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jokeroutsubs · 2 months ago

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📝ENG Translation: Elle Men Special: A Fashion Odyssey with Kris Guštin

Article written by Ajda Gregorc, published in the November/December 2024 ELLE Slovenia Magazine. Print and digital versions of the magazine are available for purchase.

Scans and English translation by @kurooscoffee, review by @weolucbasu and a member of JokerOutSubs, proofread by IG GBoleyn123.

Full article translation, scans, and Spotify link are under the cut 👇

🎧 Article available in audio form on Spotify.

Elle Men Special: A Fashion Odyssey with Kris Guštin

With Kris Guštin, the music author and guitarist of Joker Out, we escaped to another side of music, and with that, to his other passion. We talked about style and everything connected to it. There will also be no shortage of this in the band's third album, titled 'Souvenir Pop', which is released on the 15th of November—one week after the issue of Elle you’re holding now. How perfectly synchronised we are!

PHOTOS URŠA PREMIK, STYLING ALENKA BIRK

At Ljubljana’s Moderna Café, on a fresh but lovely autumn Tuesday, when everyone’s still at work or in school, he arrives in a dark green jacket with a checkered pattern, awesome trousers, and her necklace. This time, the menu is not serving music and life, but matcha and "all things fashion." I’m in a regular trench coat and a white T-shirt, but luckily he doesn’t judge people by their style—instead, the style might be what piques his interest to converse, if it's good, of course. Besides, he's the one being interviewed. So, let’s begin! AJDA GREGORC

Interviewer: When did you first discover your personal style or the field of fashion? Was it in childhood or a bit later?

Kris: I roughly divide my life into two periods: before I first held a guitar, and after. When I really got into playing and ventured into music, my world opened up in all areas. Discovering fashion definitely falls into this second period, so the post-high school era. To be completely honest, my style in high school wasn’t something I’m particularly proud of today. (laughs) My girlfriend and I still have a photo of me wearing cargo pants and a black sweater, which is a proof she truly loves me, since that look was far from the best choice. (laughs)

When did it evolve from just a aesthetic impression to self-expression?

My first contact with fashion as a form of art or expression was during our band's first music video or fashion shoot, when I realised that this is also something you need to consider as a musician. At first, it seemed to me like a fairly peripheral element, but as our career developed and we met new people who gave us more insight into this, I began to understand its significance, what I could personally gain from it, and what we as a band could gain. This quickly developed into standard practice. I was increasingly exposed to fashion; we had more and more costume rehearsals and stylings, and two years ago, we even got our first proper stylist. And then I really committed to it—at around nineteen or twenty. Before that, my philosophy was always to "just wear whatever I first find in the closet," but then I shifted to "I'll wear things that would make me stand out from others". But this process was a long one.

So, your style development with the band inspired your personal growth too? I’ve always wondered if a young person is compelled to mature in every area when so many 'big things' happen all at once, as they did for you.

Maybe you do "grow old" in terms of personality sooner. Yes, at first I wanted, and still want, to primarily express the difference or uniqueness that I feel inside myself through music, but then I discovered that this goes very much hand in hand with fashion, so I started looking for my expression there as well. Today, it's almost an equally important part of my day.

Which fashion ideas or directions attract you? You’ve probably encountered a lot of inspiration during your travels on tour, right?

Definitely, but speaking purely origin-wise, I think I’m just like any other rock musician—we draw from the rock aesthetic of the ’60s and ’70s, which was also very "in" when my fashion awareness was born. Back then, around 2016 to 2018, here were a lot of flamboyant shirts on the music scene, with a slight hippie influence, which was the starting point. Only later did I start getting interested in slightly more modern clothes. When I was younger, I found myself in street fashion, that sort of Eminem-esque, hip-hop vibe, so very baggy clothes, which I then began to reject when I made the shift toward the ’60s and a slightly psychedelic aesthetic. It makes perfect sense, as humans tend to jump between extremes. When I had worked through that style, I started discovering the aesthetics of the ’80s and late ’90s, which was also reflected in music at the time. The best example that comes to mind is Dua Lipa’s previous album, which was in the style of the “new ’80s,” and the fashion matched that as well. Today, the early 2000s style has come back, but I haven’t fully decided whether I like it or not. As a musician, I was, of course, initially inspired by other music groups. Arctic Monkeys were a big inspiration for us both musically and visually, as was the whole British rock scene, including bands like The Kooks and Oasis. That entire aesthetic has always been strongly present with us. I doubt there’s a single inspiration board at our shoots that doesn’t include a photo of one of those bands or, for instance, the Beatles. And that aesthetic has always been close to my heart, too.

Rockers have always been associated with more masculine fashion elements, while in recent years, many male musicians have been experimenting with more feminine style elements (for example, Harry Styles and Lenny Kravitz). David Bowie was already the one who back then started to blur these fashion boundaries. You, too, wear such pieces and dare to stand out with them.

It happened quite naturally, as the stylists we worked with always chose slightly more “unmanly” clothing for me. This doesn’t necessarily mean women’s clothing, but rather somewhat more androgynous pieces, which I quickly embraced. I found them interesting and appealing because there’s a lot of fresh expression in that style that I don’t find in traditional men’s clothing, though I don’t want to overdo it. I also started experimenting with them personally, choosing many more varied colours. For a while, I was very fond of pink, and lately, I’ve been playing around with orange. On the cover of the album 'Demoni', I wore an orange-pink sweater.

Are we, as an audience here, already mature enough for a musician to present his feminine side through fashion? Does that require courage?

It does, there will always be people who won’t understand you. But for me, when it comes to the stage or a shoot, I’ll wear anything, and if I feel good in it, I don’t worry about what someone thinks. When I walk around "in civilian clothes," however, especially in Ljubljana, I am still aware if I’m dressed somewhat "untraditionally." There’s a certain boundary that I still need to break within myself. On stage, it’s easier because it’s not necessarily a hundred percent my expression; I’m playing a certain character, but personally, sometimes I do need some courage to show up in a particular style. However, the awareness of being different is stronger in Ljubljana than in other parts of the Western world. For example, I never felt that way in London, but still, our capital isn’t the worst when it comes to this.

Speaking of influences, what about other artistic or cultural movements?

I love art deco, the aesthetics of the '20s and '30s, though it doesn’t influence my daily life. In terms of photography, Damon Baker’s black-and-white style is beautiful. The vintage camera aesthetic has recently won me over, which will also be reflected in our band. Musically, over the past year, I’ve been listening to old Italian chansons and older French music, chansons as well, so I’m clearly feeling very retro this year. (smile)

Will the third album visually stand out from the previous ones then?

Yes, it will be very different. In the last two, we used a lot of colours, but there won’t be as many in this one.

Style can be an excellent tool for expressing an artist's authenticity, but with increasing success, the artist can also become its slave; the line is thin. Do you ever feel the pressure of having to express your fashion style in your private life as well?

No, I’ve never felt like my style owns me; it’s always been the opposite. I’ve always felt like I want more, like I want to dress even better than the day before, especially when it comes to my music career. Perhaps style only hangs over my head a bit when I have no inspiration and would rather wear sweatpants on an ordinary, relaxed day. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but then I do think about what would happen if I ended up somewhere in the middle of the city dressed like that.

It seems that Joker Out has developed a distinct style despite outside influences.

Yes, today we are already very complete in our style. Others have definitely had an influence on us, and I think it’s great that each of them tried to express themselves through us – it was interesting to experience how Joker Out was seen by Ponorelli, and how Andraž Drobnič or Karlo Kirri did. Of course, there is a difference in this, but it also aligns with the development of our music and aesthetics, so all these influences are very welcome.

How much of your personal fashion identity is therefore reflected in Joker Out?

Maybe, as someone who is not an external observer, I can't answer that, but I can say that I was always one of the first to give feedback to the stylist when we were creating our outfits, approving moodboards, and so on. So, I have definitely shaped our style in a direction that suits me. On certain "blind stylings," when we just dressed up, I quickly threw something on myself and then helped look for pieces for the other band members.

What about this photoshoot, where Alenka Birk took over the styling? Did you let her take the lead with her tactics, or did you collaborate on fashion choices? How did the communication go?

I didn’t know Alenka, who, by the way, is an excellent stylist, before. She was recommended by Urša (the photographer, ed.). Later, she confided in me that she had also worked with my father. Alenka focuses on elegant men's fashion, which is a departure from this more fluid fashion; and this suited me because I had never really been photographed in a men's suit, jacket, and tie. I wanted to try something new. I hadn’t seen the outfits before the day of the photoshoot when we met in her small studio in the morning. There were nine of them in total, and we only swapped out a piece or two in at most three of the looks.

This is more of an exception than a rule in fashion photoshoots. Does that mean you felt good in them?

Yes. In some more so, obviously, but in others, you have to trust the people you're working with. When I first look in the mirror, I always keep in mind that if something isn't optimal, it doesn't mean it won’t work well on camera. Even if the pants are too short or creased, it's still worth photographing them, because the photo can be edited later, whereas on stage, it's a different story, and everything has to already be perfect in the mirror. Working with Alenka was very simple; we clicked really well, and I will definitely work with her again.

How linked are your confidence and the way you feel on stage with your styling?

Very connected. As a musician, you want to enjoy yourself as much as possible on stage, and the people who come to listen to you and pay for the ticket deserve to see you at your best, which means you have to feel good in every aspect.

You recently attended Ljubljana Fashion Week. Which of the local fashion designers do you like to follow?

As far as the Slovenian fashion scene is concerned, I’m still quite the beginner, so I only knew the designers we had worked with. This was my first time visiting the Fashion Week.

Which shows did you watch?

On the first day, all of them. I didn’t like everything, but what stuck in my mind was Sarivalenci¹ with their somewhat "country club", Lana Del Rey vibe, and golf moment. I also really enjoyed the Belgrade Fashion Week, as there was an obvious Balkan touch, which I would love to see more of in Slovenia.

¹Sarivalenci is a Slovene high fashion brand created by fashion designer Sari Valenci.

You are a fan of vintage clothes and second-hand shops. What do these pieces have for you that new ones don't?

Honestly, I don’t know if there’s an objective explanation why. I started getting into it because it was popular, and at the same time, it gives you the feeling of getting a more unique piece. At the same time, you're shopping sustainably and not contributing to the production of unnecessary new textiles on Earth, which is great, but I would be lying if I said that’s my main motivation. What I like the most is the experience of "flipping" through clothes, where each piece is different, like a treasure hunt, compared to regular stores where you "flip" through the same clothes in different sizes.

Did your mum, who comes from the Netherlands where people have been aware of this for many years, introduce you to this concept?

I wouldn’t say we talked much about it at home, but I literally lived it. This is probably true for Slovenians in general – almost all the clothes I had as a child were from older peers, or I would take something from my dad, too. When I was done with wearing the clothes, my brother would wear them too. Every piece of clothing that came into our house was passed around, which is a great practice, and it’s still like that today. My sister "stole" half of my sweaters, my mum sometimes takes something too, Maks borrows jackets from my dad, which I’ve also done myself. It's like we all share one big closet! (laughs)

So you have influenced each other’s style in your family, or rather, you still do so? Who has otherwise had the most influence on your style in the past, and who does today?

I don’t remember ever looking at my parents as role models in this regard, as I didn’t really think about it back then, but they definitely influenced me, at least subconsciously. When I see how my mom dresses today, I see parallels with my own style, so she probably did influence me, perhaps more than my dad. As for street style, which I mentioned at the beginning, it might have been inherited from my uncle, my aunt’s husband from the Netherlands, who wore loose sweaters and listened to hip hop. My mum also had an uncle from the Indonesian side of the family, whom I never met, but he was very eccentric. Some of his clothes made their way to us over the years, and when I looked at these pieces in the closet, I was fascinated by how they reflected his personality. Asian fashion became a bit closer to me because of this, and I might even explore it someday.

The heart necklace you wear all the time, even today, is from your girlfriend. Do you ever dress your girlfriend or does she dress you?

My girlfriend is very fashion-oriented and has played a big role in my fashion development. She has always encouraged me when I tried new clothes that, at the time, seemed more radical to me. In this way, she partially shaped me. We also really enjoy shopping together. She dresses me more often than I dress her, which means I ask her for opinion. There have also been times when we’ve dressed the same when it comes to basic pieces; we’ve never really styled each other, but there will probably be time for that in the future.

Where do you like to go for vintage pieces in Ljubljana? Did you find any gems while on tour across Europe?

Textile House Vintage Shop is, in my opinion, by far the best in Ljubljana. The next one is Humana on Stritarjeva street, where I find something every now and then. Abroad, we’ve visited many vintage shops in Dublin, Paris, and London. In the latter, I always go to Brick Lane, which is a street with vintage shops in the east side of central London, where the more hipster area starts. The downside is that it quickly becomes quite an expensive experience.

What kind of information can you deduce about a person based on what they’re wearing? Who, in your opinion, is truly well-dressed?

A person’s style is never a reason not to engage in conversation with them, but it is a very strong stimulator of my interest in that person. If I think someone is really well-dressed, I automatically assume they might think similarly to me and be interested in the same artistic, musical, or visual directions, so I’m more eager to talk to them. However, I’ve often met people who didn’t seem interestingly dressed, and later realised they were amazing people, even if they dressed completely casually.

Your audience expresses itself very differently in terms of fashion, as your parents also mentioned in a recent interview for Elle. How do you as a band perceive this?

Yes, what they meant was that it is no longer the case that you have to be "appropriately" dressed for a rock concert. When we observe the audience from the stage, I would say that the most typical thing for our time is that we are no longer genre-bound. Not just musically, but also in terms of fashion. 30 or 40 years ago, you would see people at a rock concert in leather jackets, black shoes, and jeans, and that was it. Today, you have flamboyant outfits with blue and green hair in one corner, gothic style in another, and of course, people in simple t-shirts and pants somewhere in the middle. And no one feels like they don’t belong; everyone sings our songs, and that’s really nice.

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❗Please do not repost without credit, and if you quote, please link back to this post!

#joker out #jokeroutsubs #kris guštin #source: elle slovenia #Spotify #type: article #year: 2024 #jo: kris solo #og language: slovenian #jos: podcast

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the-s1lly-corner · 1 year ago

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Do this whenever you want, or just tell me if your burned out for TADC requests and I’ll put it on the back burner. So, there I was, sick as a dog (still am urgh) and had an idea. Could you do the crew with their s/o who got sick via a virus, like a legitimate computer virus that infected them and got them ill. Found it amusing and as a fun way to introduce real world problems to them in the digital world.

Again, this is low priority so you don’t have to worry about it too much. But other then that, I hope you’re having a marvellous day.

TADC cast x reader w/ a computer virus!

Rolling out a request before I work on art stuff tonight, this might be the nights last post !! Still stuck on mobile since my cramps are still. Keeping me from being able to do stuff at my computer <\3

Written these as a group thing since I was struggling to come up with hcs for separate characters <\3

I know you likely meant this to be executed as something akin to a cold, but I cannot shake the idea of a virus being more.. dangerous and intense, given your entire digital body is code.. ponders.. I think I'll go with a middle ground between actual threat and simple sickness

You were in your room, in fact you were hauled up in it for a while, at least a day or two.. some people were starting to get worried; thinking something happened, that you may have abstracted

Ragatha would be the one to find you in bed; body shifting and glitching about

Obviously, given how similar this was to how Kaufmo was discovered, she would think you were in the middle of abstracting.. I think her freaking out with attract the attention of the others

Ragatha is panicking, too weary to get too close out of fear she would get glitched out too and that you'd turn suddenly

Pomni would have a similar reaction, I think, especially since Kaufmo so far has been her only experience with the abstracted , and she doesnt know what the warning signs look like

Jax just. Dips. He is gone the second he sees the commotion

Kinger is stuck in place,seemingly wrecking himself for the courage to try to help you through this

Zooble seems vaguely shocked, taking a similar route as jax; though they dont leave completely

Gangle , who is in the back, scared and worried out of her mind

Caine... zips forward and after (carefully) inspecting you, announces that you're in fact not abstracting! Youre just sick!

Cue a chorus of relief but also, confusion.. actually kinger is the only one who seems to get it.. hes probably seen someone get sick before.. huh.. weird..

Apparently caine manages to stamp out most viruses before they pose any threat, but it appears sometimes things can happen.. but now with you sick, all you guys can do is wait for you to get better

But hey, caine simps! Look at it this way! You now have the teeth man as your personal bedside nurse since hes the most qualified and able to help you through this!

Kinger, Ragatha, and Gangle still visit you when you're recovering! Ragatha checks in on you to see how you're holding up! Gangle gives you little fidgets and other stuff to keep you occupied! Kinger offers reassurance that things are gonna be alright and he offers to tell you stories

Jax doesnt interact with you until long after you've recovered, far too worried about himself getting whatever yucky computer virus you've caught.. zooble is similar.. can you blame them? No one likes getting sick <\3

Pomni is in between, keeping her distance since shes not sure if what you have is contagious, but as a friend she wants to make sure you're okay.. tough calls here..

Overall, the experience itself sucks... the glitching leaves you sore and sometimes you sit still and "buffer" for extended periods of time.. it also feels like a flu, with the body aches and fatigue and all that...

#tadc x reader #the amazing digital circus x reader #digital circus x reader #caine x reader #pomni x reader #jax x reader #ragatha x reader #kinger x reader #zooble x reader #gangle x reader

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fanaticsnail · 1 month ago

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Be careful with commission work it’s a quick way to ruin fandom spaces and make money off of ip that isn’t yours

Maybe write something you can sell legally and ethically like a novel that’s built on your own ideas and not a fan work or at least hide it better like 50 shades and After

Hi Anon! Thank you for your concern.

Regarding my commissions - they were and are specifically for that person only, and they are closed currently. I write original character content for pirates and monsters in a land of fantasy - delivered specifically for that person in their own spaces - not for the public.

Here on Tumblr and AO3, I write fics, mini fics, drabbles, and headcanons for free and on my own time. I love doing it, and the love I feel for the fandom is tangible and thick.

The only reason I opened my coms to begin with is I had a personal expense I couldn't have met with my current non-existent income. My prescription lenses broke, and we're irreplaceable and unrepairable according to the optometrist. I didn't want to be like "Hey, so, this happened and I'm struggling". I'd prefer to earn it instead of asking for funds and aid from the community here. I don't like feeling helpless, and this was a way I felt I could earn my new glasses.

Truth be told, I prefer trades. I love my OC and her ships, and I love seeing interpretations of her on others' dashes. Makes me all happy seeing Tobiuo interact with other people. And honestly: I just love writing. Creating specifically curated content for people with their OCs interacting makes me feel all gushy and happy - especially for an exclusive way to interact with their OCs and their Canon ships.

I've also found in this experience alone, there are so much more hate for fandom creators in their writing than artists with their pieces. I'm not giving you hate in any way, anon. I absolutely feel for your concern. My experience with content creators with OCs and shipping, or 'paid work' has been exclusively negative. Aside from those wanting to compensate me for the time I spend with their original characters and their Canon ships: my asks, DMS, and comments have all pointed me in one direction: "How dare you try to make money off fics. Your words are for you and us here, fuck you." "Your words ain't worth shit." and "You're a horrible person. Kill yourself." (The amount of death threats has been mad lately, and it's been hard to deal with).

This is the quickest way of destroying an author creating for free. All I wanted to do was write some pieces for people exclusively, and it's been a complete contrast as to how it goes for artists drawing your original characters. Could you imagine if this kind of attention was given to those completing digital art as opposed to writing? Gosh. The fandom would suffer in one way or another.

Honestly, anon. I'm having a hard time these days. All I want is to write and build off the world I love so much for something I do in my own time. It's been a hard, learning journey. Truthfully, I don't think I'll be opening my comms again. I have not enjoyed this experience, and it's making my love for the fandom slowly dwindle to a halt.

Again, thank you for your ask. I enjoy the time and concern you've spent with me here. It's made me take a time out and think about what I want to do in terms of writing, and it's been a big learning experience for me.

Also: If I was to write a novel, it would likely be something in a land of monsters - likely my original character and her culture interacting with humans and cross-cultural relationships. That would be fun to explore one day. For now, I'm just a snail trying my best to navigate parenthood and experiencing an outlet for the love I have for One Piece.

Love you, and I hope you're having a beautiful day 🖤🐌

#ask snail #snail answers #commissions closed

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maythedreadwolftakeyou · 3 months ago

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WIP Wthursday

meant to post yesterday and then forgot bc of who i am as a person so, whoops. anyway, current state of affairs

embroidery:

absolutely 0 progress on the Hermit since i last posted it in like mid september. whoops. i WILL finish this thing by veilguard i swear but for some reason it's just grueling every step of the way. meanwhile, i'm banging out this mini version of The Tower in like 4 days. I want to post the pattern/thread colors I made for my big design, but i feel guilty selling a pattern for a piece where i hand-dyed at least 5 of the colors involved. So I'm making a second version with only commercially available colors as an alternative (and a slightly less saturated background), and I'll include both color guides as options.

haven't made any new digital designs/patterns since the last one of the qunari dialogue symbol. considering making a new one for another piece of art to copy out, but currently unclear on how to get the proportions for the frame accurately copied into photoshop because I want to try an oval frame instead of circular so... yeah. we'll see.

writing:

went digging through my old WIPs folder and found a k!meme prompt fic for Lavellan getting hit by a truth spell that I'd basically almost finished and then just... completely forgot about I guess? it's a silly premise and under 15k so it must have just poofed from my brain when I moved and lost track of all my then-projects.

Just the memory sends a flush down the back of her neck, her heartbeat skipping inside her chest like a stone over water. She can almost feel it, even here, her legs aching after a days of travel. The warmth of his body against hers in the cold air of the mountains. The unexpected passion of their kiss, the pressure of his lips crushing against her own, driving all other thoughts from her mind. The way just beforehand he’d still hesitated, almost tearing himself away. That’s the real problem, she thinks to herself, as she tries to ignore the wet slapping noise the drenched fabric of her robes makes with every step. She just can’t reconcile the intensity of his words with the way he keeps drawing himself back again. Every time she considers making another move, she can’t help but think that maybe it will be what convinces him she’s not worth the trouble after all. Ar lath ma, he’d told her, despite it all. She has no idea how to respond to something like that.

the first two and final chapters are entirely finished, while 3/4 are more disjointed segments that need some fleshing out. but i'll probably just go ahead and post the first bit soon because why not. maybe that'll push me to clean it up faster. i'll also be honest. half of this fic is like... the prompt premise, and the other half is just. me wishing i was out backpacking. i wrote it the summer of lockdowns when i went from working outside 5 days a week to bedroom WFH prison, and its funny rereading now like. oh yeah so i was going fully insane about not being the one camping myself, huh.

Anyway. otherwise I also started another new short thing for my still currently nameless No-Longer-Lavellan from reunion, but it's only a couple hundred words and some vague notes so far. Not sure if I'll turn it into something more polished or leave it as general musings. I wish I could draw better because I have way more concrete visions for visual art for that whole scenario but, alas.

#and another 2 half-baked ideas im not sure if i'll go somewhere with or just keep as jokey musings #anyway nothing like opening various WIP folders reading the sex scenes and going hm. i can do better than that. and rewriting half of it #and then just saving and closing and leaving it to rot once more #ah well #sorry i never post Fallout from the Fade snippets in these posts it just feels kinda mean to tease anything #when im not sure when theyll ever get posted #ramblings #wips #wip wednesday #my stuff #my writing #my embroidery

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megamagimugi · 2 months ago

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Hey there, my friend! I saw you reblogging an artist ask game, so please allow me to make you a few questions 🥰

How about 2, 12 (I'm interested if you're willing to share!), 15 and 25? 💖

Sure thing, my friend!

Based on this:

2. How long have you been drawing?

Short answer: for as long as I can remember.

Long answer: I drew a lot as a kid (fun fact: I used to make quick uncolored pencil drawings to tell stories, kinda like storyboards; I would do it for hours and use so much paper that my parents eventually told me to draw on both sides😅). The fact that my older sister was very good at drawing - and I was very competitive - also motivated me to work hard and try to get as good as her. Then I drew less often in high school and in my first college since I had less time and was focused on schoolwork, and then started doing it more often again as I now study graphic design and would like to maybe become an animator if possible - the dream job of my childhood that I gave up on too early. When it comes to digital art specifically... I got my tablet, the very same one I use to this day (Wacom Intuos 4), for Christmas when I was about 15 or 16. Because it was so hard for me to learn how to draw digitally, and like I said I soon started spending less time drawing in general, sometimes I didn't use my tablet for long periods of time. That, of course, eventually changed into using it nearly every day.

12. Is it okay for people to ask you about your process?

Yes, it's okie dokie to ask!

...Or did you mean you wanted to know right now?

In which case, well, it depends on the medium and the specific piece since I don't always do my art the same way. Generally in digital art, for the characters I like to do a rough sketch first, then either a cleaner sketch or lineart (I rarely bother to do both, even in animation - unless my initial rough animation is like... really rough and basic, just to get the feel of the motion). Then I do flat colors, often on separate layers, and then shade/render each part. Or I do the whole character minus the sketch on one layer, it really depends. For example, I did Mario and Luigi both on one layer in my Brothership repaint/wallpaper, other that the yellow glow on their hands. For backgrounds... it really depends, but I usually build them up layer after layer, from general shapes to details, like a normal painting. Of course, I use some sort of sketch for most of them too, unless I don't need it because the BG is very simple or abstract. If I don't want my sketch to be visible, I basically just remove it and refine the parts that look bad without it, sometimes adding some brush strokes imitating lineart in some places. Happens to both characters and backgrounds. I use different brushes to create different effects, but in the majority of my works I've been sharing on here, I only really use a hard round pressure opacity brush for both the final sketch and rendering.

15. How long does an average piece take you to complete?

This one is always tricky to answer (yes, I've been asked this before by some classmates). Uh, several hours? It's really hard to tell exactly simply because I rarely just sit down and complete a whole piece in one go. Unless it's just a simple sketch/doodle. So in reality my average pieces often take me a few days.

25. Do you like to draw in silence, or with music?

There's one piece of advice in Richard Williams' fantastic book The Animator's Survival Kit that I don't think I'll ever be able to heed. It's this one:

Sorry but no, I do almost everything with music. It makes things more enjoyable and ironically makes it easier to focus in the long run. So, definitely drawing with music💯😁

Thank you so much for the ask, @silenzahra!😊

#answered asks #ask game #artist asks #silenzahra

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sakurabunart · 1 year ago

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Hi!! Can I pester you for your headcanons on Spamton?

Sure!! I have plenty of random headcanons i've developed over time, so bear with me here-

Okay so its been a minute since i really considered these, so let me think. One thing i'll note is that i have this habit where i try to keep any takes i have on a character as canon as possible, so i've weeded out alot of the more outlandlish stuff over time. Starting under cut.

Starting off, I like to think that his cat element kinda aids in his life on the streets, in that he can manuver around the alleyways and whatnot of cyber city in more cat-like ways. Climbing walls, perching up on high vantage points, ect. Maybe the element is from a virus even? Anyway, off track.

Okay overall, less wordy headcanons.

-Spamton, through whatever process happened post Mike, is sorta a halfway point between robot and the strange digital entity that Addisons are. He's plastic and metal, but isn't entirely so. Can still move his face and whatnot.

-Addisons don't need sleep, but Spamton kinda does because of many different factors, the glitches being one of them. Its moreso just a luxury he held onto from the mansion days.

-I don't see it touched on much, but i like to think that he didn't go straight from the mansion to the trash, he had an in-between of living in some sketchy cyber-motels and trying to scrounge up easy work.

-I, for one, do in fact believe in the acid theory. Its simply brought up too much to be a red herring to me.

-Random nothing headcanon, i like to think of his current suit as just his big shot suit thats gotten dirty/stained over time, not a different one.

-Pipis are a virus in themselves, a worm virus specifically. It essentially makes whoever's infected with it completely endeared to the "eggs", thusly they keep the virus and spread it. I haven't developed it too much past that however.

-I liked a post earlier about this one, i think he'd enjoys art as well! He may not do it much, but i imagine he painted the wall behind the shopfront, so i imagine he probably does similar art stuff to try and emulate whatever divine visions he's seen.

Theres more, i know it, but i can't for the life of me think of em right now. I'll reply to this post later if i remember any good ones!

I appreciate the ask!

#first ask!! thanks friend!#spamton g spamton #spamton headcanons #spamton

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nattikay · 6 months ago

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fursuit making update: both ears are now complete and attached to the head! I've decided I'm not going to post any more WIP pics because at this point she's close enough to done for it to feel like "spoilers" for the finished thing lol

I leave for AWU just one week from today and have made a list of all the tasks I need to get done to finish the suit. There are 14 tasks in total (sounds like a lot but most of them are relatively small/quick things). Eight of them are absolutely mandatory to have a finished wearable costume, the rest are things would be ideal to have but aren't strictly necessary/it won't be the end of the world if I don't have time to get to them (mostly small internal things that no one will actually see when I'm wearing it, like bias tape on the edges of the handpaws or around the neck hole, inside lining for the back of the head (right now only the front is lined), stuff like that).

Of the 14 total, I've deemed seven of them to be minor/simple enough that I could theoretically do them in the hotel the night before the con if I need to. Obviously trying to do all seven of them there would probably be a little much, but if I reach the day I have to leave and there's still one or two, maybe three of them that I didn't get to at home, it should be fine.

So yeah, I think I'm pretty confident now that I can finish this thing in time to wear her at the con! Yay!

Right now the only thing I'm a little unsure about is the eyes—not about whether or not I can do them, but about which material I'll be able to use.

See (no pun intended lol), I was originally planning to use the same method I'd used for 2.5's eyes, namely making a digital iris design and printing it out on cotton buckram (with just my regular home printer). I thought I had some buckram left over from the last time I made fursuit heads, but even after digging through all my craft supplies I couldn't find it, so I had to order some more. Unfortunately the place I usually order from was out of stock, so I had to find some elsewhere.

While looking for somewhere else to get the buckram (this was two weeks ago now), I saw an Etsy listing that said they could print custom fursuit eyes on a plastic mesh with the fancy dye sublimation printing, which caught my attention because hey, that could be even better; I'd still get to use the iris art I made but on the fancy vibrant waterproof mesh. So I decided to give it a shot...the problem is I don't know if they'll arrive before I have to leave 😅

I found and ordered some regular buckram too, as a backup, but I'm really hoping the fancy dye sublimation irises get here in time. The seller said they'd print and ship them on Saturday (last Saturday, not this coming Saturday) but I haven't gotten any kind of shipping confirmation so I don't know if they actually did or not.

Luckily installing the eyes doesn't take very long, so I'm gonna give the fancy irises until Wednesday to show up. If they're not here by then, I'm just gonna have to cut my losses and go back to the regular printer on cotton buckram like I was originally planning. Which, hey, not the end of the world, that method worked perfectly fine for 2.5...just a mild letdown after getting excited about the fancy option 😅

#sorry y'all i'm just full of rambles today i guess 😅

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amourcherie606 · 1 year ago

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miraculous redesign? rewrite??? idk?? call me silly if u will, but ive like already redesigned the entire main cast 💀 i just havent drawn all of them digitally yet the miraculous brainrot is real!! anyway, the "theme" or "goal" with this is basically if i designed the miraculous characters. they are gooberbingafied if u will

marinette dupain-cheng ; aspiring fashion designer whos quite awkward and nice. shes considers herself the background character and hasn't really had any friends until college, where she meets her wonderful bff alya! takes inspiration from gabriel agreste brand but deff doesn't like how monochromatic his fashion is.

adrien agreste ; a free spirit finally free from cold home, he attends a public education at long last, an art college. he is a complete awkward mess who is very friendly! and naive. very. but his buddys nino and chole has been showing him the ropes of socialization so he'll get it one day, maybe. hes still discovering his own style and personal thing tho. BONUS DOODLES!!! Chole and Lila ideas!! im not sure what to do yet with Lila but Chole! Shes deff still gonna be Queen Bee and is deff a mean girl but like, shes just kinda a rich kid whos never been told off for her actions like ever ever. no ones ever just thought to sit her down and talk, only encouraging her behavior. so she stays a meanie bee UNTIL her superhero crush tells her off and POOF shes changing alright. shes not a 100% nice bean but chole isnt an complete ass

i'll make a separate post for my ladybug and chat noir designs but im literally up for any suggestions or asks abt this!! if ur interested!! <33 i love doing this actually its so silly n fun!!

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syncogon · 2 months ago

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inktober 2024 review

Completed Inktober 2024! Last time I did this was in 2018, with some dinky little doodles in a notebook. Now I'm learning digital ��

Prompts were from the QZGS rarepair week for 2024 and 2023. Next year perhaps I'll continue going down the list. I tried to have a specific area/skill I wanted to work on with each day.

Sharing my favorites here! The rest are all at @synco-arts. Please click for full size / colors!

5) "fragile": [RS] This is my favorite shot of the Rainbow Sea OP, which is already such a banger full of symbolism and narrative. The way this moment is directed to make you think you're watching Maidang himself, until the moment he punches and the mirror shatters and you realize—oh, his Rainbow Stone was on the wrong wrist, it was a reflection all along. Timed to the music, it's so excellently done...

9) "wait": [GFS] X waits, alone and helpless, for news of his father's surgery. He can only watch from afar, and the framing of the background is meant to evoke his car window. He didn't want news of his current situation to cause stress that would worsen his father's heart condition, but his absence is already causing stress enough—yet this was the only course he felt he could take to save his family...

13) "caution": [RS] I love Tang Wude and I love this moment, what can I say? Strolls in looking wack and casual, and then immediately establishes dominance over a crew of criminals. Umbrella users my beloved. This one might be my favorite overall due to all the colors and lighting, and the background was so much fun to draw!

17) "precious": [YB2] Eighth Room is so precious to me. Just look at them! I think this was the one I spent the most time on? This is a redraw of a shot from one of the reality shows the actors filmed together. Spent some time debating what hairstyles to give them; I need to give it some more thought still.

18) "abandon": [TKA] I want to get better at putting together nice sketch pages! Also at hands lol. I was surprised? impressed? that I managed to make Tyranny ZJL look older and more tired compared to HB ZJL—I'm not sure if it was even so distinct in the original.

19) "past": [YB1] I liked the composition of these images, and drawing this moment upon the brushstrokes of the background. I think about this flashback and cri everytime

23) "foreign": [YB2] I wanted to practice side profiles, didn't like how his turned out, but then really DID like the second sketch I did, which was way more fun than I anticipated. He looks cool! Maybe too cool. The extremely intricate outfits are fun to depict in sketch form, and I like his hairstyle here even though everyone was roasting it lol. The lines of the background are just roughly meant to evoke what was actually in the bg of the reference shot, but I quite liked the effect.

25) "freedom": [YB2] I just really like how Chu Niao turned out here, with the details of her costume and her expression. Look at them talking about their future 🥺

26) "peak": [YB2] I think this was the only painterly one I did, but I liked how the vibes turned out—the half-obscured fire, the costume of a god, the crouched figures, the distant mountains and clouds. A unique shot that should be very distinct to those who've watched.

29) "color": [YB2] As you can see I was feeling very emo about YB2 in the latter half of the month haha. This was such an emotionally charged scene and there are 3000 words packed into Wen Wuqi's glance back as Hua Cishu carefully avoids meeting the gaze of someone he's not supposed to know...

#synco arts #synco talks #synctober #if you read this all thanks for listening to my rambles!#i am at the beginning of my art journey still but i shall keep working hard #rainbow sea #go for speed #young blood

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braemjeorn · 1 year ago

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a long ourank oc presentation because braem is just a writer at heart and soul.

this is honi.

honi is from my fanfic here. would be glad if you read it. would be so happy if you like it. haven't updated it in a while so below are some spoilers for us all(?)

i know. i can't draw the same face. though #Shook is my favourite.

she has longer hair in earlier designs. but then i gave her short hair and thought, oh she looks cooler. like she could be a really cool mom. that's all you need honestly. like why make your ship lovers when you can get kingdom management done with the spiCE that is legal union!

'scuse me. kept the long hair for her younger-tween looks, anyway - wasn't mentioned why in the fic but let's just say that making it to the underworld was life changing. one way or another. she got a scar on her left cheekbone after her twenties (so yeas, i forgot the middle one im sorry).

here's our man because why not. we crave loose hair desha in this house.

im so bad at drawing crowns.

i was keen on the idea of someone to balance desha's personality out, instead of the complete opposites-attract. coz this here is a brash and unapologetic man who mercilessly cackles and taunts bojji and domas at the first meeting. half the fun will be when someone doesn't really flinch at that. tempers him down a bit or countering and riling him up to make firecrackers is what I want to see.

pink ram-lion babies coz why not

honi was nearly engaged before - somewhat more experienced in the field? but things happened and romantic pursuits were shelved before they met. honi acknowledged that he was a man early on in their meeting, but after making up and a few more formal encounters assured her that he was worth being friends with. worth the days-long flight just for a few weeks of teasing, good mead and mushroom pies.

after the winter breakfast but she's still confused.

figuring out she has feelings was a breakdown on a catastrophic level.

but eh, iss all good.

cuties.

not officially engaged but at least the lightning discharge was minimum.

that's all, i guess. some wish-wash, fluffy, alternate-or-future universe musings.

(but then in the manga the ominous naration was like, desha never returned and the underworld fell into ruin *cue queen elinor toppling chess pieces* (overthinking desha's pre-canon shonen arc and how his power is what made him rank 2nd as well as keep order in the multirace, monstrous underworld). in case reclaiming the throne won't work the option is mountain-nymph!honi or passing-farmer-girl!honi. pick.)

(but also the idea that if the canon queen is the persephone counterpart and was on the overworld for her six months deal when the whole season 1 happened is also great. which makes it hilarious if they met during part 2 coz she'd be like 'what tf happened to you?' and heartbreaking if he doesn't remember her. would be fantastic if she's any sort of queen like hiling and stubbornly gets shit done - might have a crisis that she cant find despa or ouken around, or launch some curses to the judge. but I don't know abt canon-queen. only the writer knows what might happen. as long as it isn't some poor excuse of a girl-failure of a villainess miranjo is, I'll be satisfied.)

sometimes i worry if my art will be considered ai work due to my poor anatomy but i swear it's really just a poor concept of anatomy😭 i have so MUCH to improve on digital painting. lighting, shadowing, composition, their size difference—they say the captain is 265 and desha's around the same height in the artbook. honi's like 180 and she's still so tiny! next to him despite being taller than average.

bonus, somewhat suggestive comic below.

double bonus: i think they both agree that domas is a joke and keeping 2000 km distance with miranjo is a must

#aka look at my portfolio #surprise surprise :D #i love wispy hair that consist of mere lines: a discovery #ousama ranking #ranking of kings #王様ランキング #ousama ranking fanart #fanart #braem makes art?#king desha #desha #braem's honi #ranking of kings fanart #canon x oc #oc art #ibis paint x #i'm still anxious abt putting art out #but yeah there

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trevorendeavors · 1 year ago

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How much do you charge for commissions?

I charge $15 per hour!

I do digital art, fanart, book covers (yes, fanfic covers included), graphic design, logos, business cards, acrylic paint, watercolor paint, washi tape art, Minecraft skins, custom stickers, etc.

I accept PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, Zelle, and I'm working on a Stripe account.

"How many hours does it take to complete a comm?"

That depends on the nature of the comm. Here are some of mine from this year:

1 HOUR ($15) - These were commissioned by CrustySoap. These drawings took roughly an hour each. Generally speaking, scanned sketches and scanned sketches with flat colors are my quickest styles. If you're on a budget, this may be the style for you.

2. 2.48 HOURS ($37.20) - This one was commissioned by Ian. She wanted a self portrait based on one of her outfits. The background is made of a recycled filter made in one of my previous drawings.

3. Roughly 8.46 HOURS ($127~) - Commissioned by my good friend Nicole Straussman-Allen for her husband's bday. She approached me with the prompt of having Link from TTOK and Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid shaking prosthetic hands. Since they have the hands on the same side, I suggested a fist bump instead, to which she heartily agreed. The result is something I'm very proud of.

However, these are not all the art styles I can do.

I was also commissioned by none other than Avi Roque this year! Their prompt was to create a physical painting/sketch of a scene from The Owl House. Disclaimer: I collected $50 + shipping for this painting - the prices listed on my website are approximately such, but as of this year they are currently out of date.

As with anything I make, $15/hour is the charge.

Here are other examples of my art!

Here's how I operate commissions:

Think of a character(s) you want me to draw and in what style. This can be a style I've already drawn in or one you'd like me to emulate. If you're not sure, I can give you recommendations based on your budget and aesthetic preferences. I can draw backgrounds as well, or even use a photo (either yours or mine) as a background.

From there, I'll give you a time estimate on how long it'll take. This varies greatly depending on the chosen art style and complexity of the comm.

Once we agree on the estimated price and style, that is when I begin timing myself as I work on your comm. I count strictly the hours I am working on the comm - not days between drawing sessions.

I'll send you work in progress photos/screenshots throughout. If you see something you'd like changed, it's better to let me know sooner rather than later so I can reduce the time needed to make adjustments.

Once you're satisfied with the final result, that's when payment is due. I take PayPal, Venmo, CashApp, and Zelle. I'm working on adding Stripe as well.

It is then that I'll email you the final result in high resolution and your preferred file format. NOTE: I also do painting commissions. If you would like a physical painting shipped to you, you will be responsible for shipping charges (thankfully my post office is relatively cheap, so depending on the size you're looking at an additional fee of $5-10, if that).

WILL DO / WON'T DO:

I will draw pretty much anything except for deliberately fetishistic art. For anything nsfw, I require proof of age. I reserve the right to terminate a comm for any reason.

That said, I look forward to working with you!

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dadscarathon · 3 months ago

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Day Six Part One: Rewatch Double Feature Terrifier 1 and 2

To get my family prepared to see part three in the theater we decided to watch Terrifier 1 and 2 back to back!

It's hard to express my love for these movies except to declare the genius of David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown. Made with very small budgets, both films would be considered independent, and it shows - but in a very specific way. There aren't a lot of fancy (digital) effects, there isn't a big budget cast or a stellar right-off-the-radio soundtrack, there's very little that I'm aware of in the way of marketing, and I think part two was even crowdfunded in part.

Damien Leone (the man you can blame for these movies) illustrates a deep appreciation and understanding of the horror genre as a whole. The pacing, the plot and the choices he makes to horrify are all founded on a long line of horror tradition.

I'll give my examples in the scores, which I think will wind up very similar.

We'll start with part one, which I first watched on my very first Spooptober and left such an impression on me I talked about it for days.

Scary: 1 out of 3. There might be jump scares in Terrifier, but I didn't notice them. There's a lot of horror here, but none of it relies on startling the audience with a sudden cut or audio stinger.

Gross: 3 out 3. The practical effects, even with the low budget of this movie, are truly disgusting. Not just the pieces of fake bone and organs, the rivers of blood, the ludicrous choices Art makes for his victims, but the acts that Art engages in are very "I can't watch this, I don't want to think about this." Which segues nicely into the next rating.

Disturbing: 3 out 3. Art isn't your usual slasher. He isn't just gruesomely killing people because it was convenient to hide in the shower or car trunk, or he only had a cheese grater handy when the victims wander into the room. He goes out of his way to make their murder as terrifying (ha!) as possible. If Damien isn't on some kind of watch list (other than your streaming queue) I'd recommend someone keep an eye on him. Normally I use this category to highlight something that gave me the creeps or shivers or just makes my brain go "No!" But let me get killed by Jason or Freddy or the freaking Leprechaun before Art gets ahold of me.

Funny 3 out of 3. And then there's this. These aren't horror comedies. These aren't even camp. There are no real jokes or bits, really. There's no comedic overtone. Art does something terrible... Or there's a moment of tension when you think... you know he's about to do something terrible. And he makes you laugh. You know you shouldn't. This isn't funny, this is awful. Gut-wrenchingly terrible. And you laugh. It's very intended, it's written that way. But that wouldn't matter if the actor that plays Art were even slightly less charismatic and emotive. Art doesn't have any lines, but he destroys every scene he's in.

Thoughtful: 2 out of 3. I'd almost give this 3 out of 3 here, aside from any lack (I think?) of deeper meaning. There are two good reasons I give it points for Thoughtful and they're both a little meta. First, Damien takes every horror trope he can, and then chooses to either embrace it to the point of skeleton-cracking, goo-oozing out between the cracks complete with foley squishes, or turn it around to face the wall. In this, the first movie, you can be sure you know what Art is about to do next, and where the plot is heading. "Oh, this is the final girl. Oh! I guess this guy is the final girl. OK, not them... Alright, but someone has to survive right? Oh, OK." And that's the larger plot... Smaller moments are also overturned. You may think "I know what happens here. There's a victim alive and tied to a chair and a big sheet in the room. He's going to pull down the sheet to show her her dead friend." Nope. Secondly, there's a supernatural element. It's not hit hard in the first movie, until the end, so I won't give outright spoilers, but it's there. Based on the second movie, there's a Friday the 13th/Nightmare on Elm Street world building exercise at hand. I'm here for it.

For the second movie, with a much longer run time and more than twice the budget of the first, Damien took the opportunity, as he should, to expand on the mythology of Art. Rather than write too much in introduction I'll get right to the rating.

Scary: 1 out of 3. Not a surprise, the second movie does not added a bunch of tension/release scares, though there are a couple of "wtf just happened" moments that almost qualify.

Gross: 3 out of 3. Even grosser than part one, leaning into this old-school practical effect yuck fest makes sense for the franchise. Some truly nasty things here.

Disturbing: 3 out of 3. As mentioned, something that Art does that a lot of horror movie monsters don't do is be completely indiscriminate. If you're in a Friday the 13th movie and decide to make out with your friend in a car, you're going to die. If you choose chastity, you might live. Art doesn't care. You can be polite, reasonable and sober and he'll still put a windshield wiper through your earhole. And then the movie will make sure you see the brand of the wiper, the brains oozing out from the wound and Art's careful method of wiping away the brains from the victim's forehead. I made that up, but it's a tame example.

Funny: 3 out of 3. Art is still Art. He can have a victim run away screaming then look at the camera with a very clear "Mondays, am I right?" expression and you're still horrified, and still laughing.

Thoughtful: 3 out of 3. Some shit happens in this movie that caused, and will continue to cause, discussion in the group. Theories about Art's origin - hinted at but not exposed, about the demon girl - introduced here in part 2, her relationship to Art, the survivor's relationship to Art, the survivor from the FIRST movie's role in the story, and the nature of the world that Terrifier takes place in are amazing examples of one of my favorite aspects of the genre. I can't wait for part three.

Total scores:

Terrifier: 12 out of 15. If you like old school horror and you find yourself occasionally laughing at inappropriate things, this is for you.

Terrifier 2: 13 out of 15. Same recommendation, but throw in an appreciation for supernatural mysteries that will likely continue to play out for the next two or three movies.

#horror #horror movies #movie review #spoilers #clown

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d3zydration · 6 months ago

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Digital Sketchbook (06.20.2024)

I'm about to make a big update post for my main website, but I didn't feel like using up storage on some preview shots. At the top, we've got progress on my 2d model for my YouTube channel, along with the many outfits I've made for her. Once I'm done with all the shading, I can break down the pieces and start the rigging process. I've probably got more outfits than I need, and there are some side characters I may make that I've had bouncing around in my head and on my channel for a long time that I'll probably also make, but once the bulk of it is done, I can focus on rigging while that happens.

On the bottom left, we've got a new Hesiodos (Hesiod) piece I'm working on. I wasn't happy with how the first one turned out, and honestly, I need to get back into the flow of more realistic works. Painting pieces directly from photo reference is easy enough, but it's a bit more difficult using a marble statue, as I did with my first piece, and more difficult still drawing from the mind while trying to translate those references as accurately as possible. I'm also using a more gouache-inspired brush set for this one. I've been super fascinated with acrylic gouache lately and am planning to start doing traditional pieces again in marker, watercolor, and acrylic gouache. I've been really into the work of Amina Illustration and I'm A Wonder.

My YCH (Your Character Here) commission piece "Little Witch" still has 5 available slots left on my Etsy shop (which is discounted from what you would pay for a custom commission with those specifications) - but I had also started on a number of other ones back in autumn of last year: A little graveyard chibi pin-up, a chibi girl holding a pumpkin spice latte, a woman kissing the cheek of a scarecrow, and a vampiric take on Klimt's The Kiss. I also started on a few general ones: one inspired by the style of Bratz, one inspired by the style of Monster High, and one inspired by the lo-fi girl. I'll still be wrapping them up and making them available whenever they're complete, but they aren't at the forefront of my workload at the moment - especially since I'm planning on moving away from Etsy.

Along that line, I also have plans to work on a couple of emote, clip art, and marketing packs, some stickers (including sticker sheets for my planners), a magickally-accurate Sailor Moon chibi series, and a couple of fan oracle decks. First on my to-do list, however, is a ton of website graphics for my new websites, the next batch of designs and styles for the Luxe Gothique Boutique, and a rework of my Khthonic Wiccan art series, as it's something else I just wasn't satisfied with.

And that's just artwork! I have a lot of writing in the works now, as well. I've got two books, my Mythos Reimagined series, and my webcomic, A Little Town Called Lorauvial, in the works, as well. This is a lot, I know, but I'm making progress each day. I just want to make so many things. I can't possibly keep it all locked away forever. 👻💚

Anyway, stay tuned for my update article. I'm going to be getting on that shortly with info on my other goings-on. Be there or be square.

#my art #my wips #updates #dezy speaks #art #digital sketchbook

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splathousefiction · 8 months ago

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I have been in the creative field since I was 18. While I am most popularly known for my work here at Splathouse, "Jack The Warlock" isn't the only face I've worn in the 16 years I've been making things in a professional space.

In no particular order, a (in)complete list of projects I either created myself or have been a part of is below the jump. Details at this time will be kept vague. You are welcome to make your guesses and DM/Comment down below. If you get it right, I'll tell you.

An actual hard-copy account with my complete involvement along with website addresses, email accounts and passwords is currently within my safe in my own hand writing. It's to be scanned and made public upon my death, serving as (if nothing else) a testament to "try everything".

I started an absurdist magician sect. I was originally inspired by chaos magic theory, but sought to refine their ideals. As such, it takes the element of the concept of belief itself as a malleable thing that can shape the world without ever being spoken or made physical via ritual work. "If you think it, it can happen"-be that in the ego or the id. The sect is still operating internationally today and has over 100 members. We're small, but we're there. None of the members have ever met me or have any idea who I am.

I've published two short-horror collections as a female author in her forties. They were released for free and are pretty openly available almost everywhere you can pirate books. The books are incredibly popular with queers, with booktok most notably covering them pretty hotly for a month. None of my readers have absolutely any idea I am behind both collections and still send emails (without hope of ever getting a response) today. Many assume I'm dead.

I released an experimental dark fantasy hip-hop EP that was inspired by this album by Earl Sweatshirt and MF DOOM. It's a five track album that totals in at 21 minutes. Much like the horror anthology collection above, each track can be enjoyed by itself, but when played in sequential order tells a Berserk-like story. The album took six months of my life and features encoded secret messages in the audio, with the "lore" being that it's a form of sigil magic. To date, it is the most popular audio project I have ever recorded and vastly surpasses anything I have ever made for Splathouse. Absolutely no one knows that the vocals, the producer and the song writer are one guy, nor do they know it's me. They've been waiting for a follow up EP for years. I will never release another one.

I have been a writer and creative director for several ARGs. One of which was a darling of the early days of Youtube Explainer videos. The project "concluded" because I was intensely disgusted by the growing cottage industry of "curators" destroying the mystery of such things. As they still do this and have careers directly profiting off the creative works of others, I see no need to join such a project ever again. Absolutely no one involved in the projects had any idea who I am, and the projects I started myself have never once been connected back to me.

I've co-wrote several webcomics. One or two of which gained middling popularity. No one working on these projects has absolutely any idea as to who I am or my larger sphere of work. I left the field because of audience treatment of webcomic creators.

I've had original artwork I created featured in multiple gallery showings that highlighted "abstract" and "outsider" art, back when I still enjoyed doing artwork. Anything you find by me on deviant art in the "Splathouse" era was me attempting to wrap my head around digital art; my neuro divergency prefers physical mediums. Every single one of these submissions was under a different name chosen at random.

I've acted in precisely two indy movies under a popular name used by directors who don't want their names attached to projects. Film buffs know the one. I was the lead character in one and the side character in another. The films are connected, but aren't sequels, a series, nor is there a prequel involved. The films were highly experimental and shot in the "guerilla"/"Gonzo" tradition. They went through the indy circuit and won [insert number of awards here]. I wasn't compensated nor were the films profitable. We didn't care and I haven't spoken with anyone from the cast since, who simply asked for a name and nothing more. Some of them are still in the industry. One of them is a reasonably successful B-movie director now.

I've created several text adventure games. Most people are familiar with the Splathouse ones, which released in the early 2010s. What they aren't familiar with are the ones I released on itchio under an different name with a disposable email address. The games were reasonably popular with that niche sector of the gaming community, and still get regularly recommended.

There's more I could add to this, but I feel I'm done for now. It's late, I've work in the morning.

If you've made it this far in the list and you're still curious-no, you aren't going to get me to tell you any details about any of these projects. Even my best friends couldn't get that out of me. If you're curious as to why I did literally any of this, the reason is two fold:

Because I could.

why not?

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raissahandeson-blog · 10 months ago

Text

Vulnerable

Well guys, I decided to rewatch The Old Guard and I simply found myself falling in love with all those charming characters.

I always thought that Nile and Andy have such intense chemistry that it would be a sin to have so few stories between the two of them and that was the reason that led me to write this. I confess that most of this story was written via translator, since my knowledge of English is very limited, and this is the first story I've written… So I apologize in advance for the various errors you found here.

Anyway, I think that having said that, I really liked the option of adding color to the sentences and that's why I found it interesting to separate Andy and Nile's lines by color. Nile will have all the dialogues in purple while Andy has red, just because I think they really suit them lol.

This is an art that I simply loved by an incredible artist called Rune, I'll leave the link below so you can check out more of his work. https://www.deviantart.com/rune-arts

The last year has been completely crazy for Nile, ever since his first death on duty in Afghanistan. The discovery of her own immortality, discovering the existence of an army of immortals that she was now a part of, the struggle in the laboratory and Andy's recent mortality, it was all a very radical change.

Her life was turned upside down, having to leave the Marines, her dream of following in her father's footsteps, her family, and gaining a new one made up of dysfunctional but extremely welcoming and loving immortal people.

At first, Nile believed that it would be difficult to fit into that group, after all, everyone there had known each other for centuries and orbited around each other easily. It was surprising when she realized that she didn't need to make an effort to try to be accepted, as she did in the marines, she already had everyone's respect and consideration since the day of the confrontation in Merick's Laboratory when she decided to return to save everyone. .

After the first two crazy weeks they finally had time to settle down and rest, keeping as close to a normal routine as possible. Of course, there were still the physical training and sparring sessions that used to go on until someone ended up with too many broken bones to stand, but it was still pretty close to normal.

Nile realized that each member of his new family played an important role in keeping everyone together.

Nick was the wittiest, always having a funny story or witty joke to make the group laugh.

Joe, in turn, was the one who brought the most empathy and sensitivity to everyone, always being available to be a shoulder to lean on when needed without asking questions or judging.

Nile took on what she believed to be the role of Brooker, obtaining digital information and obtaining false documents. But soon she realized that her importance went beyond that, she was the one who reminded everyone that even the little things were worthy of attention. Small discoveries, gestures, she helped everyone understand that what they did was really worth it.

And Andy in turn was the force that kept everyone standing, no matter how bad things got, no one would dare doubt that it would work if their leader was at the front, paving the way for everyone to continue.

The latter managed to establish herself in a large part of Nile's heart, even though she tried to deny it at first, as time went by and as she lived with her leader, it became increasingly clear that this woman was much more than a lethal warrior. She was a kind, caring woman who, despite carrying enormous emotional baggage, went to great lengths to make them feel loved and protected.

At first Andy seemed convinced of turning Nile into his apprentice, teaching her much of what she knew about weapons and combat, saying that she would need to be prepared in case things got ugly. She never dared to say more than that, but Nile could understand what was behind this urgency to make her fit to fight: Her time was now numbered and when she was no longer here, it would be her apprentice's job to continue maintaining all united and safe. Thinking about this brought sadness to Nile's heart, thinking that at some point she might no longer be with them, the simple idea of losing her in the middle of one of her missions made his stomach tighten. That's why she dove head first into training, trying harder and harder to get better, she wanted to do everything she could to make sure Andy wouldn't fall during the fight, make sure she could shadow her and keep her safe.

It didn't take long for everyone to realize this when the following missions appeared and Nile continued to constantly hover around the warrior Scythian, even in situations where her leader's experience was more than enough to resolve the situation.

Joe and Nick knew it wouldn't take long for Andy to get impatient and confront Nile about all this overprotection. And they were right, after an interception mission in Serbia, when everyone finally reached the safe haven, the Boss then snapped.

-Before anyone leaves for the rooms, we need to talk. We can't continue working with you treating me like a piece of glass that could break at any moment. I said it before and I repeat it, the fact that I'm no longer immortal doesn't change anything, I'm still the boss and I'm still giving the orders. -Andy barks throwing her equipment bag across the room as she heads to the bar next door to get a bottle of gin. Everyone else stops standing around the room in amazement.

-We're not questioning your authority Andy, but it doesn't make sense to put you in the direct line of fire if all 3 of us can do it without major damage. - Nile rationalizes trying to get closer to her.

-To me this seems to go over my authority, I'm the leader here and I've experienced a lot more than you three together. I know what I'm doing, I appreciate your concern, but I was in wars before I was immortal, fighting for my people and my family, and I will continue to do so until my last day. You have no right to try to intervene in this. - Andy plops down on the couch, taking a generous sip of his drink while the rest of the team stares at him in amazement. In a matter of seconds, Nile's expression goes from shock to anger and hurt, making any fear he had about facing the woman in front of him disappear.

-A shit we don't have, we are your family and we care about you. Say what you want but you can't make me watch you kill yourself while I stand by and do nothing. We love you Andy and we're not going to accept this stupid suicidal game you're playing, at least I'm not going to.

This is the boys' cue to lock themselves in their room, they know that dealing with their boss's mortality has not been easy, especially for Nile who seems to have become increasingly close to her. They understand both points of view and know that it is an issue that both women need to resolve between themselves, there is no reason to intervene.

Meanwhile in the room, Andy is surprised by the attitude of the younger woman in front of her, who is now staring at her with eyes blazing with anger and her jaw clenched, demonstrating the strength of her discontent.

-You're just a child Nile, you haven't seen almost anything in life, that's why you keep insisting on that. It's no use, I'm not going to change my position in relation to how we carry out operations and I'm also not going to allow you to continue taking focus away from the mission to ensure my safety. - Andy finally gets up, coming face to face with Nile, who is now breathing heavily.

-You know what, fuck you, I'm not going to change my mind either so if you think you can't handle this, just leave me out. I'd rather be left alone than have to watch you kill yourself. - Nile shouts in front of her before turning around and leaving, slamming the front door with enough force to shake the walls next to it.

Andy throws herself onto the sofa again with a huff while taking another long drink of Gin, she didn't want to be harsh with Nile, but she couldn't bear to see the girl throwing herself in front of all the danger ahead, just to protect her. And if one day, because of one of these distractions, the boys or Nile herself were captured, she would not be able to deal with this guilt anymore, after Quynh she would not be able to lose anyone else, if someone needed to fall, then let it be her.

Yet her heart sank as she remembered the broken expression Nile wore as he left the shelter. It was painful to see the girl like this, even more so because of her, she got used to having the youngest always around, smiling and excited about every little thing, this woke up a side that had been dormant for a long time and it still kept her up constantly at night. Initially she just wanted to be his mentor, teach everything she could in the time she still had and make sure Nile could feel welcome with them.

But somewhere along the way things changed, without realizing it she became closer and the relationship that was supposed to be mentor and mentee became stronger than that. She could remember more than one occasion when she woke up with Nile curled up with her on the couch after a movie or after an intense mission that kept them both up late into the night. It became natural to look for each other to try to calm down and end up sleeping tangled up in some corner of the shelter they were in. The following morning, both separated without further comment on what happened during the night.

She insisted on ignoring this because she knew it wasn't fair to Nile, the young woman still had a lot of time and didn't deserve to have to carry the weight of having already lost someone close to her in such a short period of time. Still, she knew she had been too harsh and shouldn't leave the younger woman tormenting herself with her own thoughts. From what she knew of that girl, she would be imagining at this point that the problem was the fact that Andy thought she was too young to be trusted. Taking the last sip from the bottle she finally stood up and followed her apprentice out the door.

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Nile managed to hold back her tears long enough until she reached the front door, but she collapsed as soon as she crossed the threshold and slammed the door behind her. She couldn't believe how the woman she so admired and cared about could go from being the kindest person she'd ever met to the dumbest person on Earth. Nile imagined the size of the nightmares that accompanied Andy for so many years of wandering around, but still, she refused to accept the indifferent way she treated her own life. Sometimes it seemed like she really wanted to die, thrown into danger without any real need, and how

if the love that others had for her were worthless.

Yes, love, it took Nile a long time to assimilate and accept this new feeling she had for her mentor. But with the growing fear of losing her during a mission, it became clear that there was no reason to continue lying to himself. She remembers clearly when it finally dawned on her that the worry was much more than that.

She always had music as a sunny refuge, a place where she could go and forget about all her problems and sadness. The first time she discovered how comforting this shelter was was when a soldier showed up at her house to deliver the news of her father's death. She cried for hours and every time she tried to sleep, she would start sobbing again. Then she remembered the mp3 that her father had given her as a gift and connected the headphones, from then on, whenever things got difficult, it was in music that she sought solace.

She looked for music when she had to endure being humiliated when joining the navy, she looked for music when she died for the first time and had to see the looks of her fellow soldiers judging her as if she were a freak. She turned to music as she processed the idea that she would truly never see her family again and that the person who would understand her most was in exile for the next 100 years.

Music was always there as a consolation, until Andy came along and changed everything. His refugee became the older woman, even though through conversation or being silent in each other's company, it brought Nile the peace and comfort that music used to provide.

That's when she knew for sure that the group's elder wasn't just someone she wanted to learn to fight with, she was someone she wanted to fight for, to be close to and be able to enjoy every little moment by her side. That's when she realized this was love.

But unfortunately, just as much as Andy managed to calm her down, she also managed to be the one who took him off track. For months, the older woman started to be more careless with herself during missions and adamant about taking extra care like vests and things like that. This was driving the youngest girl crazy, because every day the fear of not being able to be enough to protect her became greater along with the frustration of not being able to change her mind.

Today she simply exploded and I couldn't control my anger when I saw Andy talking like that, it seemed like all the closeness they had had over the last few months didn't exist and the oldest still saw her as just an inexperienced child.

This hurt her more than she would like to admit, so she was tough enough to claim that she would rather not be part of the group than take orders from her and watch her die. In a way she doesn't regret it, but her heart still hurts, imagining what she would do if she really had to move away from the group and especially from her.

Then again she found herself with the clean cell phone that Copley gave her, headphones and her comfort playlist. She was sitting in front of the lake to the east of the house that served as her shelter, watching the movement of the trees and the water while trying to control her own crying, she didn't want to think anymore about all the mess she had gotten herself into. What she wanted most now was to sit there and be able to forget about her own mess for a few hours until she worked up enough courage to return home.

And she let herself be so deeply carried away by the sound that floated through her headphones with her eyes closed, that she didn't notice Andy approaching or sitting next to her, until the heat of her body alerted her to her presence. She opened her eyes quickly in fright until she realized who was next to her and then replaced her expression from astonishment to sadness.

-Hey? -Andy said, sitting next to her, looking at her face, probably swollen from crying a few minutes ago, with a weak smile.

-If you just came to tell me that you'd prefer me not to be on the team, you don't need to try to be nice. Just tell me your decision and I'll follow through with it. -Nile responds defensively, imagining that the woman in front of her just came to tell her that she doesn't trust her enough to continue with the work they do. She turns so she can face Andy fully and see her expression when she finally says what she decided.

-Nile, I don't want to fight anymore and much less do I want you to leave far away. Now you are my family too and I care too much to leave you behind, and I care even more about seeing you taking so much effort to protect me and neglecting your own safety.- At that moment Andy also turns around so he can get a better look at the younger woman, sad to meet his desolate gaze.

-My safety? it is serious? I'm immortal Andy, for God's sake, if there's anyone who can and should put themselves in the line of fire, it's me and the boys. This concern is meaningless, the problem is that I'm the newbie, right? Has all the effort I've been making to prove some value been in vain?

It becomes too much for Andy to continue watching Nile fall deeper and deeper into this pit of guilt and demands. She then holds the youngest by the chin so she can look directly into her eyes and understand what she is talking about.

-You are immortal but you are not immune to being captured, tortured and many other things. It pains me to say this out loud Nile, but I am no longer unbeatable and if that happens, I cannot guarantee that you will be rescued. Remember what happened last time? If it weren't for you, the rest of the team would still be there because I'm not strong enough to save everyone, and after Quynh I can't lose anyone else, and I don't want to lose you. I'd rather my death ensure everyone's safety than put you at risk.- Andy says each word without looking away from Nile, trying to convey all her vulnerability and fear, trying to make her understand.

-Not so strong? Andy, you are the most badass woman to have walked this Earth, immortal or not. Your strength is beyond physics, it comes from within, it is what keeps us firm and hopeful for better days, you are the pillar of who we are and we won't make it without you, not if you decide to give up. I can't do this without you and I don't want to, all I ask is that you be more careful, whether it's wearing a vest, or letting us help, we're a team and there's no reason to do everything alone.

These words seem to disarm Andy, who reduces the rest of the distance between their faces and captures Nile's lips with hers in a chaotic and intense kiss. She pours all her feelings into this and Nile realizes how difficult it had been for the older woman to deal with all of this, her appreciation for her was obvious and having to deal with this just when her mortality appears, doesn't seem easy at all.

She is taken out of her reverie when Andy's tongue asks for passage, which she willingly gives in to, the kiss becomes increasingly involved and needy and without realizing it, she is grabbing her waist wanting to bring her closer. She always imagined that Andy would be a good kisser, but between imagining and being able to experience it, there was a scary difference, even more so when her hands start to roam the younger girl's body, squeezing and trying to pull her towards her.

They continue like this for what seems like hours until air is needed and Nile moves away, their foreheads continue to touch but it's enough for both of them to catch their breath as they look at each other. Andy looks at her affectionately while stroking the side of her face tenderly, even with the feeling that the best thing would be to spare Nile from all the pain that may come along with this new feeling, she is convinced that she doesn't need to be so rational and that the woman in front of her, despite her young age, is intelligent enough to decide for herself.

-I still think this could hurt you girl, but I don't have the right to decide that for you, but still, I need to remind you, I will die, it may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen. And I need you to make sure you can follow through with this?

-I know that, but you're worth the risk. - Nile replied with a smile - All I want is to enjoy this time we still have, be it ten years or half a century. I also need your guarantee that you will take more care, for me… can you promise me that?

-Half a century? I think we're being optimistic here, I'm sure when I start to get all wrinkled you'll change your mind - Andy responds making them both laugh - But ok, I promise to try, for us.

Then Nile kisses her again, this time trying to convey all the feeling present at that moment, a mix of joy and love, which she never dreamed that one day she would finally be able to experience. They spend the rest of the afternoon like this, cuddling and kissing, sitting together by the lake as they watch the sun set and the night come to life, revealing a sky full of stars.

Hours later they finally return to the house, it is quiet and dark, the boys are probably in the bedroom sleeping, and they decide to do the same. Finally, the tiredness of the mission and all that discussion reached them, and they threw themselves onto the sofa and let sleep take them to a peaceful night's sleep, like so many others who shared in the same way. This time when they wake up, there will be no need to pretend to forget what they shared that afternoon, this time they have the hope and power to write their story together.

#the old guard #andy & nile #Andy #andromache of scythia #nile freeman #safica #found family #andy x nile #imortal #the old guard 2 #the old guard fanfiction #the old guard fic

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