#i'm trying out a new style of shading because i hate the way i shade and i need to change something

[wolfram-but-art]

mercenaries the typa person to say "is anyone gonna fall in love with that?" and then not wait for an answer

reblogs > likes btw \(^_^)/

zoom-ins under cut :3

the polka dot brush texture was made by ggutinho on DeviantArt btw!!

[thebibliosphere]

One of the really fun and interesting things about writing a polyamorous romance as someone who is ambiamorous/polyamorous is finding new ways to make sure the narrative hits the expected genre beats without just sort of... mushing it into a pre-existing monogamous romance mold, which is what I'm afraid happens a lot of the time.

Trust me, it was my job in the publishing house to make them fit that mold. I hated it.

Reading other poly-centric romances, I can always somewhat tell when someone is writing polyamory from a sexual fantasy aspect (zero shade; I'm here for all the group sex) without actually considering how it functions as a relationship dynamic, which can often come off as... well.

It's lacking for me as a romance.

Erotica-wise, it's fine. But it misses the romantic beats for me that I want as a polyamorous-leaning person.

There's so much emphasis on the polycule and never the individual dyads within the larger relationship.

For example, in a triad, there are actually four relationships to handle.

The dyad between A + B. The dyad between A + C. The dyad between B + C. And the overarching relationship between A + B + C.

With monogamous-leaning authors or authors that've been pressed into conforming to the pre-existing genre beats, there's a tendency to treat the relationship as a homogenous mass where everything is fair and equal, and you treat all your partners the exact same way.

And I get it. It's easier to write everything as peachy-keen and to have external conflict be resolved with either acceptance or a brave confrontation.

But it doesn't always land for me as someone who wants to see my style of love represented in the genre.

In healthy polyamory, either closed or open, each relationship is unique in its own way. Taking the example of a triad again, the way A acts with C likely differs from how A acts with B.

And that's a good thing!

Because C might not want the same things as B, so trying to treat them both the exact same is a surefire way to make sure someone isn't getting their needs met, and that will lead to conflict.

Polyamory isn't striving for equality between partners but rather equity.

What are your individual needs, and how do I meet them, as well as meet the needs of my other partner(s)? What do you want from the larger relationship as a whole? How do we accommodate everyone without making someone feel neglected or uncomfortable? How do we show this in the narrative? How do we make sure character A isn't just treating B the same as C in every interaction? Do they ever fall into that pitfall? How do they remedy it?

It seems like common sense when you write it out like that, but it's a major pitfall I see time and time again. The characters never alternate their approach between partners, if there's any focus on the individuals at all.

The other major telltale thing I've noticed is that taking time to be with one partner is seen as a step down from the "goal" of the greater polycule.

The narrative is framed in such a way that they might start out with individual dates, but the end goal of the romance is to eventually be together 100% of the time all the time, and wanting individual time alone with any one partner is somehow "lesser."

Which is the goal of romance in monogamy, but it's not the goal of romance in polyamory.

Granted, you do need to end on a Happy Ever After or Happy For Now for it to fit the genre requirement. And a nice way of tying that up is to have everyone together at the end as a happy polycule all together all at once. I'm not disputing that as a narrative tool. I'm just pointing out that there's a tendency to present those moments as the sum total of the relationship when in actuality, there are multiple relationships that need to end happily ever after.

The joy of polyamorous love is the joy of multitudes. It's the joy of experiencing new things, both as individuals and as a polycule. If you're not taking care of the individual dyads, however, your polycule is going to crash and burn. You cannot avoid that. So why, then, is there such avoidance of it in stories meant to appeal to us?

Is it simply inexperience on behalf of the author? Or is it that they're not actually being written for us? Is it continued pressure to meet certain genre beats in a largely monogamous-centric genre? All of the above?

Either way, I'm having fun playing around with it and doing all the things we were warned against in the publishing house.

I'm having fun with Nathan and Vlad enjoying their own private dynamic that is theirs and theirs alone. I'm having fun with Ursula and Nathan being so careful and vulnerable around each other. I'm absolutely 100% here for the chaos of Vlad and Ursula without a chaperone. And I'm here for the chaos of Vlad and Ursula together and Nathan's fond, loving eye roll as he trails after them, too enamored to tell either of them no because where would the fun in that be...

Anyway. Don't mind me. Just getting my thoughts out while everyone else is in bed.

[hansoeii]

Hello! Hope you're having a great day/night! I absolutely adore your art, you are one of my favourite artists. I love the way you shade and do backrounds. Also everytime I get into a new show I immediately see your art for it??

I was wondering if you had any advice on drawing more realistically (backrounds, anatomy etc) but still keeping a style?

Hey hey!

Thank you so much!

I have a pretty good understanding of facial structures, because before I got into drawing more semi-realisticly, I heavily focused on realistic portraits. Here are some example, these are from around 2019!

(yes, I was really into danmei and kpop back then, haha)

I just always loved drawing/painting faces and it was all I did. But at some point I realized that I wanted to do more than that because just portraits felt super restricting. So it took me around 2-3 years to somewhat find my style. Thought it would be fun to show a little timeline! Advice will follow afterwards :)

2020

I began working on my OCs in 2020 and since I didn't have an exact reference to work off of, I struggled a lot. My art from this year is super wonky.

2021

Still wonky, but the Lokius obsession was the jumpstart into finding my style! My work from this year is all over the place haha, I was experimenting a lot.

2022

This first ofmd piece is pretty much the first drawing where you can see where my style is gonna go, which I think is pretty cool! This is the year I made the biggest progress cos I was drawing SO much. These two pieces are only six months apart. The one on the right was the first time I gave drawing a background a proper go, too! It was a good year.

2023

And this is where I am now! I'm still constantly learning and improving, but I'd say I have a style you can recognize now!

Now here comes some actual advice, haha:

What I highly recommend you to do is to study your favorite artists as much as you can! I have like 5 A4 sketchbooks all from 2020 that I filled with sooooo many studies, where basically all I did was look at artists I like and copy how they draw stuff, to try and figure out how to stylize certain things. Some of my favorite artists are Ami Thompson, Velinxi and TB Choi. But I also liked to just scroll through pinterest and study all the art I came across that I liked! For example, if I saw a really great drawing of a pair of pants I would copy it many times in my sketchbook and try to learn how they stylized the folds. Doing this for a prolongued period of time will naturally improve your own work! It'll be difficult at first, but you gotta push through, it's gonna be worth it!

I also highly recommend studying unique faces to try and avoid the same-face syndrome. Find some cool looking people and try to draw them as simple as you can! Maybe even draw a little timeline where you first draw them as cartoon-y as you can, and keep going until you end up with a more detailed, realistic drawing. Maybe in the middle of it you find a step that feels the most fun to you, so you can try to build on that! It's a great way to figure out what kind of style might be the best for you.

Here are some cool faces I found on pinterest!

I have a pinterest board with many more!

One REALLY important part of learning how to draw all kinds of things is to understand forms and shapes and how to manipulate them. I have so many pages in my sketchbook filled with just shapes that I drew from all kinds of angles without any references.

This is a great video on it:

6 Ways to Draw Anything by Proko

Learning how to do this is so crucial! Young artists often think they first have to learn all kinds of detailed anatomy before doing anything else, but all that's gonna do is make you tired and hate drawing. Shapes are where it's at! Once you understand how shapes work and which ones to use for certain parts of bodies or objects, drawing is gonna get so much easier! Once you understand them, you can get into details such as muscles and bones!

And honestly the most important point is to just absolutely love what you're doing! I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for the fact that I get extreme hyperfixations on certain media that turn me into some kind of beast where I can suddenly draw 10 detailed illustrations a week, haha. Just be passionate about what you do, find something you REALLY love and go crazy!

I really hope this was somewhat helpful! My inbox is always open if there's any more questions :)

[foone]

Please don’t feel obligated to reply because this might be a touchy issue, but i see on one of your posts that you hate Hacker News. I just discovered HN a few months ago and have been enjoying it, but as a fellow trans person i’m curious if they’ve been transphobic or the like (based on the context of your comment) and if i should stay away

OKAY SO here's thing thing: as a reader, HN is... fine. They're not great. They have a history of sexism in what posts get boosted and a history of various shades of transphobia in the comments, but that's not particularly unusual as far as internet forums go. Reddit is much the same, for example.

My problems with HN are related to getting posted there. The way the site works when you're reading it and when you're getting posted there are very different. More explanation under the readmore since this got long. (warning: some talk of transphobia and doxxing)

The site is not avoidable. Back when I was still on twitter, getting posted on HN meant your notifications were useless for a week, because they are scraped by endless bots trying to farm for likes and reblogs, and every single one of them ends up tagging you. And even now when I'm off twitter, getting posted there means you still get informed that you've been posted there, by well-meaning people who know you hate it, or are just innocently commentating on how it's neat to see you on HN. Or hey, in the latest iteration, you find out because your askbox is now full of slurs (and not just the ones you'd expect!). Basically, it is impossible to be submitted to HN and not know about it.

And then it gets worse because it's now a known fact that I don't like being on HN. Meaning every time I AM on HN, it turns into a big debate in the comments about why I don't like HN, why I post the way I do, and people arguing with the explanation of my opinion. I'm not even there, and people are mad at the phantom of me for not doing things in the way they like.

Because how I post is part of what they always get mad at me about. I have severe ADHD: This is a well known fact about me, I post about it a lot. It means that I used to post on twitter a lot, because twitter was (at the time) one of the only sites I could post on at all: The way it makes you chop up your line of thinking into small chunks, each of which is small enough that I can focus on it. I've since managed to handle tumblr-posting, and I occasionally post on mastodon now, but for most of the time that I was posted on HN, I was posting this way, only on twitter, in long threads where I don't think much ahead or do editing/revisions BECAUSE I CAN'T.

And here's the thing about people who prefer more "traditional" geek news sites like HN: A lot of them are there because they hate the bite-size nature of sites like twitter and tiktok. And they are Not Happy with people submitting twitter threads to HN: They hate that kind of formatting of content, and announce that fact, loudly.

And then people in the comments point out that I have ADHD and can't post in the style they'd prefer (long well-edited blog posts), and then it turns into an argument there, often with people happily brining up their opinions on whether ADHD is "real" or things like that. Again, I'm getting argued about without being there to defend myself.

And this is where it gets transphobic, through the indirect route of sexism: Someone says something innocent but vaguely dickish like "well he should just hire someone to rewrite all his twitter posts as blog posts!" (like they think I am doing this as a job and can afford to pay an editor, rather than just some weirdo who rants because that's what they do). They assume I'm a man, because most of the people who get posted on HN (and especially the ones who get upvoted) are. They just assume everyone without an Obviously Female Name and a profile picture that's a photo of a smiling woman is male, and honestly they're probably right most of the time, because that's just how the gender balance on HN ends up working.

And then someone points out I use they/them pronouns, and it just goes to shit. You get people yelling that it's not their job to figure out the pronouns of everyone they're talking about, like it's a perfectly normal thing to just assume everyone is male, you get people arguing about how "he" used to be the gender neutral pronoun, you get people arguing that singular-they is ungrammatical, you get people taking offense at the very idea of they/them pronouns because "you can't force everyone to follow your religion" (as apparently either trans or non-binary is a religion now (well, I am a pope)), and then a bunch of "[post flagged]" and you can only speculate about how bad THOSE posts were, if so much other transphobia is still sitting in the comments, untouched by the supposed moderators who are supposed to delete it.

You get people calling you mentally ill, and then getting in arguments about how they mean YOU SPECIFICALLY for the crime of "wanting to not be posted on HN", and not all trans people. Because apparently the HN rules are fine with you saying "this specific trans person is mentally ill and should be locked up" as long as you don't imply that your statements also apply to trans people in general.

And then you get hate in your contact forms for days because people realize you're not active on the HN comments and need to bring the "fight" to you directly.

And frankly, this whole mess is made worse by the site's userbase treating it as a joke or something easily fixable. Like, aside from making my pronouns "obvious" (I'm not sure how, exactly? it's already in all my profiles) which wouldn't help, they want me to just move to a different site, one where I can easily block incoming links by their referrer? They always point to JWZ's blog as an example of this, but he's hosting his posts on his own site. He fundamentally is doing something very different than I am, and I really shouldn't have to CHANGE WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS I USE just because they're being a butt.

And treating it like a joke? oy vey! I once posted a rant on tumblr about WHY EXACTLY I don't like getting posted on HN, and guess what happened next? SOMEONE POSTED THAT THREAD ON HN.

They also have a history of getting mad at me for not wanting to be posted on HN, like it's prima-dona behavior or "egotistical". Like I should be just happy that my stuff got posted there, something that has only ever brought negative attention. I think maybe they assume I'm doing this as a job, and every time they link to my stuff, I make a bunch of money? That's not the case. I don't make any money from them. I don't have ads. This isn't my job. (Fun fact: I know at least one person who has their blog set up to show ads only when HN links to their content, and not otherwise)

I really don't know why they think it's egotistical of me to not want to get harassed, dismissed, and spammed by their site and their users. It's almost like they think it's me posting my content on HN myself, which I would never do because it doesn't aid me in any way. If I was making content for them, I would make sure it gets posted there. I'm not, so I don't. I post for the sites I post on. I could blog in a way they'd like and then post it to HN if I wanted to. I don't. I choose to tweet (in the past) or post on tumblr or post on mastodon, because I'm posting for those specific communities.

And the thing about it is that all these points are, to some extent, obvious. And people know them. Maybe not the people posting the most unthinking takes on HN, but others will point them out. So this just contributes to any HN thread on my posts turning into a big argument.

And there's always people going "WELL JUST DON'T READ THE POSTS ABOUT YOU" as if that's a reasonable option. first of all, I can't be ignorant about them, as mentioned before they kick down my door and go HEY FOONE YOU'RE ON HACKERNEWS. But more importantly, I'm trans. Do you know what happens if enough people get mad at you online? They start posting your home address, phone number, and pictures of your face and relatives. I have to stay at least SLIGHTLY aware of how the discussion on me is going, or I'll be completely surprised when someone shows up at my house with a gun. (This isn't hyperbole: I have gotten doxxed before because I made a twitter thread that got the wrong people a little too mad at me)

Anyway I've talked to the admins of the site and they have basically refused to do anything about it. They admit that they can block my posts from showing up on the site, but they don't want to because people enjoy my content. My wishes don't matter.

And anyway the epilogue is that this has mostly worked out by now. I stopped posting on twitter, not because HN was pushing me to a site where I could better control my post's reach, but because Elon destroyed it. I'm posting longer-form content now, not because my ADHD got better, but because years of training myself to write this way has made it so that I can handle writing as if I was on twitter-like sites, without the enforced restrictions of them.

And I have countermeasures against HN now. Offensive and defensive ones. I'm a little less likely to be posting Cool Tech Stuff here on tumblr now (because every time this happens it severely dampens my enthusiasm for the subject), but I'm a lot less worried that something I post will end up on HN now, as I have options. (I don't want to go into them because HN being HN, they might take preemptive counter-countermeasures to try to disarm them).

Anyway, tl;dr: it's okay if you like reading the site. my problems with it are with getting submitted there, not with reading it. As long as you don't submit my content there, that's 100% okay with me.

[accidentallycurated]

chez le cavalier ~ wip #2

[willow creek rebuild, house no. 1]

day twooooo!! things got fun today - I feel like I really got in the groove of this style and my imaginary couple 🤸🏽

also added some scandinavian-adjacent elements and got nitpickey with furniture & clutter & color choices !

dining room:

here's an update on the dining room on day 2!

switched out the stairs, added some color and diff decor!

these red chairs (s/o midnight manor from @bostyny) gave me a great new of 'oh yeahhhh this is gonna be good' but also before that doing this dark olive-y green version of the white paint I started with (from @harrie-cc copenhagen part 1) also made me say 'oh yes please.'

also omg I'm dying to get my hands on part two and three of copenhagen it's everything I didn't know I was so desperate for from queen harrie!

oke next is kitchen:

like I could just die it's so pretty!

cabinets and their matching countertop/shelf situation is mcm kitchen from @pierisim, pretty much all the other clutter, appliances, etc are @harrie-cc @felixandresims and other @pierisim sets!

the level of detail in color and thought with the copenhagen set is just SO GOOD - there's a swatch in the painted wallpaper with the same green molding as the dining room and the cream wash in the living room, plus a greige kind of baseboard that of course is perfect. I did in fact squeal when I saw this swatch and how well it brought the two rooms together.

ALSO - let's talk about the sink. the sink! pierisim's mcm kitchen didn't come with a sink that worked well with the shelf situation, so I hunted around my other options. the winner was felixandre's chateau prep sink! the way it looks like the knobs come out of the marble is just chef's kiss. I need to fiddle around with TOOL to make the sink a bit wider so it fits better.

trying to help it all come together:

(did you notice I finally fixed the stair shelving to finally line up properly?)

that little corner in the kitchen is gonna be a bistro table/morning coffee spot, I'm just avoiding it because I want it to tie things together nicely.

after finishing the kitchen and looking down that hallway to the living room, I realized I needed to bring some of that red into the living room to break up all the warm wood and brown tones.

seeking red:

started with a little red end table, wasn't quite doing it...

so I pulled everything red out of the entire @bostyny cc catalog and put it next to the chairs to try to find my winner lol

living room adjustments:

couple different coffee table options with the new red accents in place...

a chair switch out, different lighting, decorations!

adding the details of this space is when my house's imaginary owners really started building a personality. the little tapestry below the sconce I imagine was from their first date at a festival; the lamp in the bay window was in one of their apartments when they first started dating and the other one hated it so much but it's still around; the little dog sculpture is of their future dog; the tiger painting hung up by a ribbon because they couldn't find nails the first night they moved in so they hung it on the wall hook left behind.

do you think I'm crazy yet?

so much for I'm not creating actual sims for these builds - apparently I am (at least in my head).

more fun details!

rain boots - they lived in a rainy city before moving to willow creek and have gotten in the habit of leaving their boots out right next to each other.

adding curtains:

just like real life - curtains bring everything together! the bay window got the same roman shades as the entryway window.

filling in a corner:

ignore the fact that I haven't decorated out the little media shelf, but I love the little corner!

not sure how functional this really is - but man is it cute.

okay that's all see you for day 3!

[hybbart]

hello! i’ve been trying to do art for a while, struggling a bit—so i was just wondering how long it took you to find this style that you’re comfortable drawing in? thanks :))

Well, I've been drawing since I was 2 years old, so... all my life pretty much. I'm self taught and terrible about practicing so my art evolves and skill increases very very slowly. It's changed a lot through the years.

But as much as a lot of people hate to hear it you don't WANT to be trying to create a style when youre learning to draw, you want to be focusing on you technical skills. Trying to forcibly create a style rather than learning the technical skills and what you like in art will just limit you, because you'll convince yourself what you're drawing now is your "style" when really it's just what you can draw now. You need a lot of skill and knowledge to intentionally form a style consciously.

Even now a lot of my own styles' signatures are based around my limitations as an artist rather than personal choice. (I'm scared of diverse brushes, I have a hard time creating thin lineart, and I have not figure out complex shading, so I use one brush for everything, thick lineart, and flat colour and clean shading)

A big part of learning art is getting your muscle memory trained, and becoming aware of what you're doing and what it is you like in art and how it's created. It's why writers are told they should read more than they write.

Ultimately, time doesn't have much to do with it, it's not like a video game where exp gain is linear. It's about what you learn, how much you put into learning it, natural instincts versus learned instincts, and all sorts of things. You can spend years drawing and not improve and then improve greatly in a few months depending on your practices. I've noticed a huge improvement in the last year thanks to drawing so frequently compared to before and trying new things. The best thing you can do to improve your art and form a style is to try all sorts of things, and intentionally go out of your way to improve by following tutorials and speed paints or doing art studies.

Sorry if all this wasn't what you wanted from me, I started to just ramble...

[erisluna35ocblog]

I feel like I'm gonna end up with at least two more of these for the reverse au before quitting. It's starting to become a series. This one presented a different kind of challenge for me as Fiona uses cooler undertones and could easily end up looking lifeless if I don't balance it right.

Now for the main heroine of my OC's reverse au, Fiona Kuznetsov! For this AU, she's the Ladybug, hence her earrings, which took the form of little turquoise studs, a referrence to her prime counterpart favoring shades of blue. Her twin tails are inspired by Furina from Genshin Impact, down to the part where if you take them out, you'd be left with Fiona's original shorter hair style. There's some referrences to canon's Ladybugs here, like her shirt pattern is meant to look like a solid pinkish red embroidered version of Marinette's shirt print and those long red ribbons alongside her ponytails are a shout out to Bridgette from the anime PV. Compared to Shizuke and Blair, she has by far the most drastic change compared to her normal look.

Now, why the drastic change?

It's all because her backstory drastically changed just because she didn't have Keagan and Shizuke as her childhood friends. The two boys encouraged her to be more true to herself growing up, being more outspoken and tomboyish. Their impact on her life is meant to evoke the same effect Alya had in Marinette's life, according to the special. But in this AU, the Supreme has them both on a leash in different ways.

Where does that leave Fiona? Still from a rising nouveau riche family with her papa urging her to fit in with the rich kids and dolling her up. Without Keagan to ease off the pressure (being friends with the mayor's son, she basically already got the biggest fish in the pond) or Shizuke to protect (its how she gained her rep as the school's bully hunter), Fiona never had the chance to figure out what she really wanted for herself. And so she followed her papa's wishes and tried to be the perfect daughter because what else could she do? She lived life aimlessly like this, not entirely hating it as her papa is so proud of her at the very least, but not feeling that spark of life because something was always missing... she never knew what it was.

Then everything changed when she met this guy named Keagan at a gala. He looked like trouble. A quick check on social media confirmed he IS trouble. He's an over indulgent party guy while his family is currently in the middle of some scandal, rumored to be involved in illegal business.

She wanted to avoid him except he kept rudely interrupting her papa from approaching those guys who wore white with an intricate red emblem. Eventually, those men left and her papa is upset he never made a deal with them. Fiona was also upset on her papa's behalf and went to confront the carefree jerk... and he had the audacity to tell her her papa should be thanking him for saving him from the Supreme. Trust him, they ain't worth it. Yeah right, said the boy from the family burried in lawsuits. He condescendingly ruffled her head and left her but Fiona wouldn't let it go. So she followed him.

It turns out those Supreme guys knew Keagan interferred on purpose and were planning to rough him up a little. As a warning. Concerned, Fiona went to warn Keagan only to get roped in with him as she's now a witness. Well, that sucks. Keagan is annoyingly relaxed though, he's more surprised by her trying to warn him. What's with him trying to cover her with his jacket, though? To hide her face? So what??? She's still stuck here and the Supreme goons will beat them up or worse - that's when the mysterious vigilante in the black cat suit came and saved their sorry butts. And this became Fiona's introduction to the Resistance.

There, she learned what the Supreme is all about. She wants to help. The butterfly boss lady took one look at her and decided they've got their new ladybug.

In the Resistance as a Ladybug, Fiona was finally free to be who she is and made friends who accepted her for who she is... It made it harder and harder everyday to go back to being Fiona the Jewellry Princess. She finally found her calling.

[discluded]

I was scrolling through Twitter and came across Mile, Apo, Bible, and Jeff's photos from Harper's Bazaar SG's Valentines edition, and I know I should be focusing on the their answers (which were simple but amazing), but I cant help but notice that whoever took Bible's pic and did his hair styling did him dirty??

I know you typically talk about MA and occasionally rt Jeff and sometimes Bible — but I recall you making a few posts before on how MA's modeling experience shine through in comparison to Bible who is inexperienced, and I was wondering if you see it too? or if it's just me being biased to MA and Jeff.

Tbf, I don't think that MA's or Jeff's pics were anything world-stopping (though MA's smiles are making me feel things, and I have a new found love for Apo in earth tones and shades of brown like the cardigan he has on that picture), but Bible's stands out in a not-so good way to me, though I don't really dabble in photography so I was wondering what you thought about it.

I looked at these super quickly before bed last night so (1) I was distracted by the fact Apo and Mile look so much like each other I didn't notice that about Bible and (2) are you trying to have people come for me?! 😂

You're right and now I can't unsee it either... 💀

Of everyone involved here, I'm pretty sure the stylist is actually the least responsible for this photo situation. Actually this is an interesting case because now Mile, Apo, and Bible have all worn that cursed hoodie so this gives an opportunity to look at fashion vs. modelling technique vs. the models and photographer collaborating.

First of all I AM NOT HATING ON BIBLE I think he looks great in the D7 photos from today. I'm not sure who the photog for this one is, but likely May (BOC's staff photographer) or Pond.

Second of all, this is why I think Dior is awful. Their baggy on baggy situation is so shapeless. They're all wearing the exact same three pieces, so it has to be that Dior told them the outfit should be styled like this. Someone else mentioned that one of actors Apo was with at the Taiwan store opening wore the exact same outfit as Mile had on in the Bangkok popup so Dior seems very much a stickler.

The advantage Mile and Apo have on Bible here is height. Not only in that they're taller, but their limbs are longer so they look less diminutive and dwarfed in the baggy clothes.

Though the keyword is less. This is a perfect example of what these ugly baggy shapeless clothes do your limbs length. When I showed @thislittlekumquat she literally said to me she thought the left one was that someone made a hyperrealistic doll of Mile 💀

So problem #1 is Dior.

The second part is definitely a matter of experience. Here's some other outfits on how Apo and Mile dealt with the baggy Dior situation.

And here's how Dior runway models dealt with it.

The hand in pockets situation definitely helps gives shape to the baggy clothes, but Bible's hand is on the one far from the camera and obscured by him that it makes the silhouette worse. Mile and Apo adjusted for it with lighting (knowing their angles) and the Dior runway models adjusted for it by just giving the clothes more shape.

Also compare this to Mile turning and greeting fans at the Dior show and keeping his hand tucked or Mile and Apo's whack grip on the saddle bags. The fact they make these incredibly unnatural body position look easy, natural, and relaxed is also a skill. Mile's popup outfit isn't as baggy as the hoodie, but you might not even notice he's holding his arm/elbow slightly unnaturally but in a way that give the outfit more shape while showing off the bag too.

So problem #2 is Bible's lack of experience.

And the third is... it's on the HBSG editors/photographers. They didn't only take one photo of Bible but this is the one they chose...which makes me wonder how the others even look 😱

Here's a reel of them going through the photos at Apo's latest Vogue shoot and you can see them going through the multiple options. I think MileApo fans are aware we're fortunate, but part of the reason we get so many behind the scenes outtakes and cuts that don't make it to print is because their modelling work is at a consistently high level that editors are spoiled with choice.

Also a case where you can see Apo is styled the same in the two pictures but the lighting really affects how the photos turn out... the shadows on Bible's photo are flat. So this is a photographer/editorial choice they could have corrected at the time. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I'm not sure why they didn't correct at least the lighting because I'm pretty sure that would also fix some of the problem.

Lighting patterns from left to right: Flat, Butterfly, Loop, Rembrandt, and Split

Problem #3: HBSG's photographer/editors not adjusting for Bible's lack of experience and giving him more direction.

As for Mile and Apo's not being The Most of all shoot of all time, I agree, but as a model you also have to model to the theme. It's a Valentine's Day shoot and they're talking about love... being a little smiley and cutesy instead of serving at 1000% is probably also appropriate. And we as fans are charmed by that too :)

Anyway, yeah, Bible lacks experience but he's an actor and a celebrity they're featuring. The photog should be adjusting for Bible's level of experience and not expect everyone to be experienced models like Mile, Apo, or Jeff.

[winxanity-ii]

hey! here to say i’m sorry for the hate and vitriol you received from people angry the character wasn’t white? it’s funny because most media and the world is made for them so to get angry at the few things that aren’t? very entitled but also very fitting for white people

okay, i've been waiting for another ask like this to be sent becasue i'm too shaky to go back to the ones i've had sitting in my inbox for weeks😭, this might be a bit long, but bear with me, i can't help but making sure all points are covered.

so please, welcome how one of my character development moments came to be.... (p.s, sorry for the meme reactions they help me cope/try to remember the entire thing in a more humorous light 🫶🏾)

so basically, the entire issue that pushed me to lashout/get defensive/etc, was because i naively assumed that my thought process would be understood by everyone that came across my book, but in truth, it was more of a miscommunication issue that was exasperated by my using of random signifiers/hair types.

the miscommunications was when some assumed that by me giving the Reader has red hair and yellow eyes, i was assigning characteristics/making an OC, when in reality, i just gave Reader the main characteristics makima—the character who the whole personality is based on—had, which is: red/aurburn hair and yellow eyes.

now, this is where everything went down hill...

see, i tried to do this thing where once in a while, the readers skin tone/hair type was mention/hinted in an insignificant way, like saying:

"You pulled your hair into a bun, the soft curls tangling around your fingers in almost playful resistance; with an annoyed huff, you gave up, letting it fall however it wanted to."

or

"He grabbed your hands, captivated by the way they seemed to fit perfectly in his, unable to stop the adoring comparison; they were smaller than his, the warmth of your sun-kissed skin contrasting softly against his paler shade."

at random, like one moment it'll be curls, the next, straight, etc. ya know? but i also was kinda (read: was in fact) practicing my writing skills overall.

i adore reading—it's one main hyperfixation—so i just wanted to create what i've never had. and my writing style allows me to share this with those who've always felt the same, yet never had the guts/confidence to do it themselves...

anyways, getting back on track, combining the two, i had NUMEROUS angry/upset comments on all the platforms i posted it claiming that i was fishing for reads with a 'fake Reader' and how i needed to put blatant disclaimers that this was a Black OC—yes, you read that right ALL: wattpad, ao3, here, and quotev (especially quotev and here👀).

now, i understand the first part about fishing for reads by using an OC—i've had my fair shares of reading and going "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!" when getting duped by a good ass fic—but what lost me was that there were more anger about it being a 'Black OC' instead of just being an OC at all 💀💀 like WHAT???

i was so confused (and a bit pissed) because there's no way someone the word 'tan' or 'brown' and automatically assume 'black reader' as if other racial minorities doesn't exist.

like, if i really wanted to make a black reader i would have done way more effort to showcase it, not use a flimsy word or two, but let me stop here before i make an entire essay 💀

also, i'd like to give a small apology first on behalf of not communicating better; like stated before, i'm new to the sudden boom off attention and did not know how to properly deal with an huge influx of commentary.

though i knew it shouldn't have bothered me, the more negative ones stuck out more, so i distanced myself from interacting in general so i wouldn't have to see them at all.

i'll still be distant, but i'll do better at showcasing my appreciation in other ways ❤️❤️

but yeah, that's what happened, but no worries, i just had to suck it up, take a lil break and get back on my writing shit 😎 bad days don't stop these 'tismic delusions ❤️ see you guys soon...

[merlyn-bane]

🧙🏻 Trick or treat-- what's the writing trope or art technique you want to try someday, but you're still psyching yourself up for?

Happy Halloween!! 🍬🍬🍬

Hmmmm. Very good question!

As far as art goes, I've been wanting to try a somewhat more lineless/less cartoon-ish style, but I'm super intimidated by it because it would be totally reliant on shading/highlighting that I really don't do a lot of right now.

As far as writing--this isn't really a trope, so I'm not sure it counts, but there's a fic that's been rotating in my mind like a rotisserie chicken for a long while that I want to write, but it would end up being super long probably and I think to really pull it off I would have to be a lot more nuanced with a character that...isn't really my favorite.

There was a post going around a while back (fuck I wish I could remember whose it was) about wanting to see stories about Jedi returning to the Order when the war started rather than just stories about them leaving, and I've always thought that it would be a fantastic character and general meta study to explore a universe where Obi-Wan had decided to stay on Mandalore with Satine, but finds that he cannot sit idly by once the war breaks out and decides to don the robes again.

It would probably be end-game Codywan (bc I am who I am, and I'm very interested in the concept of the clones being very why the fuck are they sending us some fucking New Mandalorian Duke to be our general and eventually coming around, because it's Obi-Wan), but it would also be way too easy to fall into that nasty trope where the protag's current spouse is just an irredeemable bitch, especially since she isn't really my favorite character like I said, and I hate that trope, so writing that story would require me to be cognizant of what I was doing and how things were reading pretty much the entire time.

That said, I do also think it would be a very rewarding story if I was able to pull it off, so I probably will give it a try eventually. I'm just really intimidated by it lol.

Thanks for playing, @lttrsfrmlnrrgby!! :))

[zelda-photography]

TotK Dungeon Thoughts!

Finally finished the first four main dungeons. Whether there's more or not, I'll find out, but I thought I'd make a quickly little post on my general thoughts.

More details below, but up here I'll say: It feels like you were 'expected' to complete them Rito-Zora-Goron-Gerudo (very gently tho). However, I think for the most satisfying route, I'd go Goron-Rito-Zora-Gerudo (if nothing else Goron first).

Rito and Tulin

The game pushes you in the direction of the Rito very strongly when you start the game, and I decided to do them first. Over all, a pretty good choice as you run into a lot of good things on the way.

The story itself, I like! I like that you arrive in Rito Village and only the kids are left, really already telling you a lot about what's going on. I like that Teba was left behind because he's the new chief, rip the old Chief. It also makes me very happy how excited Tulin was to see Link, really showing that Tulin looks up to Link. Tulin having wind powers shows that that was not just a Revali thing, just that he was extremely skilled with his own, and I very much like that.

Tulin's power itself is distinct from Revali's Gale. I miss Revali's Gale because of how useful it was to get around, but it also did makes things a little too easy at times, and Tulin's power feels more in tune with the game as it is, as being able to push yourself through the air is useful. Easily the power I use the most of the sages.

The trip up to the Wind Dungeon is a lot of fun. It just barely doesn't overstay it's welcome, and about halfway through there is a shrine so that you can take a break. Over all, it was a lot of fun, though I was hoping that the flying ships we'd seen were going to appear more in the other places in the sky.

The Wind Dungeon itself is, well, it's fine. It's more distinct in style than the divine beasts, which I like, but I did also like the how the divine beasts you could manipulate things. It's give and take, though, and I get that. What mostly bugs me is how every element felt isolated; solving one part of the dungeon did not help me solve another, and that really bugged me, especially since I had a lot of trouble with a couple of the locks (mostly because I'm dumb but that's besides the point).

I like the boss! It felt really good to dive right through the week points, or to be smart enough and a good enough shot to shoot out the weak points from beneath the boss. It also has you utilize Tulin well enough when you need to dodge the boss.

This was my first dungeon, so the ending cutscene with the previous sage was very good and interesting, and I loved that you get to have a shade of the sage to help you fight! It really captures how one of the themes of Tears of the Kingdom is how much Link is not alone.

Goron and Yunobo

Climbing Death Mountain always sucks a little because I hate the armor, but at least the Gorons live in a place where you don't die trying to reach them, so that's a win in my book. The goron quest line is easily my least favorite, hence why I suggest doing it first. I'm also going back and forth on how much/what I'd change.

I think the marbled rock roast is, ugh, fine I guess as a plot point? The biggest problem to me is that the plot lines of the rest of the regions feel very personal, and make you really really worried about the well being of those there. I'm not not concerned for the Goron, but I could definitely be more concerned.

I'm also undecided on how I feel about Yunobo with the mask. When Yunobo first showed up and was mean, I wanted to punch is teeth in. But also, what an interesting take on the character, where over the years he got maybe a little big in the head over his company and his status, and how it's time to bring him down to earth again. The mask breaking off and him being nice again, I was happy to see my nice friend again, but also he was more or less the same as when I'd last seen him.

The up Eldin Volcano sucked, I totally didn't understand what I was supposed to do with the monster on top of the volcano at first, which made it a little frustrating at first. The mini battle itself was fine enough, though, and flying on the machines is always fun.

Going through the Depths to the Fire Dungeon sucked. I wasn't a huge fan of that, it just felt like padding. Why not put me there just right away?

The Fire Dungeon, like everything else, was fine I guess. I like rails and minecarts a lot, but a lot of the tracks felt too short honestly to be much fun, and sometimes I'd give up navigating them and just straight up climb the sides of the buildings to get where I needed to go. The boss fight, on the other hand, i thought was really nice! It felt good to put Yunobo's power to so much use, it flowered pretty well, It felt both challenging but also like I was prepared for it.

Zora and Sidon

Seeing Zora's Domain all swamped in shit water was a shock and I love how shocking it was and how upset it made me to see the place in such a state. I was immediately invested in finding out what had happened to cause this and how I could help. The statue in Zora's domain with Link and Sidon is great (even if I was worried at first where Mipha's had gone) and SO FUNNY to see it and meet Sidon's fiancee right afterwards.

I like that Yona gets a mantaray head - it immediately sets her off as different from most of the other Zora, and she and her attendents have different armor than the Hyrule Zora. She's a little simplistic as a character, but over all I like her. I another small detail I like is that the child Zora are playing in the water in the throne room, and that room seems to be some of the cleanest water, and I like to imagine that was on purpose. We also see here that healing is magic many Zora have, which I like, but also that it seems hard for them.

Sidon trying so hard to heal as much water as he can, and be the only one putting his life on the line so no one else dies like Mipha, was just so good. It's great set up in BotW, and pay off here of how traumatizing of an experience that was. Again, I like that Yona got to be like 'I know you, Sidon, and I know youre trauma, and I know what you want to and should do in this situation, so do it'.

Getting to the dungeon was so fun! The floaty jumping was a little weird at times, but over all I loved it and gave the path such a distinct feel, a lot like the path to the Wind Dungeon.

The Water Temple was the easiest in my opinion (none of them were overly hard, but this felt really quick to me) (also the Lightning Temple is a close second) ((ALSO ALSO some of that can probably be attributed to me just getting more used to the game and the kind of thought processes it asks of you)) but I thought the way it worked was pretty good. The boss was also very funny, as you were totally set up to expect a like like and instead got the weirdest octorock you've ever seen, and you're pushed to use Sidon's power in a way that feels very natural, though I haven't used it much after this dungeon tbh.

Gerudo and Riju

Going through the desert and seeing the Gerudo Town so destroyed was devastating. This was also where the gibdo were introduced, a suitably creepy enemy for such a scary thing going on. However, they don't stun you. This makes some sense since they show up in such hoards, but also takes away a lot of the scariness of them, and they're almost laughably easy to beat after they've been hit by some kind of elemental attack. Again, I was immediately concerned and wanted to do whatever I could to help the Gerudo. I like that you didn't have to really sneak in (except at first) because you've earned their trust by now and these are extenuating circumstances.

Buliara is one of my fav characters (she was really important in a fanfic I was working on where a new Gerudo male was born) so getting to see her and her specifically vouching for Link absolutely made my day. I like that the Gerudo are utilizing the underground bunker - in general, I love all the times in the game emergency things like that are broken out because these are hard times. Riju, a little older now and training hard, but not frustrated or feeling (at least not acting like) she thought she wasn't good enough was great. She wasn't hitting the mark, but she seemed just focused on training until she could.

The way to the Lightning Temple was okay, It wasn't bad but it wasn't note worthy, although I did like that you got to see the boss before you actually fought her. The best part was when Link had to help defend Gerudo Town from the gibdo. I'm not sure I did actually put together the best plan, but I felt like I helped, and getting the spoils afterwards made it even better.

The temple was a bit weird to navigate, and I'm not even sure I solved everything the way it was 'supposed' to go, but I did it so hey, what more can you ask for. The boss was pretty good, although she was, like, very bug like, and I think it made you kind of go 'oh, the gibdo aren't humans, they're bugs' which further makes them a little less creepy in my opinion.

General/Final Thoughts

Over all, I thought the dungeons felt a lot more like Zelda dungeons than the divine beasts did, and I like them well enough. I wish they were a little trickier, but also I wasn't overly bugged by them being too easy. Each dungeon felt very distinct, which I loved, and you never think you're in one place over the other.

Honestly, my biggest problem is with the Sages. I wish we 1) got names for them or learned more about them and 2) I wish the little cutscenes were a little more distinct.

The end of each dungeon goes: here's the sage, the sage was in the fight and won, Sage of Time told them to recreuit their descendent, wow didn't the Sage of Time look like Zelda? I understand this is because you could visit any dungeon in any order, but I think they would've, like, shown the Sage was in charge of something specific, show more of how the war impacted them specifically, something or anything to make that part more distinct.

Uh, so yeah, I like them, I think they're mostly an improvement over BotW (they both have pros and cons, though, and there are defo things that BotW did better than TotK). Let me know your thoughts about the dungeons if you want! (without spoiling anything past them please ^-^)

[solradguy]

How do i find the motivation to practice art? I have so many shitposts that’ll never come to fruition because my skills plateaued ):

No one else is going to draw my ideas and I'm too broke to pay someone else to do it for me. For better or worse, I seem to approach a lot of things from a "gotta do everything myself around here" angle haha

Honestly—and I won't lie to you—doing art studies is a real pain in the ass, I hate doing them. I never do them unless I've got major art block, and even then I still hate doing them, but it's like taking medicine and I know doing them will make me better. Every art teacher I've ever had's grilled me about this, "solradguy, you need to do 15 studies before the end of the week to get a full grade this quarter." Blah blah blah.

I guess for some people doing studies could be fun, not having to think about pose or composition, whatever, just putting lines down on paper and focus on your reference. One time, when I was still in college, I had to do a certain amount of studies in charcoal so I booted up Red Dead Redemption and drew landscapes or objects from it that I kinda liked. It was enough. I told my professor it was from my grandma's farm hehe

Art memes can be a good way to practice too, especially those ones about drawing in different styles or drawing a character in different outfits. They combine fun with tricking you into drawing things you might not normally draw. Emulating different art styles is the only art study method that doesn't make me want to fall asleep. Don't forget they're just art games though, and especially don't forget:

👉If You Already Feel Burnt Out Don't Feel Compelled To Complete Every Art Meme You Start👈

As you get better at art, you start noticing improvements less and less because they become more subtle. When you're really new to art, figuring out stuff like basic anatomy or shading is REALLY obvious because they're foundational parts of art. Hang on to your really old stuff and look at it every now and then and I guarantee you'll have improved way more than you thought you had.

I get the impression you've probably been at art for a while now, and I don't want to come across as patronizing, but sometimes refreshing the basics can help overcome a plateau too. Drawabox is usually what I recommend to people just getting into art, I really like their approach. Here's a link to their introduction lesson: drawabox.com/lesson/0 And here's one that skips to the actual art stuff: drawabox.com/lesson/1

While it's probably beneficial to actually do the exercises in the lessons, just skimming through reading them can be good too.

Something I've noticed a lot of my artists friends (and artists online) do is try to make every single drawing a finished piece, and I'm like "damn, no wonder art feels like such a chore." My sketchbook is 99% scribbles done in pen:

I use Pentel RSVP fine point ballpoint pens so if I make a mistake I'm forced to deal with it. Doing these rough sketches before starting a bigger piece is something I recommend with my entire heart. Just get a pack of shitty $0.99 pens and doodle like it's high school math class. I like the cheap pens because you can get faint lines drawing lightly and can coax them into darker lines with a bit more pressure (and if you lose/break one it's no big deal).

The best way to get better at art is to keep putting lines on paper. Even if it's just silly pen doodles, you're still improving coordination/pen control, improving construction of basic shapes, exploring concepts, and thinking about art, which will lead to more new ideas and further inspiration.

Sorry this is long and meandering haha Hopefully something here helps at least a tiny bit.

[wastelandhell]

Thank you so much @bokatan and @h3raklion for the tag!

I can tell this is going to become a patented Furby wall of text™ so I'll just throw in a cut now. tl;dr: I love you all and i draw danse way too much

This has been an interesting year mostly in that its my first time posting personal art online in, what, 7 years? I stopped doing this kind of drawing shortly after high school. I picked up painting flash and have been focusing on my tattooing since then. In that time I never did any digital drawing or character drawing until 2 years ago this month, when I drew Val for the first time.

I was terrified to post anything anywhere, I think I posted one piece to reddit, but besides that I kept everything pretty private until April of 2022. I originally made this blog as a place to silently post my drawings and screenshots while providing a sort of devlog of my mods for my own records, and didn't think I would be noticed. I didn't realize people tracked the paladin danse tag, lol!

I'm really glad for all the people I've met through here, I never would have kept this blog up if it weren't for the wonderful messages from all of you guys. So much of my art, both in subject and execution has been influenced by the other users I've had the pleasure of interacting with and I hope to keep it up this year!

You all know I mostly just draw Val and Danse, and this is the palette I use for most things:

These are all pretty drab, I use different of blending layers and photoshop adjustments to get the colours how I want them at the end.

I usually try to use different brushes in each of my drawings, but these are the ones I come back to most often. The first one is a variant of one of these brushes, I modified it to change size based on direction and tilt. I used the brush almost exclusively until august and its still my favourite for quickly laying out forms and values. I use this one for freckles. The rest are some of my top picks from True Grit Texture Supply, mostly from Chromagraph and Monomania.

I'm glad I was able to really get into drawing this year, and going through my folder I'm pleased with how my anatomy and faces have improved. However I am disappointed in how much of it is just the same ginger fuck. I'm really stunting my growth by not varying my subjects, and now that I'm more comfortable with the tools I want to push myself to actually. uh. try. Put in the effort to make art that says something, tells a story. Less single characters floating in blank voids. More people interacting, scenes, environments. I also really want to get back into digital painting, I used to be really into digital painting and in theory know how to do it. I'm going to try and dig out that old knowledge lol.

Despite being bit bland, and having some glaring errors that still bug me, that Danse drawing is still one of my favourites. I think I spent at least 8 hours on it. I was dealing with some personal issues at the time and just really wanted to scratch that brain itch that the bos knight uniform gives me. It's stupid, I hate it, I can draw it nearly completely from memory by how often I'm looking at it.

The 'tried something new' panel is difficult because I feel like a lot of my recent work has been pretty stagnant. It's all done with the same technique, same palette, same boring cel shading, same layer order, boring. This is one of the few times I did any proper digital painting, and tried to adapt the looser style that I use when I'm drawing in analogue mediums to my digital work.

I just talked about art here and not mods because that would be a whole other wall of text. But it would boil down to: love to do it, no time, and expensive.

Also, if anybody is interested, I do my drawing in Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop on a Surface Laptop Studio.

[pawfulofwaffles]

how did you get to the place you are now with your art and stuff? Is there any tips and tricks that you’d recommend?? Thanks 💕

I'm going to try and answer this the best I can with the scattered information that I know.

I've been drawing since I was really young, it's just always been part of my life. Because of this, I've been able to look back at pictures I made in 3rd grade, and see how much I've grown. Because of this, I've also realised what in particular might have helped me.

There is a stigma against tracing, which is perfectly understandable if you're claiming that the art is yours, but if you're tracing to help figure out anatomy or something, it really shouldn't be shamed. When I was in 3rd grade, I showed great admiration for an animator. I can still see her artstyle in mine. I used to pause at a point in her animations, grab a piece of paper, and trace over the character. This helped me figure out how to draw strands of fur, and where to position the eyes. Eventually, I tried drawing like that on my own, and the way I traced over the fur and where I put the eyes didn't feel like a guessing game, as I'd used tracing to figure that out, if that makes sense.

Another thing is to look at other people's artstyles. Example, Warrior Cats artists helped me draw more visually appealing, fluffy cartoon cats, Clown and other Welcome Home artists helped me figure out puppety characters, clothes, and body shapes, and my friend Pup(@urscenewolfdog) helped me figure out how to draw humans. You can learn a lot just from figuring out how an artist draws.

Also, don't be afraid to experiment! If you draw something then ultimately decide it's bad and chose never to draw it again, you'll never grow. Instead, pinpoint what's off, and change it. Eventually, you'll find something more comfortable. In just about every fandom I'm in, it started with me trying to draw in the creator's style, hated it for a little bit, but then as time went on and I figured out what I was comfortable with, and my art of the characters molded into a style that I liked. I kept trying all sorts of new things before I found a style that finally fit me.

Before I end this, we are to get into the nitty-gritty of art. One thing that I can think of that's wildly important is facial expressions. Facial expressions are incredibly important in human communication, as they are the result of emotions. Trying to master accurate facial expressions can help make characters in your art look alive, while if you're going for a more unnerving character, an emotionless, blank face is the perfect way to make them look alien. Colors also serve importance in art, as they can be used to express and therefore convey emotions. Maybe you have a yellow, pink and purple lighting scheme to show fuzzy, soft, cheeriness, or dark blue colors to show deep sorrow.

Those are a few things I can think of that have really helped me before. I hope this helps people expand how they art so they can art more than before. And remember kids, stay away from artbrush shading if the picture looks weird that way. I made that mistake.

[mommymothma]

It's that time again I'm dropping something

But no, it's not a new part to The New Manda'lor, sorry. This next part is very particular and I want to get it right.

That being said, I am providing content for a WLW ship that is severely lacking in content so... a win is a win?

Anyway, here is Celadon, Part one. Also available on AO3 Hope and Love Chapter 2

Mon Mothma x Kleya Marki

Celadon Part 1

Trigger warning, mentions of sexual assault

Rated M

"I don't think I've ever seen you dress up," Mon said, looking Kleya up and down.

"I dress for work all the time." Kleya argued, swirling her glass. 

"Sure, but not like this." Mon had admittedly been blown away when she saw her. Kleya was almost always in the same clothes or same style. She often stuck to dark blues and grays, perhaps the odd white or red strip of color. 

But she'd never been in green before, or at least not in front of Mon Mothma.

It was still a muted shade, but it stood out enough to catch her eye. She'd put money on it that Perrin would ping the color as Sage Green, but Mon on the other hand suspected a nice Celadon. 

"We shouldn't even be talking," Kleya told her, trying to look inconspicuous but failing miserably. 

Deep down Mon knew she was right, but she'd been having a hard week. 

Everyday she'd get home and have to gaslight Perrin into thinking there were rumors of his gambling addiction. And every day she wished those rumors would come to fruition. It would be so much easier for her, but alas, the work was never done. 

"Kleya if you keep looking around like an Owl in the daylight people are going to get suspicious. Just relax for another forty-five minutes and then you're home free. Luthen will make his appearance and no one will be looking at you."

"Except Luthen is always late." Kleya said abruptly.

Another true statement. But he was a man of the minute, he did things as they came to him. It was efficient but unpredictable.

To be perfectly fair Mon had no idea where they were and why. Every Friday she was invited to something or other and she didn't keep track anymore. When the car pulled up out front she knew to throw on nice clothes and smile and the driver would take her to whatever party her assistant accepted the RSVP to. 

When she'd walked in she made her rounds, she talked to three senators before she was offered her first drink. Seven senators by her second drink, and she was to a total of seventeen on her third. On her way to find number four she'd found Luthen's shopkeeper attempting to fade into a corner. 

"Well why don't you try to actually sell some stuff. Make some money for… Luthen's Projects." 

"Because I'm off the clock and here as a courtesy. If Luthen wants to sell old junk to rich people then he should come here and do it himself."

"Charming as ever, Kleya." Mon told her. 

"Why don't we get another drink? You don't seem to be a fan of the wine."

"Oh this water with dye in it." Kleya answered, finishing the glass with a shrug. 

"Why?"

"On the job. Don't want to inhibit my thinking." 

"Right because then you might agree to do this for free," Mon said, catching the other woman in her own trap.

Kleya rolled her eyes ever so slightly. The eye roll of a professional. 

"I heard about your daughter," she started, "she's really going back to Chandrila huh?"

The sinking feeling at the bottom of Mon's gut returned. For a brief moment she'd forgotten about her daughter's choices, and now she was blindsided by it all over again. 

"Let me guess," Kleya said, moving to stand right in front of her, "she thinks it's romantic." 

"It would appear so."

"Did you tell her otherwise?" 

Mon stayed quiet, not willing to admit the answer. 

She loved her daughter, and she hated that she was making this decision. But it was an overwhelming positive thing for the sake of the rebellion. That's one less set of eyes on Mon.

She hated how rational it was. She hated that she was the one who had to make this sacrifice. 

"I'm really sorry," Kleya told her, "I know you've been trying to keep her as far away from… that, as possible." 

Mon smiled, glancing at the other end of the room where her husband made small talk with a businessman. 

"Thank you Kleya." She said, heartwarmed a bit at the idea that someone acknowledged her suffering. 

"I think I'm going to leave." Kleya said, prying herself from the wall.

"Now?"

"Yeah, I have a sense Luthen is doing something more important without me. He needs supervision."

"I should come with you," Mon Mothma argued, knowing the attempt was futile. 

"You don't believe that's a good idea," Kleya told her, snatching a glass of Champagne off a waiting Droid as it passed. 

"I know, I guess I'm jealous you're not trapped here." She explained, accepting the glass Kleya handed her. 

"Change is coming, Mon. But you know better than anyone we have to be patient. We might not even be around to see it, but the spark on Aldhani set a fire, and it's spreading."

"And it must be extinguished," Mon said, her voice slightly raised. A man to her left looked at her, raised his glass with a nod. She accepted the gesture, satisfied with her ability to cover their tracks. 

"I agree," Kleya said, "because it's a lot harder to put out a fire than a spark. More expensive too, and the last thing we want are higher taxes." 

Mon smiled, a slight chuckle building at the edge of her mouth. 

"Speaking of Aldhani, are we?" Perrin asked, surprising her by placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"Oh, yes, it's truly awful what happened. Betrayed by their own General. It makes you think about how many more… abolitionist terrorists are out there."  She told him. 

Kleya eyed Perrin skeptically. Mon could see the other woman's visual analysis on her face. 

And Kleya did not look impressed.

"Saw Gerrera and his 'rebellion' are nothing but ants. They can't touch us here. They'll continue to blow things up and make scenes on outer rim worlds, but that's all they'll ever be." Perrin told them, and Mon wanted to roll her eyes.

Saw Gerrera was not the only spark. 

There were other snakes in the emperor's garden. 

"I don't believe we've met," Perrin said, extending a hand to Kleya. Mon watched as the icy woman took it, undoubtedly using a firmer hand then her husband. 

"Perrin Fertha," he said.

"Kleya Marki." She replied, retracting her hand. 

"Do you know each other?" He asked.

"Kleya works with Luthen at the treasures and antiques place I like. She sold me your birthday gift."

"Ah, you have good taste Kleya. In both art and career. Luthen's work is well renowned and highly valuable. I appreciate the work you do." 

Kleya smiled, going as far as to add a small curtsey.

Mon couldn't wait to tell Luthen. 

"Well I try. I like to say that every piece tells a story, and my job is to do my best to convey that story to the customer. I must be pretty good because your wife keeps coming back." 

Perrin just smiled, taking Mon's shoulder and attempting to usher her away.

"Just give me a moment, would you dear? I have another matter to discuss with Ms Marki regarding Luthen's new Alderaan collection.

"Of course, join me by the stairs when your finished. I have some friends I would like to introduce you to."

When he was out of earshot, Mon returned her attention to Kleya, who seemed to be chomping at the bit to leave. 

"Sorry about that," Mon apologized. 

"Why? You're not responsible for his behavior."

Mon smiled, but it wasn't a typical smile. It was more of an acceptance of defeat than anything. 

"I shouldn't have talked to him that way," Kleya said, "I'm sure I just caused you trouble."

"It's okay, I'll manage. I wish you were around more often, it would take the heat off me." 

"You know where to find me." Kleya told her plainly.

The words rolled off the tongue like an invitation, but Mon wasn't sure to what. 

"You should go," Kleya told her. "Don't worry about me, or Luthen. Go appease the senate, senator." 

Before Mon could reply Kleya reached forward, extending a hand to the edge of her face, brushing past it to her ear.

Ever so gently Kleya rotated her earring, fixing the position it had mistakenly shifted to.

"Can't be anything less than perfect, can we?" Kleya whispered in her ear as she moved. 

Mon simply sighed, shaking her head. 

"I'll see you around, Senator." Kleya told her, before removing herself from her corner and disappearing into the crowd. 

Mon took a second to collect herself, then followed the cold trail left by Perrin towards what was undoubtedly another round of his friends making political or sexual passes at her. 

Passes he would ignore. 

And for longer than a moment she wished Kleya had stayed with her, even if only to share the burden. 

[blazichu]

I happened to write my thoughts down as I was progressing through Brothership, so here they are, in roughly chronological order. Definitely contains spoilers.

Oh. Well. I sure can do something with Maykit's song, now can't I.

I know people are probably comparing this to WW, but tbh, the bite-sized islands remind me of Phantom Hourglass, and traveling on a set path invokes Spirit Tracks. I suppose the visuals are sort of reminiscent of Wind Waker, but, if anything, it's the shading re: the WiiU version. Not everything set on the open sea is Wind Waker, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

Oh good, I missed stomping on Francis.

Forgot the villains straight up have Antasma's face. Do we think that's actually going to call back, or is the new dev team just trying to tie into the last proper M&L game?

…why do they keep doing villains in this style? The guy just looks like Antasma again, or (with the top hat) a color swapped Count Bleck. The only real difference is the MSA style skull.

Don't know why, exactly, but I've had that post that goes 'this isn't a ouija board, it's a Luigi board' stuck in my head for about three islands, now.

I'm actually kind of happy to see Starlow again. I had a friend who really hated her, but she seems a lot more chill in this one. Wish they'd kept the sound for her old voice, though.

Pfff, so apparently this DID turn into Wind Waker after all. We've got a bunch of kids with swirly belts who decided to take the matter of people getting kidnapped by birds into their own hands. They even hitched a ride on a boat so they could travel to an island with high towers, where a giant bird roosts.

So the idea is that Zokket can't remember names because even that's a bond, right?

Just looked at the word 'Zokkarang' and realized how many ATLA ships that encompasses.

I actually really love Bulbfish so far, it's a great change of pace. Pretty obvious where it's going, but there's nothing inherently wrong with that. The game isn't big on subtlety thus far anyway.

I'm bad at dodging the Foopflies, but love seeing them, because their name is super fun to say.

Every time I have to go back to Heatfreeze, I obnoxiously go "BWAAAM BWAM BWA-BWA-BWAM" a la Hailfire Peaks.

...okay. Either they put the obligatory mid-game Bowser fight WAY later than usual, or I'm not nearly as far into this game as I'd thought.

Oh yeah. I totally believe you, game. This is 100% where things are ending. It's not like the UI suggests any differently.

I got the 'Auto Luigi' plug, and no lie, the first thing out of my mouth was: "What does that mean? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?"

Brothership out here saying that sharks are smooth as hell.

Okay, hang on. We got Shyguy Says earlier on, but was that an Eatsa Pizza gag just now?

Oh my god. The Extension Corps is just evil Sweet Cap'n Cakes. How did I not see it before.

One thing I really dig is that the game's logic stays consistent between plugs and Bros moves, and it's a neat bit of foreshadowing. I didn't think anything of the fire and ice plugs combining to be extra powerful until it became a story beat.

There's a real consistent design theory with these villains, huh. This one feels VERY reminiscent of Cackletta and Dimentio.

Look. I get what the game is going for with this whole 'isolate yourself and do what you enjoy without socialization' villain philosophy, but uh. Maybe know the audience. That's exactly what I've done in order to play this.

The number of times someone's gone "Let's-a go" at the end of a scene, only for me to mutter "let's-a not" and turn around to continue treasure hunting is kind of alarming. It's always capped off with "Now we may-a go" too.

What a coincidence! Conductor Connection is also MY most powerful move!

I called most of the bonds, but think it's odd that the game highlighted Bowser and the minions' being so important, but neglected to include them in this portion. I guess it would be kind of hard to make that work, when Bowser wouldn't ever hold someone's hand?

I've always really loved the fact that the M&L games are allowed to have a continuity between them. I said before, it was nice to see Starlow, but they threw in references to her being friends with Bowser, and then the chicken thing. Bowser still remembers Luigi's name after four games of calling him "Green ___". It's not just throwing in a reference here and there, like the Peasly, Shroob, Broque and Zeekeeper reefs; looking back on it, you can see actual character arcs, the most obvious being Luigi gaining confidence, and Bowser becoming more of a threat.

I just busted out laughing. We blew a hole in the wall to access the OTHER hole we already made in the wall.

So I went and looked up the last Zokket battle, because there was something I wanted to see again, and none of the people I looked up got glohmed? I freeze up and panic during enemy attack phases, so I'm terrible at dodging, and (at that point) didn't realize there was a Glohm Defense plug, so I got Luigi glohmed on the very first turn-- and that was what I wanted to rewatch. There's a nice little sequence where you have to counterattack a glohmed brother, but after he's unarmed, he stops attacking, and you can stop countering/he'll break out of it. It was really sweet, and I kind of think the people who are playing "well" are missing out in that regard. Chalk one up for idiots like me.

I'm only just getting into the Solitree, but I wonder if the game is trying to make a point with these new enemies. There's one that's a combination of three trooper types, a support enemy that heals/buffs its allies, and a seedle that just spent the entire battle disengaged because its partner seedle ran off. That's all really interesting, given the villain's mission statement.

Okay, now that I'm not constantly in battles, the Solitree's theme is giving me MAJOR Psychonauts 1 vibes. I think, specifically, it was a song that plays in the Meat Circus, just before fighting the Butcher? The 'The bunnies are safe, we're all safe' scene?

Update on the Seedlusa: apparently it changes forms when it's the only enemy on the field. This isn't helping the optics at all.

SEEDLUSAS IN THE OVERWORLD RUN AWAY FROM YOU. I don't think I've seen ANY enemies that do that, before this.

So just recently, I ended a battle with a bro down for the first time, and now I'm going bonkers trying to even their EXP out again.

I am not immune to Sudden Silence with Bird Song Ambiance.

Seems I haven't evolved since that first run of Partners in Time after all. I definitely just jumped this boss to death over the course of an hour.

Okay. Say what you will about the game, but "UGH. PEOPLE." have to be the funniest last words for a final boss to utter. (Turned out there was more, but I maintain this would have been best.)

Not gonna lie, I didn't believe this was a new VA and not Martinet until I saw the credits. He's spot on-- it's really impressive.

My final takeaway from playing Brothership: I think I need to get my eyes checked. My depth perception is. Bad.

For real, Brothership was a good time. There are definitely some issues I would raise-- like the soundtrack's comparative weakness, a relative lack of interaction between the title characters (which is something I have a habit of harping on), and the game itself having the subtlety of a flying mallet-- but it was still engaging, and there was a lot to enjoy.

I'm still kind of disappointed my prediction about someone getting glohmed as a result of hiding underneath a drain pipe didn't pan out a la bean fever, though.