#i'm not very good at drawing nova

[marsantiquity]

[ @nova--spark ] hi hi please know, I lit up seeing your Batman Beyond doodles and design, your style looks SO amazing and good with the show, please never stop drawing what you love!!

Thank you,,,, i love drawing him he is so silly, I'm glad you like him !! He doesn't get enough love tbh. ;o; it's very nice of you to say,,,

[starrysharks]

OK heres zeno coloring tutorial 2.0 !!!! i'm gonna do it kind of in chapters i guess?

chapter 1: choosing base colors

when i'm choosing base colors i always pick everything based on a specific off-white! my 'default' off-white is this kind of very light cyan color but i change it regularly based on character designs/environment/lighting whatever,, examples here!

for callie in this piece, i based everything off of this pinkish color! her skin tone, tentacles, outfit etc are all chosen to harmonise/contrast with the pink color

and with this piece, i used a slightly darker blueish color as they're in space but there's still a lot of light... and the lighter colors in the background (the explosion) make a sense of depth i guess? i used that blue color and chose similar cool colors to harmonise with it!

so i more or less base the tone of the colors in the piece off the off-white! warm off-white = warmer colors (like the nova valentine's day art) and cold off white = cooler colors (like the explosion nova and paro art). but i switch up this formula often !!

chapter 2: coloring specific things

here i'll go over some specific textures and stuff like skin and hair ... skin first !!

for skin, i like to use a variety of tones! there are different ways to draw cooler and warmer skintones that other people have gone over way better than i have but basically for skin i use this part of the color wheel and pick the darker tones of oranges/reds/pinks etc. (for darker skintones, i go to the middle of the color square thingy, and for lighter tones, i usually slide down the upper-right side)

when it comes to shading skintones, it's pretty straightforward, just a darkish-purple and a pinkish color on 100% multiply, and i always add a little shadow on the nose and blush becuz i think it's cute

(also i like to add reflective spots on darker skin tones sometimes because 1. darker skin tones reflect in real life and 2. it's fun)

next up is hair... this is very specific to my artstyle but i like to add 3-6 long oval line thingies to the hair to mimic reflection ! it looks cool, it's a good way to show off different colors in the design and i like to switch it up sometimes based on a character's personality!! (like how the frye pic above has a lighting bolt shaped hair thing, or how my teto design has a wing shaped hair thing to mimic her wings in her chimera form!) (note: it doesn't always need to be lighter than the actually hair color and it usually isn't)

for other materials like metal, screens, etc etc... i just add random X marks lol... and reflections!!!

(also, just a general thing, but adding little saturated lines to shading really adds depth and color imo!!)

i would put more tips with refs but tumbles only allows 10 images per post ;w; so i will simply close off by saying don't be afraid to add overlays and filters to your art!! overlays can really help harmonise colors and filters like brightness and contrast can help colors pop... try not to completely rely on them for color choice tho!!

and that's basically it !!! this is not a definitive 'how to draw/color' post... i am not a color theorist... i just wanted to show people how i choose colors cuz a lot of people say they like my color choices! honestly i don't know much myself but i hope that this and the philosophy of 'do what looks good' will help you all o_ob thank you and goodbye

[sillysybilsden]

What are some good resources on Roman polytheism? Books, YouTube Channels, websites, etc. I’ve been feeling drawn to Roman polytheism specifically.

hey there! thank you for asking this question — I'm always happy to share resources on Roman polytheism.

first things first, I will go ahead and link my personal list of resources. there, you will find all of the books, papers and websites I've gone through and have found particularly useful when it comes to learning about Roman culture/polytheism.

I will nonetheless give you some recommendations on resources I would look into if I were to start my path over again!

DISCLAIMER: I am a revivalist. because of this, I will be recommending historical/academical resources. keep in mind that this is just the way I do things, though: every path is valid and you are more than welcome to follow another — no matter whether reconstructionist or modern.

1. "Roman Religion" by Valerie Warrior

this is a great book for those who are starting to approach cultus deorum. it gives you a wonderful introduction, after which you can focus on the aspects of Roman polytheism that intrigue you/draw your attention the most.

2. Nova Roma (Roman Religion section)

now, this website is the second resource I recommend to you. here, you will find plenty of informative articles on Roman polytheism — both the private and the public cults. even though many don't endorse this organisation because of some past allegations, its members are very knowledgeable. keep in mind that they have a reconstructionist approach!

3. "The Dancing Lares and the Serpent in the Garden" by Harriet I. Flower

now, this book is exceptional especially if you're looking forward to delving into the private cult — which, in reconstructionist/revivalist approaches, mainly focuses on the domestic deities. you will find a lot of info on Penates, Lares and the like. my very humble and very personal advice is that of starting with this kind of worship, for one very simple reason: since domestic deities are within reach, many Roman polytheists agree on the fact that you do not need to perform a ritus Romanus — Roman ritual — in order to leave an offering/interact with them.

this book can be very dense — both because it is academical and because the font is very small. I personally recommend taking your time going through it. if you need to stop, do so.

4. "Ritus romanus: make an offering to your gods"

this pdf will be ever-so precious whenever/if you will feel ready to include ritus Romanus in your practice. also, it also gives you an introduction on domestic Roman practices — how to set up a shrine, which deities to worship, etc.

BONUS: "Archaic Roman Religion" by George Dumézil and TIMOTHEVS

"Archaic Roman Religion" is a wonderful book when it comes to the history of Roman polytheism. even though many of Dumézil's theories are outdated, it is still very useful when wanting to learn about the differences between Archaic Roman religion, Republican Roman religion and Imperial Roman religion.

TIMOTHEVS, on the other hand, is a YouTube channel that shows you the way the theory of other resources may work in someone's practice. if I'm not wrong, there should be a couple of videos of them leaving an offering to Lares. to those who find it useful to have a visual reference, like myself, such videos are sooooo precious.

and I think this is it! I hope that this recommendations are going to be useful to you! feel free to ask more questions if anything's unclear and I'll be happy to help 🙌🏻💗

[the-morningstar-family]

*whispers from beneath the doctors exam table* Pst. Nova! I'll give you a sticker after this if you do good, ok? You got this kiddo! *moves to behind the two adults, possibly in the walls again. Who knows at this point?" How you two aren't weirded out by me is kinda worrying. Also, I'm not joking. I brought stickers for the kid. Don't kill the docs when they cry tho!

(:

Alastor: Why would we worry if W̸̧̮̮̑͘͝ę̷̬́ ̸̯̅͗̈c̵̲̿o̷̢̝͕̒̚ù̴͖͍̟͝l̸̡͋d̶͕͈̑̇̑ ̸͍͗͜͠c̶̗͉̈́r̷͙̓ů̸̟̙s̵̗͙̓h̶͖̤͙̄̀ ̶̡̆̽̚ḯ̷͓͈̈́n̵͍̏̃̎ ̴̻̍̾ã̶̯̋͜ ̴̧̠̠̂́s̶͕͉̅ë̸̜̖͍̀͘c̷͓̎̈́͂o̶̺͌n̴̖͗d̶̙̪̂̊ ̵̥͗̏̌?

Lucifer: "Alright, settle down, they haven't done anything yet."

Alastor: "Just a fair warning my dear!"

Doctor Fair comes in. First, she checks Nova's vitals, and basic health. A bunch of developmental test, that Nova missed out in so far, follow. Finally, she gets out a bunch of needles. One to draw blood, and several vaccinations.

Nova had been rather quiet so far, only speaking when asked. Now, her tail wraps around her anxiously.

Nova: "Are you sure that won't hurt?"

Dr.Fair: "There might be a little prick at first, but nothing more sweetie."

Nova still doesn't offer her arm, rather, keeping it away protectively. Alastor bends down a bit, so that he's at her eye level.

Alastor: "Now dear, remember what I told you? These are very important so you don't get really sick"

Nova: "But I haven't been sick that often"

Alastor: "And you are very lucky for that. I can promise you, that you won't be hurt beyond that little prick"

Finally, she puts out her arm for Dr. Fair to take. Nova is very glad when it's over, clutching her stuffed animal for emotional support.

Dr. Fair: "Very good Nova! You did very well, nothing more to do for today."

Dr. Fair scribbles something down.

Dr. Fair, turning to Lucifer and Alastor: "Okay... I don't think it'll suprise you to know that she's slightly underweight and too small. I'm certain that it's due to her irregular intake of food, but I'll let the blood be tested about it, just to rule out anything else. She also has slight muscle anthropy, likely because of the malnutrition. I'll print out a dietary plan for you to follow, as well as some exercises. Otherwise I'm glad to inform you that she's right in track in her development. Especially cognitively she's slightly above average."

Alastor was right, Nova's 'clumsiness' was more than meets the eye. At least it's not irreversible. She hid her face into the stuffed animals likely feeling completely overwhelmed.

[pinievsev]

hihihi!!! wondering if i can get a headcannon/oneshot of Xavier Thorpe with a plus size!reader who is very insecure, sensitive & has anxiety (this is oddly specific but i just don’t see a lot but obviously if you’re comfortable you can add nsfw i’m not good with requesting) You’re writing is amazing im in love ☆☆!!

OMG! I HAD TO DO THIS IMMEDIATELY!!! TYSM FOR THE COMPLIMENT<33!

I will not be adding any nsfw, since I'm not comfortable with that yet, maybe in the future tho ;)

XAVIER THORPE X !PLUS SIZE!SENSITIVE!ANXIETY READER HEADCANNONS

Artist man over here would 100% draw you so many times you'd have a wall in your dorm full of the paintings and drawings he made of you

Not sure if he'd be good or not at comforting people but would try his best to be there for you during an anxiety attack.

Would protect you and stand up for you at all costs, man's not scared to get his hands dirty.

Super freaking gentle with you

Calls you cute nicknames like love, darling e.t.c sometimes uses babe.

LOVESS hugging you, I swear this man is a cuddler.

Draws cute/funny things and make them come to life just to see you smile

If you aren't with him? He'll keep texting you to make sure you're okay

^ you aren't okay?, Mister 6'2 Titan man over here will sprint across the school to find you.

Uses "🤨" and "🧐" alot because yes.

Will definitely use you as a pillow

.......................................

Can't think of anything else rn :sob:

Hope you like these little headcannons <3

Taglist: @georgi-salva , @arson-the-royal , @falleni0-hq , @mindflay3r , @rottenstyx , @nova-lov3su , @elduster , @countsmoon , @biggestsimponhere , @andreeasancheez , @justmanu , @whitewingsh , @hwrtsiren

[endy-x]

ArtFight Recap (3)

Recap 1 / Recap 2 I thought I'd go and post my attacks from artfight that I did, I had a ton of fun this year, I'm going to post them in batches because there is a lot and I do not have the energy to make an individual post for all of them

If you want me to remove you from this list, or add or remove any links in any way just message me and I will!

Im going to put a keep reading here because there is a lot of stuff here so I dont want to block your feed if you're not interested

Attack 61 was Agnes Willowbee for @maydaymadier I am super proud of how she turned out, she was the first character after a couple days of artblock so she got a couple days worth of effort put into her and I think I can confidently say that it shows

Attack 62 was Leniss for @kr4shz This character looks really cool and I'm happy with how it turned out

Attack 63 was William for LinFan [Twitter @LinFan1590 Instagram linfan159] I am super happy with how this one turned out , the overlaying images took a lot of fiddling for me to be happy with but I'm really proud of how this turned out

Attack 64 was Dewi for @lilybug-02 I've been reading the comic this lil guy features in so stumbling upon him on artfight was a good excuse to draw him

Attack 65 was Jimbo for @simplysanders A very fun looking guy who was a joy to draw

Attack 66 was Sanquo for Emilykun [deviantART EmilykunRocks] I loved the character design and the hand resting on the horn was really fun to draw

Attack 67 was No name for EightBitAutumn [deviantART JinxTheBlissfulBunny] I really loved that character design

Attack 68 was Nova (ISAT) for @laciedoesdraw I love seeing ISAT characters and Nova was super fun to draw

Attack 69 was Beatríz for @shushetho777 Another adorable character as a revenge

Attack 70 was Nuray for @ixabits I hope I did her justice because shes so pretty

Attack 71 was ♡♡♡ Devil's Rose for @leafy-lilac I am super happy with the half and half and it worked really well with the really cool characcter

Attack 72 was Gwyidion for @shinibobo Another really cool character design that I hope I did justice

Attack 73 was Holly - Empiral Blue Pearl for Pomdough A really cool character with a very pretty design

Attack 74 was Iri for TaffySnow There were so many colours and I loved drawing this

Attack 75 was Phoenix for macaronimissile She has a super pretty refrence and I think I managed to draw her super pretty too

Attack 76 was Umbra for Snaz_uwu The reference was super Majestic but I think I did pretty well

Attack 77 was [⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️] Ozzie for Lycanrosie [deviantART Lycanrosie Twitter Lycanrosie_ Instagram sierrarosie.art] I love how I did the lineless for this, Im very proud of it

Attack 78 was Bia for hinareks [Instagram hinareks] I am very happy with this art and I had a great reference to work with

Attack 79 was Mona Lisa for @zeawesomeness I really like how this one turned out, the two versions staring at eachother is something I am really proud of

Attack 80 was Ghost for User_Kara [Twitter User_Kara Instagram entity_kara] This is a really cool looking character, I dont think the amount of detail I managed did it justice but I think I did well regardless

Attack 81 was Forlorn for throat A really fun looking character, unique animal characters are always cool

And Finally, attack 82 was Jubilee Maples for @dqrshrtck A really pretty character that I drew with just over 10 minutes left of artfight

[vince-noir-666]

Source

What's new for this series? Are there any new games or updated rounds?

I feel like people love the Buzzcocks format and they would freak out if we changed it. The show is so famous it's one of those that can go on forever and it doesn't matter who's in it.

The weird Mick Hucknall game that Greg is obsessed with is back. He essentially puts Mick Hucknall's picture over someone else's face and we guess who's behind it.

What can you tell us about the guests this series? Who can we expect to see?

The Nova Twins were on my team who were hilarious... and telepathic. They're for young people but I'm quite interested in their music. There's also been Suggs from Madness and Harry Hill, which was exciting. Katherine Ryan was also very funny.

Gregory Porter was absolutely amazing. No one really knew what he was going to be like, because he has that smooth beautiful soul voice, but he was really funny. He pitched it really well. Americans are always good at that, coming in, working out what is going on, then finding the right level and tone and joining in. He is a class act.

What has been your most embarrassing celebrity encounter?

What, ever? Jesus... When I was partying, I had a lot of weird encounters. Pete Doherty bit my ear once. Not off, but he did draw blood. I'm trying to think of things that won't get other people in trouble.

What's the best thing about filming Never Mind The Buzzcocks? What's the worst?

I have a soft spot for the show because I spent five or six years doing it with Phill Jupitus so it's part of my life weirdly. It's always 'Bs' with me, there's some kind of magic with the letter B. Boosh, Bake Off and Buzzcocks. I'm scared to make a show that doesn't begin with B.

I like that it's about music as there doesn't seem to be any other shows out there about music. I love all the people on it so it's easy for me to do. I also like the fact there's an audience because it makes it quite exciting.

You first appeared on the show way back in 2007. What's changed since then?

It's interesting doing it this time now that I'm older. When I used to do it, I would get shitfaced before the show and take the guests out to The Groucho Club and it would end up really messy. I would sometimes even do the show without going to bed the night before.

I remember once I hadn't been to bed for a few days and when I came into the studio, Lorraine Kelly chased me around and spanked me over the desk with a wooden spoon. At that point I didn't know if I was dreaming, or if that was real, but I knew I needed to go to bed.

Another time I was out at a party, and someone had to come and get me and bring me in. Weirdly, they went quite well, those shows.

Now I've got two children, it's more like a cup of tea and then home.

Which of your fellow panellists do you have the most rivalry with?

I like taking the piss out of Greg, but me and Jamali aren't that bothered about winning. We're not adverse to cheating but to be honest we never win so it doesn't make a difference. I feel like we've only won once throughout the whole three series! The downfall is down to us both.

Which panellist is the cheekiest?

I wouldn't describe anyone as cheeky, so maybe that means I am. Greg's quite cheeky, he makes it quite jovial and fun. Daisy is the most ridiculous, and I mean that as a compliment, because she says things you would never think of saying and does things that you can't believe your eyes are seeing. Jamali is absolutely vicious, he can destroy people. He is the most troublesome because he absolutely annihilates the identity parade line-up but that's his thing, he's like a viper. He just sits back and bang.

Who has the best banter?

Me and Greg have quite good banter because we've known each other for quite a long time. We did stand-up together so we're old mates. I love working with Jamali, we're like the double act that no one knew they needed in a bad cop movie.

Who on the panel causes the most chaos?

Daisy. She is chaos. She dresses amazingly though and has been killing it with some amazing dresses and looks.

If you and your fellow panellists were in band, what would that band be called and who would be the lead singer?

Oh Jesus Christ. I'd have to be the lead singer, wouldn't I? Greg on drums. I feel like Jamali wouldn't turn up, he couldn't be fucked, but if he was there, he'd be on bass. I'd have to be pulling some shapes at the front although Daisy could also do that.

If you were in a band, which other celebrities or musicians would you want to play alongside?

I used to be in a band with Serge from Kasabian called Loose Tapestries. We never performed live, but I would've liked to. It was mostly TV soundtrack stuff.

I was also the lead singer in couple of bands years ago, around the same time I started comedy, which were called Smee and Slam Icabod.

I've also done some things with Razorlight. I did a gig at The Royal Albert Hall and Jonny Burrell came on. What was good about making The Mighty Boosh, was that Julian [Barratt] and I could make different types of music but when you're in a band you have to choose one genre. We could do surf rock, electro, funk, and jazz because it was a comedy show.

Who would be your dream Glastonbury headliner?

Elvis would be good, I love Elvis. The Beatles would be good, but don't tell Jamali I said that. Black Sabbath or Jimi Hendrix would be amazing. The Doors as well.

I used to go on stage with Kasabian dressed as Vlad the Impaler and dance around like Bez, a vampire Bez, and one time I went on at Glastonbury. Dolly Parton was on before them, so we chatted for about half an hour, and she complimented my outfit. There must be a picture of us somewhere.

What's your favourite album of all time?

That's a hard one. I'm going to have to say Sticky Fingers by The Rolling Stones. My mum and dad are full rock and rollers, so I grew up on Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, The Doors, The Stones, The Kinks and Black Sabbath. I like the Beastie Boys too.

When we did The Mighty Boosh we were quite into the Wu Tang Clan and Kool Keith. Lots of rap. Beck was quite big then too. Iggy Pop, The Peaches, Joni Mitchell. I like folk, I like everything.

First gig?

It was probably Status Quo or David Bowie with my parents. It was a good start. I remember seeing Oasis before they had an album out. When I was in college it was the likes of Blur, Pulp, Oasis, and Supergrass. When we got famous as The Boosh, we were hanging out with The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The White Stripes. Then it all went a bit pop.

No disrespect to pop but it's not my thing, X Factor and all that shit. I feel slightly sorry for the kids. Not that I don't love pop - I love ABBA, I love The Bee Gees and Britney Spears. I love bands though, there's something quite magical about bands.

Five of us would perform as The Boosh - if it went well, we could go and celebrate together, and it would be us against the world. You want to like a band when you're young, don't you? Someone that's a little bit rebellious.

[novastarrart]

Intro Post~*~

Hey there and welcome to my art blog! I’m Nova (or Gengi) and I’m a hobby artist! My pronouns are They/he/It/haunt/moon and I’m also gengar gender!

I am an adult (33yrs), but this blog will be mostly sfw with the exception of suggestive shit which will be tagged as such.

Decided to make a side blog primarily for my own art, to learn, improve and just vibe honestly. I don’t always draw and I’m kinda slow at making art, so if you want more stuff from me (random posting/memes/commentary) feel free to follow my main blog @galactic-mermaid

That's also where I used to post my art, so I might reblog a few older posts from there.

NOTE: If you would like to help out and add ID's/alt text for my art please do! I'm not very good at it, but I will try my best if anyone ever needs me to add them!

Tags for easier navigation:

#Nova’s art - My original artwork!

#Nova’s edits - Screenshots or memes I edited (mostly for fun)

#Nova Answers - Asks answered by me

#Nova Speaks - Just me talking and stuff

#Non Art Shit - Speaks for itself. Non-art related posts

Any new tags will be added as they come up! I also tag for triggers like this “[Trigger] tw” if you need to blacklist anything!

~*~And now for the most important part~*~

DNI IF YOU’RE A TERF/SWERF/ETC, HOMO/TRANSPHOBIC, RACIST (Conservative, nazi scum, white supremacist, Zionist, etc.) OR A PRO-SHIPPER (You know the ones I mean). I WILL CHECK YOUR BLOG AND I WILL REPORT AND BLOCK YOU.

🖕🖕🖕~*~Fuck around and find out~*~🖕🖕🖕

Dividers made by @strangergraphics-archive and @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

[comicaurora]

how did you do the fancy gradient linework for vash in starfire form? and also, what was your logic behind which parts should be white and which should be black? i've been curious about it for a while, but it only occurred to me that i could ask now

That's a fun one! Drawing Vash's nova mode was an on-the-fly learning experience, so the effect I ended up using was more "whatever works best to my eyes" than anything planned.

Without the colored lineart overlay, with standard black lineart like everyone else, he looked like this:

Not bad, but I really wanted that powerful glowing-from-within look that light lineart can provide, so the first thing I did was take the whole lineart layer, duplicate it and recolor it to his glowy blue shade. This is also the layer I drew the outline of the fire on.

This looked good almost everywhere, but I didn't like what it did to his facial features. It felt weird to make his mouth and nose sort of reverse-outlined, so I soft-erased all the parts that just looked wrong to me.

That was better, but it needed intensifying. So I did two opposing things: I made another copy of the lineart layer, recolored it a dark blue, set it to multiply and whited out the parts I thought looked best with light lineart -

AND I went back to the very base lineart folder and I recolored all his base lineart (outside the deliberately dark sections) to a pale blue to intensify the glow.

The general rule I used was that anywhere a shadowed section touched the outline of the figure (chin, nose, the hair around his face) the lineart needed to be dark to blend with the shadow effect. Underneath all the fire and rain it looks like this:

I also had to play with it when showing him in profile, because I hold that his nose and mouth just didn't look right with white outlines, but I REALLY liked what the white outline did to the eye glow. You can see how I mostly kept to my rule about darkening the lineart where it touched a shadowed section - like the line of his right arm where it touches the shadow of his leg, or the curve of his left shoulder when it overlaps with his chest or the shadows on his hair. Because his facial features were mostly shadowed, I felt comfortable darkening the lineart on them specifically. It also made the effect feel better and more coherent than just darkening the facial features in isolation.

In the version below, you can see why lightening the lines uniformly starts looking really weird in the face area and makes the expression hard to parse. A nose is mostly defined by its shadow and a mouth by the contrast between light teeth and a dark, shadowed interior - if those shadowed areas are flipped to being bright instead it makes the entire face look Off. The lines of the nose no longer make sense, and we see the lightened interior of the mouth as where the teeth must be when that's not at all where they go.

What's cool is that clearly I'm not the only person who noticed this problem, because they used a similar effect in the W.I.T.C.H. comic when a character glowed in a similar fashion! Every other line is full radiant, but the facial features are kept outlined in a color darker than their surroundings!

Fun stuff!

[cha-melodius]

Which fic are you most proud of and what inspired you to write it?

Hello and thanks so much for this lovely ask! I'm gonna give a slightly more complex answer than just "pick one", because I've talked a lot about the first fic (although that was mostly back when I had less than half the number of tumblr followers I have now, which is kind of crazy to think about), and the others are more recent.

So, the fic I'm most proud of remains Love is a Losing Game (napollya, E, 101k), which I wrote back in 2021! Hard to believe it's been that long. This is a whole-ass novel, and I still think it's my most original and well-developed work. It's a Cold War competitive chess AU, and was inspired by @eavos dropping the idea of a competitve chess AU in the tmfu discord chat one day because he'd watched The Queen's Gambit. Once I finally watched QG too, the concept completely took over my brain. It ultimately shares pretty much nothing with QG other than the competitive chess setting, but it turned out to be the perfect setting for these two. Also includes my favorite ever OC (Zaytsev). It's also a fic that is late in a fandom and is kind of a strange concept—college coffee shop AUs people jump on, but competitve chess? Definitely not going to draw people in as much. So it's certainly not my highest kudosed or most popular fic, but I've gotten some effusive comments that really show how much people who have read it loved it.

But that was also 2021, and I don't want to discount my more recent work. So, among those, I'm probably most proud of Please Don't Let Me Be So Understood (firstprince, E, 20k). This was a work that took it's basic concept from another fic I happened across in a different fandom that I'm not even part of lol. I thought it would make a great firstprince story, but writing it was very daunting because it's almost entirely a bunch of therapy. I've said it before but I'll say it again that this fic never would have gotten written without @celeritas2997, who gave me the confidence to pull it off and helped me make sure the therapy sessions were realistic and sensitive without losing our boys. This was maybe the most challenging fic I've ever written, even though it's not that long, and for that reason I'm very proud of it.

Honorable mentions to my spy novels Nova, Baby (firstprince, E, 66k) and A Good Man is Hard to Find (lokius, M, 81k). I absolutely love both of these stories and am super proud of how I built these stories and how they played out.

I've definitely yammered on long enough about this, but thank you again!

[spacecoffeeandcartoons]

I just took your uquiz (got Madhouse at the End of the World) and I'm obsessed - I think I might have found a new special interest!!! Please talk polar expeditions to me, I'm foaming at the mouth, absolutely feral. Just infodump like crazy please, I'm on my knees and begging

I'm so glad you liked the quiz!!

Apologies for turning this post into a larger primer!

I hope you enjoy Madhouse--secretly I think it's the best result on the quiz (though it's not my own result; that's A First-Rate Tragedy). Madhouse has a bit of everything & if you're looking for truly insane anecdotes to regale your friends with, it's your best bet. A smattering of what you'll find in Madhouse: an army of rats, toxic gases sickening the expedition leader, scientists drawing cartoons about poop and butts, a man being mistaken for a seal at the worst possible time, brutal disregard for cats by a man who would go on to co-found the International Astronomical Union, the invention of light therapy, really bad uses of petroleum jelly....& that's just scratching the surface! And it all takes place during the first overwintering in Antarctica. thisisfine.gif

The one downside (not a downside depending on your perspective) for Madhouse as a starter book is it has nothing to do with Shackleton or Scott, and you'll soon find the majority of the English-language books on the Heroic Age, for better or worse, relate to those two. Madhouse DOES have a young Roald Amundsen (later the first man to the South Pole), who is a FASCINATING figure, and his first trip to Antarctica was often overlooked before this book afaik.

So I chose my three books for the starter quiz very carefully. Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton, A First-Rate Tragedy by Diana Preston, and Endurance by Alfred Lansing are all accessible secondary sources. They are readable (not overly academic) & don't require background info, doing a good job introducing people and terms (polar exploration has a whole associated vocabulary). Just as importantly, they're all exciting & well-paced & gripping! Once you've found your bearings, there's a whole specialist literature of polar history for polar scholars and enthusiasts. Broadly, I break it down thusly:

- Primary source expedition narratives: firsthand accounts of expeditions by people who were there. Within this there are a few subcategories: books always intended to be written by explorers when they returned home (this was a significant source of income for expeditions), like Scott's The Voyage of the Discovery, Mawson's Home of the Blizzard, or Shackleton's The Heart of the Antarctic. There's books not-originally-intended but the author decided to write them years later (The Worst Journey in the World by Cherry-Garrard, Saga of the Discovery by Bernacchi). And then there's diaries that were never intended to be published--often, they were written for the explorer's family, or perhaps to help the expedition leader write the narrative. But they weren't meant to be published verbatim. Time, fame, tragedy, and general interest sometimes led to them eventually seeing publication--this is especially the case for a lot of the Terra Nova diaries, & was most famously done for Scott's own diary, which he had intended to edit into a book, but not to publish in raw form. Providence, of course, had different ideas.

- Secondary source expedition narratives: Madhouse and Endurance from my quiz both fit this category, for the Belgica and Imperial Trans-Antarctic (better known as the 'Endurance') expeditions, respectively. (First-Rate Tragedy I'd moreso call a Scott biography). These are accounts of expeditions written by authors/historians who were not on the expeditions in question. There's a LOT of these, and they vary widely in quality. Some offer new scholarship or cover something that hasn't been covered before; others are...less rigorous. Have a browse at your local thrift store/charity shop/secondhand bookstore. If you're lucky they'll have some polar books. Flip through and see if there's a robust citations section, or footnotes, and ideally in-text citations for quote attributions. This can give you some sense of the quality as you're wading into the sea of books!

- Biographies: Exactly what it says on the tin! Instead of picking an expedition to focus on, these books are about one explorer and his life (almost always "his", though there are a few exceptions like Ada Blackjack). There are, once again, a lot of these! Scott and Shackleton in particular have a lot of biographies. I personally didn't read many biographies before this obsession, and I find them a really interesting format in which the biographer is important too, not just the subject. I'm developing opinions about when and how biographers should include relevant cultural context, the amount of the author inserting their opinion that I prefer and how it should be indicated in the text, etc. Similarly for the secondary sources above, check the indices and citations. I'm constantly flipping back to check sources while reading, one of the reasons I prefer physical to e-books!

- Other: There's always another category, isn't there? There's tons more! Cultural histories like Spufford's I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination (I recommend you get a few books under your belt before reading that to get the most out of it), travelogues mixed with history like Sarah Wheeler's Terra Incognita, Bea Uusma's The Expedition which flips back and forth between time periods, & more!

Like any taxonomy, there's flaws with the above, and things that don't fit, but that's broadly how I see the landscape!

Tips, tricks, & things to know:

- Polar books are most often found in the "Travel" or "Travel Literature" section. Sometimes you can find stuff in "History" "Biography" or even "Sports" lol. A parallel interest is Mountaineering, so if a place has Mountaineering books, they may well also have polar.

- It can be very helpful to familiarise yourself with the Edwardian era in general -- it's a fascinating cultural history in and of itself, and its the most modern era before the great global "end-of-innocence" of the First World War. Sometimes the things these guys are up to really ARE crazy, sometimes it's just that they're Edwardians and something is lost in the translation.

- Like many subjects historians have been writing about for over a century, polar exploration history authors have their biases. The most common one is whether or not the author likes Robert Falcon Scott. This goes back to a controversial book called Scott and Amundsen, published in 1979 by Roland Huntford. (It's also found under the title The Last Place on Earth, based on its TV show adaptation.) Huntford retells the "race to the South Pole" elevating Amundsen and in the process doing a very good job of destroying Scott's reputation by debunking him as an incompetent bungler. From what I've heard from others (I haven't read it yet, though will eventually for its historiographical value) it's a good source on Amundsen but everything he says on Scott should be ignored due to highly selective quotations and...well, active malice toward the guy. Basically, it's a callout-post/bombshell of a book that has had almost every subsequent historian touching on the topic going to great lengths to debunk in turn. Fwiw, I've also heard people say Huntford's Shackleton biography is good. Just. Don't listen to him about Scott.

- Imperialism motivated a lot of these expeditions, and frankly in my opinion this is something more of the literature NEEDS to talk about! A few that do a good job are Spufford mentioned above, & Larson's An Empire of Ice.

- I'd actually recommend don't start with diaries, bc they usually need some context to understand. Exception? Scott's final entries.

There you go! Happy reading! Also check out @areyougonnabe, she's got some great polar posts!!

[demonsteapot]

How do you do lighting in your art???

Yours always looks incredible, and it's an area I struggle with greatly. Any advice is appreaciated!

Okay. So.

The short answer is that I'm not actually that advanced or skilled with regards to lighting, and I hide it behind stylization. But I can explain some, like, entry level lighting information?

I put a cut because I wrote a bunch of stuff. Sorry if this is too basic, I don't know how much baseline stuff I should be going over ;-;

Also heads up I can't explain shit for fuck so it might be incomprehensible

This is not a shockingly interesting image in itself, but it illustrates some pretty key things I think?

First, and I guess most important, you need to know where your light is and what type of light it is. In this image, it's a directional light (the light rays are all more or less parallel), so the shadows will be very consistent. I can try to demonstrate other types (point lights, spot lights, area lights) at some point, but directional is more or less the simplest?

The second thing is establishing perspective, which I've illustrated with the four lines on the ground. I kinda hate doing perspective to be honest (and it shows in my work), but you want a good grasp on it to handle neat lighting. (I think I screwed it up here ;-; not so neat)

The third is the way I worked out the actual shadow, drawing lines from the light source (since it's directional, all of these lines are parallel) through features on Nova, and onto the ground (which is where the perspective comes in, or at least it would if I was using it right). If I'm uncertain how a feature maps onto its shadow, I draw another line, but I can extrapolate a lot of features just from knowing where the top of the shadow is cast. Here I drew additional lines through the bottom of her head and the edges (approximately) of her dress, and another one on the ground as a guideline. It's a bit messy but the idea is there I think?

Normally, I don't actually draw these lines, I just work them out in my head. (Which is why they're usually even more inaccurate.) Anyway, once you have some of those guidelines, you can work out the shape, and if you can't, draw more lines.

Okay that's all I really wanted to say; I have no idea if any of that is comprehensible or helpful lol

Also I just realized I forgot to draw the horns on the shadow. FUCK

I also made a thing about the way I shade some materials, if that's anything:

With regards to object shading, my artstyle doesn't use a lot of colours usually (typically it's two or three per material, except hair which is special), and I don't use gradients or soft brushes much (or, like, ever). Shadows on characters tend to be 'start with something vaguely accurate, then adjust until it looks nice.'

If you want me to tackle anything else, like colour or more specific lighting cases? Um. I don't know what I'm doing I'll get back to you eventually. Maybe.

Till then, I need to work on my freaking lighting skills! Toodles!

[cinnabun-faerie]

Obey Me x Supernatural : You're summoned to the Devildom but Winchesters are your brothers

A/N: This was wild but I enjoyed writing this SO much! I have more ideas for Obey Me x Supernatural!

Warning: Swearing

Obey Me taglist: @missnella-nova @thai

If you want to be added to the taglist for whenever I post, you can comment here on the original post !

Frightfest ‘22 Masterlist

you were on a hunt with Sam & Dean

just investigating some ghost business

and next thing you know, you're being teleported away

last thing you hear is Dean aggressively yelling for Cas

and Sam tries to grab you but he's too late

and now you're standing in some room

surrounded by a bunch of dudes

well alright

this was not how you wanted your Wednesday to go, but you're not mad

they were all kinda hot

WAIT

is this what heaven looks like?

did you die?

shit, one of your brothers are gonna sacrifice themselves to bring you back

Damn it, Dean/Sam!

It was your turn on the sacrifices

"Welcome to the Devildom!"

Devildom?

So this wasn't heaven?

Damn it.

Didn't Sam and Dean both go through hell literally in Hell?

did you touch some bewitched object?

well it's alright, you've got your bag on you filled with everything you may need to protect yourself

"This has been a nice meeting, but I would like to go back."

yeah from the exchanging of glances, that wasn't going to happen

fuck

well, you were probably fine

you pretty much talked through the going-ons of the red head

oops

"My name is Diavolo."

Diavolo? Alright

Kinda sounds like Diablo

that's suspicious

"I'm the ruler of all demons, and here all know of me."

???

what was this dude even going on about?

Crowley rules hell

"And someday soon, I'll be crowned king of the Devildom."

Where the fuck was Crowley anyways!?

Wait first things first

"Why am I even here?"

"I will explain it to you."

Well.

Wait until Sam & Dean find out that you've met the hottest men in the entire world

"This is Lucifer-"

Excuse you?

Lucifer?

The one who possessed your brother?

"He won't be when I'm done!"

you're literally restrained by one single fellow who just kind of picked you up by the scruff of your shirt

you just see red

"LUCIFER YOU MOTHER FUCKER! YOU TORTURED BOTH OF MY BROTHERS! I WILL KILL YOU!"

and you saw Lucifer transform?

What the heck?

this was new

and honestly you don't understand why the blonde one is laughing hysterically to the point he falls to the floor (you learn later that this is Satan)

it boils your blood

???

You're so lost

and pissed

"Tell me what is going on, why Lucifer is her and not in his prison or else I will use my holy water."

It isn't long before the big buff fellow (who you learn later is Beelzebub) put you down at the behest of Diavolo

and for your safety, you draw a salt circle around yourself

you listen to Diavolo explain the Devildom and that you were summoned to be a transfer student

well, that's not very hell, is it?

actually this doesn't sound like your world or your version of hell at all

and this Prince of the Hell, er, the Devildom was...good?

What?

and he wants to reunite the three realms?

honestly you had to commend the guy

"If no one's going to attempt to kill me, is there any way I can get in touch with my brothers? They'll find a way to get here and I don't imagine that'd be pretty."

"No apology?"

"None, Luci. I don't trust any of you."

"How about we do some introductions." (Diavolo)

[nota1eks]

all about me (aleks)!!

i've been wanting to do this for a while, so... who tf am i and wtf do i do?

TAGS YOU MIGHT SEE ON MY BLOG:

#aleks doodles -> my art

#aleks yaps -> my talking about nonfandom stuff

#aleks' ocs -> for my oc stuff, obv

#aleks has ants in its head -> threshold universe tag

#aleks tries to be organized -> stuff for organizing my blog, like this and my fic masterlist

HI, I'M ALEKS (PRONOUNCED JUST LIKE "ALEX")

i use all pronouns but prefer they/them or it/its i'm just a silly little guy surfing the interwebz. i enjoy writing, drawing, reading, and sparkling water. yes, the last one is just as important as the formers. i'm from nova scotia (that's in canada!!!!🍁🍁o7) as well! NS REPRESENT

MY FAVOURITE (for the lack of a better term) THINGS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir;

The Threshold Universe/Koturoverse by Peter Clines;

The Apollo Series by Chris Hadfield ;

The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells;

The Bobiverse and Quantum Earth series(es) by Dennis E. Taylor;

The Phantom of the Opera (esp 2004 fight me) by Gaston Leroux/ALW;

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley;

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett;

The Sims 4 (it is a fandom i swear!!!);

The Beatles (by?? John, Paul, George, and Ringo);

i am also fascinated with english grammar and the Victorian Era (esp Victorian Medicine)

BLOGS I RUN:

@graceoutinspace -- a ryland grace character ask blog

@frankenstein-fridays -- a substack injecting Frankenstein (1818) right into your inbox every friday.

FANFICTION:

i write a lot of fanfiction and have a masterlist linked here, if you want to check that out! (it's mostly PHM fanfiction.) my ao3 account is linked here if you're interested :)

locally, i'll put my two most favourite works of mine (is that how you say that?):

The Elimination Project (Rocky's backstory and how his crew died, told from his perspective) AND 5x people thought Grace and Stratt were "engaged in sexual congress" + 1x they didn't! (exactly what it sounds like!)

thanks for reading and nice to meet you!!

if you want to know more about me, feel free to ask me something or DM me; i will respond very quickly because i am thirsty for social interaction and have no impulse control.

[blazing--comet]

WE GETTIN OUTTA ART BLOCK SLOWLY !!!!!! I think I just needed to take a break from drawing Zim and Dib SPECIFICALLY they were ALL I DREW for um . Possibly the whole summer and start of school as a coping mech BUT I HAVE SO MANY OTHER IZ OCS/CHARACTERS TO FOCUS ON !!!!!! love zimmie and dibert douglas membrane but I hit an art stump BUT AFTER A FEW DAYS OF MOSTLY DOING OTHER CHARAS ILL BE ABLE TO RETURN BACK TO THEM . OH YEAH !!!!

BY THE WAY ......... these are my OCs.... IF IT WASNT OBVIOUS ALREADY BAHAHAHAH BUT BASICALLY !!! LONG STORY SUMMARY :

The Irken is named Swyn (she her) !! She's Miyuki's clone in my au :3 (one of multiple ... But I'm still figuring out that concept SO‼️🗣️) She was made off planet using Miyuki's DNA after her death, and her creator (some random smeet scientist I haven't worked on) got caught(you aren't allowed to make Irken smeets without permission off planet or at ALL because Irk is stinky and full of poop head control brains BTW all Irkens are asexual so don't be weird) AND SWYN GOT ABANDONED ON ACCIDENT !! it's okay thougjt because..... INSERT DRUM EXCITABLD SOUJD HERE.... TENN FOUND HER !!! she adopted Swyn along with her gf Tak , and THEY ARE A HAPPY LITTLE FSMILY !!! Sizz Lorr is there too because he is Tak's adopted father 🫡 found family FOREVER .

The second alien in the comic is named Meer (she they) !!!! She's a Fluxative (IZ OC species), a species of REALLY GOOD shapeshifters . However , the Irken Empire killed most of them in an Invasion. My Irken scientist OC, Nova(not shown or mentioned in the comic) who is Zim, Tenn, and Skoodge's Unit Sibling finds Meer when Meer is a literal smeet baby thing and takes her in to take care of her, and when Nova is assigned to RESEARCH *NOT* invade Irk, she brings Meer with her caude Meer is like her daughger :333

When Swyn is like 16 (I am a believer in Irkens aging like humans just with longer lifespans and I can and will defend my point) she and every Irken that lives on Irk finds out she's Miyuki's clone, and of course she's not very upset, but now has the pressure of living up to Miyuki's legacy, which would be extra difficult, since Miyuki was the VERY BEST TALLEST in IRKEN HISTORY.

Tallest Sleedge ( she her , also the main Tallest at the time in my au) essentially peer pressured Swyn to become Tallest as well, due to Swyn being almost exactly like MIYUKI was in ALL WAYS . Miyuki was something the Empire needed again. But Swyn is very conflicted on it....... SO YEAH !!!! skipped over a lot of things but that's SORTA WHAT THJS COMIC IS ABOUT

[turtlemagnum]

my interests/who i am:

i'm turtle, and i'm in various ways some form of amateur artist. i think i'm best at my writing, but i'm (slowly) trying to learn how to draw and make music! i'd also consider myself to be a decent singer, albeit an untrained one. my current biggest artistic project is the game i'm working on, it's essentially a digital novel set in my fantasy setting. i have Worldbuilder's Disease so feel free to ask me about my setting! please.

i use he/they/it pronouns, and my gender is essentially a man when it's convenient and genderless otherwise. man+, if you will. i like certain aspects of masculinity but have no problems not adhering to norms. in regards to sexuality the simplest way i can put it is that i'm bisexual, but my biggest preference is towards women and feminine presenting people of other genders. i'm also extremely horny on main, and am unashamed of it. as such, if you don't wanna see that, block my horny tag

some of my interests include but are not limited to: video games, anime, TTRPGs, of course the things i mentioned that i'm trying to become good at e.g. writing and music, guns and other varieties of weapon, linguistics, tech, mythology, history, politics, vulgarity and misanthropy. in no particular order, here's me going in depth on the ones i have something to say about!

in terms of music taste, i like a pretty wide variety of music. not gonna list Literally Every Artist i like, but in terms of genre i tend towards prog rock and adjacent areas. some of my favorite artists include but are not limited to: king crimson, yes, death grips, ars nova (the japanese band), bi kyo ran, dio, lemon demon, tally hall, NWA, tyler the creator, and aphex twin (and of course, the splitoffs and side projects of all these guys).

i have Gun Autism. if you don't wanna see that, blacklist my gun tag! and don't worry, i'm not one of Those gun people, y'know

i like anime but i sometimes have a hard time actually sitting down and paying attention to a show so i haven't watched a whole lot. at time of writing this i'm most of the way through original dragon ball and fist of the north star, and i like both a lot so far! i believe the last anime i actually finished was fullmetal alchemist brotherhood (which is very good, would recommend), and i've spent significant parts of my life being into jjba now. also? i need to pick up cowboy bebop again, i've loved what i've watched but it's not the kind of show i can just sit down and binge y'know. also, the yugioh manga is good, go read it

i like a pretty wide variety of video games, but tend towards PC games and nintendo stuff. lifelong zelda fan, have a soft spot for pre-gen 5 pokemon, love f-zero even though i'm bad at it, above average at tetris DS, love punch out enough that i'm the world record holder for NES glass joe, love advance wars, DKC is my shit, and of course what nintendo pervert doesn't like mario. in terms of PC games, i love the vast majority of what valve puts out, have a love/hate relationship with bethesda RPGs, just genuinely love classic shit like thief, deus ex, VTMB, and the KOTOR games (especially 2), grew up with the pre-reboot tomb raider games, love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, and i've been abnormal about undertale since middle school. some honorable mentions for games i've started but haven't played enough of but still really like include secret of mana, metroid, pathologic, and disco elysium.