#i hope you enjoyed help

[aluminumneedles]

I'm knitting in the corner at a party

and guys my age stop by to tell me I remind them of their aunt, of their grandmother. This is a compliment and I take it as such. They confess to having tried crochet once, and I smile. They get back in line for the bathroom.

I'm knitting in the corner at a party and a queer woman sits on the floor next to me, arranges her skirt, and smiles up at me. (I try not to blush.) She asks me all the questions on her mind about my craft and I answer them, hands still moving. We swap yarn sources. She doesn't stay, but she knows where to find me.

I'm knitting in the corner at a party and everyone knows where to find me when they need a minute, when socializing is too much and the music is too loud and they need to catch their breath. They pretend to be checking in on me, which is sweet, but I can see the relief in their eyes the moment they stop performing for a house full of people. They sit down and tell me things and all the while they never take their eyes off my hands.

The party has wound down and I'm still knitting and the hosts, two guys in their twenties, thank me for "helping to curate the vibe." I had no idea that's what I was doing. I leave the party having forgotten to drink anything and without that woman's number but with many rows added to my top-down raglan sweater. I call it a night, and a good one.

[lilybug-02]

Pain is a great motivator…

Part 26 || First || Previous || Next

—Full Series—

Meanwhile Toriel:

(Loud noises don't wake her up usually.)

Artist note: I’m so proud of this :))) I know it’s a lot of dialogue and reading, but dialogue is grueling work for me. I’m glad with the art and for the amount of pages I made in such a relatively short time span -w- page 5 was super fun to work on. A lot of blood, sweat, and hours here... :) The backgrounds were a big bore tbh, but I finished them! Yippie!

[mothgenes]

Part 3

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

[wuntrum]

happy tdov!! since i'm visible today, i wanted to let you know that i have a new comic and stickers available to help me raise money to get top surgery this year :')

read the comic digitally here (for as low as $1)

get a physical copy, some stickers, or all the above here

[miikpal]

planetary (go!) - balloonsmp ACT 2 PMV

STREAMER WARNING: I MADE A DMCA BOMB (sorry) lower that volume etc etc

you can also find all the individual frames >> here

[nachobsns]

Hello - I was impressed and extremely relieved by what you wrote in the post about the cult mentality of the Left RE Israel and accusations of genocide. You mentioned that you bought into the mindset until recently. If it's all right for me to ask, what was it that helped you break out of it? (Please feel free to delete/ignore if you'd rather not answer!)

thank you!! and no worries about asking— i think i put something in my pinned post about how people are welcome to send asks about this stuff, although my story isn’t super interesting. i fell down the typical online rabbithole, a couple weeks after october 7; i knew what had happened, at least vaguely, but the posts trickling onto my dash were all about the (undeniably tragic) loss of life in gaza, with little to no acknowledgment of the hamas atrocities that had started the war, so my narrative was pretty one-sided from the beginning. it just continued to snowball as the months went on and people became more radicalized, calling into question the reality of the 10/7 attacks and the humanity of all israelis. i never went all the way down the pipeline to full-on endorsing hamas or justifying their attacks, at least on a personal level, thank god, but i would reblog other people’s posts referring to hamas as a “resistance movement” and calls to boycott starbucks and mcdonald’s and condemnation of the “zionist media” etc etc etc. what pulled me out of it wasn’t any one thing— if someone had directly called me on my flawed logic and antisemitic biases while i was in this mindset, i doubt it would have done much, just reinforced my belief that i was on the “right side of history” and zionists were aggressors who couldn’t be reasoned with. it was mostly just passive observance and a slow exposure to other perspectives. i’m pretty sure the first post that led me to question my thinking was an ask on jewish-vents, which popped up on my dash in like, late july. this led me down another rabbithole, first scouring every single post on jewish-vents, then moving on to more popular jewish blogs that i had seen on “zionist blocklists” (applesauce42069, xclowniex, and spacelazarwolf were probably some of the blogs that influenced me the most, though i told myself i was just hate-scrolling at first, lol). i felt incredibly guilty seeing all the harm the movement i was a part of had caused to random jews and israelis just trying to live their lives and i realized how it went against everything i believed about how minority groups should be treated. from there, the aspect of actually undoing my thinking and changing my behavior for the better still took several weeks. denial of jewish indigenity to the levant in the face of tantamount archeological and cultural evidence was the first to go, as well as any ambiguity in my feelings about hamas. after that, it’s mostly been a slow process of redefining the idf’s actions from a “genocide” to a “war.” i still believe that what’s happening in gaza is unconscionable and horrific, and that too many innocent civilians have died, but i also understand how difficult it is to fight against a terrorist group that systematically embeds itself in civilian populations, and that the ratio of militant to civilian deaths is incredibly low compared to most urban warfare. i quietly deleted my old blog in early august— if i had directly engaged in harassment against jews, i likely would have kept it to make amends to the harmed parties and put a face to my actions, but as was, i had just contributed to the larger atmosphere of antisemitism on this site, and i felt uncomfortable knowing that i had a blog full of sentiments that no longer matched my values and beliefs. i decided i would be better if i took my endorsement out of the equation entirely, because when you’re looking through the notes of a post, it obviously doesn’t matter if someone who’s reblogged it no longer agrees with what was said— their notes still count as tacit approval, and i did not want approval of this “activism” attached to my online presence. i still have unwanted kneejerk reactions that crop up sometimes, particularly around the fundraiser posts from people “in gaza”; even though i know logically that they have all the markers of scams, there is still a part of me that really wants to believe i could help.

[leafeyrune]

Too ???

[xxplastic-cubexx]

i would like to draw him more i think..

[madootles]

jon sims losing his mind in seasons two and three <333

the magnus archives has me in a serious chokehold right now

[machveil]

Johnny stealing one of Simon’s balaclavas for Halloween - he’s sure Simon knows, but the Brit hasn’t come looking for him. Johnny has a good laugh, grabbing one of his black gym hoodies and a pair of jeans. it gets a good laugh out of you too, a little surprised when Johnny comes out of your room donning Ghost’s signature mask. he tries to walk a little slower than usual, poorly mimicking how Simon stalks around

Johnny who fakes a British accent, it doesn’t sound like Simon’s at all - Simon’s Mancunian accent, rough and deep, is probably turning in its grave at Johnny’s impression. you both giggle over it, cupping his masked cheeks and smiling up at him. he can’t help it, leaning down to kiss you through the balaclava, snorting when you laugh mid kiss. it’s silly, the way his eyes sparkle with mischief when you’re used to seeing Simon’s dark, cold gaze behind that mask

CW: something possessed me to write this, Johnny fucking you in Ghost’s mask, ambiguous relationship dynamic - up to your interpretation

“Think Simon could fuck you this good?”, panting against your neck as he ruts into you, Johnny can’t help but smirk behind the black fabric. he didn’t really know where the question came from, a possessive bite to his words as he snaps his hips forwards, “He wishes— he could be me.”. moaning when you squeeze around him, he can’t be bothered to tug the balaclava up, drool seeping into the fabric as you cry out beneath him, hiccuping as he pulls out

too much, his cock being bullied back into you with a harsh thrust, “Nah, m’better than ‘im, aren’t I?”, he huffs, tears glossing over his pretty blue eyes as he shifts to look down at you. “C’mon, say it, mo ghaol.”, pretty blue eyes, but as you look up at Johnny there’s something unmistakable looking back at you, the way Simon looks at you - a gut wrenching devotion that has your heart thrumming. “What’s wrong? Cannae answer me? Or do you jus’ want Simon to ruin you too?”

[heretherebeturtles-comic]

Hello! Many people have said this but ill say it too, I LOVE YOUR COMIC SO MUCH ( ´ ▽ ` ).｡ｏ♡

I really wanted to ask you about how you do the backgrounds? (Something i struggle with) whats the process? Like from start to finish, also, to do the rise backgrounds do you use reference from the show and generally real photo of ny? Or do you come up with them? And last question- The shadow and light on the background- Like HOW

i know it’s a lot of questions but i’m just so curious qwq and wanna learn to be better, thank you again in case you read this and respond, in case you don’t, i hope you have a nice day and a wonderful life uwu keep up the great work! (≧◡≦) ♡

Backgrounds are a really broad subject and I'm always a little overwhelmed when asked this question. Just like drawing the human body, backgrounds take time, repetition, and practice!

My answer got a bit long, so it's going under a read more :) but if you digest info better in video format I found this on youtube

It pretty much goes over everything I wanted to say, but in a much better way. I wish I had found it before writing all this out lol

ok, first of all, I'm not a teacher nor was I built to be one of those cool helpful art tutorial people who do a full coloured tutorial filled with illustrations. This is just going to be a messy "how I do backgrounds / environment layouts from start to finish." kinda thing.

... lets start with a sight tangent.

Sketch from Life!!!

If you want to get better at backgrounds I recommend doing some sketching out in the real world!

When I was first getting into doing backgrounds I went to cafes and parks to just sketch the buildings and objects. Sketch rocks, flowers, clumps of grass, garbage cans, bottles, tables, street signs, etc. If you are drawing a tree observe how the trunks twist, how the bark flows, or how the leaves are bunched.

If you can't leave the house the same still applies! Sketch the interiors of your house, the walls, or common objects like chairs and bookshelves. How are objects stacked? items on the floor?

If you aren't comfortable with drawing outside or in public you can take some photos to draw from! They are good for practice and you can use them again as references later. Alternatively you can find pictures online of buildings and objects to sketch as practice.

All spaces have objects in them, it becomes easier to draw those kinds of spaces when you already have spent time observing and sketching them.

ALSO! They don't have to be good sketches! It's just to build out your mental catalogue and strengthen your perception of perspective.

now the actual thing...

BACKGROUNDS

(the pictures used for this are my own. I dug them out of my 2022 folder)

Backgrounds have slightly different rules based on what you are making them for. Videogame Environment Concept Art vs Animation Layouts vs Comic Backgrounds vs Illustration backgrounds.

They all follow the same basics, which I will go over here, but the intention and function of those designs are going to be different. It's all about how you set up the scene and what it's purpose is!

Brainstorming and Thumbnailing

I like to think about a location as though it is a character. An abandoned old house with creaky sagging floorboards is very different from a futuristic space ship with sharp metal floor panels. A gas station has a very different feeling from a library.

I usually start by asking what is this location's story? Why was it built and for what purpose? What kinds of things does this room need to fulfill that purpose? You don’t need solid answers, but its good to be thinking about it while you are working.

Next, sketch some ideas for how this place is going to look. For me, this usually involves drawing the idea from multiple angles and then making lists & small sketches of the objects I think should be filling the space.

Example: The main character of my original work is a Wanderer. They collect a lot of things on their travels, but those items have to be small enough to be easily carried in a backpack. I wanted his room to be in the corner of an attic, walled off by curtains, and filled with trinkets. You can see some of my brainstorming above.

References

I only look for references after I've done some sketching and planning; this is to solidify my idea first so that I don't accidentally copy anyone else's work. I will make a moodboard with pictures of lighting, colours, items, rooms with specific ceiling beams, old chairs, etc. basically whatever I feel fits the vibe.

Honestly, I don't use references as much as I should. For ROTTMNT fanart I look at backgrounds and screenshots from the series to study the style. I also reference actual photos of NYC to get a feel for how Rise condenses the visual information.

In general, it's good to have references of real life objects/locations, because there are so many details like cracks in pavement, stickers on polls, crowning on buildings, fancy fencing, weird chair legs, etc. that you might not think of. It's the imperfect details that can make a location feel more alive.

Perspective

Once you have your chosen sketch we move to.... the infamous perspective boxes. Doing backgrounds is just learning to be comfortable drawing So Many boxes and carving items out of them.

Many better artists than myself have made videos on perspective, vanishing points, and all the technical bits. Videos like THIS ONE and THIS ONE are helpful (this post is great too!!). There are probably a lot of classes to be found on Skillshare or Schoolism. I learned a lot of this in my college art course, so I can't give you a specific video which helped me.

You can get by and be a good artist without learning this stuff. There are quite a few successful artists who have admitted they never bothered to learn perspective (one of these people even made a whole graphic novel series).

I personally avoided properly learning this stuff until I was in my 20s because I thought it would be boring and difficult to do. tbh I really wish I had learned it earlier because it's so much fun to make those silly little boxes imo. It looks scary and complicated but, just like drawing humans, it just takes time, repetition, and practice to develop the knowledge and skills.

Cleanup

You have your boxes and lines! Cool! Now to make a scene out of it. Fill in the details, get everything placed were you want it! Generally, the lines of each item will point back towards the horizon line, but they can have different perspective points.

Generally you would want to clean it up and get your room completely sketched before doing the lineart. I tend to combine the steps (not recommended)

Lineart

I've mentioned how I do this before. Closer objects have thicker lines and more detailed inside. Further objects have thinner lines and less detail. I didn't quite achieve that balance with the image below, but it's close enough.

Colours and Shading will have to be a separate post. In the meantime, I highly recommend the book "Color and Light" by James Gurney. I used to borrow it from my local library and a good chunk of my knowledge was learned from it :)

[itsghostlost]

I wasn’t planning on drawing anything, I was suddenly inspired for no reason

Anyway, happy new year or whatever

[astrxsee]

so this is actually happening to me irl but it’s so john price coded i had to write it down.

older!bowler!john x younger!bartender!reader

you sigh as you open your car door, the cold air immediately hitting your face. the lights of the bowling alley up the dark january night. for some extra money and because you have time, you bartend wednesday nights at the local alley.

you spend your time restocking coolers, gossiping with your coworkers, and selling beer to the rowdy crowd of league bowlers. they were all at least twenty five years older than you, but god, they tipped well when you flirted with them.

they’d ask you about your life, nodding along while you grabbed them their order. you’ve basically memorized their orders by now, the 5 hours you’re there going by quickly and smoothly. that is, until he walks up to the bar.

a large smile on his face as he boldly makes a teasing comment about your favorite sports team. you quickly roll your eyes at him as he quietly mutters his order to you like he needs to tell you with a wink, your eyes meeting his.

you quickly rush to make his bucket of miller lites, you and him the only ones at the counter. just by the heat, you can just tell your face is flushed.

“you turning into a alcoholic now, john?” you ask teasingly, nodding your head in the direction of the clock. it was getting late, he usually didn’t order at this time.

he lets out a loud bark of laughter, rolling his eyes. a smile on his face as his eyes follow you’re much smaller frame. you lean forward into the cooler, and you don’t miss how his eyes snap down to your chest.

“says you.” he mutters out, leaning his beefy arms against the bar. he raises his eyebrows in curiosity, waiting to see how you’ll respond.

your face takes on a look of faux surprise, glossed lips letting out a scoff. the hand that doesn’t close the cooler goes up to your chest in hurt.

“sir, I have never had a sip of alcohol in my life.” voice sounding sassier that you meant to. his eyebrows drop and a sly smile comes onto his handsome face.

“are you even old enough to drink?” john’s voice comes out a bit lower now, his head tilting teasingly. you see his large hands come to hold himself up against the bar, your eyes flicking down to see his forearms flexing underneath his flannel.

“yeah!” you chirp, a giggle escaping your lips as you place the bucket of beer on the counter. the bucket clinks as your eyes meet with his, “i’m 21.”

“oh, so you’re old enough for me to flirt with you?” john asks, leaning even closer to you over the counter. you giggle, the flush on your face becoming hot. no one had ever flirt with you before like that, you just couldn’t help but to get flustered.

“oh, stop..” you say biting your lip, immediately avoiding his gaze. grabbing the towel to your left, you make a shooing motion with your hand. “but, yes, im old enough.”

“good, because you’re beautiful, so it’s a win for me.” he mutters out, your eyes meeting his. the look you give the older man told him all he needed to know. your eyes dipped low as he grabbed the bucket and stepped away from the counter. you definitely miss the way he has to rearrange himself in his pants as he walks away.

[missescalientee]

The past JD ex's who got back together with him club. I feel like they'd have a lot to talk about

Freesia is @zivazivc

[asterkatt]

Moving Forward. (Spoilers for YTTD up through 3-1b)

[brightonstudios]

Risetober day twelve: Flowers

I somehow was able to do this in five hours. I’m not sure why I chose to make an entire animation instead of a drawing but here we are