME TOO AHHHH ITS LITERALLY MY FAVORITE FUCKING THING EVER. I DONT GAF ABOUT EVIL MEAN 'CANON' SLENDER I LOVE WHEN HE'S A DAD AND WORRIES AND STRESSES. IEPFB AND KASTOWAYS SLENDY>

AH THANK YOU!!! he reminds me of my little cousins HAHA theyre like 10-14 right now and theyre all cuties.... just playing roblox and being mischievous...

THIS IS ABOUT THE BLUSHING NAT DRAWING ISNT IT AHAH OMG THANK YOU!!! i think shes so cute. i know she cant handle compliments. she's either deadpanned 'thanks' or just covers her face and says 'shut up' cuz she doesnt know what to do.

I LOVE HER TOO!!!

GOOD NEWS THEN ive drawn her a handful of times since u sent this HAHA TYSM

you sent like... natobina i think... ok tbh kinda slaps

OK REAL but also when i read it i keep reading it as 'cochina' and i cannot bring myself to name the throuple that </3 HAHA

TBH AHAHA I SEE IT. TOBYS AMETHYST GARNETS NATALIE AND NINA IS STEVEN.

i want jeff to ache in his loneliness

i need to draw connie asap but also THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN FOR THE CAR CONGRATS I REALLY APPRECIATE IT IM SO HAPPY I LOVE MY CAR SO MUCH i gotta go vaccuum her..

shes such a cat to me. feline. of sorts, if you will

also good news for you anon, i have also drawn her an ungodly amount of times since youve sent this. LOL

THEYRE MY ANGELS I HAVE MORE OF THEM !!! I LOVE THEM!! AHHHGGG

literally the second that people tell me i made them start to like clocky i am overwhelmed with joy. i feel so much ache when people aren't fond of her bc shes so fucking cool and such a good character and so much fun. so sad that 2015 era creepypasta fandom destroyed her. but im here to fix it...

IM SORRY ANON I BARELY DRAW HIM HES JUST SO BOYISH I LAUGH EVERYTIME I SEE HIM FKAHAHAAH OK OKOK ILL CHANGE ILL DRAW HIM I SWEAR

I REMEMBER WHEN I FIRST STARTED DOING EMOJI ANONS BAHAHA u guys r funny

incredibly. happy. to do this to u.

nope! im not too interested in the 2021 nina just cuz i feel like i've seen that character concept many times (not just in jane), BUT if i had to do my own intepretation of her, 2021 nina would be INCREDIBLY immature in like. not a childish way, but an entitled, angry-fueled adult who cannot comprehend anyone else's thoughts/feelings. and thus, would despise OG nina (although within reason, OG nina idolizes the person who killed her family) . but even if there wasnt a good reason to dislike OG nina, she'd be mean. and OG nina would be mad and bitch. and theyd theyd fight. HAHA

I-IF...???????? ANON?

HELD TO THE FUCKING BRIM

[vechter]

"leader" anon here! weird name, right? haha anyways, thanks for answering my ask. it was a delight to read the meta you shared and the points you viewed really helped focus my perspective. i don't think nightwing should end up as the permanent leader of the jla because as you said, but i was talking about like the leader of dc. like i've seen it discussed many times who the leader of the superhero community of the dcu is and that's what i was talking about actually!

also 100% agree about the not all bats are leaders because well, personally, i don't think leadership is a value that can be taught/learned. like, yeah you could learn how to improve as a leader and the different elements to being a leader but leadership is a whole consists of numerous core traits, know what i mean? so although i understood the bats being known for being "detectives" and quite good martial artists, i didnt understand the effort to push them all into leadership roles.

i also love nightwing getting some more attention but as you said, it doesn't feel very...authentic? i feel like they don't really understand the core of his character and what makes him a leader and sometimes it's just for show. i miss the juicy intricacies and elaborate conflicts and character roles in old dc stories! sometimes you have to make the readers feel a little bit angry, a little bit conflicted! yeah sorry this totally turned into a rant you probably dont have the time to read but if you did thank you so much once again for answering and hearing me out!

welcome back, anon! ahhhh my bad, i misinterpreted it as leading the JL oops

i think, in that case, dick is an excellent contender for leader of the superhero community! and there's canonical evidence for this too. just consider how quickly he can rally everyone in the brave and the bold (2007) #15 sorry for such an overused set of panels but it's just soooo good:

more importantly, how readily everybody listens to him and believes him... like just look at this panel from kon's pov in teen titans (2003) #23:

he's rlly That Guy <3

so although i understood the bats being known for being "detectives" and quite good martial artists, i didnt understand the effort to push them all into leadership roles.

agreed!! like it makes sense for dick, and largely tim to be leaders of their respective titans but idk why dc started equating being good tacticians to being good leaders. like you said, leadership is about way more than having a good plan of action. it's an essential component ofc but what makes dick a good leader is how often he's willing to dole out emotional and moral support to his teammates, how readily he's willing to take the onus of mistakes bc he's the one making the calls, how he can be emotional but it doesn't blind him from being objective in handling situations (there are exceptions to each of these ofc bc no character is perfect but largely, dick is an excellent leader)

i also love nightwing getting some more attention but as you said, it doesn't feel very...authentic? i feel like they don't really understand the core of his character and what makes him a leader and sometimes it's just for show.

yes!!! i'm not going to harp on about criticism of taylor's run but that guy— he looks like dick grayson, once in a while he even talks and acts like dick grayson but he's just not dick grayson. i haven't read absolute power yet so i can't comment on that portrayal accurately but the few panels i've seen, it does sometimes give me the energy of dc doubling down on "oh look here's dick grayson, son of batman, isn't he a great tactician and leader"

alsoooo, don't apologize!!! i appreciated and enjoyed the rant, anon. like don't even worry about it. i love yapping about dickie g he's My Guy <3

[pierogish]

your art is so wonderful! its so expressive and colorful and joyful and never overworked. your compositions also really blow my mind! if youve ever recorded any timelapses or if you ever would like to elaborate on your process ever, i would love to see it + would pay money to. have a good day!

Hi! I apologize that it took me so long to get to this ask! Thank you so much for this incredible and kind compliment!! :') <3 I enjoy having fun with compositions and everything else and I'm glad you like what comes out of it!

Thank you for being interested in process! I haven't been answering for so long because I couldn't come up with a good answer... I have never recorded any timelapses and don't intend to in the nearest future. Also every time the process looks differently, haha..

But I compiled potentially interesting pictures (for free) - under cut :)

one fun thing I do quite often is that I begin something on paper and then complete digitally. Doodling in textbooks and sketchbooks was the beginning of many stuff

This Seri process is one of my favorites, he was born from leftover green food coloring that I splashed and smeared over pages. Then I begin my favorite game of searching for shapes and letting them "grow" naturally from what there is.. if that makes sense.

From those little monsters that were born during classes then appeared compositions, because having some starting point is helpful to me, even if it gets completely lost eventually.

I don't have a scan and use the imperfection of phone pics for my advantage, sometimes it creates additional texture or interesting colors after little bit of editing.

This one took longer than most of other works. (dont go after me for unrealistic architecture)

I was struggling to come up with compostition for the cathedral so again beginning with a doodle of a random arch helped. and in the end there's an infinite "yeah now it's finally done" *spends a couple of hours more*. on screenshot these are all versions I thought would be final and I sent them to look at on my phone and immediately went to fix something else :P

Beginning from a detail isn't a classic way to build a composition, and usually it's reasonable to start from defining big shapes, and that's what I do often. There are just different approaches of creating compostitions that I like using. Starting from a piece and shaping the rest from there helps me find something I maybe wouldn't have thought of doing otherwise. But it's very important to always hold a big picture in mind of course! After looking at a piece of doodle for a while, I have an approximate picture in mind of how I want to use it.

With digital doodles I usually do lineart immediately without sketching it first, then I can edit or erase it or blend with colors. Have fun and be yourself is the only rule

thank you again <3 I hope it was helpful!

[veinsfullofstars]

hey just wondering, how do you draw daroach? i wanna figure him out for myself but dont feel like i get down how he looks well enough. thanks for the help if you have any, if not then thanks for just answering

Thank you for the question! And, yeah, I totally get it - that rat can be a nightmare to draw sometimes, haha. I definitely struggled with him a lot at first (you can kinda tell if you compare my earlier works to my recent ones). I think it’s because so much of him is obscured by his outfit in official art? The way the brim of his hat dips over his face or how his cape likes to defy physics - all in service of a cooler silhouette, sure, but taking away a lot of readability and foundation to work from in the process. I’ll try to offer some tips that work for me (though I’m hardly an expert on this, and teaching's not exactly my strong suit, so please bear with me if things get muddled, haha).

The main piece of advice I can give is gather and study as much reference as you can. Official art, concept art, promotional stuff, sprite sheets - whatever you can find, just grab ‘em and put ‘em somewhere you can easily pull up when you’re drawing. I get most of mine from Wikirby, Spriter’s Resource, and official sites like the Kirby JP Twitter, as well as screenshots taken directly from the games (a great way to get in-motion poses and back views, I’ve found). Here’s what my ref sheet for Daroach looks like (I also have a separate one for color swatches):

Kind of a mess, yeah, but very worth it, I assure you. The more visuals you have to work off of, the easier it will be to detect consistencies in design. Which brings me to my next point: shapes!

Most Kirby characters are, at their core, just a buncha simple shapes. It can be hard to tell sometimes when they wear clothes (like with our rat buddy here), but they still have similar foundations of circles and other rounded features. A way I've found that helps with this is to try redlining (that is, take a piece of reference and trace over it for the purpose of study, learning where lines connect, how silhouettes look, how different parts overlap, what shapes are used, etc.). Here’s an example:

This is a great way to find those design consistencies I mentioned before. I did these a bit messy for a better sense of movement (and ‘cause I’m practiced enough to sketch a little quicker), but you can always start slower and cleaner if it helps you see the shapes and layers more clearly. You can even do them multiple times to familiarize yourself with the design and eventually try copying them without tracing, like doing gesture drawings or life studies.

In Daroach, I’ve found that his head isn’t a perfect circle shape, but more like a rounded diamond, with his ears connecting at or just above the “points” on the sides. His body is a bit smaller than his head, and his snout smaller still, each having sort of a teardrop-like shape. His eyes are bigger than I expected them to be, half circles tilted down slightly, often cut off by his snout and hat to create a shaper angle (meant to make him look more intimidating perhaps?). His ears are taller than his hat, though they can tilt back to look shorter. There are also a lot of arcs and triangles present in his design, especially in his cape when it sits across his form or flares out, and the brim of his hat pointing down from just past his ears to right over his snout. Also, unlike many Kirby characters, he does in fact have a neck - it's just hidden behind his collar and bell most of the time (don't ask me why I spent so long verifying this, no I don't have ulterior motives, don't look at me).

Of course, these observations aren’t set in stone. Kirby characters rarely stay perfectly on-model (see Dedede for proof of that), and Daroach is clearly no exception. I mean, just look at these official pieces (all collected from Wikirby):

Even the folks at HAL Labs are not immune to style inconsistency. And that’s not a bad thing! We love a little personal flair in this house. There’s nothing wrong with altering the design a bit to fit your own style - in fact, it’ll probably happen naturally the more you practice, especially once you’re comfortable enough to work without a guide. Here’s some studies I did recently, no tracing, just observation (with different colors used to help me figure out layering):

I’ve seen other folks take their own designs even further than this, adding more fur or sharper shapes or even realistic rat features to our favorite thief. Nothing like stretching those creative muscles once you’ve got the basics down! On that note, don’t be afraid to be inspired by unofficial sources as well. If an artist you like draws Daroach (or any character) in a way you find appealing, ask yourself what it is you like about it, study it as you study official works, and find ways to incorporate elements of that into your own art - “steal like an artist” as the saying goes.

Another thing I recommend for Daroach specifically is studying how real top hats and capes look, especially from various angles and poses in motion. I find it helps to see exactly how fabric sits on a figure or what sides show at different positions. It might seem weird to use human reference for a cartoon rat, and it might take some finagling to get proportions right, but it’s surprisingly effective. I do this with fighting and athletic poses all the time to help figure out weight distribution and line of action. Don’t be afraid to expand your art repertoire into other fields - you never know when it might come in handy!

And, of course, the key thing to hammer home here is practice, practice, practice! Do studies, do gestures, draw with and without references, build muscle memory, do sketches you show to no one, draw memes, draw angst, take your time, fill pages with messy doodles or just drop one in a corner and call it a day. The more you draw this smarmy rat, the better you’ll get. That’s the long and short of it with any skill, creative or otherwise. You gotta try in order to get good, you gotta make mistakes in order to improve, you gotta be kind to yourself in order to do what you love.

Anyway, I think that’s all I got for now. Forgive me if this got a bit rambly or incoherent - I have trouble putting my thought process in words sometimes, haha. I sincerely hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck with your own future rat-creating endeavors!

Sketch started and finished 06/14/24.

[cttrajan1206]

hi!! im here to ask about your ocs!!

first of all i would like to say PLEASE read the shadows house manga if you werent planning on it already...! youll get so much more that wasnt offered in the anime since it cuts off at season 2 , its just so good.. SO GOOD ok. ok

about astral and anjem!

i know you said you dont have all the details worked out so its ok if you dont have an answer to any of this atm!

could you talk a bit more about their dynamic/relationship, if you have anything else you wanna say?

what are their goals in the house? are they pursuing roles within relief team, starbearers, etc? are they wanting to get invited?

how good is astral at controlling his soot power? do you think its likely any of his experimenting on anjem could go wrong + how would he react, would he be able to fix it?

love ur ocs :}

WAAA HELLO?? i never original post ever so i was really surprised and excited when you reblogged it saying you'd read it later - AND NOW IN MY INBOX TOO? WAAAA.... >O<

But waa ok ok so! Funny enough, @tsukiomoon was over at my house and convinced me to read Shadow House (having watched the anime) while we were at a bookstore. I'd already glanced at it a few times over the years so I was. Very easy to convince tbh djdhfjf So I actually began with reading the first two volumes!! Then after that, I was thoroughly hooked so we proceeded to binge the entirety of it together in two days. That said, I'd love to read the manga. I'm debating on it because the official translation -> scanlation currency exchange is not in my favour ToT but I think I like it enough to bear through it, the anime missed a few scenes from even just the first two volumes after all.

Onto the ocs!!

Dynamic/relationship: This is a fun one. I've mentioned they both very much love each other already, I think at first they're both very superficial about it and build up versions of each other in their head (Astral even moreso having known longer). It gets deeper as time goes on but Astral isn't obssessed with Anjem just as a person, but also for his quality of being human. Anjem is similar likewise but there's a mighty power imbalance there.

Astral is actually also a special shade! He remembers before morphing. He's probably the worst one to do so though because he doesn't really care about the Shadow House - not when it gives him license to not only have Anjem to himself, but also such close access to humans. To him, the memories just give him a clearer understanding if the Faces' limits. He gets very annoyed with seeing others treat their living dolls badly and will pick fights about it or ask Anjem to give them recompensary gifts to them.

Anjem I'm less clear on... He's bad at cleaning but Astral doesn't mind particularly (and also doesnt produce enough soot for it to be a problem). The rigid structure of his life gives him comfort in its reliability but he does often long for some of the luxuries Shades get. Like nice clothes and better food. He doesn't like coffee though haha. I don't think either of them ever realise the brainwashing thing bc Anjem's too picky and never fully swallows the coffee anyway, sometimes vomiting it out. He still gets the effects partially though

Goals: I think Astral does want to escape the House eventually - he doesn't care too much for getting everyone else out, he just wants to find more and more humans and learn everything he can about them. Anjem I haven't decided too much yet. He knows Astral's goal and wants to be there with him to see it too, to travel the world, but I think he'd be scared of taking that step.

I think he wants to see his siblings again, one last time

Roles: Oop... Astral's power is very good for healing wounds so technically the relief team would be good for him but I personally wouldn't put him in a room with so many humans in it XD He keeps his power very downlow but regardless, I think he'd have made his way into the relief team. He's their bigger advocate on training to treat dolls better.

Anjem wanted to be in the research team instead but, as a Face, he has to tag along and look pretty

Power: At first Astral was pretty bad at controlling his power. He doesn't have blood himself after all, it was very unknown territory. In fact, the only way he Did grow better at it was When his experiments on Anjem failed. They could be very dangerous failures too, in case his soot clogged a vein or he clotted uo the wrong part or forced it to produce too much blood. In his panic to fix it, he tended to reflexively reverse whatever he'd done and so far, though there have been catastrophes, Anjem hasn't died. There was a time when Astral stopped his heart but that's whatever, he's immensely better at controlling them now. He doesn't frequent the training room (especially since his powers require blood), but instead has perfected his powers through practice in his room. He does also keep a few vials of blood he requests from the relief team that uses to practice with at times.

He prefers it best when it's with Anjem though :)

There was once, when the brainwashing had worn off more, where Astral fucked up. In attempting to heal a wound on Anjem's wrist, he accidentally sped up the production of the blood and it poured everywhere, spilling out faster than healthy. Anjem, wide eyed and afraid that this time, he was going to die, scrambled away from him screaming. He tried to run away but the pain was blinding him so much he could barely concentrate. Nothing Astral said could convinve him to calm down, and the last thing he saw before passing out was Astral roughly grabbing at his arm.

Astral was able to stop the blood, working with this as an experiment to control his area of effect, and sealed the wound. He bandaged it up and treated it with care, pressing a careful kiss of regret on the bandage and on Anjem's hand, the black mark staining his skin.

Anjem woke later in his box. He was afraid and angry and upset. He didn't talk to Astral for a full week, only interacting with him as a Face. Astral was heartbroken by this and apologised many times. They made up finally, after Astral stopped him from cleaning and held his hands, about to apologise again, when suddenly Anjem lifted the shade's hands and pressed a kiss to each.

"I'm tired of this. I miss speaking with you. I forgive you, so stop apologising every time I enter a room."

That mended things but going forward, Astral started getting external vials until he was better at his control.

Tidbits!

Astral likes his name but also wants to be separate from it. In private, he asks Anjem to call him "Aster" as a similar compromise. Anjem means "star" in arabic - he named his Face to match the name he preferred :)

Anjem is mostly good at reading Astral's emotions but they have a system of handsignals and body language to indicate the faces they want to make.

I've been thinking on them and their age awhile. I hadn't noticed when I made them that adults get finer clothes than the chikdren but I refuse ti change my design, I'm attached </3 I think they're similar to Barbara and Maryrose - old but still in the children's wing by virtue of not being given an invitation

This is partly due to Anjem's scar but mostly due to Astral's refusal to be useful outside of the bare minimum (this is not a noble thing, he's lowkey just lazy)

Oh my god I wrote a lot sdjbhf

Yeah!! That's them! That's my boys. I'm thinking of making a couple more too - I want to explore the idea of someone using their Face to hide disguise their real emotions

Thank you so much for asking 😭 it means the world to me and got me to think about them more

As an extra, have a doodle of Anjem's second sight of Astral: