#i'll do some nice clean art eventually

[ishiitake]

He's all up in my mind

[rnbwtrout]

My Watercolor Process

Thank you for 1000 notes!!!

As promised here's a post on how I made this painting and the materials I use (⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)

Also commissions are still open!!! If you have ideas I will help you bring them to life <3 Please see my pinned post!!

Process info under the cut vvvvv

First some materials!

Line art: I use Sakura Pigma Micron pens for line art. The ink in these pens are waterproof after they dry, which is very nice if you want clean line art. Usually I do my line art with a 005 size tip, and then I come back through and thicken lines and add shadows with a 03 size and brush tip. I'm still learning new ways to do lineart, but this is my current go-to.

Paints: I use Windsor and Newton paints. I haven't really tried others, and I have a few mixed feelings about some of the colors and how well they mix with others... Especially cuz this was an expensive set. Thinking about trying a new brand eventually but that's what I'm using for now!

If I'm doing a bigger project I usually brainstorm it first in my normal sketchbook. Here's the brainstorm for this one. Sometimes I feel like certain aspects of the initial sketch look better than the final piece, haha. After this I normally will free hand redraw it onto watercolor paper, I don't like to trace things over. Then I'll do the line art, allow the ink to dry entirely, and erase the pencil underneath

If I'm doing a big or complex background normally I'll lay down some masking fluid. This essentially seals the paper in some rubber so no water or color gets in, and then you can rub it off when you're done with the background. My masking fluid is really old and nasty so it's hard for me to get clean edges with it, but it does the job well enough!

Something really important to watercolor if you want vibrant colors: layering or using less water! In this case I did layering. Here is a side by side of Laios and Marcille with one layer of paint vs. two layers. The important thing when it comes to layering watercolors is to allow the first layer to dry completely before the second. Otherwise the paint may create strange textures and uneven color.

Something else important to creating vibrant colors with watercolor: taking risk with shadows!! On a whim I chose blue to use for shadows on the Lion's wings. You can really see the difference in visual impact between the blue shaded and unshaded wing. Generally speaking it's recommended to do shadows using blue or purple in watercolor, but I find this isn't always a solid rule. Sometimes it depends on what your base color is and what kind of impact you want. It's taken quite a bit of trial and error to figure out what looks good for me, and even then I'm still out here guessing.

I hit my image limit so I'll cut it off here! If you have any questions feel free to ask (:

[fatuismooches]

There are times when I forget that Capitano has these long, luscious beautiful locks of hair. I'll be looking at fan art of him and see those pretty silky strands and I just. Think about it a lot. Does blood ever get on it, when he's fighting and all? Does he let you clean it off? Actually no he doesn't. Because he doesn't want to scare you or ruin the image you have of him. But when you finally get to take baths with him he does let you wash and take care of his hair (which was a challenge in itself because he was still scared of "hurting you". Eventually, you got fed up and entered with him anyway and started washing him while he let you, stiff but also very pleased and very in love with how softly you treated his scarred body.) But Capitano's hair is very soft and lovely. Which is a real surprise, considering how much he is on the battlefield. It's a wonder to you... and when you asked him, apparently he doesn't even do that much to it! He's just naturally blessed like that, perhaps. Though, if you want to use any fancy products on it, he'll indulge you of course. He thinks it's cute, seeing how excited you get over some hair. And there's the drying, the brushing, you know, the whole drill afterward. All while the Captain sits completely still as you give him the pretty princess treatment.

(The soldiers don't comment on how nice he smells the next day.)

[purity-town]

No update this week as I had some stuff going on. We're really close to the end of this chapter, though -- two pages left! I've started cleaning up the script for Chapter 9 and am looking forward to getting there. In the meantime, ask responses are below the cut!

First off -- I'll admit that heights aren't all that consistent in-comic. I've improved in my art in a lot of ways through this comic, and have gotten better dealing with perspective, but when it comes to characters being closer/farther away I tend to do whatever looks/feels nice and works with the framing of that panel. A good example is this one:

The only real height reference you could get from here is that the Dryad is taller than the Arms Dealer. Andrew, Chris, the Zoologist, and the Merchant are all just placed in whichever way fit well with the background, and don't "measure up" to their other appearances -- especially considering the Merchant is shown as being very short here, but taller than the Nurse two panels earlier. I was just struggling to fit him in in the gap between the Dryad and the Arms Dealer.

I do have a loose sense of "X character is this amount taller than Y character" but it's not a very definitive thing. (I've also changed character designs and heights over the course of the comic as I've settled into how I want characters to look, which exacerbates the problem a bit.)

To answer your first question: Chris is intended to be/drawn in more recent pages as very slightly taller than Andrew. The sort of height difference where on paper you're different heights but you don't really register it.

In the earliest pages, Andrew came up more to around Chris' eyebrows -- over time I decided I didn't want Chris to be "the tall one" anymore, especially standing next to characters who are actually supposed to be tall, so the height gap lessened. He's supposed to be around average or slightly above average height, with Andrew being average or slightly below average.

As for other NPCs -- yep, the Dryad is the tallest by far, haha. And although you can't tell when the Arms Dealer is standing next to her, he's pretty tall himself. He (and the Merchant) are both slightly taller than the Nurse. The Old Man is also around this range -- one of the taller characters but not extremely so.

The Zoologist is one of the shortest characters, but her ears make up the height difference! Most of the rest of the "shorter" characters haven't appeared yet or haven't been shown standing next to someone else, so I haven't had to decide on their exact heights yet.

I know that I had responded to this before, but since that was in the Tumblr replies field I was fighting with limited word count at the time. So, longer answer:

Out of universe, I needed something to tag my AU art with and didn't want it to be long/annoying to use. I had written out a lot of my initial ideas for the world/story several months before starting on the comic, so the town was named Purity Town long before I ever started posting art for it -- and when I needed a proper name for the comic, I just decided to grab that and roll with it. It felt descriptive enough, both in terms of "yep this is where the comic is placed" and in representing the struggle/fight for the world's balance and recovery in the story. Interestingly enough, I dug up my old notes on the fanfic ideas that would eventually become Purity Town, and the original working title for the story was "Barely Human" -- in hindsight, I much prefer Purity Town :>

As for the town having the name in-universe, I could see it having two levels of meaning. The obvious reason for the name is that it's just a practical/descriptive name originally intended as more of a placeholder in a newly-settled region, and it ended up just getting picked up and sticking around. The other reason being more hopeful -- a vow/plea that the town would remain free from the Corruption and whatever other monsters roam in those unsettled, wild areas that make up most of the region.

Within the lore of Terraria, there are references to "purity" and being "pure" scattered around here and there. Bunnies are pure beings, Dryads can analyze the purity of the world, Crimeras attack pure things, and the green clentaminator solution spreads the Purity. So that's where the actual "Purity" term comes from!

That's horrifying; thanks for sharing!

Jokes aside, I do quite love the idea of the Eye Of Cthulhu being able to see through every smaller eye it spawns, or at least receive information back through them as "messengers."

[bluephoric]

ridiculously long list of larry johnson hcs because fuck you he doesnt get enough love

Tw for depressing ass shit

- larry is a tired clumsy airhead, and as a result he always has SOMETHING spilled, wiped, or drawn on his clothes.

- undiagnosed adhd, and probably a few other things

- both him and sal collect bottlecaps, they like to make pins out of cool ones they find, often trading them like pokemon cards. they have multiple matching friendship ones. on common ones though, he likes to flatten and paint.

- larry's mental health generally sucks, but when things get really bad he stops caring about his physical safety, often pulling some reckless shit. even when he gets hurt from it, he doesnt seem to mind. Times like these kinda scare him, and he tries to avoid falling into them.

- despite seemingly "not caring about anything" (as he puts it) during these episodes, he's still fiercely protective of his friends and tries to be gentle with them, both physically and emotionally.

- callused hands, fingers yellowed from smoking.

- big fan of gas stations when he's high, practically raids that shit. one of his nicknames is "stoner jesus"

- he's openly bisexual and flirts with random people for fun. its usually something light. dorky pickup lines, stupid puns.. he Never expects it to be shot back at him but on the rare occasion it happens, he turns into a giggling mess.

- he actually pissed off travis even worse a few times with it, I could go into it further but this isnt a larvis post so i'll spare you all. For now.

- his favorite horror movies are the funny ones

- he isnt much of a drinker, mostly around holidays and just to get a little buzzed. spiked eggnog and fireball are his go-to's. Drunk christmas karaoke is one of his favorite things (he's constantly giving sal secondhand embarrassment). 2 words, mariah carrey.

- For awhile he genuinely tried to be a good student but because he was so far behind and his undiagnosed adhd, the teachers started to demonize him. Eventually he realized it didnt matter how hard he tried, so he just gave up. The only subject he likes is art, so that's where he focuses all his energy and actually tries.

- skips school sometimes but lisa tends to give him hell for it so he tries not to do it too often, mostly just skips certain classes if hes really not feeling it.

- almost always comes to school high

- his room is such a mess. sal tries to help him with it but he has similar struggles. whenever ash or todd come over, it becomes a group effort and shit gets done rather quickly. luckily no biohazards, so its not like his room really needs a DEEP clean but still. its nice.

- larry fucking LOVES jack black movies, also stupid stoner movies.

- Loves the arcade too, You'd think his favorite would be guitar hero, but that's more for sal. his favorite is mortal combat or those car racing games that you sit in with the steering wheel.

- larry cant cook for shit, hes always burning something, it always turns out gross and inedible. unless he's stoned, in which case he magically turns into a michelin star chef. weird ass combinations, but it always turns out really good.

- despite being shit at cooking, he still tries to help his mom with it, even though he mostly ends up just being in the way and she eventually shoos him out of the kitchen

- he smells super musky, with cheap cologne and the faint scent of weed

- when he was really little, he had a dinosaur onsie that he would wear everywhere, very rarely taking it off until it started to get too tight. he was beyond devastated when he realized he grew out of it, lisa had to pry it away from him in fear that he would accidentally destroy it. She keeps it in her closet collecting dust. Its one of the few things she kept from before jim disappeared. despite it bringing up memories of what things used to be like before he "left", she couldnt bear to throw it out.

- sometimes when larry needs comfort, he sneaks into her room and steals it temporarily. on sleepless nights, he zips it over his pillows as a makeshift pillowcase, its one of the few things that help him relax. It's always put back in place by the next morning. Lisa has no idea, and he's far too embarrassed about it to say anything to her.

- the only person who knows about this is sal because of their sleepovers. One night He was high as balls and got paranoid, when he tried to sleep it off the fear was just too much so away he crept, into lisa's room. Of course he made sal come with him, he sure as shit wasnt going alone.

- when questioned about it, larry refused to answer and so sal let it go figuring he would tell him when he was ready.

- Larry Harbors an obscene amount of guilt. struggles with sh off and on, tries not to relapse unless things get really unbearable. to prevent this, him and the SF gang (primarily ash) regularly doodle and sometimes paint on the places he's prone to harm.

- when he can feel himself slipping into an episode, larry makes it a point to braid his hair so it won't get matted. tries to brush it and rebraid it at least once a week, but often struggles to find the energy and lets it sit in for longer. Not to mention, a lot of the times he stops showering which makes it even harder to braid because of the greasiness.

- has given himself a few amateur stick and pokes. They look like shit, and he knows it but he's still very proud of them.

- the ink he uses for it fades pretty fast

- he's also tried to give himself piercings, but always fucks it up so he takes them out and slaps a bandaid over it

- collects different kinds of flavored chapstick, takes a bite out of them sometimes when he thinks no one is looking (ofc sal has caught him a few times but has never said anything)

- after he first met megan, he was scared shitless. slept with the lights on for the next few weeks and refused to shut the door when going to the bathroom, insisting to his mom on keeping the shower curtain open at all times (he tried to act chill about it around sal and it kinda worked. kinda.) after awhile he eventually calmed down but still finds himself getting really nervous whenever him and sal talk to a ghost, though he would never admit it.

- has a picture of his dad in a locket but rarely wears it because he's afraid he'll accidentally break it. always keeps it with him though, usually in his pocket, holding it as he walks.

- Despite his general demeanor he's quite the gentleman, always holding doors open and really courteous towards women. Most people don't expect it just based on his appearance, but Lisa raised him right.

- also he's hot as fuck.

- we all know larry is a metalhead, but what kind of metal is his favorite? It generally depends on his mood but id say sludge, thrash, and doom.

- You're telling me this man, who is depressed as fuck and also a stoner wouldnt eat up some electric wizard? saint vitus? bitch, please. I know quite a few albums that would bring him to his knees.

- And I know I'm prolly gonna get hate for this but I notice when a lot of other people write about larry (AND sal), they tend to lean towards nu metal or just plain emo. And while I don't think either of them would mind it, The lyrics and vocals of Sanity's fall feels more reminiscent of death or black metal and given the fact that SF is his favorite band, I don't think he would listen to that kind of stuff, at least not on a regular basis. Ash on the other hand definitely would.

[telomeke]

Get to Know Me Tag :)

I was tagged by @lamonnaie at this post here. Thanks for tagging me! 😍 It was such fun to read your responses; now here are mine. 🥰

do you make your bed?

Never ever. I'm pretty messy, and if I don't watch my hoarding tendencies I will morph into the worst pack rat. But I like a bit of clutter around me; I think it helps my creative side since my output (whether at work, or writing on Tumblr) is always tidy and tidied up to a fault, which can stifle creativity (at least that's what I tell myself! 🤣).

what's your favourite number?

Don't have one. However (even though I like to think I'm not superstitious) if I can I'll try to avoid the number 13 and anything with 4 in it...

what is your job?

Not gonna get too specific, but my work involves design, project management and construction.

if you could go back to school, would you?

I was too stressed out at school to want to repeat the experience. But I wouldn't mind a bit of time travel back to advise my younger self not to take things so seriously! 🤣

can you parallel park?

Yes. Not well, but the car will be fully in the lot eventually. 👍

a job you had that would surprise people?

Some minor modeling jobs when I was younger. Hush! I don't like to talk about it. 🤫 You wouldn't think it to look at me now (me 🤝 Ricky Gervais 😂).

do you think aliens are real?

There are too many planets out there for our little blue marble to be the only habitable one, so yes I do think there are aliens out there. I just don't think we've been visited by them yet though! (Aylin doesn't count. 🤩)

can you drive a manual car?

Yes. Mom taught me how to drive in one... until the day I jammed on the accelerator when she said "Step on it" and I almost up-ended us into a ditch. Then I was sent to driving school instead. 🤣

what's your guilty pleasure?

Ooh. It's this bad boy here:

Sadly I've been over-indulging, so chocolate is now banned from the house for the foreseeable future. I'm still lusting after it though. Other guilty pleasures: I do like a good nightcap, so any (gluten grain-free) alcohol makes me light up – cognac, cabernet, sherry, sake, port... (But I don't always know my limits, so this is now banned too.) And a steamin', stonkin', trashy BL every now and then (bonus if there's a nice muscley actor for me to get all googly-eyed over – shoutout Gap Jakarin!). 😁🥰

tattoos?

I like art and have fanboyed over beautiful tattoos before – but I'm put off by the permanence of them, so I have none myself. Don't like the idea of not being able to change them much once they're inked in, because I will always be wanting to change things up if I were to get one. And no, even for looking at I prefer an uninked bod over an inked one. It takes a lot of work to get a body in shape, and I can't understand someone wanting to cover up the results of their hard work at the gym. 🤷‍♂️

favorite color?

A deep, rich blue most of the time. But when the mood hits, I like a bright, bold red too.

favorite type of music?

My tastes are a bit eclectic, leaning lighter and not challenging. Anything with a strong melodic line will get me hooked. Bonus points if the lyrics can come together with the melody to tell a story, and elevate it even more. So – pop mostly, but I also like R&B, soul, light jazz and the odd heartfelt country ballad or foot-stomper (go Queen Bey! 😍). Also like things with a nostalgic bent (I melt at Karen Carpenter, Seals & Croft, and England Dan & John Ford Coley). And then throw in a couple of show tunes in there for good measure! My YouTube playlist is all over the place – Sheila Majid, New Country, Renaissance, Nunew, Miley Cyrus, Streisand, Li'l Nas X, Ayumu Imazu, The Carpenters, Clean Bandit, so many others, all side-by-side.

do you like puzzles?

I love them, especially word and logic puzzles. I'm always shouting over Pat and Vanna. 🤣

any phobias?

Oddly, not the usual suspects, but I'm a bit phobic about birds. They're just creepy up close, even though I find them fascinating and beautiful with a bit of distance. While the bog-standard creepy-crawlies don't bother me one bit – I'm the one always getting called in to whack the roaches and chase away rodents. I dream of getting a cobalt blue tarantula as a pet (but that's not going to happen for various reasons, alas).

favorite childhood sport?

I wasn't that sporty growing up (classic bookworm) but I did enjoy a bit of soccer when I got to play. But I guess my favorite was probably swimming, though I didn't compete.

do you talk to yourself?

All the time. There's a nonstop monologue going on in my head and I've been known to startle people by accidentally voicing that conversation out loud. So I've learnt not to do it around others. 🤣 And no I'm not hearing disembodied voices; it's just me keeping myself company (plus I find it helps me focus my thoughts).

what movies do you adore?

My all-time favorite: Cinema Paradiso; it really pulls unabashedly at the heartstrings, but then again I'm a sentimental fool and love it all the more for that. That's also why I like Love Actually, especially the scene where the repressed Jamie (Colin Firth) travels to Portugal in order to confess his feelings to Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz), having realized he loves her despite the language barrier, and doggedly learnt Portuguese just to make his declaration – and then he finds out that she, lovelorn and bereft, learnt English just in case ("just in cases") he came back. 💖 And my second favorite is from the other end of the spectrum, actually quite a bit before my time as well: Hello Dolly! 😆 Don't judge... A couple of songs in there are really amazing – Love is Only Love and Just Leave Everything to Me especially (which are not in the stage version) are mindblowingly good. The former is almost pithy in its bare-boned purity, all about looking at love without sentimentality while reprising themes heard earlier on in the musical; the latter has the among the cleverest lyrics set to music I've ever heard:

Streisand is in fine fettle portraying a campier, more youthful incarnation of Dolly. Such a shame it was not better received. The costumes are spectacular too.

coffee or tea?

Coffee (or rather the caffeine it contains) is my drug of choice, and I drink buckets of it. But I like a good cuppa when I'm feeling nostalgic and/or sentimental, because tea is what I drank a lot of growing up – at my gran's there would be a perpetually-replenished, giant kettle of dark, bitterish Oolong on the sideboard for whenever you felt like some (which was often), while at home there was always a big pot of tea on the table in the morning, that would then be set to chill in the refrigerator after breakfast. I would always have an ice-cold milk tea with the papers when I got home from school, and it was my favorite daily ritual.

first thing you wanted to be growing up?

A paleontologist – like a lot of kids I loved dinosaurs, and I can still rattle off the names of the more well-known ones (including every one in Jurassic Park 👀). But that got pushed aside for more practical considerations later. Still wish I'd explored my second childhood ambition more though, which was to be a writer/journalist. Maybe that's why I like posting so much on Tumblr! 😍

Onward tagging (too many people as usual, but no pressure to play if you don't want to or can't 🥰): @hughungrybear, @relativelydimensional, @neuroticbookworm, @wen-kexing-apologist, @waitmyturtles, @airenyah, @twig-tea, @solitaryandwandering, @recentadultburnout, @lurkingshan, @grapejuicegay,@bengiyo, @urikawa-miyuki, @pickletrip, @suni-san, @kattahj, @dimplesandfierceeyes, @7nessasaryevils, @imminentinertia, @befuddledcinnamonroll, @pandasmagorica, @nihilisticcondensedmilk,@shortpplfedup, @rokklagio, @thegalwhorants, @brazilian-whalien52, @callipigio, @respectthepetty, @corettaroosa, @colourme-feral, @virtualtadpole, @aroceu, @belladonna-and-the-sweetpeas, @delesaria-blog, @dribs-and-drabbles, @inventedfangirling, @jiirotu, @visualtaehyun @happypotato48,@akawrites000, @kleopatras-cat, @dc-alves, @toschistation, @lovelyghostv

I've been tagged by others in various tag games over the past few weeks but have been too busy with work to be able to play. 😭 Not gonna post half-assed replies if I can help it, but then I'm always beset by dread thinking people might assume I'm ignoring them for whatever silly reason. But I just haven't had the time until now.

If you've tagged me and I've not responded, please know that I really wanted to but I just kept getting sidetracked by urgent deadlines. (In fact, my drafts folder is full of half-written tag game responses that are too far beyond their use-by date to ever see the light of day. 😮) So to any and all who see this, please accept my apology for not replying to your tags and invites, and if you'd like to play along with this one even if I haven't tagged you directly (and you have the time for it) – please do so! I'd love to read your responses! 😍

[tyrantisterror]

Early Wizard School Mysteries Concept Art Pt. 1: 2017 & 2018

Wizard School Mysteries Book 3: Wicked Witchcraft has been available for purchase in paperback and kindle editions for about a week now, and to do my due diligence as this series' author, editor, and marketing executive, I've gotta make a post about it to annoy you all with so that maybe more people read it and build up a bigger audience for the next one.

So! To accomplish that in a way I find palatable, I've dug up some very old concept art for the series, and am going to parade it out for your enjoyment! Come, look upon my old art and despair be inspired to buy my books!

We're going to start with the earliest sketches I could find, which is from 2017. I kind of adore how ridiculously enormous I made James's hat in this early sketch - it's so huge that he actually has a strap to keep it on his head (look close, you can see it!). His design has a lot of touches from Wizardmon that didn't make it to the final product, namely the abundance of stitches and false faces on his outfit. He's also got a sort of ascot which I'm pretty sure is an homage to Fred from Scooby Doo, because he's in the same role as Fred in our Mystery Solving Teens group. Jesus, that's a big hat.

2017 Ivan doesn't seem too different on a surface glance, though his outfit feels too clean/new to me. It looks nice, but doesn't convey a lot of his character to me.

Ew, 2017 Gretchen, why are you white? Well, ok, the clear answer is because you're just Wizard Velma Dinkley at this point, but hey, at least you've got your iconic scarf!

Jesus Crumbs, I really did not give my human characters enough skull above the eyes to contain a proper brain, did I? A lot of Margot's key visuals are still present here - the gauntlet, the high collar, the partially armored boots - but just, you know, a bit worse, a bit less uniquely designed. She's called Joan at this point because hey, it's from 2017, when the author who everyone associated with wizard schools whose first name happens to be Joanne hadn't gone fully mask off about being a TERF yet, and I could name a wizard character I like "Joan" without worrying that people might think it's a reference to said writer (when it was intended as a reference to Joan of Arc instead).

2017 Rodrigo is pretty recognizable, actually. Kinda weird to me that I had his look pinned down so early compared to the others - though his staff here definitely doesn't fit his status as the most well-off wizard of the bunch, so I can see why I changed it to something more sleek later.

By contrast, 2017 Serena is basically a completely different character on every level. No magical girl trappings, no pigtails, I don't think she was even Asian yet. The name "Cerrigwen" had been given to at least one other character I ended up scrapping for a different project before this, and I'd thought I found a home for it here, but obviously not (though a Cerrigwen did get mentioned as a historical important wizard in WSM Book 2, so maybe I'll find a story for her eventually). Serena's role in the Mystery Solving Teens dynamic is "the weird one," but for whatever reason I wrote "the Joy and the Laughter" here instead. I do think Serena's personality is shining from this design, even if none of the actual details are recognizable - the manic bubbliness here would carry on in all future designs.

Charlotte also looks recognizable at first glance, and I think in some ways she's more explicitly monstrous/nonhuman here. I don't know if that's to her benefit, though? The gangly limbs feel very awkward, like they don't quite fit her frame, and her face is a bit too inexpressive (also holy shit that hat is hilariously too small, it's the opposite of 2017 James's hat). I like the hairy feet and fingers, but it does kinda bog down her design with unnecessary detail.

Holy Christ 2017 Polybeus, you're a fucking nightmare. What's going on with your face? And why are you so skinny? Why are all these people so goddamn skinny?

Let's move to the next year, I don't like looking at this guy. He looks like he'd be voiced by Pauly Shore or Andy Dick. Awful.

2018 James takes the 2017 design and refines it a bit - still has the ascot, has even MORE Wizardmon style false faces and stitches, still has the enormous hat, just all tightened up a bit. I think the problem with this look comes through when comparing the polished design with the sketches I abandoned halfway through above it - namely, the freaky Wizardmon look just doesn't fit with the quiet, deep-thinking personality James is supposed to exude. It looks rad as hell, yes, but it's flashy and chaotic in an attention-claiming way, which doesn't fit James's analytical nature. Good design elements that just didn't fit the character they were slapped onto.

2018 Ivan is also a refinement of his 2017 self, and I like his wacky little pose here - it really communicates his accident prone nature. But he still feels too polished, the outfit can be pushed farther.

Gretchen's looking a bit more like herself now - she's got more layers draping over her body, longer hair to cover her face, and the little tassels on the end of her scarf. Is she still white, or was I just a coward who thought I could just give her a dark skin tone while still drawing her with a straight bob cut and call it good? Not sure.

Margot's getting closer to her current self too - slightly longer face and nose, a bun where her pony tail will eventually go, and I think she's got broader shoulders than her first design? The gauntlet still doesn't feel like it's got the right personality but it's a bit more unique than the first take, and that's progress.

The only big differences I see with 2018 Rodrigo and his current self - beyond the fact that I got better at drawing humans (still not enough room in this drawing's cranium for a human brain) - is that I kinda toned him down from here. This Rodrigo's more or less his current self, but more flamboyant.

Alright, Serena's definitely Asian here, and her costume feels more distinct than her 2017 self, but still doesn't really match her personality. I definitely wanted her outfit to showcase her energetic nature, but the big bulky layers just don't fit. She needs bows and ribbons!

Ok, Charlotte's coming together better too! Still a bit too awkardly gangly, but her face is getting that sweet, friendly look a bit better.

oh thank god

2018 Polybeus is such an upgrade. His outfit's pretty close to what he'd end with, and he's beginning to get that onion-esque hairdo his modern self has, although here it's a bit more like devil horns, befitting his status as an antagonist-turned-ally. Still too thin, though, you gotta start weight training Poly!

That's it for part 1! Next we're skipping to 2020, because for whatever reason I don't have any sketches from 2019.

[weregreatatcrime]

Oh my GODS I forgot about my old Karai adopted by Nomura AU. Holy shit this is amazing I found my old art of it and I'm giggling

Basically it was an AU where Trollhunters happened and Nomura is out here like "I don't know what to do with a CHILD" so she goes in search of a human to help her raise her new baby, since, you know, humans are better at being kind and nurturing and shit. But Nomura is a strong independent changeling who don't need no man, or woman, and she's not interested in getting in a partnership. All she needs is someone to help take care of her daughter familiar. So she fucks around and is like "You know, I don't need to be as careful as I used to be. If I have a grudge, I can just.... act on it. Hee hee."

And you see Nomura can't just get ANYONE to help with Zelda, she has to have someone who can protect Zelda just as well as SHE could. And Nomura is a busy spy assassin who is helping clean up the remnants of the Janus Order around the planet, so she needs someone who is independent and can either look after Zelda alone for a while or just move somewhere new with her when the need arises. So through a LONG stream of candidates Nomura settles on fucking. Karai.

She has some beef with Oroku Saki, what kind idk and changelings are p petty but Shredder’s a dick, so, probably something valid. Nomura's grand idea is to expose the child kidnapper for who he is to his "daughter". She manages to track down enough proof and force his hand enough that Karai actually believes it. Karai, now knowing she's Miwa, is devastated. Because Shredder is a dick but he was still her dad?

And Nomura saunters over like "I gotta deal for you kiddo! Help me raise my daughter and I'll help you look and see if there's anything left of your real father. No promises though, he went missing like, ten years ago. But I'll try! And as you can see, I'm very very good at finding hidden stuff :)" and well Miwa’s gotta try

Nomura kidnaps Shredder’s daughter while flipping him the bird and then Miwa helps raise Zelda for a few years. She actually really likes Zelda, she's a clever little terror, and Nomura is a cool "mom" even if they have an entirely transactional relationship. Miwa is just her fake daughter to help raise Zelda, they have fake papers and everything... but..... you know......... this is kinda nice. She never had a mom before, so even a fake one is cool

Nomura over here, having a panic attack when she realizes that she genuinely likes and adores this little bloodthirsty kunoichi and then eventually just straight up "Listen I like you, little viper, let me adopt you?? For reals please???" And they're a little happy family

And then Nomura gets a hot tip on the Hamatos in New York so the Nomura family gets to move to a little apartment there in search of Miwa’s real family, and Hilarity and Identity Shenanigans Ensue. Miwa ends up going to April and Casey's school. Zelda's daycare gets caught mid Kraang crossfire. Miwa sees Foot ninja and goes feral (being adopted by a changeling doesn't do a lot for your sense of morals). At SOME point, Zelda goes from cute toddler to tiny terror monster on a bad guy while Miwa just watches on from the sidelines with pride.

In the hero side of things the turtles find a new ally in a masked kunoichi who goes by Karai. She doesn't tell them anything about her except for the fact that if the Shredder hates them, she's on their side. She uses this to try learning about their family because they claim HAMATO as a name, surely they must know something about what happened to Hamato Yoshi.......

[doctorstrangereview]

Strange Tales #152

Cover Date: January 1967 On-Sale Date: October 11, 1966

Doc vs. Umar starts in earnest this installment. It's also the final story drawn by Bill Everett. Namor's creator did a serviceable job as Doc's artist. His clean lines made story visuals easy to follow. I imagine his drawing table was piles with rulers, compasses and French curves. Everything is very precise. The story itself is series of battles between Doc and Umar's functionaries and then he faces Umar herself for the first time.

Doc has been kidnapped, plucked from his reality and plopped into the Dark Dimension. Unlike Ditko's vision of this otherworld which was overlit like an 80s episode of Doctor Who, under Everett, the Dark Dimension is actually dark. Ditko's great use of negative space is replaced by, well, space. It's black with stars. Except for a couple of weird floaty things, this could be the milky way.

We're getting dialogue by Stan Lee again so everyone's language is flowery and overly complicated. I wonder if Stan read Dracula and said to himself, that's how people should talk?

Doc walks along a Ditkoesque path and is confronted by a group of meanies. One looks vaguely Ditko-like. The others are just kind of blobby. Also, Doc grows round frilly things around his ankles. What's up with that?

Doc appears to have lots to say to creatures that probably don't understand a word. Without Wong to berate he's gotta get his frustrations out somehow. Doc vanquishes his foes and then we find out his All-Purpose Amulet tingles when there's danger present. Spidey-Sense, hold my beer!

Doc forges ahead through a series of glowing green and yellow rings and is so distracted he doesn't notice that his road has come to an abrupt end. Fortunately, the tingly amulet has got his back.

Doc is the repeatedly and relentlessly attacked. Kind of like how Henry Rollins describes a Ramones concert. "Not another one!"

Somehow, Doc senses his opponent is a female. Yeah, the 60s were pretty sexist.

Turning Umar on camera two, we learn that Umar is testing Doc and using what she learns to defeat Doc. She still doesn't face Doc directly but rather conjures a pair of smoke cyclopes.

Doc initially attempts to defend himself and defeat his smoggy foes, but eventually goes "the heck with it, not worth the effort, I'll just let them take me to their leader."

Doc finally meets Umar, who is sort of nice to him. The scheming female claims she was only kidnapping him (again) for his own good. She's so clever!

Doc doesn't know who she is just yet. She reveals she knows his name. When Doc asks how, she says her brother taught it to her. Was Dormie communicating with his sister while she was imprisoned? If not, she shouldn't know this. She does claim he imprisoned her because she opposed his evil deeds. This one is slick indeed! And she ain't done yet. Now she claims Clea has been captured by the Mindless Ones. Umar has cast a spell of believability that keeps Doc from figuring out that the Mindless Ones don't capture anything. They pulverize everything. Our lovestruck and slightly bamboozled hero jumps at the chance to rescue his silver-tressed temptress. Umar is about to send Doc... somewhere, but a tinge of awareness makes him refuse. "I'll do it myself." Umar realizes her feminine wiles haven't completely overcome the mustachioed magician.

Umar attempts to capture him. Instead of fighting back, he frees himself and runs off to find and free Clea. And we are left with Doc behind the barrier with some very poorly rendered Mindless Ones. The next installment awaits.

This was a bit of letdown. And after a story that was half a clip show, that's saying something. Everett's vision of the Dark Dimension and its inhabitants are less imaginative. It's only been six months and Ditko is sorely missed. We get Marie Severin on art chores next month so we'll see where that leads.

[pbandjesse]

Today wasn't a bad day. I am not feeling incredible but I think I just need to sleep.

I got home last night and James was sitting at their desk. I was happy to see them. We sat in the kitchen for a bit talking. I told them all about the scary things and what I liked and what I thought could have been better. I was in a good mood. I just wanted to hold them so when we were in bed that's just what I did. Even if they fell asleep to fast. I would eventually fall asleep and things were good.

I decided to only take my small vitamins last night and wait until the morning to take the big ones. Ane I'm glad I did. My stomach still hurts last night but it wasn't as bad as it has been and I was a me to sleep.

But in the morning I was a little startled awake and I didn't feel amazing. I got dressed and tried to feel okay. I took the big vitamins and went downstairs to start Cole of ring my frog torsos to close up while I was at the market. And that's when I was like. I'm going to be sick. And had to run upstairs to throw up. And it was violent and scary and I was crying. James ran up and rubbed my back and tried to be supportive. I was very upset.

But we tried to just continue on as normal. I cleaned myself up and brushed my teeth again. And we would head out.

We stopped to get a bagel. James also got me a soda but I swear it was a regular and not a diet, despite them telling me otherwise. I drank it but I didn't particularly enjoy it.

Ann was running late today. So when we got there we were mostly in charge. We had to direct some vendors to their spaces and I got myself set up. James made us a sign letting people know we wouldn't be having a market next week because of the running festival. And we would get a few little baked goods. And got a few more little pumpkins for the window. James would also pick up some greens for Crabcake. And Ann, later after she got there and got her own groceries, would eat me cut the green tops of her radishes and carrots to give to Crabcake too. The Internet said he can have those in moderation which is pretty neat.

I was very productive today. I sewed all 38 frogs shut. And I'm very happy with them. A woman who I chatted with said she likes them without legs, that they were tadpoles. And I thought that was very funny. Maybe I'll do a basket of tadpoles too.

I didn't make any sales but it was so pretty out and I was having such a productive day I didn't even mind. James would come out to get apple cider and got me apples. I ate ones of them while I worked. And while I wasn't making sales I was getting my card out there and telling people about my workshops. It was still a good day.

I'm also exaggerating a little. I did make one sale. When the girl I fixed the bear for in my teddy bear hospital came to pick him up. She would pay for the repairs and then bought a froggie too. She was so sweet. She brought the replacement original I had found the listing for and we had a nice chat about her plan for giving the fixed bear to her brother. She also said she would recommend me to others and it was just really sweet and a lovely way to end the day.

I packed up pretty quickly. Chatted with the arts and crafts table next to me (they do free crafts with the kids) about my wagon and how I only ever want to do one trip. I am looking to upgrade my wagon next season though. I want something that folds smaller. But is still strong. I haven't been doing much research but it's on my mind for sure.

I went inside after I loaded the car. Chatted with Meril and Jordan. James was a little busy but I jumped in to give them a hug before I left. I was really looking forward to going home.

When I got back here I put away the groceries. And figured out the best way to warm up my avocado toast from last night. I put the egg and the bread on a pan on the stove and it actually worked pretty well.

I had my lunch and let Sweetp run around outside. But would bring him in and went to change into a big T-shirt so I could lay down.

I would sleep until 430. And it wasn't the best nap ever but it was something.

When I woke up I would go downstairs and laid outside on the porch swing and waited until James got home.

I was feeling pretty nauseous and was just happy to see my husband when they got back. They would kiss my face and went to make me dinner. They made me stuffing and veggie chicken nuggets. Which was great. I had to really pace myself because I was not feeling great. But I tried my best.

I would come inside and laid on the couch with James. Eventually going upstairs to take a bath. They filled a bucket with hot sink water for me. And it was a nice bath. And eventually we would get in bed together to watch videos and cuddle. My stomach hurt and made me nauseous but James pressed on my ribs and that helped.

Now we are just laying on bed. James just finished taking a shower. I think I'm going to throw up again. But I really just want to sleep.

Tomorrow is a long day. I have the first Baltimore autism society class of the season. And then right after I have a wedding to work at the museum. It's going to be a long day but I'm really hoping it will be fun.

I hope you all have a great night. I love you all. Goodnight.

[laxibbeb]

Hello!

I also haven’t read an actual book lately either🫣But I do like Ali Hazelwood’s books (I love a good STEM romance), and When the Moon Hatched is on my tbr

I’ve also done equestrian! I rode growing up and was on my school’s IHSA team in college.

Here’s a very specific question:

How do you feel about pre-cauldron Elain and high fae Lucien? I’m cooking up some angst with that idea (including the exes to lovers trope you said you liked😉)

More general questions! (Not necessarily related to the fic)

What brought you into the acotar fandom?

Are there any other ships you love? (Either acotar or other fandoms)

What is your favorite kitchen appliance and why?

hi!! we're busy people, we're conquering the world ok 🫣 time for reading will come but holy shit, "when the moon hatched" is on my tbr now too, it sounds amazing

oh my god!! that's so cool, you were on a team! i've always been very on and off about horse riding and i have regrets :(

OKAY, YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY COOKING, i'm loving what you're putting down, i've been thinking about this constantly since i saw your message and INCLUDING exes to lovers... who are you, you genius 🫵

– let me put a nice divider here –

fandom question! i inhaled the books around 2020 but i never really actively partook in fandom before acotar, because i was scared lmao

i always loved to draw and i drew mostly for myself, so eventually, sometime in 2021 i drew an elain i loved and i was like, I NEED TO SHOW THIS TO PEOPLE and i've been here ever since, showing this to people 😌

and about ships listen. i'm such a mutishipper, so i have tons and tons

from acotar, apart from elucien, i really enjoy azris and mor/nesta (which is very niche, i know, but the potential.) i love mom and dad (feysand), it's a crime that i haven't drawn them before

also a good place to mention i enjoy essentialy all the elain ships, with a few little exceptions that don't really get me going (😉)

and as for non-acotar

i'm going to soo uncreatively name every ship i have art of here, just watch me 🤣

i love imogen/laudna/fearne (in literally any composition) from critical role

i was also obsessed with catradora from the she-ra series, which was pretty much one of the first fandoms i've been in (and the obsession is still there, i just need to rewatch the series like, once)

favourite kitchen appliance is a very serious question i think it's my immersion blender, with which i blend even if i don't need to immerse 😜 it's just so convenient, easy to clean.. ah glorious

but one other thing that deserves a shout-out here is my flour sifter for which i'll provide a photo

she makes zero mess and i love her to death

(i want to know what prompted the question - DO YOU BAKE and if yes what's your favourite recipe?)

[cryptidsurveys]

Tuesday, July 16th, 2024.

How have you been doing? I'm a little worn out from volunteering, but otherwise, I've been doing well. Cassie was telling me that I need to stay for a full day sometime, that way I can understand what they mean about the nonsense that goes on in the evenings. Basically, over the past few months, the time they actually get off work has been pushed farther and farther back. They're supposed to get off at 5pm, but Alex said the other day that she didn't get off until 6pm (and she already comes in ~30 minutes early). There also seems to be some growing animosity/resentment between the dog & cat people. Dog people are allegedly the hold-up. I'm not sure what changed, but it wasn't like this last summer. Cattery is usually finished early, often expected to help with the dog stuff; but when they ask for the final check to be done so they can go home, they're typically left for last.

I feel like that's eventually what will drive Cassie to quit. She had somewhere she had to be last night and they dragged things out until she was like, Yeah, I need to leave. She said it was "fine" in that situation; but in the future, when she has cheer practice, she's not going to be able to wait around for them because cheer won't take work as an excuse for being late. Also, I was told that Lucy might be looking for another job. Lucy told Cassie she wasn't going to quit until she found one, but after her absence last weekend, she might have just decided to go for it.

I know I'm essentially backseat managing here, lmao, but they really need to get ahead of this turnover issue. Since I started volunteering again last summer, they've lost something like 15 employees.

Anything you're looking forward to? Hopefully going for a picnic at the Mountain Park tomorrow. I haven't been there since last autumn, which is way too long. There's a certain rock in a certain stream that I just need to lie down on for a while.

Do you or anyone you know play the violin? No.

Do you have a nice view out of the closest window? It's just a view of some houses. And today, some construction. They're doing idk what on the corner diagonal from us.

What is one of your favorite breakup songs? I don't think I'm really a fan of any breakup songs.

Do you know anyone named Georgia or George? No.

What age did you learn how to ride a bike? Without training wheels? I think I was around 6 years old.

Are you currently listening to music or watching TV? I'm not. Sometimes I will listen to music while taking surveys, but it just feels like a bit much atm.

What is your morning routine? On volunteer days: depending on the day, get up somewhere between 5:15-5:45am. I'm usually awake a bit before that, though, so I just lie in bed and listen to something on YouTube. Shower, get dressed, brush my teeth, eat breakfast, gather the remainder of my things, talk with my dad for a bit. Then, depending on the day, leave somewhere between 6:20-6:45am.

On Wednesday: wake up, brush my teeth, make myself presentable, go grocery shopping, then come home and eat breakfast.

On Saturday: wake up whenever I feel like it, make breakfast, clean my bedroom, and make some art.

Are you someone who gets easily agitated by hearing someone chewing? No. It doesn't tend to bother me.

What was the last text you sent? It was a text to my mom. We might be going to see Despicable Me 4 on Saturday, and I was like, "I'll finally find out what all those little yellow minions are about."

What did you last have to eat? Some mixed veggies with sriracha sauce and a cheese and jalapeno sandwich.

What's your favorite kind of oatmeal/porridge? If we're talking about the flavored pouches, then probably brown sugar, birthday cake, strawberry, or peach. However, I typically use plain oatmeal as my base and use fruit, peanut butter, etc, to flavor it from there.

Have you ever ate a whole pizza in one sitting? I don't think so…maybe a half, though…? In elemntary school, we used to have pizza days on Friday (was it weekly? monthly? I can't recall); if you didn't "flip a card" (their disciplinary system), then you could pay some small $ amount that I no longer recall and get a half/full pizza, a cookie, and drinks.

What are some things you are grateful for? Volunteering. Even with all the drama, I can't imagine giving it up. I feel like it's a good exercise in detachment (not that I'm so detached, lmao; I'm obviously here dishing the constant tea). Like, if you ever just want to be an observer without any real expectations or responsibility for the system as a whole, go volunteer somewhere. It's an interesting experience… It's helping me learn to step back, stop trying to control everything, and just sort of let everything play out the way it will. It's not that I've given up all autonomy to the flow, but seriously, sometimes it helps to really see just how little of this teeming, chaotic world has anything to do with me. Thought I was going to make a difference; instead, found out what a cosmic speck I am. Maybe not what I wanted, but definitely what I needed. Still a speck, but now a free speck.

What's the last thing you done while outside? Drive, I guess.

How often do you do laundry? Every few days. It just depends on how quickly it piles up.

Have you already had your birthday this year? Yes, back in March. Which feels like forever ago. June 1st feels like it was last week, but March feels like it was last year.

Last thing you done before this survey? Vacuum the living room and dining room.

Do you like sleeping with multiple pillows? I have multiple pillows on my bed, but I only sleep with one.

How many candles do you have in your bedroom? A couple.

What emojis have you used the most here recently? D; and :')

What color is your favorite shirt? I don't have a favorite shirt, but my favorite hoodie is black.

Do you currently smell food cooking? No. Oh, but at the shelter earlier, I walked out of cattery to go to the bathroom and it smelled like someone was cooking hot dogs with ketchup or something. Come to find out it was ant killer. What a wild smell for such a thing…like luring them to a picnic or something…

If you were given $1,000 to spend at one store. What's your store of choice? Walmart (groceries).

How much sugar do you consume on a daily basis? Idk.

Do you have any ice cream in your freezer? Yeah. Well, it's custard, but same basic deal. It's from Culver's. Strawberry cheesecake and mint choco-chip.

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word "chaos"? Chaos theory, chaos magicians…etc.

Do you own anything that has an animated character on it? Somewhere.

Have you used a microwave today? Yeah.

What's the last book you read? Still in the midst of the third Dune book. I haven't picked it up in a while, though. I just haven't felt much like reading lately.

What's something that always makes you cringe? Idk.

What's a word or phrase you say a lot? My toxic trait is that I'm blind to my own annoying catchphrases.

What's something that always makes you emotional? Music. Not always in a good/cathartic way. Sometimes in an overwhelming/spiraling way.

How many times have you changed clothes today? Twice. From pajamas to volunteer clothes and back to pajamas.

What's on your mind currently? Just how busy this next week-ish feels. I hope I don't get a migraine…

In what ways have you changed over the past year? So many ways.

Do you really care about others opinions of you? Ehhhhh. Much less than I used to, but still to some extent.

What's your favorite pasta? Spirals, bowties, macaroni elbows.

Do you currently see anything yellow? Some watercolor flowers I painted.

What did you last try to do and failed? Not sure.

Does your bathroom have a certain theme or color scheme? Not really.

If you have Netflix or any streaming service.. what's your favorite shows to stream? N/a.

Are you currently wearing anything red? No.

What was the last thing that caught your eye while shopping? I'm not sure.

What's a social media site you have no interest in? Twitter, Facebook, Tik Tok…I don't even know what's out there these days because I don't keep up.

Have you ever tripped and fallen in a public place? Yeah.

When did you last buy a dairy product? Last Wednesday.

What's the last song you sang out loud? I'm not sure.

[izzy-b-hands]

"Izzy! You've come to see my work," Stede works to keep his voice even as he clings onto the ladder. "Impressed?"

He watches Izzy peer over the side of the ship, brow furrowed.

"Can I ask what it is you did?" Izzy frowns.

"It's obvious!"

Izzy nods, then shakes his head. "Gonna need a hint."

"Well, I had some props that would have helped," Stede says. "Here's a hint: art."

"Did...did you try to repaint the side of the ship?"

Stede nods. "Lost the paint and brush though."

"I'd imagine," Izzy remarks dryly. "Love, did you consider waiting till we'd stopped moving?"

"I had, but then I thought if I was careful I could do most of it now, and that leaves us all more time to explore at the next port!"

Izzy sighs. "That's...wait. You're soaked through; how long have you been out here?"

"Only a few hours," Stede smiles to hide his chattering teeth. The waves are a stinging sort of cold today, but it doesn't sting so badly now that he's cold enough to feel numbed.

"For fuck's sake," Izzy scoffs and sheds his vest. His sword and belt go next; Stede can hear the metal of the blade smacking the deck and the rounded hilt rolling with the motion of the ship. "Edward!"

Stede hears a faint "What?!" from Ed.

"We need blankets and tea!"

"We have some already!"

Izzy rolls his eyes. "Hang on. Don't stop hanging on, I suppose."

"I can't feel my fingers," Stede says, staring at them pale and locked around the rope of the ladder. "I'm not going anywhere for now."

"New tea and clean blankets and towels, Ed! Now!"

"Why?"

Stede fails to stifle a giggle.

"Is it not enough that I'm shouting about it? To suggest there's due cause for you to hurry the fuck up with it and help?"

"You shout about lots of things! Most things, actually!"

Stede leans into the ship, avoiding the wet dripping paint as he hides his laughter.

"Forget it," Izzy mutters. "I'll come get you, and make more tea, and get a warm bath ready, and-"

He scoffs and grumbles his way to Stede, then works Stede's fingers off the ladder to wrap around his waist instead. "Don't let go."

The cold sinks in worse once he's away from the constant thrashing of the sea, over the railing and shaking on the deck.

"I've got-" Ed walks up and drops the clean towels in his hands. "What the fuck happened here?"

"Ship maintenance," Stede supplies. "Painting is done!"

He pretends not to notice Izzy gently shaking his head in response. As far as he's concerned, at least a decent portion of it is done, and that's a success.

A success that's making him shiver fiercely enough to hurt, but still. Success.

"Honestly," Izzy grumbles as he pulls off his shirt and wraps it around Stede. "Could have gotten yourself killed."

"It does look nice," Ed notes as he peers over the railing. "We won't have many touch ups to do."

"Ed," Izzy sighs.

"What? He did well!"

"He'll catch his death!"

"Both things can be true!"

Stede reaches for the abandoned towels, only to have his hand gently smacked away while Ed and Izzy pile them on.

"Lucius is in our room; I'll have him run a bath," Ed says. "I'll get tea and have Roach make something warm. Soup? Soup."

"As soon as I'm dry and warm I'll be fine," Stede mumbles, but from under the thick towels he can't seem to be heard.

"Out of the wet clothes first, then into a robe and more blankets," Izzy adds, seemingly talking to himself as much as them. "Maybe ask Roach if there's anything he can do for his hands; look at his knuckles-"

Eventually they lift him up and lead him into what he presumes is their quarters, but he can't see beyond the towels tossed over his head in a caring panic.

"I'm just wet and cold," Stede protests as he finally manages to free himself from most of the towels, leaving them on the floor. "This is a bit dramatic, really. Excessive, even."

Ed shakes his head. "Not really. How many robes do we have clean?"

"I can only wear one at a time!" Stede laughs. "Honestly-"

"They're all clean," Izzy interrupts. "Where the fuck is Lucius?"

"Taking in the scene," Lucius says awkwardly from the nearby chair. "Are you panicking so much over him you didn't notice me?"

"No," Izzy blushes.

"Aww," Lucius smiles. "Adorable. Anyway, they're right. It's cold and going to get colder soon, and cold can absolutely kill a person. I've watched you nearly die a few times now, don't really want to watch you add another near death experience to the collection."

Stede frowns, or tries to despite his chattering teeth. "I really think-"

"I'll get a warm bath ready," Lucius interrupts. "Anything else we need?"

"Soup and something for his hands from Roach," Ed replies. "I'll get the robes from the auxiliary wardrobe, and Iz, can you get him out of the wet clothes?"

"This is getting very silly," Stede fusses. "I hope you both know. I can undress myself!"

"Your fingers are still curled over from holding the ladder," Izzy notes.

"Ah," Stede looks to his hands. "Did not realize that. Well..."

"You're not getting a choice here," Izzy continues. "We're looking after you until you're warm and looking better."

"I would enjoy it, were it me," Lucius says as he stands and strides towards the door. "Just my two cents!"

"I would too," Ed says. "Also, Izzy's right. You need looking after, and we love you, so we're looking after you."

He's heard them say that they love him many times before now, but he still blushes to hear it again.

"There we go," Ed smiles. "Now, I'll be back with robes, and let Izzy help you."

"Is he going to throw all the robes over me?" Stede asks as Ed heads into the wardrobe. "He is, isn't he?"

A towel drops back over his head from Izzy's hand, which feels like answer enough.

--

"Fine," Stede grumbles. "I do feel better."

He's held down on his chair by the many robes tossed over him, his hands barely free so he can eat the (extremely good) soup Roach made.

At his feet, Izzy is still persistently trying to warm them, rubbing gently with one of the few dry towels left.

Ed is at the opposite end, playing with his hair as he brushes it.

"That said, you could both stop and have some soup with me."

Both sets of hands pause at once, and he has to fight off a giggle. No one is immune to the scent of Roach's cooking, especially the soups like this one.

"Only if you're really feeling better," Ed leans down and kisses his head. "Then I suppose I could be swayed to sit for some soup."

"Don't even start," Stede continues to Izzy. "I know you haven't eaten much. And this has dumplings in. Roach's handmade dumplings, that I know you love..."

Izzy sets aside the towel. "A break might not be bad. But if you start to feel cold at any point-"

"I will ask for some stockings or socks, and you can get me some to wear instead of killing your knees while rubbing my feet," Stede interrupts. "Lovely though that has been, thank you."

They help him move to the middle of the couch, joining him on each open side and reaching for the small tureen of soup on the table in front of them.

"I should paint the ship more often," he continues. "Look at what it ends in! Good food, being cozy with you two..."

He knows what he's starting, and he giggles and lifts another bit of dumpling to his mouth while they sigh and snuggle in and beg him to do anything but that.

[lexart-io]

hi! I'm a fan of your work and am trying to learn ai myself, could you tell me a bit about your process? keep up the good work :D

thank you! everything i do these days is rendered in automatic1111 stable diffusion, run locally on my computer (on my nvidia rtx 3060 gpu w/ 12gb of vram). i train my own base models with kohya trainer XL and LoRA models with kohya LoRA trainer XL, both of which i usually run on google colab (on an nvidia a100 gpu because training models is a lot more resource intensive than rendering images).

most of what i do is less about the text prompt and more about the models used. in fact, i tend to recycle through a lot of the same text prompts over and over (with only minor changes to them) as i test out the models that i've trained. i think the most creative part of working with ai is in training models. text prompting is just the surface of it, but training ai is where you're really starting to create something that no one else can exactly replicate (unless they literally steal your dataset and settings). it is an extraordinarily fascinating form of creative expression that is unlike anything in human history... basically wrangling a blank slate machine intelligence to do your bidding by teaching it.

i do a lot of experimenting with the datasets that i use to train models. some are trained on more specific subjects or aesthetics, while others are trained on more symbolic concepts. then i combine these models when rendering images (the nice thing about LoRA models is that you can combine many models in a single text prompt). when i find combinations that seem particularly cool, i'll render a whole series of images and use those as a dataset to train a new model. then i'll combine that model with other models and sort of continue this evolutionary process of training and retraining models, using datasets comprised mostly of previously rendered images.

the datasets for my earliest models started with things like this (i would just slowly collect random cool images that captured a vibe that i liked, categorize them with other similar images, and eventually train a model on that specific vibe):

whereas now they're usually trained on images i previously rendered that share a specific vibe.

training models is definitely an art form itself... a lot of very delicate settings, how/if the dataset is tagged (the process of describing what is in each image to help the ai identify what it is analyzing during training), the specific images that comprise the dataset (1 bad/confusing image can sometimes really negatively impact the resulting model), etc. this is a whole HUGE subject that i could write FOREVER about, but i'll spare you (and myself) the endless wall of text haha.

anyway, some final gritty details worth mentioning about the workflow of actually rendering images and getting as much coherent detail as possible out of it: when i render something i like in automatic1111, i'll usually re-render it with hires fix using the LDSR upscaler to upscale it x2. some models don't play nicely with upscaling (and things can come out warped), so i'll either try again at x1.5 or x1.25 or try reducing the denoising strength (i typically like to keep it around 0.5). assuming the model(s) used do play nice with upscaling, i'll sometimes then send it over to the "img2img" tab and upscale it again x2 using the "SD upscale" script with the LDSR upscaler (denoising set to around 0.3 here). occasionally i'll upscale it x4 one last time using Real-ESRGAN (and then resize it down to something normal, since by this point the image resolution can exceed 10,000x10,000 pixels lol), which can help to smooth out any rough textures. the final step is making any last adjustments in photoshop - things like contrast or cleaning up noise / stray pixels.

hope this helps and hope it isn't too much of a mess to read haha. i really tried to condense as much of my process as i could into something as short as possible (i actually deleted 3 paragraphs during this because it was getting way too deep and i don't want to burden anyone with a boring novel of overly specific details). there are a lot of tutorials out there regarding everything i've mentioned here; reddit and youtube are probably the best resources. if you have specific questions on anything though, feel free to reach out! i'm always down to help folks get into this.

[moe-broey]

I do really want to buckle down and get my old WIPs presentable though, even if I do resort to just cleaning up pencil sketches (though ideally I would like to ink and color -- or even just settle for inking).

I talk a lot about my concepts and I feel bad/frustrated that I can't present them...

I would say the Veronica focused comic is like a one-shot, initially planned to have two pages (though only one was sketched/written out).

Meanwhile I have a long ongoing plotline that started off as a non-serious, silly comic, that I ended up having Strong Feelings about actually, which eventually would kick off all of my Askr sibs/Alfàr thoughts. There's a short interlude with Sharena and Lif as well in the og silly comic as well, as I was drawing parallels/trying to grasp the vibe... this comic did actually reach coloring stage, almost all character illustrations are fully colored, bg blank (which. The art is so old. I almost just want to leave it.)

And I guess that Is the nice thing about doing all of this as a hobby, like, nothing Actually has to be done perfectly, it just needs to look presentable. I can take as many or as few shortcuts as I want, and learn in the process what works for me.

Like, actually, I feel like my Henry/Libra/Nowi comic is a fantastic example of that -- the bg is extremely basic (borderline looks childishly done), and I Know I could do way more than that, but. All I really wanted was to draw something quick and fun that was exclusively focused on the characters, the joke, and the actions taking place. The background only existed for the purpose of Making it work -- you need to see that there's a river, that Henry is currently dragging Nowi towards as if he was disposing a body. And later, you need to see the river still, when Libra picks her up and throws her into it. Core point, it doesn't have to Look nice -- it just needs to perform a function.

Something else nice that I learned in letting myself do it poorly is that watercolors are really good for broad quick coverage. Which IS something I knew and was going to utilize in some Genshin comics, which ultimately got abandoned esp bc I lost the interest -- I just haven't actually Used the method in a larger piece. Which! I think is actually what I'm getting at.... being able to draw something small, not serious, with the lowest amount of effort required to serve its purpose, actually helped a lot in conceptualizing how I can approach future projects. And likewise, how I can approach cleaning up older ones that don't quite stand the test of time.... but again, I may just opt for filling in the necessary blanks (fully coloring The Characters if it got to that stage) and cleaning up what I can with updated art (which would end up being pencil sketches).

Another thing is I really want to organize everything somehow, beyond my art tag. Especially because a lot of these thoughts are interconnected, even in the case of the Veronica one-shot. And of course, the other WIPs, while disconnected at first glance, Are the jumping off point for a storyline that has A Lot of different parts. Plus, on top of all that, I actually have a lot of comic/story ideas for my summoner OC. Either to present characterization/parallels, or to be a part of another broader storyline that's interconnected as well.

I think. Maybe the main thing to get sorted Is whatever is closest to being finished, and starting from there. Which also means I'll want to figure out a navigation system..... hgnghghnhghbngh......

[fourseasonsfigs]

Top Hat Puppy

Gong Jun is looking exceptionally cute in his flowered top hat, all dressed up in a delightfully dapper white suit.

This figure is from the Cosmopolitan November 2022 magazine that just KEEPS ON GIVING. I mentioned in previous posts that every single look in that magazine shoot has at least one fig, and for good reason! I will take ALL the figs of this particular inspiration, please and thank you.

This is a wildly complicated outfit, my goodness. There is so much going on here, from his flowered hat, to the bandana, to the print on the suit. Not to mention his very special Dog artwork on his Hogan shoes!

Our proper little gentleman arrived safely, all snug in his polystyrene mailing box! I was in fact quite worried about this fig traveling - there's a lot of delicate pieces on the hat especially. I've been a bit less cautious with most of my resin figs these days, and trusting in this polystyrene to keep most of them safe. This one, though, I absolutely air column wrapped! Can't take any chances with this cute of a puppy.

Look at him! He's just perfect. Perfect perfect perfect.

Everything on this fig is just incredible. The flowers on the hat, the bandana, all the details on the suit.

You can see why I was worried about those flowers during shipping! From this angle you can also see the Tiffany ring on his finger there.

The tag on his sleeve says "KENZO", the designer of this suit:

Look at the little "Dog" art on the back of his shoes! Such great details.

The print on the bandana is so well done. It's easy for me to forget even myself how small this actually is, since I zoom in so much on the pictures. The bandana is about an inch across and 3/4 of an inch long (2 x 3 cm).

Look at those roses. Just gorgeous, gorgeous fine detail on each one of them.

He stands really well, considering. I would not have thought that with that big top hat and with the hanging bandana, that he would balance at all. He leans back very slightly (from the weight of all of that), so the stretchy fig stickers are slowly getting, well, stretched backwards. I'll probably eventually glue him to a stand, but for now, he's fine.

Amazing there's the bandana print on the inside here too. I could easily expect that they would just have that white to cut down on the complexity.

The roses are just so pretty. It really looks like a wedding outfit, doesn't it?

His eyes have roses in them too. This could not be any prettier of a figure.

It's so pretty that we need to do some more closeups. Here we have more of the roses, and all the detail on the suit. You can even see the three suit buttons on his raised hand. Take a look at the detail on the shoes here too.

I managed to wedge my phone up under his bandana to really zoom in. Here we can get a much better look at the dog drawings on the shoes, and so much great detail on the suit print.

A little bit overexposed, but good enough to get a nice shot of his silver ring and more suit details. We get a good look at his sideswept hair, and this may also be the best shot of the top of his shoes yet. We can also get a great view of the beauty mark on his ear, and much more clearly see the rose in his eyes. It's unfortunate the KENZO logo didn't quite make it totally intact, but it's still plenty clear!

Alright, back to our regularly scheduled bottom and top view...

Because of his bandana, I couldn't quite lay him on his back for the normal bottoms-up angle. Can't see a ton from here. I guess this is still a nice shot to illustrate how well the foot/leg posing matches the inspiration picture. I'm glad the fig maker only had one hand holding the hat though, it's nice to have his other hand down to show off the lines of the suit and of course the ring.

This is a remarkably clean and sharp figure all the way around - no overspray and just beautiful lines.

Love this top hat view! The flowers are just so pretty.

More of that big bright beautiful sunflower. Love it!

The box card is just beautiful as well. One of my all-time favorite figs for sure.

Material: Resin

Fig Count: 438

Scene Count: 30

Rating: Beautiful as a springtime wedding

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