#so yeah my style isn't going to be the same as the last drawing of mine that she's seen

[my-beloved-lakes]

My little sister just said I have a very distinctive way of drawing shoulder muscles😂

[kristinhateslife]

Okay so last night I was having an "art style panic"? I guess you could call it that? But I was feeling really bad, so i started drawing other peoples art styles and picking points and peaces out of it!

I did this last night when I was really tired and i used a pen so the drawings may not be how i usually do my drawings haha

Ok so first up we have @emjoyzhos-ej !! I recently just found your account but you have a very cool style!!

•Your skull shape is very unique, very rectangle

•your lines are very sketchy (most people I follow have this trait in their art..)

•when you color it looks like you mayy have rook inspiration from itsxroxannex? Idk i wrote that down, maybe it's not true but I guess i thought that last night

But I love your style! Your art is so cool and I had fun trying to replicate it!

Next we have @milkybnnuy ! Omg so I really like you!! Your art is sooo good

•You draw a lot of fell, so i made the drawing of killer like how you made that one fell killer drawing

•when you color you have a very paintly-style and that's cool!!

•your skull shape reminds me of an egg (i guess thats why i said "egg head" last night)

Up in the top I wrote "I did not replicate your art properly enough," and that's true! Your art is so unique and different from what i usually drew so i had a hard time replicating it! But nonetheless, i had a fun time trying and hope you ain't disappointed lol

Btw- I really like the way you draw your fuzz on hoods!! So satisfying to look at!

And now we go onto @voidzphere !

I've followed you for a while, and you're cool to be around and I like when you post! Though i had a hard time finding the art hidden around, I still was able to replicate it (luckily i chose to draw killer for this haha)

•so I see that you usually draw/post doodles, unless i just didn't scroll down far enough haha (plz tell me if you have drawn something big i wanna see)

•I noticed you have more pointy and thicker lines

•you have a certain way you draw your Skulls, I can't really put a shape or object here to describe it

Even though I couldn't find more drawings, I still tried! I hope you like it, friend, cause u cool

Here is @cherrio-krispz ! I just started following you last night, like seriously I had to search you up just now to figure out who you were cuz I forgot, but when i saw your art I immediately recognized you

•you have a very recognizable style!

•again, i did not replicate well.

•very painty-like when color

•sketchy lines, seems like you don't do line art?

•I like ur skulls, they look like skulls

OMG I'VE BEEN WAITING TO TALK ABOUT YOU. YOU. YOUUU. @somegrumpynerd OMG YOUUUUUU. I REALLY LIKE YOUR ARTTT.

•I LIKE IT

•very cartoonish

• noticable art style

•thick lineart

I LOVE seeing posts when they come out!!! They're really really cool and make me feel so happy when I see them! Keep going because you're so cool!

@spookeri haiiii

You're here tooo

i like ur art :)))))) a LOT . Same as the last guy, I get very excited when you post. Your DTIYS were fun, and yeye... Yeah

•Very flat colors

•flat lines

•cool looking skulls

•you have an "air-brush" shading style (i guess you could call it), which isn't a bad thing! Do what you want to do! But maybe try out cell-shading? Idk you don't have to, but idk i feel like cell-shading fits your art style

Also if you look in the bottom you can see a scratched out drawing, that was my first attempt haha

You can see it in the drawing below

@wyllaztopia !! I like your art :)) you have a very noticeable style and when you post I get excited as well!

•clean lines

•you make skulls longer than how other people make their skulls in this last

•I liked replicating it

Idk what else to say ... Its just all really cool!!

And last but not the worst

My art style!

My art style is

•cool

•easy to draw

•and funny lookin'

What did i learn from this whole thing i did? That everyone has a unique style, that even if they try to change it it still stays theirs and it's still unique

I also found out that everyone, small artists and big artists, has flaws! It's comforting to know that everyone has flaws so I know I'm just learning and getting better everyday

Another thing I got from this is that everyone's styles are always changing and warping. But thats fine! Because everyone's moving and changing, and the worlds always moving and changing!

So, don't be so hard on yourself if you're struggling to draw or find an art style, how you draw is unique to you and you'll like it one day

Just keep drawing everyday and you'll get there.

I suggest doing this challenge, on paper or digital, wether you color it or not, or post ot or not!

It's great to try out.

[sorunort]

anybody else think about how tales of symphonia inspired in stars and time? i think about it. i love the tales of series sm guys...

given isat and symphonias connection, i wanted to make some sprite edits of the cast!! and a fake skit!! they look SO GOOD IN THE TALES STYLE AAAH this was rly fun set to do :D

i also need to direct everyone to this wonderful piece of art of another fake isat-tales of skit by 4328fox, that gave me the push to make these sprite edits :DD

if anyone wants to see the final edits and base sprites + FORBIDDEN COLOR VARIANTS, ill put them underneath the cut!

AAAAH COLOR ITS SO SCARY!!!WHERES THE GREYSCALE!!!

i'd like to say off the bat, i got these sprites from tales-of-asteria-rips which were all ripped by Suyooo, as stated in the blogs description [thumbs up]

so first off is siffrin! i picked Iria from tales of innocence mostly because i liked the post, it felt very reminiscent of siffrin's menu art, plus i could easily edit the hand into a scissors sign. also i just liked how petite iria is lmao

mirabelle!! and meredy!! i didn't have to search for a potential base for mira for very long, i just kinda immediately went 'oh yeah meredy is perfect for her. round eyes, same demeanor, perfect.' i liked this meredy in particular because she could be making a paper hand sign and i could adjust the fist to hold her rapier! in hindsight, i shoulda made her rapier longer but eh. i'll live with it :)

next is isabeau! as stahn! ...to be perfectly honest, isabeau gave me the most trouble! again! history repeats itself from the color hc set i did!! i had a tough time finding a good base for isabeau given that he has a very square head but Big Oval eyes but hes also buff!! and i refused to trim him down!! i considered eizen and just photoshopping someone elses head on, but my friend howl dropped this stahn and it was too perfect to pass up. i tried to square-ify stahns head and round his eyes some, i also made the arms a little more buff too eheh.

in the end, my efforts to make him Wide were for naught. those darn sleeves covered him up... ah well......

Odile!!! as jade. this isn't surprising to anyone whos played abyss and isat. same character. heaven smiles upon odile for her good deeds (thats cant possibly be true). i don't have anything else to say, it was just too good to pass up and works scarily well.

last but not least, bonnie and genis. [scratches head] i did bonnie last and realized i didn't actually use any symphonia characters despite the ties between the two games. friend howl linked this genis and it was a perfect fit. just reposition the arms a bit, slap seles' hat down, draw over it, and there we go!

i think bonnie might just be my favorite of the set- they fit into the tales style SO well.

and before anyone asks "wheres loop" "wheres the king" "wheres euphrasie" i forgot about them. i probably wont get to them either. sorry :P

[nejiverse]

i love your writing omg!!! may i please request more shibuya related works? let's pretend that sukuna didn't switch back and gojo isn't sealed in this particular story

s/o thinks he's hot and badass so she can't stop swooning over sukuna, choso and feral!gojo after he's done fighting jogo + mahoraga, yuji and the curse spirits (respectively). fluff, romantic and suggestive please!

i'm not sure if this is considered scenario or imagine but i'd like it to be in the same writing style as your "what does jogo have that i don't?" post thank youuu!

I ADORE U

Choso, Gojo, Sukuna

I hope this is okay!! Fem! Reader

cw: suggestive, making out in gojo’s, sukuna being as rude as ever (whats new)

700 words

"Y/n what are you doing here?", Choso frowned, his voice laced with worry as he held your head between his hands, checking for any injuries.

"Nothing..", you drawled out with a grin.

"Liar".

"I just like seeing you fight is all", you shrugged your shoulders as he pulled you into his embrace.

He shook his head and sighed. "It's dangerous".

You giggled at the overprotective man who knew full well you could protect yourself.

He didn't have a lot in the world but he did have you, and he certainly didn't want anything to happen to you during the conflict in Shibuya.

"You're treating me like a child", you huffed, taking a step back and placing a hand on your hip in disapproval.

"No, I'm treating you like someone who I don't want to lose", he corrected. There was a huge difference.

"Yeah yeah...", your eyes ogled the holes in his clothes which left his abdomen exposed. A grin played on your lips.

"I can't believe curses and jujutsu sorcerers got to see you like this before I did..", your hands traveled up his stomach and to his pectorals at which he twitched under your touch.

He quickly grabbed your wrists, his eyes roaming everywhere but your face. "Stop that..", he muttered a rosy tint painting his cheeks.

"I was just checking for wounds!".

Yeah, a likely story.

"You were so cool Satoru..", you breathed out as he left long and soft kisses down your neck, his thumb drawing circles against the other side of your neck.

"Mm keep going", he mumbled against your neck.

You were surprised he had so much energy left even after fighting the cursed spirits with the way his hands were roaming around your body shamelessly. But then again, he was Gojo Satoru.

"And handsome...a bit crazy", he laughed at the last thing you said before lifting his head up to meet your gaze.

He just seemed like a completely different person when in the midst of a fight, a part of you wished you could see him like that all the time.

"Is that really how you think of me wifey?", he cocked his head with that grin he always seemed to have gracing his face.

"I'm not your wife", you responded.

"You don't wanna be my wife?", he frowned, his hand coming up to your cheek.

"I do, but i'm not your wife yet", Gojo played with the engagement ring on your finger.

"Fiancée, wife, same thing", he rolled his eyes playfully.

"Either way it means your mine, doesn't it?"

You thought you deserved a pat on the back for being able to evade all the flying objects being thrown around by the king of curses and Mahoraga because it certainly wasn't easy.

But it was a must to get in closer and get a good glimpse of Sukuna.

It's too bad the fight was pretty much over by the time you arrived.

you huffed and walked onto the open space Sukuna had caused from all the destruction. "Best 20 seconds of my life—" before you could even react, you were swooped off your feet, a gasp escaping your lips.

“What was that for?”, your question was answered when a giant piece of rubble came crashing down where you were previously standing.

You found yourself thrown over Sukuna’s shoulder and before long, he put you down.

You brought a hand to your mouth, stifling your giggles. “So you do care about me!”.

Sukuna grimaced. “Don’t make me laugh”, he let out a scoff.

“Then why did you save me?”.

Sukuna scratched his head in defeat. He really wasn’t sure. “Doesn’t matter”.

You wrapped your arms around his own arm. “Sounds like my feminine charms are working”, you spoke jokingly which managed to crack the smallest grin onto Sukuna’s lips.

“You’re a piece of work, woman”.

You were gonna take that as a compliment.

masterlist :)

[mintmoth]

Your oc's are so cool!! It's such a surreal feeling to get back into a fandom and wake up up find that one of my favorite artists is also there. Say, quick question do you plan on making executions for your oc's or do they survive? Well whatever you do I hope you'll have fun with it and as always remember to be well hydrated and take breaks, I hope your doing well mint.

BXDISBSK OH HELLA!! Also thank you 😭😭 I'm glad you're enjoying my silly dr2 art and my oc planning lmao

Honestly I was originally planning on having only 2 ocs specifically because I wanted one to kill the other in order to maintain the same group of survivors in the end lmao. I'm still trying to fully work out the setup and inevitable execution because the plot writing for dr2 is really tight and well progressed imo, so I feel like adding anything would weaken it-

BUT I'm also just having fun and being silly so I know it doesn't have to be perfect it just needs to let me have fun really lmao

I'll add a readmore but I'll ramble about each of them a little if anyone has any interest

First up is the first one I made, Haruka (forgive all of their basic bitch Japanese names, I can't do the fun wordplay to the level I wish) they're the ultimate ballerina, and by extension also nonbinary kind of feminine leaning androgynous but can be masc if needed because they can do any kind of role required of them for a performance

When they're tossed into the dr2 mix they'd probably be found being a third wheel to the dynamic duo that is Akane and Nekomaru, since they're also technically more athletic and would be stretching and practicing every day. I want to sit down sometime and draw them and Akane engaged in a flexibility battle and Kazuichi walking in on them and screeching because they look so creepy

Haruka is planned to be a murderer and I'll definitely get some drawings out once I flesh out my concepts for their execution more

Next up is Nao! She's the ultimate sharpshooter and yes that is a little vague but it's because this includes bows and such on top of typical guns. Hell, she probably even does well with throwing stuff if there's enough focus

With the dr2 cast she'd be mostly a friend to Ibuki and Kazuichi, their eccentricities are endearing to her, plus if either of them just want to ramble about something they're working on she's gonna listen for hours. Honestly they're such a movie night squad to me. Also post game I feel like she's like a girl in the same way I still see Kazuichi a guy, like in the vaguest terms cuz they're both just Themselves and are gonna have fun with it now since they're apart from society. Ibuki isn't included only since I feel like she'd struggle less, but this is the bi/pan gender fuckery trifecta of the group to me

Oh yeah and Haruka kills her. I've got the death already planned out and ideally I wanna do a cg style emulation for it but idk if I can swing it lmao I'm not very good at style emulation tbh

And last but not least is Tōru. I didn't plan on her existing so idk how I'm gonna get rid of her in time for the end hmm. But she's the ultimate tattoo artist and has the most fleshed out backstory of the three but it's embarrassing and I know it LMAO

Basic run down- and stick with me here- she lives with family that work under the Kuzuryu clan, so she's done a lot of sick yakuza tats, partially because of her skill and mostly because this shit is so good that her tattoos have like, an "aura" that influences the viewer a little. So these dudes have extra intimidating tattoo bullshit going on- BUT ANYWAYS so things start and she can recognize Fuyuhiko and Peko and knows what's up with them, but neither of them have officially met her so she's like "oh thank fuck they have no idea that I know who they are I'm gonna avoid these assholes like the PLAGUE"

But of course that won't hold forever but it just makes me laugh like chapter 3 Fuyuhiko trying desperately to be kinder to everyone like "yeah, maybe I'll see if you're good enough to tattoo me some day" and she's choking on her drink because Haha About That-

But yeah hopefully I can rope one of my friends into having their oc knock her off because I think that would be funny like, getting down on one knee please kill my oc tragically

[cozylittleartblog]

Just wanted to mention this to someone who does art and get their opinion on it:

Sometimes I see some artists do redraws of their old artworks or characters and think "Wow, uh... their older art looks better." Sometimes it's only mildly better, but other times it's vastly better. Like the Upgrade, Go Back! meme.

I understand that art skills are supposed to develop and change, hopefully for the better, but sometimes it just feels like they got... worse? Somehow? Idk. Maybe it's because they were copying another artist's style while finding their own, and it's their own style that doesn't vibe with me? Just curious what your thoughts are about this.

Also, your art has consistently been great, so this isn't directed at you.

I do see this on occasion yeah! usually (in my experience anyway) its because people take a sharp turn towards a stylization that either isn't to your or most people's tastes, or that they don't understand or are still developing. switching up how you stylize your art is like starting over in a sense, you're changing from what you have practice with and that's always going to cause you to revert some as you have to re-learn things you understood in your previous style. i had a pretty big style shift in 2014 when i took up the basis for how my art looks now, and i remember feeling like some of the stuff i was drawing might have looked better if i was using my older style instead. that's something artists just have to push through and figure out, and they'll likely come out of it a better artist than they were before. constructive critiques are a good way for them to figure out why their art might not be as "good" as it used to be, if they're open for those.

art is not always a linear journey, and i would also say things like passion and motivation have a part in it too. feeling inspired sparks you to make something the best it can be, if you're not feeling it (and esp if that feeling lasts for a long time) it'll leave you making decisions you otherwise would not have let fly, and that can result in worse art. and some of it is just personal preference! it's not that their art is better or worse, it's just different now, and maybe that doesn't vibe with you the same way their old stuff did. and that's fine 👍

(thank you! :3 i admittedly struggle a bit with Not Feeling It sometimes like i just described, so it's nice to know people still enjoy what i make when that feeling hits.)

[femmmie]

More than enough

Read on AO3

words: 1.179

rated: general

excerpt:

Ian smears Anthony's face green, and Anthony squishes the last of the yellow paint into Ian's hair.

"Okay enough!" Ian commands. "Not the hair, dude. Never the hair. Respect the 'do.

"I'm sorry, I got a little carried away," Anthony confesses. "Let's get cleaned up."

They both go into the shower. Ian isn't sure. They have never showered together before. But then again they have never been THIS dirty.

Ian is over at Anthony's place. They are painting together, each making their own piece of art.

Ian keeps smiling while glancing over at Anthony. It's because his best friend is finally, after all these years, taking the time to enjoy something that doesn't immediately relate to work.

"You're getting good at this," he compliments his bestie.

"I think you might be right!" A proud expression forms on Anthony's face. He looks at his painting. "I'm developing a style, I think. I have found my favorite colors at least."

Ian continues his own painting. It's a car. A red Corvette, to be more specific.

"Did you see Amanda's holiday pictures?" Ian asks off-handedly.

"You mean the hundreds of pictures of the same ice cream shop, beach and her in a hammock? No I'm afraid she'll have to send more pictures to entice me to look."

They both laugh. It is late in the afternoon and golden rays of sunlight play in Anthony's curls. Watching that golden display, Ian's eyes widen and his brows raise just a tiny bit.

Anthony turns to look at him at him, and he quickly looks away. Back to his painting.

"So, how do you feel?" Ian asks the simple question, but a lot of meaning lies behind it.

"Yeah. Good. I feel pretty good. Struggling, but you know."

"Yeah, I know."

Anthony has been going through it mentally the last couple of months. After the sheer euphoria of reuniting as classic Smosh, reality is setting in for the both of them.

They are great friends, that much is true. But they have come to the conclusion that juggling New Smosh AND Pressalike is taking too much out of Anthony.

They have argued about it. Anthony insisted that he was fine, that he could handle it. But Ian wasn't going to lose his friend again.

"Please, Anthony. For once! Choose to put yourself first, for fuck's sake!"

And Anthony finally folded. He is taking it easy for now. Being in a few videos here and there, nothing too much. Only stuff he wants to be in.

"Oops!" Ian laughs as he spills red paint all over his hands and it droops onto the floor.

"Oh no!" Anthony giggles. It is such a familiar sound to Ian. Anthony has sounded like this ever since they giggled about poop in sixth grade.

They clean up the mess on the ground together but then Ian smirks mischievously and wipes his dirty hands on Anthony's shirt.

"Hey! Aww Ian you didn't! I'm gonna get you for this..." Anthony splatters blue paint on Ian, messing up his painting.

"My Lighning McQueen portrait!" Oh, it's on. They both squirt bottles at each other, getting increasingly covered in paint.

Ian smears Anthony's face green, and Anthony squishes the last of the yellow paint into Ian's hair.

"Okay enough!" Ian commands. "Not the hair, dude. Never the hair. Respect the 'do.

"I'm sorry, I got a little carried away," Anthony confesses. "Let's get cleaned up."

They both go into the shower. Ian isn't sure. They have never showered together before. But then again they have never been THIS dirty.

To his surprise, Anthony is already undressing. Right in front of him. "Come on, let's get this mess off!" Anthony says with a warm smile.

Ian swallows. He meekly tugs no his own ruined sweater. But Anthony helps him out of it. Anthony is topless and Ian involuntarily looks at the intricate drawings on his torso. He blushes. How can somebody look so maddeningly beautiful?

"Come on, Ian, I'll help get the paint out of your hair. I shouldn't have messed it up." Anthony looks apologetic. He also pulls off his boxers. Ian looks extremely hard into another direction, any direction but his best friend's big dick.

He undresses, there really is nothing he can do about it. The water is already running. He steps in next to Anthony. The warmth of his friend's body feels overwhelming and intoxicating.

Two hands massage his hair. He sees the yellow flush down the drain.

"There we go," Anthony says in a voice Ian has never heard before. A soft-spoken, intimate tone. That together with more massaging his scalp, and gently wiping the paint away from his neck, his shoulders, his back... Ian lets out a loud burp. "Cheers!" Anthony comments, giggling again.

Anthony gets them both towels and gives Ian some of his clothes.

"Black really suits you, did you know that?"

Ian looks down at his, or rather Anthony's socks. "Yeah, whatever dude..."

"I mean it," Anthony insists.

"Anthony are you sure there isn't something in the paint because you're acting weird. Showering with me, giving me compliments, what has gotten into you? Where is my best friend?" He says it as a joke but Anthony looks at him, concerned.

"I'm right here, Ian, I'm right here." His voice is low, urgent. "I'm never leaving you again, never."

"I know, Anthony. I know. And you don't have to keep proving yourself to me. Please, bro. It's kind of stressful."

Anthony’s lip quivers. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, every day... I just love you so much..."

"You don't have to be sorry! I'm so happy you're back, okay! I'm getting a bit tired saying it over and over."

"Please don't be mad," Anthony squeezes his eyes shut and collapses onto the ground. This startles Ian.

"Hey, Anthony, I didn't mean it like that? Hey." He squats down next to Anthony and puts his hand on Anthony's shoulder. "I'm not mad, okay? Just a bit annoyed," he jokes. They both snort a bit.

Ian sits down next to Anthony. "This whole thing is hard, isn't it?" He looks at his best friend. Anthony turns his head and looks back at him. Before Ian can look away, Anthony grabs hold of his chin.

"Yeah, it's hard. And I would do it again, and again, and again. If it meant that I got to sit here next to you."

"Goddamnit Anthony." Ian fights back tears.

Anthony spreads his knees so one of them touches Ian's thigh. He sighs. "I'm not okay, am I?"

"I'm here for you, no matter what my broski." Ian tries to lighten the mood.

"I guess "us" has always been hard. Easy and hard at the same time, you know?"

"Yeah." Ian knows exactly what Anthony means. That truth they both know but can't admit to. That truth is, they love each other. A whole lot more than just as best friends.

The dusk has settled as they both get up.

"I'm tired," Anthony mumbles. "Please stay with me tonight?"

How can Ian refuse that. He lies down on Anthony's bed as his friend falls asleep almost instantly. He looks at him. There, right beside him. His bro from Sac'. The guy who always got the girls. The guy who laughs the hardest. And the man who is his best friend. The wounds may not have healed just yet, maybe they never will. But Anthony came back and that is more than enough for Ian.

[dogtoling]

What is art fight? Do all you artists just. Punch in face

ok it's slightly better than that. As a quick introduction, Art Fight is a website with a yearly event that takes place every year in July. Very simply put, you make an account there, upload whatever OCs you have and want to display on there, and then just sit and wait around until July pops up. A week or so before the event starts, there is a theme reveal (this year the teams are Vampire and Werewolf), and people may choose a team to join, or be randomly assigned to a team after the event starts.

For the event itself, the objective is to "attack" artists that are on the opposing team by drawing their OCs. Attacking people on the other team nets your team points, which are tallied at the end of the event. But to be honest I feel like no one cares about which team actually wins. That might be "the objective", but really the objective is doing gift art and trades largely with strangers on the internet and making their day, and maybe getting surprise art in return!

When you attack someone, people might attack you back by drawing your OC, which begins something called a revenge chain! So that's when you're doing art trades (for people who have never heard the term art trade before because i've realized deviantart isn't hip or mainstream anymore, an art trade is an occasion where two artists draw a thing for each other). Not everyone does revenges though and ESPECIALLY not chains, so the main draw of the event is gift art. In general expecting stuff back tends to set people up for disappointment, especially if attacking the same team. Drawing OCs from your own team counts as "friendly fire", and while your team still gets points for it, you get DRAMATICALLY less points than you would for drawing for the opposing team. Either way it is a thing that you CAN still do.

The amount of points you get from an attack depends on the medium (which include stuff that isn't just drawing!), level of finish and polish, the general complexity of the art, the amount of characters in the piece et cetera. You determine these categories yourself while posting your attack, so it can be a bit daunting if you're not sure on things.

Art Fight recently introduced tag search, which lets you tag your OCs with specific tags (for example, "splatoon", "furry", "pokemon" or whatever) and search for characters with those same tags if you have preferences on what you want to draw. It also has some nifty other things, like the ability to customize your profile sometimes to insane degrees if you want, the ability to set permissions for characters (what people are and are not allowed to do with them), a storage for hiding characters if you want to retire them for a specific year but don't want to delete and re-add them later, the ability to link stuff to character profiles such as their toyhouse or full reference sheets, fields for crediting artists for the design or art if you got it from somebody else... et cetera. It also has some achievements, if you're into that kind of stuff.

The barrier of entry is really kind of low and the event is very versatile - you can go the whole fight making pixel sprite attacks, you can do 3D models, you can do halfbodies, you could even just do sketches and call it a day and that's all very valid and usually always fun. Personally I find Art Fight really fun because not only do you get to pick characters to draw that you might never have seen otherwise, but also have a completely good excuse to draw other people's characters and make their day. I usually spend a lot of Art Fight trying out different art styles and dabbling in stuff I normally do less, and don't have much motivation to do with my own characters - for example, last year I did digital art, painting, pixel sprites, pixel animation, 3D modeling and 3D animation and yeah I wouldn't have done any of those without the Art Fight excuse of "yeah why not draw this guy's OC". So it's also a really good way to step out of what you usually do with your art, and try different styles or mediums just to see what it's about.

And of course, the most important tidbit: the site is always, and I mean always, EVERY year, down at the start of the event. Every year the first week of Art Fight the site is completely unusable. The good news is, you can join Art Fight even in the middle of the event, and joining the site doesn't require you to partake in every upcoming Art Fight or even to pick a team. You can simply spectate and not partake one year, then come back the next and pick a team. TL;DR it's fun.

[boopshoops]

🥣

🥰

🏘️

For Jojo, Shishi, and Ezzie (The Twst OCs ;w;) for the OC Ask meme)

Similarly to the last post!! This is color coded: me/narrator as default, blue as Jocia, and green as Ezra

🥣what's your favorite food?

"So this is some sort of interview? Alright then," Jocia gruffly responded, slouching over in her seat upon realizing the question was actually rather simple. She grinned, "Bulgogi's a fav. It's something my sister showed me when we were kids. Apparently she was trying to learn more about our family history or somethin', did a damn lot of research too."

"It's not something I looked much into myself, but I'm a complete sucker for anything barbecued or grilled. I think... Oh yeah, we tried it out on a camping trip. I stole some of hers off her plate," Jocia chuckled, scratching at the back of her head as she reminisced, "I gave her hell during that trip. Wouldn't be surprised if that's why we never did something like that again. Made it up to her later, though."

-

"Ooh! How fun!" The professor exclaimed with a sharp-toothed grin, "Let's see, should I go into detail? I don't see why not. You're supposedly looking into learning more about me after all, little sprout," He cheerfully pondered aloud, politely folding his hands in his lap.

"My favorite dish is Pasta Alla Gricia. It's absolutely divine. With most of the foods I like, they've unfortunately been changing and shifting in ways I'm simply not a fan of with the passage of time. BUT! With this? It's only gotten better since the first time I tried it one hundred years ago! I'll gladly buy you some sometime, little sapling. Oh! Perhaps I can get some for the whole class... Like a day of celebration after one of our competitions! It's important for student's to destress, after all!~" Ezra hummed to himself with a firm nod.

🥰do you think you're attractive?

"Uh..." The woman droned on, crossing her arms over her chest. She offered a casual nod after perusing her own thoughts, "Like, physically? Sure, yeah," She bluntly answered.

"It's not really something I've thought too much of before. I guess looking in the mirror and seeing how far I've come gives me something to be proud of. Especially since I'm... not the best at styling. Everyone else in the family got all that."

"But, hell, I've worked hard on myself. Even if working out and such is more of a chill hobby of mine, I'm still confident in how I'm built. Not to mention I can see little parts of the people around me in myself too, yeah? Like- an old friend of mine regularly helps me dye my hair, and I got my piercings at the same time as my brother. If I didn't like those parts of myself, it feels kinda like a dig on them too. No matter whatcha think anyway, there are gonna be people out there who think you're pretty sick."

"...Eh, I'm not good at getting all sappy."

-

Ezra blinked, his drawing his lips into a line. His brows furrowed, "This is a difficult question to be modest about, isn't it?" He awkwardly chuckled, bringing a hand up to massage his temple.

"Oh, I don't know. I have a lot of things I have to work on, truly. It's quite an ordeal. Not that I'm not proud of my appearance! After all, a lot of it was greatly inspired by my late father."

"...Ah! I forgot to mention- I'm a changeling fae, of course. I'm not the biggest fan of shapeshifting, however, so I try my best to correlate my appearance to my adoptive human family. In that way, I suppose topics such as 'attractiveness' are a bit more complicated to someone like me, dear," He finished, dodging and weaving around the actual question through his rambles.

🏘️where's your happy place?

Jocia brightened up a bit at this, smirking as the answer came easily, "With my siblings," she replied briefly.

"They're fun as hell to be around. We got each other's backs. They're a bunch of little shits sometimes, but we know each other better than anyone else," She paused, "At least... most of us. More of a reason for me to get home, as if I didn't need any more of one already."

-

"My classroom, of course! Oh, it's so fun!" The teacher excitedly replied, eccentrically taking the time to pop up out of his seat and lean over the table, "It's where I spend most of my time! Working with students in bloom, watching their talents grow, listening to my favorite stars sing broadway, tending to my adorable potted plants..." He babbled on endlessly, happily explaining to no end.

"...I haven't been here for very long, that is true, but it has very quickly become my favorite place to be. So much so I often get caught up in things and forget to attend meetings. I suppose me and the other fae individuals here have that in common... I'm working on that, however! Got to make sure my memory is in top condition!"

"Is that it? 'Kay. Be seeing ya."

-

"This was very pleasant! Thank you kindly for inviting me."

Ask Game!

Yuu Shi's responses are here

[pianocat939]

Could we please get more of the yandere rottmnt with a younger sibling reader?

Sure! I've been kinda laughing for a while now over some random shitposting haha.

Tw: mention of murder, overprotective behaviour, controlling behaviour, crack and fluff

Some Hcs with Yandere Turtles with Younger Sibling MC

(MC is a turtle mutant for those who don't know)

✦Ramona✦

As we all know, he's the mama of the group. That solo mission episode where Mikey got babied at times? Yeah take that but amp it up.

He likes to carry you around just so he knows where you are and what you're doing. He especially does this if you're in the Hidden City.

Works together with Mikey and Donnie to have a nutrition management system. Primarily because he has a habit of spoiling you.

Bedtime at 10. No questions asked.

"No, you are not going to stay up until 3 AM giggling at videos on social media. Now, bed."

Asian kids, you know how your mom/dad just walks in and randomly gives you cut-up fruits? That's him. Gives you a hug when he leaves.

You are not allowed to touch hot foods/containers, let big bro handle it.

✦Le' bottomsworth✦

The spoiler/rule breaker brother ig.

You need to buy/get something but aren't allowed to leave? He has you covered, just say the word and he's sassily homosexual walking over there.

Teaches you sword art when you guys are free. Lets you win before going in for the "kill".

If you can't sleep bcs it's too early/insomnia then he'll know. He teleports or pokes a head through and keeps you company.

"Yeah so um. Do you have any dirt on Donnie? I need something good to attack him with."

You guys break rules together. It pisses both Raph and Donnie.

Texts you memes at 3 AM with 13 emojis alongside.

If you ever speak about a friend he'll get jealous real quick. He'll start interrogating you and makes up his mind to frame them somehow.

He teaches you self-defense yet does everything to ensure he does most of the actual fighting. He's not risking it.

✦Da Hermione Granger but in Purple✦

Builds you a protective shell whether you like it or not. You will wear it at all times other than sleeping. Oh did I mention there's a camera on the back side?

I know siblings aren't supposed to have favorites but Donnie will have a personal beef meter with Leo. (Right? I'm an only child so idk)

"I'm the favorite. Why else would they come to me every day? Leo, you stand nothing against me."

Tries to teach you about his tech, not only because it's his special interest but so he can brag he's the better parental-brother (oh and favorites).

Loves playing video games with you.

If he doesn't like certain media on your phone/devices he'll eliminate them. Including some of the memes Leo sent.

Shares his playlist like it's the last thing on earth to do.

If you like an interest in something and he notices it he'll buy/invent stuff.

✦Mi Left Gripper✦

Aww, it's your twin. Welp time to activate clingy af.

He whines if he isn't in the same room as you, to the point Raph and Leo have to pry him off.

Loves cooking your favorite meals! It's his way of showing that he loves you so much and that everybody else should burn away.

Draws you a lot too. If you're an artist he likes exchanging art styles, portraits, anything really.

Freaks the fuck out if sees even the slightest inconvenience in front of you.

"OMIGOSH! YOU STUBBED YOUR TOE! DONNIE, EMERGENCY CALL!"

Do you like fashion? If so, please exchange outfits with him so he can take the clothing to his secret shrine of his adorable twin!

Will jump on top of you to wake you up.

✦All✦

No leaving the lair without a trusted member of the family.

Friends can only be friends after background checks and approval.

Daily head pats are a must.

——————————————————

That was really on crack ok. Do you guys like the names I chose? I used all my brain cells for "Mi Left Gripper".

- Celina

[dingergum]

(Characters are from @canisalbus)

Something very different from what i usually draw and from my last Vaschete fanart. I love those guys so i really wanted to make more fanart, but i didn't know what to draw exactly.

Here, i tried to paint Machete, Vasco and Smollchete in the style of the character portraits in Disco Elysium. I don't think i quite achieved that effect, but i still liked the end results.

Smollchete is further away from the usual character portraits in DE, but it was on purpose because i wanted to emphasize how he's just a little guy. And the little guy gets smaller and smaller...

In retrospective (because i finished this art a few days ago) Disco Elysium's style of painting doesn't really seem to mix the colors, which i did a lot here, specially on Machete. Also not a lot of gradients like i did on Vasco. They also shade with much more wild and different colors.

I'm going to put all the rest of my madman ramblings below. It's long and your mileage may vary if you played Disco Elysium or not (no spoilers tho.)

---

Okay, so... As i had the idea of making these disco elysium style portraits but with the gay catholic dogs, i had just beaten Disco Elysium. And so, as i was doing my things in my day to day life, waiting for the opportunity to actually draw them, i kept thinking about skill interactions with the boys, like if your main character talked to them and had enough points in the skill.

Things like Half-light identifying Machete as a brutal and hardened survivor just by looking at his eyes, but Physical Instrument doesn't believe that because Machete looks like just a spindly noodle. And Half-light would be like no bro, trust me, this guy is hardcore.

Shivers or Spirit-de-Corps would tell you how Machete is treated among his fellow bishops and how he's either vilified or seen as a tool. And at that Inland Empire would pipe in saying “He is treasured. But not here.” because yeah we love him. Despite almost everyone in his world hating his guts

Also yeah Reaction Speed clocking Machete as super paranoid. Specially considering maybe in this universe you'd be investigating one of his assassination attempts or maybe even something sinister that Machete had done.

Reaction Speed: “His eyes dart across the room, checking if you have any backup. Then, a twitch of the ear, followed by a sideways glance." Logic: "He is making sure he isn't being flanked.” Inland Empire: “But he's all alone...”

I also feel like Rhetoric would have a field day with Machete. Like, finally, a worthy opponent.

Empathy would get the feeling that despite his reputation, that there is someone else behind Machete's bug eyes, someone other than Machete, the pale eminence. If you have enough points in a skill, it would try to pipe in saying who they think it is, judging Machete (e.g: Authority: "A man superior to you."; Pain Threshold: "It's just sweet pain all the way to the bone."; Half-Light: "A survivor."; Encyclopedia: "The inside lining of the eye is covered by special light-sensing cells that are collectively called the retina. It converts light into electrical impulses. Behind the eye, your optic nerve carries these impulses to the brain. The macula is a small extra-sensitive area in the retina that gives you central vision.") concluding with Drama: "No one he'd want you to know, sire."

That would trigger a dialogue option for an Empathy white check to try and see who's actually behind Machete's eyes and see beyond his reputation and demeanor. I'd imagine you would get a +2 if you talked to Vasco before. And if you pass the check, the screen would go white and Machete's model and portrait would change to Smollchete and you'd be able talk to him for a moment, the little guy, and learn a little bit more about his backstory, stuff that he hides behind the Machete persona. That's why i painted Smollchete too. I don't think Empathy has this same kind of metaphysical effect like others skill in-game, but i thought it would be cool.

Talking to Vasco for the first time would just straight up heal you 1 morale. No skill check necessary. Here, have some free morale.

Your Encyclopedia would recognize his coat of arms and maybe deduce that Vasco is a diplomat or a politician. Then your Composure would tell you straighten your posture and put up your serious face, Suggestion would tell you to flatter him while adressing him strictly formally, but the two of them would be thrown off-kilter as Vasco starts acting very casual and down-to-earth. Maybe Authority would judge his attitude to be unfitting of someone in such position. Idk. This is all random ramblings that were bouncing in my head that i needed to let out.

Hope this isn't too weird, i just had a lot of time between having the idea to draw this and actually sitting down to draw it, so these ideas were just popping up in my head. I wish i could've just put those in the tags, but it waaaay exceeds the tag limit.

[jsuika]

JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG AND I LOVE YOUR ART!!!!

Your line art is so smooth and the colors too! How are u underrated

Thanks :]]

Actually I remember doing thick linearts before to make it look like y2k bubbly styled and I was thinking of going back again since I wanted to make logos or icons like this one:

These ig were just a lil practice if someday I'll be making one (or more of these). Also this is just an example btw, these are artist-made game icons. Imo, if it were me to be commissioned to design one or if I was assigned by a game dev, then most likely its gonna look like something that y'all won't know who did that thing lol.

Besides, I'm pretty sure a lot of people were inspired by my artstyle. 😭 Also in case you guys don't know what these are, I'll show you guys mine. (NOTE: You can still check on archive, I don't mind though-)

Examples of my artworks with thick lineart:

The first one was Hatsune Miku fanart

I kinda remember drawing this back in the day since 2023, the sketch version (on my other sketchpad) was discontinued. Supposed to finish it but, sadly I gave up because the hair was something that reminded me of an Inkling from Splatoon (rarely I noticed the first miku fanart also reminded me too lmao).

I wish I'd do this again hopefully if I could use my artstyle, then yeah. Watch here if you want to see the speedpaint :3 : https://youtu.be/sRE3-snDGkM?si=op3tISbGFTjLCcdB

Next one is Bomb Rush Cyberfunk fanart

Okay LISTEN, I may not be good at anatomy but might as well tried especially RED's head. For the BG, I only duplicated the character + added a screenshot/fakescreenshot/whatever, to make it look related to both y2k & frutiger aero (same applies to Hatsune Miku).

Nothing to say much but I've been thinking of making more character concept arts in the future & maybe work on shoes since they look a bit too complicated much.

Overall, I'd say it isn't bad. I'll just leave as it is for now (until some BRC fan shows up and sees this).

Last but not the least, my very first artist-made album cover

I remembered drawing this for future use if I ever find a music composer either if they can do DnB, game soundtrack or whatever but it slightly depends on them. Also shout out to Lxchee Music! They're the ones who compose music like these. They even commented on my speedpaint video!!! (after using their songs lol).

Such a shame that I am limited to drawing only however, I wish I also was a composer of this whooooooole album then everyone's gonna listen to my bangers. One time I used to make music in Beepbox.co (a website where you can compose there).

There are some music-composing softwares that most people use for their game making & also songs. I wish I'd even use FL studio or other music-composing. Reminds me, I also have one friend who makes music (unrelated to dnb or any genre) using accordian & any other instruments that he uses. I swear, he is so good in composing Nintendo Orchestra-music related I can tell.

Conclusion

No worries though, I didn't say I hate using thick lineart but its sometimes too much for the anatomy still and might not fit pretty well. I can still do another one hopefully just to focus on more y2k aesthetic. But if it were me to learn anatomy, might as well use thin lineart and just increase to make it look like there is perspective on it.

Anyways, ig this might be a long one but I do hope you understand what I mean-

[wasyago]

Hey it's me again lmao You were wondering what specifically I was struggling with and I had to kinda take a moment to think about it, these are some of the examples I have digitally (there are a lot more traditional examples but I felt bad putting them on here already lmao). The reason I suppose I struggled to articulate my issues with drawing him kinda just boiled down to "it doesn't look right" I'd say my biggest struggles are the face shape, hair and just proportions of everything. Sorry if this is a bother, you don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but thank you for taking the time to understand in my last ask.

hehehe don't worry its not a bother, i love analyzing art so this is basically enrichment for me >:3!!

(a little disclaimer that all im saying will be from my perspective and according to my preferences in designs. its pretty obvious since you're asking me, but i feel like it needs to be said. also im sorry if im too harsh with anything)

face shapes can definitely be tricky, because even the slightest changes are super visible... you (in these drawings) tend to draw longer faces and define the jaw and chin. it might be worth it to try and bring out the cheeks or cheekbones a little. cheeks add roundness to the face and take some of the attention from the chin. cheekbones make the face feel more defined and sharp.

also try to leave some space between the eyes and the hairline, so they don't go over each other and have some space for expression. im not directly saying to draw a bigger forehead, because its really up to your style if the eyebrows sit where they should anatomically be or if they're more cartoony and go up higher, so there might be a lot of space that isn't actually considered a "forehead".

i really like the nose shape you draw for him, this sort of "v" shape, its super cute and looks interesting! so im not touching it, i like it.

another thing, you draw the guidelines for the face, like the lines that go through the middle vertically and horizontally, and its really good and helpful! but remember that those are just guidelines, they don't define the face, and sometimes they can be more constricting than helping. sometimes the face features go below or above them or shift because of perspective! not saying to completely not use them, especially if you're not feeling confident, but lowering the opacity on them or making them thinner would help!

and somewhat relating to the guidelines: you know how you draw the corners of his eyes on this middle line, but then the upper and lower eyelids go around it? this makes the eyes feel much higher on the face than they are. the inner corners of the eyes i would call one of the more charismatic parts, because they feel like the place where the eye starts, and then the direction the eyelids take is what brings in the character.. if that makes sence? by having both the inner and the outer corners of the eye on the same line, it removes the character, because none of the corners are dominant and they're not dynamic. by making one of the corners higher or lower than the other, it creates a more dynamic shape. and also removes the problem where the eyes feel like they're too close. this really is much easier to explain in a drawing....

sorry im on my phone rn

for the hair i think you're doing well! just remember to leave some space for the back of the head and above the hairline, because the face sits on the head but it's not the head itself, so there should be some area around it too. and also that hair have weight and volume and they go over the shape of the head and don't stick to it.

also don't foget to leave room for the neck! there's space between it and the chin, and there's space between it and the back of the head. and head doesn't have to sit directly in the middle of the neck, it can move from side to side and create interesting shapes depending on the angle.

and i guess yeah! experiment with shapes, sizes and dimensions, if something is wrong you can always erase it and draw again!

[twoidiotwriters1]

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: I'm tired of getting sick every month before getting my period why does God hate women -Danny Words: 2,621 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Smoke And Mirrors' -by Imagine Dragons

LIII: Ask Me Again When I'm Mentally Stable

Letting Percy and Leo go together on a mission without her supervision gives her so much anxiety. Her boyfriend and her brother get along, Percy hasn't said much, but he's probably going to support Leo's idea because he's insane like that. Loyalty is his fatal flaw and everything... 

Ara can't relate, she does what she can to help her friends, yes, but at the same time, when the strain of holding onto someone isn't worth it, she relaxes her grip. Leo used to be like that: escaping foster homes, keeping everyone at arm's length—it was only when Ara showed up that he started to have trouble letting go.

"Stop," Jason captures her hand and pulls it away from her forehead. "You'll end up drawing blood."

"I'm anxious and there's nothing to fix..." She glances at the smoke rising from his injury. "Unless I count you as one of my broken toys. Juno said the wound affects your spirit—if you let me try my empath touch..."

"I have to heal myself."

"And you decide to take it as some test?" Ara raises a brow. "Gods, will you ever stop being so Roman?"

Jason smiles. "I think that's literally the problem."

"Ah, so this is another identity crisis?" Ara crosses her arms. "You go through those way too often."

"You and Leo are insufferable," Jason rolls his eyes. "You push people's buttons so we focus on being angry at you instead of your problems."

"Listen, ever since Rome was founded you guys have desperately tried to be like us, so in my opinion, you're the most Roman fella that's ever lived in the last century, I don't see what the fuss is about."

"You're the youngest child of Olympus that's ever existed, the youngest General, and that makes you twice as scary. I know it's easier said than done, but you should follow Eros's advice and—"

"You're currently dying and you're trying to tell me how to live?"

Jason doesn't yield. "You taught me that no one but me gets to decide who I am—you declared yourself daughter of Olympus, so why are you acting like Leo won't make it? Now it's not the time to question willpower."

Ara and Jason hold a staring competition, but Jason's got that stupid wolfish glare, so she can't outdo him. She turns and faces the skyline before her.

"When it was just my life I was handling, it was easy to say that stuff. But I found out stubbornness has messed up multiple lifetimes... Leo's life is on the line, I can't lie just to make myself feel better."

"Who says it's a lie?"

"I can't hold the curse to my way of perceiving the world," she says irritatedly. "Leo's idea is very romantic, but he's not considering the effort it'll take to defeat Gaea, he's underestimating the situation."

"Leo is smarter than that," Jason reasons. "And you know that."

Ara groans. "Wits are nothing if you have nowhere to put them. He doesn't have a solid plan, and the curse is clear: He can't save himself."

"Yeah, and he's not trying to," Jason replies. "He's going to save Calypso and you instead."

Ara hears a thump followed by muffled screams at the other end of the trireme. "Stay here."

"Did you tell Leo about our fighting style?" Percy asks while Frank and Leo take Nike downstairs.

"What?"

"When we were about to fight he said 'I distract, you attack'."

Ara starts going downstairs to look at the goddess. "It doesn't surprise me. Leo's always been more comfortable being a distraction."

Percy follows her. "You two are more similar than I thought. Or he's really similar to who you used to be—"

"Yeah, yeah, I've changed," Ara says grumpily. "Save it."

"No—wait," Percy catches her wrist and stops her. "You have changed, and I thought it was something bad, but not anymore."

"What is your point, Percy?" She presses.

"You grew up," he continues. "And it sucks that I couldn't be there to help you, but it had to be this way. After Bianca, I didn't want you out of sight," his hand remains around her wrist, and Ara can feel his angst. "When Beckendorf died, I thought you hated me, and then Mike died and I... I thought you wanted to get away from me. I got scared and confused, but while I was in Tartarus—"

"You don't have to talk about it—"

"While I was in Tartarus," he insists. "We ran into a herd of arai. The more we slayed, the more curses fell upon me and Annabeth, it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life, but what they say about you in camp, they don't know what they're talking about. You're powerful and resourceful, and they're afraid of that. I was too, but that doesn't make you bad. I'm sorry."

Ara pouts and pulls Percy into a tight hug. "Thank you."

"I want you to be safe," he says, voice muffled by the hug. "I know it's absurd, but you're my little sister. If something bad ever happened to you..."

"I'm sorry too. I knew you loved me, but there was a second voice telling me I didn't matter and I was jealous of how things were just given to you, even if I knew they came at a high price..."

"We used to tell each other everything," he looks down at her. "What happened?"

Ara ponders his question. "You can make mistakes, but in front of your family?" Ara swallows the lump in her throat. "It's like twisting a blade in your gut. We stepped out so we wouldn't bleed in front of each other."

Leo's voice comes from downstairs. "Sunshine, come meet our new buddy!"

Percy clears his throat. "You should go... You and Leo should talk to her."

"You gagged a goddess."

"What you're trying to say is 'Oh my gods, thank you so much for bringing Nike so she can help my hot boyfriend!'," Leo says tauntingly.

"Oh my gods, you guys, thank you for disrespecting another goddess!" Ara replies sarcastically. "Can someone explain the gag?"

"She threatened to curse us," Frank shrugs. "Considering three out of the four people present were already dealing with curses, we decided not to risk it."

Ara crouches next to the goddess. "Lady Nike, I'll take off the gag if you promise not to curse us, yes?"

"Wait," Leo stops her. "Before you do that, there's something you should know."

Ara pulls her hand back and scowls. "What is it? Is her spit deadly or something?"

"She said one of us has to die to defeat Gaea, that it's destined to be that way," Frank says tensely. "Leo believes it's him and... at this point, it makes sense."

"She also said there's a way to defeat death," Leo's eyes are shining. "The Physician's Cure. Ever heard of it?"

Nothing comes to mind. Ara shakes her head. "Is she willing to share more on that?"

"Well, she mentioned a few things—poison, a god's heartbeat, and the curse of Delos..."

Ara raises a brow. "That's where Artemis and Apollo were born." Leo smirks, pleased with how things are lining up to match his plan. "Don't look so proud, the goddess of victory just said you're a prescribed loser."

"I wear the title as a badge of honor," Leo looks at Nike and nods. "Alright, take the gag off."

"I'll gather the others," Frank tells them. "Let's hold a meeting in an hour? So you can tell us what Nike said."

"Yeah, big guy—thank you," Leo pats his shoulder amicably.

"Stop thanking us, we're planning your death," Frank scolds him.

 Ara waves him off. "Don't waste your breath, he enjoys being a martyr."

"You bet I do! Finally, people give me the prince treatment I deserve!"

"Get out of here before you become a murder witness," Ara warns Frank.

"My eyes are closed, General," Frank turns and leaves the stables.

The girl seizes a corner of the tape over the goddess's mouth. "If you place a curse on us, I'll dismantle your wings and use them to rebuild my bronze dragon. Got it?"

The goddess nods, and so Ara removes the tape. Nike complains dramatically, but she doesn't curse them, mostly because she's too busy staring at Ara with hungry eyes. "Daughter of Olympus," the words are like honey in her mouth. "My Greek champion, I'll grant you answers."

"Thank you," Ara says politely. "Tell me about the Physician's Cure."

Nike responds heatedly. "It's a cheap trick. People who die are losers, they shouldn't get a second chance."

"Understandable," she continues patiently. "But you told them that to defeat Gaea, Leo must die. If he dies, then Leo would've won, right? He'd have a right to a reward."

Nike ponders. "Well..."

"Without Leo's death, there would be no victory," Ara continues with charmspeak. "He deserves to come back. It's a big war—bigger than the one my brother and I fought against Kronos. Wouldn't you like to have another Greek champion?"

"That would be nice..." Nike's eyes glisten with longing. 

"Wouldn't that be the ultimate victory, defeating death?"

"Maybe," the goddess's eye twitches. "Yes."

"We'll get you that milestone," Ara says earnestly.

Nike stares at Leo like she can't wait to carve him into the perfect shape. "You'll be my new champion, Leo Valdez?"

"Absolutely," he smiles confidently. "I was born to win."

The minute her consciousness slips into dreamland, Nico Di Angelo pops into view and grabs her shoulder. "You should see this." Ara gets yanked into his dream, standing in the middle of the rec room. "This is from the latest meeting," Nico glares at the teenagers. "You'll love it."

"...Something's wrong."

Jake Mason clears his throat. "Probably this Roman dirt-wipe who's leading the attack—Octavian what's-his-name. If I was Apollo and my descendant was acting that way, I'd go into hiding out of shame."

"I agree," Will sighs. "I wish I was a better archer... I wouldn't mind shooting my Roman relative off his high horse. Actually, I wish I could use any of my father's gifts to stop this war... Unfortunately, I'm just a healer."

"Your talents are essential," Chiron tells him. "I fear we'll need them soon enough. As for seeing the future... what about the harpy Ella? Has she offered any advice from the Sibylline Books?"

"The poor thing is scared out of her wits," Rachel makes a face. "Harpies hate being imprisoned. Ever since the Romans surrounded us... well, she feels trapped. She knows Octavian means to capture her. It's all Tyson and I can do to keep her from flying away."

"Which would be suicide." Butch, son of Iris, grumbles. "With those Roman eagles in the air, flying isn't safe. I've already lost two pegasi."

"At least Tyson brought some of his Cyclops friends to help out," Rachel offers. "That's a little good news."

"A dozen full-grown Cyclopes? That's a lot of good news!" Connor laughs, he's seated next to Lily. "Plus, Lou Ellen and the Hecate kids have been putting up magic barriers, and the whole Hermes cabin has been lining the hills with traps and snares and all kinds of nice surprises for the Romans!"

Jake glares at him. "Most of which you stole from Bunker Nine and the Hephaestus cabin."

"They even stole the landmines from around the Ares cabin," Clarisse complains. "How do you steal live landmines?"

"We commandeered them for the war effort." Connor eats a handful of salt crackers, probably stolen from Jake's secret stash too. "You guys have plenty of toys, you can share! Ara would want you to."

That shuts up Jake and Clarisse. Chiron takes advantage of it. "Grover? What news from the nature spirits?"

"Even on a good day, it's hard to organize nymphs and dryads," Grover looks exhausted. "With Gaia stirring, they're almost as disoriented as the gods. Katie and Miranda from the Demeter cabin are out there right now trying to help, but if the Earth Mother wakes... Well, I can't promise the woods will be safe. Or the hills. Or the strawberry fields. Or—"

"Great." Jake looks at Clovis and shakes him a bit when he starts to close his eyes. "So what do we do?"

"Attack!" Clarisse says, making everyone jump. "The Romans are getting more reinforcements by the day. We know they plan to invade on August first. Why should we let them set the timetable? I can only guess they're waiting to gather more forces. They already outnumber us. We should attack now, before they get any stronger; take the fight to them!"

Lily looks at her brother, asking him to speak as the Athena counselor. "Clarisse, I get your point. But have you studied Roman engineering? Their temporary camp is better defended than Camp Half-Blood. Attack them at their base, and we'd be massacred."

"So we just wait? Let them get all their forces prepared while Gaia gets closer to waking? I have Coach Hedge's pregnant wife under my protection. I am not going to let anything happen to her. I owe Hedge my life. Besides, I've been training the campers more than you have, Malcolm. Their morale is low. Everybody is scared. If we're under siege another nine days—"

"We should stick to Annabeth's plan." Connor tries to control Clarisse's frustration. "We have to hold out until she gets that magic Athena statue back here."

"You mean if that Roman praetor gets the statue back here," Clarisse scoffs. "I don't understand what Annabeth was thinking, collaborating with the enemy. Even if the Roman manages to bring us the statue—which is impossible—we're supposed to trust that will bring peace? The statue arrives and suddenly the Romans lay down their weapons and start dancing around, throwing flowers? Ara once gave me crap for not standing on business, and I won't disappoint her a second time."

"Don't hold onto the stuff she said before becoming a General," Lily speaks at last. "We haven't heard from her in a month—"

"Are you suggesting we listen to you?" Clarisse snaps. "For that to happen, you'd need to speak up, Saggio."

Lily's cheeks flush. "Well, isn't that what I'm doing? I know none of you believe Ara is the camp's curse, but I also know some of you are blinded by your personal history with her—"

"Mostly you..." Jake mumbles.

Lily's voice gets a little drier. "I might've argued with Ara but I'm still second in command. I think it nonsensical to consider what she'd do when she's not here—she won't be here on time to deal with this, so we should be thinking for ourselves. I agree with Clarisse, that statue might not fix things..."

She looks at the older girl, Lily is one of the few people Clarisse treats like a fighter of her range, which sometimes can be funny, considering Lily barely reaches her shoulder.

"But we won't attack. Throwing the first punch is never a good idea, and Romans are A-class bullies who know fear is the best tool for prompt subjugation, don't let them trick you into digging our grave."

Clarisse scrutinizes Lily as if searching for the best area to stab her, but eventually, she gives in. "Birdy and I go a long way back, I do not want to fail her like I failed her sister... If you think this is the way..."

Rachel leans forward. "Annabeth and Ara know what they're doing. We have to try for peace. Unless we can unite the Greeks and Romans, the gods won't be healed. Unless the gods are healed, there's no way we can kill the giants. And unless we kill the giants—"

"Gaia wakes," Connor makes a face. "Game over. Look, Clarisse, Annabeth sent me a message from Tartarus. From fricking Tartarus. Anybody who can do that... hey, I listen to them."

"And let's not forget that in Lily's latest dream, Ara was fighting three immortals at once—and she was winning," Jake raises a brow. "If stalling gives her time to come back and end this, then heck, I'm nothing but stale."

Lily frowns. "That's... not the best analogy, but thank you, Jake." The girl shows him a brief smile that doesn't go unnoticed by Connor, who glares at Jake as he stuffs more salt crackers in his mouth.

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

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[bright-and-burning]

okay yeah i didn't know that there's the different ai stuff and that this is generative ai BUT GOD AM I HAPPY to see that you know the difference between ai and ml like !!! this is not ai !!! it's such a trend now and it's so wrong and so frustrating beyond the, in this case, misogynistic aspects of it. like this is not ai !! but that sounds catchy and URGH so frustrating. okay that's all i love ur additional tags thank u xoxo

yeah!! i did my undergrad degree focused on this kind of stuff (and dropped out of doing a phd in it at the last minute) so it's Literally my roman empire. like. i took so many courses in this and THEN it blew up right at the end of my degree and the misinformation........ chatgpt getting massive my senior year of college made me soooo mad i legit started to resent my field. like this particular use is particularly egregious (why hire a woman in an area severely lacking in women when we can rampantly misuse important computational and REAL LIFE resources to create a fake woman to "talk" abt SUSTAINABILITY!!!) but in general i am like constantly infuriated by AI bullshit from a lot of different sides bc Everyone overestimates/glorifies it/turns it into something it isn't, essentially. (rant abt AI from an AI perspective under the cut that idk might be informative or interesting LOL. i tried not to get technical but i did get mad)

generative ai drives me BONKERS bc it's literally not artificial intelligence. chatgpt is NOT AI it's fucking glorified predictive chat and all the dumbass tech bros on linkedin and twitter who hail it as like world changing infuriate me lol. like chatgpt literally works by calculating the word with the highest probability to come next in the sentence/in response to that prompt based on the data it trained on. is that super impressive ignoring the real world stuff going on? yeah!! it is! it's doing really well and it's fascinating in an academic sense. but then you put it in the real world context, where dumbass tech bros and business leaders worship it as god and where SEO morons use it to turn the internet to sludge and it's like oh god WHY.

and the ai art bullshit oh my god. ok i took a machine vision class right. and like literally one of my projects was to write code that could take in a photo and output it in the "style" of another photo. like as the cs version of a creative exercise, basically (they give u a Lot of projects that are basically write ur own version of an algorithm that's already been written more efficiently by someone else, bc that's how you can kind of pick it apart and really understand it, it's like reverse engineering) to show us how that works. (photos from that project are below; i took the cactus photo and then i "combined" it with a monet. i am STAUNCHLY anti-ai "art" btw this was Lich rally an assignment lol). but do you know what i learned (and what my whole class learned)? it's not fucking magic. it's LINEAR ALGEBRA. it's linear algebra on a truly batshit crazy level, combined with some crazy optical physics equations, but it's literally math. technically speaking, if you had infinite time, and were really insanely good at math (and really really perfect abt not making mistakes), you could do it by hand lol.

ai art from prompts? that's just turning words into numbers (not hard!! i did a project that did that in my second year of undergrad in literally 6hrs!!!) and THEN doing some crazy math and turning numbers into PIXELS! the computer does not know what is going on. it is a FANCY CALCULATOR. WHEN U THINK ABT IT LIKE THAT ASSIGNING HUMAN TRAITS TO MATH IS INSANE.

like tech bros who are like bro chatgpt is aliveeee bc they talk to it is like. if i made my high school graphing calculator draw a smiley face and then was like omg it has emotions......

anyways. like do you know how many projects ive worked on that use AI/ML for GOOD??? like. same kind of techniques that ppl use to create generative ai "art" algorithms? used to do things like detect cancer in scans before human doctors can do it with any confidence. isn't that so fucking cool???? i interviewed w a professor who used machine vision (so literally the field that is now seen as being abt ai art) to figure out what nutritional/vitamin deficiencies ppl in remote villages in madagascar are likely to have based on SATELLITE IMAGERY. so that the overworked underfunded public health ministry could more easily meet their needs without necessarily having to do expensive testing on everyone! i mean, shit, i've worked on really cool sports analytics projects using machine vision. that's not exactly saving lives lol but like. just goes to show how many positive applications there are!

in terms of chatgpt vibes like. i've worked on natural language processing! it has so much more potential than spitting out misinformation!! silly projects for classes, like classifying what political party a politician belonged to based on their tweets, but also more serious stuff in the research i did, like analyzing international public opinion by demographic and country on various conflicts based on individuals' social media posts! analyzing covid vaccine opinions based on demographics, and how to encourage vaccination rates based on that!!

idk it's just. infuriating. that ceos and dumbass business majors (sorry to business majors but i have met a Very Specific Type who like to butt into my field and i am Not A Fan) have completely twisted these really and truly interesting projects and applications. to continually make more money and to cut out/replace more and more people. and the way funding has mirrored this kind of interest, in part bc it makes money (the remote villages nutrition thing is never gonna make money. working on chatgpt on the other hand...) and in part bc of like. basically fear-mongering? you get so much more attention for research in these really dramatized fields (and people lie ALL THE TIMMEEEEEEE to get more interest) and it's all CAP. it's BULLSHIT. and it's just to create buzz for big tech companies' bottom lines. they don't care that it's fear based, or whatever. like people being terrified abt the impact of generative ai bc of bullshit headlines and disinformation HELPS THEM make MORE MONEY. and it's so FUCKING STUPID!!!! it makes me SICK!!!!!!

anyways. it's all math, at the end of the day. and i found a job where i get to use it to help people but i still am like deeply grossed out by what comes out of my field and gets popular bc . i got into this bc i loooove data i love information i love finding things out. and i love using those things to help people... and there are ppl using the things i love to hurt people......... it makes me so sad. and mad.

[yippee-boi09]

This is a vent and (actually) my last post on this subject (the following links are for context)

Post 1

Post 2

I know I've said in two different posts now (and a whole few asks) that I'm leaving the fandom and I'm tired of it but I've never specified why nor have I left it alone. These two posts from a while ago are a few examples of the red flags I've seen with yfm and RWJ. Post 1 talks about a theory that Ray faked his "first drawings" of Puff and DeeJay. Yeah. Pretty crazy, right? I looked through it but it made points too good to ignore, the papers shown in video are in too good of a condition to look like 12-14 year old drawings, and then the same video shows the drawing altered to have DeeJay next to him??? Weird...

This really didn't surprise me when I saw it, Ray's been extremely disingenuous with what he says bout yfm, he said Puff is a separate character and that animators got it wrong when in reality he was always meant to be a representation of him until yfm entered gen 1.5

Specified in one of his =3 videos (couldn't find it), Ray himself says (That Puff) it's him, the yfm channel (if you go back) even lists a RWJ collab as yfm and it's crazy as shit... he's been a liar this whole time about these things...

Another thing is the fact he striked down a whole YouTube channel (in post 2) and I can only assume it was because it had clips of yfm lost media and the one Dispensary girl fan animation. Oh yeah that got striken down a long time ago. I had to use the wayback machine to watch it and it's so awesome. Ray also took down a buncha lost media (announcement vids, mentions of the canceled album, just stuff that isn't on the channel) and somehow gets everyone to hush about it.

Ray also collaborated with Dhar Mann. We all ignored it for some reason but he spent time and effort, collaborating with the same man who makes his actors take up 70 different roles in daily videos end up barely affording rent and making their work space a living hell. And the ONLY REASON HE STOPPED, was because he managed to make the internet talk about him in a bad way.

Along with collaborating with shady people, he also... doesn't take criticism well... he deletes any comments on his vids about how he should improve and ignores any criticism. And it's not just on the yfm channel or his... it's EVERYWHERE. I don't think he didn't see the criticism received for gen 2 (I don't mind it but I hate how Axel got the Knuckles treatment) hell, he actively JOKES about the fandom freaking out about art style changes. He KNOWS the criticism he received but he never took it to face value... he laughed in our face and distracted us with Puff's relationship issues because it's the most character we've received in 12 years.

The fandom creates the characters for Ray at this point. They put in the effort to make the characters and give them quirks while Ray just plops him next to Wax and makes them rap about money or something...

Idk I've been on a tangent, I made this post because I found out not a lot of people know this stuff (it was one convo but I decided to just share the info I know to more people)