#stylizing the noses in these profiles was like...

[itisaterriblelove]

“AH, SHIT.” 

Elvis Hirsche had extremely bad timing, all things considered, and I couldn’t help the little flurry of annoyance that built up in my chest as I stared down at my phone. But it passed quickly, because in the next moment I realized that Elle needed me. And I would always be there for Elle when she needed me; that went without saying or even thinking about.

It wasn’t like Elle to go out and get drunk. I had known her ever since we were in elementary school, and we’d been best friends since somewhere in middle school. She was in her second year of college now and I was in my last… Well, okay, what was supposed to be my last. But I definitely didn’t have enough credits to graduate, and I certainly wasn’t sad about it. 

The point was, I had never known Elle to get drunk in a bar. And especially not without me.

“I’m sorry, Ty,” I glanced over at her apologetically as I slid my phone back into the pocket of my jacket. “I’ve gotta go.” 

I expected Tyler to look ruffled, so I opened my mouth to hurry up and explain, but she didn’t. 

She wrinkled her forehead just a little, and I could see the concern in her eyes as she opened her mouth to say, “Is everything okay?” And fuck if I didn’t just love the way this girl gave me the benefit of the doubt. I couldn’t think of a single one of my exes who—at this point in the game—wouldn’t have been jumping down my throat about why I had to bail on her. Especially if they found out it was about Elvis Hirsche. But not Tyler.

“DK texted about Elle being wasted at Blacklight,” I explained, already knowing that Tyler would get what that meant to me. “I’ve gotta go get her.” I shrugged, apologetic. But there was no fucking way that I was leaving Elle on her own to muddle through a bar full of assholes while she was drunk. Not happening.

“Why can’t DK just take her home?” Reagan interrupted, with the same attitude that I had almost expected from Tyler, but had been relieved not to get. I caught myself before I could shoot a glare in Reagan’s direction.

I was supposed to be with Elle tonight, anyway, so I couldn’t help the surge of guilt that I felt. Like maybe this was my fault somehow. That she’d gone out and done something so out of character because of me. But I had canceled on her because of Tyler’s plea that I join them tonight. All because her best friend, Reagan, had a date with some dude and didn’t want to go alone.

I was not a fucking double-date kind of guy. Especially not if the double-date was with Reagan Knight, who had always managed to find something about me annoying, for as long as we’d known each other. And this was a small town where people rarely ever moved, so we’d all kind of grown up together. Which meant that Reagan and I had been at odds basically forever.

I shook my head at her. “DK’s working.” But she already knew that. “He can’t just leave to get Elle home.” He was a bartender at Blacklight. What I didn’t mention was that DK actually was going to do just that, but just not for Elle. Apparently Elle and Jemma had made it a girls’ night out. DK couldn’t handle them both on his own, and he didn’t want to leave Elle alone while he got Jemma home.

Still, bailing on my girlfriend to deal with a drunk best friend made me feel like kind of a dick.

“Don’t worry about it, man. I can get them both home.” Elliott—the poor asshole who wanted to date Reagan Knight—didn’t ding anything on my creep meter. He was just this kind of nerdy guy, and he seemed harmless enough. Still, I considered him for a long moment before shooting another look at Tyler.

“Or you guys can come back with me now?” I offered, feeling worse as I realized I was stranding them with this guy if I left, and ruining Reagan’s date if they left with me.

I watched as Reagan and Tyler seemed to communicate through nothing but back and forth looks before Tyler gave a gentle shake of her head. “No thanks, Gavin. Don’t worry about us. Go ahead and take care of Elle.” 

I listened for it, I really did, but there was not a single shred of suspicion or judgment or even annoyance in her voice. It was fucking amazing.

“I’m sorry, Ty,” I shot her another apology, just to make sure that she knew that I meant it, but she just smiled. 

“I know. It’s okay, Gavin.” I took Tyler at face value and nodded, standing up to leave. There wasn’t any time to waste because we were at some karaoke bar a little ways outside of town, and it was at least a twenty minute drive back to Pleasant Valley and Blacklight to get Elle. We hadn’t even ordered our food when I got that emergency text from DK. But Tyler didn’t flinch as I grabbed up my keys and waved goodbye to everyone; she didn’t seem to mind at all.

And yet, I’m not gonna lie, a nagging part of the back of my mind worried about whether I’d pay for this later. I mean, most girls were just not this chill. Not even Elle, and she let me off the hook pretty much all of the time. It was something I couldn’t worry about at the moment, though; I’d already made up my mind to leave.

[amethyst-crowns]

Fuck it : Stylizes your Munson V2

baby got a blowout with this one

looking cuddly as FUCK

[chimmaddie]

[ID: two digital drawings forming a small comic of Hen and Karen Wilson from 9-1-1 on abc. Both are done in a semi-realistic style with soft warm colors.

In the first image there are 3 panels, first Hen's glasses have fallen down her nose and she looks up in surprise as her as Karen comes up to her and starts talking with a speech bubble stylized to look like stars in space. The second panel expands Karen's speech bubble now including more stars, the sun, three planets, and Mars closest in view. Karen is smiling with one hand lifted as she speaks. In the third panel Hen is pushing up her glasses and looking intrigued. small text in the corner between panels reads, "tumblr@chimmaddie."

In the second image, is a full size drawing of hen looking at Karen in admiration and listening aptly with her chin cutely resting on her hands. There are small hearts in her eyes as highlights. Karen is beside her in profile, with her eyes shut smiling as she speaks. End ID.]

Prompt fill for @911actions Gotcha for Gaza! Check out there how you can donate and get your prompt filled ^_^ this was requested by @brasscacti thank you for donating and I hope you enjoy! <3

the gif this is based on under the cut:

[ID: a looping gif of a black person with long straight black hair. They are seated and seen from waist up, wearing overalls and a sweater. The gif cuts from them raising their hands to smoothing their hair back and in the same motion tucking their hands under their chin. They lean their arms on the table and look to the left with a cute smile, as if they are adoringly listening to someone off-screen. End ID.]

[aleebeesplats]

Soul bond[OUTDATED]

“An eternity alone is a cruel thing to be subjected to. To be surrounded but isolated, heard but forgotten, so powerful, yet so weak at the same time. The story is your life, but is that really all there is to it? Is that why you did it? Allowed them to exist despite the obvious growing issue? You wanted to feel understood despite not knowing who you were or where you began. You’ve crafted life at the expense of their freedom. You’ve replicated freedom through life.”

More info about this au under cut

This really started as a joke cuz I wanted to draw more Stan and Mari friendship art but as god has it it’s not so much a joke anymore(yay). This whole AU centers around Stanley and Mariella “becoming human”.

Character refs for Stan and Mari. I might change some stuff up with their colors and designs but this is the main idea for now.

In this AU Mariella now works in the same building as Stanley and her job is to attend meetings. Employee 317 did this everyday of every month of every year. She first meets Stanley while waiting for those who were supposed to attend, surprised and confused at the sudden disappearance of everyone.

Mariella and Stanley are creations of the Narrator, so they don’t look exactly human because of that.

(They have normal noses in side profiles)

I was inspired by Friday Night Funkin for their stylized faces. In terms of expression they are much more animated in comparison to the Curator or the Narrator.

Speaking of Nar-Nar, here’s the man himself. His first form is more like a “concept” than an actual “appearance” as he didn’t really care about what he looked liked and cared more about getting through with the story. His current form is much more human and he often spends time in it outside of the parable in his office. I wanted to keep his figure blocky and sharp cuz I went by squares as his main image.

Now the Parable wouldn’t be anything without the building, lo and behold “Coworker”.

I suck at drawing buildings, but for all you need to know for now is that it always expanding in the inside (where the story takes place), and also it is alive, capable of thought and emotion to some extent. Yayyy living infrastructure.

Some additional early sketches I made while trying to figure out stuff.

I thought it would be funny if Nar and Curie dated for a week before realizing they swung different ways. Things are good between them but it’s a little awkward at times. I was stuck between making Nar-Nar an eldritch creature or just an old man, but then again why can’t he do both.

Quick height chart doodle. The egotistical old man strikes once again, he really made himself so tall because he thinks it’s funny being able to see over people’s heads. In a way they look like Kirby to him.

That’s it for now. I’ll try to not burn myself out so that I can draw more for this au. It seems shallow right now but that’s on purpose‼️

Also, none of the things I draw in this AU are meant to be romantic. They are Queer-platonic at most. This is just me exploring bonds in hard times +what it means to be human (self-projecting like hell).

[wowa-bublord]

How do you decide how to stylize the characters you draw? If it's okay to ask.

totally okay to ask! but kind of a hard question because I have so many designs BAHBGFHDJKS!! I'll use my zack design as an example since I draw him the most... and I want an excuse to talk about my process BAHABGFH

the first thing is obviously to get references haha. with Zack thats really easy cos he has 500 designs, I did some studies to figure out how to draw him, what aspects I liked and what things I didn't like! I don't have the studies anymore cos i lost them (bubby lost media) so heres my recreation vvvv

the thing I liked the most were the sharper, bigger eyes of the cutscene zack, the harder jaw of the remake older zack, and the bigger eyebrows of the younger remake zack >:3 so I slap them all together into my design !!

some other stuff misc stuff I took from some design are the darker skin from the og crisis core, and the big ol mane he's depicted with in his first designs!

BOOM first pass design

once I have my first design, I just slowly decide what parts I want to emphasis and exaggerate :) for zack, I like to really push his hair and his eyes. I like to make his visuals very expressive because I see him as a character who isn't very good at verbalizing his emotion, having him physically readable makes writing comics with him easier despite this. (In canon he actually has a tendency to completely turn around or hide his face when he cries! You can see this when Angeal dies, he hides his face behind the sword, later faces away from aerith in the church when he cries, and then at the end during the final meal he turns away from them again. Just a little zack fact.) I also like to push triangular shapes in his design to give him a sort of super hero vibe. Triangle eyes, triangle body type, triangle hair, that sorta thing. Triangles are the strongest shape, so they give him a sort of immovable vibe, however triangles in character designs are also often used for villains because they convey a sharpness and unpredictability. That's why I use them in my sephiroth design a lot too LOL, parallels. I also tend to push the wolf/dog theme a lot with him, with the sharp teeth, big fur hair, and puppy dog ear bangs in his younger design. Mostly because. yea duh Zack The Puppy BAHBVGFHD but also to mirror Sephiroths own theme of dehumanization. Zack is a person second and an attack dog first to ShinRa. Sephiroth the hero and Zack the puppy..... ive got a lot of thoughts but idk how to say them i just hope it comes out in my drawings at all thats what its all about LMAO

Some other things I try to add are visual parallels I give him to my sephiroth design, with a low nose, sharper jaw, big shoulder pauldrons and a triangle body type. It's more obvious from how I draw their side profiles tho hehe

And that's how I got to my current Zack design!! sorry for the ramble, thanks for giving me an excuse to talk about my art FWWHWH character design is a big passion of mine yippee!!

[cryptiidcrowe]

the manipulate manslaughter manwhore himself <33

deep dive into design choices under the cut!

i went into this design imagining him as the gold standard of tumblr sexymen, and then accidentally made him gnc as fuck and now he’s my gender. oops lol

- i knew i wanted to make his vest and tie patterned, bc he strikes me as someone who’d wear garish but somehow still classy (& probably also clashing) patterns. i also decided to make each piece correspond with arthur and john—the vest has the same brown and gold color scheme as arthur with an eye motif (for arthur’s blindness but also kayne’s sort of omniscient vibe). the tie has the same color scheme as my john (more or less exactly colorpicked) with a marigold pattern, both for the nickname and for its flower language—among other things, marigold symbolizes the sun, and also death. i had a ton of fun making the symbolism work for both boys but also fit with kayne’s vibe c:

(also, if i ever animate kayne, i imagine the patterns do that thing where the patterns don’t move with him but rather look like they’re a part of the background, if that makes sense; heightening his sort of uncanny otherworldly vibe)

- i purposefully wanted to make kayne look a little uncanny and inhuman! sharp stylized teeth (he’s always got a toof sticking out), forked tongue, and long pointy ears. also this bitch’s anatomy makes no sense & can and will change whenever! generally his legs are very long and his waist very small (& grabbable. grab if you dare), but as seen in the profile shot with his mouth, he’s always just kinda. off.

- his eyes are kind of slanted & mono-lidded, and his irises are more square shaped than circular. his pupils are upside down crosses. also he has the most luscious lashes imaginable

- he carries a cane around just for the aesthetic. it is nonfunctional other than self-referential jokes and murder

- face is generally made up of long & very sharp shapes. i was a little worried about his head shape being too similar to arthur’s, since his is also long with strong cheekbones, but i made kayne’s overall more sharp and severe. also pointy nose

small detail lightning round:

- he has moles! trust me he told me himself

- tails on his suit, kinda tattered and ragged looking; sort of mirrors the right hair strand

- dramatic arched eyebrows w a slutty eyebrow slit

[emilinqa]

hiiiiiii do you have any tips for drawing Kirk? 🙏 TvT William Shatner’s stupid face is getting every single one of my goats

to be honest i’m really not particularly confident in my ability to draw william shatners elusive face and i think he looks different every time i draw him so what i’m gonna say is less specific and more just about capturing the likeness of real people/characters or models based on a real person’s likeness

long answer under the cut but my short answer is if you’re drawing kirk and you can tell it doesnt looks right but dont know why make his forehead bigger. im serious it fixes the problem for me like 85% of the time LOL

this is perhaps just obvious advice but just having a reference collage for people/characters you draw often is really helpful. i find i often need detailed references for clothing/environment designs but the principle is the same for drawing a face. it helps to understand something from several angles, this is just a collage of references i use but if im being a hundred percent honest i almost always just skim the kirk daily or spirk daily accounts on twitter when im looking for a particular angle. LOL

also im prefacing this by saying this is not something i sat down and meticulously thought out i just draw a lot of fanart and subjects from observation. i do a lot of this on subconscious level and have just absorbed some things also from seeing what features other artists emphasize!

when you're stylizing a character, whether they are the likeness of an actor or a model or whatever it helps to just try to break down their defining features. this is easiest when you have another or several other characters to contrast against. bones and spock are the most obvious here, since the three of them are often in the same shot. for example, bones and spock are more angular than kirk, but spock looks lankier, while bones always looks a little haunched over. shatner doesn't have a very defined jawline (which is most obvious from a 3/4 or profile view) and his cheeks are fuller which shows the most when hes smiling. he has a pretty low brow too, and a wider forehead. from a profile view you can see the shadows that emphasize his sloped nose. the length of his hair fluctuates throughout the show, so i tend to just pick a partiuclar way of drawing it and stick to it lol. i like to draw the little curl that sits on his forehead and make the shorter sides slightly wavy

as far as movie era kirk goes, generally what is said before still rings true. again, it helps to have another person to compare too. as nimoy got older, his laugh lines deepened and his cheekbones hallowed slightly. again this contrasts a lot with shatner when they're next to each other because his face is fuller and i find the more defining wrinkles on his face are around his eyes and forehead. his hair is obviously a tighter curl, he often does still have one curl fall on his forehead.

other than that the biggest advice i can give is to practice... for every successful kirk i draw know that i fucked up at least three times before that.

a lot of this work in observing what features are defining on a face or what i want to emphasize is sort of intuitive to me, and sort of personal preference. its just how i do it, and you might find a process that works better for you. drawing a bunch directly from a reference and then stylizing from there is generally something i find is most helpful though

typing this all out is making me sound kind of crazy like i spend hours a day dissecting william shatners face but its kind of just the small quick decisions and comments everyone makes to themselves while drawing from observation i think... but now vocalized. which sounds a little insane all together like this. i promise im really normal i just drew him like 30 times over from various angles when i was making my tsfs comic. LOL

[fallinginaforrest]

I might sound like a real douchebag here but could you please give a simplified tutorial on how to draw angela giarratana's nose? I just really struggle with noses and hers is so unique but you really seem to get it.

Hello anon! I'll try and help as best I can.

This is a little tricky to explain over text but! I think the key with all noses is remembering that they, when simplified, are just 4 planes. Find decent references with relatively dramatic lighting, so you can discern the planes of the nose of your subject. With Ang here, I've used a screenshot from black Friday, and traced over the top to find my planes.

Now that I've got my planes I've redrawn the nose not focusing on detail but on shape. Shape is important, especially with Angela's nose. What makes it so distinctive is the diamond-like shape on the top, almost like a fish pointing downwards. It gets wider at the bridge, but doesnt have a dorsal hump like a lot of noses do, and it doesn't turn up or down, giving it a flat, or as Ang put it "Boxy" appearance. You can see this in her side profile.

So the key to drawing Angela's nose is essentially a Diamond inside a triangle. Those are the key shapes that will help you capture the essence of it, no matter the stylization. Remember! It's about form! This isnt a step by step on where the lines go because not all of these boundaries are going to be lines depending on your style! This is to help you understand the shape.

Hope this helped at all! This can be applied to all noses that you're trying to study, or other features that you're struggling to discern. Don't feel bad or ashamed for using references to break down your shapes and understand your subject!

[canisalbus]

Got curious bc of the ask about horses! What are your, like, top 5 fav animals to draw? And what are the top 5 fav dog breeds?

Uh, mm, well

Fav animals to draw:

domestic dogs (sighthounds to be specific, surprise surprise)

wild canids (coyotes are my favorite of these, wolves a close second. I've never gotten into drawing foxes much despite their obvious photogenic-ness)

goats and sheep (horns! wool and shaggy fur! potentially ominous!)

deer (reindeer/caribou in particular, I love those, so majestic, big crazy antlers)

felines (mostly domestic cats, but tigers sometimes, they're such an iconic and visually distinct species)

Fav dog breeds to draw:

Greyhound (lithe, muscular, flexible, simple silhouette, the quiessential sighthound)

Doberman (childhood favorite, also good shapes, high contrast colors, particularly good heads and teeth)

Borzoi (noodley horse dog, elegant, fur texture provides interesting stylization opportunities, roman noses and rounded backs look very nice in profile)

Ibizan hound (a bit like a greyhound in a different font, sharper and more angular, less curves and more straight lines, very expressive pointy ears, visually tends to get close to the traditional anubis look which is neat)

Afghan hound (the ultimate fur dog, the mucha hair option, challenging, can look very noble and striking if the piece turns out alright but is a nightmare to deal with if stuff isn't aligninig like it should)

[nulfaga]

From Frédéric Poulsen, "Le buste du bronze de Cato trouvé à Volubilis", in the journal of the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, 1947:

"The first thing which surprises [the viewer] about this admirably preserved bust is how clearly it has retained a certain rustic trace. This is a true country man, like to the wealthy farmers of the agricultural nations of our day. Cato, however, belonged to the stifling circle of the high Roman nobility (which fact is demonstrated above all by the marriages of his sisters and daughter). Here, he appears as the descendant of Cato Priscus, that prototype of the great Roman country man—and the urban life of multiple generations of that family, three of whose representatives held the consulship, has not erased this spirit.

The second great impression [one has] of this visage is the seriousness of its features, in perfect accord with the literary tradition: "It was difficult," Plutarch says (Plut. Cat. Min. 1-2), "to move Cato to laughter, and rare that a smile should appear on his face". He was harsh, tenacious, and, when ill, demonstrated an admirable forbearance.

Adding to the serious expression of those features is the movement of the head: it is turned toward the left shoulder and, at the same time, gently, peacefully inclined; and the movement which tenses the neck muscles, combined with the lines of the mouth, creates an impression of severity, even of unavailability. It is not impossible that the absence of colored stones, which would have once indicated the iris and pupils, contributes to the hardness of the gaze.

At the time of his death, Cato was forty-eight years old, but this portrait speaks of a man who lived a hard life and was aged prematurely by it. It is true that [one contemporary scholar] finds the Cato of this bust younger than the age of his death—an impression probably due to his observation of the bust's profile, since from that angle the expression is both younger and more peaceful, as if disclosing traces of the features of a young man; it is only by virtue of the large nose, particularly its curve, that a powerful masculine energy is revealed and even emphasized.

But, seen from the front, the face is haggard, the forehead is crossed by deep wrinkles that run parallel to the thick eyebrows, the creases that run down from the lower eyelids, the large and profound furrows of the cheeks, and the great lines between the mouth and chin, all contribute to give the face an expression of pain and age. In my opinion he could well have been a sexagenarian, this great country man with his proud, tranquil expression.

[...]

Even if the portrait from Volubilis dates from as late as ±150 years after Cato's death [the author dates the bust about the time of Domitian or Trajan, ed.], it goes without saying that an older and more contemporary portrait has been copied. This is confirmed when one observes the profile of the bust once more: one sees the tufts of hair in the nape of the neck shaped like long, curved leaves, and stylized in a bladelike form, a mode of stylization characteristic of precisely the period in which Cato lived, ±50 BCE.

[...]

Naturally we might suppose that a certain alteration of the features must have taken place in this transmission from copyist to copyist. [...] Where an artist, from the time of Nero for example, has copied a republican portrait meant for the atrium of a young, newlywed nobleman [an ancestral imago], the result is inevitably a mixture of styles, a circumstance which makes it still more difficult to date many Roman portraits.

Certain points of resemblance, then, may have been diminished in the face of the Volubilis Cato—on the other hand, the artistic effect could have been strengthened by an emphasis on the essential lines and forms of the visage. Happily, the artist appears to have stuck to the veracity of the original, without adding any suggestions of that saintliness or divine inspiration which the writers of the imperial era attribute to Cato, from Seneca to Plutarch."

[revolutionarywig]

Hi! Just wondering how you approached styling Robespierre, as in, how do you balance historical accuracy and stylization? I’m trying to stylize my favorite historical figure and I’m struggling so much with this aspect ahhh. And hope you have a great day and tysm!

Hi! Sorry for the delay and thanks for the ask!

I think the same principle of character design in general applies to drawing historical characters as well. They all trace back to finding what is unique about that historical character's features and making the drawing immediately recognizable. Another thing is there is a difference between stylization vs. design. Your drawing can either be hyperrealistic or extremely stylized and the character can still be instantly recognizable. On the other hand, if for example, you change the nose shape, it means you are changing the design and that can make the figure unidentifiable.

(To be fair I think I yassify Robespierre a bit much lol, maybe less so with other frev figures but specifically with Robespierre, I tend to take a bit more creative liberty)

I think what might help is to start from written descriptions only. If your historical figure has been described a lot then you might see a pattern emerging, making it a key trait to the design.

For example, Robespierre....

-wig and green glasses TM -leftover marks of smallpox from young age -"cat-like" or "flat" features (so this means i would go with more square face shapes than long face) -green iris Then the next step would be to go over ideally contemporary portraits (or photos) of the figure you are drawing. It might also help you find commonality to what makes the historical figure distinct.

For example, Robespierre again....

(forgive me for the weird drawover.....)

I would say in most of his portraits he has a very consistent smooth nose bridge as well as that slight wrinkle on his cheek occasionally. Squarish face in most portraits (the deseine bust is quite an exception), quite thin eyebrows, double eyelids. And in the side profile the slope of forehead and rounded chin are also quite consistent. So those traits would be the basis and I will try to include all of them whenever I draw him. Other parts can be more flexible. Another thing with bringing more historical feel to the figure is the body silhouette. The way clothes were tailored back in the days are drastically different and that shapes how the body looks as well as how the character moves.

And to wrap up, there is also nothing wrong with yassifying your favourite historical character in the way you usually draw. Nothing wrong with drawing them like the babygirls that they are.

[gallusgalluss]

How do you draw grumpuses? Just curious and I want to learn how to draw grumpuses.

If you wanna learn how to draw grumpuses, I feel like the best choice is to start out drawing them in your own style first; not worrying about being completely accurate to the ingame style. Doing your own thing and seeing what aspects of drawing them you like and don't like. I feel like that could help you get more comfortable drawing them overtime, if that makes sense.

but to summarize how i draw them, i just turn these guys into weird furries lol

This basically shows most of the overall stylizing choices I make when drawing grumpuses. They have more defined heads/necks/torsos and I sometimes give them markings and tails. Alongside different heights, body types, etc, I also like giving them different fur textures to make my designs for them more varied.

I have this oldish post on how I draw paws that could apply to grumpus art, and I feel like talking about stylizing grump overbites/underbites (or snouts and flat faces) could also be a bit helpful!

I usually give grumpuses with overbites (+ Wambus and Cromdo) snouts. It's easy to see from a side profile, but when they're facing forwards I like drawing a lil bump above their nose to show that they have a snout.

And as for grumpuses with underbites, they're usually given more flat faces, with their noses being more closer to their eyes.

Of course these aren't the only ways I draw grumpus faces, or the only way they could be drawn, it's just what I usually do when drawin em.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Zomargon

Another fairly obvious one -- perhaps made more so by the fact that I left a couple identifying terms in. Usually I try and sift those out: e.g., for the deer I replaced "doe" with "female [X]" and for the wild ass I replaced "bray" with "call". This time Past Me apparently didn't think to replace "trumpet" or "trunk". Whoops.

General note, please forgive if this seems disorganized or rushed; I'm a bit feverish I think.

Anyway, here's the entry:

If anyone was confused by all that, please see https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. Art below in rough chronological order.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) took this in a truly delightful direction. The animal itself is very good, and I think the little sketches really enhance it, but the in-depth explanation of their design decisions in the linked post is what really makes it. Genuinely very charming animal in that context; I like it a lot.

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) gives us a beast complete with a warrior-tower-arrangement on its back. Genuinely a pretty good fit for the entry all around, and of course the real gem is the hairdo. Hey, the entry says it has hair, it's up to the artist to decide how to style it.

@moonygryffin (link to post here) has drawn "Mammoth Cube", which until just this moment I has no idea was a thing. Have to give it to them, though, that animal clearly has no knees and would be really easy to put a tower on top of. Good work, cube.

... dating myself a bit there... wait, that strip is still going? Huh. Anyway.

@pomrania (link to post here) has created another Strange Mammal. There's something about the stylized profile views they draw sometimes that really appeal to me. Also, the Zomargon is of course an ace icon -- it's right there in the first sentence of the entry -- so instead of carrying people into battle, it's carrying them in a pride parade. Good for them.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) has laid out this illustration in a very appealing way, I think. I'm not a real art critic, so I can't say why, but I just like it. I also like the general design here -- both that they're giant boars with skinny stilt legs, and that the domestic and wild versions differ in the same way as domestic and wild pigs. Additionally, I'm glad someone decided to illustrate the mandrake-courtship thing, because I thought that was an interesting concept.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) gives us this nicely sepia-inked illustration. I like the little sketches; for these entries with lots of details, I think it's nice to toss some extra stuff in the margins. Also the design of the snout and tusks is just really good, in my opinion. As usual, for interesting details and design choices, please check out the linked post.

Aberdeen Bestiary time!

... well, okay, not actually. A good chunk of the entry is left, but the page with the illustration on it is missing, so we're going to the Ashmole Bestiary again.

All right, so this is obviously the elephant, but I don't like any of this.

Maybe the proportions are just off, or maybe the illustrator didn't really believe how big elephants were, but that elephant is not big enough to be carrying that tower thing and four knights. The tower is nearly as big as the elephant is!

And that guy in front doing the steering -- you can't use reins? You have to use a chain that's attached to its trunk like the world's most inconvenient nose piercing? And what is that stick for, exactly? Unacceptable.

Maybe this is my modern bias, but I really feel this could have been a very cool illustration if they weren't being gratuitously cruel to the elephant. They even gave it a distressed-looking face! Why, good sir?

[marzbix-crystal]

[Image ID: A page of drawings depicting my Land of the Lustrous Persona. On the right is a full body drawing of them sitting down with their legs pointing towards the left. In the bottom right corner is a heavily stylized drawing of them with their mouth open and the word "FUCK" written next to them. in the bottom left is a stylized headshot drawing of my Persona smiling, they have two long, slightly curved horns. In the top center is a headshot profile drawing facing towards the left, and below that is a drawing of their left eye. /End ID] *Sorry if the Image ID isn't great, it's been a while! Character Profile/Notes written below...

Name: Indicolite Pronouns: They/Them Age: ??? years old Mohs Hardness: 7.5 Height: 6'0, sometimes 3'0 Appearance: They have a curvier build with wider hips, a wider belly, and broader shoulders, their face is semi-angular, with a smaller nose, droopy eyes with thick top-lashes, and medium eyebrows. Their hair is short, fluffy, and covers their eyebrows, the sides of their head appear shaved, and they have small locks of hair in front of both ears. They wear the winter uniform with puffy sleeves, a tie, bermuda shorts, and flat strappy shoes. They wear tights and opera gloves.

Character Notes: - Appears at random, usually with one of three different looks - Has a strange way of speaking - Calls everyone their "Son" - Doesn't actually exist - Don't ask questions

Nicknames: "Indi", "Didi", or "Cole" Job: No one knows Note from Euclase: "A strange gem, nobody really knows when they appeared, where they came from, how they change their shape, or where they disappear to, but everyone has just accepted this anomalous gem as part of the school." ---------------

I CAVED IN!!!! I wanted to make a sona mostly for meme purposes, I chose Indicolite because Tourmaline is one of my birthstones, and tbh I connect more with that than I do with Opal. I also tried to make them more like my real current body type? It was hard, but I feel pretty good about it for this character at least :] They may come with some Lore(tm), but we'll see I am finding it hard to create and post things on any of my blogs, but I wanna let you know I'm playing around with TWO AUs/Stories for these guys- hopefully we'll see something soon!!

[bluegekk0]

could you explain how you draw fpk? he looks like a very shaped beast /pos

Hm, I'm not sure how to explain it exactly. But I suppose I could talk about my thought process for his design and how I portray him.

My main sources of inspiration for him are reptiles and mammals, as time went on I definitely started to lean more into the latter. Because he's covered in skin instead of scales, his body is very soft, and I try my best to emphasize that in my art. With his additional fat, I also look at fat reference to make sure it has the proper shape, softness and physics.

It's also worth mentioning that his design changed over the year, he was a lot more reptilian and sharp when the AU started, so that also affected my drawing process for him. A big change was to his proportions - his head used to be a lot bigger, his legs shorter and his arms smaller. His tail was also quite thin, and his belly was closer to what you see on kittens than how I draw it now (which unfortunately also made him look swollen, or even pregnant, and since that wasn't my intention, I decided to change how I depict it). His proportions are a bit closer to a small person, and that also affected his posture. He's more upright now, has longer legs and arms, and a smaller head.

The tail is also much more thick now, he drags it behind him almost like the very old depictions of dinosaurs, and it's very important for counter-balancing his large head (even if the head is not actually very heavy). The tip is much more flexible and almost prehensile, so I make sure to put emphasis on it in my art. I imagine it would wiggle around a lot so I want to make that apparent when I draw him.

A big part of how I draw him is his crown. I make the horns very short compared to his canon design, and they're more spade like with round tips, they're also much closer to one another. This is both a stylistic choice and also part of his design, and it gives him a more streamlined look. The two spikes on the sides of his head are probably the only sharp part of his design, and they're very stylized. Realistically they make no sense, but he's a cartoon character so that's fine. If I were to draw him more realistically, they'd be positioned on his cheeks, I don't think they'd actually go all around (so you wouldn't see them on the top of his head in the profile view).

His face is salamander like, flatter at the bottom and rounder at the top, with a significantly more pronounced nose and snout than before. No nostrils or earholes though, he does have them but they blend in so well they're not visible in my art. And there's of course his eyes. Big and reflective, I pay extra attention to making them look alive and "wet".

His colors are also very important, I intentionally made him leucistic so that he has a pink undertone to his colors, which gives him this soft marshmallow look. The pink around the face, elbow/knee joints and at the tip of the tail really emphasize it.

I don't have any specific "guide" like images for this, so I'll just add my most recent drawing since it illustrates everything I said the best.

In short, the soft colors and the roundness are definitely the biggest factors to his design. He's meant to look very approachable, and the cushion-y marshmallow/dumpling vibe is definitely something I really enjoy about his design. So I pay attention to the weight distribution, the color palette, and all that, my goal is to make him look as if he was very soft to touch. It is a relatively recent direction, but one I'm much more satisfied with than his older, more gray/blueish design with sharper traits.

I hope this was somewhat informative, I wasn't sure how to approach this ask but hopefully you enjoy the answer!

[heliza24]

I have really enjoyed reading your analyses of the YR sex scenes. Thank you so much for putting it in writing!

I have a question I think you might be perfect to answer. The cinematography of s2 is obviously really different to s1 and I don't think it's only the new team they brought in. There is a lot more 'shakyness' in the hand held cameras, there is a lot of going in and out of focus, a certain blurryness that underlines the plot.

One scene that really sticks out to me is the kiss in 2.4. As you already mentioned, we don't get to see Simon's face, the angle during the kiss is also a little off, the focus is on Simon's hands, on Wille's shoulder, but never on their lips. What do you make of that?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Hi there! I'm so glad you have been enjoying the analysis posts, and thank you so much for this question!

I have seen some speculation that the increase in handheld photography/shifts in focus constitutes a mistake or indicate that the camera team in season 2 was less talented than season 1. I don't think that's true, for a few reasons. First, that just isn't how TV works. Every scene is shot multiple times, from multiple angles. If the directors didn't like how something looked on the monitors on set, they would just do another take. And the editors and directors have all of those mulitiple takes to choose from when compiling the final edit, so they're going to pick the shots that they like the most, from an acting and also camera perspective. So if they're including a rack focus or shaky shot that's an intentional inclusion.

Second, while there may be an increase in this technique in season 2, it is already an established part of the show's film language in season 1. Specifically, hand held shots are used to convey heightened emotions.

I went back and watched the first kiss scene in 1.2, because I wanted to compare it to the kiss in 2.4 since you mentioned that in your question. There's three significant camera things going on in the 1.2 kiss in my mind. The first is the POV shots, where we look directly into Wilhelm and Simon's faces like we are the characters. This feels very stylized and deliberate. This technique actually appears in season 2 as well! Think about that moment in the party in 2.1, when the boys see each other and they're backlit by the swirling party lights. So not everything in season 2 is cinema verite; there are intentional moments of framing, slow motion, etc.

Going back to the kiss in 1.2: there's a wide shot, where you can see both Wilhelm and Simon in profile. This shot feels removed and uncomfortable, and it captures the anxiety that Simon is feeling when he's not sure if Wilhelm is going to return the kiss/his feelings. But then Wilhelm pulls him back in, and he does return the kiss and the feelings, and the camera becomes much more fluid as we're looking over Simon's shoulder as he kisses Wilhelm. As soon as the emotions swell, the camera becomes reactive, moving along with the characters. This happens in other scenes in season 1, like in the fish scene in 2.5 which I discussed in the last post.

With that in mind, I'd like to propose that the more hand held camera work is a deliberate choice used to convey heightened emotions in the Young Royals universe. And season 2 has much more heightened, strong emotions than season 1. The stakes are higher than the first season, and even when the boys aren't together they are always feeling intense emotions about each other. The kiss in 2.4 is one of the zeniths of that frustration and desire. There's a desperation in their reunion, and I think the way the camera comes in so close and switches focus adds to that. It's the third person in the kiss: breathless, excited, not sure what to focus on because it wants to feel all of the things at once.

This is also extremely nitpicky, but I think the reason that their lips are sometimes out of focus is because they're not the visual anchor of the scene. Their noses/forehead are the first things that touch, and I think the camera prioritizes keeping the focus on that part of their faces through the scene. Not that their noses are perfectly clear the entire time, because of what I mentioned above. But I did want to point out that just because they're kissing, that doesn't mean that their lips are by default the most important things in the frame.

As you mentioned, I do wish that they had included more Simon coverage in the run up to the kiss. But I think the decision to keep the camera on Wilhelm was a probably deliberate choice to center his reaction in that moment.

The other way the hand held camera works super well in season 2 is capturing movement, and sometimes a combination of movement and intense emotions, like when Simon completely whiffs Wilhelm with the ball in gym class earlier in 2.4 (this is possibly my favorite 30 seconds in season 2; righteously angry Simon is one of my favorite Simons). There are wide establishing shots that are pretty stable and set up the layout of the game they're playing, interspersed with more hand held closeups on Simon that capture his anger and the effort with which he throws the ball.

I think the choice to increase the amount of hand held work in season 2 really works. It highlights the intensity of what our characters are feelings and breaks down the distance between character and viewer. Obviously your mileage may vary depending on what kind of style you like, but I do think this was an intentional and well crafted part of the season.