#some random chibi practice

[yumeka-sxf]

Spy x Family workbook scans - part 1

The Spy x Family workbooks are a series of Japanese books for helping children learn. There are three total as of now: one for English, one for programming, and one for drawing. I wanted to get the books not just because they're good Japanese practice, but because they feature original illustrations of Anya and the other SxF characters in adorable chibi style ❤️ I'll be sharing some scans from each book, starting with the English one.

First off are the character bios. I find it hilarious that the book mentions Yor's job as an assassin...not a word I'd expect to find in a children's book 😅

The book goes through the different letters of the English alphabet along with sample words featuring the SxF characters, like "B" for "Bond" and "A" for "Anya." I didn't scan all 26 letters, but here are some of my favorites!

Both Loid and Damian are having such lavish meals, lol. Also Henderson gets "E" for "elegant" of course.

I love how Bond looks so worried about Yor's cooking 😂

My two favorites of these, "Father" and "Mother" of course~

And two of the weirdest ones, Yuri and a giant gorilla for "G" and Franky fishing an octopus for "O." Kinda random, lol.

Next are some activity pages, like a maze and common phrase practice.

I gotta say that despite this book being aimed at young children who probably aren't hardcore SxF fans, it tries to feature even obscure characters like the Forgers' neighbors, the lady from the tailor shop, and Martha. Kudos to the book authors for trying to be as faithful to the SxF universe as possible!

The book even adapts a couple of already established illustrations, like the below one that's similar to the Boss Coffee collab.

Also this one that's similar to the extra Endo illustration for chapter 36!

And here's a couple more to wrap up this post! Cute family dinner time...

...and domestic Twiyor ❤️ Loid is so determined to fix Penguinman!

Continue to Part 2 ->

[meltedmush]

how long does it take you to draw your sketches/doodles? also do you have any tips to draw faster? 🙇‍♀️

I generally take 30 - 60 minutes a sketch,,,, but honestly really depends on how detailed it is.

Like a Chibi will be done in 20 - 25 minutes (Counting in the extra time I spend on minute details like a perfectionist 😭)

I for some reason really like spending egregious amounts of time on random objects too??? Unless it’s the in the background, I’ll spend 40 minutes refining it.

Random characters that are fully colored and rendered with take like 80 minutes.

The comics take usually take an hour or two per page. (If I decide to cross hatch it, my entire day will be gone with 4 pages… so I’ve been trying to find shortcuts. But not without sacrificing the quality for time lol)

I don’t think there’s any trick or magic to drawing faster. It’s really about weaponizing your artistic knowledge, and finding what’s comfortable or convenient for you!

There was a period of time where I would spend 11 or 12 hours on an illustration, and it wASS UGLYYYYY. (Some of these artworks are still available on my tumblr,,, but it’s SO LONG AGO, AND IT WAS MY 1ST OR 2ND YEAR GETTING INTO DIGITAL ART)

Overtime I learned what worked best for me, and practiced till I felt more comfortable with what I was drawing. Eventually I managed to shorten the time to 4 hours or less! Ambition was my biggest enemy but at the same time my biggest motivator. (And it still is LMFAO) 😭

EDIT (bit more to my way too long tangent): ALSO??? BRO DON’T BE AFRAID TO USE YOUR MESSY SKETCH AS LINEART OR DRAW ON TOP OF IT. I’VE DONE IT FOR YEARS NOW AND IT ADDS SUCH A GOOD EXTRA BIT OF TEXTURE,, AT THIS POINT I DON’T EVEN USE LINE-ART ANY MORE UNLESS IT’S A COMMISSION,, (IT’LL ADD LIKE AN 2-4 HOURS TO MY WORK)

[det2x-fanfic-dump]

SELF AWARE AU WHERE CHARACTERS ENTERED YOUR ROOM FILLED WITH MERCH

This is mostly a friendly rant or share of my random thoughts but I've been seeing self aware AU's and maybe webtoons/ stories, reverse isekais where character A from a fictional world wakes up in your world, spawns in your room, meets you and fell in love with you.

But hope you enjoy!

---

Let's say, character A woke up in your room, in your bed and this character...let's say a character in which their world that deals with magic...(for example twisted wonderland)

Let's say Ace Trappola wakes up in your room alone, you're not in your room yet. He found himself lying on you bed that is unfamiliar to his.

Warning: The character might be creep out...

Since you are a fan of Twisted Wonderland, you clearly went to conventions and buy their merch. You would have plushies, dakimakuras, basically a shrine of TWST characters in your room.

Your room isn't that creepy where tons of TWST characters are posted on every ceiling and walls...it's just a plain room with a bunch of plushies and figurines in some corner.

SEEING YOUR PLUSHIES:

Ace sees your Ace Trappola Plushie, a plushed toy of his friend, Deuce, and other classmates and schoolmates of his lying on the bed next to him. His initial thoughts are...man...voodoo art?

Different sizes of plushies...different plushies with different clothes...too specific...Ace wondered...is the owner of the room can control him like a puppet in a string? He needs to get out.

SEEING YOUR DAKIMAKURA:

Let's say...you have numbers of dakimakuras...Ace saw himself in some pillow case giving a warm yet seducing gaze with clothes on. It's not bad...Ace considers himself a flirty guy at times so it's not bad...when he flips it around in hoping to see clues.

Boom!

He's blushing and swears where the fudge did that came from.

He saw other dakimakuras of familiar and not familiar faces. He doesn't want to see that.

SEEING YOUR FIGURINES:

He sees your collection of figurines...your collection of Twisted wonderland figurines included as well as other figurines from other animes and fandoms

He suddenly felt embarrassed but slightly creep out like..wow... is he famous or something? There's basically a colored and detailed statue of him, no matter the size.

What does he do to have these exist? He's just a regular troublemaker dude...

Pride befalls him as he snickered seeing both the regular figurines and the chibi ones.

SEEING YOUR COSPLAY:

You're a cosplayer and he's finding a way out. He is exposed to magic pathways and doors or maybe he wanted to open your storage or closet for clues but instead he find your cosplay collection.

He doesn't care of your costumes from different fandoms but he does find it exciting and weird to see a pair of the school uniforms and robes he uses at school. He wonders...from all the things that he saw now...are you stealing from his wardrobe...or anyone of his friends' wardrobe?

Ace saw your little TWST props like the magepen and relief befalls him to things that's familiar to him. He already have his own magepen but as he searches for more, you have a lot of them with different colors...

He wonders...are you a criminal commiting robbery of mage stones?

DISCOVERING FICTION ISN'T REAL

Superstitions and myths, magic and sorcery seems fictional in real life. They are not real and only based on rumors and if there is witchcraft in the real world, it's probably not the same magic that Ace is familiar with the use of wands or some catalysts.

Magic is a figment of just one's imagination and as a fictional character that became real. Ace has no magic now. He panicked for a while, he can be practical without magic but how can he go home.

MEETING YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME

You finally went home or decided to go your room now where the fictional character temporarily resides. As you open the door, you saw that fictional character and your initial thought...someone breaks into your room.

Said fictional character, Ace Trappola, upon first meeting accused you of being a bad person because of the plushies that he assumed voodoo dolls, your TWST cosplay that he assumed the items you stole. etc.

After a conversation, you finally understood each other's situation. However, you still find it weird when he introduced himself. You've read stories of isekai'd protagonists being sent to a different world. It's drawn in anime or manhwa, manhua style so you didn't realized how bizarre it is for a fictional character to have real human features.

You've seen CGI characters but they are still some 2D elements behind it.

In your thoughts, you think he's lying. You have doubts Maybe he's just a dedicated cosplayer who is so into LARPing but you can't embrace the thought of a stranger in your room.

With his permission, you pulled his hair. He's a real ginger head and he's not wearing a wig.

[takeyourcyanide]

This was my first time ever drawing Stein. I’m going to practice anatomy and poses with him, I think. Oh, and also have a very manic and excited chibi Stein. I want to do more with expressions and meaningful pieces with him, as well as the random characters I just happen to draw for fun. There’s a lot of shadow people and eyes. Motifs. I’ve painted some gore-y stuff. I’d like to draw more gore and such.

[megalomari]

turrow wip haul !!

chibis from some other drawings, i really wanna finish this one

random pose and kiss :]

modern au doodle of them meeting.... i have a long convoluted story in my head LOL

oops how did this get here ANYWAY-

sketches from that one meme of sonic and lots of amy plushies... i wanted to color this one in the beginning but idk.......

random practice kiss inside the Pearl (i hate backgrounds)

Warning for cringe and slighlty suggestive in the next one, here's the full 7-ish sketch pages of my scrapped comic!!

The concept was that basically after the third movie, Jack accidentally stumbles into The Dutchman (he's not dead, he's just in the right place at the right time) and Will misses the warmth of being alive (?) and i can't write dialogue and i'm not a comic artist....

I DIDN'T REALIZE I HAD SO MANY??? NMDFMNDF finish something already damn

anyways, some of these might get touched up or never see the light of day again... but who's to say?

[play-rough]

Hello there!

I’m not really sure how to start this, but I’ve been in a bit of a sad mood. A few days ago, some drunk scumbags cursed me out in the street because I’m a practicing Muslim. So, I’ve just been sad; so to cheer myself up I’ve been thinking about the baby Otter. And, if it’s okay, I wanted to share some of my thoughts.

So, this one is a little sad, but I hope this is okay.

I can imagine Dazai forcibly regressing while he’s in hiding, because he’s just so sad and going through withdrawal of his suppressants. He’s curled up into a ball on a cheap motel mattress, hugging his knees to avoid having more body parts than necessary touch the scratchy sheets. His nose is red, fresh tears paint his face, and there’s dried snot everywhere. He’s hugging a bunched up towel, and trying to pretend it’s Fishie giving him a hug.

He needs Chuuya so badly; but Dazai is bad. He left without saying Bye-bye, and that wasn’t kind. He knew Chibi hated when he just left without a word. He’s a bad baby.

He doesn’t deserve to be Chibi’s baby.

Without thinking, he subconsciously dials Chibi’s number off of his most recent burner phone. He just listens to the phone ringing, and starts to drift off; but, then he hears it.

“Hello,” the sound of his Chibi’s voice wakes him from his trance. He rises up, and shouts out a greeting.

“This is Nakahara Chuuya, I’m unable to take your call, but leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.” With that, Dazai breaks down into sobs. Chibi always answered his calls, but Dazai should’ve known better. He’s not Chibi’s baby anymore. He left, and Chuuya hates him.

He sobs out apology after apology, begging Chuuya to understand why he left, and to please forgive him. Eventually, he reaches a limit to how long of a message he can leave, and Dazai drifts off into a painful slumber. When he wakes up, he doesn’t remember much of the night before. He bleaches the motel room, leaves through a window, and chucks his burner phone into a random trash can.

Unbeknownst to him, as he sits on the subway taking him away from Kobe. A very hungover Chuuya wakes up, who stayed out way to late drinking with a new recruit named Tachihara. As he slowly wakes up, and absently drinks a coffee, he checks his phone. Nothing really stands out, except for a voicemail from an unknown number. Chuuya usually just deletes those without listening, but he felt a tug to listen to it anyway.

“Ch-ib-i, it’s me,” even though it had been a year, and the voice is sob filled, Chuuya would always recognize his Baby’s voice.

Chuuya’s heart shatters as he listens to Dazai self deprecate, as he says sorry for not saying Bye-bye to Chibi and Fishie. Calling himself a bad baby, but he was trying to be good. Saying he promised Oda he would be good, and that’s why he had to leave. He sobbed and sobbed, and said how much he missed Chuu and Fishie.

Dazai’s voice his cut off as the voicemail limit has been reached. Chuuya immediately tries calling Dazai back, but the lines been disconnected. Anger fills him, as he chucks his coffee against the wall using tainted. Arahabaki is screaming in his head, that Chuuya must kill those who made their Baby cry.

Chuuya had failed. His Baby had needed him, and Chuuya didn’t pick up the call. He had spent a year thinking that Dazai didn’t want him anymore, and he felt like such an idiot for believing that. Well, no more. Chuuya was going to find his Baby no matter what. He wouldn’t fail again.

Um, I didn’t mean to basically write a whole one shot, and I’m sorry if I’m being a bother. You’re series just brings me so much joy.

I hope you’re having a wonderful day,

-Rosie 🌹

Rosie I am so sorry that happened to you 🩷 thank you so much for sharing this, it was delightful and deliciously angsty 🥺 i hope your day gets better, you’re beautiful and kind and important and people care about you 🩷🩷 fuck those drunk losers

Again this is so beautiful and I really appreciate you sending it my way 🩷

[foervraengd]

Soooooo i got the 2.0 update of clip studio paint so i wanted to try out some of its new features.

One of them is the customizable 3d head model. It’s pretty good but you will have more freedom in the sims 4, i sort of wished there was a randomizer button because that would be a really fun drawing challenge. You cant really make a more fat head with double chins etc, the different sets all have that slim chiseled anime jawline. And some presets like the chibi face or anime face adds some limits to how much you can change the nose. Not perfect but tbh i still think this is a great feature that will help artists to try out new face shapes.

The other new feature i tried out here is the “perceptual mixing” option in the ink tab in brush settings. It essentially makes you blend and mix colors like in Rebelle 5, it imitates the way real pigments behave. This isnt gonna make your colors any better than before, but it will make it easier to follow traditional oil paint tutorials to practice your color theory skills using limited palettes. One such palette is the “Zorn” palette - its the four colors shown in the bottom two screenshots here. We all know that mixing pure black and white is prone to create dull washed out colors. But if you have some skill you can still balance it out, with the new color mixing mode this is now a tad easier. It will make blending for example black and red into a more rich brown shade. The final painting have no post-touch ups etc. I only used these four colors and colorpicked the mixed shades in between them. This was so much fun.

[alienaiver]

Give me your headcanons about Kenma please?

here they are !!!! :3

Songs on his iPod: i think kenma really, really likes OST's mixed in with some mindless pop that can go on repeat in the background when he games alone.

Pokemon Sword and Shield OST - Gym Leader Battle All Time Low - Jon Bellion Amusement Park - Nier:Automata OST

The one place they fall asleep – where they’re not supposed to: ooooh kenma definitely has a terrible habit of doing this as a general quirk of his. IF and only IF there are people he is safe and comfortable around (you, his team, family, hinata) he won't have ANY qualms about snoozing for a second if there's a moment that calls for it. most chaotic moment was during his own hospital visit. he'd hosted a 48-hour livestream and passed the hell out because of course he also didnt eat properly during. the doctor popped out for a moment to check something from a chart, and when he came back, kenma was asleep. it worried the doctor to no end for a second, before he realized the cat-like barely-adult-adult was simply snoozing. you and kuroo apologizes profusely, but the doctor chalks it down to the weird thing he was doing online before he came. assigns rest as medication.

The game they’d destroy everyone else at: there's no doubt that kenma's a class A gamer in every game to exist. the most infuriating one - the one that kuroo HATES that he always wins - is ludo. its a game that runs on pure chance half the time, yet kenma's never lost a single game, not to you or anyone else. hinata's little sister came close one time, though. that made kenma's brow sweat a little.

The emoticon they’d use most often: 👍. its easy during streams, its easy if hes sleepy, its easy if hes busy. it confirms whatever people want from him in a second.

What they act like when they haven’t had enough sleep: practically non-verbal. eyes squinted and barely able to do things required of him. he gropes and grabs at random stuff in his cabinet or fridge to find something edible and his phone is all up in his face. you mostly talk aloud to yourself during those times.

Their preferred hot beverage on really cold nights or mornings: kenma doesn't advertise it a lot, but he loves a good, warm bubble tea with tapioca. it has to be a black tea or he isn't having it.

How they like to comfort/care for themselves in a slump: kenma calls kuroo. slumps are his arch nemesis, the boss battle he cannot handle alone. so back up and support characters are needed.

What they wanted to be when they grew up: im pretty sure kenma achieved exactly what he dreamt of: freedom to play his beloved video games in the capacity that he does.

Their favorite kind of weather: overcast, but not humid or rainy. it's a perfectly acceptable day to stay indoors.

Thoughts on their singing voice: i think kenma is a very nice tenor, but he doesnt have the confidence or skills to really sing from his stomach, so it comes out shallow and off.

How/what they like to draw or doodle: he likes to doodle weapons from his games. the master sword from legend of zelda, cloud's buster sword, and the keyblades from kingdom hearts. it's all a cute, non-detailed chibi style tho, only marking what makes the sword stand out. mostly, hes the only one who can name them all if hes sitting thru a long enough meeting to draw multiple.

send me a character and ill fill out these headcanons

[yyh4ever]

Yu Yu Hakusho x Oshi to Ame Special Collaboration at FavoteriA

The lollipop saga continues. Now, it's cute chibi chara!

This is the second collaboration of the candy brand "Oshi To Ame" (Ouchi de) and Yu Yu Hakusho. This time, it's a Yu Yu Hakusho Café that will take place at FavoteriA, in Ikebukuro. Drinks, Candies and Goods will be available. Some merch from the 1st collab are going to be sold at the cafeteria, and some merch from this event will also be sold on "Ouchi de" at a later date.

I'm impressed by the number of characters from this collab. Practically, the most important characters from all the seasons are here, even some members of the Reikai SDF. Eikichi on the top of Kuwabara's head is too cute.

🔶Official Site (menu): Favoteria

🔶Period: June 30 to July 12, 2023 (it's a short period)

🔶Venue: FavoteriA Ikebukuro

🔶Drinks & Novelty:

🔳DRINK MENU

Price: 750 yen

Yusuke Urameshi

Take this!!! Spirit Gun Drink!!!!!

Blue curacao; Sprite; Vanilla Ice-cream; Crackling candy

Kazuma Kuwabara

Come on, Spirit Sword!! Drink (Sour!)

Lemonade; Lemon; Chervil

Kurama Drink

Rose Whip Drink

Milk; Strawberry Yogurt; Whipped Cream; Dried Raspberries; Rosemary

Hiei

Jaou Ensatsu Black Sesame Milk (Sesame Milk of the Darkness Flame)

Black sesame sauce; Black sesame milk; Whipped cream; Black cocoa powder

Youko Kurama Drink

Bad-tempered Demon World Ojigi Plant Drink

Matcha milk; Whipped cream; Cocoa powder; Matcha powder; Rosemary

For each drink ordered, one of the following novelties will be given at random:

🔳NOVELTY

You can choose from two types of novelties. Distribution will be random.

Bromide

5 types (random)

Size: 89mm×127mm

Mini Character Coasters

16 types (random)

Size: 90mm x 90mm

���Candy & Goods

🔳CANDY MENU

Popsicle Cider Flavor (with purchase bonus)

5 types

Price: 990 yen each

Bonus: one random bromide (89×127mm) for each candy purchased.

🔳GOODS MENU

The first three goods are the same from the first Ouchi De x Yu Yu Hakusho Collab.

Acrylic Stand (5 types): 1,650 yen each

Acrylic Keychain (5 types): 880 yen each (random)/Complete set available;

Metal Can Badge (9 types): 495 yen each (random)/Complete set available;

The others goods are from the new chibi chara art:

Mini Character Acrylic Stand Keychain

8 types (random); Complete Set available

Price: 880 yen each

Size:

Body: about 75mm x 103mm

Base: about 50mm x 30mm

Mini Character Acrylic Stand

8 types (random); Complete Set available

Price: 990 yen each

Size: about 75mm x 103mm; Pedestal: about 50mmx30mm

Mini Character Can Badge [A]

8 types (random); Complete Set available

Price: 440 yen each

Size: (approx.) 56mmΦ

Mini Character Can Badge [B]

8 types (random); Complete Set available

Price: 440 yen each

Size: (approx.) 56mmΦ

That's it, thanks for this amazing art ^^

[actualbird]

i wish they would make weird and random merch for tot like instead of your standard posters and acrylic stands we could have “luke pearce’s screwdriver for antique restoring” or “artem’s spatula for cooking”

aslhfaKLJBASLKFJASA PLEASE I'D BUY THESE, IM ALL ABOUT PRACTICAL MERCH!! i think my favorite of the practical merch so far that currently exists is the tot umbrellas and tote bags, which i dont have, but theyre so pretty...still, both those are still pretty standard fare for merch

i want a luke themed pill organizer. modeled after the one he has in game but with luke branding too. i think i would easily remember to take my meds daily if it was in a meds organizer with luke chibis on it

....what would marius' weird merch be? a jet? JHVSKJDHFDJFSDHKFJSD

OHHHH BUT VYN INSPIRED TEACUP TEAPOT TEA SET.......OHHH THAT NEEDS TO EXIST AT SOME POINT

actually you know what i really want?

apparel

like, genshin has a bunch of official clothes/jackets/apparel for their characters, i wANT A LUKE-THEMED JACKET, I BET THATD LOOK SO COOOOOOL

[chibishortdeath]

General Simon brainrot sketch page :3, as per usual, explanations under a cut. Apologies if my posts tend to be kinda huge and difficult to scroll past, I try to do the cuts to make sure they do the least inconvenience to anyone! (>-< ;)

Just the whole page in full ft. My thumb lol

Expression practice! Simon is feeling the weight of his situation rn alas :(. I’ve always imagined him being panicked the whole game; the overarching entire game timer really gives a pretty good feeling of dread imo. The two doodles at the bottom were attempts at multiple ideas I’ve seen floating around about the curse, but they’re kinda bad in execution looking at them no tbh. But the first one is based on the idea that the curse gives some vampire traits like sharp teeth and would probably lead to proper vampirism if he were to die from it. The second was general attempt at like skull practice and comparing facial features to skull structure, but oh my god the page kept smudging and I tried making it look ok with some random blood on there but it just made it look even sillier 💀.

These next two are based on two random like liminal space images I ran into on Pinterest and I drew them mostly because I suck at backgrounds and idk Simon’s Quest itself is like Castlevania: Liminal Space Edition a lot of the time, so it fits X,,,,D. The first one I really liked the composition of the path on the far side contrasted to the trees. Imagine the water is the purple cursed swamp :3. Hopefully Simon has laurels just standin around in there.

This second liminal space for Simon to be in was this neat nighttime photo of a graveyard! Trees are HARD TO DRAW, especially just in pencil and a solid black background. There’s blood on the ground and stuff cause he was just fighting some monsters, probably those two headed lizard guys. It’s the awkward stillness after clearing out an area of enemies.

The pose for this one is based on the LOL~lots of laugh Miku figure lmao 💀💀💀

Simon is very fun to put in exaggerated poses! Especially cause you have to exaggerate them more to get the same ratio of pose to negative space because muscles and armor. I had no idea how to make metal belt armor thingies sit in a like legs up floating sort of pose like this so they kinda bend a little weird but eh he looks cute otherwise. The other doodles present are one that says “brainrot” which is kinda making fun of my own dedication to an NES character 💀 and also cause haha rot like the curse. Also, teeny tiny Simon with a heart!!! :3

Yippie! Simon posing again! I think the first pose was inspired by this like random old anime style angel figure??? Idk I think she was just an original character figure and the pose was pretty different, I just used the reference mostly for the arm position. Anyway, he’s vibin, just sitting curled up and momentarily comfy. Alas, the horrors persist in the second doodle that was an attempt at showing how the curse kinda deteriorates him but he just kinda ended up having a scarily snatched waist and it looks more stylized than like sick. Also the armor kinda bends around him in a way that makes it look like it shrunk with him which is so dumb lmaooooo (XwX). I’ll have to revisit the concept eventually idk, just look at his face for this one XD. Hahaha tiny doodle based on Larval Rin on the left there, nothing to see here—

The main doodle is just Simon looking into the distance bewildered and holding the whip, standard stuff. There’s also a side profile doodle and an attempt at drawing crying again cause I was getting kinda rusty at both of those things.

Simon Belmont but if he was 2000s anime lol. A fun little style experiment, I might keep this as like another secondary art style. There’s also some doodles of a hanged man skeleton, the eyes of Vlad, a skeleton hand, and a couple little chibi Simon’s of various expressions.

More 2000s anime Simon, but in a more silly way like the art style change for joke sections. One is him just goofily holding up Dracula’s head, but it’s contrasted immediately with a more gritty usual art style doodle of him with harsh shading lol. Get you a man who can do both I guess 💀

I gotta practice more on backgrounds and composition and stuff, probably also get some curse effects consistent augh. Lately I’ve been on and off working on random things or just staring into space tired, getting back to using social media is hard and an exhausting uphill battle unfortunately (_ _ ;). Sometimes I feel like I should probably split these up into multiple posts to make things more visible and to put more focus on specific drawings, but idk I don’t really want to, it just feels weird to me breaking up a doodle page like that, if that makes sense??? Eh idk.

[rubykgrant]

I did some touch-ups and adjustments to the drawing of my twin characters, Ian and Eli! I first thought of them when I was about 18, and drew this when I was in my 20s (I was practicing what would eventually become my simplified almost-chibi style). Ian is the one in the hoodie, and Eli is wearing the jacket. They were very much "baby's first on-purpose gay characters" (had some other characters who I was, y'know, subconsciously coding, but that would take a while to figure out~). They're 24 at this point of their lives, share an apartment together, and work in the same shopping center area (Ian at a cafe, Eli at a bookstore). The story with them is deliberately a slice-of-life one, because I always tend to turn everything into some kind of crazy magic/sci-fi/destiny nonsense; this is just them living life, no super powers, no dragons, no ghosts… but is still filled with emotional moments, happy and sad.

I had fun working out what they have in common, and what makes the unique. Ian is more of a cheerful social butterfly, while Eli is an over-thinker who worries too much (also, when they were younger, Eli was the first one to realize he was gay, but Ian was the first to come out and say it). Eventually, they find boyfriends; Ian starts dating Henry (a hunky model/actor, who is also very down-to-earth), while Eli starts dating Paul (somebody who tries hard to seem cool, but is very sensitive)

I won’t be coy; I first came up with them when I was about 18 and had a weird dream that I was hanging out with Wallace Wells from Scott Pilgrim, and he was introducing me to his friends who happened to be twins that were both gay- hey, two siblings can both be straight, and sometimes two siblings can both be gay! When I woke up, I liked those two twins, so I started making a story with them, like a coming-of-age sitcom.

They navigate different struggles with growing up and dealing with various life-problems; work, saving money, friendships, random problems that come up, and dating. All that jazz~

Ian and Henry are the kind of couple who show a ton of PDA, and Henry will basically just carry his boyfriend around while they both act all lovey-dovey. Eli and Paul take a little longer to actually start dating and once they do are more privately passionate. Each of them has their own struggles and joys when it comes to their sexuality and experiences. Ian and Eli were accepted by other students and teachers when they were younger, but their parents didn't react well to learning both their sons were gay. After graduating high school, the boys were basically kicked-out and on their own. Ian doesn't do well feeling rejected and alone, so he tries to be more out-going and have fun! Eli can't stop thinking about the future, and all the things that could go wrong, now that he and his brother are dealing with so many responsibilities on their own.

Henry has pressure on him from his agent to remain "publicly single", since it makes him more popular with fans if they think he's not dating anybody (but he's head-over-heels for Ian, and doesn't like having a fake party-boy persona. because Ian tries to avoid difficult conversations, it's hard for Henry to tell that Ian loves the REAL him, and doesn't just have stars in his eyes). Paul was in a long-term and unhealthy relationship that recently ended... at first he feels like Eli is a safe rebound, but didn't expect to legit catch feelings (it's a whole struggle for Eli to express when he truly feels hurt, because he doesn't want to inconvenience others, so even though Paul is still hurting from past experiences, he learns how to offer comfort to Eli too)

[vibinwiththefrogs]

So you’ve been studying Japanese for awhile now, and I would guess with that a lot of resources have passed your door. What would you say have been your favorite resources to use? I have some things that I’m using, and they’re working well for me, but I’m always on the look out for other things to add to my studying regiment. 🥸

Hey, thanks for the ask!

So I made a majority of my progress in Japanese between 2013-2016 and I've mostly been maintaining since using TV shows and novels. Though back when I was studying there were a few resources I feel like really pushed me ahead.

One of the first books I used when I was around A1-A2 level that I remember enjoying is Japanese for Busy People by AJALT, though I haven't seen that book around in years. I found it at a public library.

Two that really helped get me through the intermediate plateau was Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese and Tuttle's Elementary Japanese volume two. Both structurally are very similar with lots of grammar and examples, though Tuttle has a lot of practice problems. The Genki series is very similar as well but I personally liked how Tuttle has more dense textbooks.

I also really enjoyed watching Chibi Maruko Chan and Nintama Rantarou when I was a low intermediate. Both are children's shows and there's episodes on YouTube (some with Japanese subtitles, some without).

Finally one that I don't particularly enjoy but helps a lot is writing journal entries and posting them to Lang-8 or Hinative. I haven't done it much recently (I really need to for Korean tbh), but I think working through writing sentences helps internalize grammar patterns more and makes speaking easier. I was planning to get back into that and start making random blog posts on Note which is a Japanese blogging app.

Hope this helps some! I unfortunately don't have any resources for kanji because I mostly learned kanji along with vocabulary rather than using a resource specifically aimed at kanji.

[narrators-journal]

thanks for confirming you're okay with it, I just like general fluff between Yusuke and Ryuji, maybe things about confessions. Smut wise, they both seem like they'd be switches and I enjoy frottage between them

This took a good amount of time to work out, but I hope it’s good and fluffy! I don’t write a lot of Yusuke or Ryuji, so forgive me if they aren’t very fitting. But, I hope you enjoyed regardless, it was a lot of fun to write <3

“Yuuuuuuusuuke!” Ryuji Sakamoto called as he burst out of the dreary grey and through the door of Le Blanc. Yet, his entrance was only met with the empty silence of the unoccupied cafe. The only sign of life within the warm-colored, coffee-scented walls a thick, paint-dotted book that had been left on one of the tables. “Yusuke? Are you around, dude? You better not have stood me up after I put this money away to get you lunch!” He called again as he approached the abandoned book and tried to somehow peer through the floorboards above his head.

Yet, no matter how he squinted and strained, he couldn’t see through the boards, even if Yusuke and Akira were hidden above him. So, with a heavy sigh, he looked back to the table he stood by. Where a sketchbook sat alone.

Decorated with specks of differently colored paints, scratches, and charcoal stains, Yusuke’s sketchbook was well loved and obviously precious to the lanky, blue-haired man. So, Ryuji plopped down at the table with a sigh. “Guess I just have to wait for you. What a girly thing to do.” The blonde joked to the richly scented air, a small smile on his face as he sat by the book in the quiet cafe. Left to sit and watch the cloudy sky close in on the streets outside with little else to do but watch time tick by around him.

Yusuke’s beloved sketchbook his only form of company in the homely cafe’s silence. His only form of potential entertainment, too… “I mean…” Ryuji hummed to himself, “I doubt he’d particularly care, right? He shows off his artwork at those competitions, so he’s surely okay if I take a peek.” With that, the blonde flicked open Yusuke’s sketchbook to stroll through the pages of artwork.

And, of course, there was plenty of life studies and thumbnail sketches and doodles. Some pages were nothing but careful studies of phones, or people on the subway, others were filled with scribbles, flowers, joke conversations between chibi versions of the phantom thieves. But, as Ryuji continued to turn pages, he began to come across more finished sketches of Akira, Futaba, or Ann, before he reached a similar, yet different section of the pages. And while the others had their fair share of pages of studies for their faces or expressions, after those, there was an extensive swatch of pages that. Only had Ryuji.

And, unlike Yusuke’s other friends, the sketches and drawings of these pages weren’t simple studies of practice, but entire drawings of just. Ryuji. Skull with captain kidd, Skull half out of the mona bus’ window, plenty of expressions, and just, drawings of the blonde doing random things. All drawn with care and great detail for Ryuji’s mannerisms and costume details. “Wow, this is-” As he spoke, the ambiance of the quiet coffee shop was broken with the soft jingle of the bell above the door that announced the return of the artist. Only a split second before his indignant squawk did. “Ryuji?! What the hell are you doing here so early?!” Yusuke yelled as he barreled over to the blonde to snatch his sketch book off of the table. “I was coming to get you for lunch, remember? We agreed to meet up here by noon.” “You’re too early though!” Yusuke declared, his grey eyes fixed on Ryuji angrily, only off-set by the healthy dust of crimson across his pale cheeks. Well, that answers that for me, huh? “Inari, it’s 1 pm.” Was the simple counter to that point, said with a smile that tried to fight its way onto the man’s face as he watched the blue-haired artist check his phone. “Oh. It is.” He said, the anger in his words gone for a bit of indignance and embarrassment.

And, with that shift came an awkward silence between them. As if Akira wasn’t off to the side, left to politely wait for the silence to break. “Anyways, you ready to go get some of that lunch? Or did you and Joker already do that?” Ryuji asked as he got to his feet, and just like that, the tension was broken. “O-oh, no. I’m sorry about that by the way, I-I was at the bath house,” Yusuke explained, the awkwardness that clung to his words the artist’s natural weirdness. “Great! Let’s go then!”

And, just like that, the snooped-through sketchbook had been forgotten in favor of lighter conversation as the pair made their way outside. Though, the gentle pitter patter of the drizzle on Ryuji’s umbrella didn’t wash the experience away entirely. The blonde may not have mentioned it, but those lovingly detailed drawings of him were on his mind. And, he couldread between those lines.

[pocket-void]

Watch me draw stuff and not post it, genius- Anyways I've been drawing chibis lately! I'm practicing and trying out some stuff but mostly just cause I wanna figure out a way to do them that's simpler or faster (Partially cause I wanna do coms like this but mostly cause I want to draw nicer chibis :/). So I'm rolling random characters on my Toyhouse to draw Chibis of (They tend to be characters I don't really use often so it's been neat!). <3

This is Fabrice, their hair is made of yarn which is why it was kind of a hassle to draw, but not as much as I expected. They have a name that sounds like Fabreeze and they like cleaning, that's kind of the joke. <3 I do like their design though, even if it's a wee bit messy pffft~

[vizcoloration]

[February Random Fanarts #4]

~Recently Played Games~ (HELLO, HELLO WORLD! + GOODBYE WORLD)

[Right image is some PixelOver testing again I guess.]

Also, I guess this is just some chibi + coloring practice I guess. Enjoy!