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moronkombat · 1 year ago

Note

Hey! Could I get some headcanons about how Syzoth would be as a dad? I seen that you aren't well so take as long as you need to do them. I hope you feel better soon! 💚

tw: pregnancy

Syzoth is ecstatic at the news of his partner's pregnancy. He couldn't be hearing happier news

Actually breaks down into a sobbing and crying mess on his knees

The tears are for both joy and despair. He rejoices over this new found life but also apologies to the family he had failed to save

Loss is not unknown to him and he will never be able to truly live with the knowledge of his family's death. It is simply a part of him now

While he may, at times, feel conflicted about the pregnancy (feeling guilty for being too excited), Syzoth is, overall, in good spirits

He uses a lot of that guilt as motivation to protect his partner and their unborn child

Speaking of which, Syzoth is often worrying about your health and safety. He is terrified something horrid will befall you and your vulnerable growing child

Syzoth hovers around you frequently. At times, it feels as though he is standing right on top of you with how close he is

Truth be told, he doesn't even notice how clingy he is being with you. Wherever you go, he will follow

You need to get up and get something from the next room? Syzoth is your shadow. You want to take a bath? Now Syzoth does too. There is no alone time

Speaking to him about his worries has him apologizing but unsure of what to do. He is just so terrified of tragedy happening

He would really value a partner who understands this and accepts his methods, however overbearing they may be

Now, when it comes to the symptoms of pregnancy, Syzoth is at a loss

It is exceptionally different than the process he is used to but Syzoth is curious and motivated to learn

Finds it odd that a baby is carried inside until birth and questions how that can even be comfortable

His partner would laugh and tell him it's not exactly comfortable and something in him seems to flip

Never does he want his partner to be unwell so he tries his best to comfort you throughout your pregnancy

These attempts are...mildly successful. While he tries to cook for you, he is very much so not great at it

When he wants to rub your feet, he's a bit too stiff and rough or flat out ends up tickling you

He begins to feel quite down on himself for being unable to help much but he will be reassured by his partner

Obsessed with your stomach from the very start to finish. He is always hugging you around your waist

His favorite place to be his right next to you, arms locking you there

Eyes are closed and a cheek is pressed against a stomach that seems to grow more with life each day

He listens and waits, hoping maybe he will hear the soft chirping of his child. It is what he's used to after all

Instead of sounds there are sensations. The movement of your child shifting or lightly kicking is felt for the first time

Both you and Syzoth feel it together. How could you not? He is always clinging to you

His eyes widen and he looks to your stomach, puzzled. The wide eyed expression is...quite cute you think

Through a small laugh you tell him that he felt the baby kick and Syzoth is just in awe of how wonderful that is

He's quickly asking when the baby will kick again and you almost don't have the heart to tell him you aren't sure

Syzoth loves to lay his palm against your stomach. He feels connected to the baby when he does so

He will often hum very lowly as he rests his head against your midsection; a behavior that is popular among his kind

Syzoth would explain that the humming of a parent will sooth offspring while they grow

As delivery draws near, Syzoth becomes increasingly worried and agitated

He begins collected blankets, pillows and even debris from outside in order to build a nest as he is nervous about the baby being warm and having a place to sleep

Syzoth really fuses over making this little nest, wanting everything to be perfect. You decide to wait and tell him about the crib you ordered

When the time comes, he is a mess. He's pacing back and forth, terrified if you will be okay

The child between you two is...a hybrid and he isn't sure how easy the delivery will be on you

Labor is long and arduous with scares coming and going but all of those seem to dissipate when a small but strong cry is heard for the first time

The doctors let Syzoth hold the baby for a moment and he can't comprehend the small infant in his arms

He stares down at their screaming and wiggling form before he feels dampness at his cheek

He's crying, he's sobbing and then he is smiling. Syzoth holds your baby so close to him and says "I'm your dad! I'm your dad!" again and again

The doctors feel remorseful having to take the infant away and Syzoth is basically looking over their shoulders as they work

Syzoth would rush to his partner's side "Did you see? Did you see him? He's perfect, he's so wonderful!" and now he is crying again

All he wants to do is take you and your newborn home, bundle you two up in a nest and watch over you

Well, it turns out with Syzoth being the one bundled up and doting over the baby while you watch contently

Syzoth absolutely adores his child and is seldom to leave their side, humming next to them while they sleep and watching over them too

He thanks you over and over for giving him a family again. He tells you that he will never let you down

When the baby isn't sleeping, Syzoth is usually carrying them around. If he can't hold them then he will put them in a little makeshift wrap around him

You find the sight endearing and make sure to take lots of pictures of them

Syzoth wants to bring the baby absolutely everywhere you and him go. He is eager to show his child the world

His goal is to keep his family safe and happy. Nothing will ever stop him from that

#mortal kombat #mortal kombat fanworks #mk1 2023 #mortal kombat headcanons #mk1 #mortal kombat x reader #syzoth #syzoth x reader #syzoth x you #tw: pregnancy

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dinodanicus · 10 months ago

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you can skip this wall of text its just about the scam this illustration was involved in.

This fairly ordinary illustration of two hands holding was involved in a very weird and convoluted scam. Last month I was commission to illustrate this image for invitations meant to go out for a supposed wedding anniversary coming up in March. The whole commission seemed odd to me I mainly draw dinosaurs and aliens. Not many people know I also draw people but the buyer who called himself Petterson Reid was offering to pay 300 up front and 200 after the work was finished. A nice offer for what was a very simple illustration. I took the job and sent him a very rough sketch of the hands to show him what the final image might look like. He liked the sketch and told me to finish the image after he sent the first payment I went ahead and finished the image that night. I held onto the picture to see if he would really send the 300 dollars first. The buyer wanted to send a check by mail which is weird but I thought he might have been a boomer who didn't understand how to use PayPal. His emails and text seemed like something my grandmother would write very proper and overly polite. I was fairly suspicious of him and waited to see if a check would actually be delivered. To my surprise a check did arrive a week later from Petterson Reid except it was for 2,790 dollars. knowing this was far too much money I asked him if it was a mistake. He said the extra money was for a PayPal invoice to the printers involved in the invitations. He wanted me to use the extra money on the check to pay the printers on his behalf. Again very weird but I chalked it up to an old person who didn't know how to pay online. I cashed the check the next day, since it was from an out of state bank they were putting it on hold for 3 days to see if the funds would clear. I told the buyer about the three day waiting period and asked for the invoice I was suppose to be paying and he went absolutely ape shit. He claimed I was trying to steal his money and was threatening to pursue legal action I was completely shocked by the change in attitude. I had to mute my phone because he kept sending wave after wave of threatening texts. At this point I was 90% sure this was some sort of scam but when I called the bank they said there was nothing to do until the hold expired. I was confident it wouldn't then to my surprise the check cleared and the money was in my account. At this point I had the finished artwork and the money so I wanted to get this crazy asshole on his way so I wouldn't have to deal with him anymore. I told him to send the invoice for the printer and I would pay it with the money on the check then I would send the picture and our business would be done. This prick sends some half assed looking invoice with a payable link on PayPal. When I try to pay, it says payment will be held till Feb 7th. Apparently this date is too late for the printers so now that processing payment has been canceled by the printer in favor of a new payment process through Zelle. I was trying to figure out what was going on, if its a scam what is the take the entirety of the check was still in my account it didn't even say it was pending. I go to pay on Zelle and discover the 2,790 dollars has been rescinded by the bank. I call and learn this ass hair had sent a forged check to the bank in an effort to have me pay these fake invoices with my own money. He guessed the bank would deposit the check without fully vetting it for the standard 10 days since I'm a long time member. He knew he had until about five a clock that day before the bank would catch the discrepancy. He was posing as the printer in order to scam 4,740 dollars from me through both attempted payment methods. luckily for me I'm broke as hell right now and didn't have the money in my own account to cover either payment with out the check. everything has been taken care of now I just thought I better share this story since I've never seen a scam like this before. It took an entire month for him to essentially get nothing I really don't know what to think of any of this its such a weird scheme.

#my art #illustration #hands #sketch

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aesethewitch · 7 months ago

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From Notes to Grimoire

I’ve talked some about my thoughts and recommendations for taking notes for witchcraft, but what comes after that? In my method, notes are taken in a date-based, linear fashion. Subjects aren’t usually grouped together (unless you’re using separate notebooks for specific topics), and it can be tough to use rough notes like that for much more than basic study. I said in that post that I wasn’t talking about a reference document; I was just talking about writing down thoughts, ideas, spell tests, book notes, study notes, theory notes, and other assorted things as you research and learn about your craft.

So what about when you want to take your rough study notes and turn them into a nice-looking, well-organized, practical collection that’s better for regular referencing and actual use? That’s when you go from notes to grimoire.

(Note that this post is loaded with my opinions. I say it throughout, but go into this knowing that I’m speaking from my personal perspective — you won’t, and really you shouldn’t — agree with everything I say here.)

What Goes into a Grimoire?

Ultimately, what you put in your grimoire is up to you. I’m of the opinion that grimoires are and should be working documents. If you aren’t familiar with the term “working document,” it just means that the contents of the grimoire are always under construction. It means that you’re allowed to add, remove, and modify things as your practice changes over time. It also means that you’re supposed to reevaluate the grimoire’s contents every so often to make those updates. Complacency is the enemy of progress — there’s always a new question to ask or a new perspective to take. Keep the working document mentality in mind while you decide what to put in your grimoire.

With that said, in my opinion, a grimoire is not a place to take raw notes, write out theories, test spells, or even record divinations. Those things ought to go in your notebook, not your grimoire.

A grimoire is a reference document. It holds information on the spells, rituals, traditions, incantations, observances, and materials you actually use and need to look up. Grimoires are practical tools. Yes, they can look nice, but if the function isn’t there, it isn’t a grimoire — it’s just a scrapbook.

So, what should you put in a grimoire? Here’s a general idea of things I’d recommend:

Proven spells and recipes

Rituals you perform and when you perform them

Sigils, symbols, and spell vessels you’ve made and what they’re for

Instructions for making or obtaining materials for spellwork

A reference sheet for making substitutions

Holidays and events you observe and how you observe them

Divination instructions, including cartomancy spreads, magpie oracle charm lists, symbols you look for, and other relevant information

Plant, herb, stone, and crystal profiles

Fire, smoke, pet, and other safety details and instructions

Your astrological chart and its meanings

Profiles on spirits and deities you work with, including preferred offerings, important dates, descriptions of vessels, and details about any ongoing deals or agreements

Anything you commonly need to reference from books, online articles, or other sources

Conversely, here are things that should not go in a grimoire:

Notes on books you’re reading

Spells that are works in progress

Drawings of sigils in progress

Divination notes

Lists of books you want to read

Lists of topics you want to research next

Notes on spirit encounters

Journal pages

Rambles on magic theory

Information that has nothing to do with your witchcraft, spiritual path, religion, or other related field

Information you simply will not use

Obviously, you can add and remove things as you see fit. You should put whatever you commonly reference and whatever is practical for you in your grimoire. If you’re using it all the time, put it in there. If you don’t use something that “everyone” says “has” to be in your grimoire, don’t put it in. For example, I don’t use my astrological chart for anything. I know my big three, and that’s good enough for me. So, it doesn’t go in the book, no matter how many times I see it on those “what to put in your grimoire!” lists that go around witchblr every so often. Similarly, if you don’t have pets, you don’t need to put pet safety information in your book.

Use your common sense and discretion. Your grimoire is yours. If it isn’t practical, don’t put it in. If it is practical and relevant to you, but no one “recommends” putting that particular bit of information down in a grimoire, who cares? Write it down. You can always take it out later.

Creating and Maintaining a Working Document

Now, you’ll see grimoires referred to as working documents (or “living” documents) pretty frequently. You’re allowed to (and meant to) change things over time as you and your practice change.

But how do you do that? How do you keep an organized, practical reference document if it’s constantly changing?

Well, first of all, stop over-thinking it (I say to myself, frequently and loudly). Second of all, no matter what format you choose, from bound notebooks to binders to apps, the primary idea is to evaluate the contents regularly and to keep them in some kind of predetermined order. How that will look and how frequently you do reviews depends on you, your preferences, your practice, and the medium you choose. So, let’s have a look at some options and how I would suggest setting them up as a working-document-grimoire.

Binders

First (and best, in my opinion), are binders. There are a plethora of sizes and styles, so you can choose based on portability, available volume, color, and features according to your needs.

By far, the greatest benefits of using a binder for a grimoire are versatility and adaptability. You can create sections by inserting hunks of cardboard, sheets of colored paper, or pre-made pages with tabs that stick out for easy navigation. And, if you decide you don’t like the way your sections are organized, you can easily open the binder rings, take the section out, and put it wherever you want. In the same way, you can add and remove pages to any section at any point. You don’t have to allot space ahead of time or worry about running out of room in a given section.

Binders have a sort of inherent working document nature. With these, I would recommend reading through the entire thing at least twice a year to review the contents. When something sticks out as inaccurate, unused, or outdated, remove it. You can discard the page entirely or set up a separate “archive” folder to keep it in so you can look back and remember what you’ve taken out. (I keep one of these, though I’m considering moving it into a folder clipped into the back of my grimoire binder.)

On the other hand, if you find something in your grimoire that needs more attention, detail, or elaboration — or you just get inspired and want to add a new spell or bit of information to what’s already there — you can pull out the old page and replace it, or you can add a new page right after the existing one.

It’s up to you how frequently you go through your grimoire. Remember that this is a practical reference document. Set it up in a way that makes sense to you. Again, the nice thing about binders is that if you decide the way you’ve set it up is no good, you can change it without having to start over completely.

Notebooks

Obviously, there are a ton of types of notebooks out there. It comes down to pure personal preference what kind you go with.

Because notebooks can’t be rearranged in the same way that a binder can, keeping one as a working document obviously looks different. With any kind of bound notebook, I recommend doing a sort of yearly review. If much of your practice has changed, or if you find you’ve run out of room in your grimoire for new entries, it’s time to start into a new notebook. This doesn’t mean you have to disregard the original grimoire entirely.

You can copy over spells, information, and whatever else you like into the new book and shelf the original as a relic or treat the books like volumes in a series. In that way, you wouldn’t copy more than the essentials into the new grimoire; you would instead add entirely new spells, rituals, and information to it.

Either way, I would suggest dating the books. I would jot down at least the year(s) you work in the grimoire for organizational purposes. Remember that practicality and usability are the names of the game. You want to be able to use these books as references for your magical practice to help you remember things accurately.

The major drawback of any kind of notebook is that if you find you hate the way you’ve set it up, you can’t just go back and rearrange it. Once it’s down on paper, it’s down. You would either have to rip out the pages and move them manually, leaving them loose or re-pasted into their new places, or start up a new notebook entirely.

On the other hand, that has benefits, too. It removes the temptation to arrange and rearrange endlessly. If you’re indecisive and would waste too much time worrying about layout as opposed to getting a functional document up and running (even if it’s imperfect), a notebook may actually be a pretty good choice for you. It’s an exercise in tolerance for imperfection, to say the least.

Now, let’s have a brief look at different kinds of notebooks.

Divided Notebooks

First, let’s look at notebooks that come divided already. Whether it’s a subject-divided spiral notebook, a journal with built-in title pages, or journals that are divided into smaller journals inside them, part of the work has already been done for you.

A drawback of using these types of notebooks or journals is that you lose the ability to decide how much space is given to a particular subject. On the other hand, it can make getting started much, much easier. My first grimoire was in a large spiral-bound five-subject notebook. I divided it into five sections: Spells, Holidays and Seasons, Spirits, Plants, and Miscellaneous. Granted, at the time, I was taking notes into my grimoire. It wasn’t a very practical document; that wouldn’t come until several years later, when I figured out why I couldn’t remember anything with any sort of reliability. Now, I’ve got very strong opinions on note-taking and record-keeping.

It’s the chemistry nerd in me.

Blank Notebooks

This includes plain lined notebooks, unlined notebooks, and bullet journals. These are harder to use, in my opinion. I don’t think they’re very friendly to beginners who are creating their very first grimoire. These lend themselves better to note-taking notebooks than official grimoires, but you can certainly make them work.

To make a blank notebook function as a grimoire, you should spend a bit of time deciding the order of contents. How many pages do you want to dedicate to a given subject? What subjects will you place next to each other? Will information about moon phases be followed by planetary information, or will you talk about moon water and moon-based spellwork? Do you want to create sections and title pages ahead of time? To make it organized, you’ll want to decide these things somewhat in advance or leave room to add them later on. It’s easier to add (taping, gluing, paper-clipping, etc.) or remove (cutting, tearing, etc.) pages in some notebooks than others. Take that into account when you choose a notebook for your grimoire!

Sketchbooks

For the more artistically inclined magical practitioner, a sketchbook might make a good choice. If you plan on using materials like paint or watercolors, the thicker paper stock would be a solid asset. Artists will feel right at home drawing sketches, diagrams, sigils, and other illustrative details in their grimoires with a sketchbook. They have the same drawbacks as blank notebooks, being complete blank slates that you have to plan around, but they do end up being very nice to look at.

Like with blank notebooks, consider the order you want to put things in. Jot down titles, content, and ideas for drawings or art pieces you’d like to include in the final product. Remember that because the book is bound, you may not be able to add things to sections that have already been filled in. Consider artistic ways to show what’s on a given page to make it easier to manage — color-coded page edges, for example, might be an idea.

Junk Journals

I genuinely wouldn’t recommend using a junk journal for a formal grimoire. By their nature, they’re messy, disorganized, and difficult to parse through for information. They’re fun to make, don’t get me wrong — I love a junk journal for regular journaling and inspiration. But they don’t lend themselves toward organizational systems. If you’re going to use a junk journal as your formal grimoire, you’ll either have to resign yourself to hunting through pages for what you’re looking for or do some extensive planning in advance.

The best way to make a practical, working-document-style junk journal would be to combine it with a binder, I think. Create those iconic, aesthetic pages. Punch holes in them and place them into a binder in the correct location. That way, you still get the pretty aesthetic of the junk with the practicality of what a grimoire should actually be.

(Personally, I would use the junk journal aesthetic for section title pages in a binder — give it some personality and decoration without sacrificing any of the practicality.)

Digital Documents

I say that binders are the best option, but honestly, digital grimoires are up there, too. If you need to keep your magical practice more secret, if you don’t have time or energy to put together a physical book, or if you would prefer to have a system you can reorganize at the drop of a hat, digital grimoires might be right for you.

There are a ton of programs out there you can use. I’ve used Word, Scrivener, and Obsidian for grimoires and/or witchcraft note-taking, personally. Of them all, Obsidian is the one I would recommend most strongly. Word is… well, it’s Word. Scrivener is wonderful as a writer’s tool, and I use it to write these posts! I had moderate success with it for grimoire work. By far, Obsidian has been the best. The back-linking capabilities alone revolutionized the way I set up my grimoire (and other reference documents, including TTRPG notes). I really can’t recommend it enough.

Another program I’ve seen recommended frequently is Notion. While I can’t speak about it myself, since I haven’t used it, it does get rave reviews — particularly from folks who like to have a nicer aesthetic for their craft. Obsidian is pretty bare-bones aesthetic-wise, so if that’s important to you, Notion may be an option to consider.

With digital grimoires as working documents, I would follow the same guidelines as with a binder. Review the contents regularly, archive anything outdated, and evaluate the organizational layout for practicality. My biggest suggestion is to date the individual entries. Include the date you first create the page, obviously, but I would also include the date of the most recent update. If you want to get really lab-notebooky and formal about it, you could include every date you update it. (That’s what I do, personally, but I come from a database management background.)

The main downside to a digital grimoire is accessibility. If you’re out in the middle of nowhere without a computer or cell service, you may not be able to access your grimoire. I’ve seen folks set up entire grimoires using the notes app on their phones to make it easy to carry around, which is fine… unless you find it difficult to type with a phone keyboard. Physical books can be transported via bags, and they don’t need to be charged like a phone or laptop.

I also find that digital grimoires often lack the charm of a physical one. Even pretty, aesthetic templates on Notion are missing that witchy feeling. You know the one I mean — cracking open a tome of secrets to access the magic within just can’t be done through a screen.

Turning Notes into Reference Materials

This is probably the toughest part. After you decide what you want to include in your grimoire, now you’ve got to actually go through your notes and put together your collection.

The tone of your grimoire doesn’t necessarily need to be overly formal. It also doesn’t have to be publisher-ready. You aren’t writing a book on magic. You’re putting together a collection of materials that you want to be able to reference quickly and easily. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else or be absolutely perfect. Remember — this is a working reference document for you. If you mess it up, you can fix it later. Don’t be afraid to cross stuff out or be a little messy. So long as it stays practical and reference-able, you’re fine.

Spells and rituals are probably the easiest things to copy into a grimoire. You might even be able to copy them over verbatim from your notes, depending on how you took the notes. Bring over any changes you made to the spell, clean up the language, and make it easy to read. If you’ve scribbled on your notes, bring over any annotations that make sense. I wouldn’t copy all commentary; just the things that impact the working itself. You can include a “notes” section after the spell itself if you want to make note of your personal thoughts regarding the spell, what to expect during or after, and other information that might be found in the margins of your raw notes. Trim the excess. You don’t need your “lol this ingredient looks like a dick” joke in your grimoire, but you might want the “this ingredient can cause eye irritation, so don’t touch your face after handling” note.

If you’ve ever written an essay for school, I usually recommend a similar process. Your notebook is the basic first draft. For your grimoire, clean up the draft, fact-check yourself, jot down your sources, and then make it look nice.

“Making it look nice” could mean drawings, stickers, washi tape, pictures, and the like… or, it could mean choosing a clean font and ordering your steps numerically. If you’re hand-writing your grimoire, do your best to keep your writing legible. Always remember that these pages are intended as a reference document. If you can’t go back and read it, it’s failing in its function! That applies to overly-decorative pages, too; if your aesthetic is obscuring the information inside the grimoire to the point where you can’t parse the instructions on the page, it isn’t a grimoire anymore. There’s nothing wrong with a pretty, aesthetic inspiration book, but that’s not what we’re going for here.

My biggest piece of advice when transferring notes into a grimoire is to be practical. Not everything you learn about and jot down in your journal or notebook can (or should) make into your grimoire. If you aren’t going to use a spell, don’t include it. If you don’t go by the Wheel of the Year, don’t put those holidays down in your grimoire. Learning about things and taking in information is what the notebooks are for. Grimoires are akin to manuals.

Only take what you need from your notes. Think about what you want to incorporate and what you already use in your actual practice. You wouldn’t want to take down all of your notes about that witchcraft book you just finished, but maybe there was a spell or a correspondence table that you keep going back to look at. That’s something to put in your grimoire.

My Grimoire

I’m of the opinion that you shouldn’t share your grimoire with just anybody. Frankly, not a single person in my life has ever seen mine. I’ve shown off examples, and I’ll share my note-taking journal(s) on occasion, but you’ll never see my actual grimoire. My grimoire is for me. It isn’t for the aesthetic, and it isn’t for show. It’s a reference document that details my entire practice, from spells adapted from various sources to spirits I’m allied with to traditions that have been passed down in my family.

To no one’s surprise, I actually keep two grimoires. I’ve got my digital grimoire in Obsidian, which also doubles as a note-taking repository. I have several physical notebooks scattered around that I use in the moment, but everything gets recorded digitally for posterity and easy perusal. My Obsidian files are divided into categories which are then sub-divided into specific subjects. Raw notes, experiments, and theory crafting are kept separate from the reference sections.

And I keep a physical grimoire. I used to struggle with keeping physical grimoires. I was always unsatisfied with them, or I forgot about them, or I changed my mind about how I wanted them to be organized mid-way through and ended up frustrated. It’s why I swapped over to exclusively using digital programs — and why I landed at Obsidian in the first place.

But now, having a very good digital system in place, I find myself wanting to travel with my grimoire. I want to take it with me so that I can perform spells on the go. I’d like to take it to the cemeteries and forests I frequent to discuss its contents with those spirits and to accurately perform rituals without having to look at a blurry picture on my phone. Recently, I decided to repurpose an old binder that I once used for character creation. It’s got a pencil pouch in the front, and it isn’t too large to carry around. Plus, to the untrained eye, it just looks like a very nice student’s school binder. I could easily take it to a coffee shop to work on it and raise precisely no eyebrows.

It’s been a work in progress to decide how I want to lay it out. Writing this post and the taking notes post have been really helpful, actually. I think I’ve finally got a solid idea of what I want to put in it and how. It isn’t ready to show off, but I do think that once I have the layout settled, I’ll share more specifics about it to illustrate some of my points made here. Depending on what I decide to share, it may end up a Ko-Fi exclusive. (Just the layout/title cards would be fine to be totally public; pictures or descriptions of the actual pages would be exclusive.)

Ko-Fi supporters saw this post a full week early! If you enjoyed this post, consider throwing a couple dollars in my tip jar to get early access to posts like this one, plus exclusive extras. One-time supporters get 30 days of access to my backlog of exclusive posts, and members get extra benefits like discounts and more content. All support helps me keep the lights on and this blog active. Thanks!

#aese speaks #witchcraft #witchblr #witch community #taking notes #grimoire #making a grimoire #witch tips #for beginner witches #practical witchcraft

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mcromwell · 8 months ago

Note

Genuine question, sorry if it's dumb -

How do you work when there's something on the line? I find I freeze, and it's just so much more difficult to properly organize myself to produce something I'm proud of. But you've been to conventions, and you sell your work, so I'm assuming you feel pressure at least *sometimes.* do you work with it? Around it?

Hey Tymbul, it's not a dumb question, it's actually a really good one. I can only answer it to the best of my own abilities, in regards to my own art and practice, so mileage may vary.

This feeling of something being is "on the line" was what burned me out hard in 2019/20. I'd been making and sharing art for decades and all the while my thoughts took the shape of, "it has to be GOOD, it has to SAY something, it needs to hit X and Y requirement to be worthy" etc. Wherever that habit of pressuring myself came from, it wasn't helpful. I would glare at the blank page and curse every sketch I made because it (and by extension, myself) wasn't ever good enough.

I knew something had to change, so I changed. I began trying to make art with no pressure. Instead of pushing myself I let my foot off the brake. I changed the way I talked to myself about art. "I'm going to make this as good as I can. And if I can't, there's always next painting." I began starting a piece with fast, easy, not-precious stuff--random paint smears, doodles, gesture sketches. The pressure was off when all I had to do was start with trash and play around. If it just wasn't working and I had to scrap it or start over, oh well, it was just trash. I still run into this pressure today, though. Growth ain't linear and all that. Old habits die hard. I have to snap myself out of it with a feral screeching JUST THROW PAINT ON IT RRRRRRRRGH and I can usually let up on the brakes enough to get it going. It's a journey.

I like to think of this in terms of dog training. If you punch your dog and yell at it, that dog is going to have fear and doubt and won't be a healthy dog capable of performing the tasks you ask of it. But if you use positive reinforcement, they develop confidence and become dependable and sturdy. If you sit down to make art and every time its a barrage of IT HAS TO BE GOOD! YOU HAVE TO BE PROUD OF IT! EVERY NEW PIECE HAS TO BE BETTER! IF IT ISN'T YOU'LL BE A FAILURE! WHY AREN'T YOU DRAWING YET then man, that dog is cowering in the corner, it is not going to sit or fetch or anything. What if instead you said, "Okay! Time to make something. Let's do warm-ups and thumbnails to prepare so I'm ready to jump in. I am open to surprising myself by making something I'm excited about, but I won't beat myself up if today isn't that day. I know by doing this I'm practicing and getting better, it is never a waste." You are much more likely to Do a Thing if that thing feels good to do. That's just being an animal, man. Positive feedback.

To be honest, though, I still haven't found a successful way to make commissions less like pulling teeth. My method of art-making is to fuck around and find out and that's not a conducive method for a comm, which usually has a ton more expectation and strict parameters and my nemesis: Should-Look-Like. I am good at some things, I am not good at comms. Progress is not linear. I am still learning. My efforts to let up on the brakes made it so the car was a lot harder to control... for better or worse.

Hope this helps. Mostly, my advice is to find out how making art can feel good to you and then make a ton of it. Make more art than you think you should. It gets easier. And don't punch your dog.

#art advice #art block #self-talk #that being said I often fear I have 0 discipline but then again I am sick so I might just be kinda grumpy about stuff

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ebermoren · 1 day ago

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A thank-you to some amazing friends! Here, I’ll talk a bit more about them all.

All are from the server made by @tamlin12, whos little plush of Chili is there on the left! Though they’ve been busy for a while, back then their contributions on the server, contests, and streams were always great motivators for me to draw despite my lack of skills at the time!

@hatwolf is there on the left, as an inspiration to me and someone who’s always been friendly. Their incredibly detailed work, worldbuilding, and more have always sparked my interest as an artist and as a writer ✨ They’ve also helped me by giving advice before!

Beside them is @phosphoriteart’s Dew. Phos was probably the first person I really was able to approach during the earlier days. He advised me humbly, and was always willing to respond when I asked him questions! And he also is the reason I use Procreate now, the software which facilitated my growth as an artist✨

Next up is @brandenfascher, whose lovely kobold Trenton hovers above me. Branden’s calm and helpful nature was always nice to be around, and he provided me a consistent support on my main socials (currently Bluesky!). Almost always liking and/or reposting works of mine really meant a lot, as the small novice artist I am ✨

To the right is @witchywhosit, who’s always been helpful and supportive of me. They’ve always given detailed and helpful responses to my questions, and helped me find new ways to learn how to improve! From color theory to anatomy, Witchy always found a way to help. And hanging out on their streams occasionally is always great! Whether we yap or chill ✨

The skrunkly kobold peeking over the table is none other than @notrollhere’s Torkku! The elderbold’s free-spirited method for art has always been helpful in keeping me grounded, rather than staring up at the stars and wondering if I’d ever reach them. That besides, they always gave me great advice when it came to keeping art fun while still improving!✨

Last, but definitely not least, is Stowen’s Ki’oa! (I don’t know if they have a tumblr lol.) Stowen was a supporter since the early days, liking and reposting almost every work I made. Their bold approach to learning art, and being unafraid to do things they didn’t know how to do, inspired me to try and do the same! As someone who was trapped in the mentality of perfectionism back then, Stowen’s example helped me to begin to break away from it ✨

There’s still a lot more from the Tavern discord who helped me out! These were just the names that came to mind the most when I thought of the place. Everyone else I’ve met there is just as amazing, and I hope I get to talk to everyone more!

If you prefer the art without the long-winded things below then I do here, find me on other socials! Bluesky is my personal recommendation ✨

Find my carrd in my profile!

#furry art #art #kobold #dragon

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watermelonsloth · 6 months ago

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Things the Naruto Fandom Don’t Talk About Nearly Enough Part 5: Itachi and Kisame’s Visit to Konoha

So, there are layers to this.

At first, this just seems like a simple mission to stop by Konoha and snatch Naruto off the streets, but we learn two things about this later on that makes this very funny to me: Itachi’s actual intention was to remind Danzo that he’s still alive so he wouldn’t use Hiruzen’s absence as an opening to use Sasuke and the Akatsuki wouldn’t be in a position to extract the nine tails for another two years.

Some of you may see where this is going.

Pein wouldn’t have ordered them to get Kurama two years early, it would’ve just brought unnecessary attention to them and reveal the Akatsuki’s motives (or at least methods). So, if they aren’t following orders, why is Kisame going along with this? Did Itachi say “early bird gets the worm” and Kisame was like “fuck it, I don’t have anything better to do”?

If Kisame is under the impression they’re capturing the nine tails, why did he offer they stop for tea? Itachi wanting to waste time and risk drawing attention would make sense, but not Kisame. Right? Does Kisame make them stop for tea and dessert on missions? Does Kisame make them stop so regularly that Itachi was counting on it for his plan?

Speaking of Itachi’s plan, did he actually account for the village response to two very known criminals being in the village? Like, nothing would’ve stopped Danzo from just sending all of anbu after them. Did Itachi think he and Kisame could take all of Konoha’s shinobi force? Or maybe he thought they could get away before that became a problem?

What would Itachi have done if they did capture Naruto? He, presumably, didn’t know that Jiraiya was in Konoha and it’s not like Naruto had any bodyguards. I can’t imagine he would’ve dropped the act. Would he have just pretended to have another spike in psychopathy and shanked Kisame? Would he have tried to talk Kisame into leaving Naruto? Would they have brought him back with them?

If they brought Naruto with them, what would that conversation look like? ‘Cause Pein probably wouldn’t have let them go to Konoha, so it’s not like he’d know they were going to get Naruto in the first place. “Hey boss, we’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is we got that jinchuriki you wanted! We know it’s a little early, but we just couldn’t help ourselves. The bad news is all of the Land of Fire is after us.”

Last question, did the rest of the Akatsuki find out about this? If so, can we please have a novel about their reactions?

First Previous Next

#naruto #naruto classic #naruto shippuden #my stooff #rambling #itachi uchiha #kisame hoshigaki #pein #(mentioned)#akatsuki #search for tsunade arc #it’s been a while since i did one of these

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archivestarlyht · 10 months ago

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banter dialogue if my oc was a playable companion in baldur’s gate 3: sol'rys edition.

selected

sun in my damned eyes. ready as always. command me. lolth's will. i obey. as i am needed.

selected (combat)

new orders? i await. at last. i have awaited this all day. may the strongest survive. some poison on my blades ....

selected (sneaking)

subtle. silent. swift. like a shadow. perfect for an ambush.

selection spam

ssussun! [light upon you!] straj! what now? silence is a virtue.

selection spam (combat)

ssussun! [light upon you!] if the objective is to piss me off, it is working. silence! why do you distract me, and not them?

selection spam (sneaking)

let me work! when i find you ... do you wish to discover what happened to last person who distracted me? what part of 'stealth' do you not understand?

moving

onward. in lolth's name. always alert. sun out of my eyes. eyes up, always. a good place to ambush. what would they all do without me?

moving (in combat)

you're fucked. olot dos! [darkness take you] victory now, a tavern later. may your goddess be more merciful than mine. in lolth's name. take the high ground, always. do i ever not strike first?

moving (sneaking)

silent as death. *chuckles softly* venorik. [silent] finally, what i do best.

hiding

lil alurl velve zhah lil velkyn uss. [the best knife is the unseen one] darkness is my friend. one with shadows. the perfect place to strike.

hiding (in combat)

lil alurl velve zhah lil velkyn uss. [the best knife is the unseen one] *laughs softly* and the hunter is hunted. silent as a shadow, thrice as deadly. *laughs softly* poor bastards. yes ... closer. into my web. *chuckles softly* i see you, you cannot see me.

low health

i am not strong enough. lolth shall deal with me as i deserve. surely i have survived worse? better than becoming illithid .... perhaps ... i am as weak as they say.

attacked by party member

cease this or you bleed next!

can’t fit in a small hole

you are mocking me, aren't you?

can’t fit in a tiny hole

sod off. i am not in the habit of putting my hands where i cannot see. mostly. *chuckles* as much as i .... no, never mind.

can’t use an item

later. wasting my time.

can’t use an item in combat

can you not see my hands are occupied? not now! can you not see this is useless to me? do not distract me!

finding a locked item.

locked tight. try something else. some things even i cannot open.

picking a lock

nice and easy. not to boast, but i am very good with my hands.

looking at a globe

*scoffs*

looking at an astrolabe

more wretched suns. unthinkable to me, not even half a century ago ....

looking into a mirror

fuck. seen better days. sun not doing me any favors. not too bad ... from a certain angle.

looking into a telescope

a surface above the surface?

succeeded perception roll (trap)

a trap, as expected. now what are you protecting, i wonder? step quietl ---- actually, why don't you wait here, and i'll take care of it?

succeeded investigation roll

eyes as sharp as ever. something useful, i hope.

succeeded investigation roll (trap)

clever, but not clever enough. a trap. do you want me to take care of it? nothing can hide from me.

identified a mimic

*laughs softly* the perfect predator, are they not? unfortunately, i am better.

surprised by a mimic

i could learn much from its methods! straj --- that stings.

after a short rest.

no more time to waste. a good soldier knows his limits. enough. we are wasting, uh, daylight.

On character death

player:

one dies, the rest are sure to follow!

player (romanced):

back on your feet. i will protect you.

player (dark urge):

you are better than this!

lae'zel:

lae'zel? impossible!

shadowheart:

i still need you to heal me, cleric!

karlach:

not karlach! you'll not die, not while i draw breath!

jaheira:

a fine reminder, even the mighty fall.

gale:

*scoffs* up close, still just a man.

minsc:

hells, minsc ---- can't he train the damned hamster to feed him a potion?

wyll:

even the blade of frontiers bleeds like any other.

minthara:

minthara .... ? who is worthless, now?

astarion:

just a spawn, after all.

halsin:

dust to dust, or whatever they say, right, druid?

#🏹 headcanon.#long post obv .#continuing the trend i started with lex months ago . :3

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sansblues2 · 9 months ago

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The cards:

Hello again! I didn't tell you but I went through a lack of motivation phase. I'm better now but it was really bad at the beginning of this year, I didn't feel like drawing anything and what I did draw felt lifeless, like it was missing something. At the same time, the last chapter of Samatfoe part 4 came out, and wow, that was an awesome chapter. I loved how Sílthéy appeared, narrating the scene and her entrance, I found it so creative. And Toffee's backstory, I actually got emotional on the part where Sílthéy described the events that led to Toffee's parents and brother's deaths. For some reason I still believed Glossarick didn't have anything to do with what happened to Toffee, until this chapter, even though it was clarified since the beginning that he was the bad guy, I think I was still associating him with Glossarick from the original series who, at least in the beginning, was good. Anyway, great chapter, it was an amazing way to finish this part of the series and I can't wait for the next and to see Sílthéy again. Now going back to the drawing, I wanted to make something big, and somewhat detailed to see if I could motivate myself again, so after I read Samatfoe's last chapter I couldn't stop thinking about the characters' reactions at the end of the story, the mixed feelings they were feeling, betrayal, anger, confusion and I wanted to illustrate that, but I didn't want to just draw their expressions. And then I remembered the drawing @sagesilentfire had posted before the chapter update and I thought, " That's it. That's what I want to do". So this drawing is supposed to be the aftermath of the events, how everybody was feeling at the end of it, I tried to use some symbolism here and there in the cards. I'm not sure if I was able to capture the emotions of every character, but I did my best. Just to clarify some things, in Marcie's card that cape is supposed to be the one Marco receives in one of the episodes(can't remember which one), I don't believe Marcie also received one but it is just to represent Mewni, her armor is also one that Marco uses in another episode. Meteora's dress is the one she was going to use in the coronation, I just took Meteora's dress in the original episode and added some details based on Eclipsa and Star's dresses from the same episode. I even put the little bow she uses on her tail. Star's dress is based on her butterfly form(which is beautiful. I love how chaotic and vibrant it is, it fits so much with Star). Also, this is the second time I draw a wheelchair, you can barely see under Star's very fluffy dress, but I hope what you can see looks good. To finish, I also used this drawing to put into practice some new methods in how to draw things, like blood, crystals, tears, and flames, and how to do different renderings and different expressions, and I think I learned a lot with it. This drawing took a long time to make. It is the biggest drawing I've ever made with 125 layers only for the cards, so I really hope you like it. See ya ❤️.

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #samatfoe #star butterfly #moon butterfly #eclipsa butterfly #marcie #meteora #toffee #glossaryck #sílthéy #fanart #tw blood

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likesdoodling · 10 months ago

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It has been a while since I started digital art,

Quite a while.

So here is a 'progress over the last two years' since I gained access to a drawing tablet.

This is my first ever digitally illustrated piece- compared to my latest one-

So, a little bit different.

I do think my art took quite a jump around June 2022, when I took a break from my Steve comic strip, (for obvious reasons- it was about Technoblade's polar bear so...) and decided to try practicing gesture drawing to see if it helped my general anatomy knowledge. This is before,

And this next one is after.

The most obvious change here is that I switched to using thinner lines. There is a gap of about two months between these.

This was when I realised that you could improve art by practicing it (mind-blowing I know), and then started to do just that. Some other notable jumps forward would be when I discovered the airbrush-

Well, discovered a new method of shading with it anyway.

Then after that I had a few pictures that I actually still like, despite them being pretty old at this point, the one below is actually from September of 2022-

I mean, the hands are a bit iffy, but the rest looks alright. This was when I was going through a bit of a melanie martinez phase-

This next one was from January of 2023, I'd only just gotten into bungou stray dogs via some random memes on pinterest about this weird brown haired guy who had lots of bandages and who had this running gag with wanting to die- I actually looked him up at one point, but that didn't really explain much. The main one that I remember was 'life is short, so make it shorter, shorter than chuuya~'

Which at the time was just kind of confusing,

Then I watched the show and it made perfect sense.

I'd discovered ascendance of a bookworm in like, 2021, but I hadn't really been doing fanart of it since I was mainly doing dsmp related stuff and I kind of assumed nobody would know what on earth I was referencing. Turns out tumblr has a lot more bookworm fans than I orignally anticipated. Instagram still has no clue. I think maybe one person out of my followers on instagram knows what I'm on about-

Then we've got these two which I am still proud of btw-

The first one is from a dystopian/time travel fanfic called viridian.

The second one was after I learned about rim lighting. It was inspired by a song actually, 'crash' by noevaii. (and yes I found that song from a sad-ist animatic, it was cool) The character isn't anyone in particular. They're both from February 2023.

Then there's probably my most liked picture on instagram, (not tumblr, since tumblr knows about bsd and bookworm, but y'know. This was even sadder than I originally intended since the last half of my comic strip was finished AFTER everything happened)

Then the final conclusion of my Steve comic strip in May of 2023.

I don't think my art really changed much in between those, but eh.

Then I switched to doing a bunch of ascendance of a bookworm stuff to see what would happen and turns out there are way more fellow fans out there than I anticipated-

Then I guess my next breakthrough in tumblr popularity, (even if it might not have been a breakthrough in art skills necessarily) was when things went DOWN in the bsd fandom with chapter 109 and I did probably one of my most liked tumblr posts I have ever done-

If you want to see the rest of that, feel free to scroll down on my tumblr page, the original's like eight pages long-

This was before anyone knew what was going to happen btw.

I still think it's hilarious that I put in chuuya having contacts. My reasoning being, they're on a film set,

It was a pretty interesting exercise in shading in monochrome.

Then I started a 30 day art challenge in October that I didn't get past day six of, but it was still pretty fun. This is the best one of those-

After that I spent most of my time studying for the jlpt n5, so I didn't really do that much art related stuff,

This is one of the two non-commission related pictures that I finished over the two months after I kind of gave up on the art challenge. This one's from November,

Then I finally finished an art commission I'd been working on for the three months prior, as well as studying. Here is an example of the type of pictures I was doing for that,

Then I was occupied with christmas and birthday presents for my siblings, both my little sisters are into ascendance of a bookworm- (completely my fault I am proud to say) so I was able to do stuff related to that, here's a couple of snippets, but you guys don't get the colour version hehe

And one of them has also read the entire fma manga just like I have so-

Anyway, it's been quite a progression since I resolved to master digital art in 2021.

I reckon I've come a fair way since then. I mean. My art skills in general are way better than they used to be. The last two or three years have been pretty interesting.

Also-

Just had to include this one, I'm gonna do a more detailed version but still-

I think it's funny so I'm posting it here. Even if it's not really related to art progression-

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nightmaregirl123 · 11 months ago

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So lately I've been doing a lot of experimenting with my art and my overall style and have felt a little more motivated to make art then I had been feeling for most of this year and a little bit of the last I'm proud of the progress I think I'm making in my art

Also as for the floating heads those girls are my latest project I dubbed them "emo" "freckles" and "snob" great names huh? Haha i know anyways these girls are supposed to be minimalistic

Choosing one color for all of them and trying to stick with that color for their whole look and if I need a different color for something I just lower the opacity of the brush

They are supposed to have differences from one another and not look to similar in any regard to make them distinct

And to try and add additional personality to already minimalistic heads their expressions change to try and convey personality and their accessories are used to not only further distinguish them but also because it could convey more personality afterall you can tell a lot about a person by the way they dress right?

I'll keep doing more minimalistic girl heads for all the colors in the rainbow I've already used orange, purple, and blue, so that leaves yellow, red, and green,

Once I'm done drawing all the minimalistic rainbow girls I'll add them all to a pannel ONE pannel where they are all together furthering their designs and trying to convey more personality in their poses and how they are interacting with eachother and whatever is going on

#what am i supposed to tag this as #drawing #ibispaint drawing #art #artists on tumblr #digital art #digital drawing #unfinished art #hi this is another tag #i like adding random tags #my post #my art <3 #learned of some new methods to use the next time i draw #my artwork #artwork #art dump

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stellar-constellations · 9 months ago

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♱ ᜔ ׅ ꯭ Hello ! How's your day ? I hope it's going good !

Do you write headcanons with planotic relationships ?

If so , could you write headcanons with Kokushibo and teenage!gender-neutral!reader in modern AU , where reader just spends 90% of their time writing or drawing and they just .. fail every school subject possible.

Thank you in advance !

Platonic! Kokushibo x Teenage! Artistic! GN! Reader

Wordcount: 741 words

Kokushibo is a stern but calm parent. He understands you can't force learning upon someone who doesn't want to be learned, but he does want you to at least try to pay attention in class. Maybe you'll find a passion for something new?

Kokushibo looks over your report card, blank faced as he takes in all the comments and concern addressed from your teachers. He reads over the letter grades, seeing as you always aced art classes, but for once you had a D in history instead of an F.

"Good job..." he muttered, placing the paper down as he patted your head, then allowed you to scurry off and go do whatever.

Whenever Kokushibo sees you writing, he's always secretly peeking over your shoulder so he could see what you're writing. He likes literature and books, maybe you'll share with him? If you share any of your work, he'll give you constructive-criticism. He'll never leave your writing on a bad note, always making sure to point out some good characteristics or writing choices you made. Perhaps you'll become an author?

Kokushibo is always wondering what you're doing when he's away from you. It's normal to ponder about what your child is spending their time on, but he's always curious how your mind works and what's so joyful about coloring and writing.

Kokushibo is a consumer, not much of a producer. He sees things in front of them, processes the information, then moves on. Everything's just so black and white to him, compared to you and your artistically-inclined mind. You have such a vivid and colorful perspective of life, he should really be taking notes on this.

When Kokushibo has to go to parent-teacher conferences, he's always stone-faced as he listens to your teachers ramble on about you not paying attention in class or your poor performance. Kokushibo is usually zoning out while they're speaking, but he's thinking of ways to make the next school year more easier for you (and him).

Kokushibo tries giving you colored sticky notes to write on to take notes, but you just end up doodling and creating small poems.

Kokushibo tries to prompt you to watching online tutor videos, but right as he leaves the room you click off the video and check your favorite art apps.

Kokushibo tries to teach you the subjects himself, trying to figure out if you have a certain way of learning such as hands on, or auditory, or visually, but he just comes to realize you simply have no interest in anything except arts.

When Kokushibo gives up trying to teach you for the day, you allow him to use your glittery sparkly pens and doodle something on paper. He comes to realize maybe drawing and writing isn't so bad, I mean, if it makes you happy then just go for it. There's been tons of famous artists and authors who make bank and end up successful and happy in the future, maybe you're one of them.

Kokushibo's tried to make you study literature and the origins of art. If you're going to take an interest in those things, maybe you could learn something useful or insightful by learning their past or methods?

Kokushibo always has some sort of simple breakfast for you when you wake up in the morning (he's an early-riser). Before every meal, he's always telling you to wash off the lead marks and ink off your hands so you can eat.

If you stay up late, Kokushibo is a little annoyed, but lets it go. It's more of a punishment to you than it is to him; you're the one sleep-deprived, not him. He figures you'll learn to go to bed early after you keep accidentally knocking your water on your papers when you start dozing off.

Even though Kokushibo does tell you to try and cut back on your arts during class time, he can't help but appreciate your stubbornness. At least he knows you won't let yourself get pushed around by anyone, even your own guardian! If drawing and writing is your own coping mechanism or simply just a hobby you love, he'll support it. At least you're not doing anything harmful to your health, so he's glad for that.

Slowly but surely, I'm finding energy to complete requests that been in my inbox for months. It's so hard finding time to write due to all of my outside activities, and it's always so difficult figuring out what to write when I'm unmotivated or stuck in an all too common writer's block, but I'm chipping away my requests bit by bit!

Want more Kokushibo content? Check out the Kokushibo masterlist!

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fic--writer · 4 months ago

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Instinctive Charm

If Instinctive Charm were a spell, and Rolan had asked Tav to teach him the art. But the only way to achieve focus remains primal passion.

Chapter 3: Whatever my teacher desires. (final chapter) ⚠️ NSFW, SMUT

— It was really crazy, but I feel better now. Thanks, Tav. But I still haven't figured out how to use it to concentrate. - The truth serum stopped working, and Rolan was no longer anxious when he spoke.

— It will definitely help you, but not right away. Give yourself time to get back on track, to recover from the shock. Learn to live with it. For now we'll try another method of concentration.

He looked at her blankly, got up from the improvised bed and began to study the scrolls on the table.

Tav decided it was time to move on to the next part. The pleasant part. She noticed his nervousness and informed him:

— No, we won't be poking around in your brain any more. At least not today. Just relax.

She stood up and walked towards him, fighting her own indecision, but knowing that it would be foolish to back out now. Especially since she wanted to complete the ritual and check how hot the tiefling's skin could be:

— I would like to ask you a question. A rather personal question. - Tav said quietly - Tell me... are you a virgin?

— What? I'm, uh... - The Master of Ramazite tower choked up for the second time that day. - You really didn't think so, did you? No, I haven't for a long time... But no, I'm not a virgin. - Tav's question stunned him. And foolishly, he began to leaf through the scrolls on the table, pretending to study the magic formulas.

— There are physical methods. Well, to wake you up and get you going, and also to appeal to your instincts. - She pointed to his groin with an indeterminate hand movement. - Now, let's get on with it. Is there any chance that I might be your type? I know the truth serum has worn off, but… Remember, you have to answer honestly, whatever the answer is, it won't upset me.

— I... you know, it's really personal,' Rolan blushed and slapped the air with his tail, but then he pulled himself together and blurted it out: - Of course you're my... type. How could anyone not like you? Look at you, the saviour of Baldur's Gate. But... Why do you even ask that? - He tried to pick up the pile of papers he had unfolded earlier, but only managed to drop a few sheets on the floor.

— I'm asking because it's part of our class, remember why we're here? - Tav continued, flicking a strand of hair back in her face, trying to hide her embarrassment - Because exercise can really help you. If you haven't had a vivid experience for a while, it's OK. Bad memories are in the past, life has settled down and taken its grey course, and the new bright moments are not yet upon you. We'll fix that. There are... There are activities other than tantrums and pillow fights that give you a burst of energy. And they also appeal to basic instinct. These 'practices' help the wizard to create and channel the energy for the spell.

Rolan felt his mind begin to draw all sorts of not-so-decent pictures. But he nodded understandingly and finally left the papers alone. After all, Tav had really helped him, and more than once.

— Good. - She playfully spread her legs to give him a better view of her thighs peeking out from under her skirt. - I ask because if you've been through this before, you know exactly how much energy it has.

— The procreative instinct? You mean the thought of offspring? But... - he replied, lowering his head and feeling the colour engulf him completely. He was still waiting for some hidden catch. The thought of Tav offering him something like that so easily couldn't take root in his mind. Still, who knew these sorceresses from the Charm school.

— Does every mating end in a pregnancy? No, when you're passionate about someone, when you want someone, strive to possess them, you don't think about offspring at that moment. You're just thinking about - desire. The desire for intimacy is nothing but the desire of flesh for flesh.

She was so close to him that he swallowed, feeling her warmth again. The Archmage could smell her scent, the one he had missed in his excitement. The scent of rich, warm caramel and violets. Each of her words was like an incantation, filled with intense attraction. Each part of the sorceress' speech was more enticing than the last. She began to whisper to him:

— And if you're not a virgin, you know exactly how it feels. You know how your heart starts racing when you smell the scent of the one you desire. You know how your breath hitches just thinking about it. How your hands start to shake and your tongue starts to slip when you're afraid of scaring her off and making a fool of yourself. The way your knees tremble, the way your forehead sweats. You know - she whispered provocatively into his pointed ear.

— Tav, I... - he stammered, unable to find the words to express his thoughts. No sooner had he risen from the ashes, from these ruins of his life, than life took a completely different turn.

She ran her tongue invitingly over his lobe and continued:

— You know how your blood rushes and you blush, you know how your throat dries up when you realise that the lustful intentions are mutual. You feel your pulse racing.

— Tav, if you don't stop now, I'll... - The tension between his desire and his mind was at its peak. It controlled him like a puppeteer controlling his marionette. Rolan clawed and clawed at the table. Of course he wanted her, but he still doubted the reality and rightness of what was happening.

Tav didn't think to stop. She ran her lips along his neck and placed her hands on his chest:

— You know the way your flesh heats up and your hands reach for your partner. You know the burning sensation that hides in the pit of your stomach. You know the sensual sounds you'll elicit from each other. You know the hurricane that will break out between you. You long to taste it on your tongue. You long to touch and penetrate every cell. - She nibbled at the skin of his red, freckled neck with her moist lips, making him moan.

— Zurgan! I won't be able to stop if you keep do this - he said with a heaviness in every word. He still hesitated. Could he take what he wanted so easily now? But there was not an ounce of falsehood in Tav's mouth. Her words sounded selfless. She wanted him?

— You know exactly how it is, Rolan. I think I made it clear. Leave all your secrets in my body. - She let out a moan of anticipation and unbuttoned his shirt, running her hand down a torso too pumped for a wizard. Every infernal ridge sent a ripple through her hand as she moved.

The next moment, Rolan pulled his hands from the table with force and moved them to her cheeks, pulling her to him for a passionate kiss. And finally closed her babbling, lewd mouth. His chaos erupted as the tension cracked.

— I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen. - He growled, no longer hiding his intentions. His tail wrapped around her legs with such force that she had to work harder to get free.

Tav started to answer, but Rolan cut her off by placing his hand on her chin and covering her mouth with his thumb, which she immediately licked.

— I tried to warn you. Now hush you! - the archmage said, enjoying the jam of her lips. Their searching tongues collided again and again. His hands slid boldly down her back, claws carving shallow scratches.

The room filled with moans, the sound of their breathing and the rustling of pages scattered across the floor. On which they now stomped, almost losing their balance, searching for a foothold.

Rolan lifted Tav in his arms and laid her carelessly, barbarically, on the cushions. The Tiefling piled on top of her, pressing her hard and unrestrained against him. Pulling off the top of her dress, he clung to Tav's chest, like for ice cream on a hot summer day.

In that dense oasis of intimacy, his hand slid down to her throbbing clit. Which he could feel even through her underwear. He moved frequently, his hot fingertips sending shivers down her insides. The tension building up inside him was both tantalising and terrifying.

She wriggled and whimpered beneath him, and the Archmage couldn't stand it any longer. After all, it was her own fault for turning him on like that. Now that she was a whimpering piece of plasticine in his hands, he pulled his trousers down and then ripped Tav's panties off. Her little black lecherous panties. If they consisted of more than a couple of strips of thin fabric, they would have a chance of staying intact.. Rolan looked at her questioningly and she nodded in agreement with a wicked smile.

— Don't be greedy. - Tav said almost pleadingly.

The Archmage pulled aside the ribbons of her skirt and saw the mischievous sheen of her wetness. It beckoned and fascinated him, and the Typhling went straight for her entrance. Her heat rushed to his cock and he entered. All the foolishness of the world and his mind faded away in this gruelling desire.

We are entwined. We are your core desire, your flesh. Souls and bodies collide with terrible heat. Forget the shame in common nature. Leave me to my sins.

Oh, nature's gift to the Tiefling. The velvety skin of his thick cock was adorned with infernal ridges. It moved rigidly to and fro in a wild animal rhythm, and there was no other way. Rolan held her hips with his tail, pressing her hungrily against him. Tav shivered and wriggled beneath him, savouring the heat of his body now in all her innermost places.

Tav literally felt every spark that Rolan shot out of her body. Every now and then a moan escaped her lips. She was on edge, but she couldn't let them climax for the sake of concentration. To get the tiefling's attention, she grabbed his hair, pulled him towards her and bit his lower lip, pulling away before letting go.

— Rolan now. Right now. - She murmured.

— What, you already? - he squeezed out the words, uncomprehending, mixed with deep, hoarse sounds from the bottom of his throat.

— No, I haven't! For now, focus and concentrate all your attention. Gather all the energy of that instinct and cast the spell. Direct it at me, there is no one else. - she found it hard to think and speak in this position, but what one would do for the sake of learning and science.

Rolan realised what she wanted from him, but it was not easy to interrupt such an intimate and exciting process. It was a challenge to remember the theory, the verbal and somatic components of the spell. With an effort of will, he gradually slowed his rhythm, regained his focus and control of the situation.

— Try it now, come on. Concentrate on the sensations. - Tav insisted.

The tower master breathed in the scent of her hair and closed his eyes. He concentrated on the sensation that filled his entire being. He made the necessary gestures, his fingers swirling in the air like snowflakes. Rolan tried to cast the spell again, focusing all his passion on the target. This time the magical energy flowed through him and he felt the spell begin to form.

His magic affects those around her, mesmerising them, bending their will and changing their beliefs.

A glowing aura appeared around Rolan and he directed the flow towards Tav. She, the target of the spell, began to move like a doll under the influence of an unseen force. At his command, she picked up the pillow and threw it aside.

— It worked! - Tav rejoiced as only a teacher can for his pupil. - You did it!

— I really did it! - the inspired Rolan laughed, baring his frequent fangs.

But the next moment, when he remembered the position they were in and how they'd got there, he was embarrassed, his yellow eyes rounded:

— We? I'm sorry if... - He started to get off her in a hurry.

— I have nothing to forgive you for. It's all right. I wouldn't do anything I didn't want to. - She stopped him by grabbing his arm. Tav threw her head back and looked up from underneath him, playfully nudging him with her hips - You know, we don't have to stop.

The Tiefling replied with a cheeky smile and a sizzling look:

— Faz'iam quodzum volu'rit dilectus me magizta. - He spoke in infernal and Tav had a moment of doubt about her proposal.

Seeing her confusion, Rolan hurried to translate:

— Whatever my teacher desires.

#bg3 fic #baldur's gate 3 #tiefling #bg3 fanfiction #bg3 #holy rolan empire #bg3 rolan #rolan x tav #rolan nation #fanfic #smut #bg3 tav #rolan baldur's gate 3

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by-izz · 2 months ago

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I saw your Minthara drawings and just wanted to say WOW, you're talented! Do you have any tips for digital drawing, and especially getting facial features so accurate?

Hello there, MischievousSeagull.

Thank you for the ask and for the compliment. I really appreciate it. Minthara is just too gorgeous not to draw her (every day, for the rest of my life).

To answer your question, I must say I am very much an amateur and self-taught as well so my advice my not be what professional artists would always agree with. I personally regret not studying art and doing character and object studies when I was younger because I believed 'drawing from references was cheating' so I never did. Now I know that in order to draw a character and make it look like themselves you will need:

1. Start with high quality references:

I aim for a few different ones from different angles, with good light but not flat light as this washes out facial features. I usually find something I like and then wing the rest of it. I recommend checking out and supporting Baldurs Gate 3 community in game photographers, they are amazing! The bigger the resolution, the better, so you can see the the details clearly and avoid ending guessing 'is this a shadow or a dimple or a smudge?'. Also, studying the references will help you recognise the characters features. And Minthara has a few!

It helps me to keep the reference in grey scale for and even with slightly more contrast to better understand the structure of the face, especially if I am just learning to draw a new character.

2. Make the features match:

There are so many different ways of approaching the form here and I ended up trying out a few ones. I personally need to have some kind of guide for the relative position of eyes, mouth and middle of the face as it can save from making massive errors. But I am becoming more and more impatient and mostly just wing it and spend hours correcting it later.

Doesn't matter how you do it: using the Loomis method, Asaro Head/planes of the head model (I love it, it helps a lot, especially if you are planning to have more detailed shading in your art!), Reilly method or the thirds method, colour blocking shapes method that they teach in art schools (I do that chaotically sometimes) or just mark the positions of features from references or just trace it, this is 50% of success. It doesn't matter how you get there, especially if you are a beginner.

What I have been doing with Minthara is trying different faces, sometimes just the reference, with my chosen body position and choosing the one that looks 'least off' and then sketching it. I remember to mark the features of the face as it's crucial at this stage, whether you stylise your art a lot or just stick to the character proportions: thin lips, deep/almost hooded eyes, the way her buccal pads are shaped, the more pronounced nasal dorsum and the adorable angry look of concern with furrowed brows. And obviously the ears. However, I will make the ears longer and the eyes slightly bigger as it looks better for my style.

The structure is very important because and you gave to trust the process. The ugly phase can be torture and if the drawing has no redeemable features, I will never come back to it. However, the next step can lift it all up.

3. Shape it with darknesss and light:

Choosing the way you render can make a big difference in how the drawing turns out. What helps me at this stage, after I have my base colour established and filled my shapes with it, is to have a layer with shadows (copy the base colour and just change layer properties to multiply and time it dial it down to 50%) and a layer with light (the same but use a different mode like Add or Screen) and that's the base for shading on which I build my colours. But to be fair, I am not great at this and I still refuse to aim for a higher contrast in my drawings. This is something I'd like to improve in this srea. I learned to avoid airbrush and work with blending brushes.

I usually play with these light and dark layers until it looks okayish, then proceed with adding extra light and some details. If I keep forgetting where they light is coming from, I draw a little sun to remind me.

4. Ok, now crisis control:

Sometimes, even if I have the most perfect reference the more I render, the less it looks like the person I intended for it to look like. This is why I keep doing these things throughout the process:

A) Mirroring: canvas>flip horizontal every now and then. Our brains lie to us and if you look at your art long enough,you will not be able to see mistakes. Sometimes, when I want to finish something quickly, I end up not checking for errors (wrong eye position, nonsensical anatomy, etc), and seeing the final version after sometime, it can make me feel like a rubbish artist. Having breaks and coming back to unfinished art is a good way to keeping it a little bit more objective as well.

B) Levels in grey scale: Rendering is hard and with little understanding how colours work it can ruin the best lineart more sketch. It helps to have a grey layer set to Colour on top of your art to check if the dark and light balance is there and if shapes look the way you wanted them to look. My brain likes bright colours and sometimes they don't go well with the rest of the composition, this is where grey scale helps with planning it all.

C) Check what went wrong with the reference: If I mess up badly and nothing is improving my drawing, I will go back to the original reference. Mirroring both helps to look at the structure with fresh eyes but if that fails, I will try to redo the base form or marked features in the reference. If it's hopeless, I'll trace the features until the drawing looks right to me.

I used to draw by looking at reference on a (in)famous okeaki platforms and I learned many things from just going back to the form over and over using guidelines on both the drawing and the reference as one couldn't import a picture in that software like we can do in Procreate. I recommend just studying forms and shapes and simplifying complex structures. I'd be a much better artist if I wasn't feeling like it was cheating back them. Going to various exhibitions and learning that my favourite artists traced their own photos and built the composition around them blew my mind and encouraged me to explore more ways of creating art.

I hope this answers your questions and I hope to see your work in the near future and the planned animatics! I'm learning Procreate Dreams and hoping to create a few short animations, once I get the hang of it.

This was a bit long but it was a really good question and one that I often ask myself in the process. Thanks for asking! I almost ended up doing a tutorial on Minthara's features but that'd be overdoing it, haha!

Cheers to creativity!

Izzy

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sketch-guardian · 3 months ago

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RAD classmates with an S/O who secretly grew up in a lab sounds so fun to me, like the random lore drop they could possibly do, like “oh yeah, they used to inject me all the time!” When one of them complains about having to get a shot.

This ask is heavily inspired by a Gacha lab series I watched everyday when I was like 7 and sobbed when the creator quit 😞

I don't know which series you are referring to exactly🤔having never watched Gacha stuff in general🙈however I'll do my best💜✨also I assumed you meant all OCs, so I hope that's okay🤞🏻sometimes it's better to specify RAD classmates+New exchange students to make sure I'll definitely understand😥(moreover I apologize for not replying to the ask immediately, but I'm trying to draw the New exchange students' true celestial forms and it's a nightmare😭):

"RAD CLASSMATES+NEW EXCHANGE STUDENTS WITH A MC WHO SECRETLY GREW UP IN A LAB"

DEMYA

Although Demya spent part of her childhood in a circus as a freakshow attraction, having nevertheless suffered mistreatment such as being chained up, forced to wear muzzles, restraints and skipping meals, the context in which she lived as a young demon for a few months wouldn't be too different from MC's one, besides some obvious differences. Demya would for once be worryingly quiet, asking MC, if they feel up to it, to confess the details of the laboratory where they were raised and experimented on, listening intently to the horrible things MC was subjected to. Demya would then hug MC tightly, rocking them from side to side and promising that as their mate, she would never let anything like that happen to MC again. When Demya was freed, the first thing she did was going on a rampage, maiming all the circus workers, the ringmaster in particular, leaving no survivors, so she would ask MC if the scientists or the laboratory were still there, because if so, Demya would accompany them to destroy everything, having the right to take revenge

DOMNRA/MOBIM

MC's story would remind Domnra of when he freed Demya from her cage, a stranger at the time, leaving her to sow chaos immediately afterwards, even if it would be different circumstances than MC's. Domnra wouldn't be surprised at learning something that awful actually happened, considering that human beings can be just as cruel as demons and would tell MC that if they wanted to share their past, he, as their partner, would stay at their side to listen. If MC still had scars from the experiments on their body, Domnra would trace their outline with a caring and cautious touch, letting then MC return the gesture, with caresses on the scars on his chest and the one on his now blind eye, wounds suffered during the Celestial War. Mobim, being a little curse and therefore not being born conventionally, would not know how a human being should be raised, however the idea of so many injections would make it nervous and sensing MC's trauma, even if hidden behind humor, Mobim would try to stay next to them as much as possible, in order to comfort and distract them

AZUL

Again, such story would remind Azul of Demya's tormented past, especially the first days in which he welcomed her into his home, the signs of beatings, bruises and other contusions were evident, it was clear that the demon hadn't been treated well, therefore at first Azul was very condescending and not intrusive, leaving Demya her space. Due to old habits, Azul would likely replicate the same behavior with MC, basically he would first observe them in search of scars, while pretending of doing nothing suspicious and then only as some time passed Azul would begin to ask more questions about MC's past in the lab, also curious to know if they had developed some skill or what exactly the scientists were aiming for. Obviously Azul's blood would boil at the thought of MC having such childhood, clear by his color change from light blue to red, however MC would be able to calm him down, especially since they seem to use humor to deflect trauma, a method Azul would be familiar with, as well as using cuddles. Azul would ask if the lab was still standing, just to make sure no one would come looking for MC anymore, even if he doubts they would get to Devildom

ZURI

MC's story would vaguely remind Zuri's about Demya's issue, about which she was among the last to find out, as Domnra and Azul had done their own thing at the time, without even consulting her on whether or not it was a good idea to welcome into their house a potentially cannibal demon, luckily in the end things went better than expected. Zuri would be slightly surprised and even a little disconcerted by the fact that MC would be able to joke about their situation, but she would then reflect that it's probably their way of dealing with trauma and managing the negative feelings inherent to it. Zuri would tactfully ask MC to tell her about their past in the lab and would stroke their hand in the process, squeezing it every now and then to be reassuring. The fact that someone could carry out experiments on a child would disgust Zuri, who would do some research on the laboratory and make sure that every scientist member was either dead or in any case unwilling to repeat such actions, however they wouldn't escape a punishment for the crimes commited against her beloved, after all just killing them would be too merciful

ODON

And to think that Odon thought they were cruel as a young demon, when a mere gaze was enough to end a lot of innocent lives, at least with Odon deaths were mostly quick, they didn't spend their time torturing others despite being an eldritch horror, as some human scientists apparently did instead on MC in a laboratory. Odon, always with a smile, even if fainter, would allow MC to confide in them and they would ask if the experiments had any repercussions on their physical or mental health, thinking of possible ways to remedy that, probably within the limits of their reality bending magic. Odon wouldn't be worried about some scientist looking for MC if they were still alive, because no one would be able to get close enough and stay alive to do so, thanks to their eye-like creatures. Some habits die hard, especially for Odon's familiars, decidedly more aggressive than them, despite being less dangerous

REMIEL

Remiel lived her childhood practically in isolation, for various safety reasons, in the company only of her mother Azrael and occasionally her father Death when he managed to visit, therefore the angel of death wouldn't be sure about what can be defined as growing up normally, however from MC's stories, Remiel would deduce that a child shouldn't undergo experiments, it would be amoral and against balance, a sin in short, not approved by any angel. Remiel, accostumed to listening to souls' stories and comforting them before they say their final goodbye, would be used to dealing with heavy topics, so MC would feel free to confide in the angel of death without fear of judgement, along some soft embraces with wings used as fluffy blankets to cover themselves in a feathery cocoon. Remiel, believing in redemption if genuine, would give the scientists a second chance if they were still alive and repentant, however if they lied, which she would notice, then the Archangel of Hope would have no glimmer of forgiveness to spare and would await their inevitable end, in order to restore balance

NATHANIEL

Nathaniel, as probably Remiel and Uriel as well, wouldn't know what a laboratory or syringes consist of, having nothing similar in the Celestial Realm, however he would be perceptive enough to understand from MC's tone that they aren't good, especially if associated with MC's growth path. Nathaniel would be disappointed by the way some members of humanity act to further progress and would gently scoff, shaking his head and thinking how lucky he's to have MC by his side, despite everything they've been through. Nathaniel would help MC open up about their time in the lab and whether the scientists were still alive or not, he would still leave MC with a blessing from him as a form of protection, accompanied by a soft kiss on their forehead for emphasis. If possible, Nathaniel would try to keep MC away from places that would remind them of the trauma they suffered or in any case to stay near as a figure to cling to or hide behind

URIEL

Uriel would need MC to explain to her in detail about their childhood in the laboratory and how human children normally grow up, to be certain of how to distinguish between normality and abomination, since she had never been that interested in the matter, after all Uriel spent her youth fighting and training and for some humans that might be abnormal, but for her it was routine, as a warrior angel. After MC's explanation, Uriel would be reasonably contradicted, indeed mad that such human behavior wasn't only allowed, but also probably went unpunished, which would be unacceptable for Uriel, who if MC didn't stop her and the scientists were still alive, would immediately remedy the situation, to prevent similar sins from happening again. If MC had scars, Uriel would grit her teeth, but at the time she would tell MC that those are proof that they survived and that they should be proud. With Uriel as a guardian at their side, MC would have nothing to fear anymore

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