#it's an efficient technique for comics !

[seirindono]

How do you happen to do your shading id you don't mind sharing? Its so subtle and soft that you can't tell its there but it really helps highlight the characters

Phew, finally got some time on my hand to answer this one! It's a fairly simple/fast process so I figured I'd make a tuto once I'd get started on the shading for the next part, and here we are!

Alright so, we've got the panel (lazy screenshots cuz I'll never finish this if I have to export everytime ahah)

The advantage of digital art is that I don't have to think about color harmonies right from the start, I can always add filters and fiddle with the hues at any stage, so I just apply base colors at first and draw the background (it will help me build up a palette for the shadows later).

Okay, now the fun really begins. First I need to know which direction my shadows are likely to go and what atmosphere I want for the panel (which element I want to highlight? palette idea? etc). A sketch is enough to establish your intentions. Sometimes I'll mess up the lighting but it's okay to cheat if it looks coherent enough xD

(Patreons exclusive, shhh)

Now to create palette and apply the said shadows. I have a hand made one for TMS, but I had to make a special one for Ebott since there's a lot bg and kinda heavier atmosphere (I'll prbly have to make one for each part frow now on too hm). It's mostly made up of blues and greens (no black or greys here, but it can be fun to use in other styles! Purple too, so have fun!)

(My configuration - Produit=multiply?)

There, cast shadows (clothes, faces, folds, etc.) are roughly in place and looking sharp! Maybe a little bit too sharp actually... Let's smooth all that up

I use an airbrush eraser to soften a few shadows. Not necessarily all of them or the whole shape, you have to find the right balance of soft/sharp.

Now to spice things up a bit-

On a layer linked to the shadow layer, I add a lighter color that matches my light source or the environnement. Here it's a light blue, but in part VII I used a lot of orange (sun)! It makes the shadow much richer and the whole palette more vibrant!

(Again, you don't have to do it on all of them)

(not sure if you can see it lol but there's orange!)

And last but not least: Global shadow and filters (? never had to name or translate it bwahaha)

It's a lot of fiddling to achieve a result where the character looks more or less rooted in the background (=blue layers and filters to harmonize colors) and where I draw the last shadows. They're often the biggest ones (=on Axe's body+ leaf/tree shadows etc.).

You can use the techniques I've described above, or just go for it, it's completely freewheeling from here, ahem. Just make sure to step back regularly to see where you're at and stop.

(You can also add lights layers and spots if it's too dark but in this example, I use the base color as a light layer + their skulls are such a bright white already xD )

A bit of blur and ta-da~

Pretty easy, right?

[toomanyf4ndoms7]

Barbara: "Hey, I need you and Dinah to break into this building halfway across the planet." Helena, still in her teacher outfit: "Oracle, I need to write a lesson plan for tomorrow's class." Barbara, fake-sweetly: "There's a bunch of kids who need help." Helena, after a long groan: "You're the worst." Barbara: "See you soon."

[igneous-crocnroll]

Happy Fat Dragon Friday!! Dizzy's gone fishing, and she's using this technique she saw in a comic book once... Um... Not sure if it'll be very efficient, but who am I to criticize the methods of this master angler...

[thus-wrote-mrs-zeppeli]

It would be fun If you wrote a scenario where Reader and Rohan paint together, I really enjoy reading your work!

Why thank you~

YES, we LOVE Rohan in this house I will try~

-Painting with Rohan

“You’re making a mess over there.”

“Well yeah…this is PAINT.”

Rohan was glaring at you from his easel, and at the “mess” you’ve made. Really it was just a few paint stains on your apron…he was just being fussy for the sake of it, as usual.

“Are you doing that on purpose…?” he grumbles. You’ve barely started this little painting project, and since he was already almost done he was purposefully slowing down a bit by focusing on you instead.

“Rohan…”

“What?”

“Can you please relax a little.”

He huffs indignantly at you. “I am relaxed,” but even he knows he’s being a little bit of a stick in the mud right now. For as long as you’ve known him he’s been like that. You’ve been used to his eccentric nitpicking by now, but having to hear it while you’re concentrating on a delicate task is causing you to lose your focus.

“I know you. I can tell just from your voice that you wanna come over here and ‘fix’ my painting for me,” you reply with a smirk, not even looking at him while you continue your colorful masterpiece. Silence from his side for a moment. He’s not doing anything in particular. Just refusing to look at you, in denial of you knowing him well enough to accurately predict what he was feeling right now.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence? Three beats of silence, that’s rare with Rohan, even when he was giving you the cold shoulder.

You get to work peacefully for a blissful moment.

“Well you’re doing it wrong.”

You didn’t mean to roll your eyes at him but sometimes you cannot help it as you hear him set down his own palette and walk over to your easel.

“Your brush strokes are too short.”

His face is right next to yours as he observes your painting. Your personal space was also Rohan’s space.

“I barely started, how can you even tell what I’m making?”

“It’s supposed to be a sunset, I can tell from the colors you chose.”

He takes your hand and lifts it up to the canvas for you, under the guise of guiding you. Really he’s just doing it for you.

“See? If you’re painting a cloud it should be more like this.”

He’s practically dragging your hand along the top of your canvas, ‘demonstrating’ how to make long, elegant dusk colored clouds.

“You’re doing it for me…this defeats the point…” you point out. His hand on yours is secure but loose enough to paint most efficiently; a practiced artist’s grip.

“I’m not doing it for you, it’s your hand holding the brush isn’t it?”

“Rohan…”

He does that annoying chuckle right in your ear, but if you tried to rip your hand free from his right now you’d probably end up ruining the painting. You’ll just have to tolerate it until the paint runs out on the brush. Feels like it lasts a while. You sigh.

“OK, now go back to your side, thank you,” you try to shoo him away when you’re finally not in danger of messing up the artwork.

“Do it right then,” he replies, stepping back a bit. But not going back to his side. He’s going to observe you to make sure you’ve learned something.

“There’s no ‘right’ way to make art,” you counter.

He huffs. “But there Are certain techniques and proper ways to do them.”

You just have to laugh a bit at this point.

“Okay but this is Just for FUN, remember?”

He grumbles something that you’re sure is just another silly criticism you don’t want to hear.

Actually, it gives you an idea.

You turn your attention to his easel, bringing your palette over to it and examining his canvas with a comically critical eye.

Though, honestly, it’s hard to see anything Technically wrong with his piece. Rohan had an annoying amount of skill in all things art. On this canvas he’s painted some Italian architecture he once saw on his travels, from memory. Genuinely beautiful. You feel like you could step right into his painting. But you push those thoughts down through the power of your indignation.

He can already tell from your little “hmmmm…it really is quite nice…” that you’re scheming something. He’s watching you carefully, with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

“It could use a dash of color though, don’t you think?”

“Don’t even think about it…”

As soon as you dip your brush in the pink on your palette, he’s wedged himself between you and his canvas, his hand immediately going for your brush, which you pull away from him just as quickly.

“It’s just a little bit of pink, Rohan! I’m helping you!” you laugh and dodge him, waving the paintbrush just out of his reach. He couldn’t protect his canvas and catch you at the same time, and you were going to entirely use that to your advantage.

“That’s really CHILDISH, HONESTLY! Grow up!!”

“Oh c’mon, you could remake that in like thirty seconds,” you point out, not that you were Actually going to vandalize his painting. You were just getting him back by messing with him a bit.

“That’s not the point!”

You aim the brush at him.

“Stop it.”

You take a step closer to him.

“DON’T you DARE.”

If he gets to be annoying all the time, it is Only fair you get a turn sometimes.

Chasing him around with a paintbrush wasn’t how you had Intended to spend this date with him…but it was admittedly satisfying to have the Great Rohan running away from you and hissing at you to cut it out because his clothes were expensive. As if he didn’t have a million other fancy outfits, or the money to buy more.

-

I’m on vacation right now and I brought all my Rohan manga with me lol. Comfort character fr.

[fictionstudent]

Why even "show, not tell"?

You must have heard the famous advice “show, not tell” around a hundred times by now. It’s one of the most used writing tools today, I’d argue. Recently in a blog post, I’d even talked about what it actually means and how you could execute it.

But now you must be thinking why it’s even such a thing, you know. Why do we follow this advice? What’s so advantageous about it? Why do even people care? Or do people care?

After much brainstorming, I have the answers to these questions. I hope it can spark some discussions on the issue.

***

#01 - Why yes

So, why you should “show, not tell”? Classic authors didn’t use this technique often. Most of the literature at the time was written in third-person omniscient narration technique, and that means the authors had no means to actually describe how the characters felt or what they thought.

There were a lot of classics that used first-person narration, but maybe those were the only times we could notice the advice actually in use historically. Third-person limited was non-existent, perhaps. Personally, I’ve never read a classic novel that’s in third-person limited narration.

Anyway, time began passing, and people noticed that somehow, this “show, not tell” thingey kinda works. It can convey emotions and information in a lot more efficient way. So editors began searching for stuff like that.

So, one reason can be that it’s simply a superior way to convey emotions. Taking from the example I used in my last blog,

I was angry at Sara. But she didn’t care.

It’s a lot worse than,

She couldn’t believe this. Was this for real? Was this… really happening? Really?

Her fists clenched hard. Her arms were trembling. And her eyes… They tried hard to fight back those tears. But the dam could break any moment now.

How could someone do something like this? And… And to her? What had she done to be betrayed like this?

The latter one actually makes you feel what Sara is feeling—you feel like you are Sara. You can understand her feelings on a much deeper level—you do not just know that she’s frustrated, you know how frustrated she is at the whole ordeal.

Another reason—it’s immersive. Reading in detail how the character is feeling is really a lot more interesting than just reading what they feel and understanding it on an intellectual level. This way, you can relate to the character on an emotional level.

And because it’s immersive, the readers would love the novel. And if they love it, they’d buy more of the author and publisher—and that’s more profits for both of them. So why not?

A third reason—the world is changing. And so are our forms of entertainment.

Today, most of our entertainment is in the form of visual media. When we read novels, we do not always imagine them as someone speaking to us—as readers a century or two ago used to. But rather, we try to create mental images based on the information we’ve gathered. Why?

Because most of our entertainment now is visual. Comics, social media, films—all these widely consumed media are visual. So subconsciously, we all agree that story means visuals. And visuals—along with monologues—are a part of “show, not tell”.

Readers today have a set of expectations that the stories they consume in novels would be visuals, based on happenings. Yeah, there are monologues and narrations, but they sit on top of the foundation that the visuals create. Most commercial fiction does not stand on monologues alone—they need visuals.

Now, I’m not saying that all novels are like this, or all readers are like that. No, far from the truth. I’ve read Murakami’s short-stories that are certainly based only on monologues, with little to no visuals. Or even dialogues, for that matter. And believe me—these stories are just as immersive.

So we can argue that not all fiction needs visuals, but most do. And it’s the same for monologues—read McCarthy.

***

#02 - When to “tell”

Yeah, you heard it right. There’s time you absolutely need to ignore this advice. Writing is subjective, after all—every rule and advice has instances where it needs to be ignored. Exceptions form a big part of learning the application of any sort of rule or advice.

Firstly, time-skip. If you’re writing a scene where you need to have a time-skip, but you also need the reader to kinda know what happened in that time, you can just tell instead of showing.

For example,

And we crossed the seas. The journey wasn’t long, but those days we had nothing to do. We were bored the heck out of our brains. Those days felt like an eternity. Until today, when we finally found what we were looking for—a piece of land in the middle of the Pacific. The Hirohoto Islands.

It's completely fine to write stuff like that if whatever happened in that time phase has little to no relevance to the story whatsoever. If you want to, you could have expanded a chapter or two out of this little paragraph, or even a whole full-length book (lol, really). But if you feel that expanding it would provide no extra meaning to the plot, and you can just skip to the better part, writing like this is extremely fine. In fact, adventure novels are filled with this sort of telling narrations.

Secondly, you can’t show the monologues of the other characters that your narrator is interacting with. Yeah, you can still make use of the visuals, but not the monologues, which is half of the “show, not tell” advice. So you’re heavily dependent on the visuals in terms of showing. But in such cases, remember that you can tell—it’d be the narrator’s interpretation of the emotions of the other characters. It’d be better than head-hopping, I mean. Not recommended, but definitely correct if executed well.

Thirdly, action scenes. You may tell during action scenes because remember that action scenes are supposed to be quick-paced and punchy. This doesn’t really leave you enough space to show the narrator’s emotions and monologues—or the scene would turn up to be slow. And you don’t want an action scene to be slow.

An action scene relies heavily on visuals, though. But if, by any chance, you need to describe anything other than the actual action, you can just tell at that moment to make sure you don’t break the flow and pace of the scene.

Fourthly, you can use tell literally anytime, anywhere. You can use it without restraints. Remember, there’re no hard rules about where you can show and where you can tell. There are gonna be instances where you feel you can apply any one of them—so do apply any one of them. It’s your novel, write it the way you want.

But don’t just keep on telling. It’d be boring. But sometimes, it’s necessary. And sometimes, it’s just a shorter, better thing to do. Use “show, not tell” as many times as you can, but don’t overuse it.

***

Conclusion

I’d said in a recent post that I wanted to talk more about “show, not tell”. And now that it’s over, I guess I’d be doing something else with my life lol.

Anyway, explore the blog if you want more helpful content about writing like this one. Love you guys.

[waayoutofline]

Murder On The Dance Floor (part 5)

(from the When the Cat and the Mouse Go For a Midnight Dance series) | Part 1 | Part 2| Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Marvel Masterlist

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x F!Reader

Prompt: Vigilante!Reader x Agent!Natasha

Summary: Natasha isn’t having the best of luck in trying to bring one of the ex Hydras general down. You however may be able to assist her. Will you two be able to cooperate? Or is it your fate to always stand on opposite teams?

Warnings: More angst (i'm sorry)

WORD COUNT: 2978

A / N: Me posting without a two-week gap?? Whaaaat?? I'm fine, don't worry. I was hit by the divinity of inspiration and got ahead of my messy schedule. So here's ep5! I must say, I'm proud of this one. I'm still trying to figure out their whole dynamic complexity, but I think this is a right step on their journey! Anyway, I've already started on the last episode, which I'll probably publish this Sunday tops. Yes, last one, I swear!

Also..! Natasha in this universe, like in the comics, has (a variant) super soldier serum.

Thanks for reading and have a great day <3

**

If anyone knew Natasha’s fighting skill, it was definitely you. After years of being on opposing sides of heroism—her leaning more toward the ethical path, while you were focused on taking down bad people without the pesky limitations of the law—the two of you had shared your fair share of nasty, brutal fights.

You were all too familiar with her enhanced strength and reflexes, the evidence of her unforgiving grip often leaving lasting marks and ugly bruises. It reminded you of the arachnid symbols she always carried. Her movements were swift and relentless, trapping you like an unknowing prey with complicated manoeuvres that left you immobilized long enough for her to inflict serious damage.

Her toned arms and legs weren’t just for show; they were clearly the result of delivering powerful strikes and breathless chokeholds. She had the intelligence, strength, and agility to take anyone down—of that, you were always certain.

But right now, watching her take down guard after guard, there’s a new aspect that leaves your eyes widening. She wasn’t just dangerous; she was brutal.

Her technique was clearly superior, and she applied it with unforgiving force. You even felt a pang of pity for them. It was like witnessing an entirely new side of her as the sounds of bodies hitting the ground with resounding thuds, grunts, and yelps filled the dark, empty alley—a twisted symphony of chaos.

Something stirred inside you. You recognized her moves, but not this… aggressiveness. For as much as the two of you had fought, she had never been this violent in her style. She moved like a machine programmed for maximum efficiency, eliminating her targets with practically clinical precision. 

It was then that you realized. Your fights felt almost like child’s play compared to this.

That stirring in your chest quickly transformed into boiling anger. Has she been holding back during your fights? The mere sight of seeing her like this was now making your blood simmer. To even consider the possibility that she had always been holding back like this was infuriating. You had always believed the two of you were evenly matched, but now that belief was being shattered—just like the jaws of Horvat’s men.

You had always given her your best. But was she not giving you hers? Had she been playing with you all this time? Did she see you so…so weak that you weren’t even worth her full effort? The thought alone was enough to ignite your fury.

It was humiliating.

If you were asked about it later, you might admit that your next course of action could be perceived as… well, nothing short of pity. But the indignation was so overwhelming that you couldn’t even think straight. It was too much—so raw that it prickled at your eyes, manifesting as a wave of ashamed embarrassment.

As Natasha effortlessly dealt with the guards on her own, you slipped into the shadows. Perhaps the darkness could help soothe the ugly resentment crawling up your throat.

You had been a team player all evening, but now, under the light of the moon, you were back to your solitary game. And in this game, Horvat was the one you were going to hunt. Untethering yourself from the limitations imposed by the heroes, you swiftly made your way to the emergency lift on the side of the flat building next to you.

Rising through the levels, you were granted a panoramic view of the district, your eyes scanning intently for Horvat’s getaway car. Retrieving the tech-enhanced glasses from your trousers pocket, you adjusted them and searched for the dark blue sedan. It didn’t take long to spot it.

Sighing, you focused your magic. With a wave of your arm, you conjured ice, forming a crystalline path strong enough to carry you. You modified the soles of your shoes to adapt, gaining incredible speed as you skied across the continuously growing trail of ice. The path allowed you to glide effortlessly over buildings and bypass entire streets, cutting directly toward Horvat’s moving vehicle.

It may have looked effortless, but each time you created a new solid ice structure, a sharp headache pierced your skull. Your chest heaved as you struggled to maintain the pace, each breath growing more laboured.

These…abilities weren’t exactly something you had mastered. In fact, you hadn’t used them enough to build a solid foundation of control. Years of torture and clinical experimentation designed to force you to have and use them had left their mark. The trauma lingered, resurfacing every time you dared wield them.

They were additionally deeply tied to your emotions, making them volatile at best. And on a night like this, after everything that had happened with Natasha, they felt even more unstable.

You were also aware of SHIELD’s persistent interest in capturing you because of them, likely to place you under custody. After all, SHIELD didn’t take kindly to superhuman abilities existing outside their jurisdiction. That thought alone fuelled your defiance. You hadn’t escaped one controlling organization just to fall under the grip of another. No, this time, you were playing solo—defying every group that claimed to do “good” while operating under their own brand of morality.

And right now, as you practically flew across the New York night, the feeling of freedom was exhilarating. Besides, the end of the chase would be that much sweeter. Your mind was reeling with the thought of finally catching the bastard, of making him talk.

After weaving through a few more blocks, you finally found yourself right behind the car. The driver was clearly aware of your presence, speeding up through traffic in a desperate attempt to escape. But you weren’t going to let him get away. Propelling yourself forward with icy air, you surged after them. You were so focused—so consumed with the goal of getting your hands on that car—that you didn’t hear the familiar hum of an airy engine trailing behind you.

Leaping into the air, you were about to launch yourself forward again when something barrelled into you from the side, slamming you off course and throwing you away from the street. Using the last of your strength, you managed to create a messy aspheric ice barrier around you, stopping yourself from crashing directly into the display window of a shop.

Your lungs burned as you lay there, the harsh motion having knocked the air clean out of you. Your limbs ached from the rough landing, muscles that you didn’t even know you had burning.

Trying to shake off the terrible disorientation that slamming through a window could cause, you didn’t feel the sharp glass shards or the solid concrete beneath you. No, you were pressed against something warm and soft, the faint scent of sand wool and forest causing your eyebrows to furrow. And since when did the ground breathe… wait… breathe?

Startled, you pulled yourself slightly upright, only to be greeted by red hair and half opened green eyes. Of course, you were sure she would be one of the few people in the world daring enough to tackle you in mid-air.

However, your confusion quickly turned into something else when you saw the predicament of your position. She had clearly shielded your head from making contact with the ground, turning both of your bodies so that hers was between you and the floor. Her arms remained firmly around your waist, clearly having adjusted her grip from the initial takedown to ensure you both survived the impact.

“Well,” she muttered, her voice dry but strained, “that went well.”

The protective nature of the action turned your confusion into fury. “Let go of me,” you managed to mutter through gritted teeth. Natasha, still recovering, scrunched her face in confusion but didn’t move. “Let go of me,” you repeated, harsher and more impatient. Her touch, her smell, her mere presence felt suffocating.

“Wh-what… hold on, wait—” She started muttering, trying to make sense of your sudden struggle to get away. She seemed to come to her senses when you began to push harder against her chest, trying to create some distance between you. Ugh, stupid super soldier serum.

She must have thought your desperation was to get back to chasing Horvat. But at that moment, the ex-Hydra general was the last thing on your mind.

You two started wrestling in a way that felt more like a pathetic high school fight. The humiliation you had felt before doubled as you struggled to break free.

“Get off!” You almost screeched in desperation, making the agent startle as she managed to pin you down. She had never seen you like this—desperate and so… out of control. You were worlds away from the mischievous vigilante who always got under her skin.

“Okay! Okay, just… stop! Stop, stay down.” With those words, your fight seemed to disappear all at once, your body going limp. This only made Natasha worry even more as she slowly loosened her grip and moved off of you.

She remained tense, half-expecting you to bolt. But you stayed there, trying to catch your breath. She would be lying if she said that didn’t worry her even more. The worst part? You went quiet. No remarks, no snark—just silence, alongside the sounds of gunshots, alarms, and the street’s chaotic noise.

She opened her mouth to ask if you were okay, but closed it. Right now, this wasn’t the time for that. “What were you thinking?” she demanded, finally standing up. “We’re on a mission; you can’t just take off like that—”

“Well, you didn’t seem like you needed my help,” you scoffed, grunting at the pain of your abdomen when you incorporated slowly.

“So you decided to go off the grid?” Frustration built up in her voice, her tone condescending. As if you two were partners. 

That was far from the truth, and she seemed to have forgotten it. “See, this attitude of yours is what pisses me off. Doing whatever you want, whenever you want—consequences be damned, as long as you get your way!”

Standing up as fast as you could, you faced her defensively. “I’m not one of your incompetent low ranked subordinates that you boss around. And yes, while you were putting Horvat’s men to an early grave, I decided to chase after Horvat, who, by the way…” You laughed in fake amusement. “Is getting away as we chat. You just couldn’t stand that it was me who was about to finally catch him, could you?”

Natasha’s eyes widened at the accusation. “What are you even talking about? Do you see this as some kind of sick competition? Have you looked outside?”

Confusion crossed your face. Shaking off the remaining crystals and dust, Natasha started walking away from the now-destroyed shop, gesturing for you to follow her. Reluctantly, you swallowed your anger and fell in behind her. When getting out, your eyes widened. Traces of ice were covering the street, no doubt being left behind your trace. Some of them took the shape of sharp shards that were encrusted on the pavement, alongside swerved cars with frozen bumpers. 

You didn’t even notice.

An ugly feeling made you swallow as you saw a family getting out of a partly smashed car, the tires completely covered in ice. “I… I didn’t—”

You stared helplessly, afraid of what could have happened because of your fault. “It was an accident… it-it wasn’t— fuck.” You turned around, closing your eyes while trying to regain some sense of control.

You did that. You lost control. And someone got hurt because of it. Again.

“…I guess I get it now. Why are you holding yourself back.” Letting out a single cackle, your eyes trailed down to your hands as if they weren’t your own. They are still terrible cold.

“I’m not following,” the agent confessed. There it was again, that ugly sense of incompetence hitting you square on your ego. You turned around aggressively; the least she could do was say it to your face.

“Please. This just been an annoying game for you? Hasn’t it?” You finally exclaimed, hoping your eyes weren’t betraying the humiliation you felt. “We’re supposed to be enemies, Natalia. We fight, we… I thought you at least respected that.”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly. “But all this time, you haven’t given me your true potential. In each encounter we’ve had, I’ve had the decency to at least outdo you. Am I so god-damn weak to you that you have to pull back in such a way?”

Finally, she seemed to understand what you were trying to say, and her reaction was anything but subdued. She took a few angry steps closer, her presence suffocating and electrifying all at once. “Are you telling me this tantrum has been all because I didn’t treat you like some Horvat soldier?”

You remained quiet, giving her an answer she clearly didn’t like. “If it weren’t for me, you’d probably be in the RAFT by now. Is that what you want?”

Your jaw dropped at her audacity, as if, all of a sudden, she could have caught you from the very first day you opposed her. “So what? Are you telling me I should thank you for that? Please.” You laughed, “You haven’t even come close. If you could have caught me all this time, then why haven’t you?” You snapped.

Clenching her jaw, she stopped until she was face-to-face with you. You could feel her usual controlled storm turning into a wild hurricane. You didn’t back down. “If I haven’t brought out all of SHIELD’s operatives and the rest of the Avengers to take you down, it’s because of this.”

You didn’t even have time to react as her hand reached for your face, slightly flinching as she deliberately took her time, her movements measured and slow. Your eyes widened just a little as her soft fingertips brushed away the betraying tears sliding down your cheeks, catching one and wiping it away.

“Because despite all this ‘I don’t give a damn’ attitude of yours, you do. I can feel your pain, your regret over hurting the innocents you’re trying to protect… your self-hatred,” she said, her voice steady, but it carried a weight that almost made it seem like those feelings were affecting her too.

She paused, trying to choose her next words carefully. “Even if your methods are over-the-line insane, underneath it all, there’s someone who genuinely wants to do good. Even if the only way you know how is by going to a dark place that consumes you every single time.”

Her hand trailed down until she gently pushed your chest with a single finger. “The only reason I haven’t caught you by now—besides the fact that you’re frighteningly cunning and intelligent, and somehow manage to get under my skin or read me like a book…” She trailed off, her voice lowering, her eyes dropping. The slight praise made your heart flutter. You almost immediately hated it.

You didn’t dare to breathe as she tried to find her words. 

“It’s because I believe you can be so much more,” she finished quietly. 

When her gaze meets yours again, this time is softer, as if returning from somewhere. “I was like you once. Someone was supposed to stop me for good, too. But they made a different call.” The resolve in her voice is unmistakable. “Now, I’m the one making that call.”

For a moment that seemed to stretch on in the distance, neither of you dared to move. Her words seem to echo though the air, manifesting again and again in your head. You wanted to say something, anything. But what were you supposed to answer?

She was clearly giving you a white flag, a truce. But accepting would change everything. And you didn’t know if you were ready for that. Clenching your hands against your sides, you couldn’t stand the shimmering hope reflecting on the dark pools of sea foam. 

“I am not meant to be a hero, Nat.” You answered delicately, feeling like you owned her at least. 

Natasha didn’t flinch. Instead, she stood there, her silence louder than anything she could have said. You braced yourself, praying that she didn't make this more difficult than it was supposed to be.

But before she could speak, static crackled from her comms.

“We got him,” Yelena’s voice cut through the tension. “Horvat is in custody, Natasha. It’s done.”

Natasha’s shoulders went down, just slightly. You could see the shift in her expression—relief, professionalism. Her hand moved up to press her earpiece, her sharp green eyes still locked onto you.

“…Understood,” she replied, her tone steady but clipped. For a moment, it was as she answered both of you. You didn't say anything as she finally stepped back, the silence defining. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion. “When I was chasing you I installed a tracker on his car, my unit did the rest.”

You wanted to laugh because, of course, despite everything that happened her multitasking was unmatched. She started to walk away but paused when you didn’t immediately follow. You just stood there, watching, wondering how she always managed to build a wall between her emotions and professionalism. As if she hadn’t just disrupted your entire chemical balance mere seconds ago.

“Are you coming?” she asked, her tone casual, as though the weight of her earlier words hadn’t just cracked something open inside you.

Your reluctance was answer enough.

“The truce will stand, even in SHIELD’s jurisdiction, I promise,” she added, her voice firm but not unkind. “Besides, we’re processing him to a secondary location first.”

Normally, you’d call bullshit. You knew how much SHIELD hated your vigilante methods—how relentless they were in their attempts to bring you in. And yet, despite all of that, you found yourself taking a step forward, then another, until you were following Natasha.

[communist-alfred]

Am I allowed to print the comic of Germany giving his Christmas list to Prussia put 💀 I want to put that masterpiece on my wall in my dorm.

all the expressions are absolutely immaculate. if he ended up getting the cleaning set I picture him doing the little German boy ‘YIPEEEEE’

Omg ur allowed to print any of my art, I don’t mind!! :)) thank you, I’m flattered!!

Gilbert does get it for him ofc,, I’d say it’s his fault Ludwig wants a toy like that but also ??? I feel like Gilbert would make it an event ngl bc he’s obnoxious and wants to have fun with his baby brother — making memories

He’d throw on some stupid niche soundtrack he spent time curating for when they clean together with songs similar but not limited to:

So cue Gilbert and Ludwig in cleaning outfits, house shoes, windows open and Gilbert is the one being loud and ridiculous and Ludwig is the one being locked the fuck in. Focused. Toothbrush cleaning the kitchen stove on a stool with little gloves and everything.

Gilbert is also efficient he’s just. Himself while doing it, and also teaching Ludwig about chemicals, technique, etc at the same time.

And Gilbert ofc made a modded Bluetooth speaker, bass is insane but it’s not Ruhetag so we’re chill 🤪🤪

[untoldsoup]

Wanted to see a visual of my art progression for the comic so made a comparison of each characters first appearance to their more current ones. I guess this is my "year in review". Idea came from a friend on discord.

A lot of the changes I'm happy with. Drawing almost every day since March has really paid off. I had small projects I worked on in-between this comic that also helped too.

Some things I noticed now looking at this in hind-site: Luigi had the biggest changes. In the beginning I was so unsure of how to draw him in my style vs canon and its clear I was trying to find a compromise with it.

Human Bowser didn't have to many style changes, but his line work was refined over time. Peach suffered from generic anime girl in the beginning until I started drawing everyone under the same style umbrella. Koopa Bowser went through a lot of changes. Bowser is *hard* to draw, and I think he changed in almost every damn page lol.

Overall I'm really happy with the progression of things. I finally found a uniform way I want to draw everything, I learned a ton of skills and techniques along the way, and since I draw almost everyday I've gotten faster and more efficient at getting pages out.

I think the biggest challenges moving forward will be the action scenes in the sequel. They will be my weakest point and I'm hoping I can do them justice. I will be drawing Bowser jr. more in the sequel too so I'm going to keep working on making the koopa designs more cohesive.

[neokandis-hardcore-art]

Arcane Melodies web comic is coming out tomorrow!!!

In the middle of nowhere in Ireland, two wildly different metal bands aim to make it big on the scene.

Díoltasach; a prog death band that just sprung up. They quickly gain a reputation for being highly unprofessional, as Helena, vocalist and washed up scene queen, has to wrangle her band mates. Djent, their mediocre, unemployed, college drop out bassist, is as young and dumb as they come. Thrasher, their drummer, doesn't take anything seriously, and would rather be skating. And Kittie, their guitarist, has a life outside of the band, and is trying to finish a biology course.

On the other hand we have Autogynephile; a queer black metal band that has been on the scene for a while. Despite their great technique and efficient set up skills, their vocalist and back up guitarist Angr embracing the queer pervert stereotype has left them completely unmarketable. The rest of the band is willing to make the sacrifice for artistic integrity. Said band are made up of Anord: the artist and DIY enthusiast on drums, Valentine: the photographer and "ex" emo on bass, and Róisín: the sarcastic, coffee addicted goth on lead guitar, as well as her partner Dusk who tags along.

As well as being rival bands from the same small town, they are rival Wiccan covens. There is only so much magical energy to go around, or so it seems...

The two bands must set aside their rivalry to handle the consequences of Charlotte, a young, wanna-be witch, messing with forces beyond her control... is music the key to restoring the balance upset by the drastic actions of an untrained witch?

⛧⛧⛧

Thanks for reading!

I have been working on this seriously since October, and I now have a decent backlog of chapters. Chapter one will be posted here, and on DeviantArt.

While the comic will be posted for free, it is not free to make, so I would really appreciate some support:

Sticker Shop ⛧ Ko-Fi ⛧ Commission Info

There are also free ways to support me, liking and reblogging my posts is a great one, and following me on other platforms is another:

DeviantArt ⛧Blue Sky

See you tomorrow! \m/_(^_^)_\m/

[ghost-bxrd]

So I've seen you post a lot about Dick and Calvin recently, and I wanted to know how you thought Calvin would react, in this Calvin gets adopted by Bruce kind of au, to:

1). Jason's death, in the assumption Calvin can't prevent it (And subsequently what he would do to Joker for it.)

2) Damian's early childhood.

3) Tim's Tim-ness.

4) How Calvin would react to the Batman Robin situation, when he finally learns about it.

I haven't gotten the opportunity to learn much about Calvin, but you have me interested, I'm a sucker for overly traumatized characters, and I am looking for the comics with him!

We can never have enough Calvin Rose content, that boy is so underrated 🥺💚

1. Pfpfpfpf you know for ONCE I wanted to go with “Jason doesn’t die in this Au” but you asked and I shall deliver hehehe.

Look, Calvin adores children. And it’s no different with Jason, whom he basically helped Bruce raise from the moment he came to the manor. (Bruce is a good dad here but emotions are not his forte. Calvin picks up the slack.)

So we’ve got a former Talon basically raising Jason, sharing a lot of his interests, teaching him fun escape techniques and pranking the others…

Only for Jason to die in Ethiopia. Beaten within an inch of his life and then blown up.

Because his birth mother sold him to the Joker.

Look, there’s very few things that make Calvin snap. Canonically it only happens when his loved ones are in danger/threatened, or children are being hurt.

And this one ticks off both boxes.

Calvin doesn’t kill if he can help it. Hasn’t done so since that one time with the Court, and that instance still haunts him in his sleep. But this?

Yeah. He’s not losing any sleep over killing Joker. He’d hunt the clown and put him down like a rabid animal. Cold, clean, and efficient. No drawing it out.

2. As mentioned before, Calvin adores kids. I don’t think they’d meet before Damian comes to the manor though, so no early early childhood shenanigans. But when Damian arrives, all entitled and clearly having been conditioned from a very young age, he gives Bruce a very deadpan “You do know you don’t get a discount for the amount of traumatized kids you take in, right?”

Damian is a stabby little shit that tries to kill Calvin at every turn. Dick thinks it’s hilarious. Damian becomes progressively more angry because Calvin doesn’t break a sweat side stepping each and every attempt. (Talon training pays off)

Calvin just lets Damian “burn off his excess energy” (“You do know he’s a kid and not a puppy, right?”) and uses the time the boy isn’t actively trying to murder him to child proof the manor again. Just to piss Damian off.

Having the kid try to poison him at dinner that day is so worth it.

Damian reluctantly warms up to Calvin over the next few weeks when the former Talon proves annoyingly helpful at setting up his room and helping him with training. (Although Damian turns his nose up every time Calvin obviously handles him with kiddie gloves. But the man point blank refuses to do anything else.)

3. Calvin spends a week around Tim and all his alarm bells for “neglected child” are going off like autotune in his brain.

Considering it’s still very close to Jason’s death tho it would take him some time to truly warm up to Tim.

Tim wishes Calvin remained as distant as he was the first year or so (no he doesn’t) because now Calvin has strictly limited his daily caffeine intake, is forcing him to eat at least three healthy meals a day, and actually set a bed time for him.

Tim is outraged (flustered) about being treated like a kid (like the kid he is).

4. Depending on who’s Robin when he finds out the reactions would vary greatly, but he still wouldn’t be happy that Bruce is taking kids out onto the streets at night to fight criminals either way. It remind him too much of the Court for comfort, grooming children into the percent assassin.

After a while though he’d realize that Bruce would love nothing more than for his Robin(s) to hang up the mantle and just live their lives to the fullest, and that they’re simply too stubborn and determined to fight crime with Batman to stay at home. With our without permission.

It helps that Bruce is clearly distressed and close to benching Robin whenever Dick/Jason comes back from patrol with a bruise. Never mind an actual injury.

[yamujiburo]

i really love your account, especially your comics. you manage to keep all the characters so unique and pretty expressive while nailing anatomy and angles ighhhhhits so good man. how did you learn to draw? how did you learn anatomy and then how did you learn comics and shit? do you have major inspirations you look to or accounts or exercises? i hope these questions are ok i’m very curious, i’ve started drawing again after stopping because of uni and while it’s slowly coming back i’m struggling with consistency and getting expressiveness

Ahh thank you so much!!

I started drawing really young by just copying cartoons I liked and then graduated to “how to draw manga” books. I was fairly self taught in that way until I got into art college~

I feel like everything I learned has been almost completely through observation. There’s a lot to be learned from just looking at something and breaking it down to it’s core elements whether it’s anatomy, the cinematography of a movie or a comic book spread. Really analyzing why someone makes the choices they do and applying it to your own work.

College is where I learned the technical terminology for things in storyboarding and I could finally put words to the things I was observing in the movies and tv shows I was watching, which in turn, allowed me to use those techniques more effectively. After that’s it’s just finding your style and breaking the rules in a way that makes sense to you~

Being a storyboard artist/director at disney has also helped me shape my writing style as well as the way I like to stage shots for my comics (which are more of a storyboard style than comic style imo). I’ve learned a lot of efficiencies and tricks on how to make things nice and clear when drawing stuff.

So yeah! Just observe!! Look at real life, look at things that inspire you, look at other artists and really break down and analyze how they do things!

[coyotejone-s]

i'm insane. rubber rats and such. here's my thoughts on who the reds and blues would main in tf2 vs whose place they would take in a potential au. spoiler: they ARE different. and also i'm not making the au, but if you wanna do it feel free to use this as a guideline.

disclaimer: i'm a walking tf2 encyclopedia... for the lore and comics. i HAVE played it of course, but i'm by no means an expert on strategy and such, so contesting my knowledge on that end is more than welcome.

RED TEAM

Grif

Main: jumps around a bit, but always comes back to heavy because he's got high health and decent damage rates. mostly follows simmons around because no one wants to fuck with the battle medic. that being said, he CAN hold his own (he's actually REALLY good at the game) and watches simmons' back like a hawk. and his other teammates' too i guess (silly).

Place: heavy. big dude, cares for his family, wouldn't be doing this in an ideal world. also he deserves a big gun. RIP the grifshot.

Simmons

Main: as mentioned, he'd be a battle medic, and a fucking TERRIFYING one at that. definitely puts a lot of time into it, and it absolutely pays off. has one of the best k/d ratios purely because he's just fucking going for it. it looks like luck but every second is strategized to an embarrassing degree. this makes him feel powerful. god forbid someone kill grif, because he'll hunt them down for the rest of the match.

Place: medic. he deserves to be unhinged. we've all seen how he is on the warthog turret.

Sarge

Main: soldier. he's got rocket jumping down to a perfect science. he is defying gravity. he has discovered some sort of secret technique to perfectly optimize speed and distance while minimizing damage. he will never tell anyone what it is and he will show it off at any chance for the rest of time. thus, he never fucking plays any other class.

Place: soldier. there is nothing to be said that hasn't been said already.

Donut

Main: this one's tough actually. i think he'd flip between pyro, demo, scout, and soldier. he likes the fast-paced gameplay, and is pretty decent at all of them.

Place: scout! he's got a hell of a throwing arm! i'd be willing to bet he was in little league as a kid. i could have better reasoning but i had to switch him when i switched tucker.

Lopez

Main: engineer. it's familiar, trying to keep things fixed and running while a bunch of idiots run around and fuck things up. can often be seen rancho relaxing next to at least 2 fully-upgraded sentries like 30 seconds into the match.

Place: engineer. same reasons, same play style.

BLUE TEAM

Church

Main: good god, he tries to main sniper, but he's so fucking bad at it. gets backstabbed all the fucking time. he's too stubborn to stop. to his credit, though, he's pretty damn good with the melee and smg.

Place: sniper. again, he's not GOOD at sniping, but he's good enough with the subweapons that he qualifies.

Tucker

Main: probably scout. he likes being fast and annoying. it's not really that deep LMAO. i think he plays like me: running directly into the line of fire and just trying to hit as many people as possible before dying. a tried and true strategy. unfortunately, as such, his k/d ratio is impressively terrible.

Place: demoman. initially i wanted to place him as scout, but then i thought about eyelander and the energy sword and it won me over because i love eyelander. i think he'd try to demoknight and be really bad at it GHSJASKHGSA.

Caboose

Main: listen to me. you can put him in any class and he'll kick fucking ass. he has every perfect strategy mapped to muscle memory or something. he's a fucking enigma. no one can beat him. if caboose is on your team, you are almost guaranteed a win.

Place: pyro. it's the whimsy.

Kai

Main: i think she'd main spy purely so she can cloak and watch everyone else run around like idiots. occasionally she gets a kill in, but that's mostly when they stumble close enough to her. she can be very efficient when she wants to be, but mostly she's here for the drama. she has a screenshot folder of grif and simmons doing gay shit. it's... massive.

Place: spy. she gets to serve cunt, be bisexual, and kill people. what more could a girl want???

MISC

Disclaimer: Locus and Felix do not have a place to take due to a lack of main-enough characters. Sorry!

Wash

Main: look at me. i think wash is exceptionally bad at most of the classes. he does his best, but they just escape him. he's pretty good with pyro, but he sees pyro as overly easy with little challenge (no offense to caboose). against all odds, i think he's best at engineer, and surprisingly good at it! usually he follows lopez around (because lopez knows what he's doing), but about half the time he'll be on his own and tentatively killing it.

Place: ms pauling. in season 10, he mostly follows carolina around, dragging the reds and blues with him and following the majority of her orders. remind you of someone?

Carolina

Main: also tends to jump around, but prefers support classes. she'll join whichever team she thinks needs the most support at the time. half the time she'll be on the sidelines, cloaked and watching her idiots fuck around.

Place: the administrator! she's the most properly take-charge of all of them. i'd imagine she inherited the position from the director.

Doc

Main: medic, what did you expect? he's surprisingly good at offense, but prefers to stick to healing. in the event of an o'malley switch, he battle medics. he's not good at it.

Place: merasmus. he deserves wizard powers.

Locus

Main: spy. suits his style PERFECTLY. will occasionally play sniper if needed. absolutely cracked at both even though he says he doesn't play video games (this is a lie).

Felix

Main: he doesn't play tf2 because he thinks the people who play it are annoying nerds. this being said: probably either scout or sniper. scout when he feels like being an asshole, sniper when he feels like actually being efficient. either way he gets to show off.

[phoenix-king-ozai]

Underestimating Ozai's prowess is foolish!

Ozai was fooled by Azula regarding Zuko's "killing" of Avatar Aang because Ozai deeply values and trusts Azula as his capable enforcer and imperialist commander daughter. Azula probably subconsciously missed Zuko along with having him back taking some pressure from her as heiress. Zuko's killing and hunting of the Avatar was more about proofing his worth and value as a ruthless, capable, efficient, and effective Prince of the Fire Nation more than anything.

Of course, Ozai nearly got one-shoted or heavily damaged by lightning redirection by Zuko and Aang. The first time by Zuko was completely unexpected and was a new technique that Iroh personally developed, and Ozai never heard and learned about. Ozai also probably never expected Aang to learn lightning redirection in the short time since Zuko's rebellion. Ozai obviously, can't learn lightning redirection because the movement is based on waterbending forms that Ozai wouldn't learn because of his Fire Supremacism views.

Ozai isn't harmless or useless without his firebending skillset. However, he can't be Fire Lord and rule the Fire Nation without his firebending prowess and abilities. I heavily doubt there was ever a non-firebending Fire Lord in ATLA history besides possibly later on with Izumi when Zuko affected and changed the Fire Nation's social culture. Even with his firebending, he is still completely harmless to Avatar State Aang. Ozai and Azula would be foolish to challenge the full-realized Avatar State Aang.

The true form of firebending has less to do with actual power and more about the righteous and moral path regarding firebending. According to the creators, "Ozai is the most powerful and dangerous firebender of his era. Period!" However, "true" firebending is about using fire to create, protect, and provide warmth whereas imperialistic firebenders such as Sozin, Azulon, Ozai, and Azula view firebending as a weapon of war, destruction, conquest, and carnage. Zuko didn't gain a power boost by meeting and training with the dragons but a skill boost by following a philosophy of firebending that suits his personal morals. Zuko became more controlled and focused outside of his rage-based firebending in comparison to Azula due to her mental breakdown and the opposite of Ozai who is always controlled and focused with his rage and fury-based firebending.

Of course, Ozai's legacy is overshadowed by Sozin and Azulon. First of all, Ozai's reign was cut short by Avatar Aang awakening the Avatar State; the reign was only 5 years old compared to Sozin and Azulon's many decades of reigning. Sozin began the Air Nomad genocide, Azulon began the Southern Raiders, and near complete domination of the Earth Kingdom. The only thing regarding Iroh's legacy is that he "killed" the last dragons became the Dragon of the West and led the Seige of Ba Sing Se which was a horrific failure. Iroh's "legacy" isn't all that impressive beside the near conquest of Ba Sing Se which is a military and strategic achievement. Ozai has dueling Agni Kai achievements. Basically, fighting as a group vs one-on-one comparison. Prime Ozai vs Prime Iroh is probably an extremely difficult toss-up match. It is possible that Iroh is a superior commander and tactician whereas Ozai is a superior fighter and duelist. They are both probably excellent in each other expertise nonetheless, however; just they have their preferences. For all we know, Ozai could have led a blockade around the Earth Kingdom port cities during the Seige of Ba Sing Se with a massive Fire Nation navy fleet considering that a six-hundred-day seige needed supplies and manpower across the oceans without Earth Kingdom interference.

Azula is more of an annoyance and nuisance during the ATLA comics considering there is no way she or any of her supporters can defeat Avatar Aang in his Avatar State in order to overthrow Zuko's reign. The best they can do is kill or assassinate Zuko and Aang with poison. Also, the only side character that can possibly threaten Ozai in an actual fight bearing lightning redirection surprise is post-prison training buff Iroh. Azula and Zuko are getting stomped which is why Azula deeply fears dueling her father when he is enraged during the Phoenix King Coronation and why Zuko fled during the Black Sun Invasion. Aang, Toph, Katara, Suki, Sokka, Mai, and Ty Lee are getting curb-stomped by a full-power Ozai. Ozai and Iroh are grown-ass men and trained royal princes who are war criminals...these children would get shit-diffed by a blood-lusted adult fire-hazard duo. This is why Ozai wasn't chasing down Aang during Books 1 to 3 because the Gaang would have been killed brutally, viciously, and violently. Especially, until the very end Aang didn't know lightning redirection.

I can't wait for the live-action version of Ozai, Azula, Iroh, and Zuko to hit the television screens! I just know it going to be amazing and epic!

[bugbart]

I'm going to be asking a lot of artists I follow this question, but how did you develop your style? It SEEMS like most people find their style and stick with it forever, just making improvements and iterations. I tend to work in a lot of different styles because I enjoy doing that, though I know there are things I gravitate towards as well. But I wonder what your journey was and how you got feedback and improved while staying true to what you enjoyed?

hmm. I think the first thing i always come back to is that "style" is more or less just a code word for shorthand, especially if you're looking at a simplified, "toon-y" style. An art style is just an artists toolbox of learned techniques and shortcuts.

stylized anatomy, stylized backgrounds, etc. for a lot of artists is just how they're visually translating or abbreviating the thing they're trying to draw. If i find something works as both an efficient and satisfying visual shorthand for me, It'll find it's way into my art style.

for example, drawing faces in this style does not take very long at all, which makes the style choice good for a comic where this character is present in nearly every single panel. It's simple, its cute and fun to draw, and also to most people will effectively "read" as a face.

My style comes from taking inspiration from things I like to look at, I don't know how else to better describe it. There's a lot of influence from western comic books as well as anime/manga in my art style, (also a lot of techniques that i picked up when I was learning how to draw characters come from how to draw manga/anime books, that i still use to this day). A lot of it just comes from experimenting with what tools I have at hand (and when you work digitally you have a Lot of tools). Occasionally if there's an artist who I really like the work of I'll spend some time in a sketchbook trying to emulate their style and I'll learn something neat I can then add to the proverbial Toolbox. Either that or I learn that just because I like to look at something, doesn't mean I enjoy making art that way.

As for feedback and improving, going to college was where most of that happened for me. College was a really mixed bag, but I was and am super lucky to have had a handful of professors who really Got what I was doing and gave me genuine mentorship as well as honest, sometimes harsh critique when I needed it. Taking a figure drawing class also helped me improve soooooo much

Granted I also had at least one professor who made me want to quit doing art entirely for a couple terms, and I kind of got better/started making art that was more What I Wanted To Be Making out of total spite.

I hope any of that is coherent or helpful, and honestly if having a range of styles you like to work in is fun for you theres no reason not to make it- theres no need to narrow yourself into one distinct style if you dont feel like it.

[art-for-my-sake]

Dancers are essentially ambidextrous. So is the Winter Soldier.

There’s an expression: Never give a sword to a man who cannot dance. I think the Winter Soldier’s lethal coordination originates from Bucky Barnes’ dance prowess. While Bucky Barnes is a right-dominant person in his everyday actions – reaching for a wrench or using chopsticks – he is ambidextrous in his Fighting Mode.

When “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” came out in 2021, episode 5 established that Bucky is right-handed. Online, there were many people who cried out that ‘Hydra had brainwashed the Winter Soldier to be left-handed’ and included the supporting screenshots of him wielding various weapons.

Hydra did NOT brainwash Bucky to be left-handed, they trained him to be efficient. Efficiency is about removing unnecessary elements; what’s more efficient, having to move one gun from side to side or having a gun in either hand? But having a gun in a non-dominant hand requires more training to be a good shot. Hydra had to train him to be able to kill with either hand.

(Now, the knife-flipping in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” is highly inefficient but it’s so. damn. COOL. It’s some of my favorite choreography. I don’t care that it’s ‘unrealistic’ I will die on this hill.)

I argue that Bucky was a prime candidate to become an efficient assassin, in part because of his dance background. Canonically, Bucky is a dancer (in both the MCU and the comics, but for this essay I’ll be looking at the movies). Dance requires a balance of the body’s abilities. Performance dancers must drill every technique evenly on the right and left sides, so they are prepared for any choreography given to them. But even social dancers must engage their whole bodies with surprising amounts of coordination.

Bucky would have learned to dance in the 1930’s and 40’s and many popular dances of the time could be adapted for three dancers. In “Captain America: The First Avenger,” Steve skips out of a double date, leaving Bucky to take both women out dancing. It is conceivable that Bucky would have been able to dance with them at the same time. This further indicates ambidextrous conditioning.

Another element of dances from the 30’s and 40’s is an ability to improvise. Yes, there are specific movements and sequences that are learned, but to lace these steps together while moving in a space with other couples (or trios) requires quick-thinking and a keen awareness of the environment, skills the Winter Soldier demonstrates consistently.  

Even though Bucky is never shown dancing, we can assume that his skills are at the very least proficient, if not outright exceptional. Again, in the first Captain America movie, he asks Peggy Carter out dancing when she looks stunning and he looks like he’s just survived a POW camp. This is not the action of a man who cannot dance. This is someone who is sure of his ability to provide a pleasurable experience on the dance floor no matter who his partner may be.

To circle back around to my original topic: brainwashing someone to be a lefty is stupid. But, speaking from experience, training someone to be so adaptable as to be ambidextrous makes a lot of sense.

-l'art pour l'amour de moi

[brosencrantz]

OUBLIETTE: Reflections on Year One

I've been making a webcomic for a year now; here are some things I've learned.

Mosaic from one of the very first pages. These have aged alright, I think.

Making a webcomic isn’t one skill, it’s a bunch of different skills flying in close formation.

Obvious really, but a shocking amount of effort when you’re actually learning them all from scratch; you realise why the credits for most successful pre-internet comics had one person doing pencils, one inks, one letters, one colours… Writing is a skill; art is a skill (and drawing expressive people is a totally different skill to drawing plausible mechanisms or cityscapes); visualising a scene and segmenting it into panel layouts is a skill; inventing and applying colour palettes is a skill. All of these I’m essentially teaching myself from a baseline of zero (except writing fiction, from a baseline of ‘I worked hard at this ten years ago’).

Added to all this, webdesign and website management are another skill (of which more anon) and trying to get anyone’s attention about The Thing I Made in the hideous algorithmic nowhere-land of 2020s internet yet another, which I mostly can’t be bothered with. Learning is fun, but it’s A Lot, especially when this is a hobby for fun and the minute it stops being fun I don’t have a reason to do it.

3d model of Erewhon St flats. Another thing to learn how to do.

Accordingly, workflow matters a lot

I have found it quite difficult to mentally jump from one skill to another, and have found it easier to apply each skill to ‘batches’ of pages than to apply each process to a page in sequence. I try to script out an entire chapter at once (though changes invariably come later), and then draw it in blocks of c.4-5 pages, first with rough sketches and panel layouts, then working out props (including 3d models to help with perspective, and 2d patterns that can be distorted into backgrounds), then lineart, then colours, then shading, then speech bubbles etc, to a block at a time.

I have adjusted the ‘stages’ of design (this is what I’ve been using in the last few months) and while I still don’t have this nailed, I think an update schedule and drawing approach based around batches of a month’s worth of pages is currently feeling easier and more time-efficient.

The very first comic page I did – embarrassingly crap in itself, but a helpful reminder how far I’ve come. A Remastered version will appear in the comic in a few years, and it’ll feel good to compare the two.

Practice (and process) makes my art both better and faster, but there’s always something new to learn

This project was partly a learn-by-doing approach to teaching myself digital art, and I’m getting there. My art is still very much Not Good but is visibly improving as I discover shortcuts and become more practised and comfortable. These improvements make my drawings look better but also make it quicker to churn them out. I have found a relatively consistent way of drawing faces (which were definitely my weakest point and I hope are now merely weak), and various tools and technical techniques to make things go faster (without, hopefully, being quite as obvious about it as all the low-end high school romance webtoons out there assembled from the same prefabricated Clip Studio assets.)

However, as soon as I get comfortable with one thing I discover I want to get better at the next (I’m still rubbish at clothing, for instance). It might be one day I’ll reach a level of ‘fundamentals’ such that, rather than going through complex processes, I can just pick up a stylus and bash out what I want to. But that feels a long way off.

The temptation to go back and fix things is strong

A lot of the story was formed before I started drawing it but a lot more of it has emerged over time. As I get better and more comfortable with all this, I’m realising I have accidentally boxed myself in, or missed opportunities, in early pages, and now have concepts and parts early on that I want to change. I also note little infelicities in writing and art that are worth fixing.

I’m conflicted about what to do here. Chats on various sites (Spiderforest discord, mainly) have been helpful with the sense of a webcomic as an early draft. Kill Six Billion Demons reset itself fairly early on to make a bunch of Early Episode Weirdness line up with the massive plot that Abaddon later delivered. I am tempted to make tweaks – but I am also worried that way leads endless tweaking and no forward progress. Hum. Better to resist for now.

A great pleasure of doing your own world is just inventing random things. Here’s a cable-car station, with apologies to Otto Wagner.

The net is awash in art tips – lessons on specific things are what work for me

There are an infinity of drawing guides on the internet and I have found almost none of them helpful. The same search term will get you Fine Arts degree stuff and dudes who just want to get a perfect lensflare on yet another sameface anime girl in an incredibly beautifully over-rendered background. There are also generalist “teach yourself from scratch” sites which I also find unhelpful – I tried drawabox on “fundamentals” and stopped after drawing a bunch of boxes because I don’t care about drawing boxes and the exercises were doing absolutely nothing for me. I can only really learn by doing and I can only consistently make myself care about doing the thing if there is something specific I’m trying to do – that’s been the whole point of the comic.

Where I have found a particular thing sticking is when I have a specific object or concept I’m trying to draw and there’s a guide to help with that. The Etherington Brothers’ guides are great on individual things (although in the most unhelpfully diffuse format possible – please for goodness’ sake sell me an ebook, I’m not buying a massive stack of £25 hardbacks); individual Clip Studio tuts are also often good, although also often obviously targeted at people who aren’t me.

Website management hasn’t really got any easier

I wonder if one of the lesser reasons for the decay of the internet into its total capture (front end, back end and finances) by a handful of hideous megacorps – social media being the big one – is that it feels like far more of a headache to do your own website than it was a decade or two ago. I learned my WordPress skills for uni websites circa 2010, since which I’ve forgotten most of them, and while the backend of that hasn’t really changed at all (this horrible Gutenberg thing aside), finding hosting and making it work is the same amount of a faff as then and setting up SSL certificates even more of one. Generic ready-made site builders like Wix are crap and the bespoke webcomic plugins for WordPress exist but need a few technical skills to make work; Toocheke was a struggle for me; Comicpress is great and well-documented but hasn’t been supported in yonks so one day (The great Erin Ptah has had a better time with Toocheke with than me, here are her reflections). CSS and WP theme design is yet another skill and one I now have essentially no interest in learning again except to get a viable website.

I’ve only glanced, and might glance again, at Tapas/Webtoon, but last time I did they seem to be forcing a vertical scroll format, have rather worrying TOS, and absolutely awash with indistinguishable romance manga slop. Which might be where the readership is but I don’t care enough about the numbers to make that compromise. A much more appealing and more old-internet solution seems to be the site Comicfury which does most of the hard work for you. If there’s a next time I would probably use that, like my pal Crow-Caller.

Momentum is essential, but so is time off

From the beginning I’ve tried to do something with OUBLIETTE every single day, on the basis that keeping good habits and keeping the comic in my head are positive and self-reinforcing. I think this was a good approach with two main problems. One, when I fell off the wagon (usually due to a holiday or some other full-time commitment) it was really hard to get back on it. Two, it was getting exhausting and increasingly conflicting with non-comic things which also matter to me (like a job, partner and life). I found that giving myself one day off each week made it much, much easier to keep the momentum up but I haven’t found an answer to the first problem yet. I had a huge amount of personal and work commitments pile up and basically had to write off late November through to Christmas. But I’m back in the saddle!

Audience feedback: not obsessing over numbers is essential, but positive feedback is incredibly motivating

From the endless variations on “please review!” on fanfiction.net back in 2004 I have seen creative friends who associate their self-worth with online audience feedback to the point that a lack of it actually hurts them, and am determined to avoid that. It helps that I’m older and have less to prove; I don’t care about ‘number goes up’ and I don’t want a big following, that’s far too much grief in this day and age. But the sense of howling into a void can be thoroughly demotivating and the occasional comment from someone who is actually reading and appreciating things a powerful antidote to that. I have several loyal and regular commenters who really raise my spirits whenever I see something from them. And a very low point in motivation late last year coincided with a good friend – who I hadn’t even realised read the comic! – dropped me a message about one page. I think it’s safe to say without that positivity I might have given up.

See you in a year!

My next plan is to keep on this to the end of 2025, at which point – once again – I’ll consider if it is still worth the effort I’m putting into it, and I’ll also decide if it’s worth going back and fixing some early stuff. At current rate of Narrative Unfolding I can see the planned story lasting 500 pages, which if I don’t speed things up a bit is going to be ten years of my life. And, I’ll be honest, it’s a colossal amount of time and effort to produce something I still really hesitate to describe as “good” rather than “passable, but improving”.

But the time will pass anyway.