#i think it’s because i changed his colour palette on one part of him

[teastarfall]

i have no clue what im going for w/ my artstyle anymore exploding on the spot right now ^_^

[kyri45]

✨ShadowPeach Bio Parents Bio AU Q&A! 23/10✨

I'm LIVE on my TWITCH page drawing Spicynoodle! Come and say hi!

Welcome to the Q&A! A space where I can answer related or similar question about the Shadowpeach Bio Parents AU! If you submitted your ask anonimously, then you’ll have to check the whole post if it’s answered here, if it’s not, worry not! Your asks might have been used for a future comic or just in the queue~

Anonimo ha chiesto: Ok so your Bio parent AU (loving it so much by the way) takes place after season 5 right? I thought it would be cool if you touched on Monkey Kings issues with Mk using the circuit on him. I eat that stuff up. if its already going in a different direction then that's ok, just a suggestion.

Aww in the end I don't think I can fit this in the story. It's absolutely an amazing idea, and I had thought of adding it for so long, but in the end the final part of the story will go differently.

Anonimo ha chiesto: How do Wukong and Macaque react that they have two grandchildren?? (Kai and Nya)

Will probably die of emotions. The fact that that's both their son's son/daughter, and that's their nephew/niece. It would blow them away. I'll never have children, but they completely change your prespective.

@shadowpeachera ha chiesto: AGHHHHHH XIAOTIANS WEAPON IS SOOO COOOOLLL AND THE WAY YOUR SHOWED HIM MAKING IT AGHHHHHH SO GOOD HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO COME UP WITH THE DESIGN? THE COLOURS? THE EVERYTHING UGHH I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS COMIC AGHHH

I think I did a couple of sketches before the final design, but I went on pinterest quite a lot before to see some variations of magical staff

@beanspassin ha chiesto: Do you think Macaque and Wukong will ever find out about each other secretly checking the other out? Cause let’s face it, Wukong will get a MASSIVE ego boost when he finds out Macaque was staring at him. 🤭

I think Macaque can HEAR when Wukong is checking him out. Wukong probably would negate the fact that he's checking him out, bc my boy is just a mess of emotion

@tessthe-cheesecake ha chiesto: Hello! I just wanted to say I really love your Shadowpeach Bio Parent AU I just have two questions, one: how is MK handling four ears? I assume he doesn't like crowded places (if yes then me too bud me too) ok second question would MK ever go back to being Wukong's successor but in his own way instead? :)

I think MK doesn't want to be a successor bc he doesn't want to be the next Monkey King, but he still wants to be the Monkie Kid. Also, I think he might be starting to feel himself a little more like an heir then a successor

@minli-daughter-of-wukong ha chiesto: So, would you have changed MK’s weapon if you thought a staff wasn’t really his style anymore? Also how did you come up with the idea for the sunset staff and can you give tips on how to find the right kind of weapon you’d choose for a character? So this is so long lol

I aint real good with weapon/characters. This was my first time matching a weapon to a character to be honest. I wanted to create something that was similar to both Wukong's and Macaque's staff, but at the same time being something new. With a new color palette that could represent the kind of hero MK wants to be

@cavern-of-shenanigans ha chiesto: Ok ok ok this is kind of silly but MKs new staff kind of reminds me of a twirling baton So combined with Macaques showmanship and the scarf bit MK tied on, they could play around with it and do a joint shadow play/ribbon dance performance! Maybe add him into the hero warrior story? Nice mother son bonding activity because its cute

HA! true! they are performance duo!

@ashmeertheimp ha chiesto: Hi love your fan art, story,and art style! What if piggsy and Tang went on a long trip and lives in flower fruit Mountain

I don't think freenoodle could survive living so close to shadowpeach

@italian-wizarding-world ha chiesto: Duuude i love, Love, LOVE!!! your art, and your Mk, Wu and Mama it's just too sweet, just two question: 1 Why sunset and not dawn? is it because usually sunset are more impresive? or maybe the staff has two "forms" depending on him using more his shadow powers and if so can he change between them? 2 We need red son reaction to Mk essentially magical girl transformation even if it's just a sparkling staff, because i think it would be epic/hilarious. We need more moment about them and Mei lookin at how dumb both are

I liked sunset because in a way MK started more with Sun powers and he is now discovering more his Macaque side of powers, so he's approaching a little bit the shadows (so his journey was from day to slowly twilight)

Anonimo ha chiesto: Have you ever thought about drawing an adult MK? I love your drawing style, and I wanted to see what an adult MK would look like, as well as Mei and Red Son. Você já pensou em desenhar um MK adulto? Eu amo seu estilo de desenho, e eu queria ver como seria um MK adulto, assim como Mei e Red Son.(I'm Brazilian by the way and I love reading your Au)

Maybe in the future....?

Anonimo ha chiesto: I REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE NO ..I ADORE YOUR DRAWINGS MAN!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ EVERY DAY I REREAD THE WHOLE LMK COMICS OF YOURS..!!!!!!❤️❤️ And hey l have a quition!!! What if mk interrupted wukong while his meditation and like wukong thinks he's in the past what is he gonna do when he see mac!?🌝❤️ Probably we will see a lot of hugs and kisses?🥹

Can you imagine since they are so cuddly even if they aren't together yet again in the AU, that because of this Macaque for a good moment DOESN'T notice the difference?

Anonimo ha chiesto: Can we get a character sheet for chiyou?

nope sorry, but he will come back no worry

Anonimo ha chiesto: Who else wants to see Pigsy and Tang show Monkey King and Macaque pictures of MK growing up?

Aww I think Wukong and Macaque would die from cuteness but at the same time feel a great remorse that they weren't there for their child when he was little. They are glad freenoodle was with them, but still, It's a big chunk of his life that they missed.

@itz-izzyart ha chiesto: So with the noise canceling headphones, does mk wear them so he (hopefully) doesn’t start hearing the past again or is it just something he wears to help him sleep at night?

Both. It helps him muffle the noise.

Anonimo ha chiesto: Would Wukong get ptsd if MK somehow got a circlet himself ?

He would probably loose all his immortalities rather than let MK have a circlet.

@loseranddummy ha chiesto: I have a ≈question≈ is Peng gonna be in your lmk bio parent comic by chance?

mmmm nope, sorry

@oddogoblino ha chiesto: Beeeeeg monke armmssss...meant for hug jail...

yessss..... and cudlleeeeeee...

Anonimo ha chiesto: :D was macaque grooming mk while they were waiting for the weapon to be forged

yup!

Anonimo ha chiesto: HI! Hope you're well and staying hydrated. Would we/could we see more Lilo and Stitch refs for your ShadowPeach bio parents au? I saw the last one and couldn't stop laughing. 😆 Maybe a beach scene or something?

I'll have to see the movie again and I'll see if new idea come in my mind

Anonimo ha chiesto: Have you ever thought about that because Macaque was gone from the living world for so long he doesn't know how use modern technology. Like Wukong's phone will go off when he isn't there and Macaque can't figure out how to get the stupid thing to be quiet

They are both gay boomers, your honor

Anonimo ha chiesto: In your shadowpeach au who is a morning person and who is a night owl Macaque or Wukong?

none of them. Wukong sleeps like 12 hours and Macaque like 5. (but now he's sleeping more thanks to Wukong but still wakes up earlier than Wukong)

[codgod]

y’know generally i try to limit colour palettes to as few colours as possible to make things more cohesive but despite my best efforts only jay ended up being able to stick to that </3

ANYWAYS here’s the as-of-right-now fully updated designs for these dickheads. these will no doubt undergo even more tweaking as i draw them more but this is a start i guess. also pls open the pictures to look at them properly i worked so hard LOL

some random notes under the cut yaaaay

chip —

he jingles when he walks. somehow he’s still stealthy. i do not know how

kept the platinum ring that bonded him to gillion in the block! because hey he doesn’t really have a reason to take it off (and it’s a nice reminder of how much gill cares about him, and how far their friendship has come since that ice arena)

his tattoos shift and flicker like actual flames, and sometimes (harmless, purely aesthetic) sparks fly off them when he’s excited

i just think smoke coming out of his mouth when he’s angry would be cool :]

chipped teeth from biting rocks and coins all the time :/

he has scars from the red lightning, they’re just mostly contained to his back and shoulders. they’re a similar red to his coat even once they’ve healed

gillion —

the tail sleeve thing is so he can rest it on the ground without damaging his scales, he doesn’t usually wear it when he’s just on the ship because the wood is soft enough that it’s usually fine + it can hinder swimming a bit. it’s mostly meant for places where there’s cobblestone or gravel streets and such. i think his armour would probably have a version that looks similar but covers the whole tail minus the fins, maybe with some armour plating of its own. i didn’t draw it because there wasn’t any room lol

his scars from the lightning are pink mostly because red stood out too much tbh. they softly glow in the dark the same as his coral and the pink parts of his fins

also kept his ring! his hands aren’t really made for jewellery, though, because the webbing means it won’t sit very secure on his finger. so he keeps it on the same chain as the necklace he got from aslana to keep it safe

tried to make him look a bit bulkier and more his age than in my original design? i feel like i was leaning too much into the naivety and. shortness. originally lol. he also has thicker eyebrows now and i’m still trying to decide how i feel about them but i think? i like it? i don’t tend to give many character thin eyebrows so it could’ve been a unique thing for him but alas

i think i made the sword too small but like ignore that

also forgor to include pretzel </3 that’s okay though she can get her own design sheet later. she’s special like that

jay —

i believe in tall jay supremacy

blue magic! i was considering gold but that’d look a bit more like a canary than i wanted for her wings so. blue jay :]

her hair is supposed to look kinda like fire to mimic her dad ! kinda showing that even if she runs from her family and the navy they’ll always be a part of her. and also i just like drawing messy hair

i gave her sturdier gloves just because i feel like it fits her better. also changed up the shirt to more of a button up solely because i don’t like tank tops very much LOL

i did WANT to make her outfit a bit flashier to match the boys better but i couldn’t quite figure out where to Put the flash. maybe that’ll come later, the way the story’s going i might get to design some cool prosthetics for her or something

overall —

because there’s just so many fucking colours i triiied to add at least one or two colours from each of them into the others designs. jay has her necklace with each of their main colours on it, her wings are the same blue as gillions eyes, her jacket and right eye are the same dark blue as destiny’s blade, her hair is the same orange as the lighter part of chips tattoos. chip has a dark green sash under all the belts, the same as the hilt of destiny’s blade. they all use the same shades of black, gold, and brown

the only real exception is gillion doesn’t have anything from the other two because he has Such a specific colour palette and he already had so much going on as-is orz jay was obviously the easiest to do this with because she has both warm and cool colours in her palette by default lol (and i did her design last, so that helps)

[prismuffin]

Heya, wanted to do an ask, as well as your inbox still says you're taking requests. Didn't know if you wanted to change that.

How do you think the justice league boys, (Superman, Batman, Green lantern ( Hal Jordan), the flash, etc.) and John Constantine would react to an alien Reader?

Better explanation: So the reader has patterns or something that changes based on their mood, so how do you think they would react if they were talking to the Reader and Reader's colours changed to love?

Reminds me of Koro Sensei so I'm gonna use his color palette to dignify the readers colors! Also thanks for letting me know abt my inbox LMFAO- Anyways I think

Batman was just ranting to you about his recent expedition with Hal, enjoying how your face would change colors based on your reactions to certain parts of the story. A deep blue with white outlines when you were shocked, green when you were happy and lilac when relieved. It was a simple and straightforward way of knowing how you felt and he liked about you. He had all your colors and their meanings memorized not only in his mind but in his database too. So it was quite the shock when you'd started to turn a light pink, the areas of your cheeks being a bit darker. You looked lovesick with a lopsided smile on your face and he stopped talking as it all really hit him. At the sudden silence your face went gray and neutral signifying your confusion. He chuckled and decided not to tell you the real reason why he stopped. But now that he's aware of your little crush he may act on his own.

Superman would also probably have most of your colors memorized though he still doesn't know what all of them mean. So when you turn a light shade of pink while you both were talking he was confused because it wasn't a color he could relate to anything. When he asked your pink color turned into a salmon color as you got embarrassed, that one he knew. He had to ask Batman what you turning pink meant in the end because he wanted to know just in case it happens again. When he figures out the emotion behind it he's very flattered and likes to see how easily he can make you turn pink.

Hal would be similar to Superman in the sense that he would only know what some of your colors meant. He's never asked he's just picked up on a few from just being around you. He likes to have knowledge on things though, so whenever a color comes up that he doesn't know he wouldn't mind asking you about it. You usually have no problem explaining to him what you're feeling but right now when he caught you turning bright pink when talking to him you seemed to shut down. Your pink turned salmon which luckily he knew so he asked why you were embarrassed which only deepened your color. He wasn't able to get an explanation out of you that day but after observing your behavior (and color) around him while comparing it to others he was able to easily catch on.

Barry would make an effort to know all of your colors. He struggles! But he's trying and that's the important thing. When having a conversation with you he usually tries to take it slow so that he can fully develop an understanding of what all your colors mean, he's honestly very fascinated. He tries to make guesses on what the colors he doesn't know mean based on context clues. So when you suddenly turn pink his brain is immediately in analyzing mode! It takes a couple of interactions with you for him to figure out exactly what it means, it's only a hunch but it's enough to give him the confidence to ask you out!

John has a mental library of what all your colors mean. Even colors you think he doesn't know he knows ok? So when you turn pink and he doesn't immediately know what it means he starts using the process of elimination to figure it out. After maybe two interaction with you turning pink around him and he's clocked the emotion behind it. Similarly to Superman he likes to tease you and see just how pink he can make you. His goal is to make you turn hot pink, he thinks it's cute.

———

Directory

[lovely-oh-so-lovelyyui]

Reiji - House of Chanel

Inherently, I think this went well especially with Chanel being such a traditional fashion house but also with its very feminine undertones. In comparison to some of the others, calling Chanel Reiji’s brand was more symbolic than realistic but I’ll explain.

Chanel in all its years since 1910’s has the same iconic look, the tweed structured suits, and the armoured corset dresses with delicate but impactful embellishments. It makes sense for Reji, he has this blunt yet sophisticated personality which physically manifests in his clothes; always well put together, tailored and steamed.

His suits may change but they maintain the same composition and colour palette, to the untrained eye they don’t look different but if you look closely he pays a lot of attention to what he wears.

He’s aware even as a vampire he still has the face of an 18 year old boy, there’s still that youthfulness present in his face, he makes up for it by wearing glasses he doesn’t really need but they highlight the aristocratic cutting of his face - with his sharp upturned nose, and bright red eyes.

He doesn't have his mother’s curls or his father’s pin straight hair but rather a wavy touch to his locks, he knows how it makes him look when it’s down, younger, softer …gentle and that’s just despicable! So he carefully styles his hair with mousse slicking it back, making him look more stern.

Reiji is also a lot more sensitive ( he’s a fussy, whiny little rich brat), so he can’t stand pungent smells ( blood, guts, drugs), that doesn’t mean he makes excuses to lose his composer so he has this strong cologne that is like sandalwood and kind of fruity? Like winter berries and tea leaves or something no one expected it to smell so good but he makes it work. Not to mention his hygiene is always top tier, so he has this freshly washed cotton and minty undertone. 

So that's his main style right? So I was in between Dior and Chanel - and Chanel won of course 

Mainly I mentioned before Chanel has more feminine undertones which I think expands well with Reiji’s complex relation with his brothers; whilst the misogynistic response to his trauma is still present he almost takes on a maternal role towards his family as much of the fandom has noticed - the reasons as why he does this is quite ironic actually. In his entirety, the persona of someone being capable is important for him, if he cannot be successful in maintaining - not only his family's name and reputation through the dictatorship of his brothers - how he holds himself in public how does he expect to be King?

Yet, all the care and attention to detail he gives is almost seen as motherly. The sheer unseriousness of it is not lost on me, even with all the rampant comments on the inferiority of women within the Sakamaki Home, the most well-adjusted and competent man is seen as feminine.

In other readings of Reiji though his feminine undertones are more purposeful, they come from the fact that him and Shu are perpendicular to one another because of Shu’s immense strength being seen as this "laid back protector archetype" as intrinsically masculine so Reiji’s more mentally vulnerable, cunning, shrewd approach is seen as more feminine ;dissect that how you will. My favourite though is Reiji picking up on etiquette by copying his mother who was a figurehead for women in the vampiric society.

Also reflected in Coco Chanel who is  like, not a nice woman but she did have her moments - a cause for much scandal was her pioneering for trousers and women's athletic wear believe it or not, she was a big equestrian ( is that not the most Reiji sport ever?) and encouraged women to wear equestrian kits. 

I think this also goes really well with his character in terms of politics, the synonymous nature of being a traditionalist yet paving the way is a part of Reji. He very strongly believes in the House of Sakamaki and what it stands for but he also like his father wishes to further vampiric society from it’s barbarism; in some ways he is a cultural snob but in others he’s quite attentive to the the silver lining that maintains modernism and the old ways.

The House of Channel also does this; it has always had its roots cemented in the old ways of aristocratic luxury items, but unlike many other fashion houses it does try to adapt to the changing times sometimes successfully, others not so successfully.

On a less serious note, in general I think it suits his aesthetic as well; as I’ve mentioned the iconic Chanel suits, but also the Corsets? Like Reiji is a big corset man I don’t care what anyone says, the timeless figure of archive Chanel pieces, the monotone colour scheme of darker colours. Moreover, even the chic pieces take inspiration from old money outfits: the arranged tulle of the Victorian era, the heavy contrast, the heavy gold pieces and brooches.

In comparison to Reiji’s fashion, with his fitted suits and tiny waist with the chain of his watch fob, as well as heavy contrast colours: blacks, reds, whites and navy’s. 

Also the chunky jewellery makes sense in my head, it’s like masterfully placed so it doesn’t overwhelm him but I think the jewellery Reiji has includes: obviously the different chains for his antique watch, but also chunky rings seem more his thing than thin ones especially ones with carefully placed family jewels (rubies, emerald's, obsidians - as I said: snob) , this would do for more traditional attire too. 

His outfits in the demon world definitely include brooches, and chains and pendants to embellish his outfit, eye makeup isn’t a big thing for him because it’s so fussy but he would definitely do darker eye makeup to bring out his eyes. He’s quite theatrical, and definitely plays into the ashy white vampire skin ( this is the skin of a killer Bella).

Overall, I refuse to believe he does casual clothing- like Reiji in sweats ( esp the juicy couture ones ) is a horrendous image. So yeah Reiji is a Chanel girl!

Also I can’t believe I completely forgot this but in the beginning Coco Chanel was overlooked by the media, in terms of her designs in the beginning of career because of a little brand called Polo…owned by Ralph Lauren that was also making athletic wear but also quite good friends with Coco Chanel 

It’s almost like A certain someone who I said represented Ralph Lauren (Shu) overshadowing Chanel at first before she split off to make her own name.

[drconstellation]

More Half-and-Half-A-Miracle Thoughts

Part 2: The Dark side of Aziraphale

Updated 10 Nov 2023

Part 1: Miracle Power Ranking is here. Part 3: The Third Archangel is here

There was one that thing that struck me about the miracle working scene: why did Gabriel offer crossed hands to the duo?

Gabriel offers his right, his good, heavenly angel-sided hand to Crowley first, and his left, his sinister-sided demon hand to Aziraphale.

And this is NOT an accident.

Its been observed that Gabriel, in his amnesiac state like this, has reverted back to a more base-state angelic being, one of joy, and love, and curiosity. He's acting on instinct here.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. The demon has more light in him than the angel, and Gabriel and can feel that instinctively. This really shouldn't be a surprise to us, its been in our face all along. Now don't get me wrong - Crowley is still a demon, and Aziraphale is still an angel, I'm not saying that they aren't. Mostly we talk about how Crowley isn't all that much of a demon at heart, just "going along with Hell as far as [he] can," but we don't really talk about much about that other side of Aziraphale other than wishing to see more of his BAMF! side.

You know what - its a side that thanks to all of the rest you ops and meta-ists out that that I've come to both fear and appreciate. And let me tell you, if I found myself in a dark alley on a bad night I would hope to God it was Crowley I bumped into , because I feel he would at least give me the choice to walk out alive. I don't think Aziraphale would, I would be at the mercy of how ever he decided he wanted to manipulate the situation...and I find that rather chilling.

Crowley might be the charred demon with a heart of gold, but Aziraphale is the two-sided bastard of an angel he loves. All bright light casts a shadow. Its easy for us to be blinded by the shining light of goodness and right and the side of God (er, hang on, isn't the GO God an eldritch horror in disguise...?) and not be able to see what is hiding behind it.

We rarely see the back of Aziraphale's waistcoat, because he is rarely seen without an overcoat on, a covering of social propriety. There is the noticeable occasion in S2E1 when Crowley comes back to do the apology dance then they perform the hiding miracle (see screenshot below, and it was still hard to chose a good angle for all it went on for several minutes!) and perhaps in S1 when he spends all night reading Agnes Nutter's book. Both times its only in the privacy of the book shop, under the cover of night. So its easy to miss that the color of the back panel is a most un-angelic color: a dark viridian green. I know I keep banging on about this, but its important, and in more ways than one.

[Edit: Since I first wrote this, I've written a mega-meta on all the colours in GO, and some of the following interpretation has changed a little - but the significance of the green still stands!]

All the angels wear some form of a pale colored neutral palette, ranging from white to beige to taupe (white, off-white shades and shades of brown,) with dove-grey for the known in-show seraphim, Gabriel, Michael, Uriel and Saraqael. Gold and blue are also associated with Heaven. But Aziraphale is the only angel to wear green and shades of blue-green. He's quite unique in that department.

The colors of Hell are completely different. Black, lots of black. And red, different shades of red. The demons are actually quite a colourful lot, but do tend towards the darker shades. Red is a colour of passion, not just a demonic colour, although it can be associated with the demonic sinister left hand side. The main colour of Hell is actually green - the thick green light that you almost of have to swim through in the crowded halls of Hell, and examples like the green stag on Furfur's sash. It represents chaos, in competition to the rigid lawful nature of Heaven.

So while Aziraphale mostly presents a socially acceptable angelic front, its telling only Crowley has properly glimpsed that dark, shady, bit-of-a-bastard unpredictable side to him - and likes it. (More from Cobragardens about it here in 1793 Paris and 1601 at the Globe.) I mean, come on - this is a being that sent a man to his death so he could go on lunch date? A lunch date he practically concocted just so he could see Crowley. wtf? A being of love who was about to shoot the Antichrist to stop Armageddon? A being who quietly and efficiently discouraged the mafia who threatened to set the book shop on fire from ever returning? (See, told you I didn't want to meet him a dark alley...) Plus we saw him mind-control a whole roomful of people for his Jane Austen-themed ball, just to woo his beloved demon, with no thought of the possible collateral damage. I'm sorry, is this the same "guardian angel" we were all glowing over earlier?

The coat lapel as wings theory adds some weight to this hidden dark side of Aziraphale as well. Aziraphale's lapels always point downwards, towards Hell. Particularly when he has been discorporated and returned to Heaven, where frustrated about being told he has to gear up for war, he instead wonders out loud if he can return to Earth to a possess a body, reasoning that if demons can, he must be able to as well. lmoa! You are so not an angel, my dear! Yet...he isn't a demon either. He's almost...a bit of both. Two sides to a coin. A blend of light and dark. Shades of grey...although he doesn't like to admit it.

Image by lomiel

Back to the shadow-like green panel on the back of the waistcoat.

Actually, on second thoughts, I'm going to put that in Part 3.

[bobbybutterfly]

It’s been over 2 weeks since I last posted. Well. I hope that these four pieces were worth the wait.

Mulori! Boy I’m proud of this piece! I tried experimenting with colour by using warmer colours for shadows and cool colours for lights. She’s really giving angel of war descending from the heavens.

What to say about Mulori? Her death! You’re telling me that scout Gosemdouchi got a whole ass music video dedicated to him and Mulori gets NOTHING?! I’m outraged. But her edition of In the Years I Spent Far From Home is just so beautiful. Now I’m writing about it, I’m not sure if they made a separate cover for when she sings it in Operation White Snow or she was always singing it. Non the less it slaps.

Interesting was to see she’s shown often with Commander Gosemdouchi. He personally sends her off on her mission to stop the weasel spies (I’m sorry I don’t remember the name of their group). He cries when she dies, proclaiming they should fire their missiles for Mulori. The reason why I find it interesting is that when I went to write a short story about Mulori’s time in the military, I made them have a let’s say weird relationship. Maybe it got saved in my unconscious memory. Just like with Udochi being scout Gosemdouchi’s younger brother LOL. I thought I made that up but no!

I should maybe go back to that story sometime. Probably change Commander Gosemdouchi to a lower rank hedgehog that still has authority over her. A country leader would not have time to bully some low rank scout. Even though it is quite funny when I think about it.

Oewepali! I got told that this piece lacks depth because I use the same colours in the foreground and background. That’s a problem in all my pieces. It’s my fault for trying to use a very limited colour palette. Also what happened to his left arm and now that I’m looking at it, where’s his tail? The lighting too is… With the lighting in these pieces I wasn’t thinking about where it would logically go. I just made the lighter parts where they would look good compositionally. Yeah. I’m not that proud of the last two pictures.

As for what I think of this character… I originally thought that he got some developmental disability. I thought it would be interesting to write about a character during war that doesn’t really understand what’s going on. Kinda like Forest Gump. After rewatching the series (I still have to rewatch last two episodes) I came to the conclusion that he’s neurotypical but bullied by his brothers into thinking that he’s stupid. In the later episodes he’s shown to be actually quite capable. If I ever write a story featuring him I might give him like dyslexia though. I imagine he and his brothers went through a lot of trauma. Because he was the youngest and maybe had difficulty with learning they picked on him to let their frustration out.

Mulsajo! That’s right! I know his name now! I drew his paw like that because it was like that in the reference. I don’t really like it but I don’t have an idea how I would change it. I did change though, his teeth. My mom shown me rodent teeth because she didn’t like the mice have cat fangs. So he is a little more anatomically correct. Ignore the dog nose and that he’s anthropomorphic. LOL.

I took just so many screenshots! I should sometime post them. I love how they’re drawn in this picture! SO CUTE!

Mulsajo has one of the best designs in the show. The ripped up purple shirt is iconic. It was a while since I’ve seen the episodes with him. Before rewatching the show I thought he was a decent guy. Then I rewatch the show and he’s so mean to poor Oewepali. Dude can’t get a break. My head cannon still is that he’s nice but because they were starving, he’s aloud to be a bit grumpy. He’s also spiritual. Giving us one of the funnier jokes when Oewepali asks if he can eat the big fish only to be told no and then complain that Mulmangcho should have died earlier. This show’s dark humour is pretty great.

I want to develop my own mythology for my AU. Such as the mouse kings being descended from the sea god because Mulmangcho (he’s a king in exile in my AU) is often shown by the sea. It’s something I was thinking about when I drew this piece. It’s also inspired by Mulsajo’s death. Now if we’re talking about a main side character dying, Mulsajo has it the worst. He is never mentioned again in season 1. If you didn’t pay attention you wouldn’t have noticed he died. He is only sort of mentioned in season 2 episode 1. Mulmangcho is in disguise as a squirrel making up stories about what the wolves did to him and his family. He mentions his twelve dead brothers and how they cut off his tail. You begin to realise that he’s talking about what Flower Hill did to him. Obviously the moral is to never trust strangers no matter what they tell you. But I like to view it as a rare sympathetic scene for Mulmangcho. If someone was to write a continuation of season 2 I would like to see them expand on that scene.

Also fan art idea to design Mulmangcho’s 11 other dead brothers?

Last one up is Scout Gosemdouchi. Please don’t pay much attention to the plane. I really got to do some airplane studies. For the background I tried something more graphic and non literal. Lots of people I shown it to think he’s jumping out of the plane.

I actually have some trauma dumping I want to do. I swear it’s related to Squirrel and Hedgehog. If you don’t want to hear me whine about my catholic trauma then skip the next paragraph.

Alright then. Let’s get on with it. So I was like 8 years old. Our whole catholic school went to church. The priest starts preaching about this “real” story from China. The communists were cracking down on Christians. Some soldiers trashed a church. Taking special care the throw the Eucharist on the ground and stomp it with their muddy boots. Later a little girl would sneak into the boarded up church and lick the Eucharist off the ground. One day a soldier noticed her doing that AND SHOT HER ON SIGHT! Lesson? Be willing to die for your god.

I guess I like the cartoon because it reminds me of my childhood. LOL. Be sure to share your stories of childhood indoctrination in the comments! For real though, scout Gosemdouchi’s and Mulori’s deaths are to me the grossest parts of Squirrel and Hedgehog. Luckily I’ve got my head cannons that sort of fix that for me.

Originally this was the first picture I talked about but I found what I had to say was quite depressing. Plus religion is a touchy subject. I hope I didn’t offend anyone. I’m just talking about my own experiences. Also it’s good to have it off my chest. Now I don’t have to think about it anymore! YAY!

[raptorrobot]

I love playing toys!!

How do you think Icarus would be if all the bad stuff didn’t happen to him and he remained an angel up until the events of the Ultrakill game?

What was the designed process like for Icarus (both prime and angel)? Were there any details you had solidified all the way through or things that changed over time?

ouhhhh what an interesting query !!!!

genuinely in that case i think 3-2 would be a dual fight with both of them involved. that's gabriel's guard dog ! he's still going to be taking that seraph everywhere with him !

icarus prime also wouldn't be canon in this scenario either ! no divorce fights no attempted suicide no second death just two angels against the world

and; oughh . i love this second question so so much. i will be yapping about it under the cut

why explain the basics when i can just show them ! here's icarus' first ever ref sheet compared to his most recent one;

yeauh . big differences

most notably: he was not originally a prime soul, he was just a fallen angel ! hence the shackles and funky satanic imagery patterns on him

the scariest part: AH !!!! TWINK !!!!!!! he was SO skinny back then it almost makes me Sad looking at it now . it was an intentional design note, as at this point in his development i wanted him to look like an emaciated animal - but his fatness is so important to him now that seeing him without it is DEEPLY jarring

some consistencies: his hooves, claws, and head have always remained consistent in his design ! i've just always loved the shape language of them too much to change . i actually tried to phase out the more animalistic parts of him (hooves & claws) when developing him into a prime soul (to be more consistent with the two canon ones) but i just. couldn't . they were so integral to his design at that point that i couldn't imagine him without them . and of course, his head is pretty much the exact same from the point of conception; the cross-face, dual horns and head wings have only changed via stylistic evolution and nothing more <3

colours: they're So Different now . since he originally belonged to heresy rather than violence, i really wanted to hammer in that red - which persisted up until somewhat recently, when i phased it out for the full blue/silver scheme . his prime form and angel form now share an almost identical colour palette, which i think is fun ! another reason for getting rid of the red was because i wanted him to stand stark against the colours of violence (specifically red & white); as minos does wifh gluttony and sisyphus does with heresy. it also makes him look softer :]

in regards to his angel form; i cannot find any old refs of it unfortunately but the change in that design has been even MORE drastic . though one thing that has always been super important to it is the silver metal; he has always supposed to look like a subordinate . being bereft of colour and the brighter hues of angels like gabriel is a Very Important Contrast that i like emphasising

the black metal in his design is a recent change though ! it used to be silver and white up until recently, not silver and black . the reasoning behind this one is that i'm a sucker for dark colour schemes in armour and it looks cool . it's an excuse to make him look more intimidating too since he's a bodyguard !

[convexicalcrow]

after an awful bout of writer's block regarding part three of the lost prince au, tonight i finally started writing something. took long enough to work out where the second half needed to go and what needed addressing, esp since i hit them with the grief stick in the interludes lol. so obvs dealing with that is clearly the main focus.

i've rejected a lot of potential plot points but i think i now finally have a plot that's going to work for where they are and what they need to deal with to get that good character growth. plus i get to do moar pixandrian lore worldbuilding wooo.

extremely sketchy 'i wrote this in 18 mins and haven't even edited it' exerpt below the cut if you're interested. still needs a ton of work, but having it started is really helping me visualise where to go next.

It had been too long since they'd arrived in Djesdjes, or so Cub thought. He was almost getting to like the place. He had settled into the rhythm of the temple now that he'd recovered, and was enjoying simply being able to serve and do nothing else. Just give his life over to the gods and perform the rites as he'd been taught. In between, he'd done whatever work needed doing, and when he was free, spent time with Scar down by the lakeside, or wandering through the markets, just enjoying being somewhat normal and in the company of people who spoke his language.

He was down by the lake again. He knew very well that he had to keep going, but his heart wasn't really in it. Not right now, anyway. That Wag festival had really messed him up. It had let out all that grief, and he hadn't really known what to do with it, save for spending too many late nights talking it out with Scar and Ma'akhi. Had it really helped? Not really. He'd still lost everything. Nothing would change that.

Sure, he had a new horse, and new tack, and he'd been able to replace his palette and get more papyrus, but it wasn't the same. Not yet, it wasn't. This new palette was a different shape. It didn't have Djehuty's name on it. It had four colours, not two. The reed pens were made from slightly thicker reed than he was used to. All small and insignificant things, to be fair, but they weren't his. And he wasn't quite in the right headspace to accept it yet. So, maybe, when night fell, he took his horse, left a note for Scar, and rode back to the place he'd left behind. He needed to see the Vigil and see the Copper King once more.

-

Was it more dangerous riding at night? Oh, sure. Though at least the moon was almost full, so there was just about enough light to see as he followed the road back to the Copper King's mountain. Was this a stupid thing to do? Cub wasn't sure. Didn't really care, either. Just knew he needed to go back there. He needed to see the Vigil. He arrived just after dawn, riding up to the gates just as the shifts were switching over.

"I seek entrance to the Copper King's mines!" Cub called.

"Who asks to be admitted?" one of the guards replied.

"The wanderer known as Cub. I have met the Copper King before. He invited me to return if I needed it. I have come from Djesdjes," Cub said.

"Oh, yes, I remember you! Please, do come in," another guard said. "I'm glad better weather brought you to us this time."

"Indeed, indeed. All praise to Ra for the good weather," Cub said, backing up his horse a little as the gates were opened. His horse startled a little at the drumming that followed, but he managed to calm her down and rode through the gates with the previous shift following along behind him.

One fo the guards caught up to him. "Do you need an escort to show you around? I'm assuming you'll head for the stables?"

"Yes, yes, I'll leave my horse there if that's okay. And do let him know I've arrived. I don't know how long I'll stay, though," Cub said.

"Oh, he'll know from the drumming, don't worry. We use them to communicate because we can hear them all over the city here. Come, I'll show you the stables," the guard said.

-

"Cub? Come on, we're late for morning rite!"

Scar said as he poked his head into Cub's sleeping quarters. He saw nothing save for a rolled up piece of papyrus on his bed.

"Oh, that rapscallion! I hope he hasn't run off somewhere! I'll never find him now!" Scar said, picking up the papyrus. He unrolled it and read the note Cub had left. "'Gone to see the Copper King. Sorry. Needed to get out of Djesdjes. Back in a few days.' Well, this is unacceptable! How dare he go on an adventure without me! Jellie, come on, we're going to see this Copper King as well!"

-

Scar found Ma'akhi about to start the procession to the temple. He would miss being in the temple, but he had a feeling Cub would need him.

"Ma'akhi, where does this Copper King live? Cub's gone to see him, but I don't know where he lives!" Scar said.

"Oh! Go out the west gate and follow the trade route. That should get you there in a day or so. It's a large mountain with gates on each side surrounded by wheat fields. It's very hard to miss. I take it you'll be staying with him until you return?" Ma'akhi said.

"Yes, of course! I think he just needed to get out of town for a bit, you know? I can tell he's going through a lot right now. Hopefully we'll be back sooner rather than later," Scar said.

"Good luck, and be kind to each other, yeah? May Netjer travel with you," Ma'akhi said.

"Thank you! Send my regards to Djehuty!" Scar said.

-

Cub left his horse in the stables under the care of the horse master, and took up the guard's offer to take him to the Vigil. Cub still wasn't sure why he felt so drawn to it, but he wasn't about to complain. He'd forgotten how...

It's not that the Vigil was a dark place, necessarily. It was in a large, brightly lit cave that opened to the sky, surrounded by houses carved into the rock. It had space. The running water from the fountain in the middle was soothing and cool, taking away from the heat that was starting to come in from the outside. But there were candles everywhere, in so many different colours, sizes, and shapes.

"I wondered if I might find you here," the Copper King said, coming to stand beside him.

"I dunno, something just- I felt like I needed to be here," Cub said.

The Copper King laughed. "The ancestors will do that sometimes, yes."

"I've been dreaming. Bad dreams. Akhu dreams. Like-..." Cub sighed.

"I take it that Wag festival really stirred up a few things, hey? I've heard it can do that," the Copper King said.

Cub nodded. "Do you know how hard it is to grieve when you can't say their names? I don't even know what I'll do if I get back to the Two Lands. What's really left for me there?"

"I guess that's a question you can only really answer once you go there. I have heard stories of rebuilding, though, from other traders. Khemenu became a sanctuary. You may want to go there first. It might do you good to stay there a while and get your bearings before you think about going elsewhere. The Governor there is a kind man. I know, because we've only recently reopened our trade routes back to the Two Lands. We're planning to go again in a month. If you're still around by then, maybe you can join us when we pass through Djesdjes. We'd love to have your company," the Copper King said.

"Yeah, maybe. I dunno. I know Scar wants to leave soon. I kinda do, but also, I still feel like I need to stay in Djesdjes for a while. Mentally, I still need to recover. But I find it impossible to explain that to him. He doesn't understand," Cub said.

"Well, he won't if you never try to explain it. But I do know what you mean. From what little you've told me about your life, I can't imagine trying to readapt to any kind of normal life after that. Take your time. I might not know much about healing, but what I do know is that you'll do yourself more harm if you go before you're ready. Do you need some time alone with the Vigil?" the Copper King said.

"Yeah, maybe. It's not that I can't talk to my akhu in Djesdjes, but you know-"

"You like the anonymity of being here more, I get it. Stay as long as you like. I'll be around if you need me," the Copper King said.

[because-its-eurovision]

I was right 😭😭😭😭 the staging just doesnt work, hopefuly they will changde literally everything before may :D

I disagree. I think having dancers on stage is the right decision.

Cha Cha Cha is a powerful and energetic song, and the performance has to reflect that. It is very hard to stage a party song with just the singer by themself and I can't remember a case where that has worked in Eurovision (North Macedonia 2017 says hi). Not to mention the facts that Käärijä can't fight himself like he does in the music video and that singing and dancing at the same time is very demanding, which is why solo performers often have backup dancers to do the hard part.

In my opinion the dancers of Cha Cha Cha are brilliant. The power and poise they have, the crazy eyes, the vampiric overly whitened fake teeth - everything works. At the beginning of the performance they are great contrast to Käärijä. Pink dressed dancers with slick styling and high heels, aggressive moves, punctual cha-cha-cha steps against his green show wrestling gear and bowlcut, insecure expressions, awkward clumsiness and how he portrays himself as being a weirdo and an outsider. Käärijä is the main character of the performance, an antihero and underdog you want to root for. The contrast of their styling, colour palette, how they move on the stage builds up an interesting conflict and keeps the audience engaged.

I interpret the dancers as representing Käärijä's insecurities about being a bad dancer and on a larger scale showing his vulnerable side. They are climbing into his boxing ring and almost overwhelming him until after the second chorus the song's genre changes and he beats his demons (as the color scheme of the stage lighting changes from pink to green) and the walls around him literally disappear. He's still insecure but gains confidence, teams up with the dancers and is finally even their leader (chosen by the heavenly light beam during the lift, love that) as they join him for the awkward dance moves just to have fun, not to be strict and proper anymore. The theme of Cha Cha Cha is letting go of your fears, being yourself and having fun even if you aren't the best at what you're doing, because in the end we only have this one life.

The dancers of Cha Cha Cha are not only great at illustrating the title of the song, but also the story behind the lyrics, and making the performance altogether captivating visually. There are some parts that I'd like them to reconsider, yes, like a couple of camera angles (Käärijä getting a bit lost behind the dancers during the second verse for example), and perhaps the piggy train, although it's already iconic. But even if they don't change anything at all I'm extremely proud of the performance Käärijä & Yle's team have put on to represent my country. It's crazy, it's party.

[shytulipartist]

TR's Palette Challenge Part 6

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

Original post with palettes (made by @thoughtfulrobot)

First version of Saúl

Pattern used: Malabar Squirrel

Remember that demon I drew for Halloween last year? He is officially a character now. I haven't made his colour palette yet, so I decided to try this one to see how it looked on him. I might make some minor changes, but I think he looks okay.

I also wrote some notes for myself and practiced writing with my digital pen because that's gonna be relevant in the future.

Without revealing too much about him, he is just an average-looking demon that was born in Hell. He is not actually a monarch; he just wears that cape to seem important.

Sketches

[notwantedonthemoon]

Apparently I have entered a phase in which I cannot draw anything except these two. I love Lucy and her funny best friend. Every time I think about them the chorus of The Boys Are Back from High School Musical 3 starts playing in my head.

Design stuff (and birds) below:

LUCY

Lucy is so tall. To this day I run into the issue of having no clue how to draw her next to any other character without having to imagine the other character standing on a stepstool just to be in frame. The solution to this, I gathered, is to get really used to drawing Lucy carrying people.

I very much intend for Lucy to have a frog vibe since she's thematically associated with transformation and being a part of two worlds at once- but at this point, the frog associations are running on pure vibes alone. I'm leaning more heavily on the extravagant bird associations.

Lucy decides to turn into a cormorant sometimes, so those were a pretty obvious place to turn for inspiration.

Because of their lighter feathers, I thought I'd give Lucy a lighter patch of hair, too. But then I stumbled upon this absolute majesty of a bird:

Look at these birds. I know nothing about them, except that they're called ruffs and they look fabulous, and I love them with my whole heart.

So I had to make that hair fluffy. I don't know how to adapt hair into a feathery neck-ruffle/mane but I will figure it out one day.

I don't know how to keep the ruffles for when Lucy eventually gets a Joan-of-Arc haircut, but I was thinking of picking another bird to accompany her wardrobe change: the loggerhead shrike! I'm considering somehow giving her that cool black mask patterning over their eyes that they have:

But then she might end up looking like a raccoon, or perhaps Batman. Further consideration is needed.

HAM

I had a brief phase in which my perception of Ham's appearance veered wildly off his canon description and I spent that entire phase squinting with increased agitation at Google images of medieval queen portraits.

I figured it would make sense for him to look rather intimidating and unapproachable; he's very intense, and lonely- he’s not good at making friends despite clearly wanting them. This eventually slid into me picturing him with a very regal, queenly vibe... that I absolutely failed to capture here lol he looks so friendly

He doesn't even look like a Ham, he looks more like a Penelope

Like how Hamlet was constantly pestered by his father's ghost badgering him for vengeance, I was badgered by my own thoughts constantly reminding me that Ham makes dad jokes, so my entire focus turned towards making sure that my Ham looks like a guy who makes dad jokes.

But my time spent scouring Google images has not gone completely to waste. It helped me come up with a new colour palette for him and I like it very much. Unfortunately implementing it does mean I have to give up on the walking Valentine's day card colour palette but alas. At least there are the shoes. The shoes can still look like a Valentine's day chocolate box.

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

I didn’t want to be a hater of the new Peter Pan remake before it even started, and I’m not hating, but as someone who cherishes the original book and various adaptations of the story, I do have some things I need to say regarding the Disney remake.

Firstly, I’ve seen people complain about the diversity - namely Peter and Tinkerbell. I don’t have a problem with non-white actors playing any parts - I think Yara is beautiful as Tinkerbell and I’m intrigued to see what Alexander Molony brings since the trailer didn’t really showcase much of him as Peter. The Lost Boys especially being a diverse group makes sense to me as they’re “lost” - they should all look different; I welcome the casting of non-white, disabled etc boys in the gang. Anyone complaining about “wokeness” just because they’re not all pasty white kids is just racist; I’ve even seen people complaining Tiger Lily isn’t white, which…? Hello??? She has NEVER been white, she and her tribe have always been Native Americans.

Having said that, the Lost Boys should all still be boys - “girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams”, and the fact that Wendy is the first girl they meet and they see her as a motherly figure because the only girls/women they’ve ever known have presumably been fairies, Tiger Lily (who is a princess in her tribe) or the distant memories they hold of their own mothers. Supposedly you could argue that “Lost Boys” is just the name of their gang, regardless of whether it’s boys or girls in the group, but still… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I don’t particularly agree with this change. But honestly, it’s not the end of the world, I can get over it.

“Wahhh they’ve made Wendy the main character and not Peter Pan!!!” — my guys… the original novel was LITERALLY called Peter and Wendy. The book literally opens with this paragraph:

“All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather de- lightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, “Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!” This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.”

This is literally Wendy’s story that ends with her deciding to go home and grow up; we meet Peter through her eyes, not the other way around. If you’re that mad that Wendy is being given a big part, you clearly haven’t bothered to read the source material and you’re just mad because you don’t like the idea of the female character being the protagonist.

If you want to take an issue with casting/characters, look at Hook/Mr Darling: how they’ve made Hook look aside (although… mmm, yikes), Disney has decided not to have the same actor play Hook and Mr Darling - Hook is Jude Law and Mr Darling is Alan Tudyk. I have nothing to comment on either of them as actors: my issue is that it’s a tradition for the same actor to play both of them that originates back to when the story was a stage play and has carried over to other media adaptations of the story. Having the same actor play both parts adds extra layers to the story (the relationship with the father vs fighting Captain Hook, parallels between the two characters, the subtext between Wendy and Hook as she’s on the cusp of adulthood etc).

My main issue though? The colour palette of this film - and all the Disney remakes, in fact.

I think the current colour palette of dull greys and muted greens could have worked for the London scenes because then the contrast between it and Neverland would have been even more striking; Neverland is a magical place where the children don’t want to grow up. Barrie wrote in his book that the Neverlands are found in the minds of children; although each is "always more or less an island" as well as having a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John’s Neverland had "a lagoon with flamingos flying over it," while Michael's had "a flamingo with lagoons flying over it." Neverland should be magical and colourful to reflect this, because a child’s imagination is limitless.

This just looks… dull. Like they’ve put a filter over it to make it look gritty.

In comparison, this is how the original animated film looked:

“But it’s live action, of course it’ll look less colourful” - wrong. The 2003 live action managed to make Neverland look twice as colourful as this new film, and that was released two entire decades before:

It’s not just this remake: it’s most remakes quite frankly - The Lion King, Little Mermaid, etc.

I don’t want to hate on the film when it’s not actually out yet, and I’m going to reserve full judgement until it does release, but I feel like people are claiming anyone with criticism is just being racist when there are genuine critiques and concerns. As I said, I don’t have any issue with the casting or in diversifying the cast, my issue comes from the colour palette of the film, the changes from the source material where there don’t need to be changes, and also the fact that Disney (and most other companies for that matter) should waste less money on pointless remakes and spend more resources producing original content.

[dkniade]

Regarding those Edwin doodles, why was he beaten up? Who was talking to him? 👀 Also, moomoo Edwin is so cute >:3c 💕💕💕

context

Oh, it was no one in particular (Maybe a rival gang member if I were to specify…? Probably not his former creative partner Thea though. She’s not that violent haha..) (I haven’t thought of details of Thea and Edwin’s backstory in a long time now, and surface personality traits are hard to pin down without a backstory.)

The joke was that in the first scenario he was painting and in the second he was in pain because of the meme (?) that there’s “pain” in “painting” haha (I don’t believe painting/drawing has to inherently be a painful process though, or that only painful emotions make good art)

Also I wanted to draw him beaten up (either it was just for fun or I was maybe frustrated? Probably just for fun though.) I like drawing characters looking up defiantly even as they’re beaten up✨

moo moo Edwin hahaha— Thank you! I’ve heard that cows can be fluffy…

Come to think of it, I dunno what animal motif he’d have if he were to have one.

A cheerful artist… with some sort of identity confusion due to winter depression (old 2019 concept. Looking back, the severity doesn’t seem to match my knowledge of winter depression)(if he’s ashamed, does he feel it so deeply that he voluntarily uses a slightly different name, uses a mask to cover his face, AND grows out his hair & dyes it, all for the sake of… having his orange look be the happy/cheerful/friendly one?) (If he hides himself in plain sight, if he can’t accept this as part of himself, this can lead to some troublesome identity issues…)(unrelated to gender)

-

“I’m Edwin! Nice to meet you too!” —Edwin, usually in spring/summer

“Hey, just call me Devin for now. No, it’s not because I want to change my name or anything. It’s, uhh… an… alias…? Haha…” — Devin, on the outside probably, in winter

“What is this ‘Devin’ name to me? Am I even allowed to feel this way as myself? God, but what am I supposed to do? I can’t just tell people that it comes every winter and gets better in spring.” —Edwin, on the inside probably

-

(…I almost want to compare him to “Childe” Tartaglia Ajax simply for his multiple names/identity thing but uhh, that guy’s on a whole different level. Venti/Barbatos? Hmm but to my knowledge nothing particularly bad happened to Edwin.)

What would be an animal that emphases this duality I wonder… An animal that looks friendly and colourful but isn’t what it seems…

…poison dart frog???

(SAD = Seasonal Affective Disorder)

[Start transcript

first image: the concept sheet

a flat colour sketch in upper corner is labelled True Palette. A cartoony waist-up version with bright warm colours is labeled Edwin and an anime headshot version with desaturated colours is labeled Devin. Another flat-colour shot of Edwin/Devin is labeled flat sample. A full body reference of both is labeled Project SAD Palette. Edwin is labeled spring/summer (“usually”) and Devin is labeled under effects of SAD

second image: the mock magazine cover

knees-up greyscale illustration of Devin sitting with his winter coat and mask, looking at the viewer, his hands in fists. His eyes and hair clip are light green. Behind him is a black circle outline with two sharp black triangles pointing at him. White magazine header: SYMPTOM. separate subheadings in green: questions, sunshine. separate text in white: What does SAD stand for? What are some symptoms of winter depression? What are some symptoms of summer depression? What hormone does sunshine trigger the brain to release? What is an alternative to sunshine? In the right corner, in green: A solution to your problems!?

third and fourth images: sketch of Edwin/Devin with some information

Edwin. he/him, 20. yellow barcode piercing (right ear). left-handed. neutral expression looks surprised/confused. hard to read based on expression & body language. has a secret he’s ashamed of. (he doesn’t have to be though.) arrow points to him, saying spring/summer.

Devin. he/him, 20. black triangle frame piercing (left ear). left-handed (still). Edwin winter an Alia’s & disguise. wears mask not for physical health (in his opinion). seasonal affective disorder: winter depression. tried to hide his symptoms but isn’t good at it. ashamed of his winter depression. wants to separate his depressed self from his usual self. arrow points to him, saying autumn/winter.

end transcript.]

[kalhspera1]

“What did you do, angel?”

“Didn’t think I’d find you here”. 

The demon stopped in his tracks the minute he spotted the familiar light blonde curls standing out on the crowded plaza. His whispered words could only be heard by the angel standing 5 metres away from him, because his presence was immediately recognised, even with his back turned away from the approaching demon. With each step he took, people around him were disappearing in large numbers, until all that remained was Crowley staring at Aziraphale in a standstill.

Time seemed to have come to a stop. Crowley would have felt this change even with the world around him continuing its ceaseless movement.

“Have you come to heal me? Elevate me to a higher form of existence?”

Ηe couldn’t hide the spite in his voice. He felt furious with himself for impulsively using that rude tone with his friend, but he still wouldn’t admit to himself how much he’d missed his angel’s presence. The seconds were passing, and there didn’t seem to come any motion on this particular angel’s part.

He scoffed and looked around. “Does it tire you to talk to me now? Are you here to gloat, Archangel?” he scoffed as a form of defence, as the way Aziraphale was ignoring him was starting to piss him off. “I haven’t changed my mind, you know. I will not be anything other than what I already am”, he paused, trying to see his friend’s face, which was hard from this distance and with his back turned on him. He noticed Aziraphale’s lack of interest to communicate properly as a civilised adult-angel and he continued, feigning disinterest in his questions. “How were things up there anyway…did you find what you were looking for, as a leader?”

He sensed a slight movement in his angel’s head, but couldn’t distinguish if it was a nod or a shake.

The silence began to threaten his sanity and he resisted walking up straight to him, grabbing him by the collar to turn him around and make him answer all his questions he had so discourteously avoided.

Trying to suppress his worry, he asked once again, nonchalantly: “Oh, come on, angel, there must be some reason why you stopped time while I’m standing behind you, and it certainly isn’t to give me the silent treatment”. Aziraphale at this point started to stir and appear slightly agitated. “Or is it?”, Crowley couldn’t help adding. However, he wasn’t famous for his patience and this clownery had dragged on for long enough. 

With a few long strides, he reached for Aziraphale’s shoulder and turned him around.

“Just look at me, for Heaven’s-”

What he saw shook him to his core. His one and only cheerful angel was reduced to bloodshot eyes, his black pupils dilated and his once luminous face now stained by an unforeseen darkness. In this single second that passed, Crowley observed what he had missed the previous less shocking minutes: Aziraphale’s clothes did not have the light colour palette they used to have, but a darker tone, as if he was in mourning; his smell didn’t have that familiar blonde wood and ethereal musk tint– instead he smelled coppery and sweaty; and at last his eyes. His eyes seemed like they had witnessed the destruction of the world and its rebirth from point zero. They were unfocused and not paying attention to Crowley’s presence, until the demon gave him a hard shake from the collar, while shouting his full name to his face.

After a couple of frantic eye movements, Aziraphale focused his gaze at his own reflection on his demon’s shades and his eyes widened. He immediately stepped back, trying to escape this heinous image of himself and simultaneously, Crowley’s grasp.

But Crowley was not letting him go.

“Angel, talk to me”

Aziraphale managed to steady himself and to temporarily adapt to this new depiction of himself, until he decided he couldn’t. He removed Crowley’s glasses.

“Crowley”, he breathed exhausted, but grateful to stare at these comforting yellow eyes. “You’ve found me”, he says, and an old tired smile warms his face, lending him back every angelic characteristic he had lost in an instant.

“I did not find you, I was just walking down the street”, he said, astonished and perplexed. His heart started to feel at ease for how lovingly the angel had offered him his smile, but then his stress elevated again from the multitude of unanswered questions. “What are you doing here, angel, what has happened to you?”, he let him go to gesture at his changed appearance, concern written on his face.

Aziraphale regretted having removed his shades. Now this beautiful and observant pair of eyes could scrutinise and judge him and the angel could see every reaction. He put the glasses back on Crowley. He was physically trembling as he did so. And then he whispered in a sombre tune the lyrics of a familiar song.

“You were right, you were right” he let two tears fall, “I was…wrong” he breathed out. And after gulping down a sob, he admitted it again, more quietly this time. “You were right.”

After some seconds, when silence spoke itself of the shared gratitude for their reunion, Crowley removed his glasses on his own this time, storing them in his pocket and then, inquired him gently: 

“What did they do to you, Aziraphale?”

Aziraphale was seemingly searching for words to use. “It’s– it’s not what they did to me.” he stuttered. “It’s what I did. To them.”

Crowley noticed another tear that was making its way down the angel’s throat and moved his hand to wipe it, before he stopped himself. 

“What did you do, angel?”

His dark pupils peered deep within his soul. This ordeal was so dissimilar to what Crowley was used to. The angel didn’t feel like an angel anymore, even though it was still his angel. His change was not only in appearance, but in aura as well. His trembling voice and weary eyes hid an ancient anger behind them.

Aziraphale took a step back, in an effort to distance himself from feelings. He wore an expressionless face, tears contrastingly streaming down his face, and he proceeded to speak in all honesty:

“I took the life of someone…important”, he dragged out the last word unwillingly.

Crowley stood wide-eyed and completely dumbfounded. “You wha-?”

Aziraphale remained unblinking. “It was…something that had to be done” he looked down. “It was the only way to stop the Second Coming”.

Crowley was starting to connect the puzzle pieces. “Jesus descent on earth? The final judgement, total and absolute win of Heaven over Hell, that kind of Second Coming?” 

“Yes, Crowley.”

“So…that means you killed Jesus?”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Jesus can’t be killed. I only managed to render their corporeal form dysfunctional in order to buy us some time. I think it will hardly be enough, but we’ll have to try”

Crowley gave Aziraphale an incredulous look. “Try to do what?”

“Recruit Hell to help us, of course”

Crowley pinched himself to check if he was dreaming. Then he lifted his hand to look at the time and he realised he wasn’t wearing a watch. Then he looked around to read any sign of a shop he could find. He realised he could distinguish the letters and their meaning quite clearly.

____________________________________________

[Author’s note: I'm using English words (metres instead of meters, colour instead of color ect)

So the context is that Aziraphale killed the corporeal form of Jesus to stop the Second coming, in which all demons and “evil humans” would cease to exist from the book of life and every good person who had ever lived would come back to life to walk on the Earth. However, people who have died cannot be restored to life as they were, so they have to come back in the form of zombies (like in s02). Heaven, having no idea how Earth works, thinks that “good humans” will accept this change happily, having their long ago dead benevolent predecessors walking on their Earth, while parting with their loved ones, the ones who might have committed a crime. 

For no mother would let her child go, even if it would grow to be a murderer.

Aziraphale will use Hell to cause turbulence in Heaven, so that he can infiltrate Heaven’s leadership again, and bring the balance between the three nations of Hell, Heaven and Earth (my epic fantasy fixation is showing, lol. It did remind me, however, of Shu, Wu and Wei).

Well, at least that’s Azi’s plan. In the end some changes of plans will occur and without any more deaths (???) everything will be solved with good conversation, as it usually happens in most comedy series. The end.

P.S.: Also the angel and the demon give a smooch of genuine and double-sided love this time.

Now, the end.]

yayy I wrote my first fic!

[denimbex1986]

'This weekend, I finally got round to watching All Of Us Strangers. It is a brilliant film that I thoroughly recommend and open to interpretations. But the bit that resonated with me was the fact that Andrew Scott’s character, a writer, was trying through his work to reconnect with his past.

I’ve been thinking ‘if only I could go back and live that time all over again’. I guess we all think this from time to time, but why now? Well, one answer I have from reading Sharon Blackie’s excellent Hagitude — Reimagining the Second Half of Life, is that it is perhaps a necessary part of this crossroads of life we find ourselves standing in front of at midlife. It is a fact that we can’t go back, that we can only go forward, and perhaps to do that we have to let go of a lot of things from the past, or at least, leave them where they belong — in the past.

In All Of Us Strangers, Andrew Scott’s character revisits his childhood home and finds his parents, who had been killed in a car crash when he was 12, still living, still listening to the same records, still inhabiting the same decor, the same clothes. It is 1987 and the only thing that has changed is him, he has grown and they have stayed… stuck.

In recent weeks I have had the pleasure of joining Dr Lily Dunn’s memoir writing course. I am a firm believer that learning from other writers, joining their courses, advancing our own writing is an enormously important part of practicing our own craft, and I’ve really enjoyed the exercises that she has set for everyone. But I was surprised, what I initially joined thinking I would use this course as a structure to explore has not been what I have been drawn to in my writing. In fact, like the protagonist in All Of Us Strangers, I have been drawn back, to the ghosts of the past. I have wanted to bring my childhood back to life through my writing, and this has surprised me, it has also made me feel quite emotional.

What if we could go back? What would it be like to step into an old photograph, to relive that moment all over again but this time through the adult eye? That was the task that we were asked to do by Lily.

I chose a photograph, just because it was the nicest one I happened to lay my hands on first, and I was so surprised by what came out, particularly the handbrake turn it took towards the end. So I’m sharing it here with you with the hope you might try the same exercise. Find a childhood photograph and step back into it with your adult eye...

It is a sunny day in 1983, although in all honesty, all of those days felt sunny. We are standing in the back garden of our red-brick council house, posing for a photograph, me and my stepfather. I am wearing a floppy straw hat and towelling dress. I remember that dress well – a sage green colour that tied at the front, it had something appliquéd on the front, I’m not sure what now but then those are not the details I want to focus on here.

​My stepfather is looking smart, a shirt tucked into his slacks, all beige and cream, a palette for summer. He is wearing a trilby hat and a gold necklace that catches the light, and his face, hardly visible under the brim of his hat as he looks down at me, is shaped somehow to make me laugh. I gaze up at him in delight.

My small hand is in his, but my other hand is wrapped around his wrist, over his watch strap, as if I don’t want that moment to end, as if he is all mine.

Which he was then, in 1983.

​My mum and I had moved into that council house the year before. It was brand new: putty-coloured tiled floors downstairs; bare floorboards upstairs; and in that back garden (where we would pose for that photograph a year later) a lawn we hoped would grow from seed.

This blank canvas was all ours. Mum and I went to Sheltons in the city, a smart department store buried in the backstreets, and chose mugs and eggcups with pictures of animals on them – I still have one now. At night we slept together in her double bed, even though she had gone to pains to bring something of my old bedroom with her, the brass-effect headboard my dad had shaped by hand, I can’t remember anything else now but I’m sure each item had been chosen with such importance to her at the time.

​It had been just us for a while. Mum made friends with Kate, the single mother who lived next door and I played with her children while Kate stirred a pot on the stove that she would feed to mum when she came home after an evening spent canvassing, going door-to-door with her team in not so sunny days, in fact freezing ones, selling double glazing. That’s how she afforded me brand new Clark’s school shoes, or even that sage green dress.

​Mum said the night she had met David, he had been wearing that trilby. He had entered the pub where she was sitting at the bar with Kate, and from the door he had thrown it and it had landed on the hatstand. A cool move. I don’t know how long later she had brought him home to me but I was equally smitten.

I have a memory of skipping by his side as we left the fancy new shopping centre, Queensgate, which was all smoked glass and shiny floors, more like somewhere you might imagine in America, not Peterborough, or at least not then, in 1983. In that same memory, Dai is carrying a present so big for me – a plastic aeroplane and the picture on box promised I could serve food to my passengers – and Mum was parked outside waiting for us in our dark blue Ford Cortina. She would have scolded him when we clambered inside for another big present.

​‘She’s not used to being spoilt.’

​But I was then, in 1983.

The trips to Queensgate for a giant present each weekend became a Sunday morning walk to Readwells, a newsagent in the new modern centre of our village, where I could have the run of the place, picking up any soft toy or magazine I wanted.

​The way to a six-year-old heart is through your wallet.

​But it wasn’t only that, it was the cardboard castle he helped me build for a school project, it was wrestling in front of the television on a Saturday afternoon while Big Daddy did the same on the screen. It was falling asleep curled up in the armchair to the hum of the TV in the corner of the lounge, and waking only enough to see my fleecy peach sleepsuit-covered legs reaching up to the ceiling as he carried me to bed once I’d drifted off.

​He was all mine, and I was all his.

​Is that what we were thinking as we posed for that photograph?

​I didn’t know then of the other child he had swapped to be with me. A four-year-old boy who must have been ten by then. Was he thinking of him when he smiled down at me? Was he making reparations to him when he lavished attention on me? Did it ease the pain of his guilt? Perhaps he felt none at all, this family man who had repaired us and made me and Mum whole again.

​By the time I saw that child he would be a man. I would be sat, not in sage green, but in all black on the front row of a pew in a crematorium. I would turn from my stepfather’s coffin to look at the crowd behind me, and among them I would pick out a grown man — crying like a four-year-old boy.'