#not very used to traditional art but i like the effects i can get

[solemnvowz]

pastel and charcoal study of micah

i also sculpted him yesterday and today...

i rlly need to finish the dutch drawing

[ranticore]

I wanted to keep drawing some pern dragon stuff because I'm now writing a full AU set in weyr but I didn't want to put this stuff on my main blog or patreon due to it being basically for my own reference, though i felt others would like it too! so here is My Take On Dragon Wings By Type...

It's no secret I love drawing bird wings and prefer them a lot over traditional dragon wings. Growing up, I read the pern books featuring cover art of dragonfly-like wings with lots of little translucent panels, which I always loved. So I thought I'd try to nail down some wing shapes & structures by blending those two things i like together. I am aware dragons fly by telekinesis but I prefer a more realistic type of creature design so I will be choosing to ignore that fact. I do not care about strict canon compliance but I do like to keep some of that framework there as well, for fun.

The wing is made up of three main sails, as well as a propatagium sail (in front of the elbow). They are relatively polymorphic and can expand or contract to an extent to change the shape of the wing in response to flight demands, like the wing of an airliner. The trailing edge can expand and the slots between the spars of the 1st wingsail can deepen or become shallower (where those are a feature). The main structural matrix is opaque, while the membranous 'sails' are translucent and let light through like stained glass. These are a bilayer of membrane with air sandwiched between, which forms part of the air sac & respiratory system.

It makes sense for the original engineers of dragons to diversify dragon wing types by colour so that when fighting Thread, there's a dragon for every conceivable aerial job.

[individual descriptions under the cut]

Queens have the longest wings, though the largest bronzes can rival them for surface area. Gold wings are high endurance - a queen can fly further than any other dragon in active level flight, leaving even the swiftest bronzes behind if they can't muster up the energy reserves to catch her. She is an effective flier at all elevations and can pass very low over terrain without issue as well; she is an expert at taking advantage of the ground effect, where extra lift is generated within one half of a wingspan above land. This way, she can pass low below the main wings fighting Thread to catch any stragglers without expending too much energy. However, she is not very agile and may need a bit of a run-up or cliff-edge to get airborne.

Bronzes are suited for command positions during Threadfall, rising highest and maintaining that altitude effortlessly by soaring on thermals. From this vantage point they can easily survey the wings of riders below and make tactical decisions to direct the tide of battle. They have the size and stamina to chase queens, but might find it difficult to keep up on the flat, so they continually select for fitter hatchlings as only the best manage to mate. It takes a very clever and agile bronze to catch a green, if they are so inclined.

Browns are swift, highly agile, and the fastest vertical fliers, ideal for diving through the Thread mass from top to bottom while the other types pass horizontally. During earlier Passes, browns were capable of using their speed to catch queens, but as queen & bronze endurance gradually increased, browns struggle to keep up if they haven't managed to immediately catch their mate in the starting scrum, which is unlikely due to the bulkier bronze dragons being able to shove the browns aside.

Blues are fast on the flat and nicely manoeuvrable, with enough endurance to last a full Threadfall. Good all-rounders with a characteristic vertical take-off, they work best in the horizontal plane in battle but really they can do a little bit of everything. They often beat browns to catch greens, being very precise in flight and almost as manoeuvrable as their green mates.

Greens make up for their low stamina with their extreme manoeuvrability. Their short and elliptical wings let them turn on a dime, hover, and even fly backwards if they are sufficiently skilled. They have the fastest wingbeats, flying with a distinct thrumming sound. Of all the types they are least likely to be hit by a stray Thread, but they tire easily on the flat and have no soaring ability at all, often tapping out midway through battle in favour of replacements. In battle, greens excel at catching odd and skewed clumps of Thread that don't fall as predicted, or ones that are missed by the other riders. Green mating flights are a whole different beast to gold mating flights, where extreme aerial acrobatics are favoured instead of endurance and altitude, and these flights may be over within seconds. You need to be able to withstand a Lot of G-force to be a green rider.

[bokettochild]

random LU hcs before I go to church

Legend likes to draw, and while he uses it for practical purposes (he's compiling a bestiary of his own) he also likes to sketch random crap he finds while traveling

Hyrule weaves. Not fabric, since that's a bit legthly and requires materials he can't get or keep for long, but he's very good at making baskets and the like! When the rest go to his cave, it's just full of woven items, including his attempts at weaving a freaking chair. Hyrule is going to become Pier 1

Sky writes poetry but never shares it with anyone. Groose used to laugh at it when they were kids, and so he's very self-conscious about it (and not very good anyways). He does come up with some really, really good pieces though from time to time!

Warriors couldn't read before he enlisted. He had to learn, and did learn rather quickly once he had to, but he still did very much not grow up with books. He is, however, very fond of oral tradition and somehow keeps a library's worth of knowledge in his head, since he never knew how to write it down before.

Warriors loves folk tails and will use any excuse given in order to share them with the younger ones

Wind is a very proficient mapmaker. he's terrible at drawing figures or anything, but he's very good at charting things out and putting them down on paper

Wind has a great eye for photography though! He and Wild sometimes play a game where they have to find a particular item and take a pictograph of it and then they'll have one of the others judge which one is better. Wild's candids are usually better, but Wind has a talent from framing and using the light to his advantage that outshines Wild's.

Wind likes composing little tunes with the Windwaker when he's bored. he has accidentally discovered several magical songs and their effects in this manner. Sometimes Time debates if just teaching his the Song of Storms from the get go would have been better in the long run, since it would have saved them getting soaked so much

Four has a fascination with artistic metalwork. He can't do it himself, and often times can't understand how someone thought up the idea in the first place, but it gives him great delight to see various metal pieces/tools/items forged together into the oddest art pieces

Twilight claims he's no good art of any kind, usually blaming "these darn big paws o' mine", but the secret is that he's a talented embroiderer, he just doesn't consider it "art" in the same way the rest do. Most Ordon folks add stitch-work to things so he considers it standard practice, not exceptional.

Sky is also very good at stitch-work of all kinds

When Sky and Twilight discover their shared skill-set, they absolutely use it for evil (start adding little patterns and things on their brother's stuff). Is this competitive? They're Links, you tell me!

Time claims not to be very creative, but he's actually quite good at art himself! Just drawing, as his paintings have a very childish sort of color combinations and the like, but he's surprisingly very good with shading and proportions!

All the boys play music, but Twilight's a good hand on the fiddle/violin (but only for short periods) and Legend has a surprising preference for the piano/organ. They'd make an excellent duet if they actually managed to know any of the same songs

Wild cannot and should not play instruments, Hylia help your ears if he does. He's also not that great of an artist (look for JoJo's comic of him drawing a new tapestry, it's hilarious). He likes the art the others make, but in general, the best he can do it just making designs and patterns that always seem to resemble Korok puzzles.

[thus-wrote-mrs-zeppeli]

He’s posing like a dad who fell asleep on the couch so I Had to use it lol I already give up on using nice pics for these

-Various jjba characters x reader: Parenting headcanons-

Content, plz read: Can be interpreted as biological or adopted children, sometimes from a past relationship for reader because otherwise I can’t see some of these guys having kids lol, Not the best parenting techniques sometimes, but I don’t think there’s anything triggering in here (do lemme know if I’m wrong though)

Leone is more of a father figure than an actual father, Established relationships, dating/married depending on the character

I love parenting headcanons, they’re really fun to write

Characters: Rohan Kishibe, Bruno Bucciarati, Leone Abbacchio, Gyro Zeppeli

-Rohan Kishibe: You have to wonder if Rohan would Ever be mature enough to be a father-

Like you expected, it’s an ADJUSTMENT for the manga artist.

It’s not that he dislikes his own kid, in fact he has quite a bit of pride in his progeny, but he’s not the best at interacting with even teenagers and adults, so his kid is especially subject to his difficult social skills. But growing up around Rohan means his kid is used to it.

Rohan is super stubborn and struggles to express more sentimental emotions, but you wonder why he gets so shy about saying especially sweet things to even his own family sometimes. Just something about the vulnerability of it makes him uncomfortable. That’s your best guess, at least.

He is a well-intentioned father. He wants to teach his kid curiosity, that there is always more to learn; and he takes a great deal of pride (and is super smug about it with you) when your kid expresses interest in becoming a manga artist like him.

Rohan teaching his kid that little stretch he does, and they do it together-

It’s so cute-

Though you do have to step in on occasion and prevent Rohan from teaching your kid Every ‘artistic technique’ of his…please Rohan…do NOT teach your kid to lick dead bugs…you can’t believe you actually have to step in sometimes and prevent Rohan from instilling some bad or inconsiderate habits…but then again…you’re married to Rohan Kishibe, and you of all people are aware of what he’s like.

Rohan’s kid often has to deal with people trying to get close to them because of who their dad is. It’s a bit frustrating, and they might get a little unjustly irritated at Rohan for being famous, but they accept that it’s not really Rohan’s fault. They know their dad has no interest in the fame aspect of his art, it’s just a side effect of being a brilliant author.

Rohan and his kid are pretty similar, despite how little they care to admit it, and even their fashion sense is pretty reminiscent of each other. Often times you’ll even hear something like: “Dad…is that my scarf?” or Rohan’s incredulous little: “Hey, hey, hey, wait just a moment, those are MY earrings.”

You wonder if you should interfere in their little arguments, but 99% of the time nothing happens and they move on immediately. 1% of the time and they’re genuinely giving each other the cold shoulder or being passive aggressive and petty for the rest of the day.

Parenting technique wise, Rohan is not so interested in tradition. He’s not really strict or especially firm with any rules, because frankly, it is more convenient to enforce curfews and rules with Heaven’s Door, but you really don’t like when he uses it, so at Most it’s used Sparingly. He’s pretty lax when it comes to his kid’s mannerisms and behavior, but he Does expect a certain measure of respect from his kid, for both of you since you’re the parents.

As for how many kids he’d have, probably none, honestly-

But if he was going to have kids, just one is enough for him. He really doesn’t have the disposition for parenting, one is plenty, but the experience was very valuable to him, and he is proud of the person his kid becomes, even though he’s still not the best at expressing that affection. He does somewhat understand the importance of verbalizing his love for his child, and when he does try to, it comes across a bit awkward and forced but…hearing their dad try to tell them how much he actually cares about them is one of their fonder memories of him.

Rohan’s kid recognizes they had a bit of an unusual childhood due to their eccentric father, who was also often away on solo trips. But the stories their father would tell or put on paper, the ones dedicated just to his family…Those ones are very precious to his kid, and even though Rohan’s kid doesn’t visit that often once they moved out, it works out well enough for the two of them. Rohan usually doesn’t speak too much about your kid but sometimes he mentions how he wishes they’d visit or send a text; a comment of a concerned parent disguised as a complaint, very much like Rohan.

-Bruno Bucciarati: Firm believer in 2 kids for Bruno Bucciarati. A man who could see himself raising children of his own. But. Someday, in the distant future. He has the self-control and foresight to know he cannot take on such a heavy responsibility in his current position. If the two of you wish for children, it will have to be after he’s able to leave the mafia lifestyle far behind him. He cannot bring himself to put his family at risk by staying involved in that sort of thing.

As much as he wants to raise children with you, he knows it’s better to wait til the moment is absolutely right. I could see him having children when he’s well into his thirties, once he’s certain the two of you have the means to give your kids what they need to thrive and his past in the mafia has no chance of catching up to him.

He’s such a loving father, motivated so much by the love he feels for his children, and his desire to give them a happier childhood than he had. On the slightly stricter side, but he is very fair, and will always make an effort to understand where they’re coming from even if he still believes they need correction.

Hearing “we need to talk” from Bruno has some GRAVITY to it, especially with that intense tone he uses when he needs to command respect. He doesn’t usually get upset enough to really raise his voice at his children unless they get themselves in serious danger, and even then the raised voice comes from a place of concern and not genuine anger, but a “I am VERY disappointed in you,” from him with his strict tone has much more weight to it than any amount of superficial yelling he could do. Because usually it means he’s going to be vulnerable with them for a moment, tell them how their actions scared him or disappointed him or angered him…and Bruno is a compassionate but guarded man, even with his own family, so hearing him talk about how he feels immediately turn a conversation with his kid very serious.

He knows communication is something he struggles with, no matter how good his intentions are, so when he does decide to be completely honest and express his emotions, he always reminds them that he acts how he does because he loves them more than anything else in this world. And he’s not just talk either. Growing up with him as their dad, his kids had seen all the ways he protected them and taught them valuable life skills so they could protect and take care of themselves.

He always acts so strong, though you noticed he was trembling a bit the first day of school for his eldest child. He didn’t cry, but he was pretty close to it that day, and he really had to make an effort to distract himself so he didn’t worry too much over them while they were away. He picks them up after school (omg just got hit with a vision of hot dad Bruno turning other parents’ or teachers’ heads while he’s just getting his kid from school lol), and asks them about their day while walking them home.

His children have always appreciated and loved their dad. They know he would always protect them, and save them if they were in danger, and he did his best to put them on the path to become kind people, and have a good education.

His children visit often, probably try to live close to him, too. And he is always delighted when his children decide to visit him and you, they will always have a place in his home and heart, and he considers raising them one of the greatest honors he’s ever had.

-Leone Abbacchio: You had a kid from a past relationship, so you immediately assumed a man like Leone wouldn’t be interested in getting serious with you. The idea really cemented in your mind when he started a casual relationship with you, and established immediately he: “wasn’t gonna play Daddy,” to your brat, no matter WHAT. He was just your on again off again pseudo-boyfriend who would come and go as he pleased, and he preferred it that way.

Cue you begging him just ONE time to babysit for you…your sitter had canceled last minute and he was the only other person you could turn to that you actually trusted with your kid.

He literally looks at you like >:|

You simultaneously can and cannot believe he groans at you and rolls his eyes. But he can’t just watch you beg for help when he knows he (maybe) could handle watching your kid for a few hours. His innate sense of justice makes him feel obligated to agree. But he’ll complain about it afterwards when you’re not running yourself ragged from stress.

He’s not the best with children, because he has no patience. Literally as soon as your kid starts complaining about being hungry or bored he already gets frustrated. He makes an active effort not to speak too harshly but he’s so used to saying and doing whatever he wanted now that he might’ve lost his composure a few times.

When you get home, your kid gestures at you to be quiet, before pointing at the couch. You follow their gaze and see that your damn replacement babysitter had fallen asleep.

“Did you grab him that blanket?” you ask your kid with a slightly disappointed but not surprised look at Leone. Your kid nods, and reports he fell asleep just a few minutes before you got home so it’s fine.

According to your kid’s report, Mr. Abbacchio is a bit scary and loud sometimes but overall was an ok babysitter.

Well…that’s about the best you could’ve hoped for-

But the next day Leone receives an angry call from you asking who taught your kid such atrocious Italian curse words.

It takes a while but…the deeper your relationship with Leone gets, the more he warms up to your kid too.

Eventually it even gets to where he’ll ask: “how’re you holding up, kiddo?”and ruffling their hair when he visits, or bringing a small toy as a gift for them (though he’ll deny going out of his way to get it, always saying he just Happened to come across it or it was on sale or something).

He’ll try to keep his distance though. He doesn’t want your kid even getting the Idea of looking up to a bad man like him. You tell him he shouldn’t worry about things like that, but then he asks you if you really want your kid growing up thinking being a gangster was a great idea.

You don’t respond, because you both know the answer.

-Gyro Zeppeli: (the dad jokes are SO BAD please free his children) The way he was raised and his observance of his dad definitely influences his parenting style. There are a few differences, but his deep respect for his father reflects in his own parenting, even when he didn’t agree with him all the time.

For example, he does not raise his voice to scold his children; it’s not something he’s ever even considered because he doesn’t need to. His tone and his words are enough to get his message across. He’s an affectionate and playful father in his own way, but when he is being serious his kids absolutely know and will smarten up. No feeling worse than when Papà was upset at them, not because he was scary or anything like that when he had to correct them, but because seeing him disappointed in them makes them feel so bad. He seems genuinely sad when they do something seriously wrong, and when he’s really, Really upset he’ll get quieter and more reserved for the rest of the day and dinner is awkward and silent, but before everyone retires for the night he’ll probably try to have a casual, calmer conversation with whichever kid or kids got in trouble, and usually they’re able to talk it out and it ends with him playfully ruffling their hair and reassuring them he could never stay disappointed with them.

The Zeppeli family history is long, and their traditions are intricate and serious. He follows those deeply ingrained ones, since he has a lot of pride in his family name. His eldest’s real name will only be known by him and you, and they’ll be trained as a doctor and an executioner. And he’ll teach them the spin, of course. But he’ll also instill in them a different genre of justice from what his father taught him: If something feels wrong to you, then act on it.

When it comes to the amount of kids, he imagines himself having quite a few, but he’s not really given it much thought. He grew up in a big family, with four younger siblings. That’s five kids in total. His parents handled it fine, so that must be a reasonable amount, right?

He’s genuinely confused when you take him saying he wanted five kids as another of his bad jokes.

Give him a break, he didn’t know that was a lot! He’s happy to just start with one and see how it goes.

He’s known from a young age that as the eldest he’d be carrying on the real legacy of the Zeppelis, so he faces parenting with grace and an impressive amount of acceptance. However, having plans to eventually be a father doesn’t translate into being completely prepared. He’s calmer than you would’ve expected but…you can tell he feels out of his element, despite the brave face he puts on.

He is a stricter, more serious father than you’d initially thought he’d be. But he is fair, and makes sure his kids know they can always come to him, and he’s still fun and playful when he doesn’t have to be firm. His children respect and love him greatly, though inevitably he’ll have a slightly different relationship with his eldest child due to the traditions of the Zeppeli family.

He’s not as good at being as stoic as his father, and he knows that shows when he’s teaching his eldest, but you assure him that showing his emotions to his children has gotta be much healthier for everyone involved than trying to be a completely impassive Executioner.

At the end of the day, compassion wasn’t a weakness, even for the eldest child in each generation of the Zeppeli line.

[alexanderwales]

This is someone demonstrating the use of a rope dart. It's a blade on the end of rope, and you swing it around as a weapon. The woman demonstrating it probably put a lot of time into a bunch of awesome moves and a little choreo, and that's a skill worthy of saying "wow, cool!" about.

But I go to the comments and see a bunch of people saying "I didn't know this was a real weapon!" or "wow, amazing to see this forgotten historical practice".

And ... no. Sorry. This is a performance art. It's cool, but it's in the same class as juggling. I'm a juggler, I think juggling is cool, I have a lot of respect for people showing their routines, but I'm not (implicitly or otherwise) making claims about its combat effectiveness or its historical use by military or private individuals.

Did the rope dart ever actually exist? I have read just about as much as I can on the subject without talking to an expert and/or learning Mandarin. This was one of those irritating research questions where everyone keeps showing the same four pictures over and over, and in a quest for ad revenue, the same text has been copy and pasted hundreds of times all over the internet, usually without a citation.

Did people ever use a rope with a weight on the end? Yes, absolutely. Grappling hooks are great for boarding enemy vessels, and something like a bolas is great for entangling the legs of a horse; the Chinese have pretty well-documented use of both.

Are there records of a rope dart? I mean ... kind of. But there are "records" of lots of things, and if we can look at a video of something like the above and think "man, that's dope as hell" then I think we should assume that people have been thinking that for basically all of human history. People have also always loved talking about their blorbos. They like cool shit, they like grandiose characters that are divorced from reality. Most of the very scant sources are approximately on that level. There's a bit more evidence for something called a meteor hammer (or comet hammer in some translations), but that had a weight on the end of the rope/chain, not a blade, and there's also very little evidence its historical use.

So unless there's some killer source unknown to the people whose research I was reading, I am willing to say with a reasonable level of confidence that rope darts have pretty much always been a performance art in one way or another, a fun little skill toy, or something used for martial arts busking.

(I should mention that the research question is complicated by the impact of the Cultural Revolution on Chinese martial arts. The Red Guard wanted to transform martial arts to align with Maoist doctrine, and a lot of the traditional martial arts were seen as religious and anti-proletarian, bourgeois and decadent. In practice, this meant that a lot of martial arts masters were persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, forbidden to teach, or killed. Additionally, a lot of primary source documents were lost, and by "lost" I mean intentionally burned and destroyed by the Red Guard. So it's possible that (in addition to me poking at a pretty intense language barrier) there were better historical documents chronicling the dubious history of the rope dart which no longer exist.)

Anyway, if you go to read up on the rope dart, you'll see a lot of people singing its praises as a weapon, and fundamentally, physics and practicality are working against it. The best argument I've seen for a similar weapon is a claw on the end of a rope to grab someone on horseback and pull him off, but that's a claw, not a dart, and I'm still somewhat skeptical. I don't think I need to get into why a rope dart is a bad weapon when compared to most other options. It shares most of the weaknesses of throwing knives, which themselves are much more sport/performance than of practical use.

There's such a deep desire to root cool shit in history and authenticity and practicality. There's this burning need, I think, to see a performance routine like this and say that it's a useful skill. I get it, it's a fantasy, but trying to make that fantasy more real by dressing it in the garb of reality is just ... I don't know. Sad, I guess. Like we can't see a cool thing and accept it as a cool thing, like it's got to glom onto something else, take on the power of truth.

That said, am I going to include a villain with a rope dart in my next book? Probably, yeah. It's undeniably cool.

[meanbossart]

Another much overdue ask compilation! Some short-ish lore asks (Gale, Gort, DU drow relationships and pet-companion preferences) and a couple of art/advice ones sprinkled in. THIS IS BY NO MEANS ALL OF MY ASKS so as usual I appreciate everyone's patience!

I actually think he'd give them a pass entirely as soon as he noticed. Correct me if I'm mistaken but half-drow get No love from underdark drow and are usually surface babies right? So that fruit is miles away from the tree lol. I think he generally has a bit of a soft spot for mixed kinds since he himself feels like an amalgamation of sorts.

Thank you! They're kind of a pain in the ass to draw at times for that very reason but man I do like the look 😩if other people like it too then that makes it all worth it!

THAT'S TRICKY TO ANSWER BECAUSE OFTEN TIMES I'M NOT... REALLY TRYING. I've draw a ton of horror comics for mine and my partner's series' SAD SACK and SORTIE, so I think it just comes naturally to me 😅 also I do genuinely find expressive and, uh, rugged faces more attractive? (I think they look rugged, again that's what people tell me at least.)

I think the secret might be adding bits of realism in there. I get a lot of comments about the wrinkles and eyelashes I add to my art, as well as the way I draw individual teeth (though I've lately been making an effort to simplify my style in favor of drawing faster, so I haven't done that as much or in as much detail.)

Both symmetry and the lack of it can also add to that effect. I have employed both facial unevenness and almost point-perfect symmetry to achieve something a little frightening or otherworldly in my work. [MORE UNDER THE CUT]

Thank you so much!!! The contrast is very much intentional, that's what DU drow's character is all about ;)

Hahah well I somewhat doubt Bhaal would care that his spawn gets named, but either way he stripped himself of his name as soon as he killed his foster parents and abandoned the Underdark. He had a drow name that I jotted down somewhere but it's completely irrelevant because nobody has used it since he was a child, and he doesn't remember it (even pre-tadpole/having his brain scrambled.) Here's a little write up about his origins that might shed some more light on that: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/739688837431836672/did-drow-ever-have-a-childhood-before-the-temple

And about his original drow-given name and the reason behind it: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/741350986692591616/drow-had-to-have-been-given-a-name-by-his-adoptive

Everyone just referred to him as his supposed race, or as Bhaalspawn or Bhaal's child, and any other similar titles. Orin called him "kin" and "brother" and Gortash likely called him his associate. Post-tadpole the camp grows entirely used to calling him "the drow" and he has no desire to change that or to choose a proper name.

THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH😭 no reason to be intimidated, I'm just some rando drawing BG3 fan art LOL I've been drawing since I was a child, and started taking it semi-seriously when I was 16 years old, so twelve years ago! That's around the time where I got my first non-display tabled and used that well into my twenties, prior to that I only did stuff on paper and liked to do inks color with pencils. I never really ventured into traditional painting at all except for a little bit of water-coloring in college.

Traditional and Digital art are very much different beasts. Which one you want to start with is, in my opinion, just dependent on what you want to do. Digital art gives you a lot of tools that makes learning easier, but you might find yourself having much steeper of a learning curve if you ever decide to do traditional art instead. If you want to be good at both, you need to practice both, since the skill doesn't entirely translate from one medium to the other.

Naturally you will be able to draw well on either, it's just... Different. I will say though, that I think if you're still learning you should use whatever allows you to look directly at what your hand is doing, so either traditional or display tablet/Ipad. I have no idea what a non-display tablet would do to a beginner, but remembering my experience with it I feel like it might be a huge detriment to developing the skill (feel free to share your experiences in the replies if you disagree, as I would definitely be curious to read them!)

YOU KNOW ME BABY IT WAS MESSY AND COMPLICATED the tldr.: is that they were "buddies", absolutely no romance intended there on either mine or DU drow's part, but due to his nature the friendship was extremely weird.

Here's a couple of replies where I go into more detail about it: https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/739191190871818240/i-dont-have-a-particular-question-in-mind-sorry

https://meanbossart.tumblr.com/post/744952815768764416/so-not-sure-if-youve-covered-this-but-i-thought

That's definitely reserved for the vamp LOL DU drow very much enjoys when Astarion teases and fusses over him, and while Astarion probably got a kick out of acting that way around such a big and scary looking guy at first, I think by "now" (later and post-game) he's pretty much immune to DU drow's looks and just enjoys doing it in earnest.

He's not at all averse to being touched (even rather intimately) by close friends, but he wouldn't be quite THAT vulnerable with anyone else.

HE REALLY DISLIKED GALE... He irked him out by seemingly fostering a rather persistent romantic interest in him for at least half the time they spent together (very much based on my interpretation of their in-game interactions at the time, though my Gale might have been a little bugged.)

But also they had a... Fairly in depth relationship still? Gale was a staple in my party, and even though I antagonized him constantly by the end of the game it still felt like they had so much weight in each other's lives, if that makes sense. I might need to do a bit of an "update" on the DU Drow/Gale lore sometime, I feel like I've had some thoughts since that warrant more exploration of their dynamic (you can find a lot of old asks about it if you just search the Gale Dekarios tag in my blog though).

The gist of it is that DU drow found him arrogant and duplicitous, his constant optimist irritated him to no end and felt like it veiled a stream of self-pity (two things DU drow despises) Gale's attempts to get through to him only added insult to injury. By the end of the game he decided to pursue the crown of Karsus and this only lost him even more respect in Drow's eyes, seeing as he doesn't value godly power at all.

I was pretty overwhelmed by the game at the start so I actually missed a lot LOL including Scratch. I did get the owlbear cub though, which DU drow gladly welcomed into camp since it was injured - but I think he would have wished for it to remain a wild animal and to return back to it's home after it had grown up a bit. He didn't really make a "pet" out of it more than he just looked after the little guy in the way it's mother might have, probably with Shadowheart's help.

He wouldn't be opposed to proper pets though if one were to stumble into his life. He'd definitely be more of a cat guy because of their independence and strong little attitudes.

It is very hard to build proper rapport with him. He will be "friendly" to most people who have a good sense of humor about them, but friendSHIP is another thing entirely.

I think it's kind of circumstantial. He's very economical in his relationships and doesn't really seek them out at all - so a situation where he's forced to be in someone's company might be the only way to develop a bond with him, as he doesn't appreciate insistence either and that's more likely to push him away. He doesn't value status or titles either (kind of looks down on them really) so that won't help.

I think he just likes people who are true to themselves and their nature, sometimes even if the nature is one he disagrees with at it's core. This is why he liked Gortash, why he and Shadowheart got along so well, and why him and Astarion fit together so seamlessly despite seeming so different. Likewise I think it's why he didn't jive with people like Gale or Wyll, because they seemed to be rather... Dishonest with themselves and their own end-goals.

[traegorn]

So when I do finish this book I am writing (speaking it into existence bc adhd is a BITCH) Like what's your experience with publishing? How much does it usually cost? What kinda income does one get? I don't really care about making money but it would be super neat to make something since I cannot work. How do taxes work on that also? Google is confusing me

So far i have an idea and half a first chapter with thrilling notes such as " add a cat" and "insert spell here"

So I self publish, so that's the world I know. If you want to find a traditional publisher, you'll need to query agents and do a bunch of other stuff. My only advice for traditional publishing is that when going that route, money should always flow towards the author. If they're asking you to pay for something, they aren't a traditional publisher and there's a good chance it's a grift.

So let's talk about what I do know.

(And this turned out to be long as hell, so I'm putting in a "keep reading")

When you self publish, you are effectively acting as the publisher. If you want someone to do edits? You'll have to hire an editor. If you want someone to do the book layouts? You'll have to hire someone to do it if you can't do it yourself. You need a cover? You get the idea.

Now I don't pay an editor, so I can't really give you a price range on how much they cost off the top of my head. I do know they can get expensive though.

I also do all my own interiors, but I have a graphic design background and have been doing print layouts for decades. If you want to hire someone to do the interiors, that can run you $100-500, so I recommend just... learning to do it yourself.

Frankly, it's not terribly hard. I do mine in Apple Pages on my Mac for my paperbacks and Amazon has a free program for formatting eBooks (which you can export both as the Kindle format OR the more universal ePub format). With your print version, you just want to make sure you get your margins right, along with using a standard font like Times New Roman.

Like, literally just pick up a book and study the layout. Look at the front matter (copyright page, title page, etc) of a handful of books and mimic what you find there. I don't know why so many self published authors get that bit wrong. It's a book. Format it like a book.

Now the cover... this is where you'll probably end up spending something. I do my own covers for my comics, but hire out for my novels because I can't do the kind of covers expected of my genre. And you do want to match your genre, because you want a potential reader to know what they're getting into. I've seen so many self published books with terrible covers and it drives me nuts.

Cover design can run you anywhere from $35-$400 depending on who you choose to contract, and this is where I recommend you spend your money. On the cheap end you have companies like GetCovers. Now they primarily do covers made from edited stock photos, and I've honestly been pretty satisfied with their work... but you have to hold their hand and be very clear with what you want.

GetCovers is a part of Mibl Group, and it's pretty much all of their most inexperienced employees. The whole point of it is to get them the experience to work on bigger projects down the road. They have cheaper packages, but for their best work you'll probably only spend like $35-$45. If you're working in a genre that mainly uses stock images, that's who you want.

I often end up retouching the covers they do though, because I'm impatient. Like there are edits to The Witch and the Rose and Shadowcasting I made after they handed me the completed files. You're going to have to be very specific with what you want. The first version of the Bloody Damn Rite cover they did... was awful. But they did the revisions I asked for, and the version they delivered in the end was great.

Now if you want, like, original art or just more complicated, custom stuff? You're looking at at least $250 on the cheap end, but sometimes you end up in the ballpark of $700-$1000. Like on their regular site (just to use the same company as GetCovers for comparison), the Mibl group charges like $300 for a more complicated stock photo based cover (that requires more complicated edits) and at least $700 for covers that require digital painting, 3d modeling, etc.

There are a wide range of prices depending on what you're asking for. But, y'know, you're paying that once for a commercial piece of graphic design.

I'm cheap and can do some of the work myself, so I go for the $35 cover. I also figure out what fonts they used for the covers, so I can go buy my own commercial license for them and replicate a similar logo on my title page. You don't need to do that bit, I'm just finicky.

Actually publishing the book is easy. You'll want to use a self publishing platform like Kindle Direct Publishing or IngramSpark (or, if you're like me, both). I sell KDP books on Amazon, but all other distribution is through IngramSpark. You make more money on Amazon by using KDP, but even though they offer distribution, no book store will ever order through them. So I turn that option off, and then I take the same book and I make it available through IngramSpark.

On amazon I make a little more than $2 on a $3 ebook, and about $4.00 on a $12.99 paperback. When a bookstore buys an IngramSpark version, I make about $2.50 on a $14.99 book (if you wondered by my books cost more when not buying it through Amazon... that's why). Now if you buy yourself author copies, they cost way less -- in the end I think I can get them for like $5 a book? So when I sell them in person, my margins are much higher.

But, y'know, you have to actually sell them.

Because that's the hard part. When self publishing, you only have you to market it. I don't know how many books I'd be selling if I didn't have a pre-existing audience -- and even then it's not a huge amount. I've sold about 200 books this year? Which isn't nothing, and I appreciate every single person who's purchased one of my titles, but it's obviously not enough to quit my day job for, y'know?

That said, I've known people who do sell enough to make a steady living. So it's possible for sure.

But it's not going to happen overnight, and it won't be easy.

As for taxes, you'll need a 1099 and do stuff with the Schedule C. I always forget exactly what until I'm actually doing them, but it's not super hard, just annoying.

[pluckyredhead]

Can you please say more about the Lanterns' politics?

I am so glad you asked me about this because I've been thinking about it since I reblogged that post but also I'm definitely about to get yelled at lol. ANYWAY THIS IS GOING TO BE LONG.

Tl;dr: John is the only one with a coherent political position or an up-to-date voter registration.

Hal:

So something interesting about Hal is that his stories are often very political but his character is not. With one extremely obvious exception, he rarely talks about politics; rather, he serves as a means through which to tell political stories, usually unintentionally.

What do I mean by that? Well, for example, in the Silver Age, his love interest would occasionally be possessed by a misandrist space jewel that would force her to attack him, but always lose because women are inherently inferior to men and prefer to be subjugated by them anyway. That's the original Star Sapphire concept. It's wildly misogynistic, but it doesn't mean Hal the character is misogynistic. But it's also a very political story, even if I don't think the writer was deliberately trying to make a point so much as...being an average, thoughtlessly sexist guy living in the 60s. (Carol continues to be the subject of mindbogglingly sexist writing and art well into the 2000s. Fucking comics.)

And so you have Hal Jordan, whose love life was ruined by his girlfriend getting promoted above him and who called his best friend by a racist nickname for decades; Hal Jordan, poster boy for chest-thumping post-9/11 kneejerk patriotism; Hal Jordan, lightning rod for a certain kind of regressive bigoted fanboyism. Choosing Hal as the Lantern for a particular story over John or Kyle has come to signify something very specific, but none of that is necessarily reflective of what Hal himself believes.

So what about Hal himself? Well, when we first meet him, he's the epitome of privilege: a white, straight, cis, Christian (I know he's canonically half-Jewish now but that's only as of the past decade or so), ablebodied, upper middle class (Geoff Johns retconned him to have a working class background, but in the Silver Age, he had one uncle who was a millionaire, another who was a judge, and a successful politician brother) man with a flashy job. Privilege tends to lean Republican; even if he is from California, I suspect Hal voted for Eisenhower in 1956.

In GL/GA, the word "Republican" isn't used to my recollection, but Hal is definitely presented as...I'm going to say conservative by I mean lower-case C. He doesn't have deeply held political beliefs, but he's traditional. He doesn't question the system, because he's never had to. He resists things that challenge the way he's always understood the world works, and that's very relatable - most people do! And he will absolutely argue with Ollie, who certainly isn't always right about everything. But he's also willing to listen, and have his mind changed, and certainly reachable via appeals to compassion and fairness.

Once the "relevance" trend of the late 60s-early 70s was over, Hal's stories default back to ostensibly politically neutral, although obviously nothing is actually politically neutral. In the late 80s and early 90s he's the most unpleasant version of himself, and that has political manifestations, like when he allows John to be imprisoned in apartheid South Africa for a ridiculous and unnecessary crime Hal himself committed. It's extremely fucked up, but again, it's less because of Hal's actual opinions and more because Christopher Priest wanted to write about apartheid, even if it does make Hal look incredibly, horrifically racist.

Then jump to the mid-2000s and Green Lantern: Rebirth, and you might imagine that losing his hometown, getting possessed by a giant space bug, becoming a supervillain, dying, and becoming the embodiment of God's vengeance might have some effect on Hal's politics, but that is not what Geoff Johns is here to write. Johns is writing a Hal who teleported in from, like, 1967 - no nuance allowed. He's a summer blockbuster that walks like a man. He's a Baja Blast. He's never had a coherent political thought in his life. In his defense, he has had more and goofier concussions than any superhero I can think of and his brain is smooth like an egg. Still.

Anyway, all of this is to say that I think Hal tends to default to center right positions but can be easily coaxed over to center left. That said, he has never not once in his life had his shit together enough to vote in a single election, not even for his own brother.

Guy:

So Guy's deal is a little bit complicated because his most vocally political era was also in part due to severe and personality-altering brain damage.

When Guy was originally introduced in the 1960s, he had the pleasantly bland personality of all superheroes. Many years later, he suffered a series of major injuries, torture, and a lengthy coma, and he emerged from the coma in 1985 with the aggressive, abrasive personality he's best known for today. Justice League International took that even further, using him to parody the jingoistic, red-blooded American action hero of the 80s.

This version of Guy is a vocal fan of Ronald Reagan and despises the USSR. He's pro-war, proudly xenophobic, and treats women badly enough that it crosses the line into repeated sexual harassment, both physical and verbal. (To be fair...ish, this last also applies to Wally West and arguably a number of other men, and was always played for laughs. It was gross all around.)

Again, this is partially a manifestation of his brain damage. There's also a running gag in JLI where if he gets hit on the head, his personality changes to this cloying, timid, gentle one, sort of halfway between a child and a flamboyant gay stereotype. Hit him again and he goes back to Asshole Guy. I'm not going to pretend I don't find some of the gags funny, but it's obviously all highly problematic, and not just from a medical standpoint.

That said, I don't think we can dismiss Guy's politics or his usual personality as simply a manifestation of brain damage. We see in later flashbacks that he developed the abrasiveness as a defense mechanism from growing up in an abusive home, and as he matures through the 90s, he doesn't actually become a significantly different person, even after his Vuldarian healing factor kicks in and heals his brain. (It's a thing.) I think it's more accurate to say that the brain damage probably affected his impulse control, his filter, and arguably even his paranoia levels.

All of which is to say that as much as I would love to go "Guy's better now, so he's not a Republican!"...that dog won't hunt. I think a really good canon writer could make the case that Guy is pro-union-style working class and also a former teacher so he's at least center left, but as of now canon evidence is pretty firmly on the red side. It doesn't help that the GLC has been written as fetishistically pro-cop and pro-military since Johns got his grubby hands all over it. I will happily ignore the New 52 retcon that Guy was a cop, and you could even try to argue that he dislikes cops because his brother was a corrupt cop who became a supervillain, but I think it's much more likely that he identifies with cops as a Corps member. Although I don't think he would have any patience for killer cops. ("You were afraid for your life even though you were the only one with a weapon? Then fucking quit, coward.")

All of that said, I think Guy is similar to Hal: defaults to center right, can be talked into center left on certain issues but he's more stubborn about it. (They would also both be enraged by Jan 6 and disgusted by the current Republican party - I can't quite argue that Guy Gardner is a Democrat but Green Lanterns don't have any patience for traitors or cowards.) It's also kind of a moot point because he never knows what is happening on Earth and hasn't voted since his pre-coma days.

John:

Oh John Stewart, thank god for you.

John was introduced as an explicitly political character in an explicitly political story. The first time we see him, he's stepping in to defend Black men from a white cop, citing his own knowledge of the law to do so. He shows a much more perceptive and informed perspective on the issue's main plot (a racist senator running for president) than Hal does. Even in the little moment above, we see that he's sensitive to exactly what it means for him, a Black man, to be taking on this role.

None of this is a surprise, since we'll later learn that John's parents were civil rights activists. Not only would he not have had the privilege Hal and Guy did to assume his existence was politically neutral, he was explicitly educated about political realities and progressive advocacy from childhood. He's well-informed, he's passionate, and he's going to tell you when you are being fucking stupid.

John isn't immune from the GL cop/military...thing, although I can't blame Johns for that - it was the cartoon that made him a Marine, and the comics followed suit. But that's never outweighed his origin or his upbringing. Like, he's friends with the DCU's fictional version of Nelson Mandela.

This one is straightforward: John is a staunch progressive. He is, however, in outer space 90% of the time, so he's always at least a little bit out of date. I imagine every time he comes back to Earth he spends the first 24 hours watching the news in abject horror.

Kyle:

Kyle doesn't talk about politics a lot, but when he does, he lands pretty much where you'd expect a young California-born artist living in New York City to land: to the left. My read on Kyle is that he hasn't really thought any of his politics through, which makes sense - he's a character who is led by emotion over reason every time. He doesn't have John's carefully thought-through arguments or knowledge of the law behind him. I feel like when something political upsets him, he's more likely to splutter angrily than make a coherent argument (which: same). When he's given the time to think things through and speak from the heart, though, he can be very eloquent, like in his speech to Terry after Terry accidentally comes out to him.

It's also worth pointing out that his solo appearances were mostly in the 90s, which were prone to avoiding politics or only addressing them in a halfhearted both sides-y way like the story above.

That said, I don't think he ever actually does anything about his political opinions. He never votes in midterm or primary elections, and probably only voted in a presidential one because Alex dragged him along one time. I feel like Donna tried to do the same when they were dating and that was when Kyle realized he'd forgotten to change his voter registration from California to New York. Jennie wasn't responsible enough to Mom him into doing his civic duty, and he's been in space pretty much nonstop ever since, so...

Simon:

In that other post, I said Simon's experiences should have radicalized him, but instead he was created by Geoff Johns. Simon is a Muslim, Lebanese-American man who came of age in the post-9/11 era, and was wrongfully convicted of terrorism and waterboarded at Guantanamo Bay. His reaction to this was...to put on a ski mask and wave a gun around. Like, it's been a while since I've read these issues, but aside from the "ripped from the headlines!!!" of it all, I feel like Simon's experiences largely don't inform his actions or perspective except that he's super angry (fair enough).

The thing about Simon (and Jessica) is that he hasn't been around very long, and most comics don't have characters directly expressing political opinions. It's not a coincidence that these characters are in chronological order and each write-up is shorter than the last. I can think of about three times where Kyle has ever said anything I can interpret as political, and he's been around for 30 years. Simon only has a third of that history. So while one could certainly extrapolate what Simon's opinions are likely to be, I can't think of any canon where he actually says them.

Jessica:

Jessica has even less to go on in terms of explicitly political comics. You'd think she wouldn't like guns because of what happened to her friends, but she has one of her own and doesn't seem bothered by Simon's. I'd imagine she has opinions on immigration as someone whose family is from Mexico and Honduras, but it never comes up. If I were writing for DC, I'd make both Simon and Jess leftists, but as for actual canon proof? I got nothing.

I will say that she probably avoids political discussions because anxiety, and I bet she got really good at voting by mail during her years not leaving the house. She probably votes by mail from space. Maybe John's not the only one with an up-to-date voter registration.

Kilowog:

[canmom]

Hello! I absolutely love your blog, everything from your festival recounts to animation analysis and programming (one of tumblr's recommended posts was the one where you made your own rasteriser, and I liked your attitude in what I've read so much that I'm gonna attempt to conquer my 3-year-long grudge against using opengl during college and do something similar now that I'm a bit older and have no deadlines :D).

But anyway, I have 2 questions (sorry if there's easily accessible answers, tumblr search is not helping): 1. During your animation nights, does the screen stay black while everyone watches their own video while you provide commentary? I haven't caught any yet but maybe someday! And 2. do you have any youtube channels or just one-off video essays that you like that also cover animation/directors? Or, even programming lol.

Sorry for the long ask have a nice day!

hiii! i'm very touched that you like my dorky eclectic blog <3

For the Animation Nights, I just stream the video over Twitch from local sources on my computer, typically by playing the video in mpv and recording it in OBS. This is obviously not ideal from a video quality perspective, but it's the easiest way to watch video in sync without making everyone download files in advance. Then we all chat in the Twitch chat box (in large part to crack stupid jokes, it's not that highbrow lmao). I've gotten away with it so far!

As for youtube channels, I can recommend...

anime production/history (i.e. sakuga fandom)

SteveM is likely the most sakuga-fan affiliated anituber. He makes long, well-researched and in-depth videos on anime history, usually themed around a particular director or studio.

Pyramid Inu might be my fave anituber - very thoughtful analysis of Gundam, obscure mecha anime and oldschool BL and similar topics. tremendously soothing voice too.

The Canipa Effect does excellent deep dives into the production of specific shows, both western and anime. I appreciate the respect he gives to the Korean animators of shows like AtlA in particular!

Sean Bires's 2013 presentation on sakuga is pretty foundational to this whole subcultural niche, and a great place to get an introduction to the major animator names to know and significant points in the history of anime. unfortunately a couple of the segments got slapped down by copyright but the rest holds up!

animation theory (for animators and aspirants)

I'm going to focus here on resources that are relevant to animation in general, and 2D animation. if I was going to list every Blender channel we'd be here all week :p

New Frame Plus is one of the best channels out there for game animation, describing in tightly edited videos how animation principles work in a game context and analysing the animation of various games. highly recommend

Videogame Animation Study is similar, examining the animation of specific games in detail

the 'twelve principles of animation' (defined by Disney's Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas) remain the standard approach to animation pedagogy; there are various videos on them, but Alan Becker (of Animator vs Animation) has quite a popular series. I haven't actually watched these but many people swear by them! Dermot O'Connor expands the list to 21. Note that some of the terminology can be a little inconsistent between different animators - c.f. 'secondary motion'...

Dong Chang is an animator at Studio NUT, who produces a lot of fantastic, succinct videos on standard techniques in the anime industry, timesheet notations, etc. etc. Studio Bulldog, a small anime studio, are a good complement; they focus more on douga than genga and are generally a bit more traditional.

programming

big topic here, I'm going to focus on game dev and tech art since that's my field. but also some general compsci stuff that's neat

SimonDev - graphics programmer with a bunch of AAA experience, fantastic explanations of advanced optimisations and some of the more counterintuitive aspects of rendering

Acerola - graphics programmer who makes very detailed guides to a variety of effects with a very rapid and funny 'guy that has seen monogatari' editing style. When he's good, he's really good. His video on water is probably the best one I've seen (though I can recommend a couple of others).

TodePond - the most charming, musical videos about recursion and cellular automata you've ever seen. less programming tutorial and more art in themselves.

Ben Eater - known for his breadboard computer series, a fantastic demonstration of how to go from logic gates up to the 6502 with actual hardware. worth watching just for how clean he puts the wires on his breadboards like goddamn man

Sebastian Lague, Useless Game Dev - both do 'coding adventure' style videos where they spend a few weeks on some project and then document it on Youtube, resulting in a huge library of videos about all sorts of fascinating techniques. great to dive into

Freya Holmér - creator of the 'shapes' library, makes videos on mathematical programming, with gorgeously animated vector graphics. Her video on splines is a particular treat.

There are definitely many more channels I can recommend on these subjects, but I'll need to dig into my history a bit - unfortunately I need to rush out right now, but hopefully that should be good to be getting going with!

[linkablewritingadvice]

How much should it cost to be a writer?

It depends what route you’re taking. If you are planning to go for traditional publishing, which looks like you finishing a manuscript and then querying agents who will then take your book to publishers, you should be paying for basically nothing. One exception would be if you decide to hire an editor to get a pass over your manuscript and/or query package before sending it off, but this is not required.

If you are in the process of trying to get your manuscript traditionally published, you may be approached by a “publisher” offering to publish your manuscript for a fee. THIS IS A SCAM! An author should never be paying for “publishing services.” Anyone asking you to pay for your own printing, marketing, etc. costs is taking advantage of you. These are called vanity publishers and they will not turn you a profit, help you attract readers, or provide you the prestige of being published. 

Always check on Writer Beware - search for the name of the person or company. You can also just google that name along with the word “scam” or “reviews.” In general, don’t let yourself be blinded by dreams, or let yourself be convinced that something is a good idea because you really want it to be true. Never, ever, ever pay a publisher.

If you are going the self-publishing route, you will be paying for certain things, but none of those should be payment to be published. You are the publisher. Uploading your manuscript to Amazon or other marketplaces is free. However, you will be paying for things that a publisher typically pays for. This could include:

-Cover art - you could do this yourself, though this isn't recommended. A good cover is key to a book's success, so budget to purchase a pre-made book cover, or hire a professional cover artist.

To find pre-made book covers, you can just Google "premade book covers," or check one of these sites: BookCoverZone RockingBookCovers Beetiful

And here's a list of places to buy both custom and pre-made cover designs that's a good start. You can also check Reedsy and Etsy for people listing cover design services. If there is a self-pubbed author whose covers you love, try asking them what artist they use.

-Formatting - you could do this yourself using a formatting program like Atticus, or you could hire someone who does professional e-book formatting.

Here's an article on the turbo-DIY route. Here's a list of formatting programs you can use. To hire someone, you can simply search for book formatting services or look at places where people list such services for hire, like Reedsy, Fiverr, or certain Reddit boards.

-Ad campaigns - you may want to pay for ad campaigns on platforms like Meta or Amazon. More niche, author-specific platforms like BookBub, Book Funnel, or Book Sirens also come with certain costs. 

-Author services - you may wish to hire an expert in things like marketing, blurb copy, social media metrics, newsletter management, etc. You can find information on that here.

Be aware that scam publishers might try to pitch themselves as "author services" - you should be paying someone to help you with specific aspects of your self publishing work, NOT paying to be published.

-Software and platforms - whether it's a subscription to Duotrope, a paid Scribophile account, access to pro Canva features, etc. you may decide to pay for tools that you will use to do your work well.

-Expert advice - some people offer courses, books, or other resources on how to do specific things like write a compelling blurb or run an effective ad campaign. You may notice that a lot of the links I shared here will include upsells from people doing exactly this!

Be very cautious about this, as most of these people claim that they make tons of money on their self published books, but really, they make their money selling this stuff to people like you. Always check out a person’s free resources first, and wait to invest in this sort of thing until you have a specific question you need answered or are trying to do a very particular thing that you need granular guidance on. 

One thing you should NOT pay for is a review, feature, or interview. Self-published authors will be approached by a lot of scammers who claim that, for a nominal fee, they will share information about your book to their huge audiences. These are completely useless and a waste of money. Never spend money on this.

Always keep track of what you are spending on all of this. You may be able to deduct it from taxes you pay on your income from writing, and you will want to really understand what your profit margins look like.

[tantei-chan01]

So I'm not sure if you add in lore from The Beat Goes On or Trollstopia, or if your only focusing on the movies, but some very interesting things that come about from both animated series is that it really adds to Branch's adorable character and canonized the fact that pretty much everyone adores him, awkward dorkiness and all. He's very, very goofy, and I love him.

Some of my favorite funfacts from the series is that Branch goes to 4AM Raves after being introduced to the concept (originally due to a compromise because the TechnoTrolls were using his favorite hot spring for it turned to a genuine love), likes all types of music after being introduced to it, loves puzzles to an obsessive degree along with his other more natural OCD tendencies, and actually did take part in all the different Holidays and traditions of the Pop Trolls even while be was gray but did so form the safety of his bunker. Its also during these series we get the first hints the bunker meant more to Branch than what we had originally thought.

My favorite favt is the one about the rave, though. Just imagine they all get back from the events of Band Together, after JD got his rights punched out by Barb and they all take some time to rest and relax, and then the brothers are woken up by Branch trying to sneak out at like 4 in the morning (he's not used to people in the bunker and has gotten used to not having to sneak around anymore after everything) and find out it's because their adorable, mute baby brother is going to a RAVE with some technotroll who keeps calling him Dubstep.

There's a reason why I put up a poll, the result changes the storyline of trollstopia

About 2 months after Floyd's rescue and the integration of the Putt-Putt trolls, Poppy comes up with the idea of Trollstopia. After everything that's happened, she realizes that the Pop trolls are behind in many things, like medicine, education, and engineering. They've mastered agriculture, effective natural remedies (with the exception of Branch due to him being rare case), and the art of desserts but not much else. If Trollstopia works, every troll will benefit from it.

Poppy pitches this idea to Branch and his brothers (Bruce is back at Vacay Island and visits often thanks to the Flier Bugs.). They think it's a good idea, but it will take the cooperation of every tribe to make it work. Aside from Branch and JD, none of the other trolls have been in one place together for an extended period of time. Floyd rarely went to the other genres territories, Bruce has only interacted with the occasional Techno troll that washed up on the shore, and Clay's never left the Putt-Putt course. Poppy urges that this would be a great step to achieve Harmony, even if it'll be hard. Branch agrees to help with the condition that he can invite the sub-genre tribes. Poppy readily agrees, and so begins the first step of Trollstopia

[godhandler]

analysing the martials arts of Jujutsu Kaisen - Karate

Suguru Geto

watching him fight makes my mouth water. every move is so perfect, so textbook, so nerdy almost. he STUDIED pure Shotokan karate. when he punches its the right target from the right distance at the right power at the right speed i wanna melt. the ease with which he shifts from blocking to grappling to close handed strikes. the scene of his beating up the old man in hidden inventory is pure orgasmic karate perfection.

he's super confident when he fights. he puts power in his punches (just the prescribed textbook amount). princess doesn't even tie his magnificent hair up (???).

he's very consistently aggressive. unlike karate, he has the boxing spirit where there's no gap between attacks, no hit-and-run. his attacks end when the opponent does.

god his stances, im drowning its so perfect. when panda is tossing his around in jjk 0 he's alwasy landing in the correct kumite postion, feet parallel and shoulder distance apart, knees only slightly bent.

usage of weaponry is uncommon in karate, but he's adept at it. the Playful Cloud, sanjigun (three sectioned staff) is an insane weapon tbh. if u look at it as a more complex nanchaku (which was my first reaction and mostly how todo uses it) its not that useful, as explained very well here. geto uses it more like a super flexible staff, which is really innovative and gets better use out of it as both a defensive and offensive weapon. but the one person who defo uses Playful Cloud best is Toji.

if i have to summarize, i'd say he fights cleanly. he knows he has both the height and weight advantage on yuta and uses both as full body strikes from "above". plus he's surprisingly flexible even in those flowy ass robes. he knows what works for him, he's done it for a longgg time (those reflexes take years to come) and he does it well. he keeps it short-range. he's a monster in combat.

surprisingly he's not particularly using any grappling techniques, even though he that would give him an easy edge over yuta. maybe yuta's hard to grapple, maybe gege akutami didn't think of it.

if i had to point out any flaws, i'd say he doesn't bend his lower back and hips enough to break falls. its a very minor complaint tho, he's delicious as a martial artist. a big issue is that he clearly doesn't lose much and hence doesn't know when to stop and change strategies. like, his fighting is on reflex, not because he's thinking thru each of his moves. but ig that's more of a personality flaw than a combat issue.

Noritoshi Kamo

it's very funny, he uses an old-fashioned traditional style in a very spunky rebellious way. definitely karate based on the prominence of upper body strikes over kicks, the open handed strikes and punches and that definitive teisho-uchi (palm heel strike). Even though Shotokan karate is more popular, he's practising the Shitorio style. we can tell cuz his stances are more upright, the way he prefers to hit fewer strikes with more powers than bombard his opponent with many strikes of lesser power, and his constantly-changing-his-base-position footwork.

when striking, he uses exclusively 'hard' techniques, as in he's sparring earthbender style, not airbender style. he's going for full frontal attacks and he's putting a shit ton of power behind them, which means he either doesn't expect to get blocked or he's not expecting the opponent's block to be very effective. (if u hit proper fucking hard with no gloves and get blocked hard ur hands will hurt like hell and uv wasted all the power and movement).

however, in general he does use a lot of "soft techniques" otherwise, grabbing megumi's tonfas away mid fight. he also just dodges attacks, only using blocks to create an opening for him to attack. irl, most combat happens in very short range so blocking is easier to dodging. but kamo fights mostly long distance, very typical karate hit-and-run type technique, where u do a few attacks and immeditealy create distance. a good technique considering his tall height. this is also why i think its Shitorio karate instead of kyokushin (which is tougher and keep-hitting-them style and lots of shin kicks).

there's no flashy moves like toji or even geto or yuji. kamo uses the most basic and actually practical moves. even though his strength is a given with Flowing Red Scale enhancing him, by the way he shifts his weight, you can tell that he knows how to turn his speed into momentum to create a shit ton of force. I wouldn't like to get punched by him.

as i mentioned, he's using orthodox styles in his own way. his stances aren't textbook correct, like geto, he's just doing what feels stable to him at the moment. he twists his palm heel strike unlike the common finger-up version. he doesn't move his eye before his head, he turns his whole damn head fully. he's sort of going with the flow, a bit too loosely for a traditionalist.

what confuses me is that he's not using himself to the fullest. at 5'10, he's taller than most people, so why not 1. attack from "above" such as overhead and on-shoulder strikes and 2. fucking use your damn kicks man. specially 'kick down'- the kicks that start above the opponents head and end up pushing them to the ground.

in the anime fight, he's deliberately trying his best to not hurt megumi. the entire fight is really short, but he's doing his best to just disarm and not to injure even a little. he's taller and megumi's head is wide open. the heavy tonfas by his side that makes it harder for megumi to block his face than torso... kamo literally punch his face. im dying here tbh. kamo punch his head. even if he blocks his face ull get a second where his eyesight is completely blocked and that's all u need to hit him in the kidneys or spleen. bam fight over. but noooo he's hitting him in the middle of the chest (twice! vary ur target positions to keep the element of surprise!) like what r u doing my man. it's like he want his attacks to be blocked. he fights like he's only 80% committed to it. i'd call him confused but very very talented.

[randoimago]

Hello is it okay if I could please have headcanons for yusuke and akechi and joker and futaba from persona 5 with a animator s/o like the reader does anime or cartoon animation and probably still watches cartoons and old animated movies as someone who wants to study animation I just wanna share my passion with these guys

Fandom: Persona 5

Character(s): Akechi, Joker, Futaba, Yusuke

Note(s): Sure thing!!

Akechi

He's tried watching you animate before and he had to walk away after he watched you draw the same shape for what felt like a hundred times. He knows animation takes a lot of time and patience but he doesn't have either of those to watch.

Akechi will pull you away from the TV or whatever you're doing with your animation to spend time with him. And to make sure you've eaten or taken care of yourself. He's definitely a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to that.

Doesn't really watch cartoons with you, but he does listen as you talk about some specific effect or frame of animation. Akechi doesn't completely understand what you're talking about but you look happy so it's good enough for him.

Futaba

Oh she thinks it's really cool that you do animation. Might ask if you could show her a bit of the software you use. She's not artistic, but she loves technology and learning new things that you can do with it.

She's more than happy to watch whatever anime or cartoon with you. Probably asks you a bunch of questions about the animation too. She knows you pause and rewind quite a bit to watch the details of something multiple times so she tries her best to see whatever you saw.

Futaba would jokingly suggest doing stop motion animation with Phantom Thief dolls or something. If you decide to go with it then she'll gladly come up with a script and get to work while you get your own stuff set up.

Joker

There's many times when he'll go to spend time with you only for you to be involved in your animation. He doesn't mind it since you've visited him when he was making lockpicks or tending to Le Blanc. He doesn't know everything about animation, but he enjoys listening to you talk about it.

He likes whenever you go on tangents or talk to him a mile a minute about some new technique you learned or some new feature you figured out to help you animate more smoothly.

He is always happy to sit with you and watch some anime or something and see how you react to the animation in it. He doesn't quite know why he feels more kind after watching Studio Ghibli with you, but he's not going to object with how you seem to be very enraptured with the animation.

Yusuke

The idea of making a picture or image move is fascinating to him. He's a fan of most art mediums so if you'd like to practice animation by having him sketch a couple things out then he'd be glad too.

Yusuke is the most fascinated with 3D animation. Watching you rotating the character or object and changing details is something he enjoys doing. Although he does throw in his own input of what needs more shadows or changing the texture of something.

He'd try his hand at traditional animation if you explain it to him. Yes, it's very time consuming, but it's a new art medium and he is determined to make an attempt. The issue is he's a perfectionist so you probably won't speak to him for a few weeks while he's working on this. At least he's supportive of your career?

Taglist:

@reo-the-leo @abellaheart-blog

[sweet-self-indulgence]

Ask:Can you do the boys favorite sex positions with Mika and maybe their kinks? I know Michaela posted them but j was wondering if you have a different headcanon (inspired by your femboy! Mika post)

Yeah! I know Michaela has posted a lot of post  hoc stuff on here. But I’m a believer in death of the author (not in a hater way, just in my opinion what’s part of the story is what’s in the story), so I’m like: this doesn’t apply to me :D and proceed to do whatever the fuck I want

James

If James isn’t bending Mika over a desk he’s probably still hittin’ it from behind using another position

Or maybe he wants to play with her breasts, so she lays on the desk instead

He will also pin her to a wall sometimes. This one happens more often when Mika teases him

As far as kinks go, James likes some light BDSM

He likes providing impact play (mostly spanking, but he would enjoy a crop)

Light dom/sub, he mostly just likes when Mika does whatever he tells her and calls him “sir”

It’s kinda more roleplaying. They act like an actual power dynamic exists for the purpose of hot sex. That could take the flavor of something traditional like teacher/student but honestly demon/human is hot on its own.

He’ll use sex acts like spanking or rough sex as ‘punishment’

But it’s all within the scene

Also super into partially clothed sex, think skirt still on, pushing panties to the side, unzipping just enough to get his cock out

Erik

huge fan of shower sex, great opportunity to explore Mika’s naked body

As a well-trained gentleman, Erik is a skilled cunnulinguist. The shower is a great place to savor the pleasurable noises he can get from Mika

In bed, he’s the most likely to play with Mika’s leg position, throwing them over his shoulders or doing something fun from the side

His main kinks center around body worship/ providing pleasure

This can look like shower sex with complete nudity and ample excuse to massage and praise each part of Mika’s body

Alternatively, he would ask Mika to wear lingerie that accentuates her figure

Think of it like putting art in a frame

Also, a little bit of denial of pleasure

Mika’s pleasure is very important to him

He’s eager to do service top things:

eating her out as the entire sexual encounter

using toys to masturbate her

Super into hearing her make noises of pleasure

Echoey bathrooms are also great for that!

Providing her with multiple organisms/ overstimulating is very fun for him

Sam

Likes feeling close to Mika by physically touching as much of her as possible

Variations of a seated rear-entry let him feel her pressed against his chest and also play with her breasts and bite her neck

He also likes to show off his strength and would hold her up while she wraps her legs around him

Gets a rush out of how turned on Mika is his show of strength

Sam’s typical sex mode involves biting and marking

Neck and lips are the best spots

It doesn’t even need to be super hard

But testing how much damage human teeth can do to a demon is fun

He’s also very turned on by marking

Hickies are obviously a great side-effect of biting (and instigate a lot of second rounds)

Lowkey Mika smelling like him (saliva, sweat, semen) is super important to Sam and he is quite happy to smell like her too

His demonic sense of smell plays a key role here

Sam is into bondage, but only sometimes

Honestly it mostly just requires too much planning for it do be something that happens very often, and Sam likes to be spontaneous with sex

Matthew

Is very spontaneous with sex. When a bed isn’t nearby standing is a good option. He’s capable of lifting Mika up, but since he’s close to her height it really isn’t necessary.

The other favorite spontaneous option is to eat Mika out when she sits on a counter or chair.

When he does take the time to go to bed he’s more likely to try stuff that takes some setting up.

Matthew has the widest range of the most random kinks

Mostly this comes to fruition through roleplay with costumes and props

Cat girls are his favorite thing

The essential components are cat ears, tail (typically a butt-plug), and an occasionally meow

Mika can get him really flustered by going ~nyaa!~ in public

Other favorite costumes include waitress, UPS driver, and nun

The first two come from an appreciation of uniquely human uniforms and hard work, the latter is fun to roleplay with as a demon

Other than that, he is the most into receiving oral sex and can get uncharacteristically dominant during it

Would face fuck

Gets turned on by Mika gagging

Damien

Huge 69ing guy. Reciprocal pleasure creates an incredible feedback loop in his mind

For a less intense experience a variation on missionary that feels like an embrace is a favorite

He loves when Mika rides him cow-girl style, it’s a great way to express her enthusiasm for being with him 

Damien is a bit of a voyeur

To some extent he doesn’t have control over observing people’s fantasies

But he’s not looking away either

He prefers fantasies overhearing the thoughts of people actually having sex

They tend to be either underwhelming or unintelligible

He really likes porn since it’s basically fantasies that people act out for other’s pleasure

Would watch porn with Mika once they’ve established a relationship

Video porn is a classic, once he learns to read erotica is fun (but it’s hard to focus on reading while turned on), audio porn is really good for him

Masturbation instruction is probably his favorite genre

His first sexual encounter with Mika he asks her to fantasize about him while he’s in another room

He still really likes watching her touch herself

Mutual masturbation is a favorite activity

[muffinsin]

If you can, can you do where the sisters are so tired that they don’t realize when their fem s/o guide their head on her lap, and when they wake up, they realize how much they enjoy sleeping on her lap so they end up using their s/o lap more often cuz it’s so comfortable and soft and warm, oh and also the s/o runs her hands through the sisters hair, and gives them kisses. Literally something I’d want to do, just comfort them and love them.

Absolutely! This is so adorable!🙌 I totally agree, I just wanna spoil and coddle them and SHOWER them in comfort and affection. Funnily enough this reminds me of a request I did once, of Cassandra falling asleep in her s/o’s lap! :)

Let’s get into it! :)

Masterlist 1

Masterlist 2

Bela

Bela can be something of a troubled mind at times

She thinks a lot and attempts to manage many things

Working, her sisters, the maidens, you, anything her mother adds to this list

It’s very common for her to be entirely focused on her work. She’s more than a little bit of a workaholic at times

What she then doesn’t realise, is to take breaks. Or eat. Or sleep

So when you enter her office after hours and hours of her doing nothing but working, all day and night, even yesterday, you are concerned

You know you can’t just tell her to stop. She’s too focused on her work, and too eager to please her mother to do so

She will allow you to convince her to take breaks, however

And so she finds herself being guided to the castle gardens for some fresh air, her limbs heavy and eyes fighting a battle to stay open

She doesn’t even realise this, her mind already occupied with what work she will do after her break

Bela just allows you to pull her along, until she finds the two of you sitting at the gazebo outside

She makes a small squeak of surprise when you pull her head on your lap, but doesn’t attempt to get up

How could she, when it’s so warm? And soft? And comfortable?

Oh, and she feels the sun shining at her from the position you chose

It’s warming her up like a comfortable blanket, and urges her to close her golden eyes

Surely it won’t hurt to close them a little, right?

Bela yet again fights a losing battle of attempting to stay awake

You go to talk about your day, but instead giggle when her hand slides off the bench and dangles in the air

She’s sleeping soundly on you, nose occasionally twitching when the sun and find tickle it

You don’t dare move. You don’t want to wake her at all

When Bela wakes hours later, she feels groggy, yet shocked. How long had she been sleeping for?!

You’re just glad the blonde made up for the hours of sleep she was so clearly missing, even if your legs went numb a couple of times

In the future, Bela allows scheduled breaks for working, in which she eats, has a few sips of the wine keeping her strong and healthy, and- spends time with you

At first you’re surprised at how she insists to lay on your lap

It quickly becomes a tradition though, as well as a very popular napping spot for her

Bela loves to rest on your lap, and purrs quietly when you begin tangling your fingers in her blonde hair

It has such a beautiful effect on her and never fails to make her fall asleep

After her (usually) 30-60 minute naps, she basks in your warmth a little longer

When her sisters get curious of this and ask to try, Bela chases them off with her sickle

Cassandra

Cassandra has had a LONG week

Interrogating and torturing the men-things that broke into the castle, finding their hideout in the village and making an example of them

She barely got to sleep, even after she at last, after days, finished this task

She was completely on edge for an attack, despite knowing no one was left. This made sleeping…difficult

You, of course, notice this

When you pull her with you to the art room, she doesn’t protest

Her head turns often, as if analysing and looking for threats, but unsurprisingly she finds none

This continues on until she is gently eased to her knees, on the floor where a blanket and pillows are waiting

She raises an eyebrow, though with her heavy eyes, it looks more silly than serious

A light blush covers her cheeks when you kiss the top of her head and giggle at this

When you gently guide her to sit and lean onto your lap, she complies. She doesn’t mind watching you paint

She finds it relaxing

Besides this, being with you allows her to protect you against an attack that you know won’t come

When you pick up the paint brush with one hand and scratch her scalp with the other, her eyes droop and fall shut

Immediately, she opens them again. She attempts to open them wide, but is unable to, sleep gripping her tightly

Instead, she makes a displeased noise that sounds like a mix of a whine and growl at the back of her throat

She doesn’t need or want to sleep. She just wants to watch you

Yet, within moments, her eyes fall shut again

She can’t help it, really

It’s an unfair fight, with how you scratch her scalp and play with her hair, even reach down to gently massage her head and neck

She’s asleep before both of you know it, filling the gallery with quiet snores and purrs

When she wakens a little time later, she feels more at ease

You giggle when she buries her face in your stomach, her cheek smudged against your thigh

She’s so comfy, she doesn’t want to move at all, and you don’t at all demand her to

Instead you stroke her hair a little longer, and even lean down to press a few kisses to it

Judged by the snores muffled by your shirt, she falls asleep at least two more times for a short amount of time

After this, Cassandra often seeks you out during the day for exactly this

It’s adorable how once she finds you, she pulls you into a sitting position or lays you down and all but plops her head on your thighs

She calls it her daily naptime, although you know it means more to her than that

Funnily enough, no matter what amount of time she sleeps, 10 minutes or 30, 40 or 60, she always has an adorably confused and groggy expression and typical bed hair

Daniela

Daniela doesn’t notice how tired she is, too engrossed in her new favourite book

You brought it to her, and she’s very adamant on reading it

Little did she consider, it’s a 1000 page book. She will not be able to read this in one go

Nonetheless, she tries

To her credit, our little redhead makes sure to still cuddle and eat with you, often pulling you against her and reading out loud, or having you take over and read to her while she eats messily

She doesn’t notice her eyes get droopy, or how she has been in the library all day and night already, too engrossed in the book

When you find her in the morning, you tsk. Your favourite teddy bear wasn’t in bed with you

Still in pyjamas, you sit down next to her. She looks up from her book for a moment and shoots you a wide grin, her finger resting at the next sentence to remind her where to continue

“Hello my love!”, she greets. In her exhaustion she doesn’t notice you’re wearing pyjamas, nor did she notice that it’s morning of the next day already

The light in the library was never turned off with her inside and she was too engrossed to see the dark sky out the windows

When she pecks your cheek and turns back to her book, you look around for something that can be used as a book mark. You’ve decided your girlfriend is in desperate need of sleep

Daniela doesn’t notice this until the book is gently pulled from her hands a few moments later

She growls instinctively, then merely whines at you and shoots you her perfectly trained puppy eyes

You force yourself not to give in to them, it only because of the exhaustion you see in them, and how Daniela fights to keep them open

“Come here, sweetheart”, you coo instead, gently guiding her to lay down and rest her head on your thighs

She keeps her eyes trained on the book, though cuddles closer to your thighs

They’re just so warm, so soft. She pokes and rubs her cheek against them

A grin settles on her lips when you begin reading to her instead, continuing where she left off

Still, you already place the bookmark inside.

You know Daniela won’t be up for long, otherwise you would have to deal with a little ball of energy unable to stay still, rather than the tired and nearly limp woman on your lap

Daniela purrs quietly upon hearing your voice

When you start to play with her hair and scratch her scalp, it’s over for her

True to your thoughts, you hear snores before you even finish your page

She is a relatively heavy sleeper, and so you gently shift her to lay more comfortably

After this, Daniela often asks for you in the library. She even had maidens set up a corner with pillows and blankets

She’ll take breaks from books and settle on your thigh, requesting that you read to her

Often enough she falls asleep within a few pages

Aside from this, you notice Daniela can be brought to sleep even when hyper with a few scratches of her scalp and your fingertips trailing along her backside

She always makes sure to reward you with much praise and cuddles for taking such good care of her

[sylenth-l]

Hi hello, I love your art so much LIKE MY BROTHER. IT'S SO YUMMY, THE SHADOWS THE EXPRESSIONS, I love how you draw Timur , Felwinter and Osiris together 🙏 little bird with his two funky adoptive parents. I stare at your art like , I'm always ready and hyped to give traditional art another try ✨

If I was to go back, any tips for which watercolours to pick? I so far got only aniline colours.

Aah, thank you so much!! 😳💙

Hmmm, the thing is, I use fountain pen inks almost always for painting. I don't use watercolour much, so I can't really suggest anything in particular… I have a selection of colours from different brands, of course, I know quite a lot about pigments, and I like using watercolour from time to time to add some special effects to my works. For sketching outdoors it's also the easiest to use among all other paints, probably. But painting a whole artwork with it……… I try doing it sometimes, but every single time I end up thinking "God, I wish I used inks instead, I hate this so much, why is it so BLEURGH". I guess watercolour just isn't my medium 😂 

I can share my thinking process when building up a palette though, I use it with all mixable mediums I use, be it inks, watercolour, gouache, etc. I found it to be the most effective (and money-saving, lol) approach for me.

So what I want for my main mixing palette is to have 3 sets of primary trios. All colours also must be as smooth as possible, with no surprises or unwanted colour separation. For watercolour - not granulating ones.

(my camera tends to make all colours brighter and also fails to see the subtle difference between some shades, but you can still get the idea)

The first trio is extremely vivid, consisting of bright cool colours - lemon yellow, cyan, magenta-leaning pink. It gives you access to all the bright, open colours.

Second is the classic they teach in all art schools (probably, from what I've heard, I never went into one alkjdshfk) - sunshine yellow, bright warm red and ultramarine blue. This gives you a huge selection of warmer, natural colours, like all shades of golds, eggplant purples, olive greens, etc. It also allows some nice selection of wood browns.

Third is my personal favorite, the muted trio. You kinda can get similar colours from the previous trio, but I prefer having these separately, because of how often I use them all. It consists of golden ochre-leaning yellow, dark bloody red and dark indanthrone blue. It gives you the most beautiful browns, beiges, blacks and other rich, deep colours.

On top of that I also like to have at least one decent black (in my case it's Quink Black ink, I cannot live without it).  And these 10 would be my essentials. Other colours I add to my mixing palette are basically shortcuts to the shades I find myself mixing the most - like a few browns and violets. There are also a few inks that I need for some very specific purposes - like, I have a very vivid cold magenta ink to mix a certain bright cold shade of the Void, and also a fluorescent orange for adding shiny Exo LED lights. And etc.

(Actually I'm currently in the process of re-organizing my main palette and also considering making a few small sets for painting some characters specifically)

I also have a separate selection of chromatographic inks, which can probably be compared to granulating watercolours… But not quite. A few examples:

Here I don't have any special notes or advices, just get the ink you like and enjoy it. Some of these I use so often that I always keep them in my main palette, and others I only get out for some special occasion. These are also mixable btw - I constantly add other ink in Quink Black to get different shades of it.

However, I must say that not all of the ~special effects~ inks are polite and well-behaved, some will agree to work only on some specific paper after a significant amount of coaxing, and others will straight out say "fuck you" at the most crucial moment, even if they worked perfectly just a moment ago.

Btw, when working with inks, I really recommend to put it into smaller bottles with a dropper, so you don't have to open the big bottle each time. It's both easier to use for you and much safer for inks! 

ANYWAY, I hope this post was of some use for you 🌈