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#it’s a lot of fun just doodling characters for a while and zoning out
porqupop · 1 year
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something something murder boy band members
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doppel-doodles · 2 months
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It's doodling time fellas
I wanted to give myself a bit of a challenge so I decided to draw the ocs of a few people here on tumblr, with the added challenge of doing it fast-
Minimal erasing and redoing, basically whatever is slapped on the page first sticks whether I like it or not. And there is a little time limit on how much I can spent on each character so that I don't get distracted as easily.
Just a little exercise so that hopefully it'll get easier for me to throw down a sketch using few lines and not taking literal hours-w-" I know everyone has their own pace but I would like to be a faster artist.
Anyway my yapping aside and without further delay: The girlies💚💗💜❤
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Now to who these lovely gals belong to:
Haiyang: @riptide-pools
Nawa: @auburnitzy
Suki: @peachy-puddin-cup
An he: @lumidotexe
For anyone interested I'll include some thoughts on each of these below the cut:>
Haiyang
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The first one I did and I think it shows>~> I was basically more focused on just figuring out how I wanted to do this so I spent less time and energy on how I wanted the character to look in my style. In the end I settled on doing the basic shapes in pencil and then switching to colored fine liners for details.
With the colors also matches the way I draw digitally just a tiny bit more! Buuuut if I end up doing this again I definitely wanna redraw her, I wanna do this gorgeous character justice after all!/'w'/
Suki
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Suuuuukiiii! I did draw her before so I decided to do this version, which I believe to be just her shadow form! While drawing I didn't actually give myself time to look it up cause ya know, no distractions which is why there is a question mark-
But my stupidity aside- here is where I started drawing a lot faster, I was in the zone if you will, so I spent what time I had left adding some variation to the line art. I do like this one and honestly she would probably be so much fun to render digitally so I'll see if I can if there is time:>
Nawa
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NOW THIS IS WHERE THE FUN REALLY BEGAN-
Nawa just was such a blast honestly, probably because I was getting really comfortable at this point and let myself play around more with how I stylise the characters! I love me some funky eyes, its probably the most recognisable part of my style.
Also granted I don't know much on Nawa yet(fake fan I'm sorry-/j) I only recently followed the creator so I need to find time to just really browse through their blog and consume all the knowledge there is, but once I do I'll be unstoppable!>:D
An He
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Last but certainly not least we finish with An He, who was a just a chill and nice lil drawing perfect to round out this doodle session-w- now I have actually read ERHS(shameless plug, read it it's so good- just need to find my attention span as I haven't caught up with it SOBS) so I have more knowledge on her.
For that reason I attempted to do a slimmer face shape, i wanted her built overall to read as visibly more thin and petite. Along side that I went for rings in her eyes as an allusion to sound waves as I didnt just wanna drop in a music note and call it a day.
however maybe I'll experiment more another time because I just dont think it reads that well:'<
That concludes my silly ramblings! Thanks for sticking around and if any of the creators of these lovely ladies see this- YOU HAVE AMAZING CHARACTERS AND I HOPE I DID THEM JUSTICE!- ahem.
If I do this again I'll definitely go for some male ocs as well for the sake of variety, it was a happy accident that I only drew girls here.
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katzilla108 · 6 months
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HI!!!
I've been drawing a lot lately so obligatory ragbros post 🦚🦚 Mostly Diluc and a pair of Kaeyas
Scroll down for my yapping ↓↓
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I'll yap more here so that the blog looks good
Playing around with brushes is super fun, I'm also trying to force myself to think while I draw instead of doodling absentmindedly. Nothing wrong with that, keep enjoying it!! I just feel like my art has been stuck in certain aspects for some time now, such as anatomy, facial structures and the way I draw hair, so I'm slowly stepping out of my comfort zone. Diluc is included there, he's such a comfortable character to draw for me and that just makes him perfect for practicing without getting overwhelmed x.x Kaeya on the other hand... I love him but I really don't like how I draw him atm. I'll keep figuring him out so expect more ragbros or Genshin doodles 👍 Also I usually don't write this much, I was just feeling talkative I guess but Tumblr seems cool to post random thoughts, maybe I'll keep doing it 🙊
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couch-house · 9 months
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2023 baybeeeee. havent done an art summary in a while since i basically stopped drawing early 2020 and didn't get back on the horse until mid-2022 (i wonder... what could have caused that!) i dont feel like my art has really changed this year, only in the ways that I draw specific sonic characters (looking through my archive is fun bc i can see the progression of the diseases known as Giving Them Big Eyebrows and Drawing The Monoeye) and--more exciting 4 me--my practice with paneling comics! :)
i think the progression is much more noticeably when you line it up with last year's sonic art... i can see all the Milestones.. more talking abt that under the cut
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May: couch gets into sonic. June: Yucky Sonic 1.0. this was also the month when i Heard Of fleetway super. July: couch comes back from brazil, having read stc. this is also when i start dong actual short comics. compare may -> june -> july. (also please forgive whatever tf i was doing with skintones. i needed some practice)
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august: merger au takes shape. dog invented. also i just really like that speed racer sonic mspaint picture. its fun :) september: deep in the fleet mines. october: i lose a lot of steam and mostly just doodle. another comic comparison for those three months:
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november: frontiers comes out. i go crazy mode and make that sonic + knuckles comic with the pretty backgrounds and LOTS OF TINY TEXT. december: winter break AND im tired. january 2023 i come back insane crazy mode and write some fanfiction?? still havent finished that LOL. made some nice cover art :) february: i shift into knuckles mode fora month. make another comic. this one is much better i think :) november -> february
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march: i shift into transfem metal sonic mode. also just stick to a lot of doodling. also write more fanfiction. crazy. april: transitory period as i shift back into stc/exit: sonic mode. may: more fanfiction. more comics. i really like how both of these turned out :) while the last two were definitely taking a lot more notes from stc, i think around here i start paying attention to and trying to learn from more creative panelling from artists i admire. like @/superemeralds THOAM and @/starrjoy's pandora au.
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june: i play sa2 and it's good. july: i play unleashed and it is both miserable and good. i get in kind of an artistic frustration zone and wiggle my way out. august: idk i think im just chillin. super react dot jpeg happens. it's not even named that, it's named after the other image on the canvas, which was maria holding baby shadow. more comics.
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september: i burn out for a bit. get real tired. eventually get back up and make more comics. the goal here and last month has become "try to make more interesting panel shapes. I've noticed other artists don't just use rectangles--try playing with irregular polygons and see where it gets you." well it gets you mixed results as you learn :) also i think after that pause i accept the monoeye into my life. sigh...
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october: oc showdown starts and @/neurotypical-sonic asks me to make some halloweeny art :) feels like i dont do much this month bc i focus on those. november: A LOT OF ART?? INSANE. more oc showdown stuff. i play shadow the hedgehog (2005). it's good and i love it. i draw a ton of shit on one canvas for it. Fucking Dember: i have shifted back into stc/EXIT mode. motivation's a little weird bc work's a little weird. doing commissions also makes it weird. well im having fun and being myself :) a final handful of comics from this month:
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idk maybe ill do something sicko crazy b4 the end of the year. mayb i'll follow exit sonic's example and #GetWorse. who knows :) well this is fun i love looking at my art and seeing and noticing things. thank u all for your support and I hope we all have a great 2024!
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archandshri · 7 months
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23rd Feb '24 - [arch] OH RISO my beloved!!!!!! ft. cyberpunk hermitcraft soup group
A cliffhanger!!!! And now I have to wait a month for you to upload the second half?? How will I cope :’’0
For real, it’s so awesome to see your process and the sheer amount of inspiration you take! In particular, I thought ‘Sit on Two Chairs’ and ‘This Was Our Pact’ were particularly yummy. 
I think book covers are really hard. You have to sum up a book’s energy in one image, make it stand out and show just enough so people want more. Exploring the narrative through those full pages is really interesting - though this is something you did for fun, it could be a really useful technique for getting to know a narrative. When I’m designing my comic covers, I always do it last - that way I’ve had practice with the visual style and I’m thoroughly familiar with the themes, so I guess spending a bit of time with the characters and narrative in this way helps for standalone book covers too. Of course, it helps if you have the time for that XD
Okay!! Onto what I've been up to!!! [warning this is a beefy post I'm sorry for your poor reading brain]
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The past two weeks have been really enjoyable! I’ve been playing a lot with slow world-building, in sketchbooks, google documents, and voice notes to friends. Letting myself really sit with concepts, think about the characters, let them play in my head with no expectations. With this relaxation and lack of pressure, some beautiful narratives and interactions have been developing. I’m starting to need a name for a world/ the story. I’m not quite ready to give them a full introduction to the internet - I know it doesn’t but it feels like there’s some accountability to *produce something* and this slow development is really important for the quality and my skill building. It’s really hard to take on, but we actually don’t have to make the perfect thing now! In fact, it’s impossible. Pressure on ourselves makes it so hard to make something good if we’re always grasping at the final result.  In the meantime, while those characters develop, I have been working hard on my basic skills. I wrote about characterization last post, but this week I focused on setting and colour. I was inspired (once again) by Hermitcraft. I’ve seen some really incredible illustrations of Minecraft builds in the fandom, and it seems like a great exercise.
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Bdouble0's Season 10 Base illustrated by @applestruda [source] and The Red Zone, built and illustrated by Bdouble0 [source]
One of the creators on Hermitcraft, ImpulseSV, created this build in a recent episode. It takes inspiration from the last season of Hermitcraft, where he was part of the ‘soup group’ with two other players, and his current base concept - a cyberpunk city.  I also LOVE his new character design, so I wanted to place him in the scene.
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Screenshot from Impulse's video and new impulse design by @maxx-doodles
Here are some initial thumbnails I did, trying to figure out the composition. I wasn’t sure of the vibe yet, so I tried some rough thumbnailing, and drawing on an isometric grid and other perspective techniques. I’m going a bit mad for characters at the mo, so I wanted to place some in the scene. I found the angle of the isometric grid steep to place characters comfortably, so decided against that.
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Looking back at it, I love the second! But I believe I was struggling with the perspective. I decided on the last one eventually.
Now, I absolutely adore all of the players in the Soup Group, and I am BIG fan of redesigning their notable characteristics to suit different settings. So yes, I decided to put all of the soup group in the image.
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PearlescentMoon (left) from my comic and GeminiTay's Hermitcraft Season 10 design [from this thumbnail] (right)
Here's the sketch of the final image. I really enjoyed coming up with cyberpunk versions of them all. I used the impulse design almost exactly, with a few extra interesting details since he's mostly viewed from the back. For PearlescentMoon (middle) I kept her fringe, dark hair and gave her a glowing moon symbol on her top. For GeminiTay, I kept her long ginger hair, antlers (but glowing!) and took inspiration from her new season 10 design - a dark blue jumpsuit to match her dark blue clothes in her new design, and the braids she is often drawn with. I also gave them edgy new hairstyles. And a robot arm. I don't have lore for that.
As usual, I filled each flat colour-to-be with black and lowered the opacity to play with the values. Then I added colours one at a time, aware might be riso printing it. Originally I stuck to trying to make it printable (making the colours out of ones I could make my layering 2-3 colours at different opacities), but as I went on, I decided to drop that and focus on the quality of the image in a digital format alone. I did keep the grayscale version above with all the separate layers in case I needed that if/when I came to riso printing it. Below are the main two digital colour schemes I tried out.
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I settled on the one on the left, with the blue tones - the foreground characters really pop. I put a few details in Gem's hair, colour variations etc, and cropped it for Instagram. I actually much prefer the cropped version - it sits better in a rule of thirds.
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Now the moment we've all been waiting for :'')
RISO!!!!!!!!!!!
I returned to Cardiff after a couple of months away and was delighted to spend my first day back at The Printhaus, an awesome shared print studio where I have basically made my home. A few of my awesome friends happened to be there, so I spent the day playing around with this image with their help! (please check them out they're very cool - Gavin helped me a lot (we hung out at Thought Bubble, remember? and Rhi gave good crits too!!)
For those who don't know, risograph is basically a shitty photocopier that can only print one colour at a time. However, you can play with gradients and opacities, and layer colours really nicely to combine. I've done a lot of single-colour tonal work with riso but this is my first go really layering.
First, Gavin showed me how to separate the channels in Photoshop, using the flat image uploaded to the 'gram. We copied and pasted these layers in grayscale and added blending modes to each layer to replicate what they might look like when printed.
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With blending modes, the digital mockup looked like this!!
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This bit goes into technical details for replicating what the print might look like for those who might want it - feel free to skip :)))
I copied and pasted the Cyan, Black and Magenta layers as greyscale (as you can see above)
I made all of the greyscale layers multiply layers since risograph ink is transparent and we wanted to see how it layers. The ink usually comes out a bit lighter than you think, so it's good to bear that in mind. I used a clipping mask over each greyscale layer and a blending mode. WHEN YOU PRINT, PRINT IN GREYSCALE, NOT COLOUR.
Here's how I split the colours from CMYK to the riso colours, their hex codes and the blending mode I used to replicate the colours:
Cyan - Mint [HEX#82D8D5] Screen Magenta - Fluorescent Pink [HEX#FF48B0] Screen Black - Blue [HEX#0078BF] Overlay Yellow - scrapped for colour scheme purposes
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Blue, Mint and Florencent Pink layers in greyscale in Procreate.
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Riso printed Mint and Florescent Pink layers on separate paper, followed by the two layered together.
We always start with the lighter colour inks first, because sometimes the rollers can pick up the ink and cause extra marks where you don't want them. The first two colours came out great!
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The first time we printed the blue, it came out very dark (left, first image). I have had this issue before - my last book, Winter Wellbeing, came out much darker than I wanted. Now I realise that the blue ink is super sensitive. All the 'white space' that is covered by a low-opacity blue on the left is only 2%, and yet it has come out pretty strong. We tried printing it on one of the misaligned images just to see, but it took all of the brightness out of the neon soup sign at the top of the image (second image). So I changed the values and pushed them way lighter, so it just pushed the values of the darker bits slightly, and brightened some of the lineart (right, first image)
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And this is the final riso printed version!! I'm so so happy with how this came out. It's so different from the original digital version, and I actually love that.
I didn't create new colours in the way that I intended to - I wanted to play with overlaying purposefully to create specific colours eg. orange for the hair etc. But!!! I'm really happy with how it came out. That will have to be a project for next time.
Also, many copies are slightly misaligned, so in future I think I'd do flat layers for the colours a more blobby style with the linework on one layer only so there's less of a chance for obvious misalignment. design for the riso, rather than riso the design.
Overall though, this feels like a super cool step up and a milestone for me. Super happy with how it came out!! And I'm excited to play with colour some more. Can't wait to see the rest of the Lionheart brothers! Enjoy your weekend :)))
Archie 🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺 <3
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poopyballz28 · 1 year
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Some Baki characters as middle school kids
wrote this a long while ago, but i tweaked it and now im ready to show it off
remember to like and subscribe
Kozue
• She's a pretty quiet and timid girl, she doesn't have many friends, and she's usually seen alone with her iPod and headphones in (listening to Vocaloid songs i just know i am the writer here i make the decisions)
• Some girls are definitely envious of her beauty, like she is PRETTY pretty. I wonder what hair products she uses...knowing her though, it'd be silly if she just had naturally flowy, beautiful hair.
• Probably has been asked out by boys several times, she's really cute and has an adorable personality, it's pretty inevitable. She never understands why they like her so much though.
• Always randomly zoning off in the middle of class, looking out the window. Her few friends are a bit concerned but are aware of her lost in the clouds type attitude.
• Forgets to do her homework a lot. Her grades and performance are very good, and that's a definite, but she's just incredibly forgetful. She just gets home and doesn't remember if she has anything to do. She just immediately turns on some anime or pulls out some Shonen Jump when she gets home.
• These hc's are just...my normal hc's for her. Curses. Whatever, it still applies here, DO NOT DEFY ME
Jack
• Really reserved and quiet, most of the class is really intimidated by him. Just the way he talks and looks at you with a death glare. It freaks everyone out.
• He's kind of a target for bullying because of how to himself and a bit scary he is, but he doesn't care and doesn't plan to do anything about it. They're always too daunted to insult him to his face. Jack focuses his time on getting stronger, not some losers making fun of him.
• Often scolded for never doing or turning in his work. He just feels he has better things to do. When he does do his work though, he's not exactly the best. His worksheets are surprisingly (or perhaps, unsurprisingly) filled with scribbles and rough little doodles.
• He doesn't really have many "friends", but one immune to his flaws is Kureha. He acts as if Jack is a friend he's known for ages, despite them only meeting during the current school year. He tends to hang out with him and help him out with his homework as well, because lets be real, Jack's grades are not looking too hot.
• The whole class thinks it's strange how out of everyone in the class, those two are the ones who are closest.
• Kureha definitely insists he do some small science experiments on Jack, Jack only complying if it leads to the growth of him getting stronger. It's like a mad scientist and his test subject, except two 12 year olds.
Katsumi
• He's a really popular student. He's attractive (in middle school standards), strong, leader of his own karate club and his dad's the principal of the school. He's almost always surrounded by people wanting to talk or hang out with him.
• Many girls have huge crushes on him, he usually has to let them down though. He's really focused on his karate and fighting and just doesn't particularly want any kind of lover. He's much more interested in running his club than young love. He values friendship more than anything.
• Always urging strong kids to join the karate club. He wants to expand his club as far as possible and spar with anyone worthy. He focuses so much on his club and karate his grades unfortunately suffer. You can't blame him though, everyone in the karate club is really close with each other and it's really endearing how its almost like a big family of middle schoolers in there.
• He's a really smart kid, and is able to excel in a lot of subjects, but he gets the most significant grades in PE class specifically.
• Hangs out with Hector quite a bit, they are almost polar opposites of each other, but hang out anyway. They're always seen doing homework or eating lunch together. He's one of Hector's only friends.
• Also really looks up to Kiyosumi, he thinks his strength and confidence is super admirable. Currently in the middle of trying to get him to join the karate club. He's somewhat becoming more of a delinquent because of how much Kiyosumi is rubbing off on him.
Kiyosumi
• He's 100% a delinquent who chills at the back of the school and likes to skip his classes. He's well liked by his delinquent disciples who think his fighting is radical.
• He has been suspended multiple times for starting fights and beating up kids for looking at him wrong. He wants any excuse to hurt someone or show off his fighting.
• He's avoided by normal kids in the school but swarmed by other delinquents and juveniles. He's a super cool figure for them. He's just popular enough for Katsumi to take notice.
• Despite the fact there are always students who praise him, he's a very lonely kid. He acknowledges the fact that the people who swarm him don't care about him as a person at all, they just like the idea of a leader with cool fighting abilities. As much as they make his ego swell, they wont be able to purge his hatred for others or even aid his loneliness. No matter how much euphoria will course through his veins and throughout his mind after defeating somebody, that empty feeling will always come barreling back in the end. He would never let anyone know that though. Never.
• That got deep. Wait till you guys find out that was also just a general headcanon for him. Anyway, Kiyosumi fucking LOVES workshop class. He will not skip that shit. This kid has a passion for cars and motorcycles (go figure)
• Katsumi decided to duel with Kiyosumi behind the school, but ended up getting his shit rocked and went flying into some garbage cans. Kiyosumi, (trying to be cool) hits him with a "Beat it, kid." but Katsumi stood up and immediately ushered him to join the karate club after falling victim to his strength.
• Surprisingly, Kiyosumi's grades aren't all that bad. His downfall is just that he always skips or doesn't do his work at all even though he's strangely intelligent (to an extent, of course)
Retsu
• He's a really quiet kid who's undoubtedly diligent at his work. He doesn't know many people besides Katsumi and a few others.
• You can easily find him in the back of the class studying or reading a book. People look up to how smart he is, he's top of his class. Although he does tend to burn himself out a bit.
• Really passionate in cooking class, he loves making some Chinese dishes with the few ingredients he's provided. Tends to ignore teacher directions so he can make what he wants to.
• A member of the karate club (by Katsumi's request) even though he uses a whole different fighting style. After Katsumi sparred with Retsu and lost, they've been friends and have been training together ever since.
• It's quite shocking to other students how this quiet kid who is usually just reading in the back of the class is such a strong and confident fighter. I imagine many kids watched the fight between Katsumi and him, and he's gained unwanted notoriety for his win. He tried to keep his fighting life on the down low and focus on grades.
• He definitely gets rebellious and immature sometimes, don't get me wrong. Katsumi had him open up a little, and now he's more free with his fighting (even though real battles aren't allowed on school grounds) He isn't afraid to spar with someone if they initiate it, school grounds or not. This kid just really wants to kick some tail.
Hector
• Quite the mysterious kid, usually just sitting and watching the view from outside the classroom windows with a blank expression. He's not at all unfamiliar with others talking behind his back or bullying him.
• Stays quiet when he's bullied in somewhere public but if he's ever assaulted alone or off of school grounds, that bully will probably be found with some pretty gnarly knife wounds.
• He doesn't seem to be interested in many things, or even passionate in his grades at all. It's almost like he's there because he has to be.
• He's always showing up to school with nicks or bruises. It's not entirely clear how he gets them or why they appear so frequently, but they certainly don't go unnoticed by others. They don't seem to bother him very much though.
• What I can say for certain though is that this kid is pretty fucking disturbed. Brought a pocket knife to school and shanked someone pretty badly. He was suspended soon after and rumors started to multiply and spread across the playground.
• Tends to run into Retsu by accident and gets partner assignments with him by pure chance. It was extremely awkward the first few times but they both realized they probably need to get used to each others company. They've surprisingly gotten close, Retsu wanting to understand the mystery behind Hector and why he's alone all of the time. Although some of Retsu's prying or questions make Hector a bit nervous. (definitely some home issues going on)
• He also likes being around Katsumi as well. Though, "like" is a strong word, for him at least. Like Retsu, Katsumi also wants to understand Hector. He thinks he's just misunderstood and makes an effort to talk to him even if some of their views on things are vastly different.
Kosho
• Trademark emo/edgy nervous kid who keeps to himself. He's a little bit of a crybaby, frankly.
• He really likes to draw, you may be able to catch him doodling some cool vkei clothing designs in his notebook. He's pretty embarrassed about them though, he always covers the pages when he thinks someones looking.
• Throughout all of his seemingly timid nature, its clear that some deep issues and hate are slowly brewing inside of him. The overshadowing from his brother and the teasing over his interests are not helping him in that regard either.
• Sometimes gets into small altercations with kids who like to poke fun at him. Kosho really struggles to stand up for himself but whenever he happens to find the courage to, his brother is always a step ahead and ready to protect him. After he deals with that, he proceeds to lecture Kosho about getting into fights and how he should go study for his math quiz next week.
• As much as Kosho loves his brother he wishes he would just...leave him alone sometimes.
• Was able to make friends with Katsumi due to their liking of karate and Katsumi's overall kindness after seeing Kosho sitting alone all of the time. The two have gotten pretty close.
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zwy01 · 8 months
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Arya doodles!!!
Aww my poor, poor girl. It’s her time to be given love and lots of hugs.
This is my OC, Arya K. Landegre! She is Regis and Rael’s daughter, and the former’s heir.
I haven’t gone in depth with her backstory yet, so I’m going to do that here. She’s one of my 15 “main” characters of my Millennium AU and her full bio is up in my pinned post.
I’ll be mentioning some other names in here too so to quickly recap, Arya is the younger one of the two Regis/Rael kids and her full-sibling and elder brother is Raegyn Kertia. (Arya has three half-siblings, with her elder half-brother Kaelestis Blerster on Rael’s side, and younger half-brother Garyth J. Loyard and younger half-sister Alethea J. Loyard on Regis’ side.) Arya has a pretty good relationship with her loving family, but it is a hard-earned one with a rocky beginning and a long, arduous journey. I’ll be explaining exactly why in a bit. Yay!!!
I love Arya for how dynamic she is and I’ve barely mentioned the more detailed stuff so here we are! My sweet Ari’s (almost) full backstory.
We already know that Arya is the odd one out in her generation. Among her fellow future Clan Leaders, Arya stands out as the one that is the least noble-like. She’s cringy, loud, fidgety, and most of all you just can’t get her to behave herself like a proper noble. If Lukedonia had yearbooks, she’d be nominated as the class clown. Hey, being so stiff all the time isn’t fun, right? I mean, just look at that freakishly long lifespan nobles have. You’re saying you’re gonna be around for at least a few more millennia, yet being uptight is the only way you know how, huh? Pfft, not in Arya’s watch. She’s gonna show you what real fun is, by ditching all formalities in favor of “you know, just winging it!”. After all, life is boring without a little improvisation every now and then. And if that means leaving your comfort zone, then Arya will be the one to hold your hand and guide you through your newfound fun. In a sense, Arya is the opposite of her big brother Raegyn Kertia. Raegyn loves to plan every little detail of his life, making sure to never go off track for even the tiniest of things, while Arya likes to live spontaneously. The past won’t hold her back, and the future does not concern her either. Any problems or consequences that arise, she will leave it to her “future self”. Duh. On many occasions, Raegyn had attempted to teach Arya the importance of planning things and the concept of delayed gratification, to no avail. Whatever he tells her seems to go in one ear and out the other. It’s Arya, what else did you expect from her? She’s just going to giggle and shrug it off. They are not too worried about her though, because she seems to be able to find a good balance in life despite her carefree nature, so they let her be. I mean, she is pretty wild, but it’s not like she’s going to burn down the forest or steal artifacts from the treasury for fun, right? Yeah, no way that’s going to happen. Mhm. Huh. Wait… hold up. Actually, forget it. She might. It’s unlikely though. Well, she doesn’t do that anymore. Anymore? What exactly does that mean? That’s where it gets interesting, so sit back and enjoy.
Remember in my last post about Raegyn where I said that Regis and Rael were super relieved that their Arya was a normal child with normal development, and not a “special” child like their difficult son? They were right about their daughter… at least partially. Regis and Rael waited for almost two centuries before having their second child. Their first child Raegyn gave them a hard time because he was too much of an outlier with his unmatched super intelligence. After Arya was born, and for some time in her early childhood, Regis and Rael had their eyes on her all the time, vigilantly watching for any signs that would show that she’s not an average child, and in turn they would give her the extra support she needs. And they waited. And waited. Thankfully, those signs never showed up. Whew. They could finally relax, as they only needed to deal to with Raegyn, and it seemed like they could raise Arya like they would with a normal child. Arya was average, in a good way. She was a bit too lively and feisty at times, but that’s not a big deal. She’s a kid, after all. Who doesn’t like an energetic kid? Regis and Rael had to discipline her occasionally, but other than that, they didn’t need to do much. They had a good time together as a family, and everyone was certain that Arya had a bright future ahead of her. Or, that’s what they thought. Uh oh.
Turns out her parents overlooked her feistiness, and there was a deeper underlying issue. This became more apparent as Arya grew a bit older, when she reached the human equivalent of a ten year old. At this point it wasn’t as simple as kiddie tantrums anymore. Regis and Rael found it increasingly difficult to discipline their daughter and calm her down when she got all worked up. Arya had a short fuse. A very short one. She was joyful and radiant, just as much as she had a big temper. She cried when she didn’t get what she wanted, she screamed when her parents gave Raegyn a millisecond more of attention than they did to her, and kicked and shoved and knocked things off tables when something simply wasn’t to her liking. And when she felt uneasy, she couldn’t stay still and was always pacing around, fidgeting, or both. And that’s when Regis and Rael finally understood what’s going on, when they realized that Arya may be even more difficult than their already difficult son.
If we’re being nice, then we can say that Arya has a… very strong personality. If we’re being honest, then Arya is a major pain in the ass. It’s as simple as that. She is only fun for as long as she doesn’t spiral into one of her tantrums, before her parents, Raegyn, or someone else needs to step in to physically restrain her until she calms down. And it’s worth noting that Regis and Rael were not neglectful or anything. They were attentive and loving parents who did their best to ensure that their daughter had everything she needed. It’s just that Arya happened to inherit several of her parents’ less desirable personality traits. Mix and match, boom. A recipe for disaster. Arya inherited Regis’ stubbornness, and Rael’s tendency to be possessive, jealous, and impulsive. Regis is more flexible now, and even Rael has shown massive improvement and growth, and doesn’t act like he did in his youth anymore. But Arya was only a child. She was still young, and she has yet to go through centuries of practice. Regis and Rael were really trying their hardest, but their daughter just didn’t seem to show any signs of improvement. For now, they’ll just keep trying in hopes that their little Ari would get better eventually. Maybe they were even in denial, as they didn’t like the possibility of Arya not being able to grow out of her “phase”, so to speak.
Despite the less positive aspects of her personality, kiddie Arya loved her parents very much, and she made sure to let them know. Raegyn’s situation was an entirely different case, as Regis and Rael parented him in a very unconventional way that didn’t quite resemble the dynamics of a typical parent-child relationship. On the other hand, Arya’s bond with her parents strongly resembled that of a typical parent-child relationship. She absolutely adored both her fathers, and loved being their baby. To little Arya, they were her everything. And they still are now. Regis and Rael are delighted with how their daughter loves them so much and how she never hesitates to express her love. The two of them didn’t really feel the same sentiment coming from their first child Raegyn during his childhood, and Raegyn still is kind of aloof as an adult. (They know that Raegyn loves them too, but Raegyn just never really bothered with the excessively sentimental stuff) To be honest, Raegyn is relieved that his sister is here to divert his parents’ attention so they don’t “loiter” around him all the time, and he can finally get some of that long desired freedom. And his sister being difficult doesn’t bother him because she is their parents’ kid, not his, so she’s not his problem. At most he’ll just step in when he needs to pretend to be a good big brother, or when his parents ask him to.
And Arya? She loves her brother dearly, and knows that he loves her too. Brother Rayray is nice. He reads books to Ari and gives Ari candies. He teaches Ari how to play games. He’s all good …until the very moment he gets more attention from their parents. Then she’s not so enthusiastic about him anymore. Do you see where I am getting at. As much as Arya adores Raegyn, she doesn’t actually mind how Raegyn is often absent during “family bonding time” because guess what? She can have her fathers alllll to herself. Maybe it’s even a good thing, even if it is one she can’t say out loud.
Arya is totally a daddy’s girl for both of her fathers. The two of them have different roles. Rael is the “fun” parent. Yes, Arya is his sweet little girl and he’s forever grateful for her very existence, but above all else, he sees himself in her. As difficult as Arya can be sometimes, she bears extreme resemblance to Rael and he loves her for that. Rael doesn’t mind Arya being a little feisty because he was like that in his youth too, and he turned out alright, didn’t he? Maybe he’s even proud of her for being so “lively”. That’s right, she’s his little girl! Arya is nearly identical to Rael in both looks and personality. If only she had the Kertia blonde as well, her parents joke. In addition, since the beginning, Rael had desperately wanted a child to pour all his love into, but Raegyn wasn’t quite what he had expected, so he didn’t get to experience the typical joy of parenting. Then Arya came along. Arya adored him, admired him, and stuck to him like a piece of gum. She practically glued herself onto her Kertia daddy.
Rael is of course absolutely overjoyed, and responded by showering her with every ounce of affection in his system. He often lets Arya indulge herself in things, and gives in to her begging. He spoils Arya by sneaking her out of class early, letting her stay past bedtime, slipping an extra cookie when Regis isn’t looking... etc. Anything to see his little girl put on a big, big smile and hear her say “thank you Daddy” with enthusiasm. Perhaps he went a little too overboard, and the spoiling became a bit excessive. But hey, Rael just can’t help it. In a way, whatever he wished he could’ve done but didn’t get to do with Raegyn, he fulfilled through Arya. Arya basically gets double of everything. And she’s just too cute. I mean, she’s a chip off the old block! Rael continues the spoiling well into Arya’s teen years. This does eventually snowball into a bigger problem, which will be addressed later.
On the other hand, Regis is the “strict” parent. For most of the time, he lets Rael have fun with Arya because he knows how deeply Rael cherishes that affectionate bond with their daughter. At the same time Regis never misses the chance to discipline Arya when she needs it. Kiddie Raegyn was very self-sufficient and preferred independence over being “parented”; Arya was not, and needed plenty of parental support and behavioral correction. Sorry kiddo, no more skipping classes for you, and whining won’t make demands come true. Jokes aside, other than being the rule enforcing parent, Regis is very, very affectionate with Arya and they have an extremely close father-daughter relationship. Lovely. Regis can be proud of himself. He used to get flustered at something as simple as getting his head patted by (his basically adopted sister) Seira, and now he is actually pretty comfortable with giving and receiving both physical and emotional affection. One of Arya’s favorite things to do as a kid was running her little fingers through Regis’ hair and playing with his black streaks, and then happily pointing at her own streaks while exclaiming “I’m a Landegre!” To which Regis would smile and respond, “yes, my little Ari”. Aww, how precious. Arya takes great pride in being Regis’ daughter and heir. She is her daddy’s successor, the great Regis K. Landegre!
While it’s true that Arya tends to go to her Kertia daddy when she wants to get the okays to break rules or have some relatively reckless fun, it is Regis who is her favorite. Sorry Rael. He doesn’t have to know Regis is Arya’s number one. Period. Has always been, and will always be. As soon as Arya could recognize her surroundings, Regis became the center of her world. If she admired Rael, then she idolized Regis. She loved him, she worshipped him, she put him on a pedestal. Yeah. That person over there. You see him? He’s Ari’s Landegre daddy! How sweet. It doesn’t matter if Regis didn’t let her overindulge in things, or that he’s less lenient with her misbehaving at times. Everything Regis believes in and does, is right. No arguments. Maybe she’d even get offended on his behalf if anyone tried to question him. Regis is her idol, and she’d follow in his footsteps even if she honestly doesn’t feel too much enthusiasm towards clan duties and whatnots. Young Arya actually had her parents taken by surprise when she showed that, after all, she was capable of sitting through an entire afternoon of Regis walking her through Landegre CL duties without fidgeting or complaining much. For a restless child like her, it’s an unusual and incredible feat, because she doesn’t display this extent of patience when it comes to other matters. Responsibilities and expectations, future Clan Leader, blah blah blah… even if these things didn’t really interest Arya, she’d do it for daddy dearest. Anything for Regis. She’s totally obsessed with him. Many even too obsessed. And this obsession is the catalyst for many unfortunate events to come. Remember how I said she inherited Rael’s tendency to be possessive, jealous, and impulsive? Yep, exactly that.
Fast forward to Arya’s teen years. When Arya was around the human equivalent of 13-14 year old, she “learned” about Regis’ drastically shortened lifespan. This was around the time her younger half-siblings Garyth and Alethea were born. Initially, Regis had intended to donate only one soul fragment to Seira for the birth of her heir, but their combined soul fragments unexpectedly split into two separate, unstable pieces and Regis didn’t have the heart to let the smaller piece perish. So in an attempt to save it, as it was dying, he extracted another soul fragment from himself and gave it to the smaller piece that would later become Alethea. He succeeded. They succeeded. But the unexpected extra soul fragment extraction shortened his lifespan even more. Three soul fragment extractions is already pushing the limits for noble standards. Four? That’s unheard of. Regis didn’t have much longer to live. Uh oh. Arya is definitely not going to take this well.
And this is not due to Arya previously being oblivious to the mechanism behind noble birth or anything. All nobles know that having children would shorten one’s lifespan. They understood how it worked, and that a noble’s lifespan would roughly halve for each child etc. Arya knew this as well. However, she only started to really think about it once her half-siblings were born, because she never really saw Regis that way. All this time she had been busy obsessing over him and putting him on a pedestal. She had been way too in love with the concept of him being her father to the point where she basically almost completely forgot about the fact that no, he indeed won’t be around forever. Regis is not immortal. To make matters worse, not only was Regis not immortal, he also doesn’t have much left. Time is ticking. Regis is dying. Her daddy, her idol, her world — he’s dying. The shock comes from the realization, perhaps one that is a little too late. It’s also important to note that Regis did not consult with either of his children regarding his decision to contribute what is essentially his lifespan to Seira’s heir. Regis had only spoken with his husband Rael regarding this matter and both of them agreed that his contribution to Seira would be a good idea. After all, Seira is family to Regis. Of course he would help her with her heir. By both Lukedonian law and common practice, neither juvenile nor adult children are entitled to any input when it comes to one or both of their parents’ decision to donate more soul fragments or just having more children in general. Parents don’t need to say anything to their existing children. No one owes anyone explanations. That’s just how things are.
Though, on a personal level, that’s where things get complicated. The Regis/Rael kids only learned about their half-siblings after their birth. Raegyn’s reaction upon hearing the news was just… nothing. He simply raised his eyebrows, shrugged, and gave a fake smile. Neat. Sure, more siblings, though they aren’t his problem, they’re Seira’s, so he doesn’t care. And while Raegyn loves Regis, he respects Regis’ decision (and his parents’ collective agreement) about what Regis wants to do with his lifespan. If he wanted to shave off more years for the sake of his family aka Seira, then go for it. To be honest, Raegyn probably isn’t even attached enough to Regis for him to care. Arya on the other hand… oh boy.
Unlike Raegyn, who was calm and supportive, Arya did not take it well. In fact, she took it quite personally. Very personally. Extremely personally. Upon the initial news delivery of her half-siblings’ birth, she was shocked. Arya went numb, and didn’t seem to have any reaction at all. It took her a whole day to process the information and then it hit her. She excused herself and locked herself in her room. Witnesses recalled how the horrific, explosive screams that seemed to have come from the Landegre manor did not stop for an entire week. There was some sobbing, some hysterical laughing, but mostly screams. Screams much, much worse than what you’d imagine would come from tortured souls from the depths of hell. Bystanders could feel the sheer force of anger and despair in the very core of those screams just by listening. And not once did Arya think of using her noble powers for noise canceling. It may have even been deliberate, as she wanted the whole world to know that she’s upset, even if she won’t actually say why. Even her own parents can’t seem to get her to talk. The screams only stopped when Arya grew too tired and passed out in exhaustion for another week. People eventually forgot that this had happened, and simply shrugged it off as one of her “usual tantrums”. It was only oddly timed, because it happened right after her half-siblings were born, but other than that, no big deal, right? Then they’re wrong. Very, very wrong. Raegyn knows why because he is more than smart enough to tell. He doesn’t care, though.
Arya felt betrayed. Regis betrayed her. He betrayed her by giving his lifespan away without even telling her. He never once asked for her opinion, and he didn’t even bother to notify her of the decision, as if it was never a big deal to start with. Rael betrayed her as well. He betrayed her by not stopping Regis, because he clearly had a part in the final decision, right? Arya knows she has no claim over how Regis plans to use his lifespan, but still… she is his daughter, their daughter, and she had every reason to be upset with Regis literally handing away his life, the very life which he was supposed to spend with her. Both Regis and Rael betrayed her. Her fathers, her daddies, the two of them — both of them — turned their backs on her just like that. Yet Arya could not bring this up to either of them. She just can’t. She can’t tell them she’s upset. She did not know how to approach this subject, neither did she have any clue on how to sort out her rampaging questions and feelings. The mere thought of this clutter of a mess makes her feel sick. Her stomach sinks, and her chest aches. A deep, pulsating ache that seems to spread to every corner of her body. When she thinks she has worked up the courage to say it out loud, the clutter lodges in her throat and she loses the ability to speak. She physically can’t say those words. Her muscles tense up, and she starts sweating. She tries to speak those words but nothing comes out despite her moving her mouth. Only an inaudible, croaky cry. And then she’ll tear up. It’s impossible. She just can’t. Arya can’t ask any questions, her one thousand why’s. Why, why, why, why, just… why. Ari knows that Seira is daddy’s family too, and daddy wants to help her and show her his support… but isn’t Ari also daddy’s family? She is his daughter and heir, and she should’ve been his top priority. Was she, in his eyes, not important enough for him to not give away a portion of his lifespan just like that? Did he even think of her when he extracted the soul fragments from himself?? Can he really bear the thought of leaving her behind, before she is ready to face this world by herself??? Does he even care…? These thoughts and questions would continue to torment her for the longest of times. You’d probably ask, why can’t Regis and Rael just read her mind? Well, they certainly tried. They failed. They couldn’t see anything when they attempted to read their distressed daughter’s mind. It probably had something to do with Arya’s defensive mechanism, where she had unconsciously formed some sort of intangible barrier that prevented people from reading her mind.
Regis and Rael did not know how to comfort their daughter, as she just wouldn’t tell them why she’s upset, and they see nothing when they read her mind. All they can do is give her hugs when she asks for them. Especially Regis. Arya would bury her face into his chest and cry for hours. He can only softly stroke her head and give her gentles pats on her back, hoping that it would ease whatever pain his daughter is experiencing. Not a word spoken from either one of them, with Arya’s occasional inaudible mumbles breaking the silence. And Raegyn? He’s completely out of the picture. He hates anything emotional, which includes dealing with the feelings of others, even when it comes to his sister. Raegyn nopes the hell out of their home as soon as Arya gets worked up, so he doesn’t have to pretend to be nice and comfort her. Every single time. Poof and he’s gone, and you can guarantee that you won’t be able to find him until Arya is finished with her business. Though Regis, Rael, and Arya herself are probably too busy to notice Raegyn is missing.
Arya’s impeding grief shouldn’t be taken lightly. All bottled up along with her grief is her anger, sadness and confusion. It will accumulate, and might as well kill her one day. All that energy has to be released somewhere right? Telling her family isn’t an option because she simply can’t. Her friends and acquaintances… they might react negatively. She can’t say for sure, but she is hesitant about opening up to them about this sensitive subject. And great-grandfather Gejutel is too busy, who knows if he’ll even care. And all the other adults aren’t trustworthy enough in Arya’s eyes. There was no one she could go to. Arya was alone. Arya was desperate. She once was the happiest girl on the planet. She had loving parents, and a nice big brother. There was nothing else she wished for. She only wanted life to stay as it is, with Regis as the center of her world. Regis, Regis, Regis. Her number one. And now he’s dying, by his own choice, albeit indirectly. He had about less than two thousand years left. Even then two thousand years by itself is a long time. Not for Arya. She could spend all eternity with Regis if she could. If Regis didn’t extract two more fragments from himself, he would have had around eight thousand years left. There’s nothing Regis can do, there’s nothing anyone can do. There’s nothing Arya can do. She’d give up part of her own lifespan and transfer it to her father if she could, if that means getting to spent more time with him, but that is impossible. Even if she could, she just knows Regis would never let one of his own children cut their lifespan short just so he could live for longer. It should be the other way, if any. Ugh. Regis is too kind and too generous for his own good. There was nothing left for Arya to do, except to accept the truth and deal with it. But Arya didn’t want to. There has to be another way. She felt cornered. And then she snapped.
The first obvious change was Arya’s newfound apathy regarding her clan. Arya completely lost interest in the Landegres. She stopped caring about her status as future Clan Leader. Clan duties, managing her future clan members, paperwork, leadership training… none of that mattered to her anymore. At first she only had occasional absences. Those grew into frequent absences, and in the end she skipped her lessons altogether. She just stopped showing up. She was never genuinely interested in these things to start with. She made herself sit through all that boring, repetitive nonsense for Regis’ sake, and if her daddy isn’t going to be around for much longer, then she doesn’t want to partake in this anymore. Arya is determined to just ditch it all. And she isn’t even bad at being future Clan Leader. She is pretty average at most things, but she is a hard worker. Without talent, she makes it up with effort. Now that Regis will be gone soon, none of this means anything to her anymore. We’re talking about almost two centuries of hard work that Arya is ready to abandon. If Regis can choose to leave her behind, then she can choose to leave all of this behind too. Her parents and Lukedonia’s general population are very worried about her sudden change in attitude, but all they could do is to hold their breath and hope that the passionate Arya would come back one day.
The second, and perhaps even worse than the first, is Arya turning towards causing trouble for the sake of trouble. Arya is already naturally prone to recklessness and impulsivity thanks to getting those personality traits from Rael. All these years she’s been trying her best to control herself, albeit with limited degrees of success. The point is at least she tried. Now take that, and actually give Arya a reason to not work hard to behave herself anymore. From her perspective, she is justified to do as she pleases because Regis betrayed her trust. The world betrayed her trust. Her acting out and being a menace made sense. She’s just responding accordingly. Yeah. Exactly that. Lukedonia can’t complain, no one can complain, because they gave her no choice. They forced her into this, and now they have to deal with her whether they like it or not. If they can’t handle her, it’s not her problem.
And I would like to mention a key difference between Raegyn and Arya. It is one that defines them and sets them apart, and that is the gap between their maximum capacity and potential when it comes their character. Raegyn is the outlier. His intelligence, flexibility, and social skills are all top tier. He is basically built for success. That’s just what he was born with. You can say he was blessed with everything he needs in this life. Not only is Raegyn academically gifted, he is also extremely smart with people. Raegyn knows how to order around, and his friends targets don’t even know that they’re being manipulated by him. He is also more than smart enough to get away with committing crime and being a real danger, if that is what he wishes to entertain himself with. Except he isn’t interested in that stuff. He has the potential to be dangerous, but he isn’t.
This is where Arya comes in. Arya is average. She is average compared to Raegyn, and she is average by herself. Her intelligence? Average. Her social skills? Average. Her fighting prowess? Better than most of Lukedonia, but when compared to her fellow future Clan Leaders, average. Arya is simply… average. She wasn’t spectacular at anything, nor was she severely lacking. She simply was. And depending on how you look at things, this could be both good and bad. In Arya’s case, it’s definitely bad. Why? Because now Arya wants to wreak havoc just because. Except she isn’t nearly as smart as she needs to be to execute it in the way that would keep herself out of trouble. Combine that with her impulsivity, and what you get is an unpredictable, unstable person who is reckless enough to get herself into trouble but isn’t smart enough to get herself out of it. Arya is also bossy like Rael. She likes to control people, except unlike Raegyn, she isn’t smart enough to know how to order around. If Raegyn uses brains, then Arya uses force. Raegyn gains control over people by being smart. Arya isn’t capable of mimicking even just a fraction of that. That is why Raegyn is popular while Arya has a debatable reputation among her people. And just like Rael, Arya isn’t the best at dealing with being told “no” by others. Yiiiiikes.
And here’s the deal. Arya is average. We know that. Is Arya aware? Perhaps. She isn’t dumb enough to not know that she is in fact average. She knows what her limits are. Does knowing that stop her from being a menace? No. Arya doesn’t care. Who cares if she isn’t smart enough. If she wants to cause trouble, then she will cause trouble. Consequences are for later. They do not concern her. Nothing is going to stop her, and nothing can stop her. The stubbornness she got from Regis is certainly running its gears here, for the worst.
What exactly does Arya do? The list could go on forever. A few of her more “notable” and favorite crimes to commit include arson, blackmail, bribery, forgery, theft, and vandalism. Out of those, arson, theft, and vandalism stand out the most.
Arson. Arya needed to let out all that bottled up anger, and she turned to setting things on fire. It didn’t involved anyone else, and she could do it without other people noticing. If she’s going to turn to crime, then she can start with something “simple” and ease her way into bigger, more satisfying ordeals. That’s why the very first spell Arya masters is an ignition spell. The Landegres aren’t a magic aligned clan, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t learn a few spells. It first started with smaller things that didn’t matter as much. Pages from her notebook, a childhood toy, old clothes, things that are going to the trash anyway, etc. Items she wouldn’t miss, that no one would miss. How cathartic. It didn’t numb her pain of Regis’ impeding passing, but it was better than nothing. She could imagine that she is watching the world burn. And when she got comfortable with burning smaller items, she moved onto bigger items. Burning less important items no longer gave her the satisfaction she needed. So she looked for more. A couch. A closet. A statue. An abandoned cabin. A small patch of forest in the Loyard territory. It goes exactly where you think. Things spiraled out of control. And the thing is Arya only bothered to learn an ignition spell, and not a counter-spell for it. Arya had to cry for help because she realized that the entire forest will burn down soon if no one intervened. The nobles who responded were able to put out the fire just in time before it reached the Loyard manor. And Arya? She was punished for it. Her Clan Leader issued the punishment himself. But she was still a juvenile, so she didn’t get what she arguably deserved, which is a punishment befitting of her crime if she were an adult. Will this stop Arya from committing more arson? No.
Theft. Arya also began to steal. At first it started with sneaking less valuable items out of people’s pockets. Things people wouldn’t immediately realize have disappeared, and by the time they wanted to looked for them, they were long gone. All in Arya’s possession. And, you guessed it, stealing smaller items was no longer enough for Arya. Then Arya moved onto stealing bigger things. She targeted items that potentially had high sentimental value. We’re talking diaries, jewelry, lockets, portraits, even old cooking pans. The mere thought of people breaking down and panicking over lost items was amusing to her. Sweet sweet. Of course the pain they would feel is not nearly enough to compare to what she has to go through when it comes to her dying daddy, but it’s better than nothing. They better cry. Be in pain, just like her. If she couldn’t be happy, then none of them should. Just like with Arya’s arson crimes, her stealing things got out of hand real quick and soon Arya was breaking into various clans’ treasuries and smuggling important statues and sculptures out of there and into her home. Except Arya isn’t exactly smart, like I mentioned earlier. She’s not at all an expert it comes to covering her tracks, and on her second break-in attempt in the Blerster territory, she got caught in the act by none other than Karias Blerster himself. Karias handed Arya to Regis and he had to punish her again. When he searched her room, they found many, many other stolen items and Regis made sure to make her return them to their respective owners before he grounded her. Again, like before, is this going to stop Arya from committing theft again? Haha, no.
Vandalism. At this point Arya didn’t even bother to be discreet anymore. If she’s not smart enough to get away with anything she does, then she might as well stop all attempt to cover her tracks. Committing crime was her outlet, and she needed it. No one was going to take that away from her. Hell, if she can’t give up committing crime as her primary coping mechanism, then she’s just going to accept that that’s her new life. She might even be petty enough to announce that she is behind whatever chaotic shit is going on. Smashed a window? She would smear “Arya was here” on the walls with her blood. Sabotaged a garden full of herbs and other important plants? She would rearrange the uprooted and trampled plants to spell “Haha losers” for garden’s owner to witness. Destroyed part of a building? She would stand on the roof and laugh and laugh and laugh, and scream “come catch me you suckers!”as she waves her arms around. Again, Regis would be the one to punish her. He doesn’t understand why Arya suddenly turned to delinquency. Does she really enjoy being a criminal? Is this Arya’s true nature…? Neither Regis nor Rael know that Arya is simply doing this to cope with Regis’ shortened lifespan. They are not aware of the fact that this is her coping mechanism. It isn’t a justified one, for sure, but still. They do not know her true motives, and she seems to be reluctant when questioned.
In no time, Arya became notorious for being criminal. Moods were ruined and atmospheres were spoiled as soon as her name was brought up. A rumor began to circulate, one that said that if you said Arya’s name, your home would light up in flames. There was a collective sentiment among the nobles where they all agreed that they couldn’t wait for Arya to come of age so she can be tried as an adult.
Raegyn is rather unhappy with his younger sister’s… newfound hobbies. She is indirectly affecting his social life because now people just want to ask about his “delinquent sister”. That’s all they want to talk about. Dammit, it’s not his fault his sister has a “underdeveloped prefrontal cortex”, as he puts it. Thankfully he is rational enough to not say that out loud. Arya doesn’t need to know.
And Regis? Regis tries everything he can to correct and put Arya’s behavior to a permanent stop. And he fails spectacularly. He tried being nice with the gentle approach. He also tried the stern and authoritarian approach. Him questioning Arya would usually result in two endings, with Arya either pretending she can’t hear him and covering her ears and singing lalala, or she’ll burst into tears and sob uncontrollably. Regis could tell that those tears were genuine, but he just couldn’t get Arya to talk. Her confessing to the motives behind her crimes wouldn’t lighten her punishments, but at least Regis could have an answer as to why she is acting like this. In the end, nothing works. Regis seems to begin to lose hope in his daughter. His patience and faith in Arya started to wane. As much as Regis still loves her, he couldn’t recognize his little girl anymore. Regis is heartbroken.
Things aren’t any better for Rael. Remember when I said that Rael is the parent who spoils Arya? Well, things took an even worse turn. Arya started to bring up Rael during verbal interrogations. She ran out of excuses to bullshit, and then… she recalls stories about Rael being a former criminal, like him blowing up a portion of the castle when Seira rejected his proposal. Aha. The perfect excuse. She can just say she’s just like Rael. Can’t help it, it’s in her blood. What can she do, she’s her Kertia daddy’s daughter. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Something like that. He can soften the blow for her. And then Rael inevitably gets roped into dealing with Arya’s destructive behaviors. Of course Arya is the perpetrator, and Rael is not part of it. But still, he does have some things from his old days on his criminal record, so… to say that people have zero suspicions, would be a lie. Surely he knows better than to prompt his daughter to indulge in crime for funsies. But who knows? Rael had to clear the common suspicions by punishing his little girl himself. Usually, he is not the one to issue her punishments as Arya is a Landegre and he is a Kertia, which leaves Regis as the ultimate decision maker. And Lord Raskreia too, but only if Arya’s crimes escalates to that level, which Rael hopes will never come true. In addition, Rael has a soft spot for Arya and her words aren’t complete nonsense. After all, he did blow things up because Seira rejected him, but he has learned from his mistakes and he’s a better person now, right…? Nevertheless, Rael is hurt by Arya doing this to him. At the same time, he also felt sorry for her, because it is true that she inherited certain traits from him, and it is partially his fault for spoiling her too much in her early days.
Arya wasn’t only a criminal. She was also a bully. And the targets of her actions? Her Loyard half-siblings. That’s right. Garyth and Alethea. Yup. The ones who stole Regis’ time from her, the time she is rightfully entitled to, and the very causes of his shortened lifespan. If Arya couldn’t blame Regis, she figured she could blame them instead. Just think about it. They’re younger than her, they’re weaker than her, and she is their older sister by blood. By that logic, they had to listen to her, right? Arya probably thinks she’s so smart for figuring that out.
To Arya, Garyth and Alethea are indebted her. They belong to her. Everything they’ve ever been, and everything they’ll ever be, they owed to her. If it weren’t for her father, her Regis, they wouldn’t even exist here. Even if they didn’t ask to exist, they are still indebted to her. Thanks to them, Arya doesn’t have much time left with her daddy dearest. First and foremost, he’s her father, they share the same surname, she should be his top priority! Except in Arya’s eyes, she wasn’t that to Regis. And to her, the Loyard siblings are living proof of that sentiment. They are just as guilty as him. Arya’s total obsession with Regis, and her wanting to have him all to herself, is driving her insane. She loves him as much as she is obsessed with him. And the truth is Arya doesn’t really have a reason to be mean to her Loyard siblings. They’re nice, well-behaved kids. They’re polite, and try to be patient around their elder half-sister.
But it didn’t matter. If Regis isn’t going to be around for much longer, then these two will love her in Regis’ place. If they don’t love her, then she will make them love her, even if that means doing so by using force. Arya bossed them around, and made them listen to her every request. They were her little workers basically. This led to a very unhappy Garyth. The Kertia bloodline is just terrible. His elder half-sister’s father Rael harassed his mother Seira, and now Arya herself is here harassing him! It runs in the family. It has to be. This just further cements little Garyth’s already boiling hatred for Rael’s guts. (Will explain this a bit more in Garyth’s own post) Meanwhile little Alethea is fine with being bossed around. She doesn’t really know what to do with her life anyway, so rather than coming up with her ideas, she could just listen to Arya. (Also explaining more in Alethea’s own post) Due to Alethea’s nature of not really having her own opinion on things, she often gets lugged around by Arya. Yes, this includes Arya’s criminal activities. Arya doesn’t fully explain things to Alethea and purposely leaves out details so Alethea would join in on her… adventures. Which is why poor Alethea is often seen following Arya as the latter’s unwitting accomplice.
Fortunately, the adults know better than to accuse Alethea along with Arya because they just know that Arya is the mastermind and Alethea simply got tricked into being a part of her shenanigans. At one point Arya got the equivalent of a restraining order and she wasn’t allowed to be within a five hundred meter radius of Alethea, until she made a written promise that she wouldn’t trick Alethea into doing illegal things again.
Ultimately, Arya’s destructive behavior is unsustainable. When she got out of being grounded, she would just commit crime again. Soon, her 200th birthday approached, and she could not do as she pleased anymore. If she were to commit the same crimes she had before, she would be tried as an adult and punishments would be much more severe, and she would have to deal with real consequences.
One faithful day, Arya was snooping around Regis’ office and she overheard a conversation between him and Rael. Regis was stressed. There was plenty of silence. And then she heard crying. It came from Regis. For all her life, she had never seen her father cry. And then it hit her. Regis weeped, and talked about how scared he is for Arya. He wasn’t angry; he wasn’t disappointed. He was scared. He didn’t know what Arya was capable of, and now that her birthday is nearing, she would get into serious trouble and he would no longer be able to save her. Her approaching coming-of-age was not one of joy nor celebration; it was one of fear. Pure fear. And then Regis started to sob. His biggest fear is having to watch Arya get executed if she really goes beyond the point of no return. Finally. The long needed moment of awakening for Arya. Her acts of rebellion wasn’t helping anyone, and it hurt her loved ones more than anyone else. Most of all, it hurt Regis. Her Regis. She needs to stop, for her own sake, and for everyone else’s sake.
Arya didn’t say anything, and quietly left before she could listen to the rest of her parents’ conversation. She stayed silent for the longest duration of time. And… she came clean to her parents. This took her parents by surprise, as they initially thought that was some prank. But she was serious. Arya walked into the center of the room, kneeled, and apologized to her parents. No tantrums, no whining, no bargaining. It was a deep, sincere apology. A heartfelt apology for everything she had done, and the worries she had caused. Arya also promised to never do those things again, and that she will make up to everyone she has wronged. Regis and Rael were moved. They could feel her sincerity, and Regis simply walked over slowly and kneeled down to Arya’s level and hugged her while rocking her gently. Just the two of them on the floor, both on their knees, in a deep embrace. One that they haven’t shared since Arya’s early teen years. Then Rael joined in, and the three of them couldn’t hold back their tears anymore, and they all sobbed together. It was messy. A good mess. Repentance leads to reconciliation, which leads to the start of a new beginning.
Arya first started by apologizing to everyone she has wronged in both writing and in person. She wrote to them first, because she wasn’t sure if they would even want to see her. After she got permission, she then went to them in person and knelt and apologized for her wrongdoings. And this went on for a long time just because of the sheer number of people she had offended. It was a long list. Arya is not going to come up with excuses this time. She is going to go through all of them, as she should. Or, the ones who are willing to accept an apology from her. Some did not want to see her, even for an apology. Many of them did not respond to her letters. Some of them even replied and basically told her to screw off and to never show her face in front of them again. This made sense. Reconciliation required the effort of both perpetrator and victim to happen, and some of her victims just weren’t having it. That is the hard truth Arya has to accept and live with. For those who did accept Arya’s apologies, they genuinely forgave her. With time, wounds healed, and Arya was ready to be back as a functional member of society. It took her a while to be able to lift her head around people again, but they accepted her back, and what position is she in to reject their kindness?
Garyth and Alethea forgave Arya too. Well, Alethea never held a grudge against Arya in the first place, Garyth just told her that she should be mad at their half-sister for manipulating them. It took a much longer time for Garyth to forgive Arya, but eventually he was able to find peace with her and move on from the past. Though, sometimes he still has a hard time looking at her face. She was a bully, even if she tries her hardest to make up to them now.
What about Arya’s duties? Well, Arya picked up her responsibilities as future Clan Leader once more. She had been neglecting them for the entire duration of her delinquency, and now she’s back at it, as she should. In fact, she’s working harder than ever before. And she’s also intensely training herself in spars. Her aim is to succeed Regis as Clan Leader as soon as possible, so he can be free to enjoy the rest of his remaining lifespan without being so busy with work and duties.
Arya’s stepping back into the light doesn’t mean that her issues have disappeared completely. In fact, they’re very much still there. The grief was real. The sadness was real. It’s a wound that will never heal in Arya’s heart, and it stings every time she thinks about her daddy dying. It’s just that her conscience has won for once and all, and she isn’t going to let the bad side of her personality to take over her anymore. She can keep it in. She has to. So what’s her new coping mechanism for her grief? Three… two… one… yep, ya guessed it. Acting like she’s happy. Too happy. Her fake cheerful personality that she puts on to trick Regis into thinking she is having a good time. The overly enthusiastic Arya who is cringy and spontaneous, but fun. She doesn’t want Regis to worry about her anymore, and wants him to be able to eventually pass knowing that she is happy and fulfilled. Yeahhhh, it’s coming together in a full circle! Woo! Is this a better alternative to her previous coping mechanism of being a delinquent? It’s debatable. Maybe this is just as unhealthy. Maybe even unhealthier. But for now… this’ll do. She has no other choice. She’ll keep up this fake cheerful persona for as long as she can. Until she breaks down again.
(Note that Arya still hasn’t told her parents that she is troubled with Regis’ impeding death. Nobody knows. They know she will never fall into crime again, but still don’t have any clue about why she was like that in first place.)
Well, the good news is, eventually Arya is able to communicate with her parents about her true thoughts a feelings. It does take a long time, and that is for a separate post. Yeeee saving that for later hehe. I will explain Arya’s relationship with her girlfriend Susanna in a separate post too!
Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for the next long character post!
See you again!
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blackstarchanx3new · 11 months
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How do you draw up your comics so quickly? I've been wanting to get into making comics myself, but it seems so daunting lol
Was hoping to get some tips on how you draw them so well and so quickly /pos /nf
Omf that's a tough one. My honest first response is "All I do is draw all day" so please don't hold yourself to my standards I don't have anything better to be doing.
Basically it's a mix of stuff:
My art style is simple/character designs are simple. Backgrounds are simple, overall.
STUFF BE SIMPLE.
"Gets the point across" tends to be the idea.
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Anatomy isn't perfect, gradients are used a lot, shading isn't always present, I try to limit my color pallets to be pretty small.
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I have a bunch saved onto the side bar in Clip Studio. And I have presets like the borders of the panels as a pre-set so I don't gotta make a new one over and over again.
Short cuts are NOICE.
Art wise:
I start with a thumbnail. Just getting the idea/facial expressions of the character down.
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Sketching is 2nd step but I have no examples because I delete those pretty quickly.
More similar to this so line art is WAY easier.
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I change the sketch's opacity to like 20 ish and a light blue to see it better.
Then I do line art and add a neutral color under it to make coloring easy. I change this to black after ward to fill any gaps.
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Add color and ba-bam
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I use "Color burn" "linear burn" and Multiply in the layer settings for shading. Just depends on the circumstance.
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I guess smth else I do is go by "Chapter" or scenes.
Smth that's helpful for some is writing a script and then drawing your stuff based on that.
Often what I end up doing is writing a script but using it as a guide rather than a beat by beat thing.
Referencing manga for inspiration is smth I do a lot.
Smth I'd recommend doing is making a one shot or a comic you purposely make to be short.
Longer comics are daunting but the best way to deal with that is to complete parts of em. XD It's like going through a video game. Beating each mini boss gets you closer to the final. Like instead of one big project, see it as a bunch of smaller ones.
Smth I do to let off steam from bigger projects is making stupid shit like this:
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Like there's no point to it other than to be dumb and funny.
Keeping the story entertaining or fun even while doing a part you don't want too.
Sometimes you will just have to chug through a portion you dislike but is necessary. But staying strong really helps.
Pop on a freakin' YT video and zone the hell out is what I do.
Your art doesn't have to be perfect every single time, my comics at least, are free so anyone who complains is a little bitch.
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Just do what makes you happy.
Huge thing to consider: Your art doesn't have to be held to any specific standard.
You don't even have to COLOR that shit if you don't want too lmao. There's no rules. You can color a sketch and post it. It literally doesn't matter.
A specific standard of what every webcomic should be held to is a lie. It doesn't exist. Go feral.
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Draw backgrounds. Even if you suck at em. It helps give the world dimension hah.
That's what I've been trying to do.
Use your comics as a way to experiment.
Ghost Soulmate I wanted to try out this weird painter style for the shading/lighting.
In FSR it was trying out a more anime style
Falling Cards is weird character designs + A FAR too ambitious story hah.
Bunny and Kitty was to see if I could do a shorter form story.
Biggest advice would be: Just try smth. You got no obligation to finish smth either. Just try it and see how it goes.
I'd recommend having an idea where your story is going before you start, but just starting ANYWHERE helps.
I tend to doodle my characters before I jump into their comic. Doodle them doing fun stuff before I go into the meat and potatoes of what I want them to do. I often have an ending in mind too before I start. You can fill in the gaps later.
Anyways that's all I got Idk if this was useful or helpful. X'D
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james-is-here · 1 year
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I made myself sad thinking about it so I’m bringing you along for the ride. Also, where I live, is storm like crazy, thunder was so loud it set off a car alarm.
[This was my 100th post, wooo!! 🥳]
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Seeing all the boys with they’re counterparts made Kai happy, seeing them smile and play with them and laugh, It was sweet, really.
It also stung a little…
He had joined before the Five Star trailer was released, having been a mystery face throughout the trailer and sparking a lot of curiosity amongst the fans and tons of support was given to the mystery member, who was Choi KaiSeok.
Fans loved him in the comeback, they thought it was cool to have another deep voice join Felix’s and people love his visuals as well.
Kai loved being with the others, having got to know them and be around them way before Five Star started. It just stung a bit watching them have fun with the counterpart mascots.
He smiled weakly at all of them before walking backwards and off stage. The staff in the back were going to question him when he held up a hand and shook his head as he walked away to find a chair.
A few minutes later, Chan noticed that he was down one kid. Looking around, as they pass by, he asks the others if they’ve seen Kai which all have said no, not since the characters came out.
Chan sighs when he realizes why the male wasn’t on stage and feels bad. He continues on stage, not wanting to confuse the fans by suddenly leaving but he was tempted a few times, wanting to check on him.
When the characters leave, Kai walks back out shyly, his head hanging as he composed himself before looking up, making immediate eye contact with Chan who stood in front of him.
“You okay?” He asks gently, Kai can see it in his eyes that he knew why he left and gave a small smile. “I am, I promise.”
Chan pat his shoulder and the two walked over to the others, enjoying the rest of the night with fans.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
On the ride home, Kai curled into himself in the vehicle, a small sketch pad on his lap with a dim book light clipped to it.
He started with sketching random things. Graffiti of his members names, different styles of stars, small doodles, then he started sketching the skzoo characters in his cartoon-like style with sharp edges and cute eyes before starting to sketch them in a chibi style.
Flipping the page, he starts drawing them as they are made, zoning out to his music and just doodling before he’s brought back to reality by a bump in the road and his gripping his pad while collecting himself at the sudden jump then looking back down to see he drew nine animals.
He doodled them all huddled together with smiles on their faces, Quokka on WolfChan’s back and Bbokari sitting in front of Jiniret who has his paws resting on the chicks head are drawn in the center with the others on either side of them. Drawn standing slightly off to the side was another character, a duck, it’s head tilted in a cute manner as he waves with his legs together and other paw behind his back.
Kai stared at the other character for a moment before his hand moved and he wrote “DucKai” under it with a star and a heart. He stared at the drawing for a moment, it’s WolfChan like eyes, BbokAri face and a small Jiniret like smile on his beak suddenly have tears build up in Kai’s eyes before he blinks them away with a deep breath while putting his sketchbook away after ripping the page out, missing how a tear fell onto the page.
Exiting the car, he slowly followed behind the others, stopping when the members he’s staying with stopped to open the door before they walked in. He was like Hyunjin, the both of them having to deal with gym-racha, but at least Hyunjin wasn’t alone with gym-racha anymore.
Kai slept on a small air mattress in Hyunjin’s room but he always ends up in Hyunjin’s bed by morning. They made art together, at one point Hyunjin painted a small picture then came back to see it was inked with cute doodles following the paint strokes.
Kai walked into the room, throwing the balled up doodle near the trash can before deciding which bed to flop onto, choosing the dancers bed anyway.
Hyunjin had kicked the ball of paper when he returned, picking it up and un-crumpling it, it wasn’t the paper he used so he was curious, soon turning to shock when he looks over the drawing. He glances at the male dozing on his bed before walking out to find Chan, who was in the kitchen.
“Look what I found.” He says quietly as Chan turned to him and took the paper. “Aw…this is cute but…why is it all crumpled?” “I found it balled up, I think this is Kai’s.”
“DucKai…It looks so cute….” He whispers. “I wonder why he balled it up…” He questioned before giving it back to Hyunjin. “Did you know he left stage today?” “No, why?” The younger asked in concern. “Our skzoo were on stage…he doesn’t have one…” “W-We could get him one. He has a sketch of what he wants.”
After much conversation the next day, they agreed that they should help Kai have his own Skzoo character. They decided to take it up with their manager, the designer of the other skzoo’s and the people who created the plushies to create a new character based on Kai's sketch. The boys knew it wouldn't be an easy task, but they were determined.
In the meantime, they had to keep this a secret from Kai. They didn't want to get his hopes up in case things didn't work out. Kai was oblivious to all this, he just assumed that the others were busier than usual.
Finally, after several weeks of effort, they had the first prototype of the DucKai Skzoo character in their hands. It was perfect, exactly like Kai's sketch. The boys were overjoyed. They couldn't wait to show it to Kai.
They decided to surprise him during a group live. They all sat on a couch, reading comments and having fun. Kai fiddles with the Quokka in his hands, softly flicking his paws back and forth, his stupor being broken when someone read a comment. “Oh my gosh, they’re all holding a plushie!! Where did the other one come from?” Kai looked up at Felix who read the comment then looked around.
All of them were holding different plushies, one person should be left out but he was surprised to see that all of them actually had a plush. He looked at all of them, He had Quokka, Han had Leebit, Minho had Bbokari, Felix had Jiniret, Hyunjin had PuppyM, Seungmin had FoxI.Ny, I.N had Dweakki, and Changbin had WolfChan.
Looking to Chan he saw a new plushie, a duck, the same as his sketch. Kai’s mouth fell open as he moved his eyes to Chan’s, the older male smiling at Kai and handing it to him, taking the Quokka from him.
Kai was stunned. He couldn't believe his eyes. His own Skzoo character that he had doodled was now a reality. He looked at the other boys, their faces beaming with happiness and pride. They had done this for him. He was overwhelmed. He didn't know what to say. He just smiled at the boys, his eyes welling up with tears as he hid his face from the camera that was still live.
"Thank you," he whispered, his voice choked with emotion. "Thank you so much."
The boys smiled at each other. They had done it. They had made Kai's dream come true. And seeing the happiness on Kai's face, they knew that all their hard work had been worth it.
And thus, DucKai joined the Skzoo family, a testament to the boys' friendship and their love for Kai. From then on, Kai was never alone with the Skzoo family. And every time he looked at his Skzoo character, he was reminded of the boys' gesture and how much they cared for him and how much they loved him in the family. It was a moment that Kai would cherish forever.
Fans also fell in love with DucKai, happy to finally get merch for Kai and excited that the boys added Kai to the Skzoo family. Fans are more then excited to see what DucKai and the other Skzoo’s have for the future along with their human counterparts.
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victorckk · 5 months
Text
Art tips
that I posted to my discord server, but decided to share here for anybody who might want or need them.
I’ve been drawing since the middle/near end of 2014 and while most of it was ugly MLP stuff, I’ve definitely improved a lot since then.
I don’t have a lot of my old art anymore, but if I can find my sketchbook from my high school art class (around 2019-ish) then I’ll update this post with pictures of some of the doodles tomorrow.
I’ll probably add on to this list eventually but for now I am really tired so,, whoopsies
Anyway, on to the tips!
Even if you think it’s ugly, DRAW !! That’s the only way you’ll improve. Draw what you might think looks horrible, only to come back to it later and see what you want to change or what might need to be changed. This helps you understand what parts of your styles and/or techniques you might want to change/use/stylize/etc.
STEP OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE!!!! This one is IMPORTANT. If you keep drawing the same things in the same ways over and over again, it’ll catch up to you and burn you out eventually. Those things you’ve always wanted to draw of a specific media/fandom/etc. but always forced yourself not to because of your followers being from one specific fandom or something? DRAW IT. It’ll feel refreshing, trust me.
Just go crazy. Slap colors on a random doodle. Eventually you’ll either come up with a new character or inspiration for one. Use flowers, gemstones, other parts of nature, etc. as reference. I actually fell victim to this and now quite a few of my OCs are flower themed 💀
Make use of your sketchbook. Find some snazzy ways to make it stand out. If you want to make a collage of nothing but magazine clippings or your favorite characters? Go ahead. Your sketchbook is supposed to be personalized to YOUR liking. It’s like a home you can always come back to
Doodle in pen when you want to step out of your comfort zone,, oh my goodness I can’t explain how good this feels. ESPECIALLY colored ink with highlighters. It also trains you to learn how to draw without erasing mistakes, teaching you to learn to accept those mistakes as you go on. Most of my sketchbook doodles throughout the years have always been in pen and it’s my favorite medium 100%
Who cares if your paper is ripping from highlighters or countless layers of markers? Find a way to make use of that ripping and warping of the paper. Cut out a shape in that area that shows part of a doodle on the next page, sort of like a little window. Have fun with it! Your work doesn’t need to be or look professional. It’s all about having fun as you go
If there’s art supplies you never use that collect dust then start using them. I guarantee they’ll come in handy eventually + when used right they can definitely make your sketches and doodles stand out. I am a victim of this as well.. we don’t talk about my um decade old stash of sharpies 😕
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tails-artwork · 1 year
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Gaming Thoughts - July 2023 - Sonic Frontiers
(I'm looking at doing a sort of long-term project to hopefully slowly get my art back into the groove amidst some of my studying. Basically at the end of each month to do one really small doodle based one a game that I play during the month and also give my thoughts on the game as well. Some games may end up getting covered twice depending on how much I keep playing it or such too. But maybe it might serve as a way for me to get back into doing some fanart and keeping myself from getting too rusty)
Anyways, to kick this off, we're starting with a game that while I did end up starting it in June, I managed to finish it off in the first half of July. Which would happen to be Sonic Frontiers.
Nonetheless, I have been a bit of a Sonic fan ever since my first game being the old PC port of Sonic 3D Blast, but back then I really didn't play super long or seriously with games like I do now, thus in all technicality the first Sonic game that I had ever beaten was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on the GCN. I think ever since then I ended up having a stronger bias towards some of the 3D sonic games as opposed to the 2D ones despite the huge variance in quality a lot of the games have had over time.
Anyways, the moment I started Frontiers, I swear I ended up getting drawn in VERY quickly. I honestly struggled really liking going back to any of the boost era games (Generations and Unleashed included, so go ahead and grab the pitchforks) and the fact that to me Sonic felt as smooth as I remember in Adventure and Heroes already helped me enjoy more of the game. And honestly i found it really easy to control for most of the game as well while exploring in the actual world.
The cyberspace zones were…well…despite the fact that some of the boost era games have just never fully clicked with me, I think those were not tooo bad. There is an obvious dissonance on how Sonic controlled in the open area and in the cyberspace levels though and thus he felt a lot more stiff in those. But…damm some of the level layouts did tickle my fancy so much (Even though I feel like they missed some potential with the music for some of them, but that is a different matter.)
Regardless, I don't think I've ever been THIS sucked into a Sonic game since Heroes though, and I definitely am looking forward to the final update with this game as well with the different playable characters. I've been itching for Tails to have been playable in a 3D sonic game since almost forever and I really hope it comes out well in the end. All in all, still ranks quite up there as being one of my fav Sonic games, though I don't think it has dethroned Heroes or SA2B quite yet. (also yes, in my playthrough of Frontiers, I absolutely HAD to use the SOAP shoes for Sonic as well)
Also, throwing this last part under the cut because final boss spoiler potential.
I played the game on hard mode and was able to get the final last true fight. I heard a lot of people complaining about it before because it was a complete genre shift from a majority of the game, but like..it did feel like the game was preparing you for it with some of the small minigames there were so it wasn't 100% left field. And well…having playing Ikargua as much as I had before, this final boss literately just felt like a stage of that so that might be why I had quite a lot of fun with it and didn't have a hard time with it either. Though speaking of which, for those who DID enjoy the final boss though or those similar minigames. This is 100% a shameless plug to go and give Ikargua a try as well. And Radiant Silvergun while you're at it too.
Also, Sage's development in the game was just dawww. I really loved her a lot and I hope she shows up in future games as well considering the last scene in the ending.
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pillowspace · 2 years
Note
Ask game!
2. who is your favorite character to draw?
3. what song(s) do you listen to when you do art?
8. show us at least 2-3 drawings from 1-2 years ago.
9. what drawing program do you use? (if the artist does digital art)
18. how long have you been drawing/ when did you officially “declare” yourself as an artist?
20. how often do you get art block?
24. how many followers do you have? (on your art blog) (congrats on the 4k, just wanted to bring that up again aruguhwa)
Last one:
12. draw one of your favorite characters in 15 seconds.
2. I actually have the most fun drawing Moon. There's no rays to mess up and I get to have a lot of fun with the eyes and hands <3 also funky hat
3. I shuffle this. It's sorted by most recently to least recently added because spotify lite's quirky like that
8.
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9. Current drawings are on the website Magma, semi-older drawings were on Ibis Paint, and my OLD old drawings were on Medibang Paint. I also sometimes doodle on Whiteboard Fox
18. Well I started publically uploading art in... 2015 or 2014 I believe. I've always drawn my whole life though
20. Not very often. My art almost never ever has a plan to them, I just start drawing and my hand starts doing whatever while I zone out. It's not too often that not even my hand knows what I'm doing, but it's annoying when it happens </3
24. I HAVE 4,046 BUT I FORGOT TO MAKE A POST ABOUT IT, I WILL
12.
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dearheartwitcher · 2 years
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all of the questions for the art ask meme! :)
ouhh!! under the cut for u! <33
1. Art programs you have but don't use
loll i bought clip studio on sale but i havent drawn anything in it because i cant find a good dupe of my sai brush
2. Is it easier to draw someone facing left or right (or forward even)
hmm i guess left!
3. What ideas come from when you were little
lol every time i draw self insert im just feeding my inner 12 year old
4. Fav character/subject that's a bitch to draw
rosiers moth form.......... i love him sooo much but i need to try redesigning that form... also im trying SO hard to learn how to draw bloodhound but they have so many fucking Pieces to their design😭
5. Estimate of how much of your art you post online vs. the art you keep for yourself
i would say i post a good majority of the art i make!! ive gotten worse at it in recent years, mostly because i keep wanting to save things to post at "peak hours" or whatever but i always forget lmfao. i dont usually keep things to myself intentionally
6. Anything that might inspire you subconsciously (i.e. this horse wasn't supposed to look like the Last Unicorn but I see it)
art that my friends make always inspires me the more i see from them! mostly in little ways that only i really notice lol
7. A medium of art you don't work in but appreciate
traditional painting is sooo nice... i especially love gouache... i like when traditional painters dont blend their work and use a ton of different colors as well. also people who draw traditionally and put stickers all over their work, i think that's phenomenal
8. What's an old project idea that you've lost interest in
oh god so many lol. one that comes to mind is i was going to make a little animatic with a tiktok sound of my dnd party but uh. one character died and the other two belong to people im no longer friends with due to two separate falling outs 😬
9. What are your file name conventions
i usually name them based on whats happening in the drawing! or just the character's name, if ive only drawn them once. i also have all my art sorted into folders by subject matter (commissions, dnd, ocs, etc) and by date
10. Favorite piece of clothing to draw
hmmm.... probably long sleeve tshirts/sweaters.... regular jeans can be fun too
11. Do you listen to anything while drawing? If so, what
ohh lots of things. i have a drawing playlist on youtube thats got a couple hundred videos on it, i also have a ton of spotify playlists. i either listen to something that fits the vibe of what im drawing, or something that will motivate me to stay in the zone lol
12. Easiest part of body to draw
boobs. sorry eyes <3
13. A creator who you admire but whose work isn't your thing
i cant think of one!!
14. Any favorite motifs
eyes and hearts maybe 🤔
15. *Where* do you draw (don't drop your ip address this just means do you doodle at a park or smth)
usually just in my room! one of the best parts of having a laptop tbh is that i can just draw digitally in my room instead of using the computer in the living room
16. Something you are good at but don't really have fun doing
hmm. thats hard to say! maybe designing characters? i like to think that im pretty alright at making diverse characters, and i do enjoy it when they’re finished, but it takes soooo much of my brain power to do it lol. i love having little guys that i made but its so hard to make little guys!
17. Do you eat/drink when drawing? if so, what
not really tbh KJSHDF i tend to uh forget to eat or drink for long periods when im in The Zone.....dont be like me. have some orange slices
18. An estimate of how much art supplies you've broken
NONE haha digital 4life. i dont use screen tablets so my tablets last foreeeeever.
19. Favorite inanimate objects to draw (food, nature, etc.)
fried eggs :)
20. Something everyone else finds hard to draw but you enjoy
hmmm i cant think of anything. i Can shade black, which my bf struggles with, but its not something i need to do often lol
21. Art styles nothing like your own but you like anyways
i love hyper-stylized art and lineless super colorful art!! theres probably more, thats just off the top of my head
22. What physical exercises do you do before drawing, if any
none 😬 i rawdog it... i do some wrist stretches afterward most times tho
23. Do you use different layer modes
a little bit! mostly overlay + multiply on low opacity. i put them over a finished drawing to make the colors more cohesive!
24. Do your references include stock images
sometimes!
25. Something your art has been compared to that you were NOT inspired by
steven universe omg. like MAYBE back in 2015 or something it contributed to the way i use shapes a little bit but??? like i love the show, ive made fanart n shit! it just didnt contribute to my art style and i used to get that comparison A Lot
26. What's a piece that got a wildly different interpretation from what you intended
i cant think of one! i dont really do conceptual stuff so theres not usually a ton of room for misinterpretation
27. Do you warm up before getting to the good stuff? If so, what is it you draw to warm up with
sometimes i do! my go-to doodles are fried eggs and little cartoony heads, but a warm up for me can even be a fully lined drawing lol
28. Any art events you have participated in the past (like zines)
i participate in art fight every year!! ive been playing since 2018 :)
29. Media you love, but doesn't inspire you artistically
i think all media i love inspires me artistically!! even if it doesnt contribute to my art or anything, anything i love i spend a lot of time thinking about
30. What piece of yours do you think is underrated
um most of them imo AKLJSDHFSJ but thats the price of doing mostly oc art lol... people simply will not see your stuff
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wattpadscapcons · 3 years
Note
*rolls on in a office chair* Hello wolf aonn here can I have a fnaf 1(seplily)x reader where the reader do art comisons? *rolls on out*
Hey! You can't just roll that thing through my café! You're gonna leave marks on the wooden floor! Ugh I just had that cleaned! Café drama set aside, I will have to tweek this ask, both in characters and change the reader to be a freelance artist.
The following ask is directed to take place after the events of the "Falling For A Security Guard" Asks except for Mangle, since no one has asked for them yet. Theirs will be written on another date.
=
Freddy w/ Freelance Artist S/O
- Like on any normal shift, Freddy would come in to see you to talk
- This time he saw you, with a drawing tablet
- "Hey S/O, what are you doing?" "OH! Oh god I forgot I was at work again...." "You ok?" "Yeah I'm fine Freddy, I'm just getting some art commissions out of the way." "You're an artist?" "A freelancing artist." "Ah so you do this for extra income." "Exactly."
- He'd actually take some interest in what you were drawing pretty often
- "Hey Freddy can I get you to stand still for a little while?" "Why?" "A customer actually asked for me to draw you." "Well alright then. Just let me check for Foxy every once in a while." "Sure thing."
- Would be happy if you were actually drawing him in your free time
- And if you were to show him that art sometime
=
Chica w/ Freelance Artist S/O
- "Hey S/O, what are you drawing?" "Oh, Chica, sorry I forgot where I was for a second." "Guess you got really into your art for a second, am I right?" "Yeah, you could say that." "You doodling for fun?" "I'm a freelancing artist." "What's that mean?" "I create art on commission for extra income." "Oh. Well that didn't answer my first question." "What did you ask?" "What are you drawing?"
- She's very interested in your job
- She'd be doodling on a notepad along aside you while getting up every once a while to check that Foxy wasn't coming
- "Hey look Y/N, I drew you!" "Very nice work Chica, oh but don't forget to sign it." "Oh shoot."
- If you asked to draw her she'd get all giddy about it
- She likes asking about the things your customers ask you to draw, a lot
- Would totally ask to see some of your older art too
=
Bonnie w/ Freelance Artist S/O
- "S/O? Are you drawing?" "Ah! Oh it's just you. Sorry Bonnie I was kinda in the zone there." "I could tell, I would've thought my presence in the room would be enough to get you to look up." "Yeah I tend to forget where I work sometimes." "So, back to what I was asking..." "Yeah I'm doing freelancing art. I had a few commissions that I had been waiting a while to do." "Were you having problems?" "I couldn't chose an art style I liked enough."
- While he is interested in art he isn't one to draw, he's afraid of messing up
- He'd probably ask if you could draw him
- "Hey Y/N?" "Yeah Bon?" "You think you could draw me?" "If you can stay still long enough in a single position, then sure."
- Loves looking through your art if you carry around a sketchbook, his fingers won't allow him to scroll on your tablet
- "Ah, this is great Y/N! You can even do color?" "Yeah it took a lot of practice. I can do both traditional and digital." "You're so cool Y/N." "Says the Rockstar rabbit."
=
Foxy w/ Freelance Artist S/O
- "Aye, lass! What you doing there?" "Oh s***! Foxy don't scare me like that!" "Sorry there Y/N, but I've been standing here for a few minutes waiting for ye to notice I was 'ere." "Ah I'm sorry, I was just focused in getting these commissions done." "Ye mean the art right?" "Yeah." "I didn't realize I had such a talented partner."
- Definitely wants you draw him
- "Lass could ye draw me?" "I'm sure I could. Can you stand still long enough to get a good start on you?" "Aye!" "Alright. Go stand over there for me."
- Sad that he can’t actually draw with you, due to the hook
- "Lass do you have any tape?" "Paper ripped again?" "Yeah." "I'm sorry Foxy."
- He can't even really look through your sketchbook because he's afraid of ripping up your artwork on accident
=
Mangle w/ Freelance Artist S/O
- "Hello, hello!" "Ah! Oh, it's just you Mangle." "Just dropping in to check on my favorite person....Are you drawing?" "Yeah, I have a few commissions to do." "Ah, this for extra income?" "I got to pay bills somehow hon." "You could just stay here with me." "I like being alive long enough to do laundry, but I appreciate the sentiment." "Awe come on, I won't bite." "Foxy will though."
- Likes just watching you draw on your tablet while hanging down
- They do attempt to doodle on occasion, but due to their endoskeleton, they have some trouble
- "Y/N, could you hold the paper still for me?" "Having trouble with your endoskeleton again?" "Yes, I really wish the day shifters would work on fixing me." "I could try to at least fix your arms if that'll help." "That would be great. Thank you."
- If you bring your sketchbook to work, they'll end up swiping it and return it to you the next day
- They'll sing praise to you over your work
- "You're such a great artist Y/N!" "Thanks Mangle. I thought your work was great too." "Oh stoppp! You're way better!"
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lynnloves-thestars · 2 years
Text
BTS as Dungeons and Dragons players, and the characters they’d make.
Seokjin: 
He would be the chaotic stupid player that sits at the table and just laughs for the whole session, his characters will always have a high charisma stat, but occasionally he’d give them low intelligence to pull out his dumbest self. Literally the clown of the party 90% of the times.
For every easy task, he looks for the weirdest solutions. He sees a net mechanism? He doesn’t defuse it, he lights up the net on fire.
He loves trivia's during the session but he’s usually joking around.
He puts a lot of thought into fighting though, he loves it. He even thought of all the imagery to explain while casting spells, glitter and hand movements.
His character sheet is really clean and organized. He takes some notes during the session, maybe not the best, but he’s concentrating on playing.
His character of choice would be a bard, he’d spend the whole session making jokes, but funny enough he’d choose the most basic race: human, and if it’s not a human, he’s a kobold. His alignment of choice is definitely chaotic good or neutral good. His characters are always either the hottest or the funniest, no in-between. 
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Yoongi: 
He’s the philosophical player, his characters have 5 pages of detailed background, illustrating not only their whole life, but the personality, likes and dislikes. He sits at the table pulling his best acting skills. He also masters pretty often, he run his homebrew campaign for months, and finally got some time to be a player. 
He takes the best notes, he becomes the Wikipedia of the party, filling everyone on the details they missed.
He likes concentrating on trivia’s and puzzles just as much as creating them. He loves looking at the confused face of Hoseok as he tries to understand what’s going on when he’s put in front of a riddle.
He likes fighting when it doesn’t take too long, he will have all the necessary info's laid out organized so it’s easy to access them.
He wrote his character sheet 3 times cause the first time it was full of scribbles, canceling and rewriting.
He doesn’t have a character of choice, he switches pretty often, but he likes multiclassing, often his character mix both spellcasting and melee classes. His characters are mainly neutral or lawful though, and his favorite race is Tiefling cause he likes a bit of spice in his characters, and they are always badass. He takes a long time choosing the right art for his character, and often tries to sketch it himself.
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Hoseok: 
He’s the flirt even on dnd, his characters have one thing in common: the charisma. He’s gonna try and charm even the dragon for the sake of fun. At the same time he joins Seokjin in the constant laughing, although he might not be the source of the laughs.
He shows up to the session dressed up as his character. He got a custom made cape for his characters that matches his bard beret.
His character sheet is organized with notes on the sides and doodles to decorate the pages.
He doesn’t like fighting, he prioritizes roleplaying most of the time. He probably zones out during the fight. He’s not a fan of puzzles, usually they take too long and he’d rather do something else.
He loves creating gnomes and halflings, sometimes he switches to try something new. As far as classes goes he likes bards mostly, but unlike Seokjin, his bard specialty is dancing or songwriting, he literally gets up mid session to show everyone the moves he imagines his character is making or starts legitimately singing random songs, like that funny ballad in two parts: the first part is called half and the second ling, and he always giggles while he’s talking about it. His characters are always chaotic good. No neutral, no lawful. Solely chaotic good. You can also spot him playing clown characters, often he just shows up with the most random combination of traits and enjoys the chaos.
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Namjoon:
Namjoon is the law enforcer. He’s the one that shows up to the session bringing all the manuals, he’s the other master of the party, switching often with Yoongi. His campaigns are all about the emotional growth of the party.
When he’s the player he makes sure he creates a layered character, he probably added a whole set of traumas to his background, maybe he killed the whole family of the character, maybe his lover was assassinated or kidnapped, or perhaps he never had a family, but no matter what he’s looking forward for the master to play with the detailed background and traumas he provided and the evolution it might bring.
He likes everything, but what he likes the most are puzzles to solve. A weird engraving on the wall? He’s gonna analyze it and resolve the riddle behind it. He likes trivas so much that he might even overanalyze sometimes.
Another avid note-taker.
One thing that doesn’t miss during the sessions with Namjoon is food, he always shows up bringing snacks.
He likes all classes since he mixes and matches them often for the campaigns he makes. His most played classes are paladin and wizard, they always have high intelligence and wisdom. He’s always saying something smart or drops of wisdom. In his characters there’s no space of chaos, they are either lawful or neutral.
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Jimin:
Jimin is the lucky player, he rolls 20 nat so often it’s becoming scary. He’s always teased for it. “Ya Jimin-ah did you rig the dice?” “Are you sure it’s well weighted?”, but in all honesty he’s just fucking lucky. 
He has a cool dice jail for the rotten pieces that seldomly fail him.
His favorite characteristics are dexterity and charisma, he can deal with low strength or intelligence, but there’s no way he can play a low dex or char character. 
He likes fighting, but he makes it aesthetic, he describes even how his body moves from time to time. He doesn’t fancy trivias, he’d rather do something else, but he’s still be pretty good at it.
He doesn’t take note during the session, he usually writes a little summary at the end or copies someone else’s notes.
He has at least one character based on himself, he didn’t even have to make a drawing for it, he just pointed at his face and laughed.
His go to classes are rogue and monks, he likes elegant characters, in fact his favorite race is elf, any type of elf. Moon, Sea, Wood, it exists, he played it. He likes neutral characters but he did create some chaotic ones in the past. 
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Taehyung:
The evil player raises. He loves creating lawful evil, chaotic evil, neutral evil characters. Every party needs spice, and that’s what Taehyung brings to the table. He always leaves his dices at home and steals someone else’s, specifically Jimin’s only because he’s lucky while Tae is not. He rolls at least one nat 1 per session.
He barely wrote is character sheet, basically only the stats and the fighting informations, but the rest is all in his head. His characters have huge charisma, and huge traumas. 
He takes notes in a leather notebook, but they are so random. “Glowing mushrooms in the cave taste like water, when you ingest them, you can see the glow from outside the skin”
His into roleplaying, his characters are all super dramatic: backstabbing and drama are never missing.
He has few characters based on himself, that he protects with all his heart. He has also a characters based on his friends, made because he was particularly inspired.
His characters are mainly furries: tabaxi, bugbears, owlin and so on, but he still has a fair share of elves, tieflings and aasimars. His characters are never ugly, he’ll spend days thinking about the looks of his characters. He loves spellcasters, usually warlocks and sorcerers, but he has made a lot of druids too. His alignments of choice are chaotic evil, lawful evil, chaotic neutral and neutral.
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Jungkook:
The dice goblin. Dices everywhere, of every color. The math rocks are his favorite item to bring with him during sessions. He has a treasure chest to keep his 552 dices, a dice bag to bring his favorites with him, a dice jail and a dice tower. He collects the most between the party: manuals, figurines, maps, it exists he has it.
He creates characters out of boredom, he might be watching a show and suddenly come up with an idea, so I’d take out the notes of his phone and start typing his idea.
He’s also working on his homebrew campaign, curating the details to prepare for his debut as game master.
He’s the one that reminds everyone about the upcoming session. “Hyung don’t forget that sunday we have dnd” “Jimin-ssi don’t be late, I’ll make ramyeon for everyone”
He takes note-taking seriously, he has a binder where he keeps pages and pages of session notes, his character sheet, spells flashcards, etc.
He loves fighting just as much as roleplaying and riddles. He just loves ttrpg in general honestly.
He tried everything single class, but his all time favorites are barbarian and monk, ready to rage and hit or unharm strike you right in the face. He likes minotaurs, tieflings, genasis and dragonborns between the most. He doesn’t have an alignment of choice, it depends on what he feels like. Between the humongous number of characters he created, there’s a gnome with a long ass name: he asked everyone to choose a name and put them all together to create this monstrosity of name.
He’s another supplier of traumas for the party: the found family trope is shoved in each character one way or another, and they always end up being close to the rest of the party.
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archandshri · 5 months
Text
12 April ‘24 - [arch] Making a Comic in a Week, Disability and Burnout (all unrelated, of course!)
Hey Shri and folks!! LOVED seeing part three of the Lionheart Brothers cover. Stunning!! And awesome to see your process. Also cool to see what you’ve been looking at lately - I’ve just finished a rewatch of Firefly and the characters are still living in my brain a bit. 
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Life is a bit relentless, huh. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy working on disability stuff - meal prepping, sorting silly government forms, all that sort of thing. Exhausting and super easy to burn out on - but also sets me up for the future in my personal life and for illustration! I want to discuss the balance of pushing and burnout this week with an excellent example - I tried foreshadowing to make a comic in a week. 
When I was in uni, it was easy to create cool stuff regularly - you’re constantly receiving prompts, doing activities, getting feedback etc. I still have access to these things, especially through my shared studio community, but it’s not as easy as it used to be. I miss creating finished books, in particular, so frequently. So! I challenged myself to make a comic in time for Something’s Fishy Zine Fair in Plymouth tomorrow, which was just over a week from when I started.
I had come up with the concept for the comic while travelling, written the script and done a couple of sketches. I often come up with concepts while travelling - I just don’t often follow through :P Here’s a couple of sketches I did on the journey.
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I’ve been chatting to lots of people about what they enjoy about art - I’ve noticed that I tend to crave the end of the project and having the physical thing with high expectations of myself, which doesn’t lead to a very enjoyable process. Many people I’ve spoken to enjoy the ‘zone’, the focus of the project where you’re just figuring stuff out and not thinking about anything else. Bearing this in mind, I wanted to make the process as fun as possible - this comic is for fun and not for the purpose of having the thing at the end. 
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I started with a few development sketches of the characters and the vibe. I used ink and my funky kakimori dip pen, plus some brushes. These mediums are hard to control, which makes them good for development for me - they don’t have to be good, this time is for gestural drawings and ideas generation. Some continued doodles in my sketchbook from some downtime :) Fish wouldn't leave my brain.
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After a bit of character development, I began by adapting my script into pages - I read the script and try to feel the vibes on how I want to pace the comic, considering:
How much dialogue and plot do I want to put on one page?
Do I want it to be more text or image-heavy?
Do I want it to feel fast and snappy, or slow and dreamy?
Which parts of dialogue feel like a page-turner?
Are there any twists that should be separated from the rest of the scene by a page-turn?
Are there any moments that should sit next to each other on spreads?
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You can see me changing some dialogue around, writing as I draw a bit. Also playing around with some weird looking fish?? With noses???
I got a bit stuck at this stage. I was scared my script wasn’t good enough. And worried about if I could even draw fish. After a couple of chats with art friends, and some rambling in my slides, I reminded myself that the lesson this time is fun!! Have fun goddamn it!! No point doing it if you’re not having fun. (it’s not like we make any money from riso printed zines anyway)
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Screenshots from my slides - these things are wonderful for gathering inspiration and venting when you run into a problem with the project.
So I decided to just go for it. Not even thumbnail, but just take a scene and draw it. I asked a studio friend to choose a number, and I drew that scene.
Because of the chatty style of the comic, and how much dialogue there was gonna be, I knew there would have to be a LOT of panels. I decided to make it A4, and use a 8x6 grid. I’ll draw the images at A3, and than scale them down to A4 when it comes to printing.
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left: A3 grid on the lightbox, for tracing over || Right: A4 grid with boxes of different sizes for me to reference while choosing the layout - this way I can see the final print size
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First drafts of a couple of random pages from Moon Noodles.
The first day I drew several pages that I was really happy with! It gave me a lot more confidence in my script - seeing it come to life with the characters on the page - some pages even got some laughs which was nice. I would look at the page plan, script, and spend a few minutes thinking about the pacing and how I wanted the dialogue on the page, and the go straight in with the dip pen - with the awareness that it might be wrong. This process taught me an important lesson - you have to just do it. The thing is, if you do it and it’s bad, you just do it again but different. Repeat. Staring at that script thinking it wasn’t good enough wasn’t actually going to get anything done, be fun OR make nice stuff. You have to do the thing. Then you make it better.
The other thing I learnt from this process was to give it space. There was a day where I did one page, hated it and thought the pacing was off, and spent the next day trying to translate it into two pages. It didn’t work. I came back the next day and realised the first page I’d done was fine and just needed a couple of tweaks. Do the thing. Let it be.
Here’s a little picture of my setup.
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(Sorry all of Printhaus for hoarding the light box and getting ink all over it :( love u)
Useful stuff!!!!
Finished pages to refer to, plus more A3 paper underneath for future pages
Laptop with script
Dip pen, ink and water for keeping that little guy clean!
development sketches for relevant scenes
Page plan (you can see I have shortened it considerably since last time - now it's 20-24 pages and noted on scraps of paper so I can move them around if there's any changes of plan)
A4 sheet with boxes to show the sizes of the final print
also scissors??? i don't remember why they're here
But then monday morning came. I realised that if I wanted to get it all printed by friday, I needed to:
Plan and 12 pages on Monday, and 12 on tuesday
Get the final files for every one of the 24 pages by Thursday 
Print friday morning
Travel down to devon Friday afternoon
Fair Saturday
Not only is that basically impossible, but it would be very bad for my health, make for a rushed comic, and most importantly, not be fun. The thing is, I’ve made whole comics in a couple days before. I figured I could still do it. But that’s not actually a good thing - my skills and taste have increased, I'm aiming for bigger, more ambitious projects and yet I expect the timelines to stay the same? It doesn’t exactly work like that now, does it?
But I kept going anyway. 
Tuesday morning, I decide to get the cover put together so I can get the preorder post-out. I get pulled into an unexpected meeting, and then spend the rest of the day inking this thing and getting the files sorted. At this point, I know for sure It’s not possible to get this done. Thankfully my two Printhaus besties were in. They helped me drop it. I love this comic, it feels fun and joyous and I’ve enjoyed working on it - lets not rush it and end up with a bad product that will bother me. Let’s take time, explore it and really enjoy the process!!!
All is not lost for Something’s Fishy Zine Fair, though! Originally, I had planned to do a print of the Moon Noodles Cover for preorders only, but why not print that for Something’s Fishy?? Anyone who buys the print will also get a discount code for the pre-order :D (also here’s the pre-order link)
So here’s a few images of the Moon Noodles cover print and the process!! I hope to see some of you at Something’s Fishy. It’s a joy to visit Plym again :D
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Sketch printed out at A3, and 2 of the layers. I scanned these in and edited them on photoshop to get the files ready to print.
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Coming to terms with the fact that 1) I don’t have illustration superpowers even if my expectations are that high and 2) I’m disabled (yes it’s been years and it’s still hard to face) is really hard!! I need to spend most of my time when I’m well preparing for when I’m not AND fight the urge to work until I burn out, which I always lean towards because it’s nice escapism. 
The thing is that living, and not being too exhausted to move is much more important than a comic. And if I am gonna spend my functioning time making comics, they’re gonna have to be enjoyable to make. Otherwise your life slips away from you and you haven’t been really living it.
Hope that hasn’t got too deep for you. I think that stuff is important to face, especially since the creative life is so incredibly busy.
Thank you for reading this goddamn essay, I hope that it helped in some way! As usual, feel free to drop an ask if you have any questions. 
Chat soon :D Archie <3
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