#it's one of my favorite fanarts I've ever made for some reason

[charles-simmons]

Napolitan bros writing on a old picture of Wilbur and Techno they found (ft. Mumza, as the fridge)

Blue is Wilbur. Pink is Techno. Yellow is Tommy.

Zoom ins, to help reading what they wrote ^w^

[egophiliac]

On the “it was supposed to be a joke!” theme, is mustard!trey your favorite?

Back when all I knew about Twst was fanart I thought things like fairies not being able to resist Leona (fairy gala), Jack wagging his tail and then denying it while it is actively happening and Rook hunting his classmates for sport was just fandom hivemind stuff.

Every time I come across something from art that turns out to be real I am delighted, like Jamil’s towel conversation with Kalim before GloMas, I was 130% sure you’d made that up and could not stop giggling.

Trey's Mustard Mania is up there, but I think my favorite will always be Azul's robes story, in which -- I know I've talked about this before, but honestly we should be talking about this 24/7 because really -- it turns out the secret ingredient in Vil's fancy high-end moisturizer is Floyd. Vil has been spending the entire story walking around with Floyd Juice rubbed into his face. what does that mean? who knows! they just wring Floyd out like a towel (somehow?!) offscreen and put the drippings into a cute bottle and sell it to Vil for an exorbitant price! this is just something that happens in canon! why not!

also, the birthday boy sashes. for some reason no one ever believes the birthday boy sashes are real at first, and it's always a sheer delight to see "WAIT, IT ACTUALLY SAYS BIRTHDAY BOY?!" on my activity page. :D

[alllgator-blood]

ohh my goodness can you pls pls pls do a brush tour?? i love ur art so so much its so cruncy >:]

Yes I can, I appreciate your interest!! I use paint tool sai 2 which is kind of archaic, but I've been drawing on a wacom pen and touch small + using paint tool sai since 2012 and I'm too stubborn to move onto something better. I actually only use three brushes so I've made a little drawing where I only use one brush per character to show the differences:

Gonna put the screenshots of the brush settings below the cut cause it got longer than I expected:

I drew my three big faves cause frankly I am sick of looking at kallamar and narinder's smug faces lmaoooo ANYWAY. GOING FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, WE HAVE THE CHUNKY BRUSH. I use that brush for messily coloring things in, doing big blocky background shapes, or just adding texture to a drawing. It's my favorite brush to paint with but I have not....finished a painting for this blog yet...

Then for the crunchy brush, it's a tool I use half for lineart and half for coloring. I use it for stuff like changes in fur color/markings, drawing all the lines in the backgrounds I do, and finer details the chunky brush can't handle. It's also the lineart tool I use for my drawings where the lines are all on the inside of the chararacters but not the outside!

As for the smooth brush, this one only ever gets used for lines but it was created when I was so bored of my lineart tool I stopped drawing for a while. I wanted a calligraphy pen and had to work around SAI's limitations, so while it doesn't have that thin-thick angular effect that calligraphy pens have....I manually apply the pressure and it looks passable enough. I hope.

The brush settings are visible in the pics but uNFORTUNATELY I DO *NOT* remember where I got my stupid brush pack from. I literally downloaded the files before I was even a teenager but I *do* remember they're from deviantart. If anyone is for some reason kicking and screaming to acquire this ancient, crusty brush pack I'm sure I could throw it in a google drive

I have other useless information about my process if any of this is remotely helpful: for the anaglyph effect on my lines, I literally take a full 120 seconds to copy+paste two copies of my lineart, color it red and cyan, and then slightly move them up+down beneath the black lineart to get that 3dish effect. My flat backgrounds are just another sai preset texture, usually the checkerboard one cause it's swag. The rest of my brushes are just for utility or to fill in the gaps, that scroll bar leads to a bunch of empty space. They're not worth showing off just because they don't ever get used, or it's just like. The bucket tool. The select tool. A binary pen I never use. And lastly, for my usual lines, I actually go back and mess them up myself to get them to look more chaotic...my lines are usually smooth + even but it's so boring to look at and time consuming that I'm trying to unlearn that.

here's a wip of what my lines USUALLY look like with the smooth brush. You can see for the background I mostly used the chunky brush for shapes and then the crunchy brush for the finer lines! But yeah it takes forever to do smooth lines because I have nerve damage in my arm (it's why my stabilizer is maxed out...) and I refuse to use the line tool. In a professional setting I definitely make sure my lines are polished but this is just my goofy fanart blog and I want everything to look like it's been laced with crack.

I HOPE ANY OF THIS HELPS?? OR JUST SATES YOUR CURIOSITY, I try to not gatekeep the way I do my art so I have literally no secrets tbh

[cer-rata]

Cerata's 2024 End of Year Artist shoutouts! (part 1)

Okay so this year was the first time I'd really participated in fandom in over a decade, but I'm truly glad I did because I met a ton of great people, and even got to work on projects with some of them. So I wanted to put all of the cool visual art that I've received last year, whether it be art trade, commission, part of an event, or...fanart? Because that happened somehow?

Anyway, there are a number of other people that I worked with last year, but a bunch of that art started near the end of the year, and as such is not finished yet, hence why this post will be two parts, one now, and the second when everyone else finishes up.

No particular order, all of these artists are great, and lovely people, so do go check out the rest of their work and tell them how cool they are, yeah? Also, some are currently open for commissions, so keep an eye out for that.

(Also, this is my first time trying to do ID text, so bear with me if they're a little rough, despite being a writer, I hate words?)

So first we have @fiyaharts with a lovely illustration of a number of the my favorite Krypton and Krypton-adjacent children. Shadi is lovely to work with and fast to the point where it spooked me a little bit, go off girl.

Next we have two pieces from my favorite Evil Woman Apologist, @vivictory-draws, one of a divorced Barbara and Kara being totally normal about it, and the other of my child and blorbo that haunts my waking hours, Conrad. Love N to death, which is why I haunt her with threats of commissioning Joker/Desaad Yaoi.

...Maybe for the next list, who knows...

So next we have the art created for the last @womenincomicsminibang (which is going to be returning with a reverse bang in a few months, keep an eye out on that.)

The lovely and evocative cover was done by the talented @breakingthespacetimewall, and the scenes of Cassie trying and failing to get her life together were done by the wonderful @soop-jpg

Working with them was a pleasure and honor, and their dedication and kindness really helped me through finishing that fic, and I remain incredibly grateful for that.

The first person I worked with this last year, and the one who really helped solidify the core of a lot of my projects, @nicodrawings drew a glorious cover for my mania-induced first longfic, and also a character reference for the aformentioned disordered young man who haunts my waking hours. She's a professional through-and-through, with wonderful instincts and great communication. She's also working on a fan-comic project of her own that I think is wonderful and am excited to see continue.

I lucked out and was paired with the super chill, super talented @byeara on my first fan project ever, and they hooked me up with this super fun and detailed cover for the fic I wrote for that one kon-centric minibang. I loved working with them, and would love to do so again, logistics willing.

This jerk @vnekey made me cry by drawing really sweet, totally unexpected fanart for that mania-fic I wrote. I'm still a little speechless really, I'd never gotten fanart of any sort for any reason before, and to receive something so lovely as the first thing really touched me deeply, and honestly kept me writing through some rough patches.

...Fight me!

My first ever art trade! Kind of! @spider-jaysart is super sweet and supportive and made my...second biblically (is there a Source bible? Are there religious Coluans?) cursed son and his hapless, frankly narratively cursed best buddy look so precious that they ALSO made me cry, can we stop that actually--

Speaking of my cursed son and his narratively cursed Kryptonian, @spicy-apple-pie created this really pretty piece that's...a number of weird deep cuts smushed together into something really specific, but neat if you have the context, which nobody does :3

She was so wonderful and patient and I really enjoyed seeing her run with her inspiration, the Kryptonian mural is super neat and not something I would have ever come up with on my own.

@mediaraiz Is really stylistically flexible, and their "Blob" style really scratched that itch I had for something cute and playful, and they were so game in taking on a larger project, and then went above and beyond in making my lanterns looks truly special.

Finally (for now), @riverdeansart drew a sweet little scene of two horrifyingly stressed totally fine spacebros chilling and chatting about how everything is completely okay!

I was super vague about this one and Dean did a great job getting the vibes right anyway, and with haste.

...So yeah, that's if for now! I'll circle back in a bit when I'm forced to let more artists out of my basement everything else is done!

[demadogs]

Why byler? Is my question what is it about them that’s so popular

ooo this is a fun one. im assuming you may be one of my newer followers who didnt follow me when i was in the byler trenches. welcome. let me explain.

i think probably the biggest reason people gravitate towards byler is that its extremely fun for people who love film analysis because most of us genuinely believe it will happen in s5. for me specifically, this is the entire reason im here. i first started liking byler when s2 came out but it was casual. i just thought they'd be cute together. once s3 came out and i saw someone point out that mike was framed perfectly in a closet, that was my turning point. thats when i got insane about them because i actually believed its where they were headed.

its always fun to ship your favorite characters and engage in fanfics and fanart, but when theres a genuine belief that this is the direction the story is actually going in, its just a completely different experience. its a whole other world. its no longer about the characters themselves anymore. its about the cinematography, the props, the color palettes, the music choices, the blocking, the lighting. all of these things and more have provided evidence for why we believe byler will be endgame. its the perfect ship for people who are really passionate about filmmaking as a whole. 

many of us, including myself, got our degrees in film or have a background in filmmaking. ive made my own films and i plan to make more. one of them was screened at a festival. ive written academic papers on shows and movies. i've taken college film classes where my professors talked about stranger things. im a professional photographer which coincides a lot with film. i have this blog to talk about my favorite fictional media online. every time i watch something new i read long analyses on the media. if they dont exist, i write them myself and post them here. i love talking about and learning about and watching cinema on a much deeper level than someone who just throws on a show when theyre bored. so watching two complex characters not only have romantic tension in their actions and dialogue alone, but also have enough depth to analyze the practical filmmaking choices that prove they are going to end up together…. well its like fucking cocaine to me.

another reason is that mike wheeler, in my opinion, has the potential to have some of the most well written internalized homophobia ever. and i think he differs greatly from a lot of other characters with internalized homophobia because the writers have had the patience to not fully confirm his sexuality until the final season. many other queer characters who struggle with their sexuality come to terms with it over the course of one season or less. or they write it with dramatic irony so the audience is always well aware they are queer from the getgo, even if the character doesnt know yet. while theres nothing inherently wrong with any of these choices, i think having a more outside perspective on internalized homophobia and having that perspective be told slowly will make for a much more authentic and powerful queer coming of age story. i think all of mikes flaws and animosity towards both will and el will pay off so much once we know what hes been going through. i believe this character actually has the potential to reach people who arent accepting of the queer community right now.

byler also just resonates with the queer community so much. a lot of queer ships, especially mlm ships, are dominated by straight women, sometimes to the point where the ship doesn't even feel like its a part of queer culture anymore. its just nice to have a gay ship that feels like its for gay people. and as much as i love a really well written tragedy, its also nice that we can see a happy ending so clearly.

in short, its just fun. the whole "will they/wont they" element is fun as hell. ive never had that with a ship before. i tend to lean towards slow burns that i know will be canon (snowbaz <3) or tragedies that are so gut wrenching i dont even WISH they got together (jackieshauna <333) byler however just speaks to my film loving soul on such a deep level. its perfect for me. its so fun to analyze and read other people's analyses. i cant wait to see how it unfolds in s5.

[tizeline]

Now that 2024 is coming to a close:

1) Of everything you've made this year, which ones are you the most proud of?

2) What are a few of your favorite things (art, comics, fics, etc) that someone else has made this past year?

Ooo fun ask!

1 - So in general I'm just really happy with how the entire Separated AU developed throughout the year! I created it almost exactly a year ago now (the anniversary is on the december 26th btw, might have something planned for that). And I've mentioned it before but I really wasn't planning on developing into a proper story originally, I thought of the basic concept one day and thought it was neat so I just wanted to put it out there. So I made a SINGULAR post and that was all I initially planned to do, but then I came up with more and more ideas and before I knew it the AU got fucking SECOND PLACE IN THE TMNT AU COMPETETION!? HELLO?? Yeah turns out people like my silly little AU, to this day I'm constantly blown away with all the positivity I recieve from this fandom and it means the world to me ueueueu 😭💕

I've made quite a few TSAU comics over the year, but the first TSAU comic I made that was longer than just a page or so was the Cell Talk comic and it still holds a special place in my heart for that reason. (Also it's where the whole bit about TSAU!Leo being a huge Shadow fanboy originated from so that's awesome)

There's also a certain project I've participated in and made art for that I'm really excited to show you guys, but I'm not really supposed to talk about that yet so uhhhhhh 🤫 you guys are just gonna have to wait for that one lol. Either way, I'm proud of myself for being being part of that :D

2 - OKAY ENOUGH ABOUT ME, time to give some other people the spotlight!!

First of all, special shout out to anyone who has made fanart of my AU, I love love LOVE you so much!!! 💕

The art that the other participants of the tmnt fashion competition made was also absolutely amazing, that event was so fun!! Kat especially, she totally deserved that win her art was so good!

I've been a fan of the Empyrean Weeping AU by cupcakeslushie for a while now, but it's just been getting better and better, the recent comics for the AU have really been absolutely fantastic, I adore the art and story!!

I've been absolutely obsessed with The Canary Continuity fic series by qolden recently it's driving me insane. Donnie is one of my favorite characters ever which means that of course like any normal person I love seeing him suffer! :D I was actually a bit worried that the story was gonna be a bit too angsty for me when I read the tags, but turns out it was just the right amount angst for me, and also it's gonna get a happy ending which is great, so yeah I'm having an absolute blast reading it!

[machiroads]

Fic Writer Interview

Thank u @plusultraetc for the tag wheeeeee

How many works do you have on AO3?

8️⃣

What's your total AO3 word count?

251,850, 150k of which is one fic lmao

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Nine Lives, by an order of magnitude over 2nd place

Naruhata Noir

A Tumultuous Sea, You and Me (the mer-pirates fic)

Being No One, Going Nowhere (the 2 broken arms fic)

waiting on the seasons to change, waiting for the curtain to fall (the fortuneteller fic)

I am surprised to see the 2 broken arms fic in the top 5 tbh!

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I like to get responses to my own comments, so I try to reply to everyone's comments :]

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Uhhhhh PROBABLY 9L since it ends with everyone going off to war haha oopsie

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

Uhhhhhh probably merpirates? It's really gross and sappy. Dive into the ocean and kiss a mermaid in front of your entire crew. The 2 broken arms fic also got a pretty happy ending (Aizawa goes to bed and also maybe jerks it a little)

Do you write crossovers?

Not crossovers per se but I do enjoy a deep in the weeds AU

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I don't think so? The worst I get is people saying "wow almost no typos" which is very tame lmao

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not yet! Kintsugi (the epilogue to 9L) will have some mild spice but I'm at a point in my life where I just couldn't be jazzed to write folks doing it sloppy style

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so except for that website that's scraped like a ton of fics a few months back

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had one person request to translate 9L into Ukranian, though I never saw if they ended up doing it. Recently I've also had a couple people leave comments in Spanish so I assume they translated the story into Spanish somehow!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

The unpublished FFXII AU is partially co-written by Robbirdthe8th, but it's been parked for like a year and a half. Also I would be remiss to omit @kyurilin who might as well get bonus credits for the Nutstang

What's your all-time favorite ship?

I have been in fandom spaces for over a decade YOU CAN'T JUST MAKE ME CHOOSE A SINGLE ALL-TIME FAVORITE IT'S IMPOSSIBLE. Perhaps a low-commitment list of OTPs from across the years:

Erasermic (obviously)

Edwin (FMA)

Netteflix (FE3H)

Asanoya (HQ!!)

Kanej (6 of Crows)

Yuchi (FB)

Asucaga (MSGS)

Soukana (FMP)

Maiko (ATLA)

Hanvi (DB)

Nejiten (Naruto)

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Probably any of the Fire Emblem or Fruits Basket fics I started drafting in 2020/2021 before I figured out how to write fic lol

What are your writing strengths?

People tell me I am good at characterization! I think I'm also good at describing a setting, a skill that I exercise often in my technical writing.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Exposition, my nemesis. A necessary evil, but it's like pulling teeth, every time.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Short answer: I just. Don't.

Longer answer: I think there's a time and place for it, and I've seen both well-executed and clunky ways of doing it. I've never seen a need for it yet in anything I've written.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

BNHA was the first fandom I published anything for, though honourable mention goes to Fruits Basket and FE3H for convincing me that I can tell my own stories (and then get stuck trying to figure out how to write fiction woops).

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Idk man I'm just vibing in my lane of erasermic et al right now

What's your favorite fic you've written?

Listen it's gotta be 9L. This fic is the reason I have made so many friends in this community. People have drawn fanart for it (one of which now lives permanently on my desk in the form of a mousepad, thank u Dragon). It is the story that got me into writing fic because it was a story that nobody else was telling, so I wrote the story that I wanted to read.

People still get to the endnotes on 9L and are like THIS IS YOUR FIRST FIC???? and yeah. I started writing fanfiction at the tender age of 28 and the first thing I decided was worth sharing is still my magnum opus. Anyone can write fic! Find a writer whose style you like, emulate it, and write the story you want to read. It's that simple.

[therantingsage]

Blogtember prompts 11-20, once again courtesy of @mod-jazzy / @jazzy-art-time! Had some fun ones this time around!

Once again, elaborations under the cut:

Day 11: Tbh I try to make most of my OCs easy to draw so I wasn't sure who to pick for this. Ended up deciding on Neura, because she really takes no effort.

Day 12: I wouldn't say Maximus is by any means the most difficult character to draw, but I distinctly remember hating having to draw him back when totemrodents was still around. His shape was annoying and I could never keep the size of his ears consistent. So I felt it would be fitting to give it one more go for old times sake.

Day 13: painted-pokes barely existed, it got zero asks and like 6 followers total, but I remember liking the vague ideas I had about the characters and setting. But looking back on the last post I ever made on there, I realized how AWFUL it looked and just NEEDED to do it more justice. Hi Inverse bye Inverse

Day 14: Paleo is the character who gets the most physical abuse in all of my blogs I'm pretty sure. I didn't want to draw how he lost his foot, cuz that's a major plot spoiler. And I didn't want to draw the scene where he got the back scar, because I couldn't figure out the framing for it. So instead. Future injury :) I'm not elaborating :)

Day 15: Haha anyway happy family on the beach! Once I get to the part of fugamsemidei's plot where they go on their Plate Quest it's gonna be so fun to draw. Much more levity in that part of the plot

Day 16: Hi Jazzy!!!!!! Hi hi hi Jazzy I drew your lizard!!!!! I wouldn't say Jody's blog is my favorite blog of yours, I honestly couldn't tell you what my favorite is I like them all a lot (gun to my head I'd probably say wastelandlabs or flakenrudy). But! Jody is your favorite blorbo and I've never actually drawn proper Jody fanart for you!!!!!! So here she is!!!!!!!

Day 17: I don't think I've ever elaborated on Cootenany? He's a Xatu/Absol hybrid who lives in the facility. He's like half the reason most of the plot happens. I cut out the part of the conversation telling the ACTUAL prophesy he's giving right here cuz I want to keep that a secret for later, but I at least wanted to draw him cuz I don't think I have more than once.

Day 18: I thought really hard about it but I don't think I really.....cut out parts of stories very much? Or at least if I do I usually do it early enough in the plotting stage that nothing but random thoughts exist of it. So the only thing I could come up with for this one was Spoop the Ditto. Initially they were just....a regular Ditto with nothing special going on? Just the youngster of my Phantump group. But now they're like. An actual character with plot importance in lots of places. Idk when I'm ever getting to that but it's something.

Day 19: I have definitely not mentioned either of them anywhere, but all my blogs are in the same universe! And this is the og Arceus and Mew of that Universe! Dhaha and Leonen! The only blog I think they'll ever be relevant in is fugamsemidei for obvious reasons but yeah. Them. They're buddies :3

Day 20: Lucy...oh no Lucy, your whimsy....they stolt it away from u....

[mxrtified777]

the mxrtified777 situation is crazy

(ridiculous discourse below!)

You want me to Take responsibility for the satirical, suggestive art I drew over 2 years ago upon request? Sure thing. My side profiles looked like shit back then and I don’t even want to look back at the dialogue I wrote for them at the time. What I will seriously say on the matter is that some of you are misinterpreting the intent behind that piece. Obviously if anything of any suggestive caliber makes you cringe, then you aren’t going to care about intent. That’s fine. You get to block the tag, block me, whatever, to curate your own online experience. What you don’t get to do is create a moral problem out of it when you dislike or feel discomfort with the topic being displayed. To circle back to intent, That piece was created to get a laugh out of people who enjoy the inherently ridiculous dynamic behind Nevaac. Obviously what makes you laugh is subjective, but whether or not you personally found it funny doesn’t erase the fact that I created it to be that way. Had I intended it to be purely suggestive, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to censor part of the request (something also done to be funny), or pose them in a way that prioritized their expressions rather than their bodies, or dressed Isaac in weed pajama pants. I won't shy away from the fact that I've created artwork with the intention of creating suggestive fan-service. When I was younger, I had a huge fictional crush on that deranged emo kid. I would not say the same now despite him being one of my favorite characters of all time; I have outgrown him in that regard. I would not draw those same pieces today; hell, I wouldn’t draw the “”Infamous Monopoly Drawing”” today. I admit to being younger and more naïve when I drew that piece; however, I also will mention that I was within an appropriate age range for that behavior to not be objectively creepy at the time of drawing that. If you still believe the artwork I’ve created to be a serious problem in need of fandom-wide exposure, then I encourage you to reorient yourself with some current events to remind yourself what the majority of the population considers to be real problems. Regardless of the piece, I do try my best to tag possibly concerning content so that people who want a fun, carefree fandom experience don’t have to see it. If you think I’ve missed some tags, don’t be scared to tell me.

Continuing off of that, I advertise myself as a weirdo all of the time; not the kind of weirdo I’ve been insinuated to be, but someone who creates and enjoys strange (and occasionally disturbing) things nonetheless. It's plastered fucking everywhere on my blog. The ‘16+’ warning is there for a reason. The labeling on the packaging doesn’t exist to be ignored. Block the tags I encourage you to block in my pinned post if you don’t want my stuff in the fandom tags, or block me directly, which I have also encouraged people to do.

It truly feels as though some of you are forgetting that the people on the other side of your screen are just that; people. I am a real person. The IBVS fandom is made up of real people. Flipping this coin over, the characters in IBVS are not real people. Edward Quinton does not get upset when Edwix fanart gets published in the tag. You want to know who does actually get upset? Every real fandom member that scrolls through the tag looking for new fanart or theories where they instead end up finding people repeatedly making “callout posts” about shit hardly anyone even cares to remember. At this point, those posts are polluting the tag with its played-out drama more than I ever have with my artwork. Listen to me when I tell you this: go re-read the story. Go think of ridiculous and outlandish theories. Go make an unreasonable amount of fanart for your favorite jock with only 13 total lines. Go make OCs and AUs with your friends. Enjoy IBVS for what it is and stop making yourself and others miserable by obsessing over stuff a rando did on the internet. Go have a good time.

TL;DR: If you’re mad at me for literally whatever reason, go throw a fit about it in the privacy of your own blog outside of the fandom tags where you will upset uninvolved people. You are allowed to hate me. You are allowed to think whatever you want about me. What I believe you should not be allowed to do is to turn this already small fandom full of genuinely kind and creative people into a warzone, or at the very least a less-than-hospitable fan-space, that discourages artists, writers, and other fans from enjoying the story.

[sesskagarchive]

From the Archives: September 2024

banner by @jafndaegur

MissTeak

Dokuga | FFnet

Recommended by KillingPerfection143 & @kaoruhana08

"She has some really cool, funny, romantic SessKag fanfics and some others but I only read SessKag so.. and she apparently last uploaded something in 2010 or so. She has a well deserved right to be in this list. Her work needs to reach more people even though she's not active." - KillingPerfection143

"MissTeak was a huge contributor to the fandom in the late 2000's, early 2010's. She's actually the one who got me into SessKag. Her effortless way of creating so many scenarios for the pair left me breathless and I will always feel my heart ache for our favorite pair when I read Wisteria or Once Upon A Time in Edo." - @kaoruhana08

Recommended reading:

Happiest Christmas Rated T. From 2009. One Shot. Summary: Last Christmas, Sesshoumaru had been around to hold her hand. No matter how cold it got, he had the magical ability to warm her up from head to toe. They would stroll along the streets illuminated by merry Christmas lights that shone like a thousand amber gem stones. Today, she was walking alone, and had no idea how long she could take it. But Christmas never came without magic, or love, for that matter…

Happy Father's Day, Inupapa! Rated K. From 2009. One Shot. Summary: [Response to InuYoukaiLiz' Father's Day challenge] As they all say, Kagome is the only one who can make Sesshoumaru do anything and get away with it. This Father's day, just for Inupapa, her grand plan involves baking a chocolate fudge cake, a thank you speech and a hug…(Warning: Hilarity ahead at Sesshoumaru's expense.)

Happily Ever After Rated MA. From 2010-2011. Incomplete. Chapter fic. Summary: (1st place for Best Romance, Best Drama and Best AU/AR, Dokuga Awards 2nd Quarter 2010) Struggling to maintain her old family shrine, Higurashi Kagome could not be more thankful for the miracle that came in the form of a letter telling her that the Higurashi family owned forty percent of a traditional Japanese inn in Tsumago, Nagano prefecture. However, in exchange for the profits made by Shiraito inn, Kagome would have to marry the devastatingly handsome yet arrogant owner and serve as the inn's okami. Happily ever after? No way!

KH: "the only SessKag work that I would give arms and legs for her to finish. If you don't know me as an author, here's a secret: I never would have become half the writer I was without this story. The setting, the characters, the slow burn, the plot: even years later I see the influence of this strangers getting married trope in my writing. This is hands down, in my opinion" the best arranged marriage SessKag AU ever."

I knew you'd marry me Rated K. From 2010. One Shot. Summary: \"Higurashi Kagome!\" He had called out in his childish voice. \"You will marry me.\" Kagome takes a trip back on memory lane on her wedding day, recalling how her husband Sesshoumaru first proposed to her at the age of six, armed with nothing but a bunch of wilted daisies and a plastic pink ring from Toys R Us.

Jealous of you Rated K+. From 2009. One Shot. Summary: "Dearest Sesshoumaru, I've created a list of five reasons as to why I am jealous of you. 1) 'You have prettier hair'…" Kagome is jealous of her lovely husband, and the list goes on in this sweet little oneshot. Done for fun, joy and laughter! Please drown in the fluff!

Just turn around…and fall in love Rated T. From 2010. One Shot. Summary: Would you believe that love was just a turn away? A chance meeting at a high school carnival left them in each other's minds, but Fate had decided to play a little game with them in the modern city of Tokyo. She had always been around him, as he had always been around her, yet they have never met for a second time. Neither knew that all they had to do was turn around, and fall in love. (inspired by r0o's lovely fanart 'Separate Ways')

KH: "I love this oneshot of missed meetings. And I think this story over all others influenced my take on how to write SessKag as it shows a lovely modern take on SessKag."

Kinky Ramen Rated MA. From 2009. One Shot. Summary: 2nd place for Best Oneshot - Dokuga 4th Quarter Awards '09 (Response to Kirai's Funny Edible one shot challenge - rated for hot, hot sexual content and hilarity) All Kagome wanted to was to have sex in peace with her husband, but what was a couple to do when their little daughter was around? "Rin, Daddy and Mommy are going to eat ramen in our room now. Don't come upstairs."

Once upon an Edo night + The Sequel Rated MA. From 2009. Complete. Chapter fic. Summary: On a moonlit summer night in Edo, 1639, a famous courtesan from the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters met a demon lord in a bizarre chance meeting moments before she took her own life by jumping off the Nihonbashi. In modern Tokyo, 2009, Higurashi Kagome and Takahashi Sesshoumaru were strolling along the Nihonbashi when their entwined fates from 370 years ago, once upon an Edo night, came back in a crease in time to revisit them.

KH: "This is truly a second chances tale. The historical portion from Edo is full of angst and heartbreak and your heart aches for Kagome despite the smut. The modern portion makes you want to cheer on their reunion. Thevhistorical details are also very good."

Rumor has it Rated MA. From 2009-2010. Complete. Chapter fic. Summary: “I swear, Sesshoumaru is gay.” Inuyasha said dramatically amidst murmurs of agreement. “Totally! He never really talks to or looks at other women.” Kagome agreed excitedly. Inuyasha had replied, “But we have no proof.” And that’s how one conversation led to Higurashi Kagome being caught in a dare – to prove on Christmas that Taisho Sesshoumaru is gay. MissTeak\\'s three-chapter response to Kirai\\'s Christmas challenge!

KH: "is a hilarious take on Kagome making assumptions about Seshomaru and learning just how very wrong she is."

The Adventures of Chibimaru and Gang Rated K. From 2010-2013. incomplete. Drabble fic. Summary: The title says it all! A collection of MissTeak's attempts at cute, funny stories revolving around a six year-old Chibimaru and Gang in their daily lives. If you've enjoyed 'I knew you'd marry me', this is the one for you!

KH: "I think I go back to read this once a year because it leaves me in stitches. Trust me, we'll all want to know more about the little chaotic terror that is Sesshomaru after reading this."

The Third Parties Rated M. From 2009-2010. Complete. Chapter fic. Summary: [COMPLETED] "If I keep reminding myself of how wrong my feelings for her are, I might finally do something right." She was the third party in his half-brother's three-year relationship. He was merely a good friend. Watching her get hurt over and over again, Taisho Sesshoumaru wanted to tell Higurashi Kagome to let go. Yet he could not, not when he knows he could never let go of her just like how she could never let go of Inuyasha.

KH: "I love this one because I love the character growth we see for both characters as the story progresses, but mostly love how Kagome's is portrayed."

Wisteria Rated MA. From 2009-2010. Incomplete. Chapter fic. Summary: [1st for Best Drama and Best Romance - Dokuga Awards 1st Quarter '10] Wisteria is like the sleeve of a maiden, lovelier when it is cared for… Kagome was abducted and brought to Western Gion, where the famous flower streets are. By virtue of her pretty face, she was adopted into a geisha house and trained in the ways of a geisha under the name of Fuji, the Wisteria. Escape was not a option in this beautiful illusion, and Kagome found herself increasingly detached from her old life…until fate throws a figure of her past in her path again…

KH: "a must read for the heavy angst. It's never been completed but it pulls at your heartstrings and doesn't let you go."

XXX-ing in Bed Rated M. From 2009. One Shot. Summary: [Oneshot] A sweet, sexy oneshot exploring our favorite couple's life after marriage! Ever imagined how their married life is like? Especially in bed? What do they exactly do in bed in the privacy of their home?

Recommend a creator who's no longer active in the SessKag fandom for this monthly spotlight HERE!

[sgtmickeyslaughter]

Art Tag

Thanks for putting this together @deathclassic! and thanks for the tag @spookygingerr

Have you always been interested in creating art? : Yes from day one

What's your favorite medium to use? If digital, what programs do you like? I use digital (procreate) most often now, not sure if it's my favorite but it's easier/cheaper than playing with all the mediums I like to use and allows for a little more freedom to play and experiment

Do you create outside of fandom? Yes! I draw and/or paint almost every day in my sketchbook and I work in architectural design so I sketch ideas with co-workers/clients

Share something you haven't finished and/or never got around to posting. Ooof so this haunts me - I have always always wanted to put together a full comic, so I had planned to make a comic version of my fic In Your Love, it's ultimately too much work ... so much potential, absolutely no time

Favorite piece you've made?

Sooo hard bc my favorite piece is for a fic I did but haven't posted yet... very soon though! Until then, my favorite piece is the watercolor I did for the fanart masquerade

Draw your icon in a minute or less - hey bud!

An underrated piece you've made in your opinion

Idk, I like this one and it doesn't have very many notes

Do you do art in a professional setting?

I do a lot of representational architectural drawings - like the Gallagher House drawings I did a little while back

A piece you don't like but did really well on social media. Honestly I really like all the pieces I've done - I either give up or gaslight myself into loving them

Post an old piece and compare it to your most recent, what are the similarities?

Honestly my style changes all the time but my skills have been pretty consistent so theres not going to be anything shocking

Have you ever collaborated with another artist/s?

I've only collaborated with a writer and created art for our gallavich summer camp bunk - which was really really fun

What piece has the most notes? Are you surprised?

Not super surprised, I think it's pretty lovely

Who/What is your favorite subject matter? I love making art that coincides with the fics that I write! after thinking about a scene or world or vibe for so long while writing I want to put it down on paper visually

Show us something not from fandom you've made There's so much, idk have some watercolor buildings, I'm too lazy to curate anything

Where do you like to create? At my table or couch, I don't usually draw out and about for some reason idk why

Do you have a tag that you use to group your creations? Tell us so people can follow it. No but all my art can be found here

Give yourself a shoutout, where can we commission/buy/follow you for more pieces? I don't take commissions or sell pieces, but follow me here on tumblr and you can probably talk me into drawing something you have in mind

tagging: @burninface @matt404b @deedala @doshiart

@heymrspatel @creepkinginc @suzy-queued

[luckyshouse]

i hate this mindset i have developed as of recent (the past ~4 years) that fanart is essentially worthless. its this thing that saddens because i do not even entirely agree. i love fanart, fanart is probably my favorite genre of work because i almost exclusively like art about metagaming- i like art thats ABOUT art, and one of the most poignant and simple ways to communicate that in modern art is to make art about your favorite series. i do not believe in piracy or intellectual property in the slightest. but my issue is so much fanart feels so emotionally vapid. i don't know. i am a huge HLVRAI fan, it is one of my favorite series of all time, i've been rewatching it on repeat recently and looking at a lot of fanart, and something i find really really funny but also really saddening is the grasping of straws to find symbolism and meaning in the most ridiculous stuff. whenever i see someone draw a picture of benrey sad and it's clearly an expression of self i always just wonder why they couldn't have drawn it of themselves and not of their favorite character.

and i guess that goes back to my own insecurities too, huh? i used to draw my favorite characters instead of me for years and years and years. i have said multiple times that i refuse to ever draw myself, that it just doesn't interest me. and now that i've found myself outside of that dissociation i have done a total inverse, i refuse to draw anything that is not some sort of facet or understanding of myself. maybe i'm projecting. but also it doesn't change the fact that i still feel that way. i see an image of someone pouring their heart out into a ridiculous improve larp series made by dicking around completely on VR and i wonder why they have to use the skin of that to make their emotions palatable to an audience. do they want me to like it because of the series? or do they want me to like it because of their expression? who did they make this for? would they be happier drawing something more symbolically important to their life? are they happy enough drawing their favorite character without needing to tie it to a higher meaning? am i jealous? am i disgusted at the fact that it is so common for people to make fanart now and rarely make their own ocs or stories? am i frustrated because i know they could make more compelling meta art about their interest if they just let themselves make art about their relationship to the character instead of just drawing themselves as the character? how much of that is a reasonable conclusion and how much of that is a projection of self?

[spookberry]

Watching your work recently has been so inspiring. I had a rough few semesters of art school, and while I enjoyed the classes, I was mildly disillusioned by an insistence on what felt like "meaningful" art...

A lot can be meaningful! After being online a bit more, around artists like you who clearly love what you're doing and make art you're passionate about, it kinda made me realize that I'm free! I can make what I want, whatever it is! Art that has historically and occasionally been deemed lesser (e.g. fanart) is not actually so, and art can mean a lot even if it isn't in fancy galleries or art books.

Anyway, what I mean to say is: you're inspiring, and talented. I really love your art for what it is and what it represents to me. I love seeing what you make, and it helps bolster me to make my own art as wild as I want!

This is one of the sweetest asks I've ever gotten and it's really made my, like, year lol.

This is the reason I post fanart!! Other artists represented the same for me when I was younger and it made want to participate and join in and I'm glad I did! I've met some cool people and I've had really interesting conversations and experiences via fandom... even if I can be a bit of a lurker at times haha.

Art School's rough, I definitely have felt similarly. A big problem is that a lot of professors tend to be hyperfocused on their own field and what makes art meaningful To Them. (the amount of times I've walked out of a class grumbling cuz a LA prof only wanted to talk about white box gallery work and didn't even know we HAD an animation department...) Which isn't always bad if you gel with the right ones, but other times it can definitely put a dampener on your work. A good way to look at art sometimes I think is that what's "meaningful" about it can be the smallest stupidest reason ever. And you just gotta stand by that, even if other people think it's lame. Sometimes the meaning was in making it, or getting to share it, sometimes the meaning is drawing your favorite blorbo in a white void because it gave you an outlet and makes you happy. That's meaningful, you just gotta know how to argue for that meaning sometimes. (profs LOVE a good bullshitter)

Turning in things for a grade rather than because you enjoy it is never going to be the best format for art regardless of what kind of art you're making. I've found the more I stuck it out the more things I actually enjoyed became available to me and now I'm kinda (not fully tho, im SO glad to be graduating fyi) regretting all the classes I never got the chance to take. You just gotta take it one day at a time and remember that art school should be there as a place to practice and better both your work and your own understanding of the work you make which can feel tedious and unnecessary at times but its worth it in the end(in my experience).

In the end you're the one paying for it and if you're not getting what you want out of it, it's best to look for other avenues, I did! I'm not graduating from the college I started at and I'm honestly really thankful for that.

Anyways, sorry for rambling lol, and thank you for you kind words. I wish you the best anon, you hang in there!

[the-alliance-maker]

More art from my younger sister, yay!

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) looks like that because he's worn the Fierce Deity Mask too many times for extremely long periods, and now it's started to stain/scar his skin.

I'm also putting her little doodle she made me bellow too.

Mask (Baby Hero of Time) has a/his shadow following him around. This is apparently my sister's view of their relationship.

(She was nervous about letting me post the gif and required that I clarified that it's a low effort, quick animation she only made to get a laugh out of me, lol. She was correct about making me laugh. I was in tears for, like, an hour.)

More explanations (And lack there of?) about it under the cut.

These pieces of art are both from an AU of mine that we roleplay a lot.

I'd explain more, but it's built off an alternate timeline/universe of @wutheringmights story "Call them brothers". And I'm not sure what her rules are about fanart or fanfics, mostly because I never asked or looked into it and I never intended to.

I make AUs for the fanfics I read, write fanfics for those fanfics with thousands upon thousands of words in them and then never post them or do anything other than hand them to my sister to read. She does the same with her art.

...Fandoms are messy enough without me accidentally stepping on someone's toes. (I think my sister doesn't post her art because she's too unconfident though.)

That aside, Call them brothers is literally my favorite fic I've ever read. I know we like to throw that phrase around in the fandom a lot, but I have every intention of getting that sucker printed and bound once it's finished. I've been reading Fanfiction for nearly a decade and this is the first one I've wanted to do that for.

If you're a person who enjoys darker stories and want a story line with some actual consequences for the characters, I'd totally recommend it. The last time I was this gut punched over characters and their development was Red Rising by Peirce Brown (My favorite published book series ever), and Wuthering's descriptions of a war ravaged country and all it's horrors is fucking immaculate.

I found Call them brothers through my desire to see a longer fic that had Spirit Tracks Link, and it did. not. disappoint.

Wuthering's takes on what Spirit's abilities, character traits, and game culture/lore are currently my favorite I've seen from anyone in the fandom, and I would doubly recommend the fic just for that.

That said, it's not a story for the faint of heart. It's Dark. With a capital 'd' for a reason. Wuthering doesn't add all those tag warnings for no reason. Also, if you can't stand to see one of the Link bois written as anything other than what the mainstream interpretation for them is, this isn't for you. War isn't out of character, but he's certainly a bold take. A fantastic one, but bold none the less.

Plus there's mild mentions of Links being interested in other character's that aren't their Zeldas or their typical love interests. There is NO shipping of the Jojo's characters amongst each other, but if you're the kind of person who can't stand alluding to characters having crushes that aren't Link x Zelda, it isn't for you.

I know there's some people in the fandom who don't like that kind of thing, so I thought I'd mention it. Also, you've been warned so no being mean to Wutheringmights about it!

If you're okay with the things I've listed, please, please, please give it a read. @wutheringmights deserves all the love for writing something so good.

(Anyway, I could ramble for hours about all the reasons Wutheringmights is my favorite Author in the LOZ fandom, but this was supposed to just be a post about my lil sis's art that got waaaaay away from me.)

[tizeline]

Now that we're entering into 2024, I'm asking some artists and writers that I follow:

1) What is the one piece you're most proud of from this past year?

2) What are some pieces that you would have liked more people to see? If you can include links, I'd love to go check them out!

3) What were your top three favorite pieces (art, comics, fics, etc) that someone else has made this past year?

(As always, no pressure to respond! Feel free to just ignore, or let me know if you'd rather I not send you these kinds of asks in the future.)

Oh this is fun! :D

1) The drawing I'm the most proud of this year is actually one I never ended up posting lmao, so I suppose this is the perfect reason to actually do that

I always feel a bit self-concious about posting non-fanart drawings cuz they don't tend to gain as much attention. Which, I am fully aware that there are more important things than clout! But I am a simple woman, I crave validation 😔 Anyway, I am still very happy about how this one turned out. I very much prefer drawing characters over enviroments, which led to me being way worse at drawing enviroments than characters, so I've been pushing myself for the last couple of years to get better at drawing backgrounds and surroundings. While I still definetily have a lot of room for improvement, this illustration here is the best I've done in drawing enviroments yet.

2) Again, original stuff don't tend to get as much attention (which I fully understand btw, I don't wanna make it seem like I'm complaining too much, I very much appreciate any and all support I get!!!!) but this post with some doodles of my OCs as well as this random drawing of some forest with a big stone head lying in it are a couple of posts I wouldn't mind if more people saw so..... the links are there if ya wanna have a look 👀

3) Oh man, I've seen so many awesome artpieces this year, i can't guarantee that these are my actual top 3 picks, but here are some that I could remember liking (and that I also managed to find lol) (also these are in no particular order

This GIF was the first piece of RotTMNT fanart I ever reblogged and it's still glued to my mind it's just great honestly.

Man I do not like Timothy in the 2012 TMNT series at all but MAN do I love the way pinetreevillain adapted the character for the Rise universe! He's made quite a few comics of Rise!Timothy and he made the character so extremely likable I just hdsjhgjakfga also Pine's artstyle is delicous yummy yum go check out his art now!

I really like those reanimation projects where a bunch of people collaborate and reanimate induvidual segments in their own style, and there was recently one of those released that was a remake of The Clothes Don't Make The Turtle episode from season two of RotTMNT and it's great! Go and watch it here!

[wickedsnack-art]

Can I ask about your online selling experience? I know you're moving away from Etsy (and I don't blame you!) but just curious about what's worked/what hasn't. Trying to help my mom sell her art but like. She's older and I have never sold art online and can't give her any advice.

Please feel free to tag other artists selling their work as well! Thank you 🙏

Oh I have to be honest I am probably not the best person to ask about this as it's something I've definitely struggled with myself! I will say for what it's worth that I've been seeing a lot of artists struggling lately; no matter how "popular" an artist is, many seem to be reporting sales that are lower than expected even if market research/interest checks/preorders were done.

Everyone is struggling financially right now---it's been this way for YEARS---and art is one of the first luxuries to go.

That said, Etsy worked well for me for a long time. If your mom isn't doing fanart, she should be fine, because my biggest issue with them arose about the fact that I was selling fanart. Some tips I have;

USE EVERY TAG. Etsy has, if I recall correctly, 13 tags you can put on an individual item. Use all 13. Use them for alternative words for what you're selling (if it's a sticker, tag it as a decal, if it's a print, tag it as a poster). Think about who you think would buy this and what weird search terms they may use to try to find it, and think about alternative uses for the item (a trinket dish might also be an ashtray).

HAVE DESCRIPTIVE TITLES. Put the most important words first so people can see what they're getting right away, but don't be afraid of slightly longer titles. Honestly my titles could've and should've been longer, like Sailor Moon Art Nouveau Digital Art Poster Print Multiple Sizes or something.

RUN SALES OFTEN. Even if it's just 10-15% off people will buy something they've been eying for a while when there's a sale, or they'll feel more eager to buy something they've just found if it's on sale.

USE ETSY'S AUTOMATED DISCOUNT OFFERS. Etsy can automatically send a discount code to people who have interacted with your shop, use it. I made more sales from the automated 10% off code sent to people who favorited items than my monthly Patreon discount.

USE ETSY FREE SHIPPING. Shipping via Etsy is pretty cheap, and activating the "free shipping on orders over $35" will boost your spot in the algorithm, will boost the likelihood that people will order from you, and will boost the average cart size of people that order from you.

I RECOMMEND PRINTFUL. I used Printful for selling my larger prints, but they also offer other items if you want to branch out. If you don't want to get in trouble with Etsy, make sure you register it as a manufacturing partner and assign every item that Printful makes for you. Dropshipping on Etsy is a problem, but the problem is people who steal art or use AI to generate images to sell. I don't personally see a problem with someone who makes their art themselves going through a print shop to sell products they don't have the means to create at home. If you don't want to do that, you can check out inprnt. I haven't used them, but many other people have and seem to like it well enough.

SHIP THROUGH ETSY. It doesn't take very long to set up a shipping profile for your items, and it makes shipping easier and cheaper. As long as you get your items out on time, you'll get their shipping star or whatever very quickly and easily and maintain it without problem. It also has the benefit that if a buyer ever has an issue with the shipping, Etsy is more likely to have your back. If for any reason you can't ship through Etsy, I recommend pirateship. Also!! Be more careful about international shipping than you think you should be. There are a lot of confusing international laws regarding sending items as a corporation to those countries that you may not expect, so before you agree to selling something to a foreign country, make sure you check their laws.

I have also tried having an Instagram shop and I'll be fully honest I don't do what I should do with my Instagram. Maybe other people have more successful Instagram shops, but the process it took for me to get it started compared to how many sales I've made as a result of it (literally ZERO), I would not recommend it.

Shopify is good if you have a following somewhere, because you have to bring all the traffic there yourself. That's the benefit of Etsy and Instagram; they are able to make traffic for you. I've never had a following large enough anywhere to feel like I could run a Shopify of my art. Maybe one day.

I don't personally know a lot of artists who sell online successfully, so if you see this and you fall under that category PLEASE SHARE TIPS!!