#i drew the thumbnail and i liked it too much to stop

[crabsnpersimmons]

me: i got a busy day outside of my cave today, i don't have too much time to draw. let's just keep it simple today

one hour and a half later:

...

anyways

off to work for me

[ikroah]

It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin’ — Volume 3

Left My Heart in the Sierra Madre

Variant Cover Guest Art by @memepipboy

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Notes / Original Pencils:

NOVEMBER 2022. ALMOST EXACTLY TWO YEARS AGO. THAT WAS WHEN I @memepipboy DREW THE VOLUME 3 VARIANT COVER FOR ME. AT THAT TIME, THE LAST PUBLISHED ISSUE OF IKROAH WAS #23. "SURELY," I THOUGHT THEN, "IT'S GOOD TO GIVE MY GUEST ARTISTS A HEAD START, BUT I'LL GET TO VOLUME THREE IN NO TIME!"

It is no exaggeration to say that I have been sitting on this commission for so long that it outlived not only my marriage, but the beginning and end of several other entire relationships since. I changed house. I got a cat. My life is completely different now than it was when I commissioned this variant cover from Pip (hell, so is her's: she gained a marriage!) but that's just how the cookie crumbles when you dare to invest yourself in a hobby that stretches itself over so much time. And in my defense, I have a very good excuse. I did get divorced, after all, and nowadays I'm enjoying my life a little too much to sit hunched at my desk like I used to.

Still! Despite the age of the commission, Pip did incredible work. Like my own cover for Volume 2, Pip's variant is an homage to a specific comic book cover. I wanted a parody of those melodramatic old romance comics, since it's such a stark contrast to the tone of my own cover this time around.

And according to my computer, the "Last Modified" date on the thumbnails I made for all of IKROAH's planned covers is June 11, 2021. Christ alive. I don't want to think about this single cover piece technically taking even longer.

Volume 3, "the Dead Money arc," is something that I have very specifically been looking forward too since I started making this comic in 2020. As it creeps toward half a decade of life, if any of you have any worries about how much gas I have left in the tank, know this: I basically wrote the first two volumes of this comic just to get to this one.

Here's hoping I can haul ass on it and stop falling in love or shipping across the country or having any other lifechanging events happening to me between the rest of these issues.

[goose-on-the-loose]

The Darkest Hour - Styracosaurs in a Wildfire Paleoart Process Breakdown

It’s been a long time since I’ve shared my art on this account (at some point years ago I just forgot to), but I thought that this might be a great opportunity to start posting my art again! This is my first attempt at paleoart, and I think it’s worthy of sharing. It’s for my showcase at my art school, so there were time restraints that stopped me from adding elements that I would’ve liked, but ultimately I’m quite satisfied with it.

For any budding paleoartist (or anybody really) who’d like to see my process, I put it all below the read more! @a-dinosaur-a-day (hope you don’t mind me @/ing you, i originally meant for this post to be an ask but it got too long haha)

I started off knowing that I wanted to depict some kind of ornithischian for a number of reasons. Two of the biggest reasons were that 1) I simply like them more than theropods and sauropods and 2) My senior showcase is all about showing animals in ways that the viewer hasn’t seen them before, and most people don’t really think about ornithischians except for if they’re being preyed on by a theropod.

I then narrowed my choices further by looking at different formations and what species they have. I looked up what formations parasaurolophus was in (since it’s one of my fav dinosaurs and I was thinking of making it my subject) and I saw the dinosaur park formation. Looking at the different species found there and the type of environment they lived in, I knew this formation was going to be my choice. 

I couldn’t narrow it down to one species yet, so I decided to think of some scenarios ornithischians might find themselves in first. I thought, “Oooh, what about some dinosaurs escaping from a wildfire?”, since the storyline could easily be conveyed, the lighting would be interesting, and I could get creative with the composition (flames and burning debris can create arcs to guide the viewer’s eye).

I did some very quick simple thumbnails and sketches to get the feeling and flow of the lines. I saw some paleoart by Marzio Mereggia and I remembered one of his parasaurolophus pieces that I really liked. I also looked at the composition of the fire scene from Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron for inspiration. (the tiger doodle had nothing to do with it, i just wanted to draw a tiger) The shapes and silhouettes of these species weren’t really clicking for me, so I looked back on the list and saw styracosaurus. I looked at some paleoart and realized that the silhouette and shapes of their frill and horns could really draw the viewer’s attention.

So, I drew the top thumbnails and showed them to my teacher. He liked all of them, but especially liked the middle one, so I drew a larger version of it, making sure to elevate the best parts and communicate the story. I like to use highlighters when thumb-nailing because it helps me break down the background, middleground, and foreground while also giving attention to the focal points. I was satisfied with this layout, so I drew an even larger version of it that would be the same size as the piece of wood I would be painting on.

I wanted to add more dimension so I changed the placement a bit. I don’t have much to say on this one, except for the final project has less background detail because each piece in our showcase has to be finished within a certain amount of time, this is also why the adult styracosaurus doesn’t have scale detail. I would’ve liked to add it, but I have to be realistic with my time.

I then drew the sketch on the piece of wood, and then my teacher cut the excess wood off.

Painted the background and also changed the shape of the face horn to be more accurate. I believe that styracosaurus’ horns changed with age and each individual’s grew in their own slightly different way. I do regret not pushing the dark ground colors further back.

Started trying to figure out the colors in class here.

Did this all the next day, took about 6-7 hours. 3 during class and the rest in my dorm. I changed/added to the rest of the face colors later, but the beak stays the same. I still really like the way I painted the beak.

This was after 3 more hours of class time. I changed the face horn color and made the frill horns match it. I also started focusing more on highlights and shadows. This is the last photo I took during the process.

With the final version, you can see that I warmed up the highlights to match the fire and I dulled them out too (adding yellow to purple desaturates it). I also went over the background again, making the colors more vivid and adding a glow to the fire. Ngl I do regret not adding that glow to the fire on the trees, but oh well. Live and learn ig.

[spaciebabie]

any advice 4 when u want to keep drawing 2 improve but u cant get over perfectionism ? like when u just dont care how its gonna turn out, if its bad its bad yknow?

ahh yes lowkey ive struggled with this a lot. not as much now as in the past tho, and honestly its beecuz ive developed a more neutral view on myself/my art in general. its going to take time to get to this state of mind, so dont be too hard on yourself when you find yourself falling into bad habits.

advice under the cut (kind of long winded) ⬇️⬇️⬇️

the first thing ive done to overcome perfectionism is focus less on details and more about overall shape and form. when i sketch im trying to get roughly what i want, and i limit the strokes i do in certain parts of my sketch to like 1-3 depending on what im drawing (im ngl i also am very impatient and have created a workflow that makes it so i am able to start and finish pieces as fast as possible LOLOLOL. shrugs. i just like drawing fast).

a good example would be this thing i just drew:

in all of my sketches i tend to use as few strokes as possible and just get the basic idea down. good for not overly focusing on teeny tiny details and worrying about them later (i also use the same technique for lineart, but just end up connecting the lines. thats another tip i have, if you like your sketches more than your fully lined pieces, just line the same way you sketch! or you could also use your sketch as your lineart :P)

another tip i have is to draw from references, and once again, focus mostly on shape/form/the big picture of your subject before going into details (do you know how many planes there are on the human face....i still dont know howta draw faces properly but im not mad at myself anymore about it, i just open up a reference and try to learn). i also recommend having a drawing session where the goal is to draw awfully. draw something you want to draw, but that you're not sure if you'll draw it right, and draw it. dont try to correct it, acknowledge that what you made isnt perfect, and then draw something else. you're learning! of course its not gonna be perfect. but inevitably, you're going to get frustrated. just remember if its something you really want to go back to, you will be able to revisit it in the future. feel your anger and frustration, but do your best to not direct it inward.

small side tangent about shading- I AM SO SHIT AT SHADING SKFHSAFDJHS. people dont tend to notice (surprising), since ig my shading style is considered "beautiful" or something, but if you looked at it on a technical level, there are mistakes everywhere. i havent really tried to improve it. i dont really care most of the time b/c i just like shading for fun. and especially when im shading my sketches, i already have it in my mind that its not supposed to be perfect. its a sketch. this is where im supposed to make all of my mistakes. once i start making my way to the final product is when i start worrying more about if i did the lighting correctly (even then ik im not good at it im not trying to be a god im just trying to draw things that make me happy).

additionally, i really rec u dont try and fudge a sketch until its better if you're deep in a Perfectionist moment. keep the old sketch and start over on a new sketch taking bits and pieces you liked from the original, and improving on those that you dont (shitty thumbnails are also good if you have a vague idea in mind but need ta figure out howta place subjects in your scene). honestly drawing the same thing/idea over and over gets me a better understanding of my subject each time, so naturally each iteration looks better. it doesnt take me that long to sketch tho, so if sketching takes you forever (sometimes if sketching takes you forever its b/c you're a perfectionist skjfskdjf) just think about how much time you're willing to spend on something. remember☝️ its okay to give up/take a break on something and try again later. sometimes you just needta stop looking at your art and like. look at a tree or something lmfao.

i will also say that im not looking to go into a career in art, im more of a hobbyist. ik school environments dont exactly.....help with perfectionism lol. there are certain expectations put on people who go into the art field that are inescapable. if this is the case for you, i still think what ive discussed before can help you, but i also think that you may need to lean more on the mental tips i have also provided below.

alright! mental health tips in regard to art:

so, i have c-ptsd, and with that comes a lot of self image issues that ive had to work on. my feelings about myself extended to the way i felt about my art. it was shit, it was awful, i cant draw like this other person can so why bother, if its not perfect i shouldnt draw at all, etc. and honestly, something thats helped is affirmations. my affirmations are c-ptsd related, but ive noticed a shift in the way i view myself, and by extent, my art since ive started repeating them to myself daily. and honestly, i think a requirement of overcoming perfectionism is telling yourself that your art doesnt hafta be perfect, A LOT. LOL. LIKE YOU ACTUALLY HAFTA ACTIVELY TELL YOURSELF YOU'RE NOT AWFUL LMAOOOO. its funny, we dont think much about how we naturally are self critical about ourselves, and we dont realize that we are basically repeating negative affirmations about ourselves over and over and thats why we're not improving (mentally).

even when you're not drawing, i think it would benefit some people to have some kind of notification on their phone to remind them to tell themselves that their art doesnt hafta be perfect daily/however often you feel you might need it. and then with that affirmation, practice Shitty Drawing. one of the best tips ive ever gotten for this was from one of my friends monnie. get out your sketchbook or some printer paper, take out a shitty pen, and DRAW. and then any mistakes you make are permanent and you cant just endlessly try and fix them. it forces you ta sit with this uncomfortable feeling that something you made isnt perfect. eventually your brain will realize that when your art isnt perfect, you can still draw and you're ALLOWED to continue to draw even if what you make isnt spectacular. if you dont want to repeat an affirmation daily, try to remember to at least repeat it before you sit down to draw. something along the lines of "my art doesnt hafta be perfect in order for me to want to draw. im allowed to draw even if its not perfect" or something else. it depends on what you most struggle with in regards to your perfectionism. im ngl its probably going to feel cringe at first, but i promise you, it really works if you put it into practice longterm.

shoot for neutrality instead of positivity first. let me tell you thats where i am now and its so much less exhausting drawing lmfaooo. i make something that looks like shit and im just like. i dont fucking careee i dont give a fuccckkkkk

those are my tips :] i hope this was helpful!

[silentglassbreak]

Anonymous

Noah Sebastian x OFC

-

I had the 2nd part in my head already, so I started writing it. This post may go up pretty darn quick. If you've read so far, THANK YOU. Again, if you like it, and want to be tagged, Just lemme know.

Warnings: Alcohol abuse, overall abuse, mild violence (ie. bar fights), smut, swearing, and altogether just a lot of fuckery.

+It goes without saying. This is a work of fiction. My words are mine. Plagiarism is a crime.

Part 2 - Running in Circles

Syd looked so much brighter today. It was refreshing. She had her makeup on, she was clear, like she had been sleeping and eating regularly. Sometimes, that in and of itself was the simplest of answers. It was the key some days.

She finished telling us about how she had put in sixteen applications at various employers since the last meeting, had been to the gym each day, and finally finished a 2000 piece puzzle she started three months ago. It was fabulous news, earning her a huge applause from everyone, including Noah, who I was halfway surprised to see again today. It had only been two days, but showing up again was a 50/50 shot with newcomers. Usually, if they made it to 5 meetings, they were in it for the long haul. I was extremely pleased.

He was also a lot different today, sitting back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest the majority of the meeting, but still more open than his last visit. Reading body language was crucial in this field, so I may have read a book or two on it in my spare time. His face also looked fuller, the dark circles now just shadows slightly casting his light skin and deep color eyes. He wore a white T-shirt with a red beanie, showing the tattoos off on his long arms.

His turn came rather quickly, and he sighed heavily when all eyes turned to him.

Before he could start, I chimed in. "Guys?" Everyone looked over to me. "Before Noah shares today, can we give him a huge round of applause for showing up to his second meeting?" This was met with fierce applause and a few hoots and hollers from our more spirited members.

"Great job!" Seth smiled brightly. Abel nodded his head pointedly.

"One of the hardest parts is coming back. Good for you, bud." I could see Noah's cheeks tinge pink, but he smiled, a smile bigger than I had seen so far. He was slightly embarrassed, but I could see his appreciation. Maybe even a sparkle of moisture in his eyes? He definitely pushed that down.

He reached behind his head nervously and chuckled shyly as the clapping died down.

"Thanks guys." He folded his hands in his lap, looking at the floor. "I was in the neighborhood, so..." He threw his hands up in a casual manner, causing some laughing from the group, including myself.

"How was the last few days for you?" I crossed my legs, eyes pointed in his direction. He didn't return my gaze.

"It was different. I haven't exactly talked to anyone about it." I only nodded. I wanted to encourage him to keep sharing, but I didn't want to pry too hard. "I don't know how to bring it up to anyone."

"That's fair. I think we all went through that."

He nodded, idly picking at his thumbnail. "I have a gig this weekend, and things usually get pretty wild after. I'm nervous." His eyes then looked up at me. I felt as though he was speaking directly to me, rather than to the group. Maybe he was?

Most people look around, avoid eye contact, and talk mostly just out loud. That's the purpose. Noah, however, was holding a conversation with me, and everyone else just happened to be within earshot. That was clear.

I would allow it, for now. If it eased him in, I was game for almost anything.

"Can I ask what kind of gig?" He sucked his teeth, a smirk creeping in.

"I'm in a band." I smiled now, because he was telling us (me) something personal.

"Oh nice! What do you play? Guitar?" His eyes snapped to Syd, who had chimed in. I could see this broke his concentration bubble, and I watched as his shoulders slightly drew in.

Although, he did not stop speaking. His tone did die down a little.

"I can play guitar, but in this band, I just sing." He cleared his throat, squirming slightly in his chair. "We were on tour earlier this year, and once it was over, I realized I needed help, so I'm hoping to make good progress before the next tour starts this fall. This gig is just opening for a bigger band."

"Must be some band." I added with a smile. This brought his attention back to me.

"What's it called?" Syd's voice was bouncy, breaking through the cool calm I had manufactured. I watched him almost visibly flinch.

"I'd rather not say." And with that, I could see he was done for today.

-

After the meeting, I caught Noah booking for the exit. I ran after him, donut in my hand.

"Hey Noah!" I caught him right before he slid into the driver's seat of his Navigator. "You didn't get a snack!"

He waved a hand at me. I still jogged up to his car. "I'm good Leena, thanks though." I sighed, stopping in front of him.

"Can we chat for a sec?" I saw him look down, likely questioning his decision to come back, but still shut his door and walked over to where I stood by the hood of the truck.

"What's up?"

"Did you get a chance to find a sponsor?" His beanie was pulled down low toward his eyes. He avoided my gaze.

"Yeah, uh, I actually didn't. Turns out everyone I know is into drinking, and I don't think that'll change anytime soon." I nodded knowingly.

"We've got great sponsors here, you know? Abel is a great resource, so is Rodger. They've both been in active recovery for more than five years." He narrowed his eyes, visibly stressed by the conversation.

"Yeah, I uh...don't really know them very well."

I couldn't tell you what possessed me to say what I did next, whether it was empathy, the sugar high from the donuts, the caffeine, or something else entirely, but I still opened my mouth.

"Do you want me to be your sponsor?" I watched his eyes widen at that, his head snapping to me quickly.

"You'd do that? You don't even know me."

I smiled my bright smile, and nodded. "Absolutely, at least until you can find another or get comfortable with one of the other members. I don't mind at all."

For the first time since we'd met, which wasn't long ago, admittedly, I saw a smile touch his eyes. Something told me that Noah hadn't seen genuine human kindness in a while.

"I mean, only if you want to. Maybe just to get me to the meeting next week?" I nodded.

"Of course. Happy to." He looked around, watching the people trickle out of the building around us and waved at Seth, who smiled at him before getting in his car.

"I do think we should take some time to work out a plan for your gig. These first few weeks in recovery are crucial."

He leaned against his car, chewing his lip. "You think so?"

I handed him the donut. He skeptically accepted it, and took a small bite.

"How long has it been?" He looked down then, a sign of shame.

"Five days." I nodded.

"And when is your gig?"

"Tomorrow night." I shrugged. I had work to do.

"You busy tonight?"

-

Noah sat back in the booth, sighing heavily, his plate clear. I continued shoveling pasta into my mouth, the carbs and the donuts being my only food sources today. Work had, once again, been hectic. I could see him looking around the restaurant, people watching.

Without warning, he leaned over the table. "You know, my girlfriend would kill me if she knew I was at dinner with another woman."

His statement gave me pause for a moment. Girlfriend. I hadn't even considered that. Ignoring the small, sinking feeling in my gut, I slurped my noodle and felt a twinge of guilt. I had no interest in getting him in trouble.

He must have seen the look on my face, because he smiled then. "I didn't tell her. It's no big deal, really."

I wiped my mouth on my napkin and swallowed a large gulp of water.

"Does she know you've started coming to AA?" He shook his head feverishly.

"No, not yet." This made me furrow my brow, suspicious.

"Where does she think you are, then?"

He leaned back, perusing. "Probably figures I'm out with the guys, shitfaced already."

It took me a second to realize, I didn't know a lot about Noah. I had no idea who the man was that I just shared a meal with, agreed to be his sponsor, and unknowingly risked his relationship.

"You know, if we're going to be working on your recovery, there's some things we may need to know about each other." He signaled the waiter.

"Like?"

"Well, for one," I smiled at the waiter as Noah politely asked for a dessert menu. Then, keeping my voice low, I leaned over the table. "I don't even know your last name."

I caught the way his eyes drifted over me, my chest now slightly exposed at this angle, my black hair flowing over my shoulder.

"You don't?" He seemed unfazed, but I did catch the bob of the bulge on his throat when he dry swallowed. I leaned back. This was not the game to play.

"No." I laughed. "You always sign in as 'Noah S.' What does the S stand for? Skynard?" This made him laugh loudly.

Through his chuckles, he choked out "Sebastian." He caught his breath. "My last name is Sebastian."

I nodded, satisfied with that. It was enough to Google if I felt so inclined.

"And you?" This made me stop for a second mid-bite.

"What about me?"

"Is your name just Leena? Like Cher?" This made me drop my fork, a hard laugh echoing between us from my chest. I saw his amused smile, which almost embarrassed me.

"Mileena. Mileena Richards."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Like, from Mortal Kombat?"

I nodded proudly. "Same spelling, different origin."

"That's fucking cool."

The waiter then came back, a large slice of multi-layered chocolate cake covered in a hot chocolate sauce set down on the table, two large scoops of vanilla ice cream and two spoons set down on the plate with it.

"Wow."

Noah shrugged sheepishly. "I heard sugar helps with the cravings."

-

We walked out of the restaurant, the night nice and chilly in the February air. We stood between our trucks, full and exhausted.

"So, we didn't come up with a game plan."

I nodded, leaning my head back on the door of my Tahoe. "I'm sorry. I was starving."

He returned it with a rub of his stomach. "Same. It's fine."

"You said in group that the usual thing is to go out and party after the show, right?" He nodded. "What's the chance of just heading home afterwards? Claiming you're tired?"

"Slim. We have the show. Then meet and greet. Then we all typically hang out in the green room. Do some shots. Then hit a bar." I watched his face downturn, as if he was admitting to a crime.

"Okay. And being in a bar is a big no no for right now." He sighed, covering his face with his hands.

"I'm not ready to tell them." I reached over, putting a hand on his shoulder. I felt his body slightly lean into the affection, only for a second.

"That's okay, Noah. We can make it work." I wracked my brain for ideas, but was sincerely lost for ideas. "Can you tell them you don't feel well?"

He put his hands down and leaned back against the door, looking defeated. "Maybe? It would need to be a pretty good disease to get me out of the after party."

This made me smirk. "You ever had the stomach flu?"

This made him chuckle. "You want me to vomit onstage?!" He feigned shock and disgust.

I laughed. "No, it doesn't need to be that dramatic. After the meet and greet, you just tell everyone you have to use the restroom, spend way too long in it, and then tell them you need to go home. Pull at the skin on your face a little, make yourself look flush. Make sure you're sweaty."

"That's a given after a show."

"You never did tell me the name of your band."

He smiled wickedly. "It's probably not your vibe?"

I lifted my chin proudly. "Try me."

"Metalcore?"

"Architects? Falling in Reverse? Ice Nine Kills? Bring Me The Horizon?" I began listing them on my fingers.

He pointed at the name of the last band. "We're touring with them some time next year."

My jaw dropped. "You've met Oli Sykes?!"

He shook his head. "Not yet, but I hear he's a really cool dude."

"Noah, how big is this band you're in?"

"Not too big, just me and three other guys."

I rolled my eyes. "Not what I meant." He laughed then, acknowledging his smartass.

"Maybe you should come tomorrow?" This took me back. The idea hadn't even crossed my mind.

"Seriously?"

His tone became excited. "Yeah! Why not? You can make sure I get out of there afterward, you can see us play, too. Maybe you'll hear something you recognize."

"Maybe I'd know if you just told me the name of the band." He laughed again, but my amusement was fading.

"C'mon, you can be my getaway driver."

"How am I going to get in, when your band is apparently a pretty big deal? I bet there aren't even tickets left."

He shook his head. "Nah, I can get you a VIP suite. So you don't have to do the mosh pits and all that."

This started to sound not so terrible after all. It had been a while since I had gone to a good rock concert. Life had been so busy.

"Can I bring a friend?" He smirked.

"Boyfriend?"

For whatever reason, I felt the inherent need to deny this immediately. "Nope. But I have a best friend who is really into metal. She just saw Bad Omens a few months ago."

His eyebrows rose, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "Oh, definitely bring her. If she's into that, she may like us."

I nodded. "Alright. Where is it?" He pulled his phone out and unlocked it, swiping away multiple text notifications before opening a fresh contact and handing it to me.

"Put in your number. I'll text you all the details in the morning, when I get them." I nodded and added myself in under Leena H. He nodded in satisfaction.

Then came this sudden awkward silence. I could tell he didn't know what to do next. Handshake? Hug? Salute?

This made me chuckle, when I turned and opened my car door.

"Goodnight, Noah. See you tomorrow." I got a sheepish wave in return.

-

Back at home, after a much needed shower and settled into my bed, I pulled out my laptop.

My curiosity was too strong now. Who was this band?

My Google search took less than a second to load.

Noah Sebastian: Lead Singer of Bad Omens.

I stared at my screen for a long time. I wasn't reading this correctly was I? There it was, in black and white on my screen. It was a joke, right? Noah wasn't...he couldn't be...right?

But there it was, his photograph plastered on my screen. That was definitely in technicolor.

I didn't know much by Bad Omens, but I knew their song Just Pretend. It was one of the most played in my shower, on my drives to work. It was one of those songs that resonated with you. I heard it first on TikTok, and was hooked on that verse. That voice.

No fucking way.

I pulled out my phone, completely ignoring the fact that it was clear after midnight by now.

Me: YOU'RE THE LEAD SINGER OF BAD OMENS????

It took about three minutes, in which I was absolutely not staring at the screen the entire time, before I saw the typing bubble.

Noah: LOL Bad Omens? Never heard of them.

This motherfucker.

Me: Noah! Why didn't you say something?!

Noah: I don't get to have fun once in a while? Wow. AA's kind of a bummer.

Me: Laura's going to lose her shit.

Noah: That'll be fun for you. Talk to you tomorrow!

With that, the conversation was over. I chucked my phone to the foot of the bed, stunning a curious glance from my hound Angel. I petted a silent apology on his head and he laid back down.

What the fuck. What the fuck?!

I'm sponsoring a fucking rockstar.

[sewerpalette]

Subnautica headcanon designs part 1. I might make another one with Jochi, Hollister and a couple others. I’m not entirely happy with it but I’m not getting it to look any better so might aswell post it!

Second image was the thumbnail, as you can see, I didn’t capture a lot of likenesses and also decided to scrap doing ryley, but the shading was kinda fun so I guess there’s that. Seems like this page is going to become a dedicated subnautica brainrot page now, I think my OC stuff should stay on insta.

I’m not very happy with how the proportions turned out, I’m sorry lol. But I guess it’s some progress from the usual. I originally wanted to give danby black hair too but I realised that that’s just kinda what I default to and there are already so many characters with dark hair so I changed it to a blonde tone. I also tried to create more variety in face shapes but I’m still relatively new to that so I’m sorry if everybody looks kinda same-y or proportionally off.

Danby and Avery were done on the first day, then I drew Ozzy, then drew Yu on another day with much demotivating wich is why she kinda looks different to the others, then drew Keen and overhauled Yu again.

The artstyle was inspired by the Subnautica character concept art of Ryley!

(Headcanon time)

To be honest, I’d imagine most of them know each other (except for Avery ofcourse), I’d like to believe that Danby doesn’t usually talk to people unless it’s for his job, but is still generally known and liked by the others, he finds his job boring but believes it’d be stupid to stop after studying for so many years.

I think they’d all be around 25-60 in age, with danby maybe being the youngest with about 28-31 years of age, matching with ryley who I’d imagine is around the same age.

I think Yu would be very goal oriented, but also trying to find solutions with wich everyone involved would be happy, wich mean that she’d know a bit about everyone, wich is why she feels so attached to the crew and wanted to disobey orders to try and save them after the crash.

I think Keen would really thrive in his job, similar to Yu, but be a lot more reliant on orders, somebody who likes to follow them more than to give them. He puts much trust into his captain and any other sort of authority figure above him, whilst feeling maybe a little too responsible for those under his command.

I believe Ozzy would be a very talkative person, like Yu he knows everybody a little, and everybody knows him. Except for ryley, who at this point has become kind of an outsider for just how much he tries to fit in with everyone else. Most people feel indifferent towards him.

I don’t think avery would be fond of being the captain of a ship, I don’t think he’d mind that much but I think a lot of the legal stuff he has to handle because of it would probably be really frustrating in the long run. He enjoys to talk to people though, and tries to help people in need if alterra doesn’t prevent him from doing so.

[lunarmoonanons]

Do You Love Me?

🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕  

YN Velaryon has a burning question for her once dear friend, Aemond. Not canon to Fire and Salt

🌕 🌖 🌗 🌘 🌑 🌒 🌓 🌔 🌕  

Masterlist 

YN needed answers. For her life and her needs she needed answers to what the future might hold. She wanted to know what her mother was to do if the world turned against her. She wanted to know if she was to be married off with none of her say considered. She wanted to know the truth behind her father’s death. Mostly she wanted the answer to a question from someone whom her heart yearned to hear from since their parting when they were children. So without any knowledge from her family, YN wrote a simple note to her once close companion: Aemond. 

The note simply said: “Come to this place in three days. Tell no one. Come alone. I need to see you.” Along with the note she included directions to a remote tiny island away from Westorous. 

And so after three days, YN took Seasmoke under the cover of night and flew to the island that she knew no one else would be at. She arrived first and spent the first two hours pacing and biting her thumbnail, occasionally she played with the ends of her curly hair that was wild from the wind. Her stomach was aflutter from what she was planning to say and from the fear that he wouldn't show up or that he would show up with others. Her stomach turned, her skin felt too hot, her hands shook, and her dress felt too constrictive. 

But when the third hour approached, YN heard the sound of massive wings coming her way. Looking to the sky, she saw the giant dragon Vaghar. Aemond was alone and coming to see her. Suddenly her resolve felt weak. She was ready to present herself as she was and ask Aemond her drilling questions, but when she saw he drew close it felt like her knees were weak. She stopped her frantic pacing and stood strong to face him. When he landed YN clenched and unclenched her fist to steady herself. 

“It took some time to get away with a proper excuse. I’m sorry to have made you wait.” Aemond tried to explain as he dismounted from the beast. He strode toward her and finally the two faced each other.

“What do you need of me?” He whispered. 

YN took a breath and looked right into his eye. “I believe you miss me. That you’ve missed our friendship.” 

“I do. I truly have missed you.” Aemond was honest. 

“Well…” YN sighed. “I’ve missed you too. Against what you have thought I haven’t just burned your letters to me. I haven’t read them but I have kept them.”

“YN. You know I have always thought the world of you. That my feelings toward you have never been anger..” Aemond looked away and sighed. “But your brothers bring out the worst in me. I can’t help but show my worst side to them-”

“I think you miss more then our friendship. That when you miss me, you miss what might’ve been between us. And now you mourn us because our families would never let us be. I care too much about my brothers, and you care enough about what your mother would say.”

Aemond said nothing but he finally looked back at her. 

“I’ve said I hated you. But I’ve forgotten how close hate is to love. How the feelings of love for you, felt like hatred for what you said about my brothers.” YN tried to keep her thoughts clear. 

“Because you outrank them, by blood you are Velaryon and Targaryen. They are not us and-”

YN raised a hand to stop him and continued. “I’ve not come to argue again. I wanted to know something.”

“Yes?”

“I could live far away from here. If I had the love of one person, I could learn to love without my family. But I would need them to love me and be away from all this.” YN tried to explain. 

“YN…” 

“Do you love me?” YN finally asked. Her burning question. 

“This has nothing to do with just loving you.” Aemond tried to explain. 

“Do you love me?” 

“It is more complicated than that.” Aemond argued.

“Do you love me?” 

“I have spent my whole life trying to be a Targaryen. To live up to that name. To just throw it away now what would be the point? My live, my family. They all expect me-” 

“I will be your family. I have expected nothing from you. You don't need to live up to anything with me. I know who you are. You are more than just a name to me. You are everything. Do. You. Love Me?” YN shouted. 

“I love you!” Aemond shouted back. “I love you so dearly. I love your fire. I love your voice. I love everything about you. It feels like an eternity when you are not near. I love you YN. I have always loved you.” 

His pale hand touched her brown warm cheek. The two said nothing as they closed the gap between them and kissed. Passionately and lovingly they kissed and embraced each other finally. Years of missing the other boiled over into this desperate kiss. Eventually they pulled away and stared at each other. 

“I love you too.” YN whispered. “So choose me. We don’t have to stay like this. You don’t have to live up to an impossible name. We don’t have to be a family name. We can just be us.”

“I’ve spent my whole life trying to be a Targaryen. I don’t know what else to be.” Aemond said in a breathy tone. 

YN raised her hands and grabbed his face, warm palms against his cold cheeks. “I love you. I don’t want Aemond Targaryen. I just want Aemond.” 

Aemond looked into her face and saw nothing but genuine love. Love that only asked one thing from him. To choose her. To choose them. Aemond brought his lips to hers once again and finally they were together again. He didn’t have to live up to a family name with her. He only had to choose her.

[vidreview]

VIDREV: "Tim Burton's World of Sadboys" by Infinite Snow Productions

[originally posted april 29 2023]

Not only are you the exact brand of person who Neon Genesis Evangelion is about, you are also the exact brand of person who would completely and confidently miss the point of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

sometimes you come across an essay that says everything you've always wanted to say about a thing but could never quite work out how to fit together all in one place. this is one of my those. like a lot of film-loving millennials who went through an emo phase, Tim Burton holds a very special and deeply complicated place in my heart. the bizarre gothic aesthetics of his worlds brimming over with eccentric freaks captured my imagination as a deeply closeted trans teen who didn't feel normal anywhere [she] went. yes i wanted to be Lydia from Beetlejuice, no i never sat down and questioned what that might say about me personally! some of my earliest childhood memories are of playing with a plastic action figure of Catwoman from Batman Returns. that's not really related to anything, i just wanted to mention accidentally stabbing myself in the hand with one of her ears so hard it drew blood when i was a toddler. so obviously as an aspiring writer with dreams of maybe one day directing movies, Tim Burton felt like the perfect role model for the kind of creator i wanted to be back in 2002.

but as the years went on and Burton revealed himself to be maybe the biggest sellout of his generation, i stopped really thinking about his films and kind of felt embarrassed for having liked them as much as i once did. i think people who grew up with his stuff had this feeling that, like, Edward Scissorhands or whatever was their own personal secret, this little missive from Burton to you that no one else understood, that only you were smart enough to get. but then time happened and suddenly you realized that actually most people liked his stuff, you just didn't get out much. it's sort of like how when you're a teen in 2004 Neon Genesis Evangelion is this niche special interest no one's ever heard of that people would make fun of you for liking if their eyes didn't glaze over halfway through the title, and then you grow up and learn that Eva is the eighth most financially successful anime franchise on planet earth and you're like what

narratively Burton's films are about as socially conservative as you can get while still retaining a veneer of liberal plausible deniability. a couple years ago Maggie Mae Fish did a video dissecting Burton's work that helped clarify a lot of this stuff for me, and ever since then i've been waiting for someone else to pick up that ball and really barrel down into the psychology of the man. don't get me wrong, psychoanalytic media criticism can be dangerous and should only be deployed with excessive caution (and please for the love of god Do Not Quote Freud Jung or Lacan), but Burton's own brand is so surface-level personal and his work far too juiced up with extremely telling themes not to merit at least a little bit of psychoanalysis. i've often idly considered doing it myself, in that "this would make a really good video essay" kind of way when something isn't really in your wheelhouse but maybe would be a fun challenge if you could motivate yourself to care enough, knowing you never will.

enter Tim Burton's World of Sadboys, an essay which does all of this and more. i'm not sure i actually have a whole lot to say about this one, besides that it's everything i hoped it would be from the thumbnail. host Delaney Jordan very succinctly conjures the eternal specter hanging over the Burton oeuvre: that he's one of the vanishingly few directors this century who has had carte blanche to make just about anything he wanted, yet he's consistently chosen to make films about lonely white boys who are sad they can't wear their The Cure t-shirt into the office, and who are honestly quite sick of being unfairly associated with those freaks in the goth scene. the sad truth about Burton that we all had/have to come to terms with is that he's just another boring rich conservative suburbanite, except he wears black and doesn't pay anyone to touch his hair.

this essay does a couple of really smart things structurally. we kick things off with a legendary Orson Welles quote tearing down the scoundrel Woody Allen (read by the hosts of Oddity Roadshow and Critical Bits, the only actual play podcasts i still listen to), a choice that works even if you don't really know anything about Welles or Allen or Burton, and only works better the more you know about them. of course the thumbnail and section titles invoke Evangelion, but you don't really know how this could be relevant until later on when Burton is explicitly framed as a Shinji Ikari type. making that specific historical connection to Welles, within this specific overarching intertextual connection to Evangelion, is just so smart. it's such a galaxy brain framework for an essay and it's why i decided to write up this review.

it works because it gets out of the way. Jordan wastes almost no time hedging bets, making apologies, clarifying asterisks-- i spent most of my time nodding along, delighted for once to be the choir she's preaching to. sometimes i think essayists can let The Point They Want To Make eclipse the simple joy of deconstructing someone else's art. if there's any crime i've committed most as a video essayist myself, it's probably that one. what i appreciate here is, again, Jordan gets it. she gets that it's fun to rubberneck a career like Burton's. he's an easy target that you don't have to feel bad about being kind of mean to, and his work is popular enough that you don't need to waste any time doing recaps. somewhere in the middle i was disappointed to realize she wasn't structurally devoting time to Every Single Film, but by the end i was glad of it. the compulsion to Say Absolutely Everything You Can Possibly Think To Say is strong in the video essayist's heart, and let's be real most of the time that makes for pretty fucking boring essays. maybe it's weird to talk about pacing and flow in the context of a video essay, but here we are. this one just scratches an itch for me with its front to back competence. you can always tell when an essay has been brewing in someone's head for a long time, likely practiced in chunks at parties and social gatherings for years and years until the day of its final refined delivery, and oh how sweet it is when that's an experience you share.

i guess i'll end this on a serious note.

nostalgia has engulfed Hollywood. nothing new can be made because nothing new is a sure bet, so all the big developments in creative tools these days are about composting the culture that already exists. deepfakes, chat-gpt, algorithmic image generation, things of this nature. given this moment in history, i think it's more important than ever that we as adults seriously interrogate the media we're nostalgic for. Disney's place at the center of all this can't be ignored, because it's spent the better part of a century embedding its products into american childhood and thus today has an army of devotees who will defend their frankly kind of mid fairy tale cartoons to the death. Tim Burton, on a much smaller scale, has done precisely the same thing: equating his art with himself, equating loving his art with being on Tim Burton's side rather than simply, you know, enjoying a movie that you saw on tv once. and god, oh dear god, please for heaven's sake let us not even Begin to conversate on the matter of Harry Potter. we live in a moment when the average human person has been so thoroughly dispossessed of any material influence on or connection with the systems and bodies that actually drive civilization, that fiction is the only thing that feels like it belongs to us anymore. it quite demonstrably doesn't, of course, but that's the illusion Disney et al deliberately peddle in order to maintain public acceptance of their monopoly.

given all this, i'll never fail to appreciate an essay that cuts right through the blinders of nostalgia and isn't afraid to dig deep into the core of the issue. i think it's good to be a hater sometimes actually. i think it's good when a critic refuses to humor our culture's simpering deference to corporate robber barons of intellectual property and their endless stable of lazy sellout toadies like Tim Burton. idk man, there's a reason these ghouls want you to love them unconditionally and i really don't think it has anything to do with filling your life with selfless wonder and joy de vivre

anyway it's a good essay with some good laughs, go watch it

[dervampireprince]

What’s your favorite thing/person to draw?

oooooooo favourite thing to draw? this might be too broad but clothes. i love drawing clothes. as a kid i would mostly draw clothes like i would draw one body and then trace that a bunch and just draw and design different clothes for it. i love drawing clothes and coming up with outfits.

person? you know i was thinking i don't have an answer but i think i do because in these last few years he's been the character i've drawn the most, if i don't know what to draw 80% chance i'll just draw him, and that's graf von krolock from the german musical 'tanz der vampire', specifically drew sarich's version of the character. i love the shape of his hair and the little grey streak in it, the collar of his cape, his nose shape,

for proof, here's a bunch of krolocks from the last few years (ft my changing art style) (and yes some of the watermarks say @emptymasks , that is also me, thats just my main/sfw account)

i've really loved drawing the wolf/muerte/death from puss in boots this year

and last year, 2022, my go to 'help i cant stop drawing him' character was dream (if you watched any of my magma group drawing streams last year.. yeah he and hob were all i could draw for a while)

oh.. my god... i didn't actually realise how many times i'd drawn him. and all of that art is from September 2022 - December 2022. damn i'd like to have the drive to do that much personal art again, all that art (apart from the big audio thumbnail art) was just for fun, and all drawn on stream with members of chat in magma. i miss doing art just for fun. i gotta recapture whatever motivational brain rot dreamling gave me.

[twin-books]

Speaking of other topics.

I found one of my absolute favorite shows of all time on complete accident. It's all thanks to Drew Gooden and IDOLiSH7 (also a very good show).

IDOLiSH7 is a very nice feel-good idol anime. I adore it. It makes me unreasonably happy. It's based on a game of the same name that happens to be a rhythm game. They even have official music videos of their songs which I immediately found every single one of and watched them.

Then less than a month ago I finally watched that Drew Gooden video about Guitar Hero. I have never once played Guitar Hero and I barely watch Drew Gooden because I have like an endless list of YouTuber's I'm subscribed to that I just cycle through so this was at random.

But I guess watching that one video about Guitar Hero onto of all those IDOLiSH7 music videos had the YouTube algorithm go "Hmmm... she must really like rhythm games" and it recommended me one rhythm game based YouTube video. It immediately gave up on showing me anymore afterwards because I guess it realized I don't actually care too much about them. I just really like music.

But luckily this one video had this absolute banger of a song that someone had put into the rhythm game and tried to match the game to the beat. I freaking adored this song but it didn't give the name of the artist, just the title of the song so I told myself I'd like the video and then look into it later.

I completely forgot about it until a week later where I was looking through my liked songs on YouTube Music and saw one with a thumbnail of two animesque boys. I literally could not remember what this video was so I clicked it and then I saw it was that rhythm game. But I wondered why on earth these two dudes were the thumbnail when they were absolutely no where in the video.

So that song was Dive Back in Time from the first opening of the donghua, Link Click. I looked it up, saw that the same two anime-like dudes were on the album cover and thought to myself, "Huh, is this like a game or something?" The song was completely in English which threw me through a loop.

So I looked up Link Click, realized it was a donghua, then immediately looked up the opening this song was attached to because I figured based on the song title it had to be something about time travel.

Here's a fun fact about me... I absolutely adore time travel for a story narrative. It's so fun. But good time travel content is extremely hard to find because apparently it's super easy for people to absolutely screw up this amazingly creative and fun premise.

With that being said, I was willing to do just about anything to figure out if this was not only a time travel show but a good time travel show. So I watched the season 1 opening and it gave me absolutely no clues whatsoever. Absurdly unhelpful without context.

Yeah, I turned to wikipedia for the answers. And yes, it was about time travel and the premise sounded so gosh darn amazing. Here's the wikipedia synopsis;

After finding this I realized there was apparently a season 2 so out of pure curiosity I looked up the season 2 opening. It's called VORTEX. Amazing. If nothing else this show would be full of gorgeous animation and breath-taking music.

I immediately hit up @koo1creations. She is also an avid enjoyer of some good time travel stories and she also adores sci-fi which time travel stories tend to fall under so we were hyped. We also both took the same short animation course when we were young so we absolutely adore animation and we both adore music. This show looked like an absolute winner.

So like fools, Monday night we started Link Click fully intending to stop at like 4 episodes. Ha. Nope, absolutely not. We loved it too much, we binged the whole first season. Tuesday night we binged what was out of season 2. Thankfully for us there was only 2 episodes left of season 2 to be released as soon as we finished it.

I cannot begin to give this show the praise it deserves. Season 1 is still the best so far, I'd say. But season 2 is still very good. It's such a fun show full of twists and turns. It really makes you think and it's full of nuances. The animation and style is gorgeous, the music is amazing, the characters are intriguing, and the story is addicting.

So thank you Drew Gooden and IDOLiSH7 for like my new number 1 favorite show. Gotta be the best way I have ever actually found anything I liked. I have had many times where I had quite a few hoops I had to jump through to find another thing I liked but this one takes the cake.

[bookwormscififan]

Needed

Read on AO3!

A/N: I wrote a thing from the little sketches I drew today. It's soft, it's sweet, there's some emotions and realisations, but it's nice.

There was a single spotlight over the stage, shining purple light onto the mic stand that stood alone on the raised platform.

Phantom chewed his thumbnail anxiously as he checked the time, stopping when Jackie pulled his arm away, looking at him with bright eyes. Opting to chew on his lip, Phantom made a sound when Jackie leaned up to kiss him, stopping his anxious thoughts.

“He’s due on stage at nine,” Jackie said softly, patting Phantom’s shoulder. “He’ll be here, don’t worry.” With a smile, Jackie stepped back and left the office, pausing by the door to cover the clock on the wall.

Phantom tapped his foot, returning his thumbnail to his mouth to chew on before shaking his head and taking a deep breath, waving his arms to vent out his anxiety and stepping out of the office.

He wasn’t so sure that Mare would show up.

--

“Mare, it takes twenty minutes to get to the bar,” Mad said from his spot on the bed, checking the time on his phone and glancing up when Mare stepped out of the closet. “Oh…” Mad felt his cheeks warm up at the outfit Mare had on, and words were suddenly very hard to form.

Mare was dressed in black slacks and a purple button-down, sleeves rolled up to his elbows for better movement, but the thing that caught Mad’s eye was the embroidered black silk vest Mare had put on with the ensemble. It was the same vest Mad had pressed to his cheek weeks ago, and it had a way of emphasising all the parts of Mare that Mad liked.

“Better to show up late than not at all,” Mare huffed, moving to stand at the mirror on the dresser, frowning as he struggled to choose a tie to go with his outfit. “Mad, dear, do you think a tie might be too much? I can’t decide.”

Mad climbed out of bed with a smile, standing behind Mare and gently folding his collar down, moving his hands to put the ties on the dresser before wrapping his arms around his waist, giving him a tight hug from behind and pressing his face into the silk at the back of the vest.

“This is fine,” he mumbled, opening his hands to slide over Mare’s chest, feeling the softness of the embroidery as well as the definition of Mare’s muscles. “Why are you so dressed up for a performance at Phan’s bar?”

“Because I’m fancy,” Mare joked, resting his hands over Mad’s and leaning back, enjoying the embrace for a while before moving away. “Come on, let’s head out.”

--

Phantom sighed with relief when he saw Mad and Mare walk through the door, eyes darting to the clock to see Mare had gotten there with ten minutes to spare. He shot a look at Jackie before heading over to his brother, who was getting Mad settled at a table with a view of the stage.

“You took your time,” Phantom commented, taking in Mare’s outfit with a smirk. “They’re really going to know we’re twins now,” he added with a laugh, waving his hand at Mare’s vest. “You don’t have a lot of time to set up, I hope you’re ready.”

“I’m fine,” Mare answered, glancing at the purple spotlight over the stage and rolling his eyes. “You owe me big time for doing this.” With a final glance to ensure Mad was comfortable, Mare signalled to Phantom to get some water and headed for the stage.

“Thanks for getting him to show up,” Phantom said in a low voice, leaning down beside Mad. “I thought he’d never sing on that stage again. You’re a really good guy for him.” When Mad blushed, Phantom left to get his water.

“Told you he’d make it,” Jackie teased as Phantom neared the bar. “He’s your brother. I doubt any sort of argument is going to change that. When Marv and I fight, we still show up to help the other.”

“Give me a shot of whiskey,” Phantom ordered, grabbing a glass of water for Mad and downing the shot Jackie handed him. “You have no idea what Mare’s capable of if he really wants to show me up.” He walked back to Mad to give him his water, ruffling his hair and laughing when Mad made a sound of protest.

-

“Good evening, everyone,” Mare spoke into the microphone, standing behind it and swaying his hips slightly in a nervous habit. “I’m Mare, Phan’s brother, and tonight I’m here to sing a few songs. Enjoy, and have a nice night.” He glanced at Mad’s table, seeing his bright eyes and encouraging smile, then took a deep breath and started singing the songs he’d chosen with Mad’s help.

As the songs progressed, Mare grew more confident, making jokes and telling brief histories of the songs between sips of water, always looking back to Mad for assurance and support, smiling whenever he caught the loving look in Mad’s eyes.

Phantom stood at the bar, leaning an elbow against the counter and watching his brother perform. The patrons all seemed interested, partaking in the pop quizzes Mare sprung on them and generally being calm despite the numerous shots in their systems.

“He’s great for the bar, isn’t he?” Jackie asked from beside him, standing behind the counter and watching Phantom’s face. Phantom nodded numbly, then he looked over the crowd to see Mad alone at his table, head held in his hands as he watched Mare perform.

“He’ll only sing if Mad comes to watch,” he answered Jackie’s previous statement almost mournfully. “He leaves when Mad gets tired.” It’s like Mad has the monopoly on my brother, he thought to himself, leaning further against the bar as Mare continued to sing.

“But Mad loves to watch him sing,” Jackie replied, nodding his head in Mad’s direction, pointing out how engaged Mad was with the performance, a lovestruck smile stuck permanently on his face.

“Mad adores Mare,” Phantom corrected. “He’d follow Mare to the ends of the earth and further still. Half of Mare’s songs are written for Mad. Anyway,” he stated, tapping the counter and straightening up, “I’ve got to do my rounds, make sure everyone’s alright. Tend the bar for me, honey.”

Jackie chuckled as he watched Phantom walk away, wiping at the spot on the counter he’d leaned against. He rolled his shoulders back as he set the towel down, working on cleaning empty glasses before moving down the bar to ensure everyone had their drinks.

-

“Alright, alright, one more song!” Mare laughed into the mic, waving his hands to shush the crowd but keeping his eye on Mad, who’d started to slouch in his seat from exhaustion. “This one’s called Home. If you know the words, sing along!” And he started to sing, presenting a new rendition of the song without additional vocals or instrumentals, just his voice.

When he finished the song, he waved off calls for another, drinking from his water before hopping off the stage, snaking through the crowd to sit at Mad’s table. He dipped his head to meet Mad’s eyes, reaching across the table and taking Mad’s hand in both of his.

“Ready to go home, dear heart?” he asked softly, squeezing Mad’s hand and smiling when he nodded. “Alright, we’ll head home. I’ll just tell Phan we’re off, alright?” When Mad nodded again, Mare patted the back of his hand and stood up, weaving through the sea of patrons to reach the bar, leaning over it as he waited for Phantom or Jackie to come to him.

“Jackie!” he called, waving the hero over. “We’re going home. Mad’s tired.”

“Hold on, I’ll get Phan,” Jackie said, turning to leave before Mare stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

“Tell Phan I had fun,” Mare said, squeezing Jackie’s wrist before pulling away, going back to get Mad and heading out of the bar. He helped Mad into the car, ensuring his seatbelt was done up, then climbed behind the steering wheel and drove them home, one hand on Mad’s knee to provide comfort as Mad drifted in and out of sleep.

--

 “I thought he’d stay longer,” Phantom said, glancing at the clock with a small pout.

“He sang for over two hours, dear,” Jackie laughed, poking at Phantom’s pout with a twinkle in his eye. “That’s the longest Mad’s been out of the house in months. Give him credit for at least getting Mare out here.”

“I guess you’re right,” Phantom relented with a sigh, watching the number of patrons thin out after Mare’s departure, the songs on the jukebox suddenly seeming less warm than the strong voice of his twin. “Mare’s been working hard to make up for that accident weeks ago; I think this outing was something they both needed.”

“And you needed to see that your brother wasn’t looking like the living dead,” the hero replied, nudging Phantom with his shoulder. “He’s fine, Phan, and he deserves a break.” He snaked a hand around Phantom’s waist, pulling him in closer and pressing a kiss to the top of his head before letting him go, giggling at the slight blush on Phantom’s cheeks.

“Maybe we should have a break, too,” Phantom started, turning to Jackie and taking his hand. “Let’s close the bar early, go home. I need some saving, I think.” He smiled when Jackie squeezed his hand back, never one to refuse a cry for help, and he began the closing process for the bar.

----------

@iamvegorott @brokentimewatch @dungeon-dragons-dragons

[goodboytown]

there's a light story behind what i just posted lol. i recently found some old thumbnail sketches from 2020. i did some doodles after i saw the first rift apart trailer way back then. the first thing i drew of RA was rivet and clank hanging out together and eating at her dimension's equivalent of mcdonalds (nefdonalds hbdjsd) she was listing the menu items and what it did to her body (but she loved the taste too much to stop eating it ??) there was a lil gag where clank bought a happy meal (nefarious equivalent) and the toy inside it was a crude lombax figure with X's for eyes and arrows sticking out of it and he was like "oh my..."

[plumbus-central]

How did you develop your art style? Like how did you find your own voice in your art?

Oh what an interesting question, I never expected to asked abt my art!

Honestly i took a while to think abt this question, and I think a lot i've done about developing my own art style came from seeing things i liked in other people's art and copying it lol.

For instance when i was in the [REDACTED] fandom when i was a young teen there was a very popular artist who used gradients in their work to add depth and color and i liked it a lot, so i started doing it in my work too.

A few years ago i started following an artist and really liked their work bc they had such a strong grasp of color, shape, gesture, and line. And they used these strong, thick lines to fill out the form of their work, but i noticed that the lines often didn't touch and that it didn't matter bc you could still understand and make out the form of whatever they drew just fine. So i decided to stop worrying abt MY lines touching either lol. which is how i ended up with those sort of ghost constructions of figures and shapes i do sometimes.

I can vividly remember seeing a comic on tumblr ONCE where i saw a character have just a line for a mouth that went off their face and i just stared at that panel for a while trying to figure out why i liked it so much lol until i realized it was their expression that i liked. So i kept that in my head, and a few years later i realized that i had started using it in my art too.

Another aspect that has influenced my art is exploring other media and being challenged by my own interests. Like when i was a teen i was very into steven universe and my own ocs. which was fine but didn't challenge me too much artistically. Then in college i got into bojack horseman, and specifically my favorite character was herb kazzaz, a short, fat man with a beard. Completely out of my comfort zone to draw, but i wanted to draw him so bad! so i figured it out!

(some of u might actually be familiar w/ my boajck horseman sideblog @hambone-fakenameington , it hasnt been updated in a while cause im on that rick and morty shit right now lol). But now i have to skills to draw these things by way of my interests in the character.

My fixation with rick and morty was actually so strong at first that i was drawing like crazy, which eventually taught me to focus on and hone my skills with gesture, thumbnailing, and composition bc i wanted to draw so many ideas at once that i couldn't spend too long on each one. (and it also gave me lots of practice). Thanks to my interest in R&M ive also developed skills in drawing very skinny bodies lol, but also on pushing expressions and gestures to extremes that i never used to!

Hell even just trying to figure out how to take features and details from characters in something and translate them into YOUR style can be a big learning and growing experience. (u can see in my old art it took me a while to get rick to look right)

So i guess the overall is that seeking out and consuming media is always important bc you can take a lot of inspiration from something without even realizing it. (honestly if ur feeling stagnant in ur art watching/reading something new can be a good way to jog ur brain). And taking a good look at the art you enjoy and trying to figure out WHY u like it, and what elements are stick out to u. Then seeing if you can bring those elements into ur own art and see if it's successful to u to explore it.

as far as voice goes um.... i guess what's become important to me is that u gotta know when to cut corners lol. like a hand doesn't ALWAYS need to be perfectly formed, like it can be a squiggle and it might even look better for it. sometimes loose and sloppy looks good for what ur doing and sometimes heavily defined and carefully lined work is necessary but i gotta remember that the clean art is built on the back of the sloppy studies. and stray lines, warped perspective, and unaligned facial elements can give a lot of character to a work that might otherwise seem bland and stiff.

thank you so much for the question it was fun to take a look at my work and reflect on how i got to what i have as a style now! R&M has honestly done A TON for my art style and drawing abilities that i didn't realize till now.

Also worth mentioning bc i forget how much of my life i share w/ you guys but i also have BFA in Illustration with a focus in Animation Arts and Sequential Art.

[dleena2023]

QUARTERFINALS DRAW - T1 VS ?

BISMILLAHIRRAHMANIRRAHIM

OKAY GUYS SO I'M BACK HERE IDKY I HAVE A NEED TO TYPE THIS DOWN BUT I HAVE TO BECAUSE I;M SO NERVOUS HAHAHA. SO TO CUT SHORT, I'VE WATCHED YESTERDAY'S LAST SERIES UNTIL TL VS FLY GAME 2 ABOUT 10+ MIN MARK I THINK? AND THEN IDK WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT COS I WENT TO SLEEP LMAO COS I HAD TO. SO YEAPPP THIS IS ME RIGHT NOW, AT THIS MOMENT, HAVING NO CLUE WHAT THE DRAWS WERE FOR KNOCKOUTS YESTERDAY.

RULE SAYS THAT 3-0 TEAMS WILL DRAW 3-2 TEAMS SO THAT MEANS T1 WON'T FACE GENG OR LNG. OKAY PHEW ALHAMDULILLAH. WE GET TO AVOID OUR FREAKING KRYPTONITE HAHAHA. SO NOW WE'RE ONLY LEFT WITH DRAWING EITHER ONE 3-2 TEAM OR 3-1 TEAM SO THAT MEANS THE POSSIBLE DRAW IS:

HLE

TES

WBG

BLG

FLY (THIS WAS WRITTEN BEFORE I CHECKED THE RESULTS AND OH WOW FLY DID REALLY WIN IT)

OKAY SO UMM I SUCK AT PROBABILITY COS I FORGOT EVERYTHING ABOUT IT LOL BUT SINCE IT'S 5 TEAMS THAT MEANS THE PROBABILITY FOR DRAWING EACH TEAM IS 20%, RIGHT? LIKE BY CALCULATING AND DOING MORE PROBABILITY, I THINK WE HAVE A GOOD POSITION OF AVOIDING HLE FOR NOW. I HOPE SO AHHHHHHHHHHHH. ANYTHING BUT HLE PLEASE OMG. LIKE GIVE US WBG OR FLY OR SMTH 🤣YA ALLAH I'M SO NERVOUS. JUST ANY TEAM BUT HLE PLEASE. THOUGH I FEEL THAT BLG/TES CAN BE A THREAT TOO BUT HEY, REMEMBER THAT T1 IS LPL SLAYER AT WORLDS RIGHT? SO I STILL HAVE HOPE. #COPIUM. PRAYING AND MAKING DO'A THAT T1 HAS THE BEST DRAW & IS GOOD FOR THEM THROUGHOUT THE WORLDS TOURNAMENT. I SHOULDN'T SAY IT'S BASED ON LUCK HMMMM BUT IN THE END, ALLAH KNOWS WHAT'S BEST FOR US. AS LONG AS WE NEVER GIVE UP. AND AS LONG AS WE NEVER STOP BELIEVING. T1 FIGHTINGGGGG!!!!

OKAY SO IMMA GO AND WATCH THE YOUTUBE FOR THE KNOCKOUTS DRAW AND COME BACK HERE AGAIN FOR THE UPDATE GAHAHAHAHAHA. BISMILLAH!!

UPDATE AS OF NOW; OKAY WAIT JAP I HAVEN'T CONNECT MY BLUETOOTH BUT I SAW MALU IN THE THUMBNAILS HOLDING A LNG SIGN AHHHHH. OKAY OKAY BRB.

UPDATE NOW; OMGGGG YA ALLAHHHHH. OKAY SO WE GOT TES FOR QUARTERS WHICH IS GOOD I THINK? ALHAMDULILLAH BUT NOT FOR THE SEMIS!!! 😭😭😭 COS GENG IS IN OUR BRACKET NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. ALAMAKKKKK WHYYYYYYYY. IF ONLY T1 IS ON THE OTHER SIDE THEN WE HAVE A GOOD CHANCE OF ADVANCING TO FINALS. AND YOU KNOW WHAT SUCKS? GENG DREW FLYQUEST BROOOO. I WAS LIKE "PLEASE BLG BLG BLG" BUT HUHUHU IT'S FLYQUEST 🙃 SO THAT MEANS IF T1 WINS THIS, THEY WILL MOST PROBABLY FACE GENG UNLESS FLY PULLS AN UPSET DUH. AND AND I JUST WISH ALL THE BEST FOR THE ZOFGK BOIS & COACHES KTR. URGHHHHH I DON'T WANNA LOSE HOPE BUT I'M LITERALLY IN SHAMBLES RIGHT NOW. MY LOVES, WE GOT THIS. I KNOW WE GOT THIS. LET'S FOCUS ON QUARTERS FIRST AITES? SENDING MUCH LOVE ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

shaking, worrying, hiding tears

addie

[fishdreams]

Dream Journal 2024-01-26: New Concoctions By Fish Davidson!

It's been a long time since I had a dream-based invention, but before we get to the explanation of this thing, let's talk about the

Dream Fragments

I was eating nachos, but instead of jalapenos to go with my sour cream, cheese, and beans, there were tiny cats. Completely normal (and alive) cats, except each one was no larger than my thumbnail. I thought it was unusual to eat them, but those were the nachos I had at hand and I wasn't going to let them go to waste.

Main Dream: Behind The Scenes Of Nissan's New Commercial

Note: the videos in this post have flashing/strobing effects.

The entirety of this dream was basically an in-depth look at a commercial for a new car by Nissan. The car is not important, and I recall pretty much nothing about the car other than it being a sedan that looked like any other modern sedan, and I think it was red.

What is important is the practical effects the commercial employed for the vaguely sci-fi bits (because cars can't be cutting edge without being from The Future). There was a white room that textured with lines of filaments the thickness of uncooked spaghetti noodles, and inside this room was a pedestal with a circular holographic projector on top that broadcast the headshot view of some alien from outer space who looked like a cross between a dog and a stag.

Instead of using a guy in a costume for the alien, the commercial used a special zoetrope to provide the animation for the alien's speech. The original zoetrope used a sequence of still images arranged in a strip that in turn spun around a cylinder to give the illusion of movement. Here's a video that describes a newer variety of zoetrope (though there is a discussion and example of the original zoetrope at the 1-minute mark of the video).

The variety of zoetrope that the commercial creatives used was a step beyond the ones show in the prior video. Instead of using multiple rotations of the cylinder/platter to show a repeating animation, the commercial used multiple nested platters that could rotate independently of each other and could also rotate in different directions.

You can hopefully understand how the device is constructed by looking at my crudely-drawn diagram in the header image of this post. I drew a dog instead of an alien because it wouldn't look anything like it did in the dream, and most people can intuitively recognize a poorly-drawn dog.

Apparently I was one of the people who worked on the commercial, because I had a lot of access to the props and stuff on the set. I spent a long time playing with the zoetrope, too, which is how I was able to recall its construction.

Each platter contains variations of a different part of the alien's head. The outermost platter contains different positions for the alien's mouth, lips, and tongue. The middle platter contains a smaller number of positions that account for blinking and small movements of the upper/lower eyelid. On the smallest platter is the back part of the head and it controls small movements in the position of the ears.

Because each platter is controlled by motors that can rotate forward or backward, it can play play an animation of effectively unlimited duration as long as you can move the platters into position quickly (and precisely) enough. The "holographic projector" was really this special zoetrope, and it was controlled in such a way that the movement of each platter made it look like the alien was talking about wanting to purchase the car (though the actual dialog would presumably be added during post-production). It gave the alien a cool stop-motion look when the platters were spinning.

Lastly, the final version of the commercial used Powerman 5000's song, "When Worlds Collide" as its soundtrack. My wife happened to have that song as her alarm when the dream was happening, but it was muffled by the bedsheets and didn't wake me up immediately. Instead, the song just crept seamlessly into the dream. Below is the official music video for that song, which I'm including because it's a good song and also because I forgot it had sci-fi and aliens in it.

Nissan, if you're reading this, I am willing to license this technology to you. Call me and let's talk.

[prismaticfaery]

Sleepless

Simon “Ghost” Riley x Fem!Reader

Description: Late hours, books, and insomnia draw you and the stiff Lieutenant together.

Rating: T+

A/N: So, I had written something previous on Ghost and pregnant!Reader. I wanted to give Reader much more background and I think previously being a field medic fits perfectly for her. I’m giving Reader the nickname “Peach” for cute reasons. I’m already writing a part two to this because omg. I’m sorry if it’s crap lmao.

Your body and brain were betraying you again. The exhaustion of course was hitting you like a ton of bricks but you still could not feel the sweet reprieve of sleep. Restful sleep, that is. You could hear the loud snores down the hall from all of the other soldiers, it’s something you’d grown quite used to over the years of being in the military, but this was a very new group of soldiers you were growing used to. Sometimes you could completely ignore and drown them out, but tonight was different. Your mind would not shut off.

Bringing yourself into a sitting position on your bed, you could feel the chill of the wintry air through your drafty window. You placed a hand on your bedside table, searching in the dark for your watch, placing it on your wrist and fastening it once you found it.

2:16 am.

Quietly grunting as you toss the blanket off of your body, lifting yourself off the bed to find your fluffy slippers and in the search for your slippers, finding your knitted beanie and loose fitting knitted cardigan, and hoping it was okay to keep your sweatpants on around base with it being the middle of the night and most people were dead asleep, you decided to take off to the hangar where there were benches and tables you could relax at.

You stopped at the mess hall first, grabbing a styrofoam cup and a bag of black tea, carrying it to the hot water dispenser and filling it nearly to the top. Blowing on the water as the tea bag steeped, you silently padded to the hangar, the air nipping at your cheeks and nose as your view was now met with humvee’s, and an assortment of planes and jets.

Spotting a table to your liking, you sank down onto the bench with a sigh, placing the hot cup of tea on the table in front of you. Your eyes catch a glimpse of a book resting to the far end of the table, in completely new and neat condition, the pages were not fluffed and not a single crease on the front or back covers. Stretching your arm, you grab the book and bring it close to you.

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

Remembering that you had read this particular book in your AP Literature class in high school, you hum and open the book to the first page. You didn’t know any of the soldiers well enough yet in this post to know who could possibly be into this type of book. Your thumbnail had made its way into your mouth, your teeth biting down softly as your focus locked onto the words in the book. Post apocalyptic dystopian novels were quite a fascinating read, and you had nothing better to do in your wide awake state.

You hardly paid any attention to your tea that was by now lukewarm. You were already a quarter of the way done with the book, as it wasn’t a very long book in the first place. The joints in your fingers were locking from the cold air, and you were going off on a guess, but your nose and cheeks were probably a fine shade of red too.

A large dark figure sauntered into your peripheral, and soon lowered down to the seat directly in front of you, “you seemed to have taken a likin’ to my book,” a gruff and heavy English accent made your body visibly jump and look up from the book.

“Sorry, it was just sitting here on the table and I wanted to indulge a little. I didn’t think I would get so carried away,” you sheepishly lower the book to meet the light hazel eyes of your Lieutenant, Ghost.

You drew in a deep breath as you noticed how different Ghost looked when he wasn’t in all of his field gear. He wasn’t even wearing his usual black paint around his eyes, nor his skull balaclava and mask, just a normal black balaclava with a black beanie. You could see his blond eyelashes perfectly. He was still a hulking figure but much less intimidating.

“Peach,” Ghost’s deep voice called out, breaking you from your thoughts.

“Yes, Lieutenant?” You gulped, breaking your stare.

“I asked if you had slept any this evening.”

“No, sir. It’s normal for me to have sleep troubles and disturbances, I can function pretty well on little sleep. Comes with the job,” a puff of air comes from your nose as you stifle a chuckle, alluding to your job as a forever exhausted medical professional.

A hum escapes Ghost’s balaclava as his eyes lower to the cup of hot tea in his large hands, the black gloves he wore creaking as his grip tightens,” I guess we’re kindred spirits in the sleep department”, he turns his head to the side, carefully lifting his balaclava to take a quick sip of his hot tea.

Ghost’s chin was freshly shaved, though his calculated lifting of the balaclava he obscured his face with showed nothing else. Not even his mouth.

Now you were begging for more from your mysterious Lieutenant. From the time you were brought on as a member of his squad to now, your interactions were few and far in between, and you often questioned why you felt such a need to grow closer to him, but you would often fight yourself on that matter because he was your superior. Though a friendship couldn’t possibly hurt anyone, right?

“Do you read often, Lieutenant?” you eyed the book on the table, then met Ghost’s eyes again.

“As often as my job allows me to,” he quipped, and you knew damn well what he meant.

With how busy Ghost was, you wondered just how often he was able to enjoy his hobbies, if he even had any to indulge in besides of course reading. Many soldiers joked around and said Ghost was a robot and that there were hardly any human qualities in him, yet here he was, sipping a hot tea, and admitting to being a reader. His usual commanding and stoic demeanor was lightened, and you could see emotion in his eyes without the black paint smeared around his eyes. You daresay it made him look so much more attractive, though you could see clearly that he had bags, the light purplish hues accentuated by the dim lighting of the hangar.

“What’s your favorite book?” you piped up from the comfortable silence of the quiet hangar.

“All Quiet on the Western Front,” he looks you in the eyes.

Laughing quite loudly, you say: “I think I kind of saw that coming.”

You could almost see a glimmer of his eyes crinkling in the corners, like he was smiling under his obscuring black mask. All Quiet on the Western Front seems like the kind of book he would enjoy. It’s a book that’s setting took place during the first World War.

“What about you, Peach?” He raised his cup to you, nodding.

“Oh, for sure [book name].”

“That’s a very you thing, with how much I’ve gathered from you so far.”

You felt your breath catch in your throat, your nerves getting the best of you, but playing it off coolly, you reply with: “have you been watching me, sir?”

“As much as I can— I like to keep tabs on my soldiers,” Ghost was now looking you in the eyes, noticing almost immediately that you had grown nervous, he decided to add on sneakily: “with you being new and all…”

Your mind raced, the stomach full of fluttering butterflies gnawed especially hard as you sat and watched his eyes scan you over before clutching his cup with both hands, eyelashes now downcast as he watched the steam float up from his hot tea. The nervous tension was thick in the air, not just from you, but from him as well.

A shiver jolted up your spine from the chill of the hangar, your body visibly trembling under your loose cardigan. Ghost tilts his head, wondering why you were wearing such little layering in such freezing temperatures. He stands from his seat on the bench and unzips his gray fleece jacket, revealing a tight black thermal shirt underneath, gray and black ink shading his left wrist– tattoos. You often forget how little you knew about everyone on the new team you had been placed in. Making his way behind you, your eyes never leaving his dark and muscular form. You felt his jacket wrap around your form, the large fleece jacket radiating with the smell of expensive cologne, natural musk, and dead leaves, the warmth from his body still clung to the material.

“You didn’t have to do that, sir,” you looked up at him, his tall form turning to walk out of the hangar doors.

“You keep it– and the book, bring them back when you find yourself unable to sleep, I’ll be here.”