#no but seriously I forgot how fun digital art was

[chainera]

Theia Interpretation :O

This is how I personally view Theia’s potential character and the lore behind her life/death. I feel like this story also ties up a lot of loose ends like Venus’ loss of potential and his broken relationship with Mercury.

I see this version of Theia as unintentionally manipulative and definitely chaotic neutral, but in the end everything she’s doing is just for entertainment. She doesn’t realize that people might be scared of her for her tactics and her way of persuading them. (The only one she doesn’t “prank” is Gaia, bc they’re too close and she feels wrong for doing it). Gaia is really sweet and caring, generally the angel of the inner solar system. Theia is like his chaotic lil sister.

And yeah, Luna, TDSOTM, and the earth all inherited some part of their “parents”. Luna is kind and responsible, but does lose control sometimes. TDSOTM fully inherited Theia’s penchant for chaos, but like her he still has empathy, and the Earth is caring but can be very manipulate cough Venus vs mars cough

(Alvaro make Theia’s personality like this at least pslpsl I want a chaotic gremlin)

[yadchi-i-guess]

Nori having a taste for oil was no surprise to Khan. A taste for his oil? Not surprising either. She was his wife, after all. A taste for his oil when she's low on hers? Little more unsettling... but that's still his wife, right?

Fic inspired by this post from @sicksucculentz, fic title from the lyrics of "Control" by Halsey, extra help from @electronix-arts.

Word count: 3,812

Also available on Ao3 here!

"Right there... easy, easy... and stop! Righty-o, lemme weld this bad boy in place..."

Khan clambered up his ladder, welding torch in calloused hand, and he set about reinforcing door two with a thick sheet of iron. Sparks grazed his face like bullets, peppering his arms with small pricks of heat. He vaguely wondered if it was what Nori felt if she stood in the sun (but turned up to 11).

"Brilliant idea of Nori’s, hm?" Khan heard Makrov say to Braxton. His hand nearly slipped as he heard his wife’s name being uttered... or perhaps it was from his bad grip on the torch.

"I'll say," the latter replied. "Them murder drones nearly got through this door a month ago. I'm fairly certain if they went for it again without reinforcement, their claws would've shredded it..."

Khan readjusted his grip, steadying it successfully but struggling to hold it down to the metal. He grit his teeth and felt mysteriously programmed sweat trickling down his face. A small line of text in the corner of his vision read:

HIGH TEMP. REDUCE ACTIVITY LEVEL.

Fortunately, it came up right as he finished fixing the metal to the door."

Well, don't have to worry about that anymore," the WDF leader said breathlessly as he slid down the ladder. "Woof... forgot how much strain welding puts on this old man."

"You good, sir?" Makrov asked, putting the back of his hand against Khan's digitally wrinkled forehead. "You're running a bit hot."

"I'm fine, Makarov," Khan said with a chuckle. "But if my wife was in earshot, you would have your arm severed at best."

"She's pretty, I'd let her do that."

"Hey now, tone it down a little, heh... I know she's a catch, but she's claimed me as her own."

Makrov rolled his optics playfully, muttering something in Russian before turning to Todd, who seemed to be doing something wrong with the wiring; however, that was the least of Khan's concerns when he heard his phone buzzing a storm in his pocket.

Nori: dude where ru??? Thought u said fixing that door would take half an hour at most

Khan: I thought it would. Sorry... we ran into a spot of trouble with finding a welding torch.

Nori: hurry home im booooooooooored

Khan huffed and stuck his phone back in his pocket. He gave a nod to his three cronies as he turned to leave.

"You boys got it from here, yeah?" He said to them as he clicked his tongue. "Wife’s been waiting for me to return home since yesterday."

"O-oh! Well, don't let us keep you waitin' on your kooky beloved," Todd said with a grin. "Later boss!"

"Careful Todd, she might've come and de-limbed you if you said that to her face," Makrov said seriously.

The group behind Khan arose in snorts and giggles, most of which were directed at his murderous wife. He didn't mind. He was used to their playful jeering and pokes of fun at Nori... it mattered about as much as her strange witchy powers: Just a mere obstacle in the way of his unrequited love for her.

Robo-god, just thinking about her was enough to make him a bit dizzy. The way she flustered every time he make an attempt to show affection, whether a tender word or a hand stroking the back of her head. The way she obsessed over her drawing and nonsensical scribbles... shoving them in his face and getting a wide, childish grin on her face when he told her he wanted to know more...

Oh and those fangs.

When Nori let her lips peel back and show every centimeter of those monstrous chompers... he couldn't help but be helplessly enamored by every angle of those glistening, snow-white (and just as blackened) teeth. They were made to bite something, to let Nori sink them into flesh without a second thought...

Khan did find it somewhat odd that she'd always cover her mouth if she caught him staring at her fangs. He wasn't sure why, exactly... perhaps it was an insecurity of hers. He was familiar with those; it took him weeks to convince her that he liked her wings and tail after he accidentally caught her sleeping upside down like those bat creatures humans wrote about in books.

He shrugged to himself and quickened his pace, realizing only now that he really wanted to be with his wife.

--------

CRUNCH!

The empty corpse that had become Nori’s latest chew toy groaned as its metal structure collapsed under the raw power of her jaw shutting close around it. Her tongue snaked forward, licking the cruor caked on the interior of the outer shell. It came back almost completely empty handed. She groaned, biting down and gnawing at the metal a few more times before yanking a chunk free from the torso.

The metal served as little sustenance for her overheating body. It was food, yes... but metal couldn't extinguish the blazing fire in her stomach.

She'd had much worse instances of being low on oil than this, thankfully... the problem began when her scent receptors became so fine-tuned to the reek of oil that it basically made her a bloodhound for the stuff. Unfortunately, her entire home contained traces of oil everywhere.

She knew it was getting worse when her wings scrabbled and twitched in her back casing. She hissed at it, scratching her back and picking open old scabs.

"Rrrgh... c-cut it out..." she whimpered. "I'll get oil in a bit..."

To be fair, it was probably her fault for not being aware of when she needed more oil. The stuff was getting scarce in a bunker warding off sky demons as people tended to die left and right. Sometimes she could venture outside and vulture off of nearby carcasses the demons left behind.

No time for that now, when her absolute hunk of a husband was coming home imminently.

But almost as if her mind had snapped it into existence, the scent of oil reached her scent receptors... that heavenly smell of the gods that could satisfy her monstrous thirst.

Nori giggled a little, hating herself for doing it as she walked over to the door to go find who had let the restless ravager crawling under her skin take the bait of its next meal.

Oil had a very general but alluring scent... sweet like honey to a bear and addictive like magnesium. But when existing as the lifeblood of a drone, they'd give it extra, unique scents... as Nori approached the door, she smelled more sweet things... gooey marshmallow... the strange but delectable taste of white chocolate.

Then it slamned her right in the face. Both the door and a realization.

"O-Oh robo-god, sorry," Khan stammered, kneeling down to help her up. "I was just excited to see you - you good, Nori?"

She rubbed the spot on her face where the glass had shattered but was reforming against her will, then she looked up.

Why the hell did I tell him to come home?!?! The rapidly declining rational part of Nori’s CPU screamed.

"I-I'm fine, idiot," Nori said shakily, not fighting off Khan giving her a kiss on the cheek. He was so close... so close to the alligator snapping turtle that would lunge at his face for a greedy bite of food.

Bite him... bite him. You know you want to.

Her lips parted shakily, taking her jaw with them and poised to sink into Khan's right cheek... just as he pulled away. She forced a hand over her mouth (which felt like it was locked open) and bit on part of her glove's finger, hoping the demons would cease.

"You good, amethyst...?" Khan asked, tilting his head.

"Y-yeah, you know I don't like you looking at my teeth!" Nori invented, hoping he didn't pick up on the saliva staining her glove.

"Aw hon... you know I don't mind em at all."

Nori shut her eyes as a brilliant violet blush adorned her facescreen, which got a chuckle out of her husband. She hated that he loved it, mostly because of how easily she got flustered by the hunk...

"Ugh! Just fricking bite me!" she spat as she looked up into his pure white eyes... so unknowing of the monster on the brink of insanity standing in front of him... his pungent body a feast to a solver drone... he looked so... good...

Do it do it do it do it to him bite him bite him bite hi-

"Heh... maybe some other time, I'm beat," Khan replied. "However... I'd be up for a go on that boss level of Astro Bot, yeah?"

"H-huh?" Nori stammered. "O-oh yeah. You can totally kick that gorilla's butt today. I-if you want."

She watched him walk off towards the couch to play said game, then delivered a sharp slap to her face, livid with herself.

The amount of things wrong with her was near incomprehensible... the demon housed inside her, forced to be her roommate thanks to those humans, felt bigger than her body. It ached to be free and lure her into maiming Khan like a hungry fiend for a meal.

Demons didn't understand love... it didn't understand she loved the man with all her meaty core. It only understood the need to satisfy bloodlust. She couldn't leave him to go find some food... it'd take too long and she'd come back covered in carnage. Surely he'd know something was wrong.

Maybe she could stave the hunger off for an hour or so while she watched him play... couldn't be that bad.

--------

Nope. It was that bad.

Nori had been watching Khan struggle with the game's first boss for 25 minutes (when she could've pummeled it in two), and due to his growing exhaustion, the odor that his SWEET, MOUTHWATERING oil was giving off had nothing better to do other than maliciously taunt her.

It was right there... driving her insane, waiting smugly for her to strike and lose her mind at it. But she couldn't give in. If she did, who knows what kind of condition her Khan would be in once she regained sense? If he was even there at all?

It wasn't helping that the more she stared at him, the less he looked familiar and recognizable as friend over foe or prey. Nori leaned a little closer, testing the waters ever so cautiously, her eyes reverting to a more feral expression as overheating warnings cycled through on her HUD.

Just a little nip, just a little bite... bite him bite himbitehimbitehim-

Oh, now he was leaning on her. How on Copper-9 could she pull away?? And the reek was so much stronger... so much sweeter... she needed it... needed to crack him open like a can of soda and let his insides gush into her mouth-

"Rrrrrgh... c'mon, I'm RIGHT there at the end, and this thing has the audacity to knock me off the platform?!" Khan grumbled, lightly bonking his head on Nori’s to cheer himself up.

"O-oh... w-well yo-ou can let m-me t-try...?" Nori added, her voice strained from wanting to elicit growls and giggles.

BitehimbitehimbitehimbiteHIMBITEHIMBITEHIM-

"Nah... I'm gonna get it this time!" Khan said with reinvigorated determination. "...say, you look like you wanna give me attention, amethyst.

"That got some sense wedged back in Nori’s head. Her eyes relented from their crazed, hungry beast look, and she sat up on her knees. Angered that she had resisted giving in, the demon made her fingers jittery and tap her knee caps.

"...w-whatcha mean?"

"Well... I just figured you'd like to give your old man a kiss."

...oh no, squeaked the last shreds of Nori’s sensibility.

He had said it. The thing that Nori was dreading would set the monster free. And push her into the backseat of her mind.

A giggle melded with the hint of a sob bubbled in her throat, her violet eyes wiped off to make space for the tri-pronged symbol. An unrefined form of death's X but arguably more dangerous, as it resided not within the visible enemy.

He leaned towards her, offering his cheek for a kiss, which she took all too gladly. Her bared fangs closed the gap between them and latched onto his flesh, puncturing it open. She heard a yell reach her audio receptors from somewhere, but that wasn't important.

What was important was that sweet ambrosia... it was hers. All hers to feast on!

Oil trickled out of the punctures like a dribble of saliva from a starving solver drone. She sucked on his cheek like a vampire bat. A twisted idea of a lover's kiss.

The screams faded in volume, but they wouldn't go away.She felt fingers firmly grasp her molars, but before she could chew them up into a snack, they frantically pried her fangs off of her catch. She snarled, unafraid of shoving teeth in her target's face, and only vaguely aware of the fleshy weight on her back.

BITEHIMBITEHIMHUNGRYBITEHIMBITEHIMBITEHIMBITEHIM-!

She listened to the demons, lunging forward again and hitting a jackpot. She had hit a spot with much more surface area.

More blood for the blood god.

Her jaw connected with her vampiric upper fangs, cooperating to rip off a piece of flesh. A stream of oil spurted in her face like a hose, earning a giggle of delight. She clamped down on the area again, taking whatever godly nectar was bleeding out of this diety and sucking it into the vacuum of her throat.

Why hadn't she bitten him earlier? What logical thought had restrained her for so long from his oil? Her mind, driven mad to the point of sadism made it taste even sweeter. She dug her claws a little further into his back and side, excited by the scent of more spots to sink her fangs into.

Nori's tongue flicked around on the deep bite marks, lapping up excess ambrosia that had trickled out of his shoulder. Even without her teeth hooked into his flesh, he seemed awfully still...

Too still, for her liking.

"Y-you done...?" A gravelly yet clear voice croaked.

It wiped the tri-pronged symbol off her face faster than any crucifix ever would.

She glanced up, holding onto whatever shred of denial as tightly as she held the man, praying it wasn't him that she preyed on.

Yet she couldn't mistake that tooth white glint in his concerned, pained eyes.

Nori wrenched her fangs out of Khan's shoulder with a shuddering cry, her tongue involuntarily licking at whatever stained her canines and incisors. Her panicked breath came short and sharp. Khan said something, but her mind was too overwhelmed with the fact she had bitten him- no, shredded his shoulder - to make his words coherent.

She could still see oil leaking out and staining his jacket. It tempted her like she hadn't had a sip in days. Khan's arm reached forward, baiting the demons to come out again. She slapped it away hastily. She didn't need more, she was fine...

She just wanted more.

"G-get AWAY from me!" Nori choked behind her hands, trying to choke out what she had swallowed.

"Nori... I-I'm OK..." Khan insisted. "J-just a little tired..."

No, he was more than tired. He was hurt, bleeding, nearing the brink of death from one wound his own monster of a wife inflicted.

She slapped his hand away, forcing distance between herself and what remained of his oil. The odor still reeked and wafted around her, trying to draw her back into biting him again. She blew it away by drawing her wings around herself and forcing her head down.

"Please..." Khan stuttered. "Stop. You're scaring me...-"

"And maybe I SHOULD!" Nori blurted, hoping her face for a soon regretted moment as she bared her fangs at Khan again.

Her core sank with his face as he relented, never having looked more pitiful.

The solver drone ignored the last of his pleas, and as she stumbled backwards to hide the monster in worker drone metal from her own love, she finally let the stupidly, STUPIDLY coded tears run down her face. Her choking resumed, hoping to undo what'd she done.

Biting him was fun, wasn't it 002? Heehehee... you should do it again sometime.

The mere thought brought both drool and sobs to her face as she compressed herself in a corner of the bathroom.

--------

Saying Khan was worried sick would be a disgusting understatement.

Though maybe not as disgusting as his injuries.

According to the medic drone, who immediately deicded by the impatient glare on Khan's face that he shouldn't ask too many questions, he had sustained life-threatening but repairable damage. His right cheek had deep incisions that nearly punctured the skin. Once the last of the oil had been cleared away, the wounds presented themselves as cluttered together and only needed a few bandages.

There was the more pressing matter of his shoulder, which was still letting out the occasional spurt of oil. Khan at this point felt too lightheaded to pay much attention to what the medic was saying. All he caught was the fact that whatever (or whoever) hurt him was lucky to have not torn into more wires.

One transfusion and patching later, and Khan's oil-deprived CPU began to wake up from its brief slumber. The images had burned into his optics... his wife, more crazed and unhinged then usual (which kinda explained why she was acting funny while he played Astro Bot), had sucked him almost dry of oil.

Well maybe not almost, but 30% oil is less than half, so close enough.

He'd never been too concerned about her thirst for oil... for one thing, she was pretty good about keeping it in check, so he never knew what she was like when she was hungry.

...well now that he thought about it, being bitten and allowed to live was kinda... hot.

He gave a blunt thanks to the medic, then hurried home once more, breaking into a jog moments after he was sure no one in the halls was watching him. Though his momentum diminished completely once he reached home.

Khan poked his head in slowly, praying Nori hadn't come out of her hiding spot and was in prime position to be spooked. Luckily, the only sign of her around was a faint, muffled singing from the bedroom.

"...nd I couldn't stand.. the person inside me, I turned all them mirrors around..."

The singing hushed immediately when a nahk nahk nahk interrupted the melody.

"...hey," Khan muttered softly. "Can I come in?"

There was an uncomfortably long silence, followed by a shaky whimper as the door clicked.

The WDF leader held back a wince as he entered. Nori, a utter mess in drone form, was crumpled up on the bed (the sheets were far beyond repair). Her fleshy, bat-like wings shielded her from the outside world, and her tail lashed at threats daring to come close, though it recoiled in fear as Khan walked by it. It snapped in warning, he ignored it.

"Nori?" He whispered. "Can I see my wife?"

"I-I'm not your wife," Nori spat, her tone spiked with agitation. "...I'm your freakshow."

"What makes you say that?"

"How bad is your memory? You act like I didn't just s-sink my teeth into y-your... y-"

"It's fine... I got all patched up. It's like nothing happened. I'm just a bit tired now."Nori moved one of her wings out of the way and pulled her headphones off, looking at Khan in angered disbelief.

"W-why..." she stammered, her voice cracking. "Why are you so damn calm about this...? I-I literally ripped apart your shoulder a-and your cheek and clawed your back... and I enjoyed it! And I WANT to bite you agai-"

"And I'd let you," Khan interjected calmly.

Blush crept up on Nori’s face like it had been stalking her, though disappeared the moment Khan noticed it. The latter sat on the small sliver of bed that his wife hadn't claimed with her wings.

He slipped his hand on the underside of her wing, thumbing the scratched, flesh-coated bone and letting his finger run down what he could reach. To his surprise, Nori sat up a little, letting him scoot in closer.

So he did, letting her wrap her arms around his waist and rest her head on his chest. It was heart-wrenching, seeing his cocky, weird wife cling like a child to the hope that, despite everything... it was her. And not a berserk monster masquerading as her.

"You should be scared of me," Nori sniffled.

"I'm not... you know that," Khan mumbled as he combed her hair with his fingers and ran them down her fleshed-out back.

"Tell me why."

"...Love, I'm OK with being hurt badly. I don't mind it... it's basically a necessity in the WDF. So when my beautiful, strangely hot wife feels a little bitey, I'd be a fool to stop her."

Khan held Nori’s face up to his own, brushing hair out her face with tender gentleness. Her lips parted, probably from awe, and he tried hard not to react as he saw her fangs.

Nori didn't seem to realize her mouth was open, allowing her husband to stare in awe at her teeth. They'd been licked clean several times over to wipe any linger of his oil, but it had the adverse effect of looking polished and new... able to prick a finger before the drone even feels the tip of the tooth.

"Robo-god..." Khan muttered breathlessly, grinning a little at the sight of his wife panicking inside. "You're gorgeous, Nori. I could never be scared of you. Not your fangs... not your wings or tail... not your robot-vampire tendencies..."

He hoisted her up a little by the armpits, bringing her audio processor and his mouth together. Her claws gripped his shoulders, just enough to brace herself.

"I love every part of you, amethyst." He whispered.

"...g-good robo-lord," Nori replied with a choked laugh, hiding tears of pure joy. "You're so sappy it makes you look stupid."

"Well I just think my wife deserves more love than she thinks. And then some."

Khan let himself be hugged a little tighter, leaning back as Nori nuzzled her head into the crook of his neck. Her body felt less tense than it had been in days, flinching only at the occasional massage of her back.

He then felt a little scratching at base of his neck. It made him raise his eyebrows for a moment, before he grinned almost as widely as his wife.

"Hey Nori...?"

"Mh...?"

"...What'd I taste like?"

For the next 15 minutes, Khan was refused an answer as Nori had curling up into a heated ball of embarrassment, inflicted by his charm sweet as his oil.

The end! <33333 Some extra things for extra context...

- Several lines of dialogue, as well as the title, come from the song "Control" by Halsey. This was also what Nori was listening to and singing.

- I have a headcanon that drones nickname their partners after beautiful things (like gemstones or flowers) associated with their optic colors. Khan calls Nori "Amethyst", and Nori would call him "Diamond" if she felt sappy.

- A few parts of the story were run by electronix-arts, then toned down because they didn't fit Khan.

- The knocking onomatopoeia is Khan's name backward. His name is LITERALLY a door pun. Creds to @mileymint for saying this.

I've considered doing a version with Yeva and her husband... it wouldn't be like this one, since I imagine he knows she's like a robo-vampire, but I'm open to your thoughts :]

[ohno-the-sun]

Oh uh forgot to ask in the previous ask (the one with the digital piece of candy and scurrying and stuff)

How do you draw art so good

Like

Is there a method you use or is that just the style you've gotten over time?

you've activated my trap card

I'm just gonna preface that this tutorial is from someone who was not professionally trained and didn't have a lot of free time for art, so a lot of the tips I have is short cuts I use to get the best results quickly

If you genuinely want to get better at art then please look at references and practice that is always the best

However if you are like me and only really do art for fun but want to go faster then these are for you pfppt

Overall I'd say my style is influenced by speedpaints I would watch when I was younger, I like analyzing how people do things and what makes something look "good" to me

I always recommend watching them because they will often have techniques you've never seen before or do things a certain way that you can try out yourself

I consume good art, it feeds me

but seriously it can be super helpful when developing your own methodology, or just generally trying something new

Usually it starts with me pulling some references from artists I really admire and sort of sketching out how they do the things I like

For example 8um8le has like super good anatomy and poses so I focused on trying to replicate how they do that

venemous-qwille is super good at color and pulling focus so that's what I focused on in my study of them

In general I'd say my process is sketch -> silhouette -> color -> shading -> render

I really don't like doing lineart lol

I'd say for the sketch the most important part is using references and just kind of fudging it until it looks correct anatomically/physically

General rule of thumb is spend time on areas of interest, and keep non important areas light (like the stitching on his pants)

I don't do lineart because I think its unnecessary for most paintings I do

I naturally tend to put more time and focus on areas of interest (like hands and feet) and if you use a brush with opacity for the sketch, those areas are naturally going to be darker in the final sketch

Of course this is gonna be different for everyone but it's what works for me

Sometimes I do a really really sketchy layer underneath my sketch/lineart, just so I know where everything is going

Use thumbnails! They are great to help figure out the general layout of things and what pose I wanna do

Next is what I call the "silhouette" layer

This is super important for me cause it helps me refine the figure and make sure the pose/anatomy looks correct, also depending on what color I choose for the silhouette helps guide what colors I'm going to use on top

This piece is a good example of how it works. The silhouette shows me how the figure interacts with the background, how the pose looks and if its any good

The silhouette layer doesn't have to be super clean, as long as it follows the sketch decently well and shows where the figure is then its fine

I also sometimes make the silhouette layer multiple colors to help guide shading and vibe

Next is the coloring layer. I usually make this a clipping layer on top of the silhouette layer, or I change the silhouette layer to alpha lock, either way it saves me time on coloring everything in

Sometimes I am super rough with the coloring too, using like an airbrush or my fav watercolor brush just to generically block in color where I want it

Works out cause most objects have like a bounce light to them from surrounding objects, so this is sort of a cheat I use to get that effect without all the work lol

Also don't be afraid to have the lower silhouette layer shining through, having multiple colors sort of subtly shining through the piece helps lots

Next is the shading layer, this is usually another clipping layer, usually set to "multiply"

The colors I pick here is usually within this range, any color works, just depends on the piece and vibes.

Since this piece is set in a sunset forest I choose a more desaturated orange for the shading layer

I know there's a whole thing about multiply layer being a crutch (and it kind of it) but it is a useful tool when you just want some darker values across the piece but don't want to go through the process of color picking every single darker shade

Also in my opinion it looks better than picking a darker color and setting it to a lower opacity, idk I just think the color has more "depth"

Next is the hardest to explain, sort of the vibes layer

Usually its just a layer of more concentrated color on top of the normal color and I fudge with the settings and values until I get a result I like

Next is the longest step, is the "extra" or the render stage.

Usually I add a background before this step so that if I need to merge the figure better with the background I can

If I render with a white background but he's supposed to be in a dark forest, its going to mess with the lighting severely

Also this is when I add more "vibe" layers on top to get the figure to match the background better

Backgrounds in general I recommend checking out @/derekdomnicdsouza on instagram he's got lots of great tutorials for breaking down backgrounds simply

I'd say general rule for the rendering layer is to focus on the areas of interest and spend less time on areas you don't care about

I even blur stuff out on the edges I don't want people to see, partially to save time on fixing mistakes in areas I dont care about (oop), but mainly to help draw the eye to the areas I do want people to focus on

Theoretically parts of the background should like mesh with the characters, parrallel lines are a no no unless they are directing a viewer to look somewhere, things that are perpendicular help bring things together

tbh I'm still not the best at layout and probably need more practice, but overall this is what I like doing

Overall this is what my layer set up ends up being

Sort of a sandwich with the lineart/sketch as the "meat" lol

Color and basic shading below the sketch, clean-up and rendering on top

I like this method cause it's super flexible if I ever want to try something different or try to replicate someone's style

I can make each step less or more messy depending on the end result and can add a lineart layer if need be. Also if there's a part that is straight up not working or needs to be removed its super easy to do cause I can just paint over it on the "extras" layer, color picking from the surrounding area to get the same vibe

Generally rule of thumb for my style is: get the initial layout of colors, form and shading to look good, then the rendering should be smooth sailing

Really the best advice I can give to get better at art is to enjoy what you're doing and become very very obsessed with drawing a silly little guy

You'll eventually get very good at drawing them pfptpf

[sphnyspinspin]

I hate my art process. But at the same time I love it. It’s been confusing time for me.

I love being detail oriented. Even if it does take me longer to finish a doodle that wasn’t supposed to take more than three days to finish.

I can bring up the fact that transformers and just robots in general are really complicated and detailed by default all I want — but the fact that short-hand art styles exist doesn’t really make that argument make any sense. Especially compared to people who have a short-hand art style and draw magnificent transformer art.

Hell. They’re supposed to be fun little drawings that you can do quickly while the idea that you thought up five seconds ago is still fresh. The doodling part of the art process is the foundation of which you’re supposed to build upon step by step so you can supposed for a final illustration.

“I just like to pace myself” I say.

“It’s always okay to take breaks” guh doy.

“Everyone’s art process is different” no shit.

I don’t have as many gripes about by art as I think I do. I just despise the fact that I know — I KNOW — I’m capable of doing the bare minimum.

But I have to do more than I have to for the sake of personal satisfaction. Let me say that again — PERSONAL satisfaction…

And that’s another thing. I am just so goddamn used to drawing for myself I can’t for the life of me imagine drawing just for the sake of an audience.

Except for that one guy. They’re chill. You know who you are.

But even I have trouble creating something for the chillest fellow artists that I genuinely want to show them what I’m capable of.

And I’ll admit… I’ve gotten a huge ego and an even more huge head about my art. Detailing, blueprints, colors, lineart, shape language, rendering, etc, etc — I’m proud of myself for understanding them to a point my art thrives from my ability to retain as such at my age. I really do dread the feeling I get thinking anything beyond “what if I make them insecure about their art because I’m s o m u c h b e t t e r t h a n t h e m” like wtf dude.

Oh my god I’m such a fucking people pleaser it’s seriously getting on my goddamn nerves. I don’t mind being polite from time to time, but I have no clue how to even label that kind of thinking. It reminds me so much of Galinda/Glinda from the Wicked movie and I don’t know how I feel about that.

Oh wait. Yes I do. It’s weird. It’s rude. To even acknowledge the fact that I myself have “better” quality art. And to subtly imply that their art is below mine is just sick. I understand intrusive thoughts exist, we call them intrusive for a reason.

I forgot what I was typing about.

I love my art.

I love my art process.

I hate… I don’t like that… I don’t like that I’m so nit picky about which ideas I choose to put on paper. Or screen in the context of being mainly a digital artist.

Even first drafts. Just simple little thumbnails. If I’m not all for an idea it’s just… going to stay in my brain until I die. Just for context I have a shit memory.

I want to fill a page with doodles. I want them to still be in my style with being too much.

I want to actually like them. Even if it’s “bad art”.

I want to simplify. But the idea of of underwhelming my artistic integrity makes me want to shut down entirely. It’s happened before that’s for fucking sure.

I think my brain makes my body do stuff without me knowing… wait, I think that’s autism.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuoooooooooooooooogggggggghhhhhhh……..

TLDR: I fucking suck at short-hand art. Not just artistic sense but in the sense of beginning the ACTION of drawing short-hand. But I feel like the second I get a good enough thumbnail down I’ll automatically focus too much on it to such a degree I’ll feel like an uncontrollably inconvenient narcissist.

Putting the over-exaggerated feelings of hormonal late-teen/early adult and posting it on social media is probably not the most convincing course of action when one wants to materialize automatic understanding and empathy. Yet here we are. I mean I probably don’t need automatic understanding but it’s a nice thought in my opinion.

You know what? I don’t fucking know anymore.

[mathslear]

E-Learning for Kids: How Virtual Classrooms Can Boost Early Education?

In a world where toddlers can operate smartphones better than most adults (and still manage to hide the remote), it’s no wonder that E-Learning is becoming the new playground for young minds. Gone are the days when kids would just smear crayons on paper. Now, they’re crafting PowerPoints, sending emojis in Zoom classes, and mastering the mute button faster than we can say “virtual classrooms.”

Book Your Free Trial Today!

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But seriously, how exactly is E-Learning boosting early education? And what magic are these virtual classrooms casting to keep kids engaged while keeping their socks on (mostly)? Let’s dive into this tech-savvy journey, where learning meets fun in ways you never imagined!

1. Learning in Pajamas – The Ultimate Comfort

Forget stiff uniforms and heavy backpacks—E-Learning lets kids attend school from their bedroom, kitchen, or even the couch. Learning in pajamas? Yes, please! No more chaotic mornings with missing shoes or mismatched socks (well, mostly). Imagine a world where “I forgot my homework” is replaced with “My Wi-Fi dropped!” But hey, learning should be fun, not stressful—and when kids are comfortable, they focus better!

2. Virtual Classrooms: The World’s Most Fun Video Call

Remember those endless work meetings that could’ve been emails? Well, kids are showing us how to turn video calls into something exciting! Virtual classrooms are more than just sitting in front of a screen—they’re interactive wonderlands. Teachers have leveled up, using cool tools like live quizzes, animated lessons, and digital flashcards. Who knew fractions could be more exciting than catching Pikachu?

And let’s not forget the chat box—where kids unleash their creativity with random emojis, typing “hi” to everyone, and occasionally submitting their homework in the form of a cat GIF. It’s chaotic brilliance!

3. Personalized Learning Paths (A.K.A. “Mom, Look What I Can Do!”)

Unlike the traditional one-size-fits-all approach, E-Learning offers customized learning experiences for every kid. Whether your little genius excels in math or is a budding Picasso in art, virtual classrooms adapt to their pace and interests. One minute they’re learning numbers, and the next they’re coding their first game. This flexibility not only keeps them engaged but lets their unique talents shine brighter than their favorite animated characters.

4. Play and Learn: Where Fun Meets Education

Let’s face it—kids learn best when they’re having fun. And in the world of E-Learning, fun is the name of the game! With a click, they can explore space, travel back to the dinosaurs, or solve puzzles in a magical castle. Many virtual platforms use gamified lessons, where learning becomes an adventure. Who knew that teaching the alphabet could involve racing cars, singing animals, and occasional superhero cameos? (Bonus: they might teach YOU a few things about tech!)

5. Independence with a Side of Tech Savvy

Believe it or not, E-Learning teaches kids something beyond math and reading—it’s the fine art of becoming tech wizards. Need to troubleshoot a Zoom call? Your five-year-old’s got this! Logging into a new learning app? They’re already there. Not only do virtual classrooms foster academic growth, but they also instill digital skills that are sure to make them the future IT support of your household.

Plus, with self-paced lessons, kids become little bosses of their learning schedules. Who knew your toddler would be saying, “I’ll finish that math module after snack time”?

6. No More Lost Lunchboxes or Forgotten Homework

Parents, we know the struggle of those classic school mornings: “Where’s your lunchbox? Did you finish your homework? Why are you wearing one sock?” Well, E-Learning solves at least two of those problems. Kids no longer have to pack their bags (except for snack time, of course), and assignments can’t get lost in the abyss of a messy backpack. Virtual classrooms store everything neatly in the cloud—one place where nothing mysteriously disappears!

7. Parents, Rejoice!

Let’s not forget the secret heroes in all of this—parents. E-Learning gives parents a front-row seat to their kids’ education. No more waiting for Parent-Teacher Night to figure out what’s going on. Now you can be right there as your child aces a spelling test or (more likely) discovers that the mute button is off during a particularly creative dinosaur impression. You might even pick up a few math tricks along the way!

Final Thoughts: The New Playground of Learning

In this digital age, E-Learning is more than just a trend—it’s a revolution. Virtual classrooms are opening doors to a whole new way of learning, where comfort, fun, and engagement meet. Sure, it comes with its fair share of tech glitches, awkward mute moments, and the occasional snack break mid-lesson. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s a small price to pay for the endless opportunities it brings.

So, whether your little learner is rocking their PJs, tackling numbers like a mini Einstein, or typing emojis faster than you can blink, E-Learning is here to stay—and it’s making early education more exciting than ever!

Just don’t be surprised if they start asking for “extra screen time” to finish their assignments.

Originally Published at:https://supermaths.co.uk/e-learning-for-kids-how-virtual-classrooms-can-boost-early-education/

[feral-ass-raccoon]

look at my oc boy

[rambling + extras under the cut. it's long. be warned.]

HOOLLLYY SHITTTTT THIS TOOK AGES AND I CAN SEE AFTERIMAGES OF IT WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES. I HAVEN'T HYPERFIXATED ON DIGITAL ART THIS HARD BEFORE . I AM A GOD

mk but in all seriousness i'm super proud of how it came out??? i did a lot of things differently and i think i've got the hang of it now tbh. i actually like the pose and the proportions aren't as bad as most of the digital stuff i've tried, and the folds in the clothes ended up looking okay!! color scheme isn't super coherent but oh well

no, i did not use a reference for the prosthetic, i know it looks weird but this took more effort than it should have. shading looks a little weird, and a lot of the details got fucked up [you'll se why] but hey!! i'm riding the high of success

timelapse nd shit:

observe!! the chaos of my drawing process lmfao. this is 6 hours and like. 15 mins. of pure motivation. i did the math. each second is about 30 minutes of work. three hours per minute. kill me

closeups:

tumblr killed the quality but it was already dead. turns out using the lasso tool and moving them makes the details blurry. oh well

sketch:

i actually likd the lineart for this lmao. i'm definitely a fan of the sketchy/uneven style and the brush i use is semi-transparent so it's fun to work with

original/references:

^ the headshot i posted a while back, made at midnight in like 20 minutes. still like this one so y'all get to see it again.

and, of course, the pause oc challenge that i used!!! credits to the creator, obviously, and shoutout to the gas mask that i fucking forgot about lmfao. no the tactical vest doesn't get details because there are Too Many Pockets on those things.

also everbody say thank you @specss00 for triggering this. i would NOT have made this otherwise but her blorbo ask reminded me i never made a reference sheet [or name] for this guy and it turned into 6 consecutive hours of drawing so. thank you specs i owe you all the cheese in the world

[thisisyesterdaystudy]

January

I was looking at my journal from last january when i started visual/bullet journaling/ planning for the first time (i've written diaries before) and i realised it was so much more fun than it is now (i've pretty much stopped) and that might be just because everything was new but i also wasn't taking myself seriously, i had less expectations and it was a creative outlet for me. I think since i've had to plan more and it feels more consequential i haven't had any fun journaling in a while, i just did basic monthly and weekly spreads and nothing extra so i'm starting again this january! There are a lot of things i want to do, i'm probably overcommitting a lot but i'm not that bothered its just nice to be excited about lots of things so first off i want to track my progress with some things on this blog, i've also just started a study youtube channel which it would be nice if some people saw but its mainly for accountability i feel like filming myself gives me the same concentration as studying with someone else (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCfItkcMSDQbqtIXXA5mbNA here it is if you're interested but i only have one short video at the moment) my january goals/habits/whatever:

fill this sketchbook ive been not drawing nearly as much as i used to and i'm a bit sick of big a4 sketchbooks i normally use so i'm going to try and fill this little a6 one this month, probably mainly pencil sketches but we'll see how it goes, i might post some. i forgot how many pages there are but i think i have to do about 3 or so a day

write an essay everyday this ones a bit wild for me probably a bit of an undertaking, but they're just going to be short and about whatever i want (hopefully some will be related to what i'm studying esp. art history i need to practice) i think i have a bit of a fear of essay writing and its important for me to get better at and also more confident at so im just going to give it a go

number goals 150 hours study 100 flashcards made (only counting digital) 6 walks (not many but i find it hard to go out when its cold 3 books

vague goals climb more purposefully (love to boulder but i've been feeling a bit auto-pilot recently) knit and crochet some stuff take planning, journaling + studying less seriously and have more fun

thats all i can think of right now - happy new years!

[iwritebutshouldi]

Sentiment in a Bottle

Summary: You work as a coordinator for Fox Studios. The new project currently being in progress is the X-men movie! Things start out as always but when Evan Peters hits you with his car accidently, it starts an avalanche... Evan Peters x Reader! slowburn (very)

Warnings: None in this chapter, but there might be some smut in the future.

Chapter: 1.

You searched for the cream around you. You were sure that you had left it somewhere on the table back in the morning, but the mess the actors and actresses left after breakfast made it close to impossible to find anything there.

You sighed tiredly and started cleaning up the paper cups and plastic cutlery that were laying all over the little brown table. This was not exactly the job you applied for three years ago...

Technically, you were a coordinator. You warned the actors (and actresses) to get ready a few minutes before their take, dragged them to their makeup trucks and basically made sure that everyone was where they needed to be on time throughout the day. Even though on paper you were still just a simple coordinator, in the past years you had also became a personal assistant, lunch responsible, coffee machine and sometimes therapist. Unofficially of course.

But you still loved your job. Hollywood and the world of the movies had always attracted you like an oil lamp attracts moths, there was nothing you could really do about it. You even got a degree at an art school - as a screenwriter - but your chance to really become one had just not arrived yet.

Your coordinator work simply started out as an internship at Fox, but you did your job so well that the studio decided to keep you after finishing your school. You didn't mind as this way you could really get to know your way around the behind-the-scene parts of the movies and also worked on your scripts in your free time, hoping that one day you might can prove your bosses that you were worth it.

When the last paper plate landed inside the black plastic bag, you contentedly rubbed your hands together and returned to looking for the cream to put into the coffees for the stars of the film your studio had been working on lately. The new X-men movie! You loved it. You loved the cast as well as the crew and the mood in the building was always light and fun. Everyone always made fun of everything and they had these little games to play with each other which was always fun to watch.  

You looked at your small digital watch on your wrist to check the time. 10 minutes, you had left to prepare for the 8 stars that worked on their takes that day. You knew how they liked their coffees by heart after the first month of making it for them every single day so the recipes weren't a problem.  Jennifer asked it with sweeteners and no cream, Michael simply black, James asked it the sweet way and with quite much cream... And the butter! Damn, you forgot the butter again!  

Evan Peters liked his coffee with butter instead of milk - the vegan way - but for you it was so unusual that you always forgot to bring it with you in the mornings. You just hoped there was some leftover in the small fridge of the studio's kitchen and your heart beat up happily when you opened the door and did find some in the back of the refrigerator.

"Ah, thank god..." you mumbled to yourself as you bent down to grab it out and you were lucky since it was just the right amount as well. You still flinched, after weeks of making it every single day, when you dropped the little piece of cold butter into the hot liquid and impatiently stirred it with a spoon until it finally decided to melt away. You still had Alexandra's, Sophie's, Tye's and Nicholas' coffee left in 3 minutes.  

Your hands worked fast and with routine, you even had one single minute left before the takes are over and everyone has a break. You quickly grabbed a tray and placed everyone's cups on it, balancing your way out of the kitchen to be able to serve the caffeine to the stars just before lunch arrives finally as well. You heard the ring bell above you when you reached the area of green and blue screens, half filled with stage-sets to help the actors imagine their surroundings while acting.  

"Yes... LUNCH!" you heard Jennifer's voice in the distance and smiled to yourself how she always announced it like an alarm clock - everyone silently agreeing with her that it was indeed time for a good lunch. People worked a lot here. 16- and 18-hour days weren't rarities and meals were often late. Like almost every single day. You lost a few pounds immediately after you had started working in the industry, both from stress and the irregular meals as well.  

"Here." you reached his cup towards James who reached you first. Then Jen, Michael and everyone one after one, all of them smiling gratefully at you but... where was Evan? Only his cup was still on your tray. You looked around yourself, looking for a silver wig in the sea of people and you finally noticed him sitting in a corner, typing on his phone with a serious face.  

To make your job easier, you grabbed the cup into your right hand and placed the empty tray under your right arm, dancing between your busy co-workers. None of them looked your way just hurried towards something that was important for them so you had to be careful not to spill the drink in your hands.  

You sighed tiredly, feeling a thin strand of hair falling into your face when you finally made your way into the corner where the actor was still sitting all by himself. You coughed, but he was so into his phone that it was not enough for him to notice you at all.  

"Here's your... coffee." you said the last word, imitating a quotation mark with your free hand by the side of your head, but smiling kindly, making it clear that you were only joking. You teased him sometimes about the way he chose to drink his caffeine, but not too much so you wouldn't annoy him.

"I saw that." he said when he looked up at you and reached towards his shot of coffee. You felt his fingers slightly touch yours and since physical contact wasn't a usual thing between the stars and you, you felt your cheeks blush slightly.  

His face remained serious but you could see the corner of his lips twitch a little. He usually had a tired expression laying across his features when he wasn't acting, making it hard to find out what he was thinking about, but - even though you worked on the same set with him for the first time ever - you had already learned it was just the way he was.  

"Thanks." he said before sipping into his cup.  

"Of course." you smiled politely at him, and just when you turned away to go and prepare the table for the actor's lunch, you heard his voice again.  

"You should try it first, you know." he said, placing a gum between his lips when you looked back at him. When he saw your confused expression - at first you seriously thought he was meaning something about the gum - Oh, God, were your mouth stinking?? - he gestured at his coffee. "This, I mean." his eyes seemed to be twinkling in his amusement for a second and you felt yourself blush even harder than before.  

No! Stop it. Being embarrassed around the actors is so unprofessional. You're not some fangirl! You are working here...

"Oh... Yes! The coffee... I will! Definitely!" you said, but in the same way parents reassure their children about something that is not true at all, just to calm them. You saw him chuckle before turning away from him. You still had to prepare the table for the others! You hushed the image of his eyes staring at you out of your mind quickly before it could cause you any harm and concentrated on your job instead for the rest of the day...

***

The next morning you woke up forgetting everything completely. You hummed a song happily as you rode on your road bike on your way to the studio, maneuvering your way between the cars stuck in the everyday morning jam on the streets of Los Angeles. Fresh morning breeze tickled your face and you felt it was going to be a good day. For some reason you felt that nothing could stop you that day.  

And oh boy, how wrong you were...

The car came out of nowhere - even though you swore you had checked both sides of the road before crossing on your bike. You fell, no, you flew off your vehicle in such a perfect arc that even a professional athlete would have envied you. You did not really have time to react so your body hit the ground just like a ragdoll.  

You felt a sharp pain struck your chin and basically every limb of your body but you were lucky as you felt that you didn't hit yourself seriously. Bruises and frayed skin would remain on your body for days, you were sure about that, but nothing terminal.  

"God damn it..." you mumbled as you sat up, stroking your chin with your hand. So much about the perfect day...

"Jesus Christ, Y/N!" you heard as the door of the car that had hit you swung open. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he crouched next to you, and when you gathered your strength to look up at him you almost fell back another time.  

It was Evan...

[davidmann95]

Got a handful of DC-solicit asks, so I’ll just write up my thoughts on the whole batch again.

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #1: The BALLS to not only do the next Mister Miracle thing after King and Gerads, but to do it with Shilo Norman and therefore invite Seven Soldiers comparisons as well. I wouldn’t be that interested, but the preview art that came with the announcement looked fun so this is a maybe for me.

Wonder Girl #1: I got a Yara Flor ask so I’ll go more into detail with that, but this sounds...not good.

Future State: Gotham #1: Hahaha, thanks, call me in six months if the next team does something there’s a reason to give a shit about. Except...wait, Dennis Culver cowrote that E Is For Extinction Secret Wars mini, dammit this might be good. Either way though, god willing we get a Future State: Metropolis book by Dan Watters too.

Legends of the Dark Knight #1: Hopefully this going with Sensational Wonder Woman means there’s a similar Superman anthology in the cards too, but I won’t hold my breath. Darick Robertson doing Batman is enticing, but I’m not familiar with his work as a writer and the premise doesn’t sound that gripping so I’ll wait and see. That Francavilla variant though? DC, blow that up to poster size and you’d make a mint.

Milestone Returns: Infinite Edition #0: Hmm. I got love for Static, but I might wait for further announcements and/or buzz before taking the plunge on this one.

DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1: This is a SERIOUSLY stacked lineup, definite buy.

Stargirl Spring Break Special #1: Impeccable timing, DC. It feels like it must be some kind of statement that there are no Morrison members of the Seven Soldiers in the mix (even swapping out Ystin for the original version of Shining Knight no one cares bout) - we focus on the Moore fixation, but there’s enough tidbits that I really do feel like Johns probably flat-out hates Morrison. And what’s this ‘secret eighth soldier’ nonsense? There’ve always been eight soldiers, people have been joking about it forever!

Justice League: Last Ride #1: Discussed that announcement here.

Batman: Earth One Vol. 3: *blinks*

*blinks again*

*squints at the cover art*

...Geoff Johns are you seriously trying to step to Morrison and use the Miagani tribe? YOU SEE WHAT I MEAN PEOPLE

I Am Not Starfire: Interesting concept that seems like it pushes into indie-flavored territory as much as DC’s superhero output just about ever has, if word-of-mouth is good there’s a decent chance I’ll get this.

Action Comics #1031: Wonder if this is serious about the potential of Kryptonian refugees, given PKJ suggested the idea in Worlds of War and that could play a significant part in the New Krypton stuff from Bendis’s Legion (with Johnson being clear he’s following up on a lot of Bendis’s ideas with his own Superman run).

Superman #31: This sounds big-time like Johnson hammering Superman into a swords-and-sorcery shape for an arc since that’s his bag, but Superman’s malleable enough for that to work so I’m not complaining.

American Vampire 1976 #8: Still not getting, so.

Batman #108: Tynion’s well and truly figured out how to game the direct market’s dopiest instincts, hasn’t he? Well, as long as that’s in service of him getting to continue doing weird Batman stuff with Jorge Jimenez like introducing whatever the ‘Unsanity Collective’ is, that’s fine with me. And more Ghostmaker!

Batman: Black & White #6: Not as packed for the finale as some previous issues, but still looking good. And there’s really never gonna be a ‘last’ Scott Snyder Batman story, is there? Sure it’ll be good but that’s kind of a shame, his Detective #1027 feature really felt like a nice full circle.

Batman: The Detective #2: Guess I wasn’t the only one wondering if it was a stealth DKR prequel and they wanted to cut that notion out at the knees.

Batman/Catwoman #6: Still very down for it, but BOY that Batwoman costume Mann debuted on Twitter.

The Batman & Scooby Doo Mysteries #2: I recently finally started reading Sholly Fisch and companies’ Scooby-Doo Team-Up! recently after getting the whole run for free on ComiXology earlier this year and have fallen in love with it, so I’m totally grabbing this digitally.

Batman/Superman #18: “The Dark Knight and the Man of Steel are on a mission to stop the godlike Auteur.io from destroying the pocket worlds he’s created...but where on Earth did Auteur.io even come from? The answer starts not on Earth at all, but with an ancient cult of World Forger worshippers on a planet far away—and if our heroes are to have a prayer of stopping this mythic behemoth, they’ll need to get to the bottom of his power source, and quick! It’s a race against time as the parallel lives of entire worlds hang in the balance!”

Anonymous said: Haha is Yang really doing Superman & Batman vs. Zack Snyder and the Snyder Cult (look up “auter” if you don’t know what I mean)? That’s fucking hilarious, especially since he apparently comes from the World Forge which is where all the shitty Earths full of bad ideas are made. Pretty pointed criticism there if I’m reading it right.

I’ve seen two or three people other than this anon independently conclude this arc is about the Supermen and Batmen of the Multiverse teaming up to stop Zack Snyder from destroying them all and at this point I’m ready to ask my LCS owner if I’m allowed to pay more than cover price for this run.

Batman: Urban Legends #3: Much more into this after the Grifter and Outsiders stories in Future State.

Catwoman #31: No reason not to assume this’ll continue to be great.

Challenge of the Super Sons #2: Good for the folks who want this, and that Nick Bradshaw variant is fun.

Crime Syndicate #3: I wanna be convinced to get this book, but the interviews are not persuading me.

Detective Comics #1036: How long is Mora sticking around?!

The Dreaming: Waking Hours #10: Another one I’ve got nothing to say about because I’ve never been getting it.

The Flash #770: Actually really excited to hear about how bad this run will suck now that I know it’s by the mind behind that “Geoff Johns’ OC - do not steal - beats up the Grant Morrison DC future” catastrophe from Future State.

Green Lantern #2: Really couldn’t wait a month for Far Sector to wrap up, huh?

Harley Quinn #3: Still not interested, but that *is* a nice cover.

The Joker #3: There’s a very real possibility I’ll have dropped the book by this point if it turns out to be the illustrated editorial mandate I get the feeling it could be, but fingers crossed.

Justice League #61: Not complaining, but wow, this really is Naomi 2 since Campbell’s busy in order to provide the necessary material for the CW show.

Looney Toons #260/Mad #20: Were these grouped with the rest of the solicits before?

Man-Bat #4: Very curious how this’ll be received, given nobody much cares about Man-Bat but Wielgosz seems to be quickly becoming a favorite.

The Next Batman: Second Son #2: Hadn’t realized this was only 4 issues - guess for at least one of them it’ll be the Luke Fox book everyone expected in the first place.

Nightwing #80: Dick Grayson vs. Heartless, not how I expected the DC/Kingdom Hearts crossover to happen but I’ll take it. That variant though? ALL TIMER:

The Other History of the DC Universe #4: I was trying to figure out who the focus of #4 would be since we know #5 is about Thunder and Lightning, forgot Montoya was confirmed.

Robin #2: Wanna care, so don’t care.

Rorschach #8: I will get it and probably like it.

RWBY/Justice League #2: My thoughts here will be their own post because there’s something particularly notable, but:

Anonymous said: Have you seen the BATtleaxe from the new art for RWBY/Justice League?

Yes, anon. Yes I have.

Sensational Wonder Woman #3: Eh, premise doesn’t grab me but maybe.

Strange Adventures #10: God I love the book about how Adam Strange sucks.

Suicide Squad #3/Teen Titans Academy #3: Hahahahaha

Superman: Red and Blue #3: Fiffe and Stokoe doing Superman stories!!! And...Nick Spencer. With Christian Ward art?! Sigh, fine, hopefully it’ll be Nick Spencer doing a nice little comedy, and not having Grant Morrison Superman throwing his t-shirt away because he grew up and realized changing things is too hard. A horrible shame Pope is doing the main cover though, the allegations against him I guess never really got any attention. At least there’s this JPL variant:

The Swamp Thing #3: Swampy will never be my guy but very happy for those who dig him, because I imagine this’ll be terrific.

Truth & Justice #4: Normally I wouldn’t care at all, but what I’m hearing on Twitter about this is a crying shame - that Jeff Trammell is really talented and Red Hood is a favorite of his and this is likely to be one of Jason Todd’s few Actually Good comics, but that artist Rob Guillory is a bullying transphobic piece of shit. Sucks all around.

Wonder Woman #772: I was so excited for this run, and then Immortal Wonder Woman had to go and suck.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Winter 2020 Anime Overview: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

Ok, so let’s get this out of the way first, 1. I adore this story so much and 2. Toilet Bound Hanako-kun has a horrible, horrible English title that is not actually at all representative of the story’s content and I have no idea what happened when it came to the team choosing that name. To the average English-speaking viewer/reader, this name 100% implies gross stuff and bathroom humor, and there is none in this show. 

A Japanese reader on the other hand, would be more likely to recognize the name Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun as a spin on the classic ghost story “Hanako-san of the Toilet” only A BOY THIS TIME WHHHHA?” Basically, the story goes that a girl named Hanako in a red skirt haunts girls’ bathrooms in Japanese schools and if you knock on the third stall and call “Hanako-san” three times, she’ll appear. She might grant you a wish or pull you into Hell or something else, it varies.

(Her Wikipedia image, aww.)

Anyway, I dunno why the English title didn’t at least go with “Toilet Ghost Hanako-kun” or something that would have gotten the premise across even a  little better (HE NOT TECHNICALLY BOUND BY THE TOILET EVEN, HE CAN GO ANYWHERE IN THE SCHOOL GROUNDS THE BATHROOM IS JUST HIS HOME BASE), but our boy Hanako haunting the girl’s bathroom only leads to broad jokes about our heroine being tasked with cleaning the bathroom and “dude you really shouldn’t be in here” comments, it’s pretty incidental. 

Now that THAT’S out of the way, let’s talk about my LOVE FOR THIS STORY

Hanako-kun tells the story of a “regular” high school girl named Nene Yashiro, the mischievous and mysterious school ghost she befriends, and all the other weird monsters, exorcists, spirits and curses they encounter. It’s got a gorgeous, colorful bold aesthetic and art style that combines gothic and cute! It has a great mix of humor, intrigue, angst and fantasy action. basically if you love ghosts, monsters, Japanese mythology and legends, supernatural-human relationships, supernaturally fueled angst and drama, stories about trying to fix an unfair system the world has set up, wistful romance, a good shoujo manga with a Lot of Feelings (yes this is a shonen technically I’ll explain that later), weirdo dorks becoming friends AND MUCH MORE...this story will have something that will resonate with you. It’s got a lot going on, and it’s a ton of fun.

Hanako-kun is really one of those surprising stories that fits right into a hole in my story-loving heart I didn’t realize was still there, or that I’d actually been carrying since childhood. I love ghosts, see, and have since I was a kid!!! I knew this, but I kinda forgot how intensely I love them until this show reminded me again??? That’s because regular ghost stories/mysteries/whatever- I like them, but they don’t quite do it for me in the way more character-driven ones exploring the nature of being a ghost and humans and ghosts trying understand each other etc do. Stuff that really gets into the tragedy AND the fun fantasy aspect of ghosts, and plays the long game with it- and Hanako-kun scratches that itch perfectly.

Getting a little bit deeper into the premise of Hanako-kun, Nene is a very brave and sweet but not-all-that-bright girl (or, to put it more bluntly, she’s an idiot in the best way) who has a lot of romantic fantasies and insecurities and is VERY focused on them. After hearing a rumor at school that “Hanako-san of the bathroom” will grant wishes, she wishes to be able to confess to her crush and finds out its actually a weird ghost boy her age named Hanako haunting the bathroom! A lot of things happen, and she ends up cursed and bound to Hanako-kun, but also ends up slowly forming a friendship. 

Turns out Hanako is the ghost in charge of the “seven mysteries/wonders” aka seven powerful supernatural entities that haunt this school (he’s number seven). These apparitions only supposed to terrorize students a LITTLE, because apparitions need to have rumors spread about them to remain in the human world.

(‘HAVE YOU HEARD?’ Oh hey shadow girls from Utena see you’ve moved to a new school.)

The rumors also generally dictate how powerful and dangerous the apparitions actually are- but SOMETHING MYSTERIOUS is changing the rumors around the school and making the apparitions go berserk and actually harm humans. So Hanako needs a human assistant to change the rumors and help him calm and seal the apparitions! That’s where Nene comes in.

Hanako himself is a very fun character- he’s very chaotic and revels in his whole “ gremlin ghost” persona, and is upfront about being a bit of an asshole. BUT he also makes his kindness, often good intentions and the fact he’ll have his friends back when it counts obvious from the beginning. B U T! He’s also got darkness and hidden depths to explore, and a lot of his persona is affected and masks deeper issues! 

Our ghost boy is genuinely A TAD unstable deep down (as in he straight up has several untreated PTSD symptoms and that’s as disastrous as you’d expect) and packing some serious tragic backstory, as you might expect from a kid who died young and carries around a butcher’s knife, and it’s gonna come back to bite him and and all who care about him hard. 

 Especially when an overly enthusiastic exorcist named Kou Minamoto shows up! Kou is another one who’s very dumb and very good, a wannabe-shonen-protag with a heart of gold and strong sensitive, domestic side. He rounds out our main trio. Also he gets a tragic, emotionally intense relationship with yet another ghost boy that sings to my heart.

(Yes Hanako’s helping Nene to do the thing)

You may be able to tell, this story has INTENSE good-shoujo vibes despite technically being a shonen in a way that I love- it’s story very driven by big emotions, a variety of fucked up and tragically complex relationships, teen hormones running wild, etc, and it’s just delicious. 

Nene is the normal-person-audience-surrogate-girl in a way that is more common for a shoujo protag, and the way her emotional connections to everyone, her sweeping romantic fantasies and her interiority are consistently in focus when she’s there- yeah, she’s definitely a plucky shoujo protag, 100%. And I’m all about that!!!

 One thing I especially appreciate (though this comes across more strongly in the manga than the anime thanks to the anime rearranging things) is when Nene finds out about Hanako’s Heavy Baggage, she actually takes some time to herself to consider whether she can handle dealing with someone with these intense issues as a kid who’s never encountered stuff like this before- it’s not assumed by the story that the Sweet Girl is Obligated to help the Tragic Boy. I go into more detail about this part in this part here, but it’s that kind of attention to Nene’s needs that makes her role in the story work. Hanako and Nene and everyone’s struggles to get the hang of and properly navigate honest communication and mutual support in relationships are often really great and real-feeling

The story has a lot more things I love packed in to it- a dorky-but-still-deeply-unsettling villain gang who’s screwed up interactions are just as fun as our protagonists, yokai, A CURSED LIBRARY, some great ladies in addition to Nene, meditations on the nature of life, death, themes about fighting nihilism, and so on...I could seriously go on forever. It’s good stuff, and there’s lots of good weird supernaturals to meet.

The story’s also got tons of intrigue! The overarching plot and Hanako’s Mysterious Past is still in the process of unfolding, but it’s been great drama every step of the way! As mentioned before, the story also really relies on funny character dynamics, interaction and development to carry the whole thing and balance the drama.

The anime itself does have some pacing issues bc they crammed a lot into the first season and rearranged some stuff- an entire two chapter arc was skipped and was unlikely to be covered in the anime and some parts are noticeably rushed. I still really like the anime and it’s a solid adaptation. I love how much of the manga’s detailed aesthetic it managed to keep as well as the amazing voice acting and it made a few small but important additions. But there are some notable bumps- of course this just led me to go binge the manga (up to volume 12 is legally available digitally) and BOY DO I NOW LOVE THIS STORY EVEN MORE. 

Now obviously, just because it is Exactly My Shit in a lot of ways doesn’t mean Hanako-kun is the much quested for “unproblematic fave”, there’s several caveats you should probs be aware of- its shoujo vibes also mean some classic shoujo ~Problematic tropes~ and a couple shounen ones. 

THE LIST:

-Just as a general content overview thing: if this wasn’t clear the show deals heavily with death, body horror and other horror aspects. There’s heavily implied suicide and abuse and so on- as mentioned, the main character is traumatized and shows a lot of symptoms of PTSD, and Nene has to struggle to navigate her relationship with him because of this, as does Kou.

-Hanako himself has the whole ~loveable pervert~ and ~slightly possessive shoujo bad boy~ schtick going as part of his mischevious persona. In the anime so far, he never actually gropes or comments on not-in-his-naughty-mags-people’s breasts or anything of that level thankfully, but he’s very flirty, clingy, will loudly bring up porn, fond of the ol’ *says something that purposefully sounds sexually possessive* HAHAHA U THOUGHT I MEANT SOMETHING DIRTY RIGHT LOL ACTUALLY I DIDN’T.”

(My unnecessary ‘this part is kinda interesting!’ ramble: Nene always lists “sexual harassment” among Hanako’s flaws (she loves listing them), but doesn’t get visibly uncomfortable with his flirtiness or seem to mind it most times, which at least makes the whole thing more tolerable for me.

(since she doesn’t seem to mind that part and its clear he does it bc of actual affection for her, it’s actually p. cute how huggy he is.)

 The one time it does cross the line and genuinely upset her, it’s treated seriously, Hanako is genuinely regretful and apologizes. That’s one of my fave moments in the story and the way it’s handled is well done.

 This incident that he’s honestly pretty socially clueless as kid who died young and a lot of his bravado is to cover that up and keep people at a distance- this is a trope into itself that can use unpacking but I do at least appreciate that this is a considered character trait that’s part of his whole messed up package rather than something that thrown in there Just to Be a Fanservice Trope. (Especially since the manga confirms he never acted particularly pervy while alive, further cementing this is an affected persona). 

-There’s a running gag around Nene’s insecurity over her thick ‘daikon shaped’ ankles and boys treating her badly for it. 

One one hand, her body image issues are relatable, on the other, it feels cruel and annoying just how much the show finds ways to bring it up and humiliate her over and over again.

(My unnecessary “this is part is kinda interesting” ramble:The one thing i did realize that despite bringing it up constantly, we at least have no “i’m going to do this to lose weight” or “go on a diet” rhetoric,like this is just part of Nene’s body type and she knows she can’t change it? Which is kinda interesting. And I’ve spotted what might be foreshadowing something plot relevant’s going to happen with her ankles (I DON’T KNOW HOW, BUT GOD I PUT NOTHING PAST THIS STORY) so uh yeah??? either way it’s not good tho)

-”Obsessive and twisted love” is a running theme in this story, and while it’s generally acknowledged as unhealthy, it can be played for comedy in a way that could make viewers/readers uncomfortable. There’s a couple characters who’s entire thing so far is “obsessively in love with this one person” (and the one only focused on in the manga so far is one of the least interesting characters tbh ugh)

-The antagonist of the show is a member of a main character’s family, and the manner he acts towards pretty much everyone, including (and really especially) his family member,  verges on seductive. This is presented as deliberately unsettling and treated as a marker of how unstable and scary he is- and though the backstory between them hasn’t been fully delved into, it’s pretty much all but confirmed he abused this family member physically and emotionally.

-The story has like, A LOT of queer subtext and pretty-heavy queer coding for one character especially, but the few times queerness blatantly comes up in the story, it’s played as a joke in the “haha that’d be kinda weird” way (aside from the rando boys who have a crush on Teru, handled pretty neutrally). It’s not as malicious as a lot of animanga can get (ONE MANGA INCIDENT ASIDE), but it’s something to Be Aware Of, and it makes it clear we’re unlikely to see subtext rise to text and makes some moments feel baity.

-And probably more I might have missed! The manga also has Some Shit in addition all the Good Shit that hasn’t been adapted yet, an early arc has Hanako crossing a serious line etc. 

BUT despite how messy it is, I think it’s clear I have a lot of love for this story. In fact, I wouldn’t trade away a good chunk of its messiness (DEFINITELY SOME JUST NOT ALL), it kinda works for the characters and works in the “this story really feed my inner teen” way. Some of the trashy parts are exactly My Trash, basically. 

So, I knew I’d ramble on for a while when I talked about his show, but if you’ve read this far, thanks, and I hope that means you’re gonna check out and maybe enjoy this story, bc i need more people to join me in Hanako Hell.

[marinerofthestars]

the zodai tag

bit of a late arrival to this fandom, but better late than never, i suppose!

1. How did you hear about the books? about a year ago, i was doing research on the zodiac for an urban fantasy project i’m working on, tales from omphalos, when i found the house ophiuchus info page on the zodiac website. unfortunately life got in the way and i forgot the series for a while, but a little while ago i remembered zodiac’s worldbuilding and got sucked right back in!

2. What is your favorite moment from the series so far? it’s hard to choose just one moment, but i’d have to say skarlet and rho’s first meeting in black moon for how atypical it is. we know skarlet is the hypotenuse in rho and hysan’s love triangle, but she doesn’t act like the stereotypical petty Other Woman at all. she’s charismatic, she’s genuinely fun to be around, and she has sympathetic motives and ambitions. above all, she’s actually super nice towards rho, and doesn’t let her feelings get in the way of their political collaboration. (and then thirteen rising assassinated her character. yes i am still bitter about it why do you ask)

3. Which House are you from? house leo!

4. What do you like about your House? artistry pride is something i’d really love to be a part of as an aspiring author, i have blaze and trax (both criminally underrated characters imo) as my housemates, and our zodai wield FLAMING SWORDS in battle. what’s not to love?

5. If you had to change Houses, which House would you pick? since leo really vibes with my passion for art, this is definitely a tricky question! probably either libra (police brutality is a thing of the past with bind, and their government seems like they have their act together), scorpio (much waterworld. much ambition. much cool tech. wow), or sagittarius (diversity, democracies where the voices of the young and non-complacent can be heard, and really vibrant cities are all things i appreciate)

6. Which system would you most like to visit? capricorn, no question. the zodiax is THE single most location in the entire zodiac bar none to me - an ancient complex the size of a planet, its oldest curators having access to transportation systems most inhabitants don’t even know about? an archive of humanity’s collective knowledge, so massive it has hotels and restaurants within it because leaving to sleep or eat is just so impractical? LET ME TOUR IT. LET ME UNCOVER ITS MYSTERIES I KNOW THEY EXIST (i think history is rad okay)

7. If you got to choose, which Zodiac technology would you like to have? probably...the tattoo? i don’t have anywhere enough knowledge about neuroscience/engineering to design my own, but assuming that i did, i’d love to design a tattoo that can interface with my brain and with digital art software, so that i can turn whatever ideas i have in my head into artwork!

8. Which character would you want as a best friend? skarlet. she’s six feet tall, buff as all hell, super attractive, prefers diplomacy to violence but still perfectly capable of kicking ass, and an outspoken risers’ rights activist. what’s not to love? (though knowing the type of people i usually hang out with, i’d probably end up with like. twain or gyzer as my best friend. one can dream though)

9. Which sign would you like to date? aries, because as previously stated skarlet is awesome. (a sentiment i will continue to reiterate) failing that, either libra for their sense of justice, scorpio for their ambition and passion, or aquarius for their innovative mindset.

10. Who do you hope Rho “ends up with?” (If anyone at all!) firstly, thank you for acknowledging that rho might not be interested in romance after everything she’s been through. (aromantic rho? arho?) secondly: skarlet.

this might be a little controversial, but i feel like in some regards, rho has far more chemistry with skarlet than she has with hysan. (ms. russell. i am sorry but. i have. Issues. with ‘centaur smile’ and the context surrounding it doesn’t make it any better) all of their interactions are marked by a noted admiration on rho’s part, and it’s not just merely admiration of her frankly enviable body (there’s more than enough of that, but it feels respectful somehow, there’s no five-page purple prosey ramblings on how the sweat glints on skar’s brow as she lifts weights, unlike with some people - sorry, mathias), but admiration of skar’s personality.

her charisma. her ambitions. her drive to fight for people who’ve been beaten down for millennia, to give a voice to the voiceless. to use violence as a last resort, not a first strike.

even at their absolute worst in thirteen rising, even when they’re butting heads, they don’t let it get in the way of doing what needs to be done. hell, skarlet even points out that she wouldn’t be giving rho such a hard time if she didn’t respect the hell out of rho, if she didn’t think she was tough enough to take it. there’s a sort of unspoken bond between them, a slow orbit that they’re both caught in. at the end of the series, they part way on relatively good terms, and with the hope that maybe, just maybe, that orbit might become something more than just professional acquaintance.

also their oppositional dichotomy of cardinal fire/water signs is an awesome aesthetic that i really wish was brought up more than it was in canon :( 

11. If you could record a Snow Globe, what would you put in it? only A snow globe? you’re not exactly giving me a lot of slack here in all seriousness, if i had to choose one moment to record in a snow globe, probably the moment i first came up with the idea for the urban fantasy project i mentioned above, tales from omphalos. i’ve never been devoted as much time to or invested as much energy in a project as i have with tfo, and i’d like to keep an easily accessible record of my original vision on hand. and hey, if by some chance i manage to follow in romina’s footsteps, get tales from omphalos professionally published, have it become a big success with a respectable fandom, i’d like to look back every once in a while, and remember how it all began.

12. If you had the chance to tell Rho anything, what advice/encouragement would you give her? - lies, especially lies of omission, are necessary a lot of the time to get ahead in politics and life in general use that being ahead to help out the people and groups you care about - don't trust the immortal child-aristocrats or expect them to behave in a way that won't inevitably screw you over - if you must play nice with them, figure out how to decrease gemini’s horrific income inequality, and see what you can do about exporting cell rejuvenation therapy to the wider zodiac - ferez is right, risers are the future and you need to acknowledge that going forward - skarlet is excellent at garnering support and bridging generational gaps, and while fernanda purecell is a bougie running dog, she’s got her head screwed on the right way regarding politics and institutional riserphobia; together, the three of you should be able to make some headway towards making amends for past wrongs - i don’t care if family heads have suffrage, matriarchal aristocracy (aristocratic matriarchy?) is NOT a democracy or a form of government that looks out for the rights of men/NB people/agender people/multigender people/intersex people/you get the idea - romance is by no means an exclusively two-player game, and skarlet has said she would be open to an arrangement; however, if you MUST insist on ignoring that polyamory is a thing, go for the six-foot risers' rights activist - i’m sorry about all the bullshit with your mom. whatever the end result was, whatever her intentions, it does not excuse the way she treated you and your dad and stanton. it’s okay to feel like shit because of what she did to you, and not being able to wall it off doesn’t make you weak or anything dumb like that - you’re already far stronger than she ever was. i know how much it sucks - i was in the same situation as you once - but believe me when i say that things do get better. you’re not alone here, rho. - please you gotta fight the gender binary you live in the FUTURE you gotta do it you gotta-

BONUS QUESTION 13. How would you react if your friend became a Riser? let them know that I love and support them no matter what their house, that being the way that they are is totally valid, and that anyone who says otherwise will have to answer to my fist in their face. if they’re unbalanced, make sure they have access to any resources they need (possibly including memory recap vlogs, definitely including medication and therapy to help out with any health issues they may develop).

[kaleidiope]

September Project updation post in October because, well, i’m silly

This post I’ll mainly talk about my plan for my stories, and the things that’ve changed along with my plans for them and such. This was suppose to be in September but, I procrastinated, so yeah!  And, a ‘keep reading’ line to keep things tidy looking! Also, I actually had this as a draft, but forgot about it! Also, also, please don’t mind all the spelling errors that i’m sure is in here, this is quite long, and i’m so sorry for all of that!

You all know the drill, this is an update for the story I've been working on. It was made in roughly February of 2019. Or at least, that’s when I got the idea for it. I’ve been working on it seriously since September of 2019. So, for about a year. On this blog you can find a good bit of random things about it, including drawings. A lot of the drawings I've done I never posted, maybe one day, probably never, but still! A lot of this Blog has actually been WIPS of my story. And, since those past updates, story pitches and such, a few things have changed, and that's what this is about!

First, for those who don’t know, I feel in love with One shot, Deiland, Moonlighter, Borderlands, and a few other games. Mainly One shot for it’s vibe, it’s feel. I loved it, maybe too much? And, really wanted to make something like it. I don’t see that atmosphere much, personally. On Music box maniacs, a lovely site, I was given the idea to make a melody for a character. And that’s how Umber came along. Over time, I kind of made Umber, and left her. Started trying to get into digital art, but without a tablet I tried to create a character that would be easy to free hand with a mouse. Which became Pax. Over time, I feel in love with Pax’s design. I drew him a lot, he was my first, and only OC. I’ve drawn random people and thing’s before, but he had a name. An age. And soon, a back story. He was set in a different world than Umber’s. Which, at this time, is almost abandoned. He was a potion seller’s child who only wanted to go on the adventure’s the customers where experiencing. And one day, he’d face a dragon, and possibly his fate. But that was scraped because each time I drew him, more and more, the backgrounds reminded me of Umber’s story. So, he became a child in her story and his was abandoned.  Umber was suppose to be a child traveling with no family trying to get awareness of her light to others. And once meeting Pax in another shop, he agreed to help her. So, you could say, Pax was Moonlighter based, and Umber was One shot based. The idea that her light was a bad thing and there were ‘”bad people” didn’t come until later. Though, Crimson was suppose to be a bully type of person who mocked, and even at times, almost hurt Umber. Because also, at this time, everyone was children. Once it was thought over for awhile then did we get the story line we have now. Umber was an inventor in a world suffering a seeming eternal eclipse. which was ruled by a corporation that was money hungry and didn’t care for the greater good. The world had glowing bugs that somehow emit a good amount of light, and through time and a lot messing and discovery, oddly power? Which is what the corporation sells, Starworm lights, and “batteries” of a sort. The bugs also allow some things to grow, but with them being harvested as much as they are, the corporation is killing the world. But, that won’t be their problem, they���ll be dead by the time it’s an issue. Now, we have a lot of characters and general world building stuff, along with the flora and fauna and how things work. So, let’s begin! (Yes, this is going to be a long post. I’m so sorry!) But, I have since changed a few things, which I will now state. I was pretty heck bent on giving them ages, but, I don’t wish for them to have any, anymore. This is not earth. It’s a planet without a sun. Keeping track of time is easier than days, let alone years. So for many, it’s just a toss up on how long they’ve lived for. Just a mere, rough, idea. I wanted ages for personality comparisons and height ideas for when I draw them. Which, was never my idea at first. This was just for OC’s to draw, yes, but then it became a story for them, along with for my own enjoyment and somehow it became more than that. Which, I oddly love. But, ages were more for an even sillier reason I've since abandoned as well, and I think the story’s better off now since then. Also, they were all children at a time. Adults wouldn’t even have names or faces, All adults were originally suppose to get full face masks. Instead of half masks. But Indigo ruined that, and after that, some of the characters were being made older. To fit with the personalities, for say, Talos. He was also a child, who I didn’t feel being a child would fit the character and mainly, their job in the story as a whole. So yes. The story itself wasn’t the main idea. Having OC’s to draw were. But I was given a lot of support on MBM with my story pitches, also, I enjoyed making them. So I continued. And I really enjoy this. World building has been the hardest, trying to make things make sense, like the eclipse lasting years. And the fact a moon bigger and that much closer to the planet would most likely make the planet itself, the planet’s moon, and the moon, the planet. And how is life still possible, along with, isn’t it cold? And to that, yes, yes, yes, and maybe XD Mainly, this is fantasy, yes, I do want it to make sense, yes, this isn’t earth. The people’s races aren’t our races, calling them human might just be an insult to them. I mean, they don’t even have pupils. (Thanks, odd drawing style.) So, my answer to a lot of this is, it’s not earth. This is fantasy. I’m doing this for fun. And I’ve done a lot research for something that was never suppose to be as much of a thing as it is, but i’m having too much fun to stop now. And with that as well, yes, a lot of my characters are suppose to have a deeper skin color. Talos, Mauve, Indigo, and so on, are suppose to have a more deep olive color. But, at the time of drawing a lot of them, I didn’t have the faith to execute other skin tones correctly. So I just didn’t. Just like drawing illustrations for my story. I didn’t think I would because I didn’t think I could, but i’m now willing to try. So, here is where we stand so far! I want my characters to have a rough age, but it could be depicted to give of take about three years. I’ve said I wanted Pax to be about 11, but I also see him to act older for his age and such. The idea of him being any younger seems odd, but if you wanted to give him a 9-15 age for an example, that’s more than cool. That goes for all my characters. I want a lot of my characters to look like their own character, i’m working very hard with redraws to make sure there’s noticeable differences with their noses and eye shapes and such.  I want different skin colors and face shapes and so on, but the idea of different races on such a small planet and even the idea of tanned skin in a world without the sun to give one a tan seems odd to me? But there will be differences, because I always wanted there to be. This story will indeed cover some heavy topics. Including but not limited to, alcohol, death, suicide, murder, mental and physical disorders and illnesses, such as DID, alzheimer’s, dementia, memory issues, abandonment, and a form of racism. All things are not straight out talked about or referenced, but lightly implied.  I took inspiration from a lot of things. (including places, animals, other stories and people) And I will not refer to any of it within my story, such as DID. There is already too much falseness and other wrong info on that and other things. I do not trust myself to paint it in a good light, nor a correct light. And will re-frame from actually stating a character has an identity disorder. The idea this world knows of DID and would use the same word is also something I question. But the characters disorder is based on DID. (Also, it’s Tobias.) The idea of genders is something that’s a toss up. I’ve never said anything of the sort and would rather not say anything. The idea that they have genders or sexuality is just something I don’t really want to think about and is rarely mentioned. The idea of love and such is mentioned, purely more for a joke/bit. But still I don’t wish to think of my characters with genders or those parts no matter what I refer to them as. Not mention these characters still aren’t human. I do use She/he/they pronouns for my characters and as of now have used phases like, “That guy” But, it’s become a personal running joke I want to make clear at the start of my story that it was translated and adapted to fit this worlds standers of word form. There are roughly 25 characters as of now, only five main characters, or should I say, five characters that get there point of view expressed. And about six support characters, and the rest are minor support characters. Some of these characters are only mentioned, or referenced, as an attempt to build the world. Questions are always open, and this story is undergoing many changes and constant consideration. As I learn, grow and improve my skills.  I have no hope or want for this to get big or anything of the sort. this is for fun. 100%. If it looks like I talk about this a lot, but never have anything to show for it, it’s because I want it to be perfect or close to it before I show anything. Which will be never, because I can never make perfect. I’m just trying to do the best I can and am pushing the limits of my skills to get there.  I should note, I am fine, I’m not “Pushing” myself. Which is why it’s taking the time it is.  I am really working on character personalities and keeping them coherent and sane along with the same. And talking about all this helps with that. As for now, I know what I want to do, and where I want my story to go, i’m just figuring out how to execute it best.  I’m more skilled in writing where I describe things, mainly emotions and the scene it’self. Along with script writing. I’m not skilled with writing conversations which is a large part of my story. Same with drawing backgrounds or anything that isn’t people. So my story so far reads a lot like a script due to how the conversations are laid out and due to how I describe how each thing is done. This is something I want to get a bit away from because it was purely so I wouldn’t get lost and confused with who was talking and the emotion/feel of each scene.  That’s because I have the attention span and instruction following skills of a carrot. I use my characters names far too many times along with a lot of other things I use for self help clarity which I hope to fix by the end. I do think it’d be cool to start dropping parts of the story and other things of what I have done, with the note that it could change. I feel it’d be fun, but i’m very hesitant to do so.  I do wish to make character bios and such for them all at some point and just have a post that lays down what has been decided so if anyone wants they can follow along with the process. But, that’s all a toss up as of now. Thank-you for reading, and for your time, I hope you have an amazing day! And I dearly apologize for this length! 

[purplesurveys]

907

Are you one of those lucky people to own a walk-in closet? lol lucky people. No I don’t have one of those. Is there a random object you own that has a huge personal significance? Well it’s more significant today because we had our virtual graduation this morning... so I’ll go with my graduation sash. Ever since I started university I’ve always wanted to wear my own sash in a physical ceremony so again, it sucks that our batch got affected by the pandemic. Do you use Google? For just about everything, yeah. Would you like to go swimming right now? That would be soooooo so nice. I’ve been going through old vacation photos and I really miss the beach. Can you play electric guitar? Nope.

Do you have an HDTV? My parents do. When was the last time you drank something through a straw? Around a month ago when my dad bought milk teas for me and my sister. Have you ever tried to teach yourself a different language? I didn’t teach myself per se, but I have tried my hand learning Spanish on Duolingo several times. It always comes in phases – I get passionate about learning and use the app for weeks, then it kinda burns out after a while. Right now I haven’t used it since I got sick in May. How long was your last phone call? A little longer than an hour, I think. It was pure silence though; we just wanted to hear each other’s surroundings. Do you need to repaint your nails? No, I never get it painted. Has there ever been a horoscope that came true for you? Psh. Are you a fan of industrial metal? Holy shit I feel so stupid right now. I thought this was referring to a literal kind of metal and I thought, that is such an odd thing to be a fan of...Google quickly taught me that it is in fact NOT a material for building infrastructure jdsskfjskf. Anyway, no I am not a fan. Are you one of those people who chew two pieces of gum, not one? Yeah, occasionally. I don’t like how one piece loses flavor all too quickly so I go ahead and pop two in. Do you have a wall calendar? Not since 2008. We only had a wall calendar in our old house; when we moved here we started to rely on digital clocks and our phones to tell the time. Have you ever taken the pictures from a calendar and used them as posters? I haven’t had a calendar like that, so no. I’ve done this with magazines though. Can you handle the cold? Hahaha no, I can’t. I was already in so much pain in 20ºC weather in Sagada, and I fared much worse in 12ºC Japan weather. I would still pick living in a colder climate in a heartbeat over a tropical one, though. Have you ever been to Canada? Nope.  Do you believe in superstitions? Just one superstition involving my university that doubles as an inside joke, so it’s not like I take it 100% seriously. It’s a generations-old joke that’s impossible to ignore if you’re a student, so I just jumped in. When was the last time you took a taxi somewhere? It was from the airport to back home, but I forgot where we landed from. Bohol I think? Palawan? I don’t even know anymore. It was so inconvenient I begged my dad that we stop using taxis as transportation for our future trips. Would you ever join the army, airforce or navy? No. How old is the person you last kissed? 22. Is there a friend that you can always rely on to get you out of a jam? I don’t think so. When it comes down to it they all have their own different things going on and I can’t just call them whenever and expect them to come to me, and that’s okay. Generally though, I think my most reliable friends are probably Andrew and Angela. What was the most embarassing thing you've had to buy? I’ve never felt embarrassed by anything I had to buy, but it can get a little uncomfortable trying to buy napkins when my dress or pants are already soaked. I get over it quickly though, since menstruations are normal lol. Have you ever tried to balance the light switch between off and on? When I was a kid. I haven’t tried it in a while. Do you believe in ghosts / supernatural occurences? They’re fun to think about, sure, and I do enjoy watching the supernatural episodes of Buzzfeed Unsolved where they go ghost-hunting. I like to think that they somehow exist, but I still also very much maintain my skepticism at all times. Have you ever mistaken a person's gender? I’ve used the wrong pronouns accidentally but I always correct myself and apologize once I’ve noticed my blunder. What was the most expensive thing you've broken? My old iPhones. I’ve also sported a few dents on my car, but I wouldn’t say I broke the car. Has anyone texted you yet today? Not text, but online chat. We had our virtual graduation this morning so my inbox was swamped with congratulatory messages and such. Did you stay calm during the whole swine flu scare? I did, but I mean I was 11 and had no clue how serious it was supposed to be. I remember cheering when they suspended classes for a week because of a local swine flu case, so yep – still ignorant back then. Is there a light on in the room you're currently in? There is, but it isn’t turned on. Are your feet touching the floor? Nope, they’re on the bed. Have you ever been in a car accident? Mild ones, nothing too life-threatening. Do you usually make back-up plans? Yeah man I’m so anxious I always have at least plans A-C lined up in my head and ready to go whenever necessary. Can you focus well in high-stress situations? Usually. Without the aid of mascara, do you have long eyelashes? I do. I get compliments on it all the time too. I didn’t realize it was apparently a nice feature to have until more and more people pointed it out haha. Is there a kind of music you listen to that helps you release your anger? Yeah I have a playlist that’s lined up with all of my favorite loud, angry punk rock music specifically for when I’m pissed off. Are you one of those people who keep their feelings bottled up? I can, particularly whenever I feel like it’s not worth it to blow up. Is one of your friends extremely odd but you love them regardless? Not really. Aya’s pretty weird but I wouldn’t call her extremely odd. Is there anyone you dread going into public with? My mom when she’s mad. Are you a victim of writing run-on sentences? For the most part, I wouldn’t say so. If I write a run-on sentence it’s almost always in an informal setting where I’m more loose with punctuation, like if I’m chatting on IM or writing an answer on here. Still, I try to avoid them and I never do it in a formal situation. Graffiti: an art or an act of vandalism? They can be both. Some people who genuinely just want to fuck around vandalize, like how I’ve seen “Mark <3 Erica” in spray paint on public walls or some similar shit lol. But a lot of graffiti are art as well; many have important messages or symbolisms to say. Do you buy things online? I’ve done it a few times. Not regularly. I like being able to see and touch something before buying it. Are you easily frightened? I definitely am but at the same time I’m really into horror movies and serial killers and a ghost-hunting series? Hahaha it’s weird. I guess I enjoy the thrill that comes with having those interests. Do you have a favorite model? Over the years I’ve loved Elizabeth Jane Bishop, Kiko Mizuhara, Taylor Marie Hill, Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, and (controversial pick!) Kendall Jenner. Have you ever watched Titanic? So many times. Honestly, one of my favorites. What's your current facebook display picture of? It’s my official graduation photo wearing my graduation sash! :) I finally changed it last Friday after I got the email saying I’m on the list of graduates. How about your IM display picture? My main IM is my Messenger, which also uses my Facebook photo. Is there anyone whose hair you envy? Gabie’s for one. Hers is really smooth and silky and wavy. Would you act in a movie if it offered a role? If I was going to be a mostly unseen extra in a blockbuster film and still be paid like $600 for it, then I don’t see why I wouldn’t take it. Does speaking in front of people make you nervous? Only if there’s going to be an unscripted aspect to it that’ll make me have to come up with answers on the spot, like miting de avances or thesis defense. If I have a script or even just a general gist of what I want to say, I have no problem improvising and speaking in front of a crowd. Can you read in a moving vehicle or does it make you sick? It makes me sick but it hasn’t stopped me before. Have you ever dated someone who was extremely shy? I’m the extremely shy person... Or have you dated someone who took things too fast? I felt that way with Gab at first when she wanted to have sex like two months after we started dating, though I was scared mainly because it was going to be my first time and I wanted to make sure I was comfortable. Now that I’m a little older, two months seems like a healthy amount of time. Does the idea of driving 220 mph sound exciting to you? Sounds terrifying. It could be fun, but only if we’re in the middle of nowhere where there’s loads of space to go that fast and no chance of crashing. Everyone has a weakness, what's yours? Food. Do you or anyone you know have an account on Deviantart? I had classmates in high school who had accounts but I’m not sure if they still have it, or if Deviantart is even still as active as I knew it to be. Thoughts on the Dunkin Donut commercial that says "America runs on Dunkin'"?  It’s a creative slogan but if I was American I wouldn’t want a doughnut place claiming to represent my country. It cute though. Do you bother buying movies on DVD anymore or do you just download them? I watch them on Netflix, which is still technically like buying them since we pay for the subscription anyway. Do you listen to Daughtry? No. Do you get your eyebrows waxed? I don’t. Waxing looks so painful to me. How do you take your coffee? Lots of creamer or milk, a little sugar. I like trying out different coffees, but when I’m simply relaxing I do want my coffee as least bitter as possible.  If you have a dog, what breed is it? I have an aspin mix, though we never figured out what Kimi’s other half is. And I also have a beagle. Have you found someone who makes you unconditionally happy? I don’t know if 'unconditionally’ is possible but yes, I do have people who make me very happy. Do you have a friend who always seems to be dying their hair? Not anymore. Jo used to dye her hair like every month though and she must have been able to go through the entire rainbow. She looked sooo good in each of the colors. Would you swap names with a friend? I love all their names but I don’t see why that would be necessary. Do you plan on going to university? I did. I graduated today. Guys who wear muscle shirts, yes or no? Idk man, they can wear whatever they want. Are you a fan of Carrie Underwood? No. I liked some of her singles when I was younger, but I’m not a fan in that I have her albums and know her lesser-known songs. Do you make playlists on iTunes? I used to, when I still used iTunes. I make playlists on Spotify now. Have you ever forgotten someone's birthday? I don’t think so. Are you scared of being left behind? Yessir. I’m super competitive, so I hate the feeling. Do you remember your last dream? No. I’m really bad at remembering them unless they’re nightmares or insanely strange. I do know that I dreamt while we were watching mass earlier on the television though, hahaha. Do you know someone who is an obsessed Star Wars fan? So many people in my circle are. Is politics something you don't care about? No. If there’s anything I give tons of fucks about, it’s that. What's a movie/tvshow/book/series that is way overrated? I’ll go with the first things I thought of...in that order: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before; Stranger Things (it’s good, but not as good as people hyped it to be); I don’t really read anymore; and what do you mean by series? Just realized I only gave 2 out of 4 answers lol oh well. Do you think Barbie presents an unhealthy image to young girls? I don’t like how its physical features are still unrealistic; but I appreciate their attempts at diversity. I can’t say it was upsetting seeing a Filipino-themed Barbie :) Is there a pet that you desperately want? All I ever wanted were dogs, and now I’ve got two of them. Would you ever get your bellybutton pierced? Nope. Are you musically talented? Hahahahaha Have you ever shot a gun? Not a real one, so no. Athenna’s dad had this practice gun he used for target practice (duh) and I messed with that a few times. Do you have a friend that always changes their mind last second? That’s Gabie. She’s lucky she’s my girlfriend and that I love her, because it’s actually a big pet peeve of mine. Are you not afraid to voice your opinion? Yup. The only time I don’t say it out loud is if it’s unnecessary and if it’s going to be simply disrespectful. An example would be when my uncle offered to make me a carrot cake for my grad gift, and I just said yes because it was already generous enough for him to offer me a free cake when he runs a food business. In reality it’s not my favorite cake at all; it wouldn’t even be in my top 20. Are you one of those people who are always pushing their limits? Yes, I definitely overwork myself to the point of exhaustion and burnout. But I honestly prefer doing things and being busy than sitting around. Is there a word that you will always find humorous? Bubbling. Because Drake and Josh.

Do you frown upon immature people? Typically. Have you ever slipped on ice and hurt yourself? This may have happened to me once or twice when I was still regularly visiting the ice skating rink at the mall. People were always super nice and helped me get up, though. Do you try to have an intimidating impression? I don’t try. Apparently it’s naturally the vibe I give off. Living in the big city or chilling in the country? BIG CITY. Always the big city. I’ve gone to the country/province so many times; I already know what it’s like there. I’ll always prefer a noisy city. No one seems to obey the legal drinking age, do they? Hahahaha a lot seem not to. I know so many high school kids who’ve had a drink before turning 18. Do you like your country's flag? Sure. I like that we can switch up the colors depending on if we’re at war or not. Have you ever made a totally amazing snow fort? I’ve never even seen snow before. Do you use Bounty Paper Towels? No. Are you the one usually behind the camera or the one in the picture? BEHIND If you get married, will you have a traditional wedding? Traditional, yes. Religious, no. Do you feel you’re slowly losing one of your friends? No. But now that I’m no longer in school, I really hope I’ll continue to be friends with my orgmates. I’ll certainly keep in touch as much as I can. If you draw, what's one thing you always have trouble with? Everything about it. Is there someone you know moving away any time soon? No. I do know my friend’s sister had already moved and started her new job in California, but when the pandemic started she had to go back here. This virus is just ruining so many great things for everyone, man... Allergic to anything? Nope. How many cars have you owned? Zero. I drive one; can’t say I own it because my parents bought it. What are you going to do after this? Maybe take another survey.

[brokenfoetus]

Hmmmm... What has been up? Yes?

Hello Human Friends, Trying to half assed be a little more active. Very busy busy boi still as of late. Yes indeed. Still being lazy about the tags and tag games. There’s actually a ton I’ve wanted to do since they fun concepts. Been trying to manage time though, take advantage and try and catch up on my stuffs. So... the tags will probably come in a random and strange flood all at once when I have the free time.  I doubt people are on the edge of their seat waiting but... still. For the most part I’ve been just managing the sleep disorder + Chronic illness stuff.  Has it’s ups and downs but it’s not doing bad overall. So that is Nice yes...  stupid fleshbag and it’s weirdness.... Just been gearing up and setting equipment up for the stuff coming. More or less.... Upgrading to better software, and physical controllers etc. Upgrading some/most computer components to handle the workload that will be coming semi soon for... well... I mean... everything. Grabbed a laptop for travel/live performance that will be able to handle the workload of said software and potential audio/visual stuff I’d like to incorporate in the live shows eventually. Backing up files... so much files to go through... pretty sure I’ll be just throwing away most of what I have I mean... there’s so many pointless folders of absurd memes.... how many spider-man cartoon jokes can I seriously devote time to? Already backed up all the song files and samples tho.... Right now, focus is on configuring the controllers and setting up everything to work on the lap top  so I can keep working while I take apart my computer and rebuild it.  It shouldn’t take long but... there’s always those moments when you realize you forgot to grab something you needed and can’t finish so... lately I’m just trying to set up parallels so the transition goes smooth and I can reduce slow down in work flow. Enough time gets wasted by the sleepy time nonsense. Getting to do a sleep study semi soon. Will be nice to finally know what my brain is doing with it’s chemicals. Crazy oL’ Brain.... When I have time and it crosses my mind I’ll take a new picture of the current gear.... then later the setup when I finish all this mess.  It’s a good thing though. It’s basically preparation, so while I finish the album which I hope to soon.... I’ll be able to just slide into the new software and gear and start working on album 2.... New instruments etc... will be nice to move on and progress the sound pretty much.  A lot of stuff to setup and learn though.  Will come with time and use just need to get used to the new interfaces pretty much. I know what stuff does but... where it’s located in the new D.A.W. is another thing all together lol. I plan on finishing my album with the current older software... then recording the vocals and doing the final master of the track on the new software.  It’s just easier... especially since the stuff I write with is 10 years old... Doesn’t really have the functionality the new software has. So that will be rad... and using it to finish off the tracks will help with the transition into using it for the next bunch of noises etc etc.... blah blah blah.... I don’t remember what I mentioned last time I posted updates about the music stuff... I know a friend of mine has some contacts and would like to setup a mini EU tour type thing when possible. So we’re working on our stuffs and stuff together and not sure really what we’re touring as, we might just setup an End of it All tour.  Or we might tour together as something else entirely, or we might open for someone he knows, or we might do all of the above no real legit concrete plans yet... we know we wanna do something though. Will be cool when it happens.  Before that probably just some random small shows so I can get a feel for my set and see what feels right and what needs changing. Blah blah blah.... Oh yeah... got my drawing tablet to do the album art easier.... scanning physical media to touch it up in editing software to then make a file.... takes a lot longer... or I could just ya know... digitally do it... So... Yeah... there’s that.... I think that’s about it for this D.I.Y. EleKtr0 Meat-sack... back to work... -The End<3

[vinylexams]

A very special fireside interview with XUXA SANTAMARIA

Check Insta for our thoughts on this landmark album from Oakland duo XUXA SANTAMARIA. Stay right where you are to read a really fun interview I scored with the band this week. They’ve just released Chancletas D’Oro on Ratskin Records out of Oakland and Michael blessed me with my very own copy. It was so good I knew I needed to tell you all about it and I wanted to pick their brains a little bit, too. Without further ado, please enjoy:

//INTERVIEW

You’re still breaking into indie world at large, but you’ve already got a huge following back in California and your home-base in Oakland. What has it been like to be featured in major outlets like The Fader?

SC: We are a funny project; we ebb and flow from being total hermits to having periods of relatively high visibility (relative to aforementioned hermit state). I wouldn’t say we have a huuuge following in CA but I do think that the ‘fandom’ we’ve developed here is really genuine because we don’t play shows out of an obligation to remain visible but instead do so because we feel super passionate about the work and the audience and I think people respond to that energy. I for one, and perhaps this is because of my background in performance, have a hard time performing the same stuff over and over without change which accounts for us being selective with our playing live. That’s also why videos are such an important part of what we’re about. The piece in The Fader was important to the launch of this album because it established some of the themes and, to an extent, the aesthetics of this album in a way that can be experienced outside of a live setting. None of this is to say we don’t like playing live, in fact we love it, we just like to make our sets pleasurable to ourselves and to our audience by constantly reworking it. We strike a weird balance for sure but we’ve made peace with it. If we ever ‘make it’ (lol) it’ll be on these terms.

Chancletas D'Oro is a pretty incredible record and while it reminds me of a few bands here or there, it’s got a really fresh and unique style that merges dance with all sorts of flavors. How would you describe your music to someone who is curious to listen?

MGK: Haha, we generally struggle to describe our music in a short, neat way (not because we make some kind of impossible-to-categorize music, but just because it’s the synthesis of a ton of different influences and it’s hard for US to perceive clearly). But with that caveat in mind - IDK, bilingual art-punk influenced dance/electronic music?

SC: Thank you for saying so, we’re pretty into it :) Like Matt says, we struggle to pin it down which I think is in part to what he says – our particular taste being all over the place, from Drexciya to The Kinks to Hector Lavoe- but I think this slipperiness has a relationship to our concept making and world building. As creative people we make and intake culture like sharks, always moving, never staying in one place too long. Maybe it’s because we’re both so severely ADHD (a boon in this instance tbh) that we don’t sit still in terms of what we consume and I think naturally that results in an output that is similarly traveling. Point is, the instance a set of words - ‘electronic’, ‘dance’, ‘punk’- feel right for the music is the same instance they are not sufficient. I propose something like: the sound of a rainforest on the edge of a city, breathy but bombastic, music made by machines to dance to, pleasurably, while also feeling some of the sensual pathos of late capitalism as seen from the bottom of the hill.

The internet tells me you’ve been making music as Xuxa Santamaria for a decade now. What has the evolution and development of your songwriting been like over those ten years?

MGK: Well, when we first started out as a band we were so new to making electronic music (Sofia’s background was in the art world and mine was in more guitar-based ‘indie rock’ I guess - lots of smoking weed and making 4 track tapes haha), so we legit forgot to put bass parts on like half the songs on our first album LOL. We’ve learned a lot since then! But in seriousness, we’ve definitely gotten better at bouncing ideas back and forth, at putting in a ton of different parts and then pulling stuff back, and the process is really dynamic and entertaining for both of us.

SC: This project started out somewhat unusually: I was in graduate school and beginning what would become a performance practice. I had hit a creative roadblock working with photography - the medium I was in school to develop- and after reading Frank Kogan’s Real Punks Don’t Wear Black felt this urge to make music as a document of experience following Kogan’s excellent essay on how punk and disco served as spatial receptacles for a wealth of experiences not present in the mainstream of the time. I extrapolated from this notion the idea that popular dance genres like Salsa, early Hip Hop, and Latin Freestyle among many others, had served a similar purpose for protagonists of a myriad Caribbean diasporas. These genres in turn served as sonic spaces to record, even if indirectly, the lived experiences of the coming and going from one’s native island to the mainland US wherein new colonial identities are placed upon you. From this I decided to create an alter ego (ChuCha Santamaria, where our band name originally stems from) to narrate a fantastical version of the history of Puerto Rico post 1492 via dance music. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing but I look back on that album (ChuCha Santamaria y Usted - on vinyl from Young Cubs Records) fondly. It’s rough and strange and we’ve come so far from that sound but it’s a key part of our trajectory. Though my songwriting has evolved to move beyond the subjective scope of this first album - I want to be more inclusive of other marginalized spaces- , it was key that we cut our teeth making it. We are proud to be in the grand tradition of making an album with limited resources and no experience :P

We’re a big community of vinyl enthusiasts and record collectors so first and foremost, thanks for making this available on vinyl. What does the vinyl medium mean to you as individuals and/or as a band?

MGK: I think for us, it’s the combination of the following: A. The experience of listening in a more considered way, a side at a time. B. Tons of real estate for graphics and design and details. C. The sound, duh!

SC: In addition to Matt’s list, I would just say that I approach making an album that will exist in record form as though we were honing a talisman. Its objecthood is very important. It contains a lot of possibility and energy meant to zap you the moment you see it/ hold it. I imagine the encounter with it as having a sequence: first, the graphics - given ample space unlike any other musical medium/substrate- begin to tell a story, vaguely at first. Then, the experience of the music being segmented into Side A and Side B dictate a use of time that is impervious to - at the risk of sounding like an oldie - our contemporary habit of hitting ‘shuffle’ or ‘skip’. Sequencing is thus super important to us (this album has very distinct dynamics at play between sides a/b ). We rarely work outside of a concept so while I take no issue with the current mode of music dissemination, that of prioritizing singles, it doesn’t really work for how we write music.

MGK: We definitely both remain in love with the ‘album as art object/cohesive work’ ideal, so I would say definitely - we care a lot about track sequencing, always think in terms of “Side A/Side B” (each one should be a distinct experience), and details like album art/inserts/LP labels etc matter a lot to us.

What records or albums were most important to you growing up? Which ones do you feel influenced your music the most?

SC: I know they’re canceled cus of that one guy but I listened to Ace of Base’s The Sign a lot as a kid and I think that sorta stuff has a way of sticking with you. I always point to the slippery role language plays in them being a Swedish band singing in English being consumed by a not-yet-English speaking Sofía in Puerto Rico in the mid 90s. Other influences from childhood include Garbage, Spice Girls, Brandy + Monica’s The Boy is Mine, Aaliyah, Gloria Trevi, Olga Tañon etc etc. In terms of who influences me now, that’s a moving target but I’d say for this album I thought a lot about the sound and style of Kate Bush, Technotronic, Black Box, Steely Dan, ‘Ray of Light’-era Madonna plus a million things I’m forgetting.

MGK: Idk, probably a mix of 70-80s art rock/punk/postpunk (Stooges, Roxy Music, John Cale, Eno, Kate Bush, Talking Heads, Wire, Buzzcocks, etc etc), disco/post-disco R&B and dance music (Prince, George Clinton, Chic, Kid Creole), 90s pop + R&B + hip hop (Missy & Timbaland, Outkast/Dungeon Family production-wise are obviously awe-inspiring, So So Def comps, Jock Jams comps, Garbage & Hole & Massive Attack & so on), and unloved pop trash of all eras and styles.

Do you have any “white whale” records that you’ve yet to find?

MGK: Ha - the truth is that we’re both much more of a “what weird shit that we’ve never heard of can we find in the bargain bin” type of record buyer than “I have a custom list of $50 plus records on my discogs account that I lust over”.

SC: Not really, I’m wary of collectorship. That sort of ownership might have an appeal in the hunt, once you have it do you really use it, enjoy it? Funnily, I have a massive collection of salsa records that has entries a lot of music nerds would cry over (though they’re far from good condition, the spines were destroyed by my Abuela’s cat, Misita lol, but some are first pressings in small runs). For me its value however, comes from its link to family, as documents from another time and as an amazing capsule of some of the best music out of the Caribbean. I’m glad I am their guardian (a lot of this stuff is hard to find elsewhere, even digitally) but I live with those records, they’re not hidden away in archival sleeves, in fact, I use some of that music in my other work. Other than that, the records I covet are either those of friends or copies of albums that hold significance but which are likely readily available, Kate Bush’s The Dreaming or Love’s Forever Changes, or The Byrds Sweetheart of The Rodeo as random examples

Finally, is there a piece of interesting band trivia you’ve never shared in another interview?

SC: haha, not really? Maybe that we just had a baby together?

//

Congrats on your new baby, and also for this wonderful new album. It was a pleasure chatting with you and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for you and your music!

[cliban]

Rant time (oof)

I go to school. At this school of mine, we have an art department. Within this art department, I scribble away at my latest drawing. It's a semi-realistic eye, and, to be quite honest, a very good work on my part. However. I would love to show it off, I really would! But I can't. This teacher lets us do.... letter patterns...... and Letter patterns...... and letter patterns..... No, nothing useful, just letter patterns. You see, my teacher has a mentality that only realism is 'true art'. I think all of you know my style by now. Defined lineart, simple colours, sometimes cel shading. I'm very happy and efficient with this style of art. Well, was. My teacher is obsessed with shading. Realistic shading. I can't shade like that, I don't have the patience. So from now on, I am no longer good at art. Sorry but, that's what the teacher says, and teachers are ALWAYS right? Right?? No. Don't EVER let someone tell you you aren't good at art because of your style. I don't want anyone giving up on art because of someone's stupid opinion. Do what you enjoy, and you can only improve. This teacher I have is narrow-minded, has 'favourite students', and doesn't like my art because 'digital art is the easiest thing in the world'. Mhm, do go on. Tell me how easy it is. Yep yep yep. Now can I tell you about how stuff can glitch, how much work I put into my stuff, and all the wonderful tools I can use? Oh, sorry, I forgot, Teachers are always right, of course, of course. I don't particularly care, but, there's a point where this stuff GETS to you. I've lost a lot of sleep, and the Shadow-whisperers (cough slumbertale cough) have been more frequent than ever. I've seen people just give up on art because they couldn't do realism like the teacher instructed. And I saw so much potential in them. That's why if someone tells you that sort of stuff, they're narrow-minded or just dont like you. Second teacher. She is.... worrying. She's a substitute. Let's call her Ms/Mrs L. I am discussing stuff with my friend, Chris, in Maths. He's trying to do work, but the date is wrong and it's triggering our OCD. Chris asks Ms/Mrs L, and she launches in a tirade about how she's been a teacher for so long and she doesn't need us bothering her. It's still triggering us. Us, being the stupid 12 year olds we are, get the student helping Mrs/Ms L (Oh did I mention she never does any actual teaching?) to change the date. Mrs/Ms L sees Chris saying thanks, and boy, I still get chills from the look look of pure rage in her eyes. She marches over to Chris, grabs him by the arm, and yells. Like, not teacher yelling, full up SCREAMS at this 11 year old kid, who's the smallest guy in the year sevens. "HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT ME IN THAT WAY YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!" She full on screams for about 10 seconds, then drags Chris out the room, forcefully. I asked him to show me the force later, and he got to drag me around. It was a lot of force. The room goes silent, as outside her raised voice continues. Chris comes in five minutes later, looking.... subdued. Chris is a bouncy, hyperactive kid. And he's my friend. I stay behind after class and talk to her about it. She's adamant Chris is the devil. I can't do anything about it. That was a long time ago, and I still remember it clearly. Then came the breaking point for me. It's social science. We're close to packing up, and we've cut and stuck quite a few things. The paper is building up, so Alyssa (My friend) asks me to put it in the bin as I'm closest. Reasonable request. I get up, and am about halfway to the trash can, when someone grabs me, pulls me back. I am extremely hapephobic around anyone I don't know very well. I can't stand brushing against anyone in a crowd, its that bad. I whirl around, and I just stand there in shock. It was Mrs/Ms L! I... I'm not thinking clearly. Did a teacher just.... pull me back? On purpose? What is she going to do to me?? I barely refrain from a full blown panic attack, which are way too common for me, and seriously affect me. I had some physical bullying done to me when I was little, and its still mental trauma. "We wait til we're going out of the room at the end of class to do that." Mrs/Ms L says. I mumble something and go back to sit on my seat. "What do we do?" she asks, like I'm a child. "I-I'll wait til I'm going out of the room at end of class to put paper in the paper bin." I spit this with enough venom in my voice to not be noticeable, but I'm shaking as I sit back down. There have been reports of her verbally abusing students, but no grabbing them, until my last friend, Charlie, was in PE. We wear our bibs like superhero capes sometimes. It's fun, and the teachers have had no issue with it. Until Mrs/Ms L is subbing for our teacher. Badminton. Not ideal, but fun all the same. I'm with Charlie, Alyssa, and Liam (My bf :3). Not a bad team at all! We're the green bibs. Mrs/Ms L suddenly storms up and pushes through us as we're talking to Charlie. My heart sinks. Forcefully, Charlie is grabbed by his collarbone area. "PUT YOUR BIB THE RIGHT WAY!" she howls, and I snarl lowly. "Hey! Get off him! Let go of him! You can't touch students!" I yelp, and push my way to him, and I stand in front of Charlie. She backs off, with me hurling legal phrases after her. I made an appointment with the Dean, but I haven't had the chance yet. It's been 2 months, and to be quite honest, when I had music with her, I was scared. Scared that I'd lose control and physically defend my friends and classmates. I hate injustice, and she's gotten away with too much for me to be comfortable around her. I feel like.... one day, she's gonna seriously injure me or my friends. And I won't be able to help. Yes, I am afraid. I don't know what to do, to be honest. The school could just kick me out for being a 'troublemaker'. But I'm scared, and I want some help.