#thank you again for the message!

[mapofyourstars]

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

What do you struggle with most when writing?

How many WIPs do you have and how many do you aspect to finish?

How do you get over writer's block?

What stops you from writing more in your free time?

Have you notice your style changing over time?

What fic meant the most to you to write?

A character you want to make suffer.

A character you want to protect.

Thanks for the message! Putting my answers under a read more to not clog the dash.

How did you get into writing fanfiction?

Oh, boy - when I was twelve/thirteen, I started writing fanfiction for Twilight on fanfiction.net because I was so motivated with that fandom and the story. What a time to be alive.

What do you struggle with most when writing?

Currently, I'm trying to teach myself how to write in present-tense, and it's going horribly. My writing style is very fitting for past-tense, and I have to change a lot about the way I intrinsically write to fit present-tense. But more generally, I struggle with word variation, and I'm too stubborn to google synonyms.

How many WIPs do you have and how many do you aspect to finish?

I currently have two posted - soulmate au and succubus!charles. The first one is ongoing, but eventually, it'll finish itself once I run out of soulmate tropes. The second one will be finished - I need to sit down and just write it - just gonna be a lot o' sex, and I gotta mentally prepare for that. Lined up, however, I have a wip I'm almost done outlining for my dadneto fic to continue their story (and I'm actually converting the already published fics in the series to present-tense). I also have three other wips I'd like to get started on soon - modern a/b/o, an apocalyptic au, and a charmed au - dunno if they'll be in that order. These four will definitely happen, but the ETA is just unknown at this point. Then, I have at least a dozen different one-shots/short fics I want to write, but lord, I don't have enough time in the day with work and decompressing to get them all sorted. But eventually, I'll get there.

How do you get over writer's block?

I usually just have to think of doing something else with the characters or the plot of another fic, and then I'm pretty good. I bounce from idea to idea, so as long as I have another idea I haven't thought about in a while, I can jump to that and come back to my block later.

What stops you from writing more in your free time?

Work and my executive dysfunction. Sometimes just making the move to open the document on my computer is hard, so I usually just freeze for a while and fail to write when I know I should be. I try not to be too hard on myself when that happens though, but easier said than done.

Have you notice your style changing over time?

Oh, yes. I don't even wanna open the Twilight fics I wrote for fear of what's written there; and even in trying to reuse some plots from previous works, I cringe at the writing style I had back then. I was young though, and even though I'm proud of how my style has grown, I still have loads to learn and perfect. Writing is like a muscle, and it only gets stronger with practice.

What fic meant the most to you to write?

Wanted to say my self-indulgent X-Men x Avengers crossover fic that got me back into writing after being scared of judgement and self-criticism for years. BUT. I'm gonna have to say my reincarnation au fic. That work made me cry, laugh, experience a range of human emotions; and I want to write more versions of her because I love her so. I always wanted to write something like her, and I'm beyond happy that cherik managed to pull her out of my mind and onto the page.

A character you want to make suffer.

At the end of the day, I don't think I wanna make my characters suffer - I just unconsciously choose to do so. It's my flavor of plot. I suppose I tend to make Erik suffer quite a lot, which is a shame because I just want that man to experience peace; but some of the best character developments come out of pain and anguish. In terms of other characters and just making them suffer for suffering's sake, I don't hate a character that much to do something like that - I just don't include them in my fics, lol.

A character you want to protect.

The dichotomy of man strikes again. I must protect Erik at all costs, while simultaneously making his life a living hell.

author ask game!

[tothedarkdarkseas]

i'm so intrigued by the way you described the band's dynamic, because i completely agree and i don't think i've seen anyone else describe it so honestly lol. while i think they certainly care for each other in their own strange ways, i see a lot of fans portraying them as a found family that is very rigid in its roles (this character is the dad, this character is the brother, etc.) and i think that, while maybe at another time that was truer what with noodle being a child, now that they're all adults i feel like the complexity of their interpersonal relationships get lost in those strict definitions. and there's so much potential there!

Thank you, I'm glad you find the possibility intriguing! I do as well. I know I've talked about their dynamic as a band and individually with Russ and Noodle a few times on this blog, but there are... a lot of posts, aha, all of which are very scattered and not always the easiest to find again after, so I'm sorry to say I can't seem to pull up another!

I think you've touched on a really interesting and true part of this, which is the presumed rigidity of the roles and the development-- be that evolution or devolution-- over time into something different. I regret that I haven't written the most about it and am probably not the best source to, but there is something incredibly complicated about bringing Noodle into the fray as a child, making three adults who are not emotionally mature or competent enough to be parents into de-facto guardians who have to balance internal obligation versus an external fear, rejection, or mockery of their responsibility toward her. And that's not even considering that in truth, they are not especially secure or grounded in their relationship as friends or as colleagues, let alone a family unit. Stu and Murdoc have a unique dysfunctional codependence, and I think severing them from one another is more difficult than they would claim it to be (or in Stu's case, wish it to be; in Murdoc's case, I don't think he'd wish for a moment to have less of Stu.) Still, that knot tying them doesn't extend in exactly the same way to anyone else around them, including any shared grounds of respect for Russel or responsibility for Noodle, which I think they experience and express in different ways. And the same is true in reverse: what reason is there for Russel to view Murdoc or Stuart as a brother, or as a co-parent, when none of the three have chosen to inhabit that role on their own? Is living alongside a piece of your legacy the same as loving it? Where the more straightforward found family trope answers this question is in the innateness of it, the irrationality of it-- you don't feel because it makes sense to, you feel independently of that. I'm not knocking that in any one person's heart, you know, it's not that I mean to suggest they don't care at all and they'd watch each other rot if they could-- I think the grief of P3 comes alive all the more because there is such a bone-deep, irreplaceable guilt in failing a child, in fracturing the relationships that define your life and legacy, and in that, define you.

I think Noodle in particular does reshape the dynamic they would've had without her, but-- and here's me being unsentimental-- that doesn't mean they "did right by her" in childhood nor made that functional family narrative easier on each other, it doesn't mean their independent relationship dynamics haven't been strained and reformed over 20 years, and it doesn't mean that Noodle (as the "centre" of the familial tableau) is herself willing to fulfill the role she'd been placed in anymore. What she needed of them then may mirror what they need of her now, and though there is love of some form, to be sure, none fit seamlessly into a mold they were never cut out for. I think in her adulthood, playing the prodigal daughter as they drift apart between albums, travel, seek, discover and return in pursuit of creation and legacy (and I know I repeat the word, but it is really a key here, to me) it becomes clearer to the men what distinguishes their relationships, what they live with uniquely, not what blurs them together in warm candlelight and matching colours. And I think distinction in relationships can be an incredibly meaningful thing; I don't think it means less for a moment in time to be as it was, for a thought to be unsaid, for shapes not to be named. To know the art from an angle, to have seen every brushstroke that created this angle, and still to know there are angles you've never faced each other from. I think it's still special, and compelling. I think you can care without it consuming you (--I just think two of them do it anyway.) That's more of how I personally view their dynamic!

My friend Niamh (if you're reading this Niamh, hello, and I'm thinking of you) said something terribly profound of their dynamic once, regarding the lack of band intervention or support toward Stu or Murdoc's untidy private relationship and whether that implies an absence of care, which was "It would be better to hear 'I don't understand because we're not that close' than to hear 'I'm your friend, and I don't understand you at all.'" I loved that.

[noodles-and-tea]

You’ve just got this real magic, capturing the sunshine summer of childhood in the tiny Pines twins. Like I am fully convinced I could show the overcast sky one of your pictures of Stanley and the sky would be like. Pack it up clouds, time to get back to the sun.

Ohh thank you :(((((

[cheese-water]

he is the only funny person on the damn app

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

With the end of season two comes a second redraw!

[Nov 2022] [June 2023] [June 2024]

[anbaisai]

Happy New Year!! 🎉🐍

It's the year of the snake, so who better to celebrate it with than our resident snake boy?

I may not be the best with words, but I really appreciate everyone that has showed me support in the past year. You guys have been amazing, and I hope to see you around in the new year too ❤

Thank you for an incredible 2024, and wishing everyone a wonderful 2025!

[verefex]

buddy time

to the anon that gifted me a "color of the sky" badge, you can count yourself among them <3

[the-squeege]

I’ve been a huge fan of Glass Scientists for… what’s it been like… 7 years? Something like that.. anyway I’m super happy to see it getting more recognition AND EVEN GETTING PUBLISHED??? I got volume 2 the other day and in reading the after words about Jasper I figured I HAD to draw him and talk about why he is SO important to me and why I’m so thankful he exists the way he does. There’s so much else I could say about this series and how much I adore it and how important it is to me but for here I’m just gonna focus on Jasper and why he is so incredibly important to me.

also please go read the glass scientists if you haven’t already it’s SO GOOD

It’s.. not something I talk a lot about but to anybody who pays attention to me on here, it’s probably pretty obvious that I’m trans. Or maybe not. My best friends didn’t know for like 2 years until I made a joke about taking my t shots lol.

When I first started reading glass scientists I didn’t know I was trans. And ultimately this isn’t really a story of how I found out, to be completely blunt it kinda just happened and I’m like yeah, I’m way more comfortable this way, this is just who I am.

After coming to terms with being trans, I found a lot of comfort in many of the characters in Glass Scientists. Over the years something really resonated with me more and more about Jasper.. I always appreciated how yeah, he’s a guy and he’s also soft! And sweet! And I know how much of a walking talking trans man stereotype I am but it felt so nice to see a male character acting and feeling the way I do, bad posture and all.

A few years later and the pages where Jasper talks about being trans drop and HOOH BOY

Everything in these few pages just felt so real and personal to me. Like I had lived this experience of coming out before, as it’s something I and many other trans folk have had to do over and over again. The way Jasper talks about his journey, the way Rachel sees him and the way that the story just continues on with Jasper just.. being who he is. Especially in a world with almost no transmasc representation in media???? This was MONUMENTAL for me. I didn’t really know it was possible to be so seen and so understood in a piece of media.

The real kicker was Rachel’s line about how Jasper must have been so uncomfortable. As someone who’s been lucky enough to have a lot of support, and a loving partner who has been nothing short of incredibly kind and patient and understanding, that line just. I dunno it makes me tear up a little (a lot) every time I read it. That understanding and acknowledgment in those few little words means the world to me.

I wanted to write this out and be a lil vulnerable here after reading how Sage was worried about their portrayal of Jasper. Idk if they’d ever see this, but I wanted to get it out there that as a trans man myself, Jasper is perfect. I’m so thankful that Jasper exists in the story as he does, and that so much love and care went into portraying him. I get the same feeling reading that scene with Rachel and Jasper as I’ve had being comforted by friends and family. It’s so personal and touching. Thank you for writing Jasper the way he is <3

[calmparticles]

Happy new year 1997! 🎉🍾

I'm meaning. 2023.9999999999999999999!!!!!!! 🎉🍾

[shuploc]

i'm gonna be so real the only thing i'm more excited about than arcane season two is seeing your art of arcane season two. you are incredible. thank you so so so much.

HUH?

I don't even know what to say, that's so-... crazy? I literally don't understand lmao, as someone who's been on the verge of crying tears of joy just thinking about season 2 dropping for the past like 3 years, I can't imagine someone being more excited about my stuff than the actual show, I almost refuse to believe it 😭

But thank you so much for the kind words, you have no idea how that means to me, I really really hope I haven't disappointed you so far! ❤️

[14dayswithyou]

So it's taken some time, but I wanted you to know that 14dwy has actually inspired a game of my own! It's also a yan game and it's called Crystalline Cage! :D You're in the games credits lol

✦゜ANSWERED: aaaa I'm so happy and honoured to hear that!! ;v; I know I normally keep things strictly 14DWY-related on this blog (and require a secret phrase for asks), but I'll make an exception hehe

The demo for "Crystalline Cage" drops on the 3rd of August!!

✦ Links: tumblr | itch ��

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

Hello may 31th anon! Look at that, another year behind us and a new one to come. Have a nice day! ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡

[sensei-twinkles]

hiii I hope you've been doing well! just want to say that I love your art, and seeing it makes my day better. thanks!

AWWW YOUUU! Thanks for the lovely message, I’ve been doing pretty good and your message made my day! So take a little doodle as a thanks for being so kind ✨

[mitamicah]

Ten days since my last sketch I am back with some Bonace for you 💙🧡

[souperluminal]

Hello!! I'm a huge fan of your art and I thought I would ask about your colorwork, because it's genuinely super impressive to me how all your pieces have amazing palettes and they add so so so much to the general atmosphere. Do you have any process to pick colors for pieces? Like using picture references, gradient maps, etc or do you genuinely just eyeball them? I'm super curious :]

But yea I really love what you do and love seeing every new piece!! Have a nice day! Ty for reading <3

Thanks! I very much use references, though I don't use the color picker on them, gotta train the eye. I have an ever-expanding reference folder of photos and paintings with colors that I like so that when I start a new painting and I have an idea of the color scheme I want in mind, I'll already have some reference on hand. Good reference really makes a world of difference!

I also like to bias colors a little bit away from their standard versions:

The more blue green and the more yellow green are both more interesting to me than the "just green" green. Nothing wrong with that average green though, sometimes that's exactly what you need. It's always situational.

Lastly, a fantastic color tip for digital art specifically that I got from Mike Hernandez: Use the RGB sliders instead of the HSB color selection!

By default, Photoshop gives you the HSB (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) color picking setup which looks like this:

It's perfectly functional and has its uses, but it doesn't really feel like mixing color. On the other hand, if you use the RGB sliders:

Now you can add a little more blue if you think that's what the color needs, or you can take away red, add some green, etc. It gets you actually mixing color and thinking more about how the colors relate to each other. It can take some getting used to if you've only used the HSB setup before, but it's worth it!

[joyfuladorable]

Mikey and Raph being besties and rassling (From the book Lean, Green Smackdown Machine!)