#i just couldn't find a good reference of the character i wanted to draw

[aluminium-13]

Hello Fantasy life fandom here is a dogshit Orlando fanart i did in my sketchbook a few months back

[runningwithscizzorz]

(1)Learn the rules before you break them + Gather proper references

(2) Understand what you want to break and how

(3) Can't do it? Find someone who can

(4) It's going to look really bad for a while

(5) Have fun with it!

(1) -Yes, I am that kind of artist. Yet, not in the conventional way. I encourage people to go in guns blazing when it comes to drawing something new, then coming out analyzing what they know, and what they need to learn more of right away.

-Here, I broke down the anatomical pieces of Nour and Narinder's face with the same labels so you guys can understand this weird invisible pattern that I follow in my work. Doing this with any animal you're attempting to draw greatly improves your line confidence when drawing different face shapes. Also understanding the biological function for why animals look a certain way helps you keep consistency.

(3) Time to throw any artistic guilt you have for heavily referencing people's art OUT THE WINDOW and start ANALYZING PEOPLE'S WORK YOU WANT TO BE LIKE✨ I've always done this, having a reference of someone else's amazing work right next to my own drawing so I can try and understand how they make their magic work! No shame, no embarrassment, nada. Pure, unadulterated will and spite that I would be just as good as the artist who made me so motivated and happy with their work! I couldn't figure out how to make Nour's face both sheep-like, and humanly expressive, so I looked at a LOT of Zootopia and old Disney art for help!

(2) With how I draw narilamb, I'm still working on it (as you can see) but I wanted to break Narinder's face to be fluffier and slimmer, while Nour's face would be shorter and flatter. If you look at it for too long, it's absolutely going to look weird, in the way that if you look at Anna from Frozen for too long she starts looking really weird. The anatomy isn't meant to be correct or consistent, it's meant to convey the emotion and energy I want out of the characters in that moment. If you're able to properly get that across, then you don't need to think about how broken something looks, as long as your eye is happy enough to trick your brain into thinking what you're seeing is canny.

(4) Yeah, I hate this part too. It's going to look like shit at first. I can't even look at my art from a few months ago when I was figuring out their designs... God, so fucking ugly. If it weren't for the shittiness of those drawings, I would have never gotten here! Wading through the "trust the process" stage always really sucks, but it's absolutely worth the relief of when you finally get something to look right.

(5) Art is work, yes. It's stressful, it's long, it's straining, its draining, it's exclaiming, blah blah blah. But, I try to keep my art FUN. If I find my artwork becoming slow as I depressingly drag my pen over my tablet, I'm failing. You MUST keep spirit and life in your work. The spirit of emptiness or the life of sadness can have a very meaningful place in art, but those can only exist with keeping work light, easy, and fun! If you're stressing how a specific thing looks or how you can't get something to look right no matter what, FUCK IT. Draw something to bring the flavor back in your work! I'm kind of rambling, but just, HAVE FUN!✨️ Be messy, scream, laugh, slash canvases, throw paint, smash sculptures, tear apart books, GO CRAZY

[kozachenko]

Finally decided to play around with my old lineless style again! Also figured out a way to draw Reimu that I actually really like!

Artist's Notes;

I've mentioned in a few earlier posts that I've been wanting to draw in my lineless style again for a while as a way to test what I've learnt from my previous style in regards to lighting. I did the face first and then for a while was thinking about doing a full body illustration of Reimu just to draw her outfit again. I'll talk about the face first since that's the first drawing I did in this batch.

For the longest time I really couldn't find a way to translate Reimu's face into my style. I was able to make her clothes work out well, just not really her face. I did like elements of how I drew her face a few other times, namely the tiny eyebrows and her pupils, but they didn't really feel like Reimu to me, or at least how I imagined her in my head. I then realized that it was less of a problem with the entire face and moreso the eyes, and it took me quite a bit of trial and error to make something that I was happy with. Also, as much as I thought the tiny eyebrows were cute, it didn't really make sense with her character. Like, from what I know about Japanese history, plucking your eyebrows was something that nobles (rich people) would do, and since Reimu is...neither of those things, I decided to just give her some thicker eyebrows instead (I will be saving the plucked eyebrows for another character though, so they will return). After I got to a face I was happy with, my next challenge was the hair. I did the front part first and liked that enough to continue, and then after more trial and error I realized that deep down I was a short-hair-Reimu-is-best-Reimu-truther this whole time because once I gave up on the long hair and gave her shorter hair something just clicked in my brain. And so, after drawing her outfit in again (this time without the yellow tie which is kinda sad but I'll find a way to incorperate it into future designs because it just was not making sense to me in context with the rest of the outfit) and finnicking around with the bow, I came to a version of Reimu's face that I actually liked. I thought that it made more sense for her character to have her cut it short, mainly because she's doing a bunch of Youkai extermination and she has to keep her hair out of her face somehow. I still wanted to make it kinda messy though, as Reimu is probably too lazy to clean it up herself. I think another reason I like it so much is because in Forbidden Scrollery, Moe Harukawa gave Reimu short hair and that really suited her, so I guess that was just a subconcious reason as to why I liked it so much. I also think that the shorter hair helps to separate her a lot from Marisa, as I think Marisa looks really good with longer hair. Speaking of, now I wanna do a drawing of her and Reimu together to really solidify how I draw them (unlike the previous version where it was just them standing). As much as I do like the face, I am concerned if she looks too much like how I drew Keiki now, but that might just be a product of the stylistic choices I made with her eyes and I might just be overthinking it. I am hyperaware of same face syndrome so that's probably the reason I'm so concerned about it lol.

Now for the fully body drawing. I was struggling to think of a good pose for her, so I just took a picture of myself and used that as a reference while still making slight adjustments for readability's sake. This is another case of, "I've looked at this too long and can spot every single issue with it" but this time I'm still happy with the final product mainly because this was a test drive for how I want to develop my lineless style in the future and for what it is I am more than pleased with the result. The main reason I deviated away from my lineless style was mainly because I was having a hard time with the lighting and making it interesting, and I am so glad that I've finally found a way to make it work! I'm especially happy with the clothes, as I think clothing folds are really fun to draw. I was somewhat inspired by the works of J.C. Lyendecker and the way he draws clothes, though admittedly it is not a one to one, since I mainly wanted to try implying the shading of the clothing folds with shapes (I do really want to do a study of his style one day as his art is incredible). So for the sleeves, I drew in a bunch of triangles where I wanted there to be a strong highlight, roughly coloured in the inside, and then blended them all so it looks like a more subtle. On both of these drawings, I also added in a noise filter to give it some texture (as that's what I used to often do with my drawings) and while I do like it, I might want to experiment with making it more subtle in the future, as it's pretty noticeable in both these drawings. Overall, I'm really happy with the lighting and colours of this drawing, and while I could nitpick several aspects of it (her hand holding the gohei looks too tense, I tried making her look like she was standing on the balls of her feet but the positioning of her Gohei's trail of papers ends up making it look weird, and I could've put more effort into the hair and bow and so many more things), this is more of a piece for me to experiment with my style again, and I'm excited for when I get a new idea for a piece, as I really wanna try some more stuff out with this style!

[sapphicteadragon]

Link Click season 3 untranslated text

Hey yall! Since the subs on the new season of Link Click are ass (who would have thought) and also don't translate any of the on-screen text, I figured I'd just compile my translations of all of it in case anyone's curious.

These are all the texts from episode 1, as follows:

"Partner, let's play basketball together again tomorrow~" (the 啊 gives it a cutesy/friendly tone)

Top: But you do know

Bottom left: that once the contract is established, no matter whether you succeed, you will have no way of going any further into the future

Bottom right: After it is complete, your soul will dissipate, and regret will be to no avail.

Hmm... in order to do my utmost to save the things I treasure, what is there to regret!

Bilibili Message

"Ranxi Chronicles" The signing event will begin next Saturday at 15:00. Every person will have three minutes of interacting time, and must book a slot in advance to obtain a signature or drawing. The order is determined based on the on-site queueing order.

BILI SEARCH (these are the same characters as bilibili, which is a fun easter egg)

"How to become a comic artist" (search)

1: how do I become a comic artist? Suggestions from those in the profession

Not only must you have a grounding in basic skills, you must also unceasingly practice and learn. You can do this by drawing sketches, and practising tracing lines until your foundation in drawing skill improves.

2: How do I become a qualified comic artist?

You first must set your mentality straight and clearly set your objectives. Your objectives must be established on the foundation of a strong mentality. If you want to become a comic artist, there is no harm in first asking yourself why you have this kind of goal.

3: How to become a comic artist? The state of comic artists in the profession

This specialisation is not as bright and pretty as it appears on the surface. The living and working conditions are also not as satisfying as you might imagine; right now they truly are frugal. (the word used here means skinny/sparse) So, listen to my advice:

SKY5690: There's no future in it, you won't earn any money in the first place

RAIN1352: Run away fast

CAT7931: Haven't slept in 3 days

Shen San Shui (lit. sink in three waters)

Today I went to a comic con, and joined a signing event for my favourite comic artist. I was inspired in no small measure, and from now on I plan to advance courageously on the path of becoming a comic artist! Fortunately a demon girl-jiejie (jiejie means sister, but is also used to refer to an older female friend/acquaintance) helped me find something very important, and if it weren't for her, I definitely wouldn't have been able to muster the courage. But this demon girl-jiejie left something of hers with me, and I have no way of finding her. If anyone knows this jiejie, please contact me anytime!

Description: wearing a demon girl cosplay, around 160cm tall, shoulder-length black hair

Top: My sister was hospitalised again today, the doctor said

Middle: My sister's treatment costs are accumulating. If the investment path is good, and you choose the right one, then the path will naturally be magnanimous

Bottom: Today's profits are in. I rarely do anything luxurious, can't forget to reward myself with food and drink while rushing about~

V: Xun-ge, the profits you entrusted me to handle before have arrived in the account <3

X: Heavens, you're impressive

V: Hehe, next time I can try investing a little more, and can earn even more <3

"Sorry I couldn't get there yesterday, can we meet up again? I want to chat with you"

That's all for episode 1, there weren't any in episode 2 that I saw. If I missed any please tell me and I'll add them, and I'll keep an eye out for any text in the upcoming episodes!

[meanbossart]

I LOVE DU drow and I love your art style! I also really like how you draw Astarion's hair, it looks flowy but still with his trademark curls.

Can you give any advice on drawing Astarion's hair? I find it a nightmare to draw. Whenever I free hand it, it just doesn't have the amount of curliness I want, and when I try to use a reference it ends up looking rather stiff.

Take care and thanks for the art 😊

THANK YOU though to be honest I'm shocked to find this ask in my inbox because every time I draw Astarion a war is waged between me and his hairdo. But sure, lets give this a shot!

First of all I feel like its a good idea not to be too attached to his in-game model hair when drawing unless your style is very realistic. The only reason why that dry-noodle helmet looks so regal and bouncy is because of the high-detailed graphics. Like you mentioned yourself and many of us have experienced, if you try and stick to it too closely in most art-styles it just ends up looking terribly stiff.

Instead, I suggest just keeping growth-direction and shape in mind and applying as much movement as you want to it when you draw it. Here's some things to remember that might help you with that:

-I employ the liquify tool a lot when sketching his hair because I never get it big enough on the first try, lol. This can also aid you with "distorting" more curliness into your lines if you aren't used to doing that right off the bat, just try not to become too reliant on it!

-I usually leave the areas around the ears and back alone but imply a lot of movement with the top and front of the hair, taking as many liberties as I want even if it's not entirely faithful to the model. I feel like the impression of curliness comes entirely from the silhouette of the hair and little fly-ways that I add, and everything else I just try to do without overthinking it too much for a more natural look.

In truth, I feel like a lot of times we get stuck on things like parting-placement, right amount of curl, which brush we're using yada-yada when in reality we are neglecting what actually makes a character's hair recognizable: Hairline, growth pattern, and shape. If you get these three things right I feel like everything else is entirely just stylistic choice. It's worth pulling away for a moment and checking on these things if you feel like you're continually unhappy with your outcome!

-Astarion has a hairline capable making most men over 30 cry. It's very low on the forehead and tight on the temples with the slightest hint of a widow's peak. As someone who drew a lot of big-foreheaded characters with receding hairlines prior, this was a STRUGGLE for me to get used to and a big reason why I felt like I couldn't get his hair to look "right" for the longest time.

-His hair swoops to the right side of his face in a fanning kind of shape and is the longest at the front and top. You can imply a strong part if you want, you can split it into sections, you can have it falling over his forehead or not at all - as long as it's going in the right direction you will probably be fine.

-A mistake I would catch myself making often was getting the shape totally wrong - making it too slick at the top and putting all the volume in the back when that's pretty much the exact opposite of what his hair does. IT'S ALL AT THE FRONT AND TOP, REPEAT IT TO YOURSELF LIKE IT'S A MANTRA: IT'S ALL AT THE FRONT AND TOP.

And lastly, if you absolutely hate how his hair looks or hate to draw it, you can forego all of this and just do whatever you want. These tips are only worth something if you like how I draw his hair specifically.

Hopefully this was helpful at all!

[the-s1lly-corner]

Ej, Lj, Masky, Hoodie, Masky, Ticci Toby and Bloody Painter x reader who draws them

Prize 5/5 for @reivelmin !! I hope you've enjoyed all of your prizes WOOHOO!! I had a blast writing them, hardly ever get the excuse to write for some of these characters EHEHEHEHE

EYELESS JACK

I've always headcanoned that Jack was always a bit of an artist himself, although the most he does it sketch every now and then to keep his kind busy. He points out some techniques he recognizes and asks you about it. It.. actually takes him a moment to realize that all of the drawings are him. You can practically hear the gears turning in his head before he tries to move on. This opens the window for the two of you to draw together every now and then.. though jack is always a little embarrassed.. flustered.. with the knowledge that you have so much of him in your book

LAUGHING JACK

Very loud when saying he loves it. Hes flipping through the pages before pausing, looking you dead in the eye. He makes a comment about how you must be soooooo obsessed with him. Hes teasing you, of course! He offers to draw you in return.. though dont expect anything crazy, Jack's not.. the best artist- and hes okay with that! Loves looking through your art whenever you offer it. Would kick his feet in the air while looking through the pages. Sometimes you give him sketches to color, to keep him busy while you have to go do something

MASKY

He already knew what you were drawing him before you ever have the chance to show him. The man is silent and is constantly keeping an eye on you.. he does NOT know how to be a normal roommate!! You probably dont get the chance to show him yourself, because he points at a stray pencil marking that you forgot to erase. Worst jumpscare of your life, if you werent already aware of his presence in the room... he.. actually gives a thumbs up. Which doesnt seem like much but considering that he doesnt really emote, that's a huge thing... now does he think it's a little odd that you have a bunch of sketches where hes the reference? A little, but he does offer some good poses and lighting due to him tending to lurk in the shadows

HOODIE

Very similar to Masky but at least he pretends to not know. You walk up to him with your sketchbook and hes so obviously playing dumb but its.. sweet that hes pretending. He takes his time looking through all of the art, where some of the others get too excited and flip through it all. He doesnt talk, but he does communicate that he thinks it all looks great via sign.. oh he would definitely start leaving sticky notes with doodles around for you to find

TICCI TOBY

I think Toby would be a little overwhelmed, he didnt think anyone would be interested in him enough to want to fill an entire sketchbook with him. He tries to cover up his shock by lightly making fun of the situation. Though every tease he tries to draw out falls flat, as everytime he goes to poke fun of something about the art he trails off. Besides, he couldn't bring himself to actually make fun of the stuff you make.. if it's a gift, you offer to take it back but he quickly shuts that down. Its like the Bob's burger friendship bracelet audio, "no fuck off its mine"

BLOODY PAINTER

As an artist himself, he asks you about what materials you used as well as the techniques you used! Unlike EJ, Helen is more thorough in his questioning and knows a lot more fancy terms.. he points out the good parts of your pieces, and catches himself before giving his criticisms.. he at least makes sure that the criticism is wanted before just unloading (and even then hes constructive! Hes well aware that just dunking on someone does nothing to help them grow). It actually strikes his ego a lot that you would dedicate so much time and material to just him, and it inspires him to make something for you in return. If he didnt know you were an artist prior to this, he offers to paint with you.. whether as a collab or just simply working parallel to one another! Just please pay no mind to him staring at you more intently while hes at his canvas...!

[rainbowpunki]

👋 hello! This is my new account, I'm Freddy, AKA tontoemojis / animatronicthing / animatronicfreak on Discord. I just wanted to address all that has happened in the past month! Apologies if my english isn't good or my explanations aren't the best, I just wanted to share my thoughts & my side of the story now that I am in a better place to talk. First of all, I assume my private DMs have already been leaked, so I will leak some from my side too! Just to include proof, of course. Second, this will be a long long long post, careful!

I will go through all the points of the list of "things Freddy has done".

First point. If we remember, I am schizophrenic, this can lead into me having big delusions such as me believing I am a god, god of my own world. Now, I never forced anyone into treating me like a god / referring to me as a god! I believed Iggy & me had a dynamic of god / servant, but I never truly believed he was my literal servant, just a dynamic. & !!! my poor poor victim was calling me a god every time he could, drawing me as the god of the sun & practically worshiping me, as he said various times. I never forced this onto Iggy nor did I ever get upset if he didn't "worship" me because I didn't need anyone to worship me, as I had said before, "I was not the type of god that would like people worshiping me".

Second point. For this I have to remark that we are both 16yo teenagers, I would get it if I was like 5 years older than him, then the whole thing would be different, but we are less than 20 days apart. I can see how the dynamic of deity & worshiper can be unhealthy if handled wrong, or done by mentally ill minors (like us). I understand the mistake here & I am sorry for that.

Iggy seemed to really like our dynamic from what he told me almost every week though, so I thought I had green light to keep our dynamic goint.

Third point. Not true! We were in an old server called Bangerville that has now since been deleted, so I don't have any solid proof to this other than my words. I do have proof of our old conversation with Iggy's old account though. CW for sexual stuff ⬇. In this server, Iggy was showing off his new OC named Julius & I really liked him, I drew him & from what I remember; Iggy told the people to DM him if they wanted to know more facts about him, & I DMed him, & Iggy started with the NSFW, not me!

Partially not true. I did draw porn of Iggy & me, yes, but it was all with consent, while that doesn't make it less weird in your eyes, it was with consent. + Iggy really liked it from what he constantly told me everytime I drew him, with & without sexual intent.

Fifth. I couldn't find any proof that I ever said "I will hurt myself if you are not with me / leave me" in our DMs, so I will guess this is also false. I probably did imply in some of our conversations that I relied on Iggy for emotional support (because that is what partners do???? Help each other out & be there for emotional support?????), but not completely.

Sixth, while in the list it says "detailed bulge" K9 accused me of drawing my brother's Roblox avatar with an erection, an erection. The drawing & the references are here:

if you tell me THAT is an erection then you haven't seen a man in underwear or a bodybuilder in your life. Because that is not a fucking erection & y'all are acting crazy! It could be seen as a detailed bulge, yes, but I have said before to K9, I just copied the image. You guys are overreacting & acting as if I drew porn of my literal brother.

In the group chat K9 & the others made with me, they just told me how it seemed I was fetishizing fat people by drawing my fat OC in just sexual light (which is simply not true). They didn't tell me how they really felt about my OC.

This is the character we are talking about. His name is Bonnie & I've had him since 6th grade. He is a monster that uses his human appearance to lure men & then eat them alive. His nature is being an asshole, basically.

A) I genuinely cannot see how he is a "black caricature", I would like to hear how he is stereotypical / a caricature, because I simply cannot see it. B) Why can't my fat character be sexualized? Are fat people not allowed to be sexual just as much as skinny people? is it because I'm bodily skinny? & if that is the case, why can't skinny people have fat sexualized OCs? I don't get it. Also, the sexualization in question was me drawing Bonnie topless (apparently big tits are sexual now!) & that last drawing of him mentioning a vibrator, that was all the "sexualization" they are talking about.

again, the sexualized pieces were Bonnie topless & the drawing of him mentioning a vibrator. Yes, I should have put a higher age limit to my server due to various reasons other than these, that is very true & I appreciated that K9 & the others brought it up to me. I didn't appreciate that they raided my whole server while I was asleep, though.

While I apologized for this already, it got included in the list & I don't know why. But again, I apologize for it once more, I spoke over minorities & I understand my mistake.

ouch! I mean... I have narcissistic traits, which means I have a harder time taking criticism, I often think people are attacking me whenever they criticize me, & that's on me & me only, they are right. I will be better next time.

This is just false, like, blatantly false. I couldn't find a single message of me defending proshippers to Iggy in our DMs, nor do I remember ever doing that. This actually surprised me because when a proshipper joined my server I was the 1st one to go running to Iggy's DMs screaming "THEY'RE A PROSHIPPER!!!".

when all of this went down, I was in a bad mental state & Iggy knew this. When I get overwhelmed (& I did get overwhelmed in the situation) it is hard for me to understand some things. I don't see how having somebody else to explain the situation to me in a more simple way is bad. I felt attacked, true. & if you count saying "I love you" to someone as praising them, then yeah, I was constantly being "praised" by Iggy while this situation went down, but I promise you I would've lived without all of those "I love you"s.

Begging? begging. Also the people were asking for an Iggy appreciation channel, not a channel just for Iggy. Also also I would love to hear which other horrible behaviors I had because of my NPD!

I don't know if Iggy liked those jokes genuinely, or if when he said stuff like "LIKE DUDE WHEN YOU WERE CALLING ME A LAZY ASS I WAS LITERALLY LIKE (emoji of yellow guy in a puddle)" he was lying to me, but I guess he did lie. I would have never ever called him any of that if I knew he didn't like it, I went on with it because I thought he was genuinely comfortable with those jokes made about him because he told me that everytime I made a joke like that & thought he was mad at me, he was just "turned on" (his words, not mine).

I did ask him to be my "caregiver", yes, but in this situation I saw being a caregiver as being a normal partner; helping each other out when needed, understanding each other's needs & know how to fulfill them. I did tell Iggy whenever I felt bad & wanted to relapse, & I guess that's on me for thinking my partner could help me deal with hard thoughts I had regularly, because you know, partners are there to help each other out.

& what about you K9? do you not have a channel made just to shit talk the people in your server, where your staff has told repeatedly other people to "jump" or harm themselves? I've seen it, I've been staff in your server for a while, you know. That's all the list, sorry I couldn't add any more images; I reached the limit. They've also told the people how I "used Iggy sexually". Which just hurts me deep in my soul, because I loved him with my whole heart, & hearing how he tells everyone that I "used" him just shows me how he never really saw everything I did for him. I drew him almost everyday, I made him gifts, I helped him whenever he felt he was going to relapse, I gave him my money so he could pay his medicines, I WAS PLANNING TO GO TO SWEDEN JUST TO SEE HIM. It is true he sent me sexual content, but I sent him the same sexual content he sent me. I thought we were in an equal relationship, but I guess we weren't & he never told me anything he was thinking. I've done things wrong, yes, but I didn't deserve my private things to be thrown to the world like this. I don't hope bad things happen to neither Iggy or K9 & the server, I just hope the universe gives you what you deserve.

[renguro]

Now that S2 is almost over, I wanted to finally get out that post talking about all of the insights and things I did, learned, or other fun stuff about the countdown pieces I made. I still have something in mind for the S2 finale, so maybe if you read (or skip) to the end I'll have a preview for you?

Oh god here we go One day I was coming home from work and decided to check how many days there were until the new season released and I found it was 7 days. So I did all of these in 7 days. Literally everyone was worried about me because I did nothing but draw for those 7 days.

... Except for when I went back to work. I worked I came home and then drew until I literally couldn't anymore lmao. I remember being dazed and exhausted after the Clock Keepers and my dad came up to my room literally right as I finished and asked, "Have you gone to sleep?" And I said, "NOPE! :D" I was living on energy drinks

I'm also 90% sure this started the "ren you're doing too much you need to chill the hell out" thing with me and my friends now

When I was doing these, I had only read the first ten volumes of Hanako-kun at the time, so I was stopped right in the middle of Picture Perfect. I had the second box set, but I just hadn't gotten the time to read it since I got it for Christmas. That means I didn't know Shijima's full deal, and I didn't even know Hakubo's name, so I was winging it hard.

All of the full pieces are linked by clicking their names :)

NO.7 HANAKO

You can tell from the speedpaint I was struggling hard with the pose lmao. I honestly felt like the one I chose was a cop-out and didn't feel energetic enough, but the time crunch got me. At this point, I was also really unsure about how I wanted to treat the colors, because I'd only just started dipping into seriously studying how Aida does it. So many references. And him wearing basically all black didn't help I wanted to scream. I was TRYING to keep everything as solid colors without falling back on overlay and multiply layers, but I got desperate. Still looks pretty good I think.

My favorite part was probably the hakujoudai and the detailing on his collar/shoulders! If I were to edit anything, I think I'd put more on the bottom half of the background because it feels a touch empty. kinda killed it on this pant leg and his hat tho

NO.6 HAKUBO

Like I said, I had no idea who Hakubo was. For the first half of things, I couldn't even find his name, I was just calling him "Shinigami-sama..." I wasn't going to go trampling into spoilers just for references either, so I was freaking out on what to do for the background. All I knew was that there was something to do with lotuses or bugs, and already having an idea of where I'd take Tsuchigomori, I took the lotus route. I uh also hope I didn't make his face too feminine. I don't know why but when drawing male characters who are larger or more built (even if it didn't turn out obvious in this piece) I somehow keep making them look like butches.

Shading his hair was the most fun part out of all of this, I usually never draw characters with hair as short as his, so it was a fun challenge! I'm also just a sucker for kimonos and flowy clothes. He was probably one of the most fun ones for me, even if he was so early on. I LOVE the texture I got on the skull. (even if it's technically too small.)

NO.5 TSUCHIGOMORI

Tsuchigomori onwards ALL used this sticky note full of thumbnails I drew at work for reference. Yes that is a note next to him that says + cuntier. He was also drawn on the same day that I did Hakubo, so I managed to buy myself some extra time.

I was so excited for this one because I could see it so well in my mind's eye, until I realized how many hands I'd need to draw. And then I sucked it up and locked in because I love Tsuchigomori. I'm so pleased with how I worked in more of the blues into the shading and his hair. It was at this point that I think I was understanding how I wanted to take the colors for all of these pieces! I enjoyed doing the fun trick I learned with the weave on his sweater and the spiderwebs where I drew a thick like and then erased the middle. Nearly forgot the markings on his forehead too lmao.

I wonder whose black book he's reading?

NO.4 SHIJIMA

Oh Shijima. I truly had zero real clue about her, and I managed to dodge spoilers about Mei even when I was looking up references. That's why she's painting using her paintbrush clone haha. It's still cute though, so I'm keeping it. Her hair kept giving me trouble because it's the kind of hair you draw and don't really realize just how big you're drawing it until you have to fix it. Actually, I'm having that exact issue on what I'm working on right now, and I'll fix it after I take a break.

I dug up a comment I made while I was working on it and I still stand by this.

There's also something a little odd about the positioning of her chin that I was too exhausted to fix, and I SUPER fudged the coloring on her hair. Also I really didn't know what to put in the background OTHER than the atelier, but I can't really draw buildings! So uh! The exhaustion was beginning to set in after 3 days of this. (Since Hakubo and Tsuchigomori were done on the same day. I didn't keep that time advantage for long though.)

think i fudged it okay, though.

NO.3 MITSUBA

I was struggling on Mitsuba some because that thing where you see/read something and then forget about it only for it to arise as something you think you did happened. That pose I thumbnailed on the sticky note was WAY too close to the official Hell of Mirrors standee/art. Luckily I contain extreme Mitsuba bias (shocker) and I was able to figure it out. I had a ton of problems shading his coat just like I did with Hanako. It's so hard to keep things from melding together when you've mostly got them wearing black.

It's an odd thing to be proud about, but I feel I did the best on the.. Legs of his pants, the chains and lockets, and the eyes and teeth on his jacket. That and the ribcage scarf. I'm really disappointed in myself for the background and his hair, if I'm being honest. I wanna fix his eyes. I STILL haven't figured out his hair either too. Which makes me even more surprised that my friends said, ren, your bias is showing on this one because I was like IS IT??? ARE YOU CERTAIN?

his hand turned out nice too and did i mention i had fun on the ribcage

NO.2 YAKO

I sketched the first initial draft for Yako on the same day I drew Hakubo and Tsuchigomori, but when it finally came time to sit down and draw her? I realized there would be so much empty space where I couldn't have fun with colors and it'd just be the white back of her kimono, so I turned her around and scrapped the idea of her fox form curling around her. I couldn't fit fox Yako in, and I'm STILL kind of bummed about that.

The flow of her hair was so much fun to figure out, as well as the patterns on her kimono. I'm really happy with the background, combining the aspects of the Misaki Stairs' original version and the one after she's been removed from her seat with the spider lilies. The lilies themselves are a little fudged if you look too close, so... Don't look too close? :3

loved the kimono. every bit. can't believe i had her turned around.

NO.1 AKANE/MIRAI/KAKO

MY FAVORITE PART ABOUT THIS WAS THE COGS IN THE BACKGROUND SORRY AKANE'S FACE BOTHERS ME I NEED TO FIX IT ONE DAY HE LOOKS TOO OLD I WAS LOSING MY MIND AND THE EXHAUSTION WAS KILLING ME IT BEGAN MY HATE OF DRAWING AKANE'S HAIR BECAUSE *GESTURES VAGUELY*

Uh okay some good things to say about this one... The colors were a ton of fun to figure out how to place, and I think I at least did a good job on that part. Shading gold things is always really fun! And at least Akane's ponytail was fun to make flow, I was riding the high from Yako's hair here. I think I got a lot of that fun flowy movement in here, which I'm pleased about. This was another one that my friends say turned out the best, again that I'm ??? about.

these cogs are my everything

FINAL THOUGHTS + EXTRAS

All of the kanji's colorings for their numbers were taken directly from the anime! I don't really wanna get rid of that fun reference even if in like, Tsuchigomori's case the colors are REALLY different from the main piece.

Most of the first day was spent on, Hanako of course, and then setting up the frames for everyone else to go into. I spent money to get the patterns to go on the colored part, actually. Constraining everyone to the frames helped a LOT in terms of balancing myself and made it fun to choose what elements would stick outside of them. If I pushed for entire full backgrounds, then I would have been doing even worse.

I was on the ropes at the end. I was half dead and drawing like I was possessed. And the catharsis of it being done and it all looking acceptable just. Ough. I don't know if I'll ever have a high like that again. There's an evil, evil part of me that says, ren! redraw all of them for s3 under the exact same constraints! And shit I might but I'll complain about it. I think it's more likely though that I go back and doctor them up some so I can print them as standees. Probably just for myself, but I do want to build a stock for artist alleys.

I had so, so much fun overall even if it was so much it really could have put my already bad health in more danger. I learned so much about coloring, lineart, framing things, and I really attribute my gauntlet to the explosion in my art progress. That, and my sheer adoration for this series. Am I rambling? I just love TBHK. It's only been 5 months since I first discovered it and it's done so, so much for me.

Even if you went and scrolled through all of this nonsense, which I don't blame you for, here's a little preview of what I'm trying to finish by next week for the finale.

I can't believe we're on the final episode! It's so close now, and it keeps flooring me how little time has really passed. I'll try and push to get SOMETHING else done before then, but we'll see. I've got so much I want and have to get done.

[valdekboy]

Another Amazing AU

I never know what to write here… so let's get straight to the point then. A while back I found another amazing AU that belongs to @chez-cinnamon and I liked it … a lot.

And as always, If I liked something, I can't just be normal about it and comment something nice, I had to draw something. Long story short, first sketches were terrible, that took me on a long trip of re-learning some things and learning a couple new things. Overall, making these drawings was one looong roller coaster.

And as always . . . THAT LITTLE YELLOW SON OF A GUN WAS PUSHING ME TO DRAW THE MAIN 6 HE LIKES SO MUCH. So this time I gave him a camera and made HIM do all the work. Let's see how it went.

Well, the camera experienced Mach 1 speed, so I think that's all

.

.

.

Now, that's all.

In the end I want to say that I love what you did with these characters and I'm sorry if i messed up any of them.

And now off I go cause honestly I'm a bit stressed about posting this. So I'm pressing the publish button and I'm signing off. I'll be back soon.

As always have a Good Night/Day!

And If you want to read a bit of my rambling about this whole drawing process It's all down there. Just be aware that I write these things mostly for myself.

When I did the first sketch I realized that my old method of drawing poses (which was just sticks and orbs) won't work here. So i started to learn and re-learn some basics, and I tried to remake those sketches at the same time.

In the end there were like 5 different sketches for each character and to be honest, I was really close to just throwing it all out the window because it felt like i was going nowhere. But I found the problem.

My brain just couldn't comprehend that REFERENCE is just a REFERENCE not a fucking guideline that you have to hold on to for your dear life. It's okay to mess up here and there and that no-one is going to kill me for that. And when that thought clicked in, it felt amazing. I finished sketches, then lineart, heck I even drew all these in-betweens with Valdi (that yellow potat).

And then there was time for coloring . . . and that fear of messing up came back. That's why there's not much going on in that department. I'll keep working on fixing that, but it might take a while. And these backgrounds were a complete experiment. I'm not even sure myself if they're any good.

All of this felt like I threw myself in the deep water, but somehow I did it and I'm really glad all of this happened. Comparing these to my previous ones, I really see some improvement, and I did these MUCH faster. Even counting in all the learning i did. (plus building up courage to post these)

I still wish these drawings turned out better, the lines feel stiff, there's nothing to interesting in terms of colors or shading, but even with all that, for the first time in a while I think that these drawings aren't that bad.

And now for the AU. Why this one? I just stumbled upon it one day and I really liked the idea of switching up the one who controls the whole circus. And all those changes to the characters, their style, the clothes, colors and all those little details, I just love everything about that AU. All these characters feel really calming/relaxing to draw If these are the right words to use. (I really hope it doesn't sound too weird) I don't know if I would've learnt the things I did if I didn't find that AU.

So I want to say THANK YOU @chez-cinnamon for creating an Awesome AU and all these Beautiful drawings, and for giving me that bit of inspiration I needed.

If anyone decided to read all that and somehow survived, know that I'm sorry if all of that looks like bunch of random thoughts cobbled together (I bet that my english didn't make this any easier) As I said earlier, I write these thing mostly for myself so I can come back and read them in the future (It just helps me sometimes).

And I just want YOU to know, whoever you are, I'm really glad that YOU are here, reading this.

Thank You for being here!

[rada-76]

Seamstresses and Miss Cheng's Fan

Швеи и веер мисс Ченг

По-русски ниже. / In Russian further.

There are many symbols, parallels and references in the second season of Good Omens. It is interesting to talk about a scene in which you can find a spicy reference to the final fifteen minutes.

Mrs. Sandwich at the ball in the bookstore tries to explain to the Chinese Miss Cheng what her girls do, but she cannot pronounce the truth: instead of the name of the oldest profession, she only gets the word "seamstress".

In addition, there is a cute reference to the events of the world of Terry Pratchett, where prostitutes were allegorically called "seamstresses". Moreover, it was mentioned that a real seamstress is now impossible to find, and if someone really just needs to sew something, then it will be difficult for him.

But now I draw your attention to the impossibility of pronouncing anything. Nevertheless, Mrs. Sandwich finds suitable allegories.

Cheng: What exactly is your profession? Sandwich: I'm a seamstress. Cheng: Indeed a worthy craft. [LAUGHS] Sandwich: No, I'm not a seamstress. I'm a seamstress. The devil take it. Cheng: A seamstress. Sandwich: What, in short? Cheng: You are a seamstress. Sandwich: No, I'm not a benighted seamstress. I'm a God forsaken… seamstress. [LAUGHS] Why can I not say the word seamstress. Cheng: Perhaps if you were to describe the profession. Sandwich: Nah, the very thing, I thank you. Well, when a gentleman finds himself in want of the tender attentions of a wife, he may take himself to my establishment and there have his pick of a fine stable of ladies all able and willing to mend his shirt or darn his socks or even… sew on a button. But that's extra, and all the girls do it. Cheng: Oh. A seamstress. [LAUGHS]

Do you remember Miss Cheng's reaction to this description and what she did with her fan? I hope you noticed how she stroked the fan along its entire length?

So, there you go, Miss Chang was standing on the left, and Mrs. Sandwich on the right. Just like Aziraphale and Crowley in the final scene, when Aziraphale was pretending to be happy, and Crowley was trying to explain himself. And Crowley (the one on the right, like Mrs. Sandwich) also couldn't say directly what he meant and what he was ready for. It would be fine if only the characters' positions in the frame were different, but the allegorical communication is already worthy of being considered a parallel.

In addition, colors play an important role in the symbolic system of the season. Mrs. Sandwich is dressed in black at the ball, and her hair is decorated with black and pink feathers. Black and shades of red are Crowley's colors. Miss Chang's earrings and clothes are a discreet blue-green color. Blue is Aziraphale's color. In addition to tartan, his colors are various shades of blue.

Well, well, if we believe the scene-hint, we can assume that Crowley was ready to offer Aziraphale even (!) to sew on a button! Only he expressed himself somewhat figuratively.

However, Aziraphale (the one on the left, like Miss Chang) understood everything perfectly well and, if we are to believe the scene-hint, we can assume that he reacted to Crowley's words in the depths of his soul in the same way as Miss Chang, whose thoughts the fan shows to the viewer.

In my opinion, the only thing that spoils the piquant analogy is that the gentlemen pay money to Mrs. Sandwich's girls. It would be good to add an explanation here that the demon, on the contrary, is ready to do all this for free! Otherwise, it turns out somehow awkward. And what do we see at the door of Mrs. Sandwich's establishment? There is a notice hanging there: "Don't pay the guy with the blue glasses. He doesn't work here!!!"

Well, yes, in blue, because "in black" would have been too transparent a hint! Well, we were explained that in this mercantile sense, the parallel should not be drawn. Crowley, unlike Mrs. Sandwich's girls, is completely selfless in his desires.

No, come on, naughty boys, huh?! I laugh at the fan, but now twice as hard, because the fan, it turns out, is also about Aziraphale.

All my posts with analyses are here.

***

Во втором сезоне «Благих знамений» есть множество символов, параллелей и отсылок. Интересно поговорить о сцене, в которой можно найти пикантную отсылку на финальные пятнадцать минут.

Миссис Сэндвич на балу в книжном пытается объяснить китаянке мисс Ченг, чем занимаются её девочки, но не может выговорить правду: вместо названия древнейшей профессии у нее получается только слово «швея».

Кроме всего прочего, здесь есть милая отсылка к событиям мира Терри Пратчетта, где продажные девушки иносказательно назывались «швеи». Притом упоминалось, что настоящую швею теперь не найти, и если кому-то действительно надо просто что-то пришить, то ему будет сложно.

Но я сейчас обращаю ваше внимание именно на невозможность что-то выговорить. Тем не менее миссис Сэндвич находит подходящие иносказания.

Ченг: Какая у Вас профессия? Сэндвич: Я швея. Ченг: Действительно достойное ремесло. Сэндвич: Нет, я не швея. Я – швея. [смеется] Черт побери. Ченг: Швея. Сэндвич: Что ж такое? Ченг: Вы швея. Сэндвич: Нет, я не тупая швея. Я богом забытая... швея. [смеется] Почему я не могу сказать слово «швея»? Ченг: Может быть, если бы Вы описали профессию... Сэндвич: Хм, это то, что нужно, благодарю Вас. Ну, когда джентльмену нужно нежное внимание жены, он может обратиться в мое заведение, и там у него есть выбор из прекрасной компании дам, все они могут и готовы охотно зашить ему рубашку или заштопать носки, или даже... пришить пуговицу. Но это уже дополнительно, и не все девушки этим занимаются. Ченг: О. Швея. [смеется]

Все мы помним реакцию мисс Ченг на это описание и то, что она вытворяла со своим веером. Заметили, надеюсь, как она этот веер поглаживала вдоль по всей длине?

Так во-о-от, мисс Ченг стояла слева, а миссис Сэндвич справа. Как и Азирафель с Кроули в финальной сцене, когда Азирафель притворно радовался, а Кроули пытался объясниться. И Кроули (тот, что справа, как миссис Сэндвич), тоже не мог выговорить прямо, что он подразумевает и на что он готов. Ладно бы только положение персонажей в кадре, но иносказательное общение — это уже тянет на параллель.

К тому же в системе символов сезона важную роль имеют цвета. Миссис Сэндвич на балу одета в черное, а прическу украшают черно-розовые перья. Черный и оттенки красного — цвета Кроули. У мисс Ченг сережки и одежда неброского сине-зеленого цвета. Это цвет Азирафеля. Помимо тартана, его цвета — различные оттенки синего.

Так-так, если верить сцене-подсказке, мы можем предположить, что Кроули был готов предложить Азирафелю даже(!) пришить пуговицу! Только выражался несколько иносказательно.

Тем не менее Азирафель (тот, что слева, как мисс Ченг) всё прекрасн�� понял и, если верить сцене-подсказке, мы можем предположить, на слова Кроули он отреагировал в глубине души аналогично мисс Ченг, мысли которой зрителю выдает веер.

На мой взгляд, пикантную аналогию портит только то, что девушкам миссис Сэндвич джентльмены платят деньги. Хорошо бы сюда добавить пояснение, что демон, напротив, готов делать все это бесплатно! А то как-то неловко получается. И что же мы видим у дверей заведения миссис Сэндвич? Там висит объявление «Не платите парню в синих очках. Он здесь не работает». Ну да, в синих, ведь «в черных» было бы слишком прозрачной подсказкой! Что ж, нам пояснили, что в этом меркантильном смысле параллель не нужно проводить. Кроули, в отличие от девушек миссис Сэндвич, совершенно бескорыстен в своих желаниях.

Нет, ну шалунишки, а?! Угораю с веера, но теперь с удвоенной силой, потому что веер — это, оказывается, и об Азирафеле.

Упомянуты материалы о надписи у дверей заведения из статьи.

Все мои посты с разборами - здесь.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

just a girl 1

Warnings: this fic will include elements, some dark, such as possible cheating, low self-esteem, noncon/dubcon, and other untagged triggers. Please take this into account before proceeding. It is up to curate your online consumption safely.

Summary: you move in with your sister when your luck turns for the worst.

Characters: Walter Marshall, possible Andy Barber

Author’s Note: Please feel free to leave some feedback, reblog, and jump into my asks. I’m always happy to discuss with you and riff on idea. As always, you are cherished and adored! Stay safe, be kind, and treat yourself💜

It isn't your proudest moment. You don't have many of those. There is little remarkable about, nothing of note, nothing admirable. You might stand a bit taller than most but it's rarely given as a good thing. 

You never expected much of life. You resigned yourself to living in the shadows. In particular, you knew you would always bet outshone by your sister's light. You can't hate her for it; it's your own shortcoming. Besides, no one can hate Riannon, she's just that nice. 

You are dark smear on the family name. It's why you didn't even think to ask your parents for help. You didn't even ask your sister, she offered, insisted really. You could never deny her and in this instant, you couldn't afford any other option. 

It’s just for a while, you keep telling yourself. You’ll find a new job and a place soon. For now, you’ll just stay out of the way. It isn’t very hard; you take up much more room than your few possessions. 

You keep yourself holed in the guestroom as you settle into your second day. You have your laptop on your thighs as you scroll the job boards. You have the experience but you expect your reference would be any good. You didn’t exactly end on cordial terms. Starting from square one, though the industry isn’t exactly even ground for men and women alike. 

You hunker down to search through the various postings within your purview. Every classification is ticked off, even the years, it’s just that little note about contacting your previous employers that makes you nervous. Well, you at least have to try. 

A knock comes at the door as you edit your cover letter once again. You sit up and close the computer. You slide it aside and get up. You cross the room and crack the door open. You sister smiles from the other side. 

“Am I making too much noise?” You ask as your music plays music from its tiny speaker. 

“No, no, not at all. Um, so you know Andy is out of town for the day so it’s just us,” she rocks, “and there’s a barbecue down the street so... I thought you could get to know the neighbourhood.” 

You look down at her, the offer catching you off guard. You were prepared to spend the whole day hidden away and poring over job listings. Even when you had your own place, you tended to spend most of your own time inside. 

Still, she is doing you a huge favour and it would be rude to say no. You shrug, “okay.” 

“Great, I have some potato salad I'm bringing,” she chirps.  

“Uh,” you look at her blue checkered capris and pristine white blouse, “should I change?” 

“It’s up to you. I'm just going to get packed up. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.” 

Her excitement is palpable. She probably expected you to say no. You don’t want to let her down again. You’re tired of that feeling. 

You close the door as she bounces away and you retreat to search through your still unpacked suitcase. Your clothes hang over the sides. You pick out a band shirt and a pair of dark grey jeans. You don’t have any shorts and you know your repertoire of dark colours only draws in the sun’s fury, and like of the vaunted HOA, but you don’t have many options. 

You emerge with a pair of converse in hand and head into the kitchen. Rhiannon snaps the lid onto a big bowl as she beams up at you. You don’t understand how you share the same blood, she’s so different than you. Where you’re tall and gangly, she’s small and dainty; where your dour and reticent, she’s bright and bubbly. Your parents even kidded that you must’ve been switched at the hospital. 

“Ready?” She asks. 

You nod and look down at yourself. 

“If you want to borrow a skirt or something, it’s pretty hot out.” 

“It’s fine.” 

You don’t take her offer as any comment on your choice, only genuine concern. If it was your mom, you would know it was more than that. To be fair, your mother is very direct with her critiques. Besides, even if her clothes would fit you, you don’t want to risk ruining any of her things. 

“Alrighty, well, Marge will kill me if I’m late again,” she sings and sweeps around with the bowl. “It’ll be nice to get out, huh?” 

“Mhmm,” you grumble and follow her down the hall to the front door. 

She steps into her wedged sandals as you sit to pull on your converse and lace them up. You stand and get the door for her as she prances towards it. She thanks you and you trail her out. The sun hits you like fire. It’s so hot, though you think some of the heat comes from your own self-consciousness. 

As you catch up to your sister at the bottom of the steps, you slow down to keep from outpacing her shorter legs. Even with her platformed soles, she’s still ahead shorter than you. You turn down the sidewalk as you shy away from the strange faces headed in the same direction. 

“You want me to carry that?” You offer. 

“Hey, I might be small but I can handle a salad,” she chirps. 

“I know, I wasn’t--” 

“I’m teasing. It’s fine, I got it,” she assures you as she hugs the bowl to her stomach, “I just want you to have a good day. Don’t think about everything else, okay?” 

“Mm, okay,” you keep your head down as you slink next to her jouncing steps, “sorry, I'll try not to be too grim.” 

“Whatever, you’re awesome,” she nudges you with her elbow, “you just be yourself and I know you’ll find some good friends around here.” 

You try to smile but it hurts. She always sees the best in others, even when it’s not there. You keep pace with her and turn up another curated lawn. The walk is perfectly laid and the blossom tree sways overhead. 

Rhiannon is welcomed through the open gate by one of those blonde women she has her book club with and you shuffle in with your hands in your pockets. You feel the woman’s harsh gaze and peek up. She looks at you the same way your mother does. Her name is Marge and her friend is Callie and there are dozens of the Stepford-like figures posted throughout the yard. 

“Come, let’s put your salad out,” Marge insists. 

Rhiannon looks at you and you chew your cheek, “go, I'll be fine.” 

She looks reluctant but you’re already walking away. You ignore the smell of sausage and beef rising from the barbeque and the splash and laughter of children from the pool. You aren’t going to find any friends here. That much is clear. Housewives and little kids, you don’t really fit the bill. 

You find your way to the far end of the lawn and stand by a tree you might just blend into. Or maybe you might bury yourself in the rose bushes. You pull your hands from your pockets and hook your fingers into your belt loops, swaying as you watch a bumble bee hover over the grass. 

“Foo Fighters, huh?” A low drawl brings your head up as a man approaches with a beer bottle in hand. 

“Um, yeah,” you look down at your shirt, tugging on the hem. 

“You go to a show?” He asks as he stops near you, drinking from the bottle as he waits for your answer. 

“Never been to one,” you cross your arms, “but I listen to them.” 

“Ah, yeah, well, they put on a hell of a show,” he wiggles the bottle as he talks, “lot more fun than these things.” 

You look up the yard towards the mingling of voices and sound. Despite your efforts to hide in a corner, you must have stuck out like a sore thumb. Shoot, maybe he thinks you’re trespassing. 

“I came with my sister,” you point and shift towards the party, “sorry, um, Rhiannon. I didn’t... I was just looking at the roses.” 

“Not my party,” he scoffs, “I don’t care.” 

“Oh,” you blink and look at him. He's about your height, dark curly hair, and vibrant blue eyes. His dark beard is thick and stubble prickles along his neck. He wears a plain white shirt and jeans; the bare minimum. “Right, er, well...” 

“Not a bad idea, hiding behind a tree,” he remarks, “but you're missing the key ingredient.” 

He stops and stares, crooking a brow as if you should know what he means. 

“Alcohol,” he raises his bottle, “they got a keg even. Probably the only good part about these bull—these things.” 

“I don’t drink,” you mutter, “but thanks.” 

You put your head down and stare at the grass around his shoes. You don’t know why he’s bothering you if it isn’t to make you leave. Obviously, you don’t belong. 

“Never too late to start,” he snorts and stays as he is. 

You don’t know how to make him leave you alone so you say nothing. The bee dips into a tulip’s mouth and you turn to watch it. Maybe he’ll take your silence as a hint. 

[snowfieldstories]

In Life and Death [Chapter 5]

Kim Dokja x Reader/Original female character

<< Series masterlist

Warnings: violence and language

A/N: Enjoy this (mostly) silly break from the emotional rollercoaster with some fun movie scenes!

Summary:

In which a reader finds herself tossed into the pages of her favorite web novel after her untimely death. A novel of a novel within reality. It's a reader's dream, right? Well, this reader vows to bring the right epilogue to her beloved character, Kim Dokja. She will give him the happiest of endings. Or she will die trying.

⚠️MAJOR SPOILERS FOR ORV WEB NOVEL AND MANHWA!!!!⚠️

Episode IV. Chapter 5 — Motion Picture Soundtrack

[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' finds this boring.]

"Oh you're bored?" I said venomously.

There was a sharp pain in my lower legs where I sat kneeling on the ground. I had continued to lay for a time, until my side buzzed from falling asleep in the position and I managed to shift upright.

"Are the others on their way?" I asked.

[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' says that 'Kim Namwoon' is unable to help you right now.]

...Did I not ask about other people, too? I should have known it was pointless to get the Black Flame Dragon to care about the whereabouts of anyone but his own incarnation. I huffed.

Then froze.

A sound echoed down below. Footsteps on the linoleum. Voices.

"...sure it was here. Yeah. That's what they said."

"We just have to finish a few movies?"

"And take the cool shit from them."

It sounded like three, maybe four, people. Prophets, or prophet-associated. They talked a while longer and then the voices stopped. They must have entered a movie poster.

If they were starting on the first floor, then it wouldn't take them long to reach me. I couldn't quite remember which level I was on, but it was perhaps the third. They could be here within the hour if they were any good.

I strained against my bonds, but the rope wouldn't give. If only that bastard were a little stupider. I could have then used my fingers to form a blade of light.

In fact, I had to be careful. I felt my mana and stamina draining the more I fought against the rope. My knowledge of mythology wasn't detailed enough to know what sort of story it might be from, but no matter what, I couldn't afford to lose the strength to fight later.

There was someone I could ask for help. I wasn't supposed to at this point in the regression round, but I was in a bit of a pinch. "Mother?"

I waited. Silence.

I tried again, but there was no response. I didn't want to anger her by going against her wishes, so I held my tongue from saying anything further.

Ah, well, I suppose that if it came down to it, I could trap the prophet group without much effort. They probably had low-level skills and stats. I mused over whether to use thick, binding cuffs or a golden net to keep them at bay. Perhaps I could string them up by their toes from the banister.

The blue message caused me to perk up.

[The constellation 'Queen of the Darkest Spring' is mystified by your predicament.]

Persephone...wasn't watching me very closely, was she. I sighed. It must be awfully busy to rule Hell during an apocalypse.

I wasn't sure what to do about her sudden notice. As I was deciding, another constellation made themselves known.

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' wonders about your mother.]

"Oh."

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' says he didn't see any family in your memories during the phantom prison.]

"You were watching then?" The silent observer. It was certainly Yoo Joonghyuk's style, or in this case, the plotter.

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' asks if you are referring to your sponsor.]

Shit. Shit, that perceptive bastard. I wasn't supposed to draw attention to her, and Secretive Plotter had the driven curiosity of Yoo Joonghyuk—he wouldn't let this go easily if I revealed anything. I didn't know who or what exactly Mother was trying to avoid by keeping such a low profile, but alerting the plotter to her presence was surely a bad idea. I raised a cocky eyebrow.

"You don't know my mother? I guess your knowledge is pretty rubbish. Or maybe you're just slow," I felt a pressure grow in the air. "I was born a half-constellation."

There was a long pause.

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' affirms that the only "half" you are is a half-wit.]

"Gee thanks," I grumbled. The messages stopped after that.

I was rather satisfied at having successfully pissed off yet another Yoo Joonghyuk today. Even the noise of the reappearing prophet group couldn't dampen my spirits.

They argued in low, rough voices, but I couldn't make out their words. Then they vanished once more.

I took the silence to slip into my mind. There were some unknown variables that would come up soon enough, and the largest and most pressing was the fate of the Disaster of Hellfire egg. I needed to go up to the surface and ensure its capture by the prophets.

It was, perhaps, villainous to say I wanted the disaster to hatch early, but I couldn't afford for Dokja not to gain the 'King of No Killing' attribute. Capturing a different station would lead to too many unknown variables. My thoughts became stuck on the possibilities if he didn't get this chance at a resurrection safeguard, and each one ended in his early and permanent death. I force-activated 'Rationality' to control myself from such anxieties.

An hour later, I heard something that made my heart tug.

"...need to hurry. They might already be stuck on the rooftop."

Kim Dokja! I tried my best to yell for him, but the gag prevented my words from forming.

"Do you hear that?"

Their footsteps rushed up the stairs. Lee Jihye was first, and she gaped upon seeing me. Namwoon cried out my name when he saw the state I was in, and Gilyoung angrily exclaimed, "That sooty bastard!"

Dokja rushed up behind them and his eyes immediately snapped onto me in shock.

"Choi Yeona!" Jung Heewon was last to arrive. She shoved past Dokja on her way to me and removed my gag.

Dokja had gone eerily still.

"What is this?" Heewon's expression was painted in fury at the sight of my position.

"...Joonghyuk and I fought." I was a bit embarrassed to say it, because I had clearly lost. I shuffled and Gilyoung gasped as the light shined on me better; the bruise on my face must have purpled well-enough by now. A tremor seemed to go through Dokja's body. My stomach throbbed and I hunched over, wincing. "Can you untie me now?"

Heewon pulled out her rat-spine sword, shouting, "Hold on, did he touch you?!"

Gilyoung and Namwoon's mirrored expressions of horror were almost comical. "No—"

Before I could properly respond, Jihye scowled. "Unnie, Master is not that type of guy! He would never!"

"'Unnie?'" I was affronted. "You call her 'unnie' already? Why don't you call me that?"

Jihye's eyes went wide, as if caught stealing the last of my cookies. "Um, w—well—you see..."

"She said she's 'weak for cool unnies,'" said Dokja rather unhelpfully, his voice sounding odd. Of course he would throw her under the bus, she had spurned him as well. Jihye stammered even more.

I felt highly insulted. Namwoon came and cut the rope around me with his knife, and my brow furrowed as I rubbed the tender skin of my wrists.

Jihye avoided my eyes, looking guilty.

A hand stuck out in front of me and helped me to my feet. I met Dokja's complicated gaze before he looked down at my jaw, where there was undoubtedly a nasty bruise formed, and then the red welts on my wrist. His hand became rigid around mine. Then he quickly let go.

I picked up the scraps of rope. For something so adept at trapping, it looked terribly cheap, as if made from straw.

"'The futility of labor,'" Dokja said under his breath. "Star relic: Ocnus' Rope."

A futile labor. I now understood why my efforts only drained me the more I struggled.

[The exclusive skill 'Sacred Light' has been activated.]

I cupped my jaw and heard a collective "oooh" as my hand glowed gold. When I moved it away, Heewon spoke. "But it didn't disappear?"

"I can't heal. Only hasten the recovery time...stimulate the cells into repair...lessen pain..." I moved to soothe the other places that had taken a beating from Yoo Joonghyuk.

The longer I took, and the more I moved my palm around my body, the stonier Dokja's expression became. At the reminding ache in my sternum, I pressed my hand there and his face twisted into something dark before reverting back to that cold stiffness.

When I finished, I stepped back to lightly stretch. Laying on the floor in the same position for hours wasn't exactly comfortable. "Shall we pick a movie?"

"Are you sure you're okay, Yeona-noona?" Gilyoung's sweet, worried voice piped up.

I nodded, moving to smooth down his unruly hair with a smile. "We have to get through more movies before we can reach the theater master. And there's not much time to spare."

We browsed the movie posters, slashed and untouched alike. There were an unfortunate number of horror and thriller films on this floor, and we were all in mutual, unspoken agreement not to enter those. I dragged Namwoon and Jihye away from a superhero one where I knew the world was supposed to end at the hands of a mad titan; we already experienced a ruined world of our own.

In the back of the group, Dokja was unusually silent and seemed to have retreated into his own mind. It was probably best to let him be.

"This looks like a fun, family movie!" said Jihye, stopping suddenly.

It was a poster with a family of four on the cover, mostly all smiling. My forehead wrinkled. The other kids dashed forwards in excitement and the spotlight shone down on us.

Heewon looked up at the poster properly. "Oh, wait—!"

Then we were zapped inside.

MOVIE #1

I blinked until my vision returned.

"Camping?" said someone behind me.

I looked down at myself to find a pretty blue top and some khaki slacks, and reaching up I felt my hair swept in a neat updo. We were in a giant, camping RV, and I was up in the passenger seat.

"A family road trip?" I turned to Dokja next to me, sitting behind the steering wheel. His hair was slicked back in an attractive style. And that navy polo is fitted rather nicely...

"Huh? This is boring. How are we supposed to complete the ending?" Jihye leaned in between our seats, frowning.

"I don't think this is very family friendly."

The three of us turned to look at Namwoon, who wore a boyish striped shirt. In his hands was a giant, plastic-wrapped package. He dug into it with his fingers and dried green clumps spilled out.

Drugs.

"What kind of movie is this?" screeched Jihye.

"Are we supposed to smoke it?" said Namwoon seriously. I couldn't help the hearty laugh that escaped me at the image of Namwoon and Jihye, high out of their minds.

"More than that..." Dokja stood and looked at each of us in turn. "Shouldn't we figure out why we're wearing these ridiculous hats?"

He pointed to the oversized Mexican sombrero on his head that matched our own. It was certainly out of place in the current scene. My head swiveled at a greater realization.

"Where are Heewon and Gilyoung?" I said, concerned.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"DAVID, I know you're in there!" A man shouted ferociously.

We all pushed our way out of the RV. Outside was a massive guy with one eye and a mustache drooping over his mouth. The long rifle in his hands was trained on Dokja.

There was a shriek next to me, and I honestly couldn't tell if it came from Lee Jihye or Kim Namwoon. "Guns, how are we supposed to fight guns?!"

"Ah, so this is where you were."

Out from behind another RV stepped a handsome man with curly hair. Yet another gun focused on Dokja. His character isn't well-liked in this movie, is he?

The man's thick accent slowed into a purr. "Look at your beautiful wife. Mi amor, come with me instead; I can give you so much more."

Everyone followed the path of his outstretched hand to look at me. Dokja drew his sword and jerked towards me when I stepped past him. The man let me approach, keeping his gun on Dokja.

"You may have a gun. But, you know, you really can't hold one without a hand."

[The exclusive skill 'Sacred Light Lv. 5' has activated!]

He screamed as my sword chopped him off at the wrist. The next moment had it plunging into his chest. He dropped dead in the sand.

"How?"

The one-eyed man swiveled his gun to me, and Namwoon tossed the bag of drugs still in his hands. "Eat this!"

The man's eye grew large and he leapt down. "You dare waste—!"

"What a stupid idea," said Jihye, crossing her arms.

Namwoon was about to retort when the man let out a high-pitched noise of horror. He pulled back his hand from the package but it seemed like the dried bits stuck to him, swelling up his arm. The man wailed and swatted at his skin, but there were too many now swarming up his legs. He dropped his rifle and sprinted away. The dust cloud behind him looked straight out of a cartoon.

"Fire ants!" said a familiar voice.

Gilyoung and Heewon ran up to us, both panting hard under the hot sun. Gilyoung smiled at me with searching eyes. "Awesome, right?"

I crouched in front of him. "That was brilliant work. You're really coming along with your skill, Gilyoung."

The shy pride on his face was something precious, and my heart warmed at the sight.

"Sorry," Heewon puffed out. "We were stuck in an RV on the other side of the park, and there was this annoying girl who just wouldn't—oh! You killed the cartel boss."

I blinked. "You've seen this before?"

She nodded and sheathed her sword. "Once, long ago. It's a comedy-crime flick. By the way...what are you all wearing?"

Just then, a series of fireworks went off, ill-timed and utterly nonsensical to the current situation. It was quite the movie, and I was certain I never wanted to see the original after this.

[The Theater Master is satisfied with the altered ending.]

[Cast: Choi Yeona, Kim Dokja, Kim Namwoon, Lee Gilyoung, Lee Jihye, Jung Heewon]

The RV behind us glowed, and when we entered it we were transported back to the cinema.

MOVIE #2

Lee Jihye was not allowed to choose the next film.

From the previous one, the only rewards we got to keep were several bags of drugs and the sombreros, neither of which anyone wished to take. (Though, I did have to smack away Namwoon's sticky fingers from the plastic-wrapped packages, and I kept my attention sharp on him until we had successfully left them behind.)

We didn't wander the fourth floor long before I spotted one I recognized. "Let's do this one."

Everyone gathered together. Jihye's eyebrows shot up and a wicked grin spread across her face. "Yes."

Dokja's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but it was too late as we disappeared.

This time I wore an elegant purple sheath dress. I was dancing—well, more like being pulled along—with a dashing man dressed as a prince on a ballroom floor. "Oh, Giselle!" he swooned.

I guess that was me.

Uncomfortable with his expressive adoration, I searched the room for my companions.

Jihye and Namwoon were sniggering in the corner as they eyed various people around the room and stuffed their faces with hors d'oeuvres and wine. Gilyoung chased a squeaking chipmunk up the grand staircase. And Heewon was being swept off her feet by a well-dressed man, laughing as they spun on the dance floor.

My hands felt awkward on the prince. He didn't seem to notice as he twirled me around, and as we spun I saw someone approach us, holding their arm out.

"May I have this dance?" asked Dokja. He had already become remarkably invested in playing a role in this movie.

I nodded quickly. "Yes, let's."

"Hmph," said the prince. But he relinquished his hold and stepped aside.

If I thought Dokja was handsome in a polo before, he looked absolutely ravishing in the princely suit as he bowed before me. The navy velvet with silver trimmings had me wanting to run my fingers over it, and, as he took my hand in his, I couldn't help but smooth my palm across the fabric up his arm before settling on his shoulder.

"I actually can't dance," he muttered.

"Neither can I," I said with a smile.

He truly couldn't. But I didn't mind as we both clumsily stepped on each other's feet more than a few times. If anything, I was glad for it; each stumble or trodden toe prompted a private laugh, a shared smile between us. His hand was warm and firm on my waist.

"By the way, what are you wearing?"

"You don't like it?"

Dokja turned his head to the side and huffed. "It's different from everyone else here."

"Maybe I'm the main character, then," I teased.

He looked back at me, a fondness in his gaze. "Of course you are."

Eventually, we found a rhythm just as the song was winding down. The other partners began to separate, but he and I were still suspended in the moment. He was so close that I could see flecks of light grey in his eyes, his lips parting slightly, and his breath felt...Wait, was he that close before?

"Noona, come on!"

Dokja let go as Gilyoung grabbed my dress skirt to tug me along towards the others that had gathered.

Namwoon was polishing his knife with lazy movements along his pants. He greeted me when the three of us joined them. Jihye gave me a wide-eyed, excited glance that had me frowning. She's up to something.

Heewon finally made her way over to us with a light flush on her cheeks. I shot her an amused look, to which she rolled her eyes.

"You have to be careful as the princess. There will be an attempt on your life," said Jihye, staring directly at me. Dokja jolted at my side.

"Maybe it's Heewon," I pointed out. Heewon was certainly dressed in a much more elaborate, puffy ballgown befitting a princess, over my sleek, modern one. But I knew that wasn't the case.

Jihye shook her head. "That's not how the movie goes."

"Great, you've seen this one?" Dokja bit out sarcastically.

"I have too, once," I said. "And she might be right."

We then all turned in shock as Kim Namwoon agreed with us. He shrugged. "What? I've seen it too. There's some interesting shit in it."

Jihye broke the dumbfounded silence with an ominous warning to me. "Don't eat any apples."

"What? Why not?" demanded Dokja. Jihye only gave a witchy, mysterious smile.

"It's fine. I just need to stay away from anything with apples." A server passed by with a tray of tarts with a thin apple slice garnishing. Easy enough.

Jihye swirled the drink in her hand, peering into the goblet intensely. Then she pushed it my way. "Here. This is really good—try it!"

I took it with a word of thanks, but was distracted by a commotion behind us.

The prince was elbowing his way past people and coming towards our group. "Giselle! Come, and let us dance once again."

Before he could clasp my hand, another swatted it away. Dokja's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Her dance card is full."

Dance card? We didn't have dance cards.

But the prince was determined. "She is my bride, and we shall dance together."

The smile dropped, and Dokja didn't bother to hide the irritation on his face. "No. You won't."

"Who are you to declare such a thing, lowly peasant?" challenged the prince. Dokja's fingers twitched towards Unbroken Faith.

Jihye's eyes were sparkling like she'd just been given a brand new sword. I took a mindless sip from the goblet while considering her, and Dokja's, behavior.

The effect was immediate.

My limbs locked, muscles frozen in place, and I collapsed on the hardwood as my eyes closed. "Yeona!"

"Giselle!"

"Angel-noona!"

"What happened?!"

Liquid seeped into my dress from the fallen goblet. I heard someone pick it up and sniff.

"Oh, no! Was there apple juice in that cocktail? I feel terrible." Dear God, that girl's acting needed some serious work. The name "Lee Jihye" would most certainly not be headlining a single film anytime soon.

The rise and fall of my chest must have been visible, because I heard a sigh of relief, then Heewon said, "She's alive. Maybe sleeping."

"What do we do?"

"Heh. Well, you know how these things go," said Jihye, much too eager. "Only true love's kiss can break the spell."

The resulting silence was painfully loud.

Then there was a rustling sound, and a heavy force pressed down on me while a pair of lips pushed onto mine. They made a loud smack as they were instantly ripped away.

"Get. Off. Her." Dokja's seething voice could have cut diamond.

More than one of my companions must have drawn their weapon on the prince, because his laugh had a nervous strain to it. "Let's talk this out like civilized men, now."

"Get lost."

"Look, it didn't even work," said Heewon.

"I—" The prince huffed and then there was the noise of him storming away.

"Pompous bastard," someone mumbled.

"We need to try," said Gilyoung, his voice growing louder as he neared me. He pressed softly onto my cheek. I could practically feel the waves of disappointment at his failure to rouse me from my state.

It's not your fault, Gilyoung. I don't care for you any less! I cried out in my mind.

"I'll go."

Heewon left a gentle peck on my forehead. She sighed when I didn't wake.

Lee Jihye was next, leaving a forehead kiss that was much too wet, and I agonized over not being able to wipe off her slobber.

"No, Kim Namwoon."

There was a shuffling sound of struggle, and I heard Namwoon protest. But he must have been successfully held back, because no one approached me.

Gilyoung's voice was calm and assured as he spoke. "Hyung, it's you."

I heard the others urging Dokja to just do it, to get it over with so I would be saved and they could all move on. There was a long pause as we all waited.

My skin buzzed underneath the lips that pressed into my cheek, but, still, I couldn't move. It caused a few grumbles from the group.

"You have to do it like in the movies," explained—surprisingly—Heewon. "They always wake up the princess with a real kiss."

"Or maybe it has to be someone else," said Dokja dully.

"Yeah!"

"Kim Namwoon, shut the hell up."

Jihye must have hit him because Namwoon began complaining at her.

"Hyung." At Gilyoung's insistent urging, Dokja's thumb slid across the spot he had just kissed as he cupped my face.

A warm breath hovered over me. It hesitated, before something brushed light against my lips and left. I remained trapped.

"Again!" Jihye demanded. "That was pathetic! It has to be worthy of a 'true love's kiss,' after all."

"But she doesn't…" mumbled Dokja. He exhaled loudly.

Then his lips returned to mine. My eyes flew open.

Kim Dokja was kissing me: solid and proper, if lacking the passion of a raw, sincere kiss between lovers. Even so, I couldn't help the smile that broke out.

The hand left my cheek as Dokja shot back, aghast. I sat up and touched my tingling lips. "Wow."

"Were you awake that whole time?" said Dokja in a thin, panicked voice.

"I was." I nodded. "But I really was frozen. It was like sleep paralysis—my mind was awake but my body was stuck."

Dokja paled. I wouldn't mind sleep paralysis if the demon in the corner looked like him. Perhaps I shouldn't share that particular thought out loud, I mused as I observed Dokja get up and pace, wringing his fingers. I looked to Jihye who returned my grin. Hers was much more devious.

Jung Heewon looked between us with great interest.

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' trembles with euphoria!]

[800 coins have been sponsored.]

[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' is very curious about you now.]

Dokja finally stopped and addressed the others. "We achieved the ending, so why aren't we leaving?"

The story responded in the form of a booming roar that cracked the windows and rattled the ground under our feet.

A villainous-looking older woman transformed in the center of the dance floor amidst a pillar of green and orange flames. She unfurled her wings to reveal an iridescent, dark-blue dragon.

"Kill it!" Jihye yelled and ran towards the dragon.

Dokja dashed away (rather eagerly, might I say), and Heewon and Gilyoung were quick to follow.

I poked the still-scowling face of Kim Namwoon. "Stop your sulking."

"It's not fair," he wailed. "It would have worked with me, too, if I had the chance to try! But that loud, ugly sword-girl and bug brat wouldn't let me."

"You and that 'ugly' sword girl were awfully close and giggly earlier," I reminded him. Namwoon's face flushed as he tried to stammer out excuses.

There was another roar. "Should we join them?"

Namwoon hesitated, and said, "It's a dragon."

I contemplated. He must be unwilling to kill another dragon because of his sponsor. It wouldn't be right to force him into something like that, and, as I watched our companions fend off the beast, not everyone was really needed.

[The exclusive skill 'Sacred Light' has been activated.]

"No problem. This won't take long." And I sent two spikes of light straight at the dragon, plunging them into its eyes.

"It's blinded!" said Heewon.

All too quickly, the dragon was slain.

I rubbed Namwoon's back at the dispirited and mournful look on his face. The others rejoined us, and our messages popped up.

[The Theater Master is beyond satisfied with the ending.]

[Cast: Choi Yeona, Kim Dokja, Lee Jihye, Jung Heewon, Lee Gilyoung, Kim Namwoon]

The prince suddenly walked up to us. He got down on one knee and offered out his hands to...Jung Heewon.

"O, powerful and fair maiden! Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Heewon gaped at him. "I don’t…that is—"

The spotlight flashed on us and we were glitched back into the cinema.

THE PROP ROOM

This time, we obtained a healthy stash of poison sleep vials and various dragon claws and scales, whose beauty might fetch a high price on the Dokkaebi Exchange and Auction.

I shuffled next to Jihye. "You knew that drink was poisoned."

"Did I?"

I laughed, glancing at Dokja. He was carefully angled far away from me. "He's never going to be able to look me in the eye again."

"Just wait, he'll be back for more. Once the fear settles down he won't be able to resist," said Jihye, possessing the assurance of a wisdom far beyond what seventeen years of life should have given her.

This sly, mischievous child. I suppose I ought to thank her for a matchmaking scheme well done, but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction. Instead, I sighed and shook my head. "How meddlesome."

"I, um, wanted to apologize." Jihye's voice was meek as she lowered her head, fiddling with the charm on her sword handle. "I don't dislike you. Actually, I think you're really cool. An extremely cool unnie."

"Then why—?"

"Master likes you more than me." The words choked out of her. "I'm his perfect student, but still, you...I was maybe...a bit jealous."

Jihye trailed off and seemed to shrink down on herself. I placed a hand on her head and she looked up. "I think you're really cool, too. And believe me when I say your Master does not like me as much as you think he does."

I touched the bruise on my jaw, and Jihye straightened, confidence returning to her body.

"Yes! That's when I knew I was wrong." My expression deadpanned, but Jihye continued with a bright smile. "Master would never beat up his girlfriend."

"Are you still on about that?"

Jihye leaned in conspiratorially. "Besides, I want to help you. It's not Master you love, but that blurry-face ahjussi. I think you have terrible taste, but I won't judge."

My sputtering was somewhere between a cough and a wheeze. Like student, like teacher, it seemed; both were too perceptive for their own good. I was too stunned to even defend Dokja from her—definitely judgmental—insults.

"Don't worry, angel-unnie. I think he likes you, too," she said. Then she skipped up the stairs after the others.

I trailed after her in a daze.

"Let's visit the prop room," called out Dokja. He was already over halfway up the fifth floor stairs.

[You have reached the rewards room.]

[Rewards are limited to 2 per person.]

We oohed and aahed at the movie prop replicas on display. Heewon picked up a sword, while Gilyoung grabbed a hat and Thor's hammer right from under Jihye's nose. Jihye was incredibly grouchy after that.

Namwoon was dashing around in a frenzy, shouting in excitement at each new item he came across.

I saw a necklace behind a glass that made me pause. The ivory pendant was in the shape of an elephant tusk, and it was attached to a black cord with an ornate bronze clasp.

[Item: Hathi's Tusk — Replica] A-grade necklace A replica of the tusk of the great leader, Colonel Hathi When worn, it can amplify a taunt skill using "Law of the Jungle"

Hmm. In fact, I did have a 'Taunt' skill, but I rarely used it, often forgetting to raise its level. Perhaps with this item it would prove more useful. I slung the pendant around my neck.

I wandered a bit longer before Dokja found me.

"Yeona, here. Take this."

Nestled in his palm was a jade ring. It was a translucent, imperial green that seemed to glow from within under the lamplight, and there was a Celtic carving along the band. A hint of gold was painted into the design.

It was a gorgeous piece.

"Thank you. What does it—" I asked, but he was already nodding and walking away "—do."

I tried a couple different options before sliding it onto my ring finger. I stretched out my hand to admire the way the gold in the middle caught the light and gleamed. It was truly stunning. I stared hard at this band of stone that now graced my hand.

Kim Dokja gave me a ring. My skin felt too warm and sensitive everywhere.

It was the only finger that fit, and my right hand needs to be totally free for when I hold a sword for an even distribution of weight. Plus, it doesn't necessarily have to mean what rings on those fingers usually meant, or anything of the sort…

Well, it really couldn't be helped.

I had chosen my two props, so I tagged along with Heewon in search of something for Sangah. Along the way, I stopped at the sight of Dokja arguing with Jihye.

"Can you just take it? You haven't got anything picked out anyways," said Dokja, annoyance all over his face. He had on the reinforced suit—which led to some very, very distracted and inappropriate thoughts—and Heracles' Shield was in his hands.

"Why should I, huh? Why don't you?"

"I've already chosen mine."

"How is that fair?!"

"Jihye." I stepped near them. "Can you please? Your companions need good items, too."

She softened at being included in our group. "...Fine, but only for you, unnie."

Then she marched away with the shield, her nose held high. I smiled. She must still feel sorry for how she treated me before.

I was curious what other item Dokja had picked out, if he couldn't take the shield like he did in the novel. But I didn't have the chance to ask as he said a quick thanks and left.

Really, now. How long will I have to endure this?

Soon, everyone had finished up and gathered to ascend the next few floors. Yoo Joonghyuk had waited long enough.

THE FINAL ACT — ROOFTOP GARDEN

It didn’t take long to clear the movies and we now stood in front of the stairs leading to the rooftop. We left Jihye behind to recover from the admiral film, and we reached the top.

Joonghyuk stood in the center of the garden.

"Oi, Yoo Joonghyuk!"

Before I could tell him to wait, Dokja sprinted towards him and smacked his head. Damn, that was pretty hard. Gilyoung and Heewon winced beside me, while Namwoon cackled. Dokja kicked his leg harshly, but froze afterwards when there was still no reaction. "Don't tell me..."

['Theater Master Simulacrum' has appeared.]

We all turned to look at an old man on a park bench. He tipped his hat at us with a pleasant smile.

"Fuck," said Dokja.

Joonghyuk was taken possession of by the theater master and punched Dokja so hard that he flew backwards. He was stunned and clutched his head.

I ran to check on him, double-checking my stats that all hovered in the high-twenties range, and unleashed sacred light as a long sword and arrows hovering behind me.

"Dokja-ssi!"

Heewon flew past me towards Joonghyuk and I tried to reach out, but it was too late. "Heewon, no!"

She was similarly hurled into a wall. Gilyoung hurried to check on her, bloodied and stunned, and Jihye suddenly popped up from the staircase. I saw Joonghyuk aim for her next.

My arrows flew towards them, shifting into a barrier of light in front of Jihye. Upon impact with Joonghyuk's fist, it shattered. She started yelling at him as they fought.

"Yeona," said Dokja. I helped him sit up properly. "Can you take the theater master?"

I nodded. "Be careful."

As I ran, I called over Namwoon. Together we leapt for the boss. Dokja said in the novel that this guy had extremely low combat ability, right?

Wrong.

The theater master blocked my sword with his staff, and quickly, much too quick for an old man, dodged the swipe of Namwoon's knife. His hand pushed flat against Namwoon's head and the boy's eyes rolled back.

Shit. "Namwoon!"

He lunged for me, jabbing his knife with an unfortunate precision. I blocked it. "Kim Namwoon, snap out of it!"

Behind us, I heard Dokja talking to Joonghyuk with his knowledge of Ways of Survival. Dokja must have then activated the stigma 'Song of the Sword,' and Gilyoung must have summoned his monster, Titano, because all hell erupted.

Namwoon didn't give me more time to think as he charged at me with a roar, swinging wildly. We exchanged blows, knife and sword. His blade caught my arm and sliced the skin, and I used the flat of my sword to knock him back.

The theater master smirked at us.

I dodged, then punched Namwoon's chest, and when he fell down I used sacred light to trap him to the ground. He struggled, his mouth foaming.

[The skill 'Fleet Foot Lv. 6' is activated.]

"You're too smug." I appeared behind the boss and sliced down his back with my sword. He vanished in a glitch of sparkling light.

['Theater Master Simulacrum' has been defeated for the first time.]

[9,000 coins have been awarded.]

"It's over?"

Heewon and Jihye supported each other. They came over to me, along with Dokja carrying a knocked out Gilyoung. Namwoon had also passed out, so I released his shackles.

Dokja set down Gilyoung in the grass.

"Look, shooting stars!" said Jihye. Those of us that could lined up along the railing to see the view beyond the broken barrier. Seoul was burning, crumbling, and somehow glittering below.

"I feel bad for thinking any part of this looks pretty," I said slowly.

Dokja glanced at the side of my face before turning back. "You're not wrong, though."

I saw Heewon and Jihye making a wish upon the shooting stars.

"They're wishing on disasters," I muttered. Dokja seemed surprised that I was aware.

Then Gilyoung, having awoken, pushed in between Dokja and I. My hand found his hair. "What did you wish for, hyung? Noona?"

"I wished for happiness of my own design."

They looked at me curiously at that. Dokja was silent, before he looked back at the unconscious Joonghyuk and said, "I wished to see this story's epilogue."

He went over to Joonghyuk and squatted as he inspected the regressor. In the meantime, Namwoon roused and sat up, rubbing his head.

Dokja's spine suddenly went rigid, as if remembering something.

"Yeona."

He strode up to me, tilted my face to stare hard at the bruise on my jaw, then stalked back to the unconscious Joonghyuk. His arm reared back.

THUMP!

"You know what? Hell yeah!"

"AHJUSSI, YOU DARE—"

"Nice, Dokja-hyung!"

Heewon seemed torn between shock and amusement, Jihye was trembling from rage, and Gilyoung cheered with curled fists. I turned to the one person that had been suspiciously silent.

Namwoon only shrugged at me. "That's what he gets for messing with your pretty face."

Dokja, who had returned to us in time to catch that comment, looked at Namwoon approvingly.

[The constellation 'Prisoner of the Golden Headband' bangs his staff in excitement.]

[The constellation 'Abyssal Black Flame Dragon' laughs maniacally at 'Yoo Joonghyuk's' plight!]

[600 coins have been sponsored.]

[The constellation 'Secretive Plotter' rolls his eyes at such pettiness.]

"...Uriel?" I prompted. She had been uncharacteristically silent. Surely, this was a moment she had an opinion on. I waited.

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' is overjoyed at 'Kim Dokja's' display of protection over you!]

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' was sad to see you hurt earlier.]

I smiled. "That's very sweet of you."

[The constellation 'Demon-like Judge of Fire' apologizes for her words yesterday, she gets carried away sometimes.]

"Water under the bridge," I said. "Under different circumstances, it might have been funny. And I like seeing your comments."

This encouragement must have made Uriel incredibly happy, because she sponsored me a whopping two thousand coins in response.

Then we all looked at Yoo Joonghyuk's student. Jihye seemed conflicted now that her initial anger had waned.

"Well…I also think that Master shouldn’t have touched unnie’s face," Jihye admitted, digging her toe into the ground.

And just like that, everyone agreed to not breathe a word of what had transpired on the rooftop.

Yoo Joonghyuk threw a fit of fury when he awoke and caught sight of his reflection, his previously perfect face now marred by such a bruise, but for all his sword threatening and glaring, he couldn't shake the culprit from our closed lips.

He was still furious with Kim Dokja anyways.

Next part ->

A/N; Did you catch all of the movie references in this theater dungeon chapter? There are five total.

[cartoon-cass]

Comprehensive breakdown of MURDER DRONES - Episode 7: Mass Destruction

I saw a breakdown of this episode on youtube and it was just clearly rushed so I want to do this episode justice so here's my comprehensive breakdown.

New intro, look at them! They look so happy, that is not the case in the episode, to say the least. With how much rubber hosing this animation has I would not be surprised if this was done by Kevin Temmer Tunes with what he learned from amazing digital circus Edit: N was animated by Micah Preciado and Uzi by Zachary Preciado

Bad day to accidentally grab the wrong uniform, I do wonder where the actual Dr.Chambers was in all this. Wonder if it would have made a difference... probably not.

Not actually important but having the shadows of the claws that aren't actually there be the thing to interact with the world is fucking cool as hell. This whole scene is a cool twist on an exorcism with robots and science.

Like look at this, it's a pentagram magnet, a normal pentagram from my basic pop culture understanding it's meant to not only summon a demon but also keep them from leaving the circle. A strong magnet is so smart for this case as it's used to keep Nori in place, I mean it doesn't end up working in the end but it's the thought that counts.

It took my second watch of this episode to realize why the lights got turned on, it revealed the tentacles and claws but it's sun light, the same stuff that burns the Disassembly Drones and Uzi. It even has the same effect as in the end of Episode 4

Can I just say how extra it is making the USB a crucifix, I love it. Also I just notice that on the end of the crucifix the detailing is actually in the shape of a USB symbol, the details in this show is amazing, you can see all the love that went in to it.

This is probably the most terrifying way to hold these robots. I couldn't blame any of the robots for wanting to kill the human good god. Also Yeva playing Tetris, the game has a lot of ties to Russia so wonder if she spoke Russian too, she doesn't speak in this episode and not sure if we'll get more flashback with her so not sure if we will ever find out.

Not sure why Mitchell stop Yeva from entering the church but I like to think he thought Yeva was like a kid, look at him holding her hand in the scene before, and was trying to keep her save and knew something was off. That being said I'd love to hear what you think is his reasoning, sound off in the comments/reblogs.

Pulling back we can see Nori, specifically her core, looking at a crucifix comparing it to the USB crucifix in the video to see if it's the one with the patch, it's not, so she goes out for the hunt to see if she can find it.

Like daughter, like mother, honestly cool little details that lets us know what kind of character Nori is with the very little time we have with her. Drawing made presumably by her of herself as a human cat girl, twice, motor oil cans everywhere, a fricking ninja star, nightcore music, a anime statue that might be a reference to something but I have no clue, also magnets which have been used in the passed like drugs so that's um... something.

was originally just going to point out the funny little animation errors in this scene, as the paper goes through the Ipod and the crinkled paper is mirrored but then I wanted to check what was on the paper and...

It's a missing poster of all things? it uses the exact posters used in episode 3 it's probably just reusing assets but I thought it was a cool thing to point out.

Uzi bleeds blood in these scenes and it's not necessarily mentioned out loud, clearly something AS related, but there might be more to it, or it just looks cool.

This man is in some serious denial, but credit where credit is due, when "Tessa" tells N to stop he turns around, and when Uzi apologized for not being able to help he immediately apologized for Snapping at her. Also look at Tessa's little pointing, thought it was funny.

N: "We're not going to hurt you."

I can't blame Uzi for taking this the wrong way, he's clearly telling Tessa off but all Uzi hears is "hurt you", hence why she only parrots that part.

Thad: "Aaand you won't tell me why we're wandering around 'cause...?" Lizzy: "I'm a good friend, and secrets are blackmail. And it's not about football." Thad: "Okay. Does your secret friend want to know about football, or...?"

Anyone else wondering who Lizzy's good friend is? The only 2 characters we know are good friends with Lizzy are Doll and V. It's possible that through everything Doll sent a text to Lizzy asking her to do something but I feel like V just makes more sense. This does assume V made her way away from the sentinels, if I had to guess she's just a core at the moment which might be why she couldn't do it herself, no wings nor weapons as a core, also makes the blackmail line make more sense.

N: "I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve this."

Baby girl NO! no you don't, your too hard on your self

That scream. That cut. *chef's kiss* perfect.

This scene just shows us why Uzi went towards the church. Also note when she's the most stressed her eye turns yellow so it does seem stress is the deciding factor whether she can be possessed.

V/AS: You know, you're one of the main reasons... [voice glitching] ...I wanted your team to retain your personalities.

This quote I think has some interesting implications, I mean it obviously confirms that the DD squad was influence by AS but it might also be why it keeps a bit of the personality of which ever host it's using.

This scene holy shit, the music, the lighting, the sound design and animation, that's how you do horror! You don't even need detailed gore, in fact most of it is just off screen. like look at the DD's off in the distance one catches the pilot of the helicopter mid air then they fight over it like hungry animals.

Ok so I hit the image limit and it's almost 1 in the morning so I'm gonna go to bed and continue this tomorrow

~to be continued~

[mellozheist]

hellooo!! first of all: I ADORE YOU your art is amazing and your animatics are so gorgeous and inspiring!! I'm sure you've already been asked this question but I couldn't find an answer so I figured it couldn't hurt to ask again: what program(s) do you use to animate? What's your process like?? I've been wanting to try and learn to make my own but I have no idea where to start and I figured I should ask a master :P

ello! I appreciated your kind words :D

sorry about the delayed reply, I thought I could have drawn my process out for you but it turns out I don't have enough time so here I go

I use Clip Studio Ex (still on ver.1) only Ex can do animation If you considering buying it

CSP Pro can only animate 12-24 frames which is difficult to work with

I wish to get back on Toonboom but I'm hella out of practice (It's a good program tho, though just not so friendly with beginners)

My process is to find inspiration first, for example

when I do fan animation/animatic like Hermitcraft or Life series

I just listen to the audio or songs on a loop until I have a rough idea in my head of what I want to draw

(When you start something, Just use the idea of "What you want to draw/express" not what others want to see, Just make sure you're having fun, and we can figure out along the way later)

TIP : If you don't feel like starting making animatic right away, I suggest you make other kinds of art for that Idea first, like some sketching art, illustration for catching the vibe you want to go for, or just character design as a reference! :D

after that, make rough sketches, It doesn't have to be pretty, just do a quick sketch so you won't forget the vibe and energy (it can be on paper, I recommend using a pen instead of a pencil cuz you won't have to delete and redraw, just make a new one, it's quicker)

I make re-sketching sometimes to fix composite or make a better pose sometimes, timing and spacing are also very important to make the movement smooth

I make a line of action guide for some difficult movements sometimes

When I do Lineart I just open all the videos to watch while head empty cleaning Lineart

There are many more processes for professional animators

I recommend you check out videos, there are tons on YouTube

here's some that I learned from

[meanbossart]

Oh boy, VaM is kind of a trial and error experience LOL I couldn't really show you how to use the interface and stuff without a whole video or something, but it's not THAT difficult to get a hang of if you just give yourself a day or two to play around, not to mention the number of tutorials you find out there. Luckily, if you only want to use it as a reference software that makes the process far easier (to this day I have no idea how to animate on that thing, since that's not what I use it for)

As for how I use it, it's pretty self explanatory - if there's a complicated pose I want to draw but I'm either having trouble with it, or just want to double-check angles/anatomy, I will use it as a resource! I use for most of my "proper" pieces (y'know, the nicer looking ones) and every once in a while for my silly comics if I'm having trouble with a pose.

Lets use this drawing for example (the character on top of DU drow belongs to @namespara )

I don't draw a lot of mud-wrestling (shocking, I know) but I had an idea of the kind of pose I wanted them to be in. So the very first thing I did was make a rough sketch of what I was envisioning:

I often do a rough sketch first, even If I know I'm going to be pulling the program up because A) It's less tedious than adjusting the models over and over again until I pick a pose and B) because sometimes I'll decide I don't need the reference, after all, and so that's 30 minutes I'll have spared myself of playing around on the software.

Now, this is a pretty complicated pose! It's in a weird angle and the bodies are making contact in ways I'm not used to depicting, so I did choose to whip out VaM for this one. I went into the program and after some messing around, I flopped my little dolls together like this:

Now something really cool about VaM is that you can completely customize your models, and if you have the patience, I would definitely encourage you to do so! Obviously, you don't have to make picture perfect replicas of every single character you have, but as you can see here I have made a DU drow "decoy" to help me better understand some of his features when I draw him: he has a strong brow, a short nose, a square jawline - these are all going to look a very specific way from certain angles, and I might not always be sure of how to draw it right! So it's useful to have models that bear SOME semblance to the character so you can better understand how different viewpoints will affect their bone structure and mass.

Also thank fucking god for the elf-ear slider. Figuring out how to draw those shits from certain angles was a huge pain in the ass when I started drawing DnD races.

So, with the reference in hand, I go over the sketch again:

Now you may notice that I don't stick to the reference 100%. There's three reasons for this:

posing on VaM is tedious as hell. You can get something incredibly natural looking and picture-perfect to reference from if you wish, but it's going to take you hours to do. So, for the most part I just slap guys together until the results are "close enough" and use that.

In my opinion, you should always aim to ENHANCE your reference material, not replicate it exactly!

While VaM is a PRETTY DANG GOOD source of anatomical reference, it isn't perfect, I often supplement it with further reference from real life resources or make tweaks based on my own knowledge where I catch it falling short (and, antithetical to what I just said, I sometimes fuck the anatomy up further on purpose if I think it looks better that way LOL it's all jazz baby).

Then lines, color, yada yada. I don't have a tutorial on that and I don't think I could make one, because my process is chaotic as hell, but I do at times use Virt-a-mate as loose reference for lighting too when coloring - waaaaayyyy less so however, because that process is even more tedious and I feel like I often get better results by just winging it. It is a feature of the program though, and I'm sure it would be helpful for someone who has a difficult time visualizing lights and shadows. I only started using this program a few months ago, so I happened to already have a pretty good understanding of that kind of thing and just don't personally feel like I get much out of that particular mechanic.

Here's a few other examples of pieces that I made reference for (WARNING: Suggestive)

Now, for the question many of you may want to ask:

"Can I trace this junk?"

And to that, I say: Buddy, you can do whatever the hell you want with the reference material you created.

However,

If your goal is to learn and improve your art, and to recreate realistic proportions and anatomy from memory, tracing won't help you.

Developing your own style, your muscle memory, and personal technique will all be hindered by choosing to trace instead of drawing from observation, so I would encourage against it. Hell - even when tracing is employed as a technique, it's usually by high-skill realism & concept artists who are looking to either cut some corners, save time, or just double-check their own proportions in order to improve further - if you try tracing as a beginner, you will most definitely find the result to still look stiff and "off".

So trust me, there is so much more to be gained from drawing from observation. Make note of tangents, compare proportions, use all the elements of the picture to dictate where and how things should go - it will be a far more rewarding experience.

Hopefully this has been helpful! VaM is a really cheap program (you get it on the guys' patreon for I think 8 dollars, just google it!) and it's definitely been worth my money as an artist since I found it. Learning to use it can be a little intimidating at first glance, but as I said above you only really need a day plus one or two tutorials to get a hang of the interface.

A fair warning though, IT IS A SOFTWARE MADE FOR VIRTUAL SEX/ADULT ANIMATION So when looking it up expect to see a some spicy content.

[fyeahaudiodrama]

Happy @podcastgirlsweek to all who celebrate! While I haven't had the time to properly work on fics (and probably won't this week because oops, hurt my hands yesterday) I still wanted to take the time to highlight some favorite podcast girlies along with everyone else!

The prompt for Monday is highlighting podcasts with women in the leading roles, so here's a few of mine (and hopefully, some new ones of yours if you don't know them yet):

Back Again, Back Again: Ilyaas, you absolutely fantastic disaster of a fantasy ace, never stop trying.

Breathing Space: While the show is anthology with a rotating cast, some of my favorites from across its run include:

Evie Yuriskin

Amity Archer

Any characters who were introduced one episode and then started referring to each other as "my wife" by the end or by their next appearance

Camlann: Some apocalypse survivors interpret dangerous dreams about dark magic to cope. Some knit sweaters. Both are valid and should kiss.

City of Ghosts: Featuring the grungy, disgruntled, tormented-by-visions LADY detective of your dreams.

Desperado: Take note - give your ladies knives. And god powers. And witchcraft. And a sniper rifle, for good measure.

Do You Copy?: I think [REDACTED] deserves three weeks of paid vacation

Fawx & Stallion: Madge Stallion is THE moment. She's six feet tall. She can't stop making innuendos. She's not your fucking Mrs. Hudson (although, she is - no, I shan't say).

Hi Nay: Mari & Laura are my everything - the loving and self-sacrificing hero and the newfound friend who chooses to stand by her side (fire axe and all).

Inn Between: Oh, my Inn Between girlies, where do I start? Fina and Betty, the OGs and life partners that even death couldn't stall? Rosie and Zara, the new best pals who chose to stay together? Phoebe, just one step at a time learning what she deserves and what she doesn't? All impeccable, A+.

It Makes A Sound: Any show focused on music is going to be a slam dunk for me, but Deirdre's quest to reclaim her memories as well as those that tied her to her mother is so damn real and compelling.

The Kingmaker Histories: No female character in this show has ever done anything wrong. Colette gets a migraine pass. Ariadne can turn people inside out. Daphne is owed this for working in a theme park.

Life With LEO(h): Janiiiiiine, so messy and smart and dedicated and she cares so much, I love yoooooou.

Me and AU: Kate's worries and desires and doubts are some of the realest out of any audio drama so when do I find an Ella too

Palimpsest: My faaaaavorite gothic horror anthology, each one fresh with a different brand of haunted, tormented, secret-keeping (and quite frequently gay) gothic protagonist

The Pasithea Powder: Jane and Sophie. Sophie and Jane. What more could you need? <3

The Silt Verses: Women who start cults/leave cults/seek an end to the endless cycle of meaningless sacrifice as so valid. For all your wet cat(fish) woman needs.

Second Star to the Left: Because I always love a good Ishani performance. Hi Gwen, please tell Boots I love them.

Small Victories: You want sad wet cat women? How about one that literally can't stop self-sabotaging (but at least manages to draw the line at sabotaging others...occasionally). She even gets stabbed!

Starfall: I mean, kind of a given, but anyway, Leona definitely exists because she's the kind of action protagonist woman I always wanted - one that could be unapologetically powerful, but still full of flaws and desires (especially ones that weren't about falling in love and minimizing her own strengths). She's even autistic!

Stories From Ylelmore: Keryth! Keryth, Keryth, Keryth! She reminds me so much of the kinds of characters I would make up when I was younger - I love her and her small magic so dearly.

The Strange Case of Starship Iris: Hi queer space pirates <3

Unseen: Another anthology show, but Harry Winters and Never-Ending Circles remains one of the most perfect premiere episodes I've ever heard in audio drama.

The Way We Haunt Now: Get your podcast ladies here, dead or alive!

We Fix Space Junk: My favorite type of repairman is a woman who could kick my ass.

Wolf 359: I don't think I need say much more here - y'all know and love 'em just as much as I do.