#i love making them all shapey and silly

[wheredidalltheusersgo]

Carry friend like wooden plank

[pinkcdraws]

Hello! This is my first time sending an ask since I’m usually just a lurker, and of course it’d be a long one. 🫠 I was anxious about asking because it’s about old art, but seeing your Grianverse callback post gave me courage lol 

Your art was what first introduced me to Hermitcraft way back in 2020, it was a parody animation of a Garfunkel and Oates song with Grian and Mumbo. The art style was so crisp and shapey and pretty, so I liked it even though I had no clue what the characters were from, lol. Then I realized I had passively heard the name Grian before and decided to check it out, starting with this “Hermitcraft” thing. And so the hyperfixation began, haha. 

I recently got back into Hermitcraft after falling out of it for a while due to new fandom obsessions and generally life happening. I have been really enjoying it, and wanted to rewatch that video for nostalgia’s sake, but I can’t find it so I assume it was privated or deleted.

I was wondering if there was anywhere I could watch it again, but I understand you probably removed it for a reason and I fully respect if you want it to stay in the past; I know people move on from fandoms all the time and don’t really want their old work for it to be public anymore and that’s totally fine. 

Either way, I also wanted to just thank you so much for introducing me to my biggest comfort series. Hermitcraft’s intense wholesomeness and good vibes have helped me feel okay again on some rough nights, and I may have never found it if not for you. Since I’ve rediscovered your art (and am loving the Genshin Impact content, haha), it makes me really happy to see that you’re doing well and still making really cool stuff! 

This genuinely was so sweet to read, I'm so glad I was able to introduce you to Hermitcraft! I still love it and watch it from time to time. Even though I distanced myself from it fandom wise, I still love this series dearly.

I did eventually unlist all my Hermitcraft related content- I was getting into new media at the time and was making fanart for said new interests, but people would constantly ask "but you're not going to stop drawing Hermitcraft right?" or "I miss when you drew Hermitcraft" and it became to much. I just wanted to draw what I was interested in at the time but so many people connected me specifically with Hermitcraft and it was honestly a little exhausting, like I wasn't allowed to branch out into my other interests.

I'm at the point though where I do miss my silly Grianverse babies and would like to draw them all again (wouldn'tmind even trying to draw Mumbo again, love that madlad), so fuck it we ball, so I don't mind putting a link to that video! I'm assuming this is the one you are referring to

[paperboy-pb]

Now that the prologue is done, I can't thank the fans of this series enough.

No, we haven't hit any particular follower milestone. The story has just begun. And most of you haven't given me any sort of financial support to help me out, either. (And that's alright! I haven't asked, lol.)

I'm thanking you for just being apart of the audience.

I started PB in a little blue notebook during the summer of 2015. It was originally meant for my eyes only. And a big part of the reason why was that, when I googled things like "Special Ed makes me feel bad," there wouldn't be much of anything coming up. There were Quora forums! A couple of YouTube videos. Articles here and there.

But it wasn't a lot. Not enough to help me out for long. And it only hammered the idea further into my head that I was alone in what I endured. As I got older, grew up, and away from the program and people who took my disabled youth, I constantly felt this urge to talk about it. What SpEd had put me through. What I'd lost. What I'd seen & heard. The things I did and didn't learn. Even though I was never a very open kid, let alone teenager.

I hated that no one was talking about it. And how nobody knew what happened to kids like me behind closed doors. At 13 and 14, almost none of the new friends I made had ever heard a life story like mine. And I've always found that wild: I had a LOT of friends! (Still do!)

So I kept drawing it out. Kept working on the story in notebooks, sketchbooks, my friends' DMs, and anywhere else words could go. Sometimes, my family would catch glimpses of the concept art. Sad sketches of Matthew crying, freaky drafts of Monster, or tense moments between what would become Class 7-C.

And one of my parents would be like, "Why is your art so depressing?" They'd roll their eyes. And they'd add on, "People's parents aren't gonna like it!"

No, I never told them what the story was about. I never even told them it was a children's media (because it kinda isn't! I'd personally put PB as 13+?) These were judgments made with just one glance at computer papers covered in pencil strokes; sketchy and shapey little kids who didn't look like they were having fun.

I knew they were wrong. But the audacity still pissed me off. There aren't many times where it's appropriate to boss somebody else around in how to tell their story, you know? Not only that, but I also worried about not having an audience back then. Sure, all my friends loved my work. But at the time, I was the only one who'd really experienced anything "Special Education" in life. Thus, these were General Ed kids watching it unfold. Able-bodied eyes and (as far as I knew back then) neurotypical minds, watching and learning from whatever I made.

And I liked that. But that wasn't the only group I wanted to be seen by. I wanted disabled people, especially youth in their teens and twenties, to see it. That's my primary audience. And shit like that made me wonder if I'd ever find it. Had me second-guessing myself a little, you know?

But I shook it off. It's like that thing teachers always say in class. "If you're confused or have a question, ask: whatever it is, you probably aren't the only one thinking it!"

And I searched for stuff like PAPERBOY, hadn't I? Yeah. I had. So by that logic, other people definitely would be, too.

So I stuck to my guns, and... check it! Y'all showed up!

One thing I've noticed ever since publishing part 1 is that the PB Nation is pretty damn devoted. You guys have been patient, passionate, silly, and unapologetically yourselves since the get-go. And the response to every old promotional comic or post I've made has been OVERWHELMINGLY positive and curious. I've gotten fucking fanart, man! More than once! I've had the honor of meeting a few of you in person already! And for the ones who haven't caught me out with my friends in New York, believe me, I REMEMBER who comments what.

By the way, you guys should spam my comments more. Fuckin' love that shit. SPEAK TO ME, lmao. Even if it's like, the most irrelevant PB question ever. Keyboard smash in my comment sections. Send me disability reels you like. Tell me what you wanna see from the story. Whatever, as long as it doesn't bleed into parasocial territory!

I've gotta have one of the best audiences out there. So thank you! For just... being around. Here's to hoping y'all enjoy the journey we're aboutta go on.

[lilsqueaks]

Agere!Orel headcanons-!

absolutely fixating on this show.. aghh hes baby!! (sorry for any typos n all) hcs under the cut!

cw: passin ment of abuse, nothing detailed.

☀️ i see him regressing to like.. toodler maybe even younger.. 3-6 age range maybe. Going back to before he was a preteen, mainly involuntary

☀️ regressing allows him to go back to a time where he was overly trusting, naive, and just!! A little kid!! Before he got hurt!! But this time he has people that care and keep him safe! He gets to play and have fun!

☀️ I don't think hed have a.. solid caregiver(?) Of course he has joe/christina/steph/rev to keep an eye on him when hes feeling little, just to make sure hes safe. But for the most part! He likes to play and regress alone!

☀️ has a little corner of the room made for when he regresses.. a lil tent packed with little cubbies for his toys and plushies. If not hes sat on the floor in the living room so he can babble with others.

☀️ super talkative. Asks a million questions and all of them are lovingly answered no matter how out there!

☀️ since his own childhood was unsafe, i think he watches a lot of children's shows (sometimes he keeps them on in the background when not regressed) and reads little kid books, at first it started as a way to see what a normal family is like but he ended up loving a lot of them! (He's a big bluey fan!)

☀️ tummy time will especially bring out the baby in him, you set him down on his stomach and hes kicking his legs in baby mode seconds later.

☀️ lovesss coloring books. Had a billion of them! He especially loves coloring with others, steph ends up finger painting with him a lot, using chalk on the driveway with shapey is always fun to do!

☀️ still keeps his love for stop motion although its very tricky to do it while regressed.. so he plays with legos and wooden toys instead! He can spend hours making silly models out of clay and playdough! He also loves doing puzzels

☀️ speaking of steph i know she sings the best lullabies and songs to him! He loves sitting down and watching her strum her guitar!

☀️ Rev Putty also keeps an eye on him, lets him run around the curch or his office, he loves orel like hes his own son! Sits him on his knee and reads story books to him, orel is especially fond of any textured books with flaps and popups to touch and play with!

☀️ Joe is Orels playdate! They usually partake in parallel play or watch cartoons together, joe can be a bit more rougher when they play but they still enjoy eachother company (ill have to make joe his own hc post soon...

☀️ LOVES LOVES animals. already has a soft spot for them but when hes small. he goes crazy for them! so many plushies. specfically of deer n dogs and birds! steph and rev take him to trips on butterfly gardens n zoos bc of it! and take time to dip into a pet shop so he can see the animals