#if the link doesn't work lmk?? i've never done this

[capricioussun]

I made a discord server!

It's been a weird week and I'm pretty sleep deprived right now but! I figured if I didn't go ahead and link it today I might put it off another many months and I don't want to do that, so!

This server is 18+ only. No unsafe 4w stuff but. Yk. Peace of mind and all that.

Anyways hey! Come hang out and talk abt stuff or smth. <3

[saveugoodmadam]

Dear Hitch,

I've decided to write a letter or two while you're off tumblr. It's funny, and also I miss you, and maybe these will be nice to read when you get back. Expect some rambling, lol. As of writing this, it's been about a week and a half? since you last were on. Some stuff has happened since then.

I had my 17th birthday, for one. 17 doesn't feel too different from sixteen yet, but once school starts for me I think it will. At least one TGS update has been posted, I won't spoil any of them for you, though. I saw a fun animatic on Instagram Reels of Roman from Sanders Sides so now I'm watching through those videos. I've convinced another person to read TGS (tumblr user getyourpaybackwithsomepayback) and he's OBSESSED, lol.

I've done some writing, namely my first two TGS fics, which are on AO3 now. They shouldn't be too hard to find, since my ao3 account is linked in my bio, so if you want to read them, there they are! If you do read them, lmk what you think. I've also done some work on a vat7k fic that is slowly but somewhat surely progressing. I haven't written for my original stories much lately, not really sure why.

I started crocheting a cat blanket, it'll be a while before i finish but I'll send pics when I do, rest assured. I'm planning an Enjolras cosplay for Halloween, also, and I'll let you know how it goes. I hope you get a new phone soon, and I hope you're doing okay. I hope this isn't a super weird thing to do.

I've been re reading TGS out of order, mainly for fic research. It's hard to write fics in the canon timeline, while still adhering to canon, because so much happens, there's hardly room for background scenes. I think I'm being too meticulous about it, perhaps, as I also went on a google sidetrack for ten minutes trying to figure out what kinds of cookies were invented in the 1800s. Though, the research has always been one of my favorite things about writing, since learning random stuff I never would otherwise is really fun for me!

I miss hearing about your ocs, specifically Arthur Buchanan, and your blorbo posting, about Sinnet, and David Jakobs. And it's only been a week and a half, lmao.

Sincerely, Rook :3

Rook I'm going to be honest I did genuinely start crying reading this, thank you so much and a belated happy birthday to you!!! I saw your fics on ao3 and read them and they're so good (let's ignore the fact that i cried reading them because i missed you)

I've read all the updates and omg is jekyll fucked!!!! good news though I have volume 2 pre-ordered and I can't wait for my gifts!!!!

While I've been (not of my own choice mind you) unavailable, I've been more and more obsessed with david 😭😭😭 this has included obsessively listening to the cast recordings of der Glöckner von Notre Dame he's in lmaooo

I also went to Wales for a holiday and had lots of fun!!! I have piccies but I'll put them in a separate post or DM you if they have my face in!

I don't have a new phone per se, I'm using my mum's spare but it's now 'mine' so that's good and I have pretty much everything except my WhatsApp chats and music so all good and thanks be to the cloud lmao!

yours sincerely (and tearily),

hitch

[treasureplcnet]

do you have any drawing tips? i'm just starting out and your style inspires me to keep going fr!!

HIYA !!! thank you that is so kind of you, i would say to keep drawing with references and do studies!! typically art studies (in like art school lol) are of old masters (da vinci, etc) but doing studies of styles that you like, like trying to copy a certain artist you like, also helps you develop skills !!

for example, lots of people (especially fanartists lol) do studies of artists like leyendecker while making the models their favorite characters/ocs, so it helps to make studies fun. literally look up leyendecker study on tumblr dot com and you will see hundreds.

(gets a bit long and rambly so i've thrown it under the cut :')

style studies can be anything! above was done while watching wolfwalkers, just loose sketches that copied the style as the movie went along. i love the design and style in that film, wanted to incorporate it in my character design work, so i tried it out myself! it let me know the kinds of shapes used in the construction, the way it moves (wrt to animation) and silhouettes. by copying something, you learn how to do it on the way (so the kinds of colors used, what works best with shading, etc) it's like. reverse engineering

even very loosely copying something to identify what you like about the style helps! these were modelled after the way slimsense on ig paints (her work is 2nd + 4th examples below, my attempts at 'paint' 1st and 3rd lol), but doesn't really look like her work. i'm not necessarily trying to make perfect copies. i liked that her paint didn't blend perfectly, was blocky, and the additional lineart over the painting, so i brought that into my own art. i tried to create a painting style that was 'my own' off of lots of trial and error, and seeing what stuck!

also find brushes you like! adobe has a bunch on their page (if you have photoshop, but i know there's some for procreate and other programs) and if you want the adobe brush files, lmk. i will send a drive link to you LOL (sketches of the same characters, using different brushes below. the two i used the most often, one being a solid inker and the other being a paintbrush)

generally doing figure drawing is good too. i've heard advice about art where you can only start breaking the rules after you understand them, and a good grasp on anatomy, proportions, etc is definitely a good place to start! good sites to use for this are line of action for poses, and the morpho books (if you need pdfs of this let me know, though you should be able to find them if you look lol) !

i would also say learn perspective early on. i have no tips for you here i am so sorry. i didn't and now it bites me in the ass, but there has to be a youtube tutorial for this out there that can help you AND me. same goes for color theory. quickly dropping my favorite van gogh quote of all time:

(quote is from a letter to his brother) just everyone needs the fundamentals first. don't worry about a personal style: that just comes naturally as you develop as an artist, and i was certainly inspired by a lot of the things i watched/consumed and artists i admired which absolutely shows in my work i think (manet. western comics. fma. avatar. pjo fanart. there are tells. you know how it is.)

also flip your canvas !!! like see below ... frankly this marcille is so lopsided (her entire face should shift to the left) LOL !! flipping horizontally makes the anatomy mistakes obvious, and shows you you what you need to fix. i should never have posted this as is but sometimes it works for humor and an artist is lazy </3

AND ALWAYS USE REFERENCES WHEN YOU CAN!! i should use more references tbh!!! it helps with posing, getting anatomy correct, etc, and my friends use pinterest a lot, though i tend to just google when i need to LOLLL

also draw what you like. there is genuinely nothing that is better for your art than getting into something REALLY BAD and then non stop drawing it. time + practice will lead to improvement no matter what the subject is!

i hope this was not too much information all at once !!! and some of it is helpful!!! it's a lot of basic improvement tips that i try to practice and use when i can :) so sorry that this got so long!!!!

[karelysse]

alright, at long last... it's time. i'm breaking this up into multiple asks because tumblr is evil. if anyone feels like i've missed something crucial, please hop in and lmk. also it's currently 1 AM, please forgive any typos you see. so, what the fuck do javi do, exactly? the short answer is he gave some rather... poor commentary re: yuzuru's SP. *when* exactly this happened is in question, some say it was once the entire men's event was over, others say it was right after the SP (1/?)

what did javi say? well it was in spanish, but here are some links for you to browse on twitter. here's a generous translation + vid: + the follow-up and here's an alternative translation (scroll down). this sparked a lot of backlash. why was he questioning yuzuru and his work ethic? why would he imply yuzu was lying?

this post does a good job of summing up the disappointment people felt. there was also a weird comment he made about yuzu getting gifts after an event but i can't find the clip. sadly some took it too far and flooded javi's insta, he ended up making a not-apology-apology post about it (tracy + brian both commented under it). but the damage was done, the majority of fanyus dislike/are neutral about him now

to me, the whole thing was very... odd. almost out of character, imo? javi hasn't always been the best with words, but he had so much praise for yuzuru's FS at these Olys, so why would he do such a 180? he knows the scrutiny yuzuru is under, he knows yuzuru wouldn't lie? it just doesn't make sense to me. that said, they're both grown adults and they've known e/o for 10 years. i have faith they'll sort it out for better or worse (especially since they're both scheduled for FaOI this year)

imo, after taking a month to reflect on it, i've decided that this one ugly moment (and i DO think it was a bad take from him tbh) shouldn't mean i can't look on the past with fondness. ultimately we don't know these people! again, it's up to them to figure out how they move forward from here. that's not my call and it's not the fandom's call. more than anything, i want yuzuru to be happy. and that's all for now! next time, i'll fill you in on the poetic tragedy of the whole mess. 💕

------------------------------------------------

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this! It's such a concise yet complete overview of the situation, and very lovely of you to send it to me. Now, after reading @fieryrondo's post, so beautifully worded, I don't think I have anything of notable interest to add.

I'll be honest and confess that I have no emotional attachment to all of this, learning about it so late and not being a direct witness to the events (which must have been a lot more dramatic for fans, as it was paired with the pain of Yuzuru losing at that time, I can only assume).

At the end of the day, Javi's a professional giving his opinion on something that wayyyy surpasses my understanding in terms of technicalities. I'm just here for the glitters. But I do think people have been way over the top in speculating on Yuzuru's woe and hurt and feelings of being mortally betrayed. This is not, in my humble opinion, the absolute treason people frame it to be. This isn't an attack to Yuzuru's integrity, and even if it was, welp, Javier Fernandez probably knows Yuzuru Hanyu better than I, a person on the internet who's never met him, ever will, so idc.

As I've been talking about with @sophia-helix, we can't silence every critical voice that raises itself against Yuzuru, that's silly + literal censorship + doesn't serve him in any way, shape, or form. And people are allowed to make mistakes!!!!

[bisexualmaedhros]

[slides into your asks] hi!!! uhm 20, 32, 33, and 36 for da trans ask meme ,, or less if thats too many hehe :—)

not too many at all, friend! thank you for the ask! (this is the post orion got the questions from! i'm a little late answering this ask but anyone's free to send in more! lmk if the link doesn't work)

20. "what do you wish you could have shared with your younger self about being trans?"

uh, a lot of things for sure, but mostly these: first, go with what makes you happy. this is not something you can measure. i know that terrifies you, but it also means it's not something anyone else can measure either. you can like girly things without being a girl and still be trans. that's okay. secondly and kind of related to that: you aren't neurotypical, and that probably affects the way you see and experience gender. that's okay. there are people like you who will be happy to talk to you, and they will be wonderful friends. and above everything else, you are not hurting anyone by doing this.

32. "how do you see yourself identifying and presenting in 5 years?"

well... in 5 years i'll be 23. i'll probably id and present differently by then at this rate considering the revelations i've been going through recently, lol. i'm not sure how, exactly, but i hope i'm happier then. hoping for a glow-up of some kind...

33. "what trans issue are you most passionate about?"

that's hard to say, to be honest. i'm passionate about a lot, haha. the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that teachers and people in similar positions of authority, especially in regards to children, need to do a much better job of protecting trans people. i listened to my peers spout so much transphobia growing up in school, and teachers never lifted a finger. i had one teacher who i know would've done something had she heard anything, and she was my favorite. one teacher out of the 13+ i had. kids can't swear in class but they can actively make the place unsafe for their trans peers? fuck off with that shit. i'm still mad about that even after graduating.

36. "what, if any, is the difference between your gender identity and your gender expression?"

oh, the difference is huge. i've never felt like my body was my own. it's always felt so alien and shameful, but that became routine and familiar and then for a long time i didn't notice.

i think the difference is that my identity actually feels like me. it feels like something that's really mine, like some kind of pure divine truth that's hard to understand or see every aspect of, something incomprehensible and vast and splintered. but it's mine, it always has been no matter how much i've changed over time. my body is only mine in the sense that i see it every day and so i recognize it, and other people seem to think it's me.

[cal-kestis]

hi, i hope this isn't a bother to you, but i was following your zoom out to multi-gif bridgerton tutorial, and i got stuck on step 4. honestly all I'M trying to do is combine two gifs into one, which is something i've never done before. i have a template with shapes ready, and my two gifs made, i just can't figure out how to get them all into "one file" as you put it. i tried following the link to the clipping mask tutorial you added but still got confused there - i think it's because im not trying to put mine over one big gif, i just want to put two gifs side by side, which is something i see people do all the time to bypass the 10-gifs-per-post limits tumblr has. i can't find any other basic tutorials for this, and was wondering if you wouldn't mind showing a step-by-step? i haven't even been able to figure out how grouping layers works 😰 if not thats okay! i hope you have a great day

hi!! this doesn't bother me :) funny enough, i made this video to show someone else earlier today! is this what you mean about not knowing how to move things from one file to another?

you can just click and drag a layer (or even several layers or a group) over to another file's tab!

you can also right click the layers you want to move to another file and select duplicate layer which will bring up this window:

then just set your file destination to one of your other opened tabs or a new file! lmk if this is what you mean. I can help with more detail if this doesn't cover it :)