#my ask box is large

[ask-thesparedau]

ITS BEEN SO LONG!!!

If you didn’t know, I have been on an impromptu hiatus for a little less than a year now. It started out as me extending my comic dates and ended up being a massive break.

Despite this, many of you still waited for me! Giving me frequent asks and commenting on my posts, which I am endlessly thankful for.

I would be lying if I said there was a specific reason behind my disappearance, but it wasn’t for nothing!

I was getting more and more discouraged with my own work. Although pretty easy to do, I didn’t feel confident in my ability to stay true to the book and its characters. A lot of JTTW is interpretational, so I failed to understand certain nuisances present without cultural context.

So in my break I took the time to actually work on getting more involved with the culture!

I decided to take a Chinese Language course! Then with the encouragement of my professor, joined their Chinese club. Many of my assignments involved cultural engagement, which I also attended to make some new friends.

Eventually my professor recommended me for a scholarship opportunity, which takes place in Shanghai! (上海）

I will be going in June

Thank you all for your patience <3

Now that I am a bit more confident, i will be returning to this blog. There may be some upcoming changes though, so watch out for those!

[genderkoolaid]

this is a genuine question-- not trying to bait. you seem reasonable and knowledgeable and opinionated about lots of issues.

what's your opinion/ stance on paraphilias? how do you see the distinctions between "kink" "fetish" and "paraphilia"? and any other takes you have about "harmful" paraphilias that you don't see discussed often, etc.

Some general thoughts on the topic:

I am strongly against the idea of thoughts or feelings alone bearing moral weight. I think the idea that they do does far more harm than good, as it puts pressure on people to micromanage their internal experiences through shame, and that prevents them from being able to have a calm and reasonable understanding of their own thoughts and feelings. When you aren't afraid of having thoughts or feelings, it is much easier to identify how they influence and make choices accordingly.

All of these categories are made up by people, so I don't think there necessarily are distinctions. IIRC "paraphilia" is a specifically psychiatric term. As people have discussed elsewhere, what is considered normal sexuality vs abnormal sexuality varies heavily across cultures, and I'm not super concerned with making a clear cut distinction for every experience. I think all things considered that the medical model of "it's not a clinical issue unless it's causing problems in your life & harm to yourself or others" is a good enough way of approaching things.

I think a lot of people conflate having certain thoughts or feelings with having impulse control issues, and assume that people with certain thoughts or feelings must be incapable (or will inevitably fail at) exercising their free will in navigating those feelings. Which ironically can create a self-fulfilling cycle where people get scared or ashamed of their feelings and never practice relating to them in healthy ways, so they do feel out of control. And for people with impulse control issues, they deserve support and assistance in that.

I choose to believe and act as though everyone has inherent worth and dignity on an existential level, and that cannot be changed or destroyed. No kind of sexual desire makes someone less of a person, or less deserving of being taken seriously and compassionately as a person.

Harm, both doing and receiving it, is an inevitable part of life and we will never get rid of this. The best way to deal with the inevitability of harming and being harmed is to build and maintain practices that help is navigate healing those harms.

I guess my "opinion on paraphilias" is that to a large degree it's none of my business what goes on in other people's minds, that shame and the model of thoughtcrime does more harm than good to everyone, people should be allowed to engage in weird sex stuff alone or with others who are consenting without having to justify themselves to strangers. Sex stuff and relates issues can be scary and complicated but we have to be brave about it and come up with ways of navigating these issues that are best for everyone, holistically.

[bonesbunns]

Hi, I would love to know if you ship your comics overseas, I want to buy Day Dreamer when you get the physical copies and Here be Monsters.

Thank you :)

Ahhh thank you so much for asking!! I do ship overseas, but due to the new policies around selling in the EU I can’t currently sell products there specifically (INCLUDING DIGITAL ONES??), so I’m working to see how and when I can do so again! It’s such a bummer. Otherwise, everything will be available on my Etsy when they’re ready!

I actually just got my samples in- made some minor adjustments but here’s a little preview 💚

[sforzesco]

Hello! I love your work esp your comics and am wondering if you have any tips on drawing architecture and backgrounds? 😇

the only tip I have for drawing backgrounds is get comfortable drawing boxes. you can figure out how to draw just about anything if you can draw a box. what's a street and all the props on a street but a bunch of boxes on a perspective grid, etc.

additionally

-Framed Ink/Framed Perspective for learning about compositions

-the Etherington Brothers' tutorials is a great place to start if you're just getting into the backgrounds/environments game

-Thomas Romain's tutorials/art advice

there's also a bunch of great tutorials on youtube on the subject of background drawing depending on what you want to accomplish!

[feketeribizli]

hello :) i was talking with a friend and wanted to say they love marci. they say he’s very cute and he ‘looks like a human cheezit’. the agenda is spreading around the world…. yay to marci!

hiii to you and your friend!!! 👋😁 so happy to hear that... hes breaching containment... perfect comparision btw my boy the orange cheesy cracker...

[xskyll]

Also, I can’t not mention your art, especially the BNHA VR AU! I absolutely adore it!! The cleverness in the dialogue always makes me smile, and even your tags feel like little hidden gems (I don’t know why, I just really love those extra tidbits of info!). I just love tdiz (and the whole cast, honestly) in any form they show up in!

(Also, sorry for the weird time gaps between these sends, I wrote that last one at like 3 a.m. tihi)

Thank you!!! (；ω；) That means a lot to me! I wish I was faster at updating it. I'm eager to share the whole story! I know my art isn't exactly top-notch, so I really appreciate this!!

[spookythesillyfella]

i like you’re headcanin of all colins knowing each other/ you should def do a colin meets colins

the colinverse iz probably one of the ideaz im actually most proud of

i feel like it would kinda be in character with the fact colin iz so clever n stuff – to know about the existence of parallel and alternate universez – and maybe even interact with them

do i think every colin would like knowing therez a different verzion of them out there ? certainly not

but do i think they all just . collectively know about each otherz existence ? certainly !!!

anyway with thiz occassion you can have a colinverse drawing that i never posted

★ feat :

top left – @monstrous-flower

top right – @the-trash-phrog

middle – mee :33

bottom left – @jumjum-crafts

bottom right – @apologetic-artist

[r4spberry-vinaigrette]

Omg hi user redpandablues on aye oh three……………………

HI !!!!! i meant to follow you when i started being active on my actual blog again i just forgot . but i was talking about my cass and aleph with my dear friend recently and went Omg i wonder how the Aleph Fan Ever is doing ..... and realized i never did that LMFAO. hope youve been doing better lately :]

[jowbokitten]

Which Home Alone booby trap is most likely to hurt Geno?

No need for a trap he'll fall flat on his face w no help at all :)

[teadrunktailor]

Today, on Things Fantastic: Rereading a series you read years ago and discovering Your Guy™ in scenes and places you'd forgotten about. 100/10 on Google Reviews.com

[sergeifyodorov]

bedard honestly gives ftm more than he gives twink i'm sorry for anyone who had to read this post (but look its kinda true)

COME BACK WE NEED YOU

[amazinglyegg]

I noticed you sometimes take requests for text posts about the companions. Would you take requests for audio comps as well? i saw you post some compilations with voice lines from danse and piper and i have some ideas for specific comps with other companions.

no worries if you dont take these kinds of requests though

I wish I could say yes but sadly I can't download Fallout 4 on my laptop at the moment, so I don't have access to audio lines anymore 😭😭😭 I'm hoping I can get a better computer one day :')

If you do want to hear character dialogue here's a playlist from someone who compiled all of them!

[microwavetoaster-selfships]

And. Does the. Almighty evil Dr.Strangeglove also blow up vehicles by any chance

[spookythesillyfella]

Hey

Passed by and I saw your au.

I'm curious, what is it about exactly? I've found it interesting so far. -(sure tell me if you feel like it, don't want to bother you-)

helloo !! not bothering at all !! i love getting questionz related to the au !! ¥_^

small headz up – im very bad at explaining and wording my sentencez . so im terribly sorry if they make little to no sense / aren't coherent

uhm . if i had to explain the au in general . it would kinda be a project sekai × dhmis crossover – while the main plot doez revolve around band and muzic stuff . the meat and potatoez of thiz au are mostly the characterz . their lore . how they interact with one another and how they evolve

the main fic [currently in the workz] iz pretty much my starting point . where the muzic and band stuff iz gonna be the most relevant . and im planning to make shorter workz in addition to explore the characterz further after i get done with that [like the project sekai eventz]

thiz iz just a dumb self-indulgent project honestly . and itz definitely not for everyone . but im glad you stopped by to inquire more !! im sorry if my explanation didn't answer your question very well . but i tried my best to give you my pitch for the story ahaha

[agoodgirlhasnoname]

Just stumpled over your blog and really liked it. I can show you something big if you would like it

Ooooooooh I love big things, what is it you wanna show me 😍

[overdressedcarp]

C,D,K and P for the ask game please

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Hmm. Tbh I don't tend to have super strong feelings about ships; I pick my favorites and everything else ranges from 'meh' to 'I see the potential but it's not for me.' I'm a big advocate of not yucking anyone's yum, since even if I don't get it, I'm not going to rag on someone for having a good time in their own corner of the internet.

I will say that I tend not to be a big fan of most Trailblazer ships. I just want my little gremlin raccoon to run around and dig through trash cans and channel the power of friendship and/or incredible violence.

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Screwllum and Ratio have a really interesting dynamic, and there's a part of me that wishes I could enjoy ship content of them (since there's some banger art/fics out there), but I do not have the inner strength of a multishipper so I merely respect it from a distance.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

You didn't specify a fandom, but for HSR it's undoubtedly Aventurine. For Ace Attorney, probably Edgeworth; his arc in the first game is already great but the subsequent installments do a great job building on it.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

This is another weird one, as I... tend not to gravitate toward AUs in most fandoms? Like, ideally, if I'm invested in a piece of media, it's because I love the world and the lore and I'm interested in expanding on them. Usually, if I'm digging into AUs, it's because I'm losing interest in the source material and trying to find ways to make it fun again.

For the sake of argument, though -- HSR Severance AU with the IPC as Lumon, because season 2 just came out and I'm super hyped.

Original ask game post here