#its been a while since I've done a portrait. I needed this lol.

[da3drat]

Meri and the Hare

been wanting to do something like this for a whileeee. I definitely associate her with hares. something about being quick, agile, and aware of her surroundings in the way only a prey animal can LMAO

[restrainedhungr-a]

|| You reblogged this meme a real long time ago, and I've been meaning to send you something for it ever since. But alas, life has been hard, and I needed time and brainpower to sit down and write it. I'm terrible with words, but let me see if I can find a way to express my feelings towards your portrait of Briar.

Certainly, what strikes me the most about her is her personality. She is cheerful in a non-conventional way (and the ways she shows her happiness, like the little nibbles on LB's hand when she was reading to her), happy and unashamed of her needs and desires. She takes things a lot more naturally than most, and it does make sense, especially considering she is not a human being and was not raised as such. There is also this switch when the Hunger takes over, or when she is afraid (like when Evelynn suggested they visit the place Briar was held captive). Her innocence.

She is the cutest and most interesting living weapon the Black Rose has created, and I absolutely adore the way you portray her! A hyperactive golden retriever puppy that could and would totally kill you and wag her tail while chewing on your bones!

what is ONE THING you like about the way i play my character?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

okay now that im done screaming cuz wtf thats so nice

i do really fucking love briar in general. She's a character archetype that actually just exactly hits what I want to explore and what i tend to enjoy. shes feral, shes unashamed of what(or who) she is, shes separated enough from society and social norms that its interesting to kinda also have her examine and ask why people do certain things and challenge preconcieved notions and challenge characters and ideals

shes a silly little gal but also holds a lot of wisdom because of her different perspective on the world and how she was raised. How she, unlike most people, had to actually build herself up from nothing. She was only born with hunger, and never taught anything else but that so she gets a unique opportunity to really question what it means tobe human or a person. what makes briar, briar? What are names than more of a classification we use for certain people or quick "descriptions" of a specific person? What do they mean, why do we hold such value in them? these things briar wants to discover because she knows what she is, but she also knows she can be more.

her own sentience and ability to talk and communicate proves to her she can be more than a weapon since well. a gun can't (normally) talk, but she can. Why?

but she has that innocence to the world. Desensitized to the cruelty because that was her norm and so kindness to her is so precious. It's special. It makes the acts of kindness and fun mean all the more to her and actions of violence being nothing. You can't threaten her, but you can show kindness which impacts her more. Going against "nature" and idk I'm rambling now hfjekwhwekj

BUT YES THANK YOU Q WQ I JUST HAVE SO MUCH LOVE FOR HER AND HER UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE AND SELF. and I'm lowkey glaring at LoL fandom for not loving her more but ya know that's just me hfjekhfwkjhk

[freebooter4ever]

Hi! I really love your work— do you have any advice for someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience drawing human forms/anatomy? I dont really know where to start 😅

Thank you!!!! ^_^

So first off, bear with me, I'm going to point you to some of my old old art. In general, any 'progress'/tutorial type stuff i post goes into the "wip" tag: freebooter4ever.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/wip

The rest of this discussion is going under a cut lol

I've been drawing since i was a kid - as my grandma likes to tell it i would sit quietly at the card table next to her and make her draw with me because "everyone can draw, grandma". Sometime around high school i got it into my head that i needed a 'class' to understand anatomy, as if it was just this magical thing i would suddenly understand. (college was useless) The truth is i didnt start getting better until recently, when i gave up trying to 'learn' anatomy and just started studying bodies. That sounds weird, but i don't know how else to describe it? If someone told me ages ago that i could learn anatomy the same way i self-disciplined myself into being able to pull out computer science concepts at the drop of the hat, i feel like i wouldn't have wasted so much time but anyway...

Check out any doodles before my mchanzo era for drawings that i did prior to getting serious about practice studies: freebooter4ever.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/mchanzo. Terrible anatomy. Atrocious. (with one exception that i still like which is a poster on sasha bees' wall hey bees if you're reading this) 2016 ish.

THEN 2017 i lost my job, moved away from pittsburgh, missed my DJ friends, watched a documentary on netflix about st*ve aoki (after watching everything vaguely DJ related on the streaming service lol), and the aoki drawing era begins: freebooter4ever.tumblr.com/archive/tagged/steve%20aoki. I joke that the way I learned anatomy was by becoming obsessed with a DJ who contorts himself into very strange positions and has photographers that take photos of him from LITERALLY every angle and who tends to walk around half naked an unusually large amount of time but like...that's literally what happened. Not that im saying you have to start drawing half naked DJ's...just find a subject you dont mind drawing hours of studies from and it makes it a lot easier.

When I'm doing 'studies' I tend to do two separate drawings. Initially I literally just 'study' what I'm looking at - I put it in photoshop and trace the lines that I see. I don't OUTLINE it, there is a huge difference. A lot of times the lines that stand out are not the outlines but rather a dominant shadow or sharp edge. After I feel like I've got a good handle on it, I do another drawing of the pose freehand. Then I take the original photo and put it underneath that drawing and check where I've messed up. If I'm completely off I throw it away and start again, lol. If there's a few errors I fix them. More and more lately I find that the freehand drawing is fairly accurate with anatomy unless it's an unusual or challenging perspective. I break this down more in this post using joe as an example: https://freebooter4ever.tumblr.com/post/633653906052923392/its-been-a-while-since-ive-posted-one-of-these

Those study drawings rarely see the light of day. I just delete them when I'm done because i didn't have an...aim...? For the drawing. They just were to learn.

The doodles that I post on here? Some of the simpler ones are practice sketches from gifs - i will have a gif running next to my drawing and will try to draw what i see, freehand. Some of the more complicated drawings/portraits are from photos - but there's usually something i see in the photo that i want to convey? Like light? or a specific part of anatomy? I dunno, i make shit up as i go.

AND THEN there's my favorite, when i have done all this practice and i can do shit like drawing characters from my imagination. Like kenny hugging his cat. These don't have any reference - im just relying on my memory of anatomy i've drawn in the past.

I dunno. Dont let bad anatomy get you down, just keep trying. My anatomy hero - a sculptor ethan idolized and i idolize by default - even said himself that he doesn't feel like an 'expert', and he's in his 40's and has been doing this shit for decades. Just draw!!! The more you do it, the more you'll start to see what you like, and how you can make it how you like even more. I still think my anatomy is bad, im still embarrassed by it. But i also know i've gotten better because i can see it now.

ANYWAY this is long, im exhausted, i have to go to bed now :) and i was serious about scheduling an abs livestream. Maybe this weekend if im ambitious.

[danieyells]

Messy mutterings about Chapter 55 spoilers with a small angst warning, copypasted from discord with little cleaning and edits lol

I'm imagining Raphael sent Luke away so he wouldn't interfere with him killing/fighting Michael and Simeon went along with the idea and is in the human world too so Luke's not, y'know, on his own in a strange new world and to reduce Luke's suspicion and all. But as Michael and Raphael are fighting or whatever Luke somehow learns what's going on/realizes why things are off and rushes home to try and stop it.

He tries to get between Raphael and Michael(perhaps his back, Raph perhaps striking while Michael is lost in thought missing the brothers, spaced out, staring at the wall where their portraits were) and is struck violently by Raphael's spear instead. Simeon, ofc, followed him home to try and protect him but is too late because of Luke's own determination to protect Michael bonus if he grows a little in this scene--just magically, because his current smol form is too weak to help surely but if he were a little bigger, a little stronger, maybe he could make it in time--!! and Luke is impaled.

He doesn't die but none of the three wanted Luke hurt in this confrontation--Michael is angry at Raph for attacking/being violent in the first place, Raph is mad at Simeon for failing to restrain Luke, and Simeon is like is now really the time for this because hello Luke is hurt.

Angels are made of strong stuff, he's not gonna die but he'll be in a bad spot if they don't get him to an angel who specializes in healing. I've elected this to be Uriel for now although I've been told that Raphael is generally percieved as the angel of healing--but with OM canon his reputation sonfar is so hostile I'm gonna say that may not be the case. Michael (or Raph) can stave things off for a bit but he's not healing specialized either--they're all Archangels and Seraphs but their fields are elsewhere, mostly combat.

(Luke tries to assure that he's fine and attempts to remove the spear. They don't allow this because the spear is, of course, keeping most of his blood in at the moment.)

They can't fly him to someone because it'd be bumpier so they have to carry him or call/run/send for help--so other angels do learn what's going on and speculation begins. Luke is hospitalized and Raph and Michael and Simeon stay with him while he sleeps, kinda tensely, not really ready to talk out whatever happened. But before he passed out Luke tried to tell Raphael not to fight/kill Michael, to talk to him instead. He wanted to tell him to talk to the demons/humans too, they're not as bad as they think(he and Raph are very likeminded so he thinks 'maybe Raphael will listen to me since I'm starting to see that I was a little wrong maybe') but he couldn't get it out.

Simeon messages the demons, Solomon, and MC and says he won't be returning to the human world/devildom for a bit because Luke was hurt in the CR. Mammon, having had recently gotten attached to Luke, is stunned and angry and anxious and wants to know what happened. Simeon isn't ready to tell them yet, and Mammon demands Barb make a portal to the CR for him to check on Luke--surely Barb is also worried because he cares for Luke too!

Diavolo says they're not allowed to go and Barb agrees(he felt as much before Diavolo said anything too.) Simeon agrees because there's some unrest now and speculation and with an exchange student angel having had been injured by a notoriously demon-skeptical Archangel some angels are worried the demons may be involved in this somehow and if demons suddenly showed up it'd make things worse. Mammon curses his helplessness because his new little brother minion is hurt and he can't even check on him. Simeon feels helpless too--he's an archangel, a Seraph, but he can't help Luke either.

I imagine MC then offers to visit instead--they may be a powerful sorcerer now but they're still just a sheep human with an inhuman aura right? They wouldn't be as concerning for the general populace. After some consideration the demons and Solomon agree this would be okay, as does Michael and Simeon [and Raph maybe] but they say to wait a few hours/a day or two before doing so, just to allow some cooldown/recovery in the CR.

(In the meantime Mammon reviews one of Luke's recent text chains to him where he's baking something. He tries to copy all the steps and instructions and clumsily makes some cupcakes. They're ugly and Mammon isn't known for his stellar cooking, but they kinda relieve him a bit and Beel says they taste alright, so Mammon asks MC to bring them to the CR for Luke for him--there's enough for Michael too since he's probably going through a hard time. It's not like he cares or anything!! He's just building up credit! They'll owe him with interest when this is all said and done!!!)

Idk what'd happen afterwards--it's probably the first time MC meets Raph so it's not under the best circumstances and he definitely wouldn't trust sweets from a demon. And even if he was gonna fight/kill Michael he doesn't trust that Mammon would give him anything safe and instinctively would tell Michael not to touch them, let alone Luke if he's awake to do so. So it's not like he hates Michael, he just. Things need to change and he tried to incite it the only way he knows how--or, rather, the most effective way, given how quickly things changed after the Rebellion. A spear to the throat makes anyone listen. A rebellion is what made Michael change, so maybe it will help him go back to normal too.

(Maybe Luke is awake enough to hear them talking about these things and weakly asks if Raph is going to be exciled over this--the first thing he says since passing out. They're surprised because. He got injured trying to protect Michael but he's still trying to protect Raphael, Michael's assailant? But Luke understands how Raphael feels because he feels the exact same way--or he used to. He didn't trust demons or humans or sorcerers or the exchange program, he didn't think they should get along at all. And he saw how sad Michael was without the brothers and hated them for that too--and Raph feels the same way, right?

Angels are all family. Raphael, Michael, Luke, Simeon, even when they disagree, when their views don't align due to time and perspectives and experiences and ages and positions, they're all brothers. And Lucifer and them were their family too. Even if they disliked them or how they behaved, even if they resent their rebellion and its effects they were still family and they loved and cared about them.

And Raphael doesn't want to see Michael hurting anymore either--certainly not over people who don't care anymore, certainly not over people who turned on them and Father, who must hate them as well. . .but he's been with the brothers for over a year now. Maybe two or three at this point. And he may have only learned it recently but. . .they haven't forgotten. They probably don't hate them. And the demons, the humans, even those unfaithful and the practitioners of dark magic, the fallen, they're not as bad as they thought. They're not necessarily their enemies. Raphael doesn't know it like Luke does because he's never left the CR aside for war and maybe visiting the human world briefly too, right? But if he'd consider things differently, if he's allowed a chance to learn, Luke himself promises Michael, promises Father who's surely watching as he always is, that he'll understand. Raph made a rash decision albeit after many many years of consideration-- but it was out of ignorance, so please forgive him and give him another chance and don't excile him? On top of that he needs a chance to learn and do better--imagine how he'd feel, being turned into something he hates or fears? It will help him learn, sure, but it also may only make him feel worse or make him do something more rash or result in another Fall if he has supporters.

Raphael doesn't hate Michael--he just wants things to be different. Perhaps to go back to normal. And he doesn't want Michael to mope over the loss of the seven brothers and Lilith anymore either.

And maybe in this time, since they'd have to decide what to do about Raph, Michael requested Diavolo come over too--y'know, in case Raph is exciled, they'd want Diavolo's approval and reassurance to keep an eye on him too. So maybe he or Barb, as they arrive in the room, would approve of Luke's appeal--ask what Michael and Simeon And Raph and MC think. They could always bring him in as an exchange student too! 😘 That worked for Luke!

Ultimately Raph probably wouldn't be exciled/become a Fallen but be given another chance. Maybe he's stripped of his title temporarily, until he's sufficiently deemed to learn about demons, angels, their history together, culture, whether or not they can get along, etc--so he's bitter, but thankful. And Michael understands that perhaps he's been allowing how much he misses the brothers and Lilith to cloud him and maybe it's time to move on and make changes to the Celestial Realm again after all this time. Bonus points if the bros came along and he was too distracted to sense them--someone's like "oh you're moving on? So we came here for no reason after all?" and ofc he's happy to see them again and gets to hang out with them again for a while before getting to say a goodbye with more closure. And he hangs off of Lucifer's neck the whole time they're there lol he and Dia bond over being Lucifer fanboys too.

Luke's okay in the end--a little worse for wear because being stabbed by Raphael is Not A Small Ordeal but he's okay and he shows a little more maturity. But he's also still same old Luke who will happily point out how awful demons are and use it as an excuse for distrust/fear--but he's more mindful of it now because he feels like he needs to set a good example for Raph lmao.)

[laytonloztew]

I Played: Verloren, Living Playground: The Witch's Puppets

I've been meaning to play the games of some cool rpgmaker game devs I've met since making my own game, so today I played VERLOREN and LIVING PLAYGROUND: THE WITCH'S PUPPETS.

I literally own merch of one of these games, so I think its beyond time I give them a try. I thought I would post some thoughts + a recommendation to check these games/devs out too.

VERLOREN

Fav. Characters: Vladimir

Playtime: ~1 hour

Version: 0.03 DEMO

https://gamejolt.com/games/Verloren/486793

@choko-flan

Chris finds himself cold and alone in a void - but Vlad, self-proclaimed weirdo and straight-up LAD, soon accompanies on our quest for the key out.

While dialogue-heavy isn't my loaf of bread, I'm interested in seeing how Chris & Vlad's relationship changes over the course of the full game. I'm also looking forward to more locales like the dreamy (and tasty) sweets dimension.

I liked the arcade mini-game, especially how it resembled an actual arcade game. I let Vlad beat it for me to get the authentic experience.

While it mostly stems from my own impatience, I did feel some back-and-forths with Vlad dragged on a smidge. I think the planned character portraits will help a lot, as well with the difficulty in keeping track of who is speaking.

I find myself asking the essential questions: WHO is Vlad? WHY is Vlad? But what no one ever asks: HOW is Vlad?

While a short and unfinished demo, I'm looking forward to seeing more of Verloren in the future :) VLAD/10

LIVING PLAYGROUND: THE WITCH'S PUPPETS

Fav. Characters: Haze, STRONG PICKLE

Playtime: 2.5 hours

Version: 1.0.1

https://gamejolt.com/games/the-witchs-puppets/425031

@game-meak

I find myself asking the essential questions: WHO is STRONG PICKLE?

Not knowing anything going into this (and having not played the original), I was pleasantly surprised (with Verloren as well) that I was into it as much as I was.

Tony, Pablo, and Octavio (or as us Living Playground-heads would say: Slide, Swing Set, and Monkey Bars) are siblings in a world of witchery and geese. Two witches are really good friends, and our heroes are sent into pocket dimensions for stealing without permission.

I liked the game show section (maybe I missed references with the other contestants), I thought it was a fun bit.

I am kind of concerned that I saw the chalkboard and thought 'oh hell yeah, hangman!'

I could definitely tell at a certain point that this game's events were of/inspired by personal experiences, so I wasn't surprised to see that in the post-mortem. The contrast in theme over time is shocking, how a character treats the siblings differently as the game progresses. I felt that I had maybe brushed off earlier signs of this change, just like a certain character did?

I do think it would have been cool to pick a side in the conflict and get a different ending, but if it’s based off personal experience then I suppose that wouldn't quite work out.

When Pablo laid there like a peanuts character, I felt that - when STRONG PICKLE told me to wash my hands, I felt that.

The included walkthrough proved vital for my playthrough, because I'm an idiot. I searched it out after thinking I was stuck when placing gems on pedestals, not knowing I could remove a gem if it wasn't correctly placed and that I didn't need a gem for the middle pedestal.

I would have probably been stuck for ages looking for items if I hadn't checked with the guide occasionally, and for that I salute this pdf document.

I did get soft locked at a point: Choosing 'O' before 'P' in the hangman puzzle prevents 'P' from being usable. A typo in the eventing is the culprit, but of course I happened to run into it naturally.

I also was curious about the slide puzzle lag, so I looked into it. I always feel a slight guilt from opening people's games with the intent to fix things without being asked - but I can't help myself.

Each unsolved piece is checked each frame if it has been solved by comparing positions of the solution spot and the tile's current spot. What I would do is have each tile check if its solved only after being pushed. I went ahead and modified it myself just for fun (so I can get the speedrun world record >:]), but I noticed something about this puzzle while doing this:

I didn't notice while playing that the puzzle pieces can be pushed on top of each other. That's kind of weird. You can push the pieces out onto the water or stack them together (I did try to 'automatically' solve the puzzle by stacking them all up and pushing the stack into each space, can't be done lol). What an odd decision, right?

Oh.

I'm guessing the puzzle isn't entirely reset on pumpkin interact because it would be real annoying to mispush the last piece and have to reset the whole thing, but with this puzzle design it means it is possible to softlock when doing this piece last. I'm not sure if the lack of collision is meant as a solution to this exact issue, but I thought it was interesting. In my build I added collision to the tiles and just made it so one of the adjacent tiles to the inner one always gets reset.

With some minor bugs and issues abound, Living Playground: The Witch's Puppets surprised me. While I'm not very attached to the main 3, I did feel for the 2. I relied on the walkthrough a bit much, but I had a good time. STRONG PICKLE/10