#lucky atelier talk

[teka-chat]

by the way i'd like to let everyone know the only reason you guys aren't gonna be seeing me release a buttload of Mickey and Oswald stuff in the near future is because i am currently extremely busy with life in general ( zine, housing, schooling, moving... it's a lot ), however you should know I HAVE A LOT PLANNED.

it may take years but one day i plan to have an animated series or two

maybe i could even make a pilot when i get better at animation ! so many possibilities.

[teka-chat]

i used to do it because it was easier for me to draw

we're not born with all the drawing skill we'll ever have, there's things some of us just aren't able to draw ( yet ) ! i was used to drawing humans and anthros more than, say, cartoon characters, and they were hard for me ! so until the day i was comfortable drawing them, i settled on what i COULD do, to still enjoy the characters, but not feel like every drawing i did of them was a failure

but also, it's true that anthropomorphizing things and characters... is just fun ! it's like you said, a fun design exercise.

i personally love to turn random things into humanoid characters, like that one rat in the first trailer of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom !

it's harmless fun, to me

Can I ask an honest question?

Why do people create or see in humanized versions of non human characters?

Because a big reason why I end up liking some characters is that they got neat designs. Why would you turn them into normal humans? I mean, sometimes I even get into fandoms just because they got this silly-looking guy, lol.

Is it just some character design exercise thing or do some people like the human versions more?

[ofoceansandtombsanew]

this might be weird to ask on a writing blog but do you have any manga recs?

yeah i got some recs! i'm gonna assume you mean less talked about titles rather than more well-known but quickfire popular recs i have are: chainsaw man, fullmetal alchemist, jjba, fruits basket, jjk and hell's paradise. but onto my other recs:

seinen

children of the sea**: a troubled teen named ruka embarks on the summer adventure of a lifetime after meeting two boys raised by dugongs at her dad's aquarium in the middle of a mysterious event taking place in the ocean.

the summer hikaru died: it's been months since yoshiki's childhood friend and secret crush, hikaru, went missing in the mountains for a week. hikaru's the same as usual, with his jokes and silly rambles and yet, yoshiki can't shake the feeling that whoever came back from that mountain, it wasn't hikaru. much to his horror, it wasn't. but rather than face reality and grief, yoshiki decides to play along with "hikaru's" act (body horror)

dorohedoro**: in a world where there are humans and magic users, humans have it rough being virtually treated as second class citizens. day after day, year after year, magic users come to the human realm to experiment on them with their magic. and after having his head turn into a caiman, kaiman, wants to get it back in blood and have his true form restored (body horror)

witch hat atelier*: in a world full of magic and witches, it's always been normal human girl coco's dream to be one. but after accidentally discovering a truth of this world and her mom getting caught up in the spell, coco becomes an apprentice of witch qifrey. (it was recently announced there's an anime in the works!)

skip & loafer**: desiring to become a government official to revitalize her hometown in the japanese countryside, iwakura mitsumi's first step to accomplish this goal is by going to a uni prep high school in tokyo. she's got a foolproof 10-step plan to boot! but of course, life hardly ever goes as plan, not even for a prodigy (mc's aunt has great trans rep)

jousei

sign of affection*: as someone deaf all her life, yuki has dealt with discrimination in both small and broad strokes. nor has she ever experienced romance. this all changes when she meets backpacker itsumi, a guy who goes to the same uni. just as he opens her world, she opens his

debu to love to ayamachi to***: after waking up in a hospital with no memories to her name, plus sized yumeko is told she is there after surviving a suicide attempt. the thing is, yumeko isn't sure why when she's just so beautiful! with a strong desire to live life to the fullest, yumeko decides to do everything the past her was to afraid to do. all the while it is revealed that her suicide attempt was more of an attempted murder... but who could have wanted to kill her?

my love story with yamada-kun at lv999**: nothing is worse than getting cheated on especially after akane invested a lot of time and energy into her shitty ex's gaming hobbies. but through gaming, not only does akane find herself healing, she managed to get herself a pretty cool boyfriend too

NANA**: 2 women, 2 different lives, 1 name shared. komatsu nana is quick to fall in love and after a series of less-than-lucky relationships, she finally has someone she thinks is the one. abandoned by her mother and her ex leaving her band, osaki nana hasn't had the easiest life. but on the same night, on the same train, these two women meet and their lives become deeply intertwined

shoujo

a condition called love*: when it comes to romance, hotaru's never experienced it besides stories of her friends relationships. but she soon finds herself about to experience the whirlwind of a lifetime when hananoi, the most popular boy in school, asks her to be his girlfriend

a bouquet for an ugly girl***: as her class' resident big girl, hana isn't expecting a blossoming spring in her high school career. and she's okay with that. she has everything she needsー otome games and gardening. but after her class' pretty boy catches her in the midst of changing the class flowers, their lives become a bit more intertwined

uruwashi no yoi no tsuki: yoi is quite popular at her school because of her neat short hair, beautiful face and overall princely appearance. in fact, it's gotten her dubbed 'prince' many times. but when the other prince of the school finally meets her, cupid's arrow quickly knocks him on his ass

shounen

frieren**: a manga that picks up after the journey has ended. the demon king has been defeated and the heroes have saved the day after 10 years of traveling together. 10 years? that's not even a 10th of elf mage frieren's life. but as her companions begin dying one by one of old age, she finds herself desiring to learn more about humans and the short yet impactful lives they still manage to have

dungeon meshi*: when a dungeon raid goes terribly wrong and laios' sister gets swallowed by a dragon, those that remain in his party decide to get it back in blood by saving laios' sister before she gets digested. in the mean time, there's nothing wrong with gordon ramsay-ing miscellaneous ingredients found in the dungeon along the way, right?

and if you like manhwa or would be down for some manhwa recs these are titles i don't see getting recommended enough

concubine walkthrough: a scifi & philosophical spin on the otome isekai genre that asks 'what is reality truly?', 'is your life any less real if you found out all your experiences were a simulation?' and 'what is reality to you?' where protagonist lee yona finds herself stuck in a VR edition of a game she only played once

a wicked tale of cinderella's stepmother: usually when someone wakes up in the body of a villainess, she's the same age as the protagonists. mildred, on the other hand, is stuck in the body of this story's cinderella's stepmother. with no husband and three daughters to take care of, there's only one thing she can really doー build up her daughters' sisterly bonds with one another and make sure they marry into good families (or that they can at least live lives they're happy with)

tricked into becoming the heroine's stepmother: at least mildred got the body of an important character, daisy on the other hand? she's in the body of an NPC you never even see in the story. bright side? this is a story she helped write and after meeting the presently six year old protagonist's father, she and father of the year decide to team up for the ultimate mission: making sure his daughter never meets any of the love interests

inso's law: ham dan-i is in a bit of a pickle when she wakes up and her new school uniform is completely different than the one her mom bought weeks ago. there's a drop dead gorgeous girl next door who claims to be her childhood best friend. even worse, like something straight out of a drama, there are four heavenly kings that rule her school. by the end of the day, dan-i has no other choice but to accept the fact........ her real life has somehow turned into a web novel. even worse, she's a side characterー the main character's best friend

webtoons

plum: in a world where fruit stacking is a major sport, little plum decides to be the very best like no one ever was and moves to the big city to compete in the fruit stacking games along with making some friends and rivals along the way

webtoons that are probably popular enough if they have hardcover copies at my local bookstore but i wanna talk about it anyway

cursed princess club: as the youngest princess of the pastel kingdom, gwendolyn loves her family. her protective papa, her oldest sister maria who often awakes to woodland creatures doing her hair. her older sister lorena who makes flowers bloom with her every step. and her younger brother jamie who's so pretty, he sparkles. and they adore her just as much. but things come to a very reality shattering halt when their father introduces maria, lorena and gwen to blaine, lance and frederick, the princes of the plaid kingdom and gwen overhears frederick call her ugly, something she's never heard in her entire life. somehow, gwen finds comfort in a club full of cursed princesses (and one prince) who teach her how to start loving herself again

key

*) receiving an anime adaptation

**) has an an anime series or movie

***) receiving an anime adaptation & contains a story with a plus-sized protagonist that doesn't involve weight loss

[acediathemelancholy]

I've realized that this blog is a disorganized mess. So this is an attempt at a masterpost. I've only gone through my servamp posts so far and put together the interesting ones by topic. Edit: added link to Witch Hat Atelier Masterpost

Witch Hat Atelier

Servamp

The Alicein Family Drama

On Love and Fear

Chapter 130 Cover Analysis: Mikuni as the King

Alicein Mikuni: Sower of Scandal

Mikuni (and Lily): Sowers of Scandal Part 2

Hokaze's Illusion of Control

Lily and Enlightened Despot Theory

Lily's Second Betrayal

Mikuni, Lily and the Alleged Lack of Resentment

Dunking on Mikado's Pathetic Everything

Kiriko's Music Box

Clergy Jeje

Mirror Mikuni and Hokaze

Mikuni Doesn't Respect Anyone's Will

The Shirota Family Drama

Touma and Projection

Tooru as the Stagnant Shounen Protagonist

Imposters and Second Generations

Mikuni and Touma

Where does the Alicein Family Drama Meet the Shirota Family Drama

Tsubaki Accidentally Kickstarting the Shirota Family Drama

Touma and Sakuya

Saint Germain

On Saint Germain

On the Myth of Saint Germain

Theosophy Myths and Saint Germain

Saint Germain and the Jesus References

It Was More Than Eight Times

Who Will be Killed by Vainglory

Vainglory and the Traitor Servamps

The Ritual and the Lunar Eclipse

Sloth Pair

Mahiru: The Rook

Mahiru and Kuro: Saint Alban and Amphibalus

Kuro's Self-Acceptance and the Culmination of his Arc

When the Protagonist Isn't Always the Center of the Universe

Mahiru Reaching Out His Hand Like Tooru

Mahiru and C3

The one I strongly believed in, and the one who strongly believes in me

Team Melancholy

On Tsubaki's Creation

Early C3 and Tsubaki

Tsubaki's View of the Aliceins' Plot

Tsubaki (and Kuro) and Acedia

Tsubaki as The Method

Tsubaki and Mikuni's Fragile Alliance

Tsubaki Didn't Foresee Hugh's Plot

Sakuya Is So Lucky

Mikuni and Sakuya: Who is the liar?

Mikuni Never Understood Sakuya

Misono does understand Sakuya

Sakumahi Angst

Team Melancholy Gets an F in Espionage

Otogiri and Margaret of Cortona

Pride Pair

Hugh and Mikuni

Hugh and Mikuni the Prequel

Tetsu as Prometheus

Hugh Becoming What He Sought to Destroy Part 1

Hugh Becoming What He Sought to Destroy Part 2

Let's Talk Names: Hugh The Dark Algernon III

The Servamp Traitor Plotline

C3/Misc.

Mage Society Part 1: C3's Purpose

Mage Society Part 2: Class

Mage Society Part 3: The Origin

Tsurugi and Higan

Yumi's Character Development

Thoughts on Why C3's Ritual Failed

Iori

Subclass Logistics

Wrath Pair

Lily's View of Freya

Freya and the Witch Trials

Greed Pair

Licht's Choice

Lawless and Reaching Out His Hand

Gluttony Pair

Ildio's One-sided Rivalry

Nicco's No Good Very Bad Day

Nicco and Questions Raised by His Shareable Lead

[teka-chat]

ah while i'm at it i should change the name of this blog too

nothing too drastic. just thought i should adhere to my "lucky" aesthetic a bit more.

probably just gonna lucky- something. I like the name hana better than ekana, but ekana is the front twin... hmmm. maybe i should make Piano the mascot ? just kidding, sorry boy.

y'know what yeah i'm making a new sideblog for my other fandoms, it'll be less annoying for a few people

... what should i name it tho.

the-legend-of-teka ?

tekablade-chronicles-3 ?

tekamon-journeys ?

teka-art-online ? ( huh, i should've called my personal blog that. or maybe i should have a separate personal art blog... no no focus )

teka-not-sonic ?

disaster-tekaster ? ( that was a really old idea )

also what do i call THIS blog now ? i always thought something akin to "tekatonic-tekasonic" but that feels like it would be confusing... it was a joke on tectonic btw

other teka joke names include :

tekastronomic

tekatastrophic

tekastrophysics

tekanatomicophysiological

feel free to suggest more

[shadowqueenjude]

Lucien finally loses it and does something bat-shit crazy

@theewicked @ramim @sonics-atelier @duskcourthighlady This is for you babes😘 After Feyre shit-talks him and the BOE at ACOFAS, Lucien reaches his breaking point, and he resolves to do something crazy. Part 2 coming soon!

Lucien was absolutely fed up with everyone’s bullshit.

It was coming from every side. Feyre, Rhysand, Azriel, Cassian, Tamlin, Beron, Elain, Nesta, and all of their relatives were giving him hell every day. He had just about had enough.

How long was he supposed to just sit there and pretend like everything is fine? Even the finest outfits couldn’t pull him out of his misery.

This was all Rhysand’s fault. He had ruined everything for him. His relationship with Tamlin and Feyre. His home, his life. Hell, he was even the reason his mate had gone through hell. He had failed to protect Feyre’s sisters. He couldn’t understand how Feyre could stomach him after everything he did under the mountain. God knew Lucien barely could most days. Every time he saw his smug ass face, it reminded him of Ianthe.

And after all this time, they still treated him like an outsider. When he had come to the Night Court for the first time, they had treated him like an enemy. Pulled out all the stops to make sure he knew his life was thoroughly threatened. Despite everything he had done for Feyre. If there was anyone who shouldn’t be trusted, it was her.

She had completely used him. He wondered sometimes if she ever thought of him as a friend, or if he had just been a means to an end, and later an enemy. Well, they should know Lucien didn’t respond well to threats. He had been exceptionally tempted to pull an Amarantha on Rhysand and tell him to return to the shit-hole he had crawled out of, but he had a sinking feeling that he wouldn’t have been so lucky as to escape with his life this time.

They had actually made him thoroughly sympathize with Nesta. Hell, his asshole of a brother Eris was better company than those two. He now spent most of his time in the company of two humans. And Feyre, a formally human girl, had become the epitome of all she claimed to hate about the Fae in the first place. “They peddle tales of defending our land and peace. And yet she came to my lands and laid them bare for Hybern. She took my High Priestess and warped her mind—after she shattered her bones for spite. And if you are asking yourself what happened to that human girl who went Under the Mountain to save us … Look to the male sitting beside her. Ask what he stands to gain—what they stand to gain from this war, or lack of it. Would we fight Hybern, only to find ourselves with a Queen and King of Prythian? She’s proved her ambition—and you saw how he was more than happy to serve Amarantha to remain unscathed.” Lucien hadn’t been there for the High Lord meeting, but he had heard the recounting of it afterwards. He somehow thought his former friend was right. He highly doubted Rhysand’s ambition ended at High Lord. And with the power he possessed…all of Prythian would be in danger should he become High King. He'd seen the state of the lands Rhysand thought beneath his notice. Velaris was beautiful yes; more beautiful than he cared to admit. But what of the rest of his nation? Lucien could only imagine how little attention Tamlin’s former territory would get should it fall into Rhysand’s hands. But how would he ever keep Rhysand from gaining such power? He had power of his own, sure, but compared to the might of the entire Inner Circle… Although, he did have one advantage: the Inner Circle had no idea how deep his power ran. Even Lucien didn’t know. He could do things that nobody else could. With the magic eye and the spell-cleaving powers he inherited from his biological father…

Could he do the impossible? The cauldron itself had failed. Then again, that could possibly be attributed to the fact that Feyre and Rhysand had been held together by not one, but two bonds. Now that one of them had been broken…

Lucien chuckled to himself. Such wicked thoughts were unbecoming of him. But especially after today…

“And what, exactly, does this Band of Exiles plan to do? Host events? Organize party-planning committees?”

What a bitch. They had always had banter between them, but it wasn’t like this. Feyre hadn’t been saying it playfully, but just being exceptionally rude. As if she wasn’t the reason the BOE was all he had.

Sometimes he wondered if Rhysand DID have her under mind thrall. Or perhaps the mating bond was what was manipulating her. God knew it affected him.

Elain. A twinge of pain went through him. Why did it have to be her? She wants nothing do with him- and long ago, he had known a girl who had approached him, seduced him, wanted no one but him. Who didn’t see a High Lord’s son, but a male. Who he had loved with every inch of his being.

Elain was beautiful- the most beautiful female he had ever seen, though it still felt like a betrayal to Jesminda to admit that to himself. He had tried to learn about Elain however he could; he’d asked Feyre about her, had observed her, had observed others speaking of her. But it was hard- damn near impossible, really- to get a read on her. He didn’t want to force himself on her. God knew it was hard what she had been through. She was to be married. Then, she’d lost everything.

Well, Lucien knew what that felt like.

He could feel her through the bond. He still remembered that day he had explored deep into the bond and had found thoughts so unbecoming of a lady like Elain he had blushed.

Yet she shrunk away from him.

That wasn’t new to Lucien. It seemed like the only two people who enjoyed his company nowadays were Jurian and Vassa. And of course, they were into each other. Lucien was so sick of being the third wheel, he came on holidays to the Night Court not because he felt particularly welcome, but to give those two human idiots time to sort out their problems sexually before he had to deal with them again.

His self-control was exceptionally high owing to a childhood growing up under the parentage of Beron, but even he was reaching his breaking point.

The next time somebody tried him a little too much, he was going to do something absolutely bat-shit crazy. Haha. Bat-shit. Like the Inner Circle’s bat wings. Lucien cringed at his inner monologue and tried to focus on the present, but the thoughts lingered in the back of his mind.

[kfkr1ze]

[002-A20] Antoine on the Seaside

Summary — ✈︎ Although the fight managed to be stopped, Ushio and Muneuji still haven’t made up yet. And to make matters worse, the weather forecast for the day of the summer festival is making the students depressed…

Characters— ✈︎ Ushio, Nanaki, Akuta, Kiroku, Muneuji, Sakujiro

Location: Tomioka Hachiman Shrine in Shodoshima

Kaede: Aand�� there… Phew.

Gannosuke-san, I finished moving the equipment.

Gannosuke: Alright, then let us install it as it is.

Kaede: Right……

Gannosuke: You seemed to be anxious about the weather.

Kaede: Yeah, the chance of rain is around 80% so… I feel like I’m just praying for that 20% miracle to happen.

Gannosuke: Let’s believe in that then. The Gods of the weather are prone to change it, after all.

Kaede: Yes!

Gannosuke: This is changing the subject a bit, butーー

This morning, Kinugawa-kun didn’t appear at the Atelier.

The lanterns were still in the process of being completed, so I was a bit concerned since he seemed to be rooted to the same spot when trying to complete it.

Did something happen?

Kaede: Well, the truth isーー

Sakujiro: I do not believe the act of fighting each other is bad itself.

Sometimes, this is an important act in order to have a heart to heart in times of conflict.

Muneuji: ………

Sakujiro: Even if that is the case, that does NOT mean you should throw him 30 times…! What would have happened if he acquired a traumatic brain injury!?

Ushio: … It’s fine, I was on the defensive.

Kaede: (He’s used to being thrown around huh…)

Sakujiro: That prideful attitude will bring you ruin if you are not careful. In any case, the both of you need to reflect on your actions. Afterwards, shake each other’s hands and reconcile.

Muneuji: ………

Ushio: ………

Kaede: (They’re turning away from each other… It doesn’t look like they’d be shaking hands any time soon…)

Hey you two, I’d appreciate it if you could tell me what even caused you two to fight in the first place?

Akuta: Hey, so is it really gonna rain on the day of the festival?

Kaede: Mm… According to the weather forecast… Yeah, it seems so.

Nanaki: So it really is true?

Kiroku: …………

Muneuji: Is there anything we could do about it?

Kaede: As of right now, we just have to leave it up to luck… I guess.

Akuta: … Then, in that case…

Kaede: Akuta-kunーー

Akuta: That means, all the food stalls will have a BUNCHA food left over! It’s basically an all-you-can-eat buffet! YAAY! Takoyaki, Okonomiyaki, Yakisoba, AND Baby Castella!

Kaede: …………

Akuta: I don’t wanna eat tomorrow ‘cuz I need to keep my stomach empty! On the festival day, I’m gonna fill up on all the street food I can eat!

Ushio: Hah?

Nanaki: You’re seriously… Now’s not the time to be yapping about stupid stuff like that!

Ushio: … This guy wouldn’t know how to be negative if it could save his life. Great that someone could be happy about this I guess.

Muneuji: Of course it’s good to be positive, but it’s a bit tactless in certain cases.

The food at the stalls should be served to guests. Why would you be happy that you can eat it all yourself?

Akuta: I mean, I’d be happy if it’s sunny for the summer festival and everyone’d get to eat stuff, but I’d also be happy if it’s rainy since I’d be lucky to get a lotta food to myself. So? Is it fine now?

If you put it like that isn’t it reasonable? That way, no matter what weather it is, it’d be a win-win! Right?

Ushio: Reasonable, unreasonable, whatever I don’t care. Such a pain. Dull.

Nanaki: This is what I was talking about. If you think something is troublesome and refuse to continue the conversation, nothing will change. Don’t give up before the conversation is even over.

Ushio: How about you go and tell that to Buddha Statue over there? He’s always keeping quiet and it’s been pissing me off.

Kiroku: ……Ah…… I……

Kaede: Okay that’s it everyone, no more fighting! Be quiet!

Sakujiro: ………

Kaede: Oh no everyone, it looks like Sakujiro-sensei has a troubled look on his face! If you keep this up, the lecture might drag on for a looong time…

Muneuji: …………

Ushio: Tch…

Nanaki: ………

Sakujiro: ………

… Alright, it took 50.6 seconds for everyone to finally settle down.

Akuta: Wow, that was a cool ass line just now! It’s such a teacher-esque line, I’m gonna steal it for my next movie～♪ 

Nanaki: We literally just got told to shut up… Sigh, whatever, I’m done.

I get why we were wrong. So sorry. We’ll be careful not to fight in the future.

Is that what you wanted to hear? I’m getting tired now so I’m gonna go to bed. Let’s go, Kinugawa-kun.                                                   

Kiroku: …… Mhm.

Ushio: ‘Kay, then I will too.

Since I got thrown around so many times, my back hurts.

Muneuji: ………

Ushio: Are you gonna sleep in the living room, Muu-chan? You probably don’t wanna see my face, andーー

Ushio: I don’t want to see your face right now, either.

Muneuji: Fine.

Kaede: … That’s what happened.

Gannosuke: I see, I believe I understand the full picture now.

As for the quarrel, it will resolve itself in due time. Butーー

There’s no point in lying around and rotting just because it is going to rain.

Whether you are talking about a trip or an event like this, it’s not uncommon for it to start raining once you look forward to it.

Kaede: (Sakujiro-san also said something like this earlier…)

(Hm… If I were a Ward Mayor, what would I do in this situation?) 

(It’s almost like I’m being testedーー …… Ha!)

No way… don’t tell me I’m being tested…!?

Gannosuke: About?

Kaede: Nothing! I’m just gonna check on everyone, so I’m going back to the inn for a bit…!

Location: Otomari Chuuzaemon Inn in Shodoshima

Kaede: Nanaki-kun… Nanaki-kun…!

………

He hasn’t come out… Is he not in his room?

(I guess I don’t have any other choice… I should just go back to the living room.)

Kiroku: ………

Kaede: Kiroku-kun! Is Nanaki-kun not in his room?

Kiroku: ……He’s there, but…… Ever since last night… He’s been in “Sulking in bed” mode.

Kaede: I see…

Kiroku: ………

Kaede: (Kiroku-kun also has a gloomy expression on his face…

He’s been working hard to make something… I wonder if it’s a teru teru bouzu?)

Gannosuke-san was pretty worried, y'know. He said that you didn’t come to the Atelier this morning.

Kiroku: ………

Kaede: All that’s left is the finishing touches, right?

I get that the teru teru bouzu is important, but I think you should finish the lanterns firstーー

Kiroku: …… I felt… relieved.

That people won’t… see the lanterns… I can just… get them done.

Kaede: Kiroku-kun…

Kaede: (The one in this room isーー）

Ushio: ………

Kaede: Ushio-kun!

Do you know where Akuta-kun and Muneuji-kun are?

Ushio: They went out.

Kaede: Okay. Thank you.

Ushio: ………

Kaede: (He has his back turned to me like he’s trying to reject any sort of human interaction… Maybe it’s best for me to leave him alone right now…)

Location: Beach in Shodoshima

Akuta: ………

Kaede: There you are! Akuta-kun!

Akuta: Hah? Ohh it’s Sensei. Yo.

Kaede: Yo. …What were you doing, just staring out into the sea like that?

Akuta: Weell, I haven’t eaten anything since this morning right? So I was getting hungry. And I was just wondering to myself if I could eat some seaweed that got washed up on shore y’know?

Kaede: Raw…? Absolutely not.

Akuta: Yeah I thought so. Ughh… I’m so hungry though……

If seaweed’s a no go, theeen can I eat some kelp?

Kaede: Absolutely not.

Y’know, everyone is all depressed over the weather for tomorrow but… For some reason, you stay the same as always huh Akuta-kun.

It’s a little relieving.

Akuta: There’s no use in thinking about dark stuff like that. At least for me. It’s more like I can’t think about it. I get nosebleeds when I think too much.

But everyone will probably cheer up sooner or later, won’t they? I mean, they’ll probably realize there’s no point in worrying about it if they can’t change anything.

But, when it’s about rain… We gotta do something about it, yeah?

Kaede: That’s…

(Saying something like “I can’t do anything about it”right now is … I just can’t tell that to Akuta-kun and the others…)

(But, if I could try to at least cheer them up…)

Akuta: But, uguhhhh… I’m tryna think of something soo hard…! If kelp isn’t good then maybe something like noriーー

Kaede: Akuta-kun!

Akuta: Yes!

Kaede: When tomorrow comes, and it does end up raining… What we’ve done and are doing in preparation for the festival on this study tourーー

Even if we don’t get to show hospitality to the customers… Our efforts won’t go to waste.

I know that it might feel disappointing this time because of the weather, but I’ll make sure that everyone’s efforts are rewarded.

I’ll even negotiate with Shodoshima’s community center to have everyone’s work displayed there as well. I’ll make sure they see the light of day.

So I don’t want you to worry about the weather. You should just continue the preparations like normal.

Akuta: Mm… Nn……? Um?

Kaede: No matter what happens, the experience you have of working hard with your friends will be an experience that will stick with you for all of your life.

It’ll be a good memory that you and your friends can look back at in the future.

Akuta: …………

Kaede: A lot of things don’t end up going our way no matter how hard we try, but we can use that disappointment as momentum for the nextーー

Akuta: …………

Kaede: Um…

… What’s wrong? Your expression looks kinda displeased.

Akuta: Nothing really. Nothing’s wrong. I’m gonna go to the toilet! 

Kaede: Ah, Akuta-kun…!

He left…

Previous — ✈︎ Masterlist — ✈︎ Next

Notes — ✈︎

This time, I had a harder time finding the reference to the title. The only thing that comes up when I search for that exact phrase in Japanese is a movie called The Hairdresser’s Husband? But I can’t see the reason why they picked it plot wise LMFAO. If I squint and tilt my head, I can kinda see why it’d be an Akuta reference? Which is probably why he voices the title in the game, and why he’s at the seaside in the end. But I have seen art stuff! And all the comments (One singular comment) I see about the seaside in the movie just say that it's a pretty scene visual… so maybe it was just supposed to be a visual reference I’m not getting since I never watched it. If you tried to search it in English all that shows up is a restaurant in New Orleans (WAOW NOLA REFERENCE)

[tmntkiseki]

Diary of an Idiot Trying to Learn to Draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Part 1: Escaping the Comfort Zone)

Before we talk turtles and the early steps of my art journey with them, let's talk about me for a little bit.

Hello, most people know me by my online nickname, Star. I'm a perpetually tired gremlin in her late 20s from New England who still lives with her parents and two brothers. (I'm the middle child!) I love my two dogs to bits, I have a weird fascination with shipwrecks and maritime disasters, and I am a known art enjoyer to point of attempting to draw her own pictures. Sometimes it goes well, other times... ah, we'll get to that.

When I think about my history in terms of drawing, it all starts with anime. My first exposure anime was through a fairly obscure one called Sky Girls; I encountered it through Dance Dance Revolution: Super Nova 2 on the PS2, as the opening to the original OVA was one of the songs available in the game. I ended up watching most of the television series and I was quick to discover that, hey, there's an entire genre of animated television series that originate from Japan; subsequently, I ended up watching several anime that were popular during the late 2000s with Lucky Star, Haruhi Suzumiya, Clannad, and Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni all being shows that I watched during this period. It's difficult to say what entranced me so much about the art style quirks we so heavily associate with anime, but it's definitely had the biggest influences on my art; not just anime itself, but video games with anime art styles as well. If I had to name which pieces of Japanese media have affected me most in terms of art development, it would be Odin Sphere, KyoAni's works (especially Violet Evergarden), and Hidari (the character designer for three of the Atelier games and Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.)

"Okay, but what about when you actually began to do your own art?" WELL, I can definitely say throughout elementary school I absolutely LOVED being in art class, but I didn't start seriously practicing until I was around 13; this was when my depression first reared its ugly head, but it was also about when I first got into fandom online. Now, the first fandom I actually made "content" for was Pokemon, but that wasn't drawing; that was fanfiction. The first fandom I actually drew for?

Call of Duty: Zombies. Yeah, I think we all have that one fandom we're embarrassed to mention that we were ever involved in. Regardless of the cringe factor, it was still important for me because that was when I first started interacting with other fanartists online and if I hadn't spent so much time drawing fanart of a bunch of WWII stereotypes while I was in high school, I wouldn't have laid the groundwork for what came afterwards.

In terms of overall skill, I'm definitely way better than I was back when I first started out, but there is still so much I have to learn; I do often look at other artists who are around my age or, hell, are even YOUNGER than me and think to myself "Why am I not that good?" and, ya know, art is an acquired skill that requires a lot of practice and due to my mental illness and lack of confidence/self-worth, there were periods where I would go for MONTHS without drawing anything, so the fact I'm not where I feel like I should be skill-wise is ultimately circumstantial (there are other personal shortcomings that have also been holding me back, but we'll get to those later). I have managed to learn to stop being so hard on myself and not be as perfectionistic, and I find myself drawing more and more for the fun of it and learning new techniques that'll result in better pieces rather than anything else. These are some of the Rune Factory 4 pieces I drew last year (all Arthur/Frey ship art, oops) and at this point I can look at them and think "Yeah, they're not perfect, but I also did a pretty good job."

All right, this is the part of the post where we finally get to talking about my experiences learning how to draw the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles--specifically, the 2003 versions. It's been about a month since I started studying the show's art and even if I'm not the best artist on the block, I still have a decent amount of experience under my belt that learning how to draw them shouldn't be too hard, right? Right? I mean how hard can it be to draw four humanoid turtles?

Oh boy, of all the fandoms I've drawn fanart for, TMNT 2003 probably has one of the steepest learning curves that I have EVER experienced.

All right, what are some of the advantages do I have going in? There is my existing experience drawing, but I'd argue the fact that my brain is so hardwired to draw anime is an advantage in some ways. When I first looked at the show's art style (more specifically that of seasons 1 - 5), I was thinking to myself "How the everliving FUCK am I supposed to draw this?!" However, when I actually sat down and studied the model sheets, I was delighted to discover that a lot of the basic fundamentals that I already learned drawing anime bodies can be applied to the turtles; one of the only major adjustments I had to make was exaggerating the muscles of the arms and legs. Not only that, but one of the less human aspects of the turtles IE the plastron is actually incredibly useful as a makeshift guideline for the torsos; it quite literally divides them into chest, abdomen, and pelvis areas and I absolutely love it!

Unfortunately, that's about where my happiness with drawing the turtles ends and where my actual struggles start.

("Nekomata Mikey" from January 7th, which is probably my best and favorite turtle attempt thus far)

So, I suffer from a little something called "not liking to leave my comfort zone." It's not something that I'm incapable of doing, but getting me to break out of a repetitive routine and try something new or challenging is insanely difficult--no idea if it's a result of my autism spectrum disorder or not, but it definitely explains why I've hesitated to experiment more with my art and try new things... which is important if you want to further develop your style and improve. Oooooooh boy.

Now, I'm not necessarily looking to accurately replicate TMNT 2003's style, but I am hoping to maintain certain aspects when I draw the turtles. Stuff that is definitely contradicting what I'm comfortable with when it comes to drawing; the thick lines you see in a lot of the official art, the fact this show really likes using sharp angles to define physical features, the dark color palette of the first five seasons, the fact those seasons break the rule of "don't shade with black" that I've been taught from the beginning--a lot of stuff that I'm just not used to. It's hard not to become frustrated because half the time you have no idea what you're doing and have no idea whether it's going to look good or not.

Beyond that, there is the matter of the less human aspects of the turtles that are giving me a run for my money. I can somewhat handle the chunky three fingered hands and large two toed feet, but when I get to the heads and shells, that's where I start tearing my hair out. Even with multiple reference screenshots from the show and sassatello's tutorial on the head structure handy, I still find myself fumbling and making heads that are too angular and chunky (especially in the cheek area) or heads that are too round to the point of almost looking babyish. The shells are another matter entirely; it's weird because they are basically a dome-shaped backpack, but something about those things keeps throwing me for the loop no matter what angle or pose I'm drawing a turtle from.

*LOUD SIGH*

For all the struggles and frustrations I have, I'm still very happy to be studying and practicing how to draw the turtles. It's been about a month since I started pouring over the model sheets, taking screencaps from individual episodes to examine and annotate, and just drawing, and I've already learned so much. Not only that, but this whole experience of trying to figure out how to draw the main characters from an (almost) 21 year old cartoon has pushed me to look up... A LOT of tutorials for art skills I've admittedly been neglecting. Basic shapes used in the structure of the body, color theory and shading, all that good stuff. It is also a fact that studying the art of TMNT 2003 is exactly what inspired me to start posting all the model sheets and concept arts I have saved on my laptop. When you have a ton of art resources at your disposal, why not share them? Someone else might need them as much as you do.

I'm hoping to make another post like this in a couple months or so just to see how much I've improved, where I'm still kicking and screaming, and what areas I ought to focus on. Until then, take care and have a good day!

[teka-chat]

OH. I AM TEARING UP. I AM CRYING ACTUALLY.

happy b-day @teka-and-her-spam-chat/@ekana-to-hana!! :DD i hope u liked and had a great day!

[villain-in-love]

So basically... A Date With Death MC/Self-insert

Music:

Оно Выделяло Тепло by АИГЕЛ

Death Is A Teacher by Eden Iris

BRAT by Chris Marcell

...also Mixed Messages by Tom Cardy

Facts:

⬩ I have yet to come up with a separate name for her... So for now she's just Katarina.

⬩ Aspiring fashion designer of 25 years of age.

⬩ Currently works as an assistant in an atelier in the centre of the city.

⬩ Lives alone in a studio-type of apartments with her pet cat Seras.

⬩ She’s been getting into all kinds of disasters and life-threatening incidents throughout her life, miraculously surviving every time. Unfortunately, the people around her are usually not so lucky, so she had to witness many deaths.

⬩ At least a half of her family is dead by now, and she keeps her distance with the remaining relatives. Well, it's not that she was ever the type of person who would care about family, so she doesn't dwell on that.

⬩ She has two moods: an insufferable clown and an absolute bitch.

⬩ Most people consider Katarina to be intimidating and unapproachable, mostly because she’s not too fond of social interactions, along with having a sharp tongue and a domineering attitude. And since she doesn't really understand social rules, she comes across as mean and arrogant even when she doesn’t intend to.

⬩ Being conventionally attractive and dressing up in very classy, “formal” fashion doesn’t help her case.

⬩ However, if you get involved in an actual conversation with her, you’ll find that she can be very playful and humorous, she just supresses that side of her. And for a good reason, I must say, because she often goes overboard with her teasing, and her humour indeed can be rather mean.

⬩ Conversations with her also tend to easily slip into something that is either sexual or macabre (she might have some issues).

⬩ Katarina is a romantic at heart, but she never had a chance to date anyone, mostly because she has very specific tastes. But then a certain reaper came along, and it turned out that she's actually really flirty. Too flirty even.

⬩ By the start of the canon timeline she was going crazy from boredom and loneliness. Perhaps that’s why she decided to reply to a "Grim Reaper" weirdo who was spamming her with messages from an unknown app she doesn't even remember installing.

⬩ Anyways, since she was so pent-up, and Casper seemed like such an easy target… Yeah, she just went all out on him. Years of untold jokes and atrocious pick-up lines finally found their way out. She surely had a blast making fun of him.

⬩ It’s not like she completely refuses to believe in supernatural, you know. She’s an agnostic, all she needs is some substantial evidence. But instead of providing that evidence, Casper just kept making a fool of himself for the first few days.

⬩ He’s lucky that he’s so pretty and that Katarina has a thing for idiots with an attitude. This guy is exactly her type (and she’s going to make it his problem).

⬩ Unlike canon MC, Katarina wasn’t that surprised to find out that he’s an actual Grim Reaper. She just needed some time to process the implications (and maybe some vodka).

⬩ That is to say, after learning from Casper that the reason she was constantly getting into accidents was her inability to die, she went through the crisis of realising that she really is the reason that so many people that were close to her are now dead.

⬩ She’s also more chill than canon MC. Casper can actually talk to her seriously… Before she inevitably starts trolling him again because she can’t resist the temptation.

⬩ She graduated high school of art and design but didn’t get to the higher education because her parents died, and she was not ready to work and study at the same time. She managed to find a decent job anyways, but she still wants to get a degree in the future when she’s more stable.

⬩ She only has one friend who is just as bad as she is. Said friend lives in another city, but they talk on the phone constantly.

⬩ She adopted her cat about two years ago after stumbling upon her on the streets. Katarina is very protective of Seras and always tries to ensure her safety above everything else.

⬩ Unlike the way it looks in the game, her actual apartments are a mess, with paper, fabric and tools lying everywhere. Though honestly, this mess is nothing compared to how her working space in an atelier looks.

[timeprincessdreamtopiaismyhome]

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT TIME PRINCESS DREAMTOPIA...

This game has had a special place in my psyche for a while now. It's rated 4.6 stars on playstore, but honestly, I'd rate it a 5. The only drawback I'd say is the storage space this game takes, but honestly, it's worth it for the amazing graphics, tons of art, storylines, outfits, companions, mini games, events and more.

But what is it about? You play your character who has the ability to travel through different stories in order to save the story kingdom. You make friends, companions and you can romance characters from each story too. There are so many routes to choose from with compelling storyline. From Classics like Swan Lake to original stories like Twilight the Underground City.

You do need to be connected to the internet to play, but it is also free to play. You can most definitely play without money and get lots of cool stuff.

You get your room which is your home screen and also where your story starts. Its also decorated seasonally and you can sometimes see things in the window. There are tons of places to go and things to do. I'll be talking about each of these a bit more in depth in my next few posts. There's a lot.

Things available from your home screen:

•Minigames

•Kitty Bed

•Time Academy

•Recollections

•Playroom

•Change Room

•Dresser

•Lantern

•Story Kingdom

•Ilusio Island

•Mirage Forrest

•Story Desk

•Boutique

•Time Atelier

•Lucky Jerry

•Achievements

•Friends

•Mail

•Event Centre

•Parven's Shop

•Character Icon

•Bag

•Society

[canmom]

Comics Comints: Witch Hat Atelier

Welcome back to Comics Comints, the series where I comint on comics.

First up! Comics Comints now has a proper archive. Enjoy larger images, alt text, and tags for navigation.

Tonight, it’s time we did a manga! If you recall that post about paneling and time from a couple of weeks ago, you know it’s one I liked rather a lot...

Witch Hat Atelier (とんがり帽子のアトリエ Tongari Bōshi no Atorie)

(writing and art: Kamome Shirahama (白浜 鴎), trans. Rasmus-kun, #dropout and Project Vinland scanlation groups. I’m going to be using the name romanisations decided on by #dropout since they’re generally a lot better than the official ones lmao)

Ahh, Witch Hat Atelier. A truly wonderful comic, such that it’s tough to know where to begin.

Sometimes I compare it to getting my hands on a whole new Berserk, because Shirahama’s drawings have that same sense of being exquisite: gorgeously flowing cloth and hair and perfectly placed hatching, overwhelming confidence and attention to detail, an old-school romantic fantasy world you could really fall into. (Also I think she draws faces kinda like Miura does.)

Witch Hat Atelier begins with a girl called Coco living in a fantasy world in which the population is divided into humans and witches. Not unlike a certain Akko, she idealises magic. But she ends up performing magic by accident, unleashing a spell that turns her mother to stone. After this, the kindly Professor Quifrey, who definitely harbours no ulterior motive, breaks the taboo and lets her into the secret: anyone could do magic with the right tools (a pen and special ink), and the witches are maintaining an elaborate masquerade for the sake of containing terrible magical superweapons.

Or at least, the dominant Pointed Hat Witches are. Their enemies, a conspiracy known as the Brimhats, want to break these artificial shackles... and for reasons we don’t yet know, they see this novice witch Coco as their key.

Anyway, the thing that got me to read Witch Hat Atelier was this video...

...by manga youtuber Lines in Motion, which analyses Shirahama’s inventive panelling. It’s really nicely edited and a great primer on the principles of comic composition.

Anyway, per that video, Shirahama took inspiration from not just other manga, but old school European illustration like John Tenniel and Arthur Rackham - and good old Moebius of course. Unfortunately, this video doesn’t provide its sources, and I struggle to find some kind of interview where I can get the artist’s own words. Still, looking at her style, she’s not shy about gesturing to Art Nouveau, or the general tradition of European etching.

And when Shirahama uses colour - sadly only occasionally, though I can understand why! - she deploys beautiful watercolours that call to mind the same tradition (and perhaps certain recent manga like The Girl From The Other Side).

So, before we dive into talking about the comic itself, let me see what I can dig up about Kamome Shirahama herself and her inspirations. She studied art in Japan, at Tokyo University of the Arts, and starting publishing comics in the seinen magazine Fellows! in 2011; this led to a bizarre lucky break when her art was noticed at Comic-Con by someone at Marvel, which gave her a foothold into the Western comics industry, starting with this character Doctor Strange in 2015 (source):

Even seven years ago, you can see Shirahama could really fucking draw. This apparently continued with various other covers for DC and Marvel; meanwhile, having finished her two-year project Eniale & Dewiela (エニデヴィ, Enidevi) about an angel and devil brought together by a mutual enthusiasm for fashion, she embarked on Witch Hat Atelier in 2016 which continues to the present, with 64 issues available at the time of writing.

All this results in perhaps a perfectly optimised Art Build: both her parents are artists, she went to art school, she’s got a familiarity with both Japanese and Western illustration styles to fuel her. And that’s also perfect material for Witch Hat Atelier, which is about - among many other things - the struggles of learning art.

That word Atelier is interesting to me. In Japanese, it seems like アトリエ atorie is not an entirely uncommon word for an artist’s workshop even in the present. In English, its scope is generally much narrower: it refers to a particular tradition of art schools that began in the middle ages and lasted roughly until photography, whose primary function was to teach students how to draw in perspective using a variety of mechanical means like wire grids or sight-size techniques.

(a painting by Jefferson Chalfant of an atelier from the late 1800s - source Wikimedia Commons. I’m vaguely amused by the thought of this guy Chalfant showing up to the atelier and flexing on the students by painting not just the model but also all the other students, the room behind them, and thumbnails of all their paintings.)

Nowadays you’re most likely to hear the word ‘atelier’ in the context of the Atelier series of games, in which you play as a young witch and your atelier is essentially an alchemist’s workshop where you brew potions. I don’t have enough data to say how far the association between ateliers and magic goes - I’ve seen at least one more instance (Maria Umineko uses the word) - but in any case...

‘Magic systems’ in fantasy fiction are tricky things. Without some care, they can just be colour that carries very little thematic weight. Fortunately this is very much not true of Witch Hat Atelier. The basic premise of its system is that magic is created by drawing precise circles with certain symbolic elements whose size relationships combine to specify the magic effect. It’s explained in some detail, although there’s enough vague that Shirahama can have some real fun with the imagery.

The important part, though, is that while it’s not exactly the same as representative illustration, it’s close enough to it to be analogous. In Quifrey’s atelier, Coco meets a group of young students who each have their own styles of magic. Riché, for example, was treated cruelly by an arrogant teacher who insisted on orthodoxy, and now stubbornly insists on practicing only her own specific magical techniques; an important turning point sees her learn how to lean on other people without sacrificing her personal style. Coco has some skills she can lean on as a tailor’s daughter, but still has to drill fundamentals like learning to draw in a single smooth confident stroke.

It’s not quite as ‘trials of an artist’ as something like Blue Period (no spoilers, I’ve only read a bit of that), but it is a deeply compelling element of the mix...

However, magic is only somewhat like illustration. It’s also useful. And this leads to a fascinating subtheme around disability. One of the rules the Pointed Hat witches operate under is that they can’t use magic on the human body. So when a boy Coustas’s legs are injured by haywire magic, witches can give him an adorable deer legs wheelchair...

...but he faces many of the same obstacles as a real wheelchair user in a world not built for access. Coco and her friend Tartar try to figure out a method to help him without breaking the rules, eventually coming on the solution of creating a flying cloak as a new accessibility device, seemingly to everyone’s satisfaction... but then (spoilers) Coustas runs into a Brimhat who’s like “actually we have no compunctions doing a transhumanism on you” and give him legs back (if weirder), turning him against the MCs. But that same power is one we just recently saw used to forcibly transform people against their will. It’s an interesting mirror of the common ‘disability in sci-fi’ question; Coustas’s struggle is not merely that he is disabled, but that the world does not accomodate him and this completely strips him of independence, despite very little ill will from anyone.

And to her credit, Shirahama doesn’t seem to be trying to be going for a didactic angle on this (Coustas should or shoudn’t want...), but treats it as a worthwhile and interesting conflict, and I’m genuinely excited to see how it will resolve. Nor is Coustas the only user of a ‘sealchair’ - one of the main leaders of the witches uses one due to some kind of unspecified fatigue condition, even transforming it in battle, something which largely passes without comment since that’s not really the main focus of the character.

Anyway, despite their separate social system, the witches in Witch Hat Atelier have to make a living, which they do primarily by selling magic items to the non-magical population - subject to various safety regulations which are pretty strict and have a curious attitude towards deception in keeping with the Pointed Hat witches’ MO (don’t make a heatless flame or children might get the wrong idea!). So despite the wonder conveyed so effectively in Shirahama’s vistas of floating islands and twisting paths and underwater cities, it’s a magic that’s very grounded, shaped by the needs of a feudal society. She’s incredibly good at tying in these kinds of ~worldbuilding~ tidbit to the evolving character arcs, so the setting as a whole feels warm and lived-in but also shot through with genuine intractable tensions.

(I tend to show the more elaborate compositions with borders and splash panels, but even the more standard rectangular-panel pages have a real elegance to them)

One of these tensions is that between adults and children. There are many terrible teachers in the pages of Witch Hat Atelier - ones who berate their charges and shatter their self-confidence, or even in one chapter we witness a teacher who will not defend her student who is sexually assaulted by a nobleman and fights back (the only time the subject is brought up in the comic, and handled with care). Even for Quifrey, the picture of a benevolent instructor or good dad lmao, we have the lurking question of whether he intends to use Coco as an opportunity to pursue revenge against the Brimhats.

The children are surrounded by a world that doesn’t seem to work the way it should, rules that don’t seem to make sense but they have to follow, in a way that feels very genuine. And they have reason to fear: the standard punishment of the Pointed Hat witches is to wipe someone’s entire memories of magic and start them in a new life as a civilian. The fear of an extreme, draconian punishment leads the kids to end up keeping their own secrets.

But the adults are far from all bad. If, perhaps, the good relationships are a tragedy waiting to happen...

Then there are the witches and the secular authorities - monarchs of various kingdoms who are itching to get their hands on the secrets of magic. As the cast expands - and believe me it expands a lot - we start getting more and more points of view, and Shirahama is very deft at sketching a character’s motivation and vibe in just a few pages.

When it comes to comics about students at a school for magic, inevitably comparisons will be drawn to the elephant in the room, A Wizard of Earths- what’s that? - oh, yeah, that one.

So, yeah, according to Wikipedia, Shirahama took inspiration from both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Frankly I think she writes wrings around both of them, but then she’s writing a much more modern style of fantasy for an audience literate in the genre, with modern concerns, so perhaps it’s not a surprise I’d like it more than Tolkien. (Rowling is a thoroughly mean-spirited fascist who represents the worst of this country, and if I were to go through the comparison, it would just be a list of things that I think Shirahama does a whole lot better, so I won’t do that.)

What is a little interesting is seeing how, after Potter’s international proliferation, some of the imagery of the robe and wizard hat and school for magic starts to grow into a standard setting in Japanese fiction. Obviously Trigger’s Little Witch Academia is the big one - and I’m fond of it, but it shares little with it beyond the main character’s enchantment (ha) with the idea of magic. NieR Reincarnation is much less likely to ping on anyone’s radar, being a fairly obscure mobile gacha game, but it also took a magic school as the setting for some of its brief tragedies. No idea if that’s going to continue, or if it’s just a passing thing, but brain see pattern...

Anyway, it wouldn’t be Comics Comints without a detailed art breakdown, would it? There’s so much going on in Shirahama’s pages that it will be hard to capture everything, nor is this series really supposed to be comprehensive. Since I’ve talked a bunch about paneling already, let’s take a closer look at the characters...

Let’s start with kids, since most of the characters are kids. Here’s a handful of panels from chapter 42, page 13, trans. #Dropout (the work done primarily by Hypomanix and Botanyrobot in this issue). I think it’s a decently neutral example of a drawing of Coco.

There’s a lot that goes into a drawing of a face, to make it look delicate. But to my mind (c.f. the human head, a series I still intend to finish) the key elements are...

the profile of the face - this shape determines a lot

the size, shape, and style of the eyes

the balance of features

the way you draw hair

I said previously that Shirahama’s style reminded me of Kentaro Miura’s, but that’s mostly when she’s drawing kids. Shirahama’s designs are definitely within the broader ‘anime’ milieu, but there’s an old-school quality. Let’s break it down...

face profile - very rounded shapes. ubiquitous ‘cheek bump’ (pink), which helps the characters appear young.

as a standard ‘anime mannequin’ head, the overall aspect ratio is quite square, the neck is thin and relatively central, and the eyeline stays low.

eyes - this is where Shirahama puts most of the visual information (density of lines), with multiple rings of hatched shadows and highlights. In the picture above I’ve outlined the main shapes that go into drawing Coco’s eyes. Some of them can be identified as anatomical features, others highlights and shadows indicating form, some (the blue crescent shaped shadow for example) are perhaps just pure visual elements? Importantly, the outer outline of the eye is broken at the sides. All this complex shading gives a kind of shiny, watery feeling that suggests emotion bubbling under the surface even if the rest of the expression is very simple.

Coco’s eyes are very wide, representing her innocence. More adult characters tend to have narrower eyes, as we’ll see.

balance of the features

'Big eyes, small mouth’ as the name of the old roleplaying game goes. Note that Coco’s face is wider than it is tall. Just the end of the nose is drawn, but its placement suggests the 3D form of the face so it doesn’t appear flat overall. The suggest is there’s more nose but the bridge of the nose is so smooth that it doesn’t really get a line - if you’ve ever seen a plastic anime figurine you get the idea.

The emphasis is very much on the eyes.

hair

Hair is something that Shirahama really excels at, and honestly I want to absorb her secrets, so lets have a look at the way she does things. The way you can look at it is basically by dividing the hair into primary and secondary forms.

Coco here has very straight hair where the principle is particularly clear. First, you divide the hairstyle as a whole into large groups or blocks where the hair is flowing a particular way. For Coco, she has a part on her left (our right); her fringe forms one block of hair, which may go over or under the block of hair coming down from the top of her head depending on the picture.

Within each block, the hair is constructed out of smaller crescent-shaped elements which overlap each other (indicated by T-intersections between lines), and follow the overall flow. These merge towards the root of the hair block (the lines dividing them disappear)...

Then, additional lines can be drawn inside each block to add additional texture.

Judging by videos I’ve seen, Shirahama seems to be able to do these kinds of line straight away in ink, which is why they look so clean and confident.

For characters with darker hair, similar design principles apply, but instead of indicating the flow of the hair through outlines, Shirahama uses white lines within the form to indicate specular highlights. (Contrast Coustas’s eyes here to Coco’s incidentally: their emotional states are communicated by the different shading styles).

Now, let’s take a look at Quifrey and Orugio, two of the main adult characters in the comic...

Quifrey (right) has to carry a lot of the comic, and if you look at Shirahama’s design notes, he’s also one whose design evolved the most towards the fairly bishie one he got in the end. He has to be goofy, kindly, and sometimes sinister. He’s certainly not a villain, but he is willing to do some pretty shady shit - but he’s also good at presenting a generally sort of bemused affect, which is indicated by simplifying his design a lot.

The Gandalf/Dumbledore sort of archetype, but less magisterial - Quifrey is not an especially powerful witch. There’s a very overt indication of his divided nature in his glasses - there’s a plot reason why they’re different colours but the combination of dark lens and fringe hiding his eye screams “he’s hiding something”.

Quifrey’s friend Orugio (left) meanwhile is a more straightforward character, hard working, down to earth and straight-laced but out of a genuine sense of caring. Honestly, the fact he has facial hair is something that’s very rare in manga! One thing I notice just now while searching for suitably illustrative panels is that his face is often seen angled down, while Quifrey is more often seen from below.

The basic construction is similar to the kids’ heads, but a few differences to notice. As is the rule, adults’ eyes are proportionally a lot smaller than kids’ eyes. The construction of the face is slightly more angular, and they actually have noses.

Quifrey’s hair is a lot messier than Coco’s, but it’s essentially constructed out of the same overlapping crescents, which don’t especially respect gravity for Quifrey. Orugio’s hair is a solid dark mass, with a lot of loose strands around the edges, but you can still kind of see the locks of hair providing structure to the shape.

Shirahama’s lines are usually very even and thin, but she’ll often use a thicker line in a face closeup to emphasise the jawline, and in general a very subtly thicker line to outline forms than to hatch inside them. She uses screentones as you can see, but also extensively uses very neat hatching to create blocks of shadow or blend lines into larger shadow shapes. Her lines have an incredible amount of confidence and precision.

That’s faces, but what about the figure as a whole? One of Shirahama’s real gifts is her ability to draw flowing cloth with an incredible sense of motion. Here’s a classic Shirahama splash panel...

The contrast of organic shapes of cloth against the large circular element is something Shirahama loves doing - as is the use of negative space.

Breaking down the cloth: you have the solid lines representing the outer edge of folds, and then hatching within the body of the cloak to indicate shadows. In some places the hatching runs along the direction of the folds, in other cases perpendicular with it, all blending together. You can basically see how it breaks down into conical pipe folds that overlap each other, coming to a sinuous line at the bottom. Then this biiiig shape is contrasted against Quifrey’s thin neck, always upright, and the area of detail in his face. It’s just like. Really expert drawing by someone who knows the craft up and down.

There aren’t a lot of opportunities to see how Shirahama goes about designing one of these figures, but there are a couple of roughs she’s put out, so let me take a brief look at that to wrap up the drawing section.

this is a rejected draft for one of the first pages in the story. it looks like Shirahama roughs things out in quite a thick pencil, then uses a blue pencil(?) to refine, before inking. I suspect there may be more steps between, which she rubs out before inking...

These early designs seem to have been drawn into a thicker pen, with less care taken over the linework. What’s most interesting to me is how much Quifrey’s head shape changed as Shirahama’s concept of the character evolved.

Finally here’s a timelapse video of Shirahama inking a drawing of Coco.

You can see she starts with a pencil sketch that has the major shapes nailed down but not yet the line quality. She outlines all the main shapes, erases the pencils, then fills in the details at a slightly lower line weight. She’s got a ridiculously confident hand considering how much detail is going straight to ink in a way that makes my digital artist brain flinch.

The way Shirahama uses hatching reminds me a bit of Kimihiko Fujisaka, artist for Voice of Cards. I think I gotta practice more in ink lol, digital just doesn’t seem to give the same feel. Something about the mechanics of the way the pen flicks across the paper, maybe?

And that’s I think everything I have to say. Read this comic, it’s good! ...oh wait, there’s an anime coming! As yet, the studio and staff are to be determined. Shirahama’s style seems very difficult to capture in animation, so I’ll be curious to see how they handle it.

Next up: The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal I think.

[thimbledoll]

Poppy's Purpose

CW: Abuse, neglect, needles

Not for the first time, Poppy thought to themself, “Which is worse, the sting of the first needle’s bite or that of the hundredth’s?” They’d hardly finished the thought before their Witch inserted the hundred and first.

Once the pain had subsided, they continued internally, “On the one hand, it’s always surprising just how easy it is to forget how much that first needle hurts.” Prick. “On the other, they just get worse and worse as she goes on…” Prick.

Whichever it was, the doll couldn’t be sure. Prick. All they knew was that the pain of having their Witch wound them over and over again with that expression of sheer malice on her face was the worst pain of all. Prick. She never had a reason for these sessions that the doll could discern. Prick. She’d just dress Poppy up in rags or wigs they’d never seen before and stab at their clothen body with such spite and animosity she never showed her other dolls. Prick. No, they never had to suffer these sessions. Prick. As best Poppy could tell, it wasn’t ever for anything they had even done. Prick. “But if that’s this one’s Purpose, there’s no helping it…” Poppy thought to themself.

Finally, without a word of gratitude or remorse, the Witch unceremoniously dropped her doll to the desk she worked at. The pain of all the needles rattling through Poppy’s body at once as they hit the wood was their Witch’s signal that their session was over; their Purpose had been fulfilled. Closing the door without regard for how the heavy thud resonated through Poppy’s ragdoll form and shook the needles once more, they were left to clean up after their Witch’s work.

The going was slow and agonizing, pulling each needle out one at a time. It was all Poppy could do to not collapse after pulling one out. The reminder that the needles would jostle inside Poppy once more if they did fall over was all that kept them upright. It was a predicament that never failed to make them wonder why they’d been Made with the ability to feel pain. The possibility that it was another piece to their Purpose was the best Poppy could guess at. The possibility that Poppy was simply Made to suffer was the worst they could guess at.

So long was this process that night inevitably fell, leaving Poppy to continue their seemingly endless extrication by candlelight. Pull. Rest. Pull. Rest. Pull. Rest. It wouldn’t be until the moon was visible high in the night sky through the atelier’s open window that they finally freed themself of the final fixture. It also wasn’t until then that Poppy realized they weren’t alone.

Drawn to the room by the light of the candle’s flame, a lone moth sat atop the lantern’s lip, staring down at Poppy. She wore a quizzical expression as her wings lazily flapped for balance, leaving a thin film of dust on the glass lens of the lantern. Without any regard for privacy or propriety, the moth asked, “Why do you do that?”

Poppy wasn’t sure whether to reply, much less how. Their Witch had always said not to talk to moths. She’d called them “psychopomps of the Unreal,” whatever that meant. But then again… she’d never told Poppy not to talk to moths, it was simply an instruction they had heard the other dolls receive. Poppy considered themself lucky if their Witch ever spared a word for them…

In the absence of any direct instruction though, it seemed to Poppy that they were free to do as they pleased. Besides, it would be rude to ignore the moth, they figured. “This one isn’t quite sure they understand your question. Why does this one do what, exactly?” Poppy inquired.

The moth flitted down from her vantage point, getting much closer to Poppy’s personal space than they’d prefer, her face mere inches from Poppy’s own. “Put up with it,” she answered unhelpfully.

“Put up with wh-what?” It would have been hard for Poppy to work out the moth’s meaning under normal circumstances, but she was now using her antennae to feel up Poppy’s body. The sensation of her bristly appendages running over the rough cotton used in Poppy’s construction sent chills up their stitching. Poppy fearfully considered the possibility that they were being sized up for a snack.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?” Her eyes stared unblinkingly into Poppy’s shining buttons as her antennae continued whatever it was they were doing, hastily running over their chest, their neck, even their face. It was all Poppy could do to answer her question.

“Oh, that… This one… supposes it does. But if that’s this one’s Purpose, then there is no helping it.” Poppy couldn’t help but wonder why they were being so forthright with this strange creature. It must have been her unusual demeanor, throwing Poppy off-balance.

She began to maneuver around Poppy, putting her hands on their shoulders, her feelers wrapping around their head, her mouth closing in right next to where their ears would be, had they been anatomically correct. Poppy stood transfixed to the spot, unmoving, though only for lack of the ability to shiver or quake. Breathily, the moth whispered, “But there is.”

“How?” Poppy’s response carried the same eagerness as a man overboard clawing at a lifeline.

There was a hunger in the moth’s voice as she answered, “Change. Remake. Metamorphose. Take your pick.”

“This one can… change…?” Their Witch would never approve of it. It was lunacy to think of it. Heresy, even. A doll existed only for their Witch’s needs… or so their Witch had said. Yet the possibility called to them.

“If you want to,” she replied, inching even closer to Poppy’s backside, ever so slightly tightening the grip her feelers held on their head.

Slowly, carefully, trepidatiously Poppy gave the slightest of nods. That’s when the moth took her first bite. _______________________________________________________

By morning, Poppy’s memory of their chance encounter would be nothing but vague wisps of distant dreams. Leaving them alone on the office table, dazed, confused, and slightly smiling, the moth declared to no one in particular as she flitted out the open window, “Purpose really is the best midnight snack.”

For once, Poppy was not in pain. For once, Poppy was Still.

End 🧵

[inthepalmofmyhand]

life currently pt.2

11.02.2024

These last 2 days I wasn't productive and didn't do much for uni. Therefore I rly have to catch up today and study study study.

But I had lots of fun these last two days at least ^-^ I went on two dates with the guy I talked about in one of my previous posts. It's going really well. He picked me up in his car friday evening and took me to a lookout point over vienna. We talked a lot and got into pretty personal and deep topics. And on saturday my best friend, who lives abroad came over to my appartment and we had such a good time and so many things to talk about. In the evening we went to my dates handball game and has a lot of fun there too. Unfortunately his team lost and we drove home together, while my friend left to go to her mom's house. He took me to a little pizzeria and we had once again a great time. He even showed me his little atelier and where he lives and then we went to my place and we spent the night once again together just cuddling and appreciating each others presence.

I can't believe how lucky I was meeting him. He is rly a great person :))

[littlefantasinia]

victory lap

Fandom: Disgaea Characters: Fuji, Pirilika Words: 1000+ Summary: Pirilika's not quite done yet. Fuji should have known, really.

A place where you can be yourself, a place where you can cry I’ll become that for you

“I was talking with Flonne about your curse,” Pirilika says, not looking up as she very carefully cuts the patterned fabric she bought the previous week. Another outfit for Ao, apparently. “I hope you don’t mind. But two sleds are faster than none, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt.”

“Two heads are better than one,” Fuji says, almost automatically. Sitting across her with one of her many sketchbooks in hand, he raises an eyebrow. He’s been expecting a quiet afternoon, especially after they’ve just gotten back from helping out another Netherworld the day prior. The echoes of the curse have settled onto his limbs, and downtime is usually enough to help deal with it.

He does usually get that quiet whenever he catches Pirilika personally working on an outfit in her atelier, as she could very rarely be distracted from her newest vision. And even if he could succeed in turning her attention away, her bringing up the curse has been at the bottom of his expectations.

Shifting in his seat to a more comfortable position, Fuji asks, “What, you think she can help?”

Pirilika finishes cutting around the pattern she pinned against the fabric before finally looking up. Her smile is so bright that it’s almost blinding. “She did help Ao. And she knows of a lot of Netherworlds. So I thought, maybe she can help you too? Or at least find someone who can maybe give us a clue.”

“I’m not that excited to owe anyone, let alone an angel, another favor, Piriko,” Fuji says dryly, ignoring the tightness in his chest and the hint of blood on his tongue. “Besides, I can live with it.”

“I know, but it would be nice to know your options, right?” Pirilika says, frowning as she sets aside her scissors. “And you haven’t been holding back with doting on Ao–which she deserves! But it still hurts you every time.”

Fuji shrugs as he trains his eye on the many designs Pirilika has drawn for his daughter. She’s been trying to get all of them to wear her designs, Fuji included, but Ao is definitely her favorite to make outfits for. “Yeah, well, you always heal me anyway. It’s fine,” he says. “Besides, I don’t trust some random higher-up in Celestia.”

“She’s not just a random higher-up,” Pirilika says. “She’s a friend! And Ceefore trusts her too.”

“Weapon Otaku’s not always the best judge of character. Neither are you, Piriko.” Grinning, he adds, “If anything, you’re probably the worst.”

“I was right about you though!”

“Eh, you got lucky.”

“I did,” she says, voice so soft that he can’t help looking up. She isn’t even looking at him as she pins another part of her paper pattern on the remaining fabric. As if this is just a plain old thought that doesn’t bear any further introspection. “I got very, very lucky. I can’t thank you enough, Fuji.”

He should have been able to predict it, but he isn’t able to push down the cough in time. He remembers to hold her sketchbook away at least. For the sake of Ao and her future dresses, of course. “Damn it, Piriko. Stop saying embarrassing things. I thought you were trying to help.”

“I am!” she says as she places the fabric down gently on the table in front of her. She holds out her hands and Fuji immediately feels the relief her magic provides. “And,” she continues, after his coughing subsides, “if Flonne does get back to me, I’ll look into any of her leads. You don’t have to owe her or even me anything. We can just say I’m doing this for my own sake.”

“What, you tired of healing me all the time already?”

“Of course not, silly. But…well, I did say I’d make it so you can have a place to be yourself. And I’ve been thinking–”

“Well, that’s dangerous.”

She scrunches her nose at him briefly but continues. “I’ve been thinking, that hoping to do that while doing nothing about your curse is kind of selfish, right? I mean, that’s like saying I want you to push through the pain. And I’m sure you already do that every day for us.”

The sentiment is not surprising, certainly not from her, but he can’t help watching her face quietly anyway. It’s not exactly the same, but he’s still reminded of the times when they’d hear someone criticize Opener for the fall of Hinomoto. A hint of guilt, and maybe some helplessness in the way her lips try to force a sympathetic smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

She’s probably thinking something stupid like her not having the right to be upset about him hurting.

“You really are a dumbass,” he says, with no real bite to his tone. “Look, I can handle it, all right? But if you want to look into it so badly, I’m not stopping you.”

That brings back the genuine smile on her face. The sight stabs through him, but he carries on. “Just don’t get yourself killed while playing detective or whatever. Otherwise, I’d be forced to find another gullible customer who can pay as well as you. And with my luck and in this economy? Hah.”

The insult hardly dulls the brightness of her voice. “You can always come with me. I’ll pay for your time, of course.” It’s an excuse they both use and will probably continue to use until, well, until something changes. He’s not holding his breath on anything.

“You know,” he says instead, before his thoughts lead him further, “I’ve been thinking of upping my rates recently.”

“Is that a no?” She pouts, a little more exaggerated than usual.

“Only if you can’t pay,” he says, grinning.

It’s hardly an obstacle. Nothing ever really is with Pirilika.

As Fuji watches her go back to making another dress for his little girl, he allows himself to let go of what little doubt he has left.

Maybe she can do this one too.

---

A/N: This is more of a practice piece, since I haven’t written anything in sooo longgg, let alone for Disgaea, oops. Please forgive (´；ω；`)ｳｩｩ

I see FujiPiri in…a lot of aspects to the point that I’d prefer to call them soulmates…? Not necessarily in a romantic sense. But more of in a, “they would have inevitably been in each other’s lives one way or another” or “they come in a set; do not separate them” kind of way. Shrug emojis at the universe. It’s not my fault the ending song is like that ww.

Anyway, Fuji literally calls her Baal’s archnemesis. Of course, she can kick a curse in the ass too. The only thing stopping her in canon is definitely just the status quo.

Also, I had this in mind for Ao’s outfit! She’d be so cute. (*´▽｀*) I love you, Ao-chan!!! https://www.tumblr.com/lolita-wardrobe/727907991892967424/yupbro-the-spring-of-high-mountains-wa-lolita

[midnight-in-town]

Out of all the mangas that u read , analyse and post for, whice one is your favorite?

Hey Anon! Aww, I love so many of them for so many reasons, I am not sure how to answer you... The thing is, I don't necessarily post about series for the same reasons!

Of course #theories is my absolute love in life (like, when doing a secret santa at work, I'll additionnally try to discover who is supposed to give a gift to whom, by collecting clues from what they say and do. If I find out the truth, the person whose secret I discovered is supposed to buy my coffee or breakfast xD And trust me it's ten times funnier when everyone starts doing the same thing because it creates absolute chaos in which everyone tries to send the others on the wrong trail by giving wrong hints, so when the day of the gifts comes everyone at work's like "aahhhhhhh it was youuuu". Very funny, I always have a blast), but fandom's size can factor into how much I'll write about a series.

For example, Majo to Yajuu and Witch Hat Atelier are both great stories with small fandoms here (less than 10 people in it for MTJ), so I like writing regularly about these series to create more content for the fandom!

For the opposite reason, and because the pace slowed down a bit, I don't write a lot about Akatsuki no Yona, despite following the chapters' release every 2 weeks or so. Another example is Berserk, my favorite series ever, but which has a very intense, well informed fanbase on a dedicated forum with a lot of interesting content: so I don't mind answering questions, but I don't necessarily have a lot to write about Berserk despite loving it so much, because almost everything has been said already!

I loved talking about Gangsta. but it's on hiatus; same for Tokyo Ghoul but it's over. I enjoy writing about Spy x Family because I think a good part of the fandom is confusing the currently happy-go-lucky vibes of the series with the real, more subtle and darker tone of the themes and plot and it's nice to see hints of this every now and then.

Finally, I absolutely love discussing about Ao no Exorcist and Kuroshitsuji, which I have been following about 12 years now in both cases, because:

Ao no Exorcist is currently the best on-going typical shonen series for me (tho' I might change my mind a bit once I finally catch up with One Piece, I'm on the beginning of the Dressrosa saga) and I can't wait to see how it all unfolds. It's really one of the few series in which I have absolute trust into Kato-sensei and she can prove me right or wrong any time she wants.

For Kuroshitsuji, I think that, aside from new chapters, I've addressed over 98% of anything ever happening in the series, related or not to the main plot and to the circumstances of the Phantomhive family and I now am waiting patiently (very patiently) for all the answers, updating my very old theories with more hints when I can.

To tell the truth, on the matter of Kuroshitsuji, no offense to anyone, but I feel similarly to the admins from the Skullknight forum for Berserk: I've read each chapter maybe a hundred times at least over the years so I think that, today, I have one of the most objective and informed eye about the series across all of the internet. That doesn't mean that my theories are right, just that I know the canon series better than most of the fandom.

To conclude, I do not have one fave series that I post theories about, I have many, but I'd say that blogging about Kuroshitsuji is one of the most enjoyable experience I have on this site because, over the years, my blog has accumulated a lot of analyses (written by me for a good chunk of it or that I reblogged from other dedicated fans) that cover probably every aspect of the series and can be used to understand the themes, plot and characters of this series, as well as to try guessing what will happen next. It’s like a massive database of theories, very useful for the current arc and for the answers to come. :)

I hope that answers your question! Have a good weekend :))