#made with a black marker pen and highlighters

[tiramegtoons]

[ninelivesart]

I finally busted out the India Ink I bought a few years ago and never used until today in my sketchbook. I will DEFINITELY be playing around with it more because this was so much fun. My sketchbook is unfortunately not made for multiple washes but idc.

[wileys-russo]

would die for anything laura f. related so 'I don’t even want your attention – that much.' and kitchen please?

study buddy II l.freigang

you looked up with a confused frown at the knocks at your door, not expecting anyone and buried in a mountain of revision for your upcoming exam, in your final semester of university and nailed down into prep mode.

you waited a moment until the knocks sounded again before getting to your feet, dropping your pen into your textbook to mark your page and clicking pause on the timer you used to track your breaks.

you padded over to the door on sock covered feet, rubbing your eyes which ached from concentrating for so long but you needed to memorize these flash cards before you could even think about stopping.

your frown deepened when you peeked through the small hole in your door and it had gone black clearly covered by something, undoing the chain halfway and peeking out through the crack to see who was there before you opened it all the way.

"boo!" you almost fell over in shock as an eye locked with yours, a tongue poked out next with a groan like a zombie making your eyes roll and unlock the door properly with a huff.

"hallo liebling!" the blonde sung out happily, inviting herself inside with an armful of bags and striding on past you as you sighed tiredly and closed the door, locking it again.

"lau. we talked about this, i have to study!" you reminded, spinning around and crying out in shock as she was mere centimeters from you. "no hello back?" the blonde shook her head, taller body collapsing into yours as she hugged you.

"stop sniffing me you freak!" you chuckled, pushing her off and rolling your eyes. "you smell good. i missed you!" she defended, crossing her arms and awaiting you to say it back as you stayed silent.

"oh laura i missed you too." the footballer mocked, tutting with a shake of her head.

"i have to study. which means we agreed i would see you after my final, because you are a distraction freigang." you reminded sternly as she retreated back to your kitchen.

"i came here to cook you dinner schatz. then i will leave, and you can go back to pretending like you don't miss me. which i know, you do!" she pointed to you with a wink and a cheeky grin, starting to unpack the paper bags she'd carried in with her.

"lau this is very sweet, but i really need to memorize these flash cards and-" your protests were silenced as the blonde strode back over and stole a kiss, hands on your hips and her favourite beanie sitting lopsided on the top of her head.

"then go memorize. i will be quiet as a mouse, you will not even know i am here!" the girl zipped her lips, threw away the key and held her hands up as you couldn't help but smile as she sent you another wink.

knowing just how stubborn she could be you knew you weren't getting out of this and really you had missed her, between your exams and her training schedule you'd hardly seen your girlfriend over the last fortnight.

so with a sigh you shook your head, moving to hug her from behind, craning your neck up to kiss her cheek appreciatively as she tilted her head backward and tapped her lips making you laugh and peck them a few times.

"go study!" the girl ordered, foot cheekily kicking your ass causing you to playfully glare at her as you retreated back to the table which was covered in your flashcards and textbooks.

sitting back down you tried to tune into your studies again, grabbing a marker and starting to highlight all of the key points you wanted to have memorized by tonight from each subsection of your cards.

it went well for around a half an hour, the only thing occasionally pulling you from your thoughts the smell of whatever your girlfriend was cooking as you sat with your back to her and fought every temptation to turn around and talk to her.

but of course, laura being laura, was only well behaved for so long before she grew bored and a little restless, all of the real work done and now just awaiting the stew she'd made to sit and cook properly before it could be served.

so she pulled herself up to sit on the counter of your island bench, snacking away on a few spare sticks of carrot she hadn't used as she doom scrolled through her social medias before that too grew uninteresting.

swinging her feet she watched you, only really able to see the back of your head but smiling softly realizing the hoodie adorning your top half was hers.

you were deep in thought, eyes scanning one of your flashcards intently when you could have sworn you felt something hit the back of your neck, you rubbed it with a frown but told yourself you must have been imaging it.

only a few seconds later, there it was again, but once more you rubbed the back of your neck unable to feel anything and huffing in annoyance, glancing upward to confirm there wasn't a leak of some sort.

but then a few seconds later you jumped as something bounced past you on the table, skidding to a stop as it thumped your text book and you pulled a face seeing it was a piece of carrot.

"lau! are you throwing carrot at me?" you spun around with a scowl, throwing it back at her as she grinned innocently. "no, not at you!" she emphasized as you narrowed your eyes at her.

but putting two and two together from the mischievous sparkle in her eyes you sighed, a hand reaching back to dig around in the hood of your hoodie and sure enough you pulled out two more little pieces of carrot.

"baby i need to study. if you're bored go watch something in my room till dinners done." you offered, dropping the carrots onto the table and turning back around to focus on your notes.

you heard a gentle thud as she dropped down from the island, and assumed she was going to your bedroom only a few seconds later arms wound around your neck, her chin settling on your head.

"what are you studying?" laura asked curiously, ring covered fingers playing absentmindedly with the L necklace around your neck that she'd gifted you a few months into seeing one another.

"the same thing i've been studying my entire university degree." you teased, the german mocking you and pinching your cheeks. "take a break, come have a cuddle. i read it is good for your...endorphins?" the blonde guessed making you chuckle.

"oh really? and where did you read this?" you questioned, eyes dropping back down to the flashcard in your hand. "mmm google. so is that a yes?" she asked hopefully, ducking down to kiss your cheek a few times.

"...no. i need to study!" you laughed, pushing her off as she groaned, throwing her head back to really push the dramatics of it. "i thought i wouldn't even know you're here?" you challenged with a raise of your eyebrows as the blonde held her hands up in surrender.

"okay. okay. you got me! from now, you will not even know i am here." she promised, again zipping her lip as you hummed and turned back to your notes, laura retreating into your bedroom to watch something as you'd suggested earlier.

you were rewarded by another five minutes of peace and quiet before you jolted, startled by loud laughter coming from your bedroom, shaking your head with a small smile on your lips.

and then, again, and again, and again.

"there is no way whatever she is watching is that funny." you grumbled, pushing back and out of your chair, stomping over to your room finding the blonde curled up in your bed watching some reality show on your tv.

"are you done studying?" laura asked, perking up and patting the empty spot behind her, opening her arms expectantly as you leaned in the doorway. "no. are you done fake laughing to get my attention?" you cocked an eyebrow as she scoffed.

"i was not!" "was too."

"i don't even want your attention...that much." your girlfriend shook her head firmly, crossing her arms and staring back at the tv. "oh no? well i will go back to my textbook then and-" you started to turn before she cracked, flopping herself down dramatically onto her back.

"okay meine liebe i lied! i am so bored and so lonely and i miss you so much and i need your attention and i know you need to study but just watch a movie and eat dinner with me and then i will leave!" the blonde groaned, arms covering your face as you shook your head.

"this is the part where you feel sorry for me." your girlfriend reminded, words muffled against her arms as your eyes rolled at her theatrics but none the less you made your way into the bedroom.

"honestly you're the most dramatic girl in germany." you teased, slipping into bed beside her and squealing as she nearly tackled you down into a tight bear hug, kissing all over your face making you laugh.

"wait! lau is something...burning?" "scheiße!"

[lost-technology]

A Fresh Frontier [IMG ID: Rem Saverem from Trigun in pen and marker. A young woman with straight black hair clad in a relatively slim spacesuit (sans helmet) curling her knuckles under her chin with one hand while holding a steaming coffee cup she is placing on a table in another. She really ought to have an elbow on the table, but the artist was dumb and didn't realize that she made the table too short. Rem is seated or is about to sit down in a chair and is looking out a spaceship window at a heavily stylized version of space and the stars. / END IMG ID] A drawing in mostly Sharpies, skintones and eyecolor in another type of marker since I didn't have quite the Shapries for those. Silver highlights in some kind of special flow-pen from a set a friend gave me. I felt like drawing Rem against one of my heavily stylized space / star fields. Since I got the idea for the mug, it also gave me a chance to do some of my heavily stylized clouds.

[chatter-crow]

Gl! Ranboo - TW for blood

this only got made because i rewatched gen loss

materials: mechanical pencil, black sharpie s gel pen, alcohol markers, prismacolor pencils, white gelly roll pen, highlighters, strathmore sketchbook

[lukino94725764]

sorry if this is asking too much but can i see a tutorial of how to make the paper dolls?

these two? specifically

(btw they're OCs made by https://www.tiktok.com/@squished_britishkid?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc)

First of all, sorry for leaving this question in oblivion for so long, that is inexcusable

Starting with this particular tutorial on how to make cardboard dolls we need:

-Scissors

-A sheet of paper

-pencil or pen (anything that I marked actually)

-colored pencil, markers, highlighters (anything you find to color, anything goes)

-white cardboard

Note: any white cardboard, even recycled cardboard like pasta boxes, colored pencil boxes, even cigarette butt boxes, the joke is that one of its sides is white and smooth to the touch.

To begin

With paper in hand we make our sketch or guide of our doll, as if we were going to draw a character with its guide lines for the face

In any case, I will leave the bases and measurements here

Once we have our drawing, we put it on top of the white cardboard and we mark it with a pencil or a blunt pen, it has to look something like this

With this base on the cardboard, very carefully we draw our characters with markings (I recommend not using a pen because it seems that this is not absorbed by the cardboard, causing that if you pass your hand over it, everything that was done will come off and the cardboard will get stained, something similar happens with the pencil, it is very easy for smudges or stains to be generated on it)

Once the most complicated part is finished, now the fun begins, coloring, you can use anything, but in this case first it would be the colored pencils

Then markers

Details with acrylic markers

And finally,

Carefully trim around to give it the shape

and ready

Regarding the back part, it is a little more complicated, since to start you have to glue two pieces of cardboard together and then after cutting it out, you draw it freehand so that it is consistent with the front part.

but that is a bit complicated, but there is also the option of painting the back black (or any color dense enough so that you can't see what's on the cardboard)

I hope you liked this brief attempt at a tutorial or, if it is a flaw, you understood everything hehe

😁

[k00317028]

Zine making workshop.

Riso print test sheet using pencil, ball point pen, fine liner, highlighter, ink marker, paint marker, and magazine collage.

When I did a test print using this sheet the results were as follows:

The pencil gave a lovely range of tones however it was difficult to get rid of the texture the graphite left behind.

Both the ball point pen and the fine liners looked the same colour and texture wise however the range of sizes the fine liners offer made them the superior pen in this case.

All of the highlighter colours, with the exception of purple, came out very light and the yellow was borderline unusable.

The ink markers had a good range of shades with yellow once again being the lightest and basically obsolete due to its proximity in colour to white. The dark blue and purple markers came out to nearly the same result as black when printed and were for all intents and purposes the same shade. Colours like orange and pink were very similar in tone.

The paint markers came out similarly to the ink markers however most colours were a few shades lighter due to the chalky colour quality of the paint.

I discovered that when doing magazine collage you need to use images with a higher contrast in order to get a good result. For example the legs and head I used had good contrast and so came up well when printed but on the other hand, the arms I used came out a bit washed out and faded.

I kept all of this in mind and the printed test sheet by my side as reference when designing my final zine using the materials listed.

[envihellbender]

Yusuke fattening Akira up and painting on his belly

Rating: Mature, kink

Fandom: Persona 5

Character: Yusuke Kittigawa, Akira Rususu

Content: ussbhm, extreme weight gain

Yusuke had already sketched out his entire painting practically from memory. He was stood at the base of Akira’s belly. He was getting quite good at judging the scale difference, between his drawings and the final product painted on top of Akira’s beautiful, godly adipose. Yusuke set himself up on Akira’s gigantic neck roll and began painting the flesh beneath him. It was surprisingly straightforward, it gave him the perfect angel to work on the smaller details. What didn’t help was the fact that his canvas was struggle to keep still.

“I do wish you’d stop moving quite so much, my Starlight,” Yusuke hummed, dabbing a rag in a specialised mixture to gently rub into Akira’s adipose, cleansing away the sea foam highlights of the sky that had been painted onto Akira’s neck roll. The standard rubbing alcohol would’ve burned into Akira’s fat, burning away into his flab leaving sores and wounds. R

“Sorry,” he mumbled sleepily. He lifted one plump hand, raised it to his bloated face, his large elbow resting on his breast and lowered his and before making a shapeless fist.

“Of course,” Yusuke nodded in response. “I may stay up and keep painting, if you don’t mind.” Akira let his arm fall back by his side but quickly flexed his thumb pointing upwards to show that was fine. He quickly fell into his tired eyes and groaning, exhausted body. Yusuke felt relieved, Akira was always a better canvas whilst he slept. Atop of the dried rich indigo, cobalt, and sea foam of the sky he began carefully painting the round off white moon with its steel craters. He painted them directly between Akira’s breasts, he wanted to disguise them simply because he knew Akira’s dysphoria had been rather brutal lately. Personally, he was particularly fond of Akira’s chest, he regularly curled up atop of or between them, burying his face into the adipose beneath him. When they had sex he often ended up with his teeth latched on them as he felt two thick, fat fingers in his behind.

By disguising the folds as craters on the moon and dark clouds in the sky, it made Akira’s body look even less human. He became shapeless like a canvas, the most gigantic medium Yusuke could ask for. The stars were quite straight forward, almost dull, but when it got to his gut he didn’t want to hide it but accentuate it. He created a forest, expansive and lush with greens, and surrounding a lake that was dedicated to his navel and lower fat roll. Yusuke was quite impressed, at his own work and Akira’s dedication to the art that was his weight gain. To begin with Yusuke would use pens to doodle and sketch, he’d curl up and draw simple things such as foxes, crustaceans, and more abstract patterns over Akira’s tree trunk arms. One day he’d hope to hold an entire expedition on Akira’s fat, and that everyone would be in awe of the beauty of the art and of course, Akira himself. Yusuke would’ve adored the opportunity to show off the most important part of his life.

When the work had dried Yusuke had the urge to claim Akira as his own, his piece of art. He slipped down to the floor, and just beside Akira’s navel he signed his name with a thick black marker. He felt a possessive thrill fill his chest as he did it. It felt so much more intense than anything they’d done before. He felt the excitement in his stomach and between his legs, but he repressed the urge to act on it. Not now, he didn’t wish to make this distasteful, especially not since Akira couldn’t consent at present as he snored, gasping for breath in his sleep.

[pchuaymee]

[Doodle] Color pencil doodle and luminous color experiment results for invisible watermark.

Hi, everyone! I'm come back from after exam, but I have to back study for next exam while I was just get some idea for I do protected my drawings from AI art when I did draw this doodle by old color pencils.

Yep, I have a few fluorescent poster colors (I called them as "Neon colors".) and all luminous acrylic paints that I called that "Glow colors". I use them for make my wallpaper in my room but I noticed a new Meta's policy, it made me to shock and I was doing research how can I protected my work from AI art without Nightshade and Glazed programs. And also, I did just have idea that "Why didn't I use those colors for glow in dark painting and it will visible watermark in uv black light?". Thus, I did research how to do it. And I did experiment them, and here is my results when I use it for my signature. (I use new brush but it is broken )🥹🥹🥹

Then, I just know that, luminous acrylic paints or glow colors can get more lights energy from UV black light too. I did UV black light by a little of transparent tape or transparent PVC sticker pad and paint blue mix violet dot by permanent marker as Sharpie on my flashlight is behind my phone, then, I did turn off all lights in my room and here results

And yesterday, I did do experiment them, this results it made me to be complacent and it works to I will do invisible ink for my signature in later 🥰🥰. I knew, it might be cannot help to protect from AI art is full 100%. But in least, it can help me for prove in my confirmation when I might be go to court that some AI art supporters trying to be claimed my drawings, LOL. It might be not happen, or it isn't. It makes me comfortable that I can protect my drawings.

And here is my conclusion opinion about this.

For they are both fluorescent poster colors and luminous acrylic paints cannot mix colors in palette, you have to bought them separated bottles for your purpose or you can by glow gouache set.

For luminous acrylic paints in my painting, I will use them for some drawing that I want to show some special and fluorescent poster colors I will use them for make my invisible ink in my personal. Also, it may be I use both them for my painting.

You can do it without need to buy fluorescent poster colors or gouache by you can buy or use some highlighter pen then put out its inside and squeeze it in water until it clears then put it back in pen again, or you can buy invisible ink or invisible pen.

However, it is not meaning that guarantee that it can help protected your art from AI is 100%. And I am not a scientist student, or, original poster about protected art. Cause, I was tried use Nightshade and Glazed programs but it is not work for me. And also, I just share a little idea how to I do protect my art from AI and for my evidence when I might be have issues in the future too.

And the last, I am ok than after exam time. Because, I am so exhausted everything everything thing. But now, if I have a free time. If I allowed by my deities that I want to post about Thailand's relationship with other country, I might be post on my story in IG and Tumblr. Now, I have to rest for organize myself to be better. See y'all!❤❤

[caxycreations]

The pen is mightier than the sword

This we all know

But why? What allows such a simple, tiny object to be mankinds greatest asset?

When man first began to carve lines into stone, it was in the effort to display ideas, to portray their stories, their imaginations.

When man first discovered they could carve images into space by etching and chipping away at stone, they could only do so much.

And then came the first ancient pen in the form of fingers coated in red ochre. Black pigment adorning darkened digits.

And suddenly the world changed. Memories could be given shape, made physical, visual, on the walls of home. Ideas could be marked, noted, written down, communicated with or without words.

Time passed and we developed new pens. Paint brushes, quills, pencils, ink pens, markers, crayons, highlighters.

But the power to simply turn visual our thoughts and ideas is not what makes the pen mightier than the sword.

No.

What makes the pen mightier is that, had we never discovered the pen, had we never invented that one simple tool, no sword would exist. We would have had no way to mark down the idea of it, share it, no way to note the method of crafting one.

The sword could not live without the pen.

The pen drafted the plans for house and home.

The pen drafted the plans for sword and shield.

The pen drafted the plans for spear and bow.

The pen drafted the plans for armor and helm.

The pen won wars with the strategies it forged on parchment and paper.

The pen felled nations with nothing but simple lines on blank pages.

The pen wrote the formula for the atom bomb.

The pen, that simple tool, has seen the rise and fall of nations and caused both with ease.

The pen is a God, capricious and cunning, wicked and loving, and as meticulous as they are chaotic.

The pen owes no allegiance to anyone, no loyalty to any nation or individual.

The pen is mightier than any weapon, can pierce through any armor, can do things nothing else on earth can.

So chin up, my friend.

For as mighty as the pen may be...

As disloyal and as powerful and as unyieldingly limitless as it is...

It is nothing without you.

[runawaycarouselhorse]

@0461's blog reminds me of when I was a little kid, before my dad got cable [so until I was like 7 years old), when we had only two TV channels (if I messed with the antennae, I'd sometimes get a grainy, black and white signal from nearby Bahrain or Kuwait--Saudi Channels 1 and 2. Saudi Channel 2 was (it no longer exists) for the American and British ex-pats in Aramco and had TV shows in English, but it was mostly old stuff, like English-dubbed Kimba, Mr. Bean, 50's shows, some 80's-90's toons.

The Arabic Saudi Channel 1 (which still exists) had Maruko, Doraemon, fairy tale anime, and aired a lot of the same classic cartoons as the English channel did (... but with cuts and a bit less respect for child viewers, imaging we won't notice if they cut away mid-episode and then put on a different cartoon afterwards... which put me off and made me a little original-language-purist at a young age. ^^;;; )

That said, I still have very fond memories of watching those shows, especially as Maruko-chan, Doraemon, and many fairy tale anime never saw an English dub release, so the Arabic dub was the only way I could've seen them as a kid!

... also reminded of all those cute and colourful, but very cheap, pens, highlighters, markers, stationary, etc., with cute Sanrio characters or other cute mascot characters that... well, didn't work very well for art, so I knew to buy something of higher quality like something from Faber-Castell or Crayola, but they were so cute or sometimes had pleasant smells, so you couldn't fully regret buying them once... they're just cute to look at.

(Looking it up, looks like there are higher quality art markers and such that's Sanrio-branded, but I only meant the cheap, schoolkid-geared stationary, sometimes not even officially licensed products, but Sanrio's too huge to care...)

Mostly Japanese stationary on that blog, we also had some really cute Korean stationary like Orange Story sold here... those characters were so cute.

@tamatoch it's a blog like yours, you'd like it, I think! ^^ If you didn't already know it...

... one of my little lined notepads I used as a sketchpad as a kid seems to be a knock-off of Orange Story, even.

Top right's a knock-off of Pink Hana, but with some effort to change the hair and outfit up, so kind of creative for a knock-off! Bottom left looks like it's mixing a Cherry-like face with this White outfit, but with jeans? (This picture is from this page collecting Orange Story images.)

[meyhew]

hi seed!! a (long) while ago you were talking about annotating books, do you use a pencil or pen or marker? do you add sticky notes and labels? do you highlight? sorry for the questions, i know i can do whatever i want but i was wondering what you do too. anyway hope you have a good day, sending you love 🥰❤️

omg hiii what i do really depends on the book and the mood im in, so i don't have like a set "method." if it's a serious book i'm reading for the first time i usually just underline and/or highlight things with quick little reactions here and there, and deeper connections happen on a second or third read (if ever). i'm biggg fan of slapping stickers in my books. so so so many stickers and doodles. i lend my books to friends often as well and they're allowed to write whatever they want so that also happens.

as far as writing utensils go, i gravitate towards pens that have a really fine print so my favs are: pilot hi-tec-c 0.25mm & 0.4mm, and sarasa gel retractable 0.5mm. the pilot ones do not bleed through At All and i love that. the sarasa doesn't necessarily bleeds but it's more visible on the other side of the page than the pilot. really all depends on how much pressure you write with; me personally i don't like to put a lot of pressure so my go to is definitely the pilot. i have both in tons of colors so i just pick one that goes with the cover or the vibe etc. the highlighters i normally use are from daiso and i can't find a link to them anywhere now but i would also recommend these ones.

example pages under the cut <3

SPOILERS for ninth house, hell bent, the atlas paradox, a place for us, the raven king

the black in the first photo is pilot hi-tec-c 0.25mm. idk what the red is in the second photo that was lys' work but the pink highlighter i Think was from the pack i linked above. the brown pen is a random one i bought in new york it glides really nicely but i dont typically use it for books bc it bleeds

the black in the next one is also pilot 0.2mm and the green is pilot 0.4mm so u can see the difference. (the blue is again lys idk what she used. i'm guessing it is also smth similar to the pilot 0.4mm). the red is either pilot 0.4mm or the sarasa 0.5mm the orange

sarasa gel 0.5mm in orange and of course stickers. the meme ones i get custom made from @maltruenorth bc she's my bestie but she also has an etsy shop and takes custom orders. i love these stickers they add so much personality to every single book

these are the highlighters i normally use now. they're from daiso and idk why i can't find them on their website BUT buying online is heinous bc shipping for my location is like... $20 and im NOT paying that lmao so i would suggest finding an alternative somewhere like the ones i've linked above. i've used those and loved them.

and tabs! i prefer translucent ones. again, i get mine from daiso but something like this would work as well. i like to be able to see through the tab instead of taking them off to read what's underneath but transparent ones arent fun bc i like color <3 and in case it wasnt obvious i underline with a ruler. i didn't always but it's a habit i picked up from lys and now i cannot stop doing it. makes everything look sooo much cleaner and satisfies an itch in my brain

[berrybelbakerycrackfic]

Alright, might as well get this out of the way for archival purposes, and also because I don't really feel like spacing these out into separate posts? Eh, maybe I just need to actually produce some more content for this, but getting all old content uploaded is productive in it's own right I suppose. Here's all the art of Maribel I would consider old and outdated. Some even before I came to the realization that "this is just essentially an AU isn't it". My first drawings were done on June 6th, 2023. There's some oddball oldies between then and like, 2/3 months ago where I now have a more consistent style to go toward(though still figuring stuff out), but considering how I held off on this post I might leave those till later.

First drawing, colored and uncolored. A clearly shocked look on her face, yet still cute(at least to me ;) ). Her long black T shirt and blue skirt are reminiscent of Madeline's jacket shape and color respectively, but the pumpkin hair shape thing I didn't decide upon until later. It's just orange here because of a common misconception that Madeline's hair is more orange than it is red. That wasn't intentional, but it did help differentiate the two.

I believe this half marker half pen doodle is the 2nd ever one. Honestly might redraw this one cus the idea of her shrugging like this definitely fits her character. Also with it's color removed like this the skirt and apron combo kind of looks like a maid dress, especially with how many frills I gave the skirt here

This was like a joke about her being self conscious of her weight but I think Maribel is actually the type to be fine with that. Speaking of that I have slimmed her down just a little bit between then and now.

when you want to make more drawings of your cool new idea for reddit but it's like 11 PM

I actually think this is one of the best portrayals of her character despite not having the pumpkin hairdo yet!

Though it does highlight a point where my artstyle(or more accurately, how I think of my artstyle) and Pizza Tower's art differs/clashes a bit, and that's with mouths. Typically I like to imagine giving characters smaller mouths and big eyes so they look more cute, but in Pizza Tower, Peppino and most of the other guys(even Gustavo partially) have big gaping jaws extending down their chins. It's been a bit of a hard thing to get around... While I'm at it, this art isn't this era of old, I made it more recently, but it does show Maribel with a more extended jaw. She's also really, really pissed off at something;

(don't ask why there's a cheese grater there I couldn't answer you if I tried)

Oh right, I almost forgot, the first time I tried to make a proper pizza tower style sprite for Maribel!

It sucks. This sucks so much. The refined sprite I would make later is so much better than this, just please stop looking; (the madeline sprite on the left was made by Ellisbros)

[philosopheme]

[Review] Fortress Festival

I went to Fortress Festival in Scarborough this weekend just gone and had a blast. Here’s a little review of some of the bands I saw.

Friday

Friday kicked off at 2pm with English BM band Andracca and what an opener it was.   Crowd was disappointingly light for them and I felt a little bad but it was the very first set of the entire festival. They still earned some new fans, myself included. Great energy and intensity.

Next came another English BM band - Andartar. Heavier than Andracca but similarly great intensity. I knew I'd stumbled upon a brilliant festival already at this point. Another pic. Lighting was great throughout the whole fest.

Slight change of pace next with Devastator, a black thrash band from Derby. First pit of the weekend starts, even if it only consisted of around 6 people. They got a great reception and put on a good show and their set was 30 minutes, same as the two before.

Then we get to our first jaw drop of the festival. The Sun's Journey Through The Night. One man band from England recently nominated for Metalhammer's Song of the Week. Incredible performance and highly recommend them. Nice theatrics with the horned skull mask and just fantastic energy from everyone involved. I also got a drumstick from them, cheers!

Wode come next. 40 minute set this time. Manchester black/death metal. Loved his vocals.

Then we have Finnish pagans Havukruunu. Setting the 'atmospheric' tone for the rest of the evening with a nice intro. Place was looking full now, though it was amazing how spacey the room felt. Should also note the crowd was really chilled and friendly. Great set, loved the bassist's bullet crown.

Time for the headliners. I say headliners because they both played for the same amount of time and both felt like they had the right to finish the first day off. So - an hour's set from the magnificent Can Bardd from Switzerland. Beautiful atmospheric folky black metal, many people said they were their favourite band of the weekend. Great set and, as you can see, the place was really alive. Popped out for a smoke and thought 'what a place'.

To finish off, Saor from Scotland. First time hearing electric bagpipes which was a fun experience. Just like every other one that day it was a brilliant set, the crowd were really into it and I especially enjoyed the flute(?). Frontman Andy engaged spoke with the crowd a few times. Nice view leaving the spa. 

Saturday

Back  to Scarborough Spa - which was once again looking ravishing - just in time for the post-black metal openers from Birmingham, Lunar Mercia, at 12:30. Really nice sound and lovely vocalist who I'd spoken to the day before.

Next we have Nemorous. Basically Wodensthrone v2 as it's made up of mostly ex-members. Started amazingly, finished amazingly, but suffered a very unfortunate snapped guitar string in the middle that seemed to take an AGE to restring. The crowd was totally sympathetic but you could feel the frustration from the entire band, I can't imagine how disappointed they were. Think they only managed around four songs but they did a great job and I went and bought a t-shirt afterwards. Visceral vocals and first keyboardist of the festival.

My personal highlight of the weekend came at the end of Nemorous' set. Just before they started I checked in at the Panopticon stand and got myself a copy of Kentucky. £80 on Discogs currently but they were selling them for £35. That alone made me very happy, but, whilst watching Nemorous, I noticed a familiar face. There was Austin Lunn from Panopticon, the reason I bought the ticket to this festival, going ham at the barrier (the guy with the hair, obviously). Once the set finished he very kindly signed my copy of Kentucky after I frantically searched for a marker pen and got a photo with him. He stuck around to chat for a few minutes and was one of the nicest musicians I've ever met. So enthusiastic and asking loads of questions.  My weekend was made and absolutely nothing could've ruined it at that point.

After a short break and a few beers I got back in time for Ard. Described as 'Monastic Northumbrian doom', Ard is the project of Mark Deeks from Winterfylleth. As a one man project he was naturally assisted by the rest of Winterfylleth! This was a real change of pace from the black metal we'd been listening to since early Friday afternoon and he did thank everybody for sticking around for him 'even though there were no blast beats'. Really enjoyable set.

Next, Ante-Inferno, from Scarborough itself, with the drummer being the organiser of the festival, Gary. Really been enjoying their most recent album 'Antediluvian Dreamscapes' and they were a class act. In case you haven't caught on, everyone at this festival was fucking great. Really loved the vocals here.

Here we have one of my biggest highlights of the weekend and a band I've not stopped listening to since I left Scarborough.  Afsky, from Denmark. They rendered me absolutely speechless. Sure, the wood and the torches and the industrial fan were a nice touch, but they played with an intensity I hadn't seen to this point. The sound was amazing and the screams were just top drawer. As you can see in this video, it was way busier on the Saturday. Room was packed but, like Friday, far from cramped. I've listened to them every day since Saturday and I finished one of their albums on the drive home.

It was getting real misty at this point. Eldritch powers or smoke machine, who can say?

Penultimate act of the day, English black metal darlings Winterfylleth. Mark Deeks from Ard back behind the keyboard this time. I'm a fan of Winterfylleth and it was my first time seeing them but I wasn't really blown away. They were good, I think I just expected them to be better. Or maybe it was the anticipation of Panopticon around the corner... either way, there was a better pit this time as well as a few corpse-painted balloons floating around. Very kvlt.

Finally, my time had come. I bought my ticket for Fortress the moment I heard Panopticon were there. One of my favourite black metal bands, with Kentucky being one of my favourite albums of all time. At this point, around 21:30, I hadn't had a pint for about 2 hours to avoid needing a piss and losing my spot at the front. I got right to the barrier, which was insanely easy, and waited it out. Soundcheck took a little while and the whole fest was probably running a solid 15/20 mins behind. Think Austin Lunn spent more time trying to balance his 'Commonwealth of Kentucky' flag on his amp than actually doing the soundcheck, not that I was complaining.

And then we were off. They were fucking amazing in every way. I was emotional. So much Kentucky material, including the wonderful little folky bits. Austin wasn't satisfied with the sound at the start and kept asking for more guitar, not that it interrupted his flow at all. Though, the string instrument they were using (fiddle? violin? idk) could've definitely been a bit louder. Austin's vocals were fantastic but I was utterly blown away by their keyboardist, who's name I don't know. Guitar work was fantastic and at times it sounded just like the studio album.

Austin did an impromptu meet and greet afterwards, just jumped down from the stage and started to chatting to people. Really phenomenal set. Sadly it was the end of the road for me, as I couldn't stay for Sunday's lineup due to work, but I had had an incredible time and finishing with Panopticon was a moment I'll never forget.

I heard Sunday was also good, though I think it would be fair to say the lineup was slightly weaker. Heard great things about Abduction and Cenotaphe, though I've heard a few things about Bolzer having a nightmare with soundchecking (as in it took fucking ages and he had a go at the sound engineer - and someone may have heckled him?) but I can't say much more as I wasn't there. A friend did say they were really good once that got out of the way.

Favourite sets: Panopticon, Afsky, The Suns Journey Through The Night. In that order.

Final thoughts

Fortress is one of the best festivals I've ever been to. Not because it was flashy or had the best lineup or anything like that (though Panopticon puts it up there for me), but just because it was so well organised and chilled. Everyone was super friendly, there was zero hassle, the venue was incredible, and all the bands delivered. 

They've already confirmed they're going again for 2024 and they're moving to the bigger room at Scarborough Spa which holds 1800 and looks awesome. It's going from 3 days to 2 days (Saturday and Sunday).  Here's their Facebook page and there's a forum with plenty more pictures and discussion and links to other black metal gigs in the UK, worth joining.

Thanks for reading.

[k00318319]

Zine workshop

25/11/24

Today I took part in the zine workshop in the publication studio, where I learned all about the process involved in creating these 8 page zines made using Risograph printing.

For my assemble project, I am exploring the process of metamorphosis and transformation. At the moment, I am specifically looking at the way women constantly transform and change their physical appearance in order to conform to the often unrealistic societal beauty standards.

I wanted my zine to combine the transformation that occurs when a butterfly emerges from a cocoon, which I have explored previously in my project, with the transformation that women impose on themselves. In order to convey this idea, I decided to begin and end my zine with a woman’s face inside a cocoon to show that the process of changing and enhancing your appearance never stops. It is like a never ending cycle, similar to the life cycle of a butterfly which repeats over and over. I wanted to show that changing and altering your overall appearance can become addictive. The rest of the zine portrays a never ending cycle involved with trying to reach ‘perfection’, that always starts and finishes the exact same way.

The left image is the base layer that will end up being the main layer of the design which will be printed in dark blue. I used a combination of pen, pencil, collage using magazine cut outs, as-well as images that I took in the photography studio last week in order to create this design.

The right image is an overlay which is done on tracing paper using black marker. The black marker represents the highlighted areas of the design which will be printed in yellow. Tomorrow I am going to go back to the publication studio to make my final zines using the risograph printer.

Overall, I really enjoyed this workshop and I definitely think I will be able to use the skills I have learnt to enhance my project.

[k00320853]

7/10/24 Workshop - Printmaking

I chose to do printmaking for this week's workshop, as I was eager to try out a discipline I had little to no experience in (aside from a linocut or two in Leaving Cycle). Also, the idea of mass production, of things being churned out on an assembly line, resonated with my project.

We began with monoprinting. My first attempts were merely texture studies, looking at how different tools and objects created variations in line or shade, whether that be thicker or thinner, darker or fainter, smooth or sharp. I used everything from pens and pencils, my hands, paintbrushes, highlighter markers, erasers, rulers, even the base of a coffee mug.

For my first few proper prints, I used what I had learned from my studies, but I was still playing around with the technique for the most part, trying out little drawings (partly inspired by the Monty Python animations by Terry Gilliam), before moving on to more project-based work.

Trees have always intrigues me, due to their sheer scale, and complex form. I felt a barren, leafless tree would be a striking image, and would be well suited to the medium of printing. It was purely imaginative, no reference photos or anything. At first, I was trying to be very neat with my lines for the branches, but as I went along, my lines became more expressive and wild.

Now we began to remove the ink directly from the plexiglass using rags and white spirits. This lent a more fluid, wavy look to our prints. As we removing dark areas rather then applying them, I thought it would be interesting to depict a face coming out of the shadows by removing layers of ink. The effect was well suited to the monoprinting, and I will certainly considering doing something like this again later in my project.

By now, we had moved on to multi-tone prints. As my new direction in the project focused on the self, I thought it appropriate to begin with a self-portrait. I sketched out a design onto the plexiglass with marker, then applied each colour separately: first yellow, then pink, green, blue, then black. However, the result was a little disappointing: I chose not to print one colour over another, but keep them separate, which made the picture come off as very flat. Also, the technique itself didn't allow for great detail, making it seem too basic, almost amateurish.