#the fact that I’ve become a comic artist and I draw my characters as a job is still absolutely mental to me

[inimeitiel]

First half of this year (digital) Inktober, featuring the main characters from me and @ivanhoenineteenninetyfour new comic in the making. Their names are Lyndon and Chaim.

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

THE 100 DAYS OF JUNKAN

Hello everybody! I’m Carbonated-Jem! 

I sincerely hope you’re having a good day as this post finds you.

You’re probably wondering what this is. Well this my good compatriot is the result of a very ill advised task I put upon myself at the beginning of this year. There’ll be a TL;DR at the bottom for those who don’t want my full ramblings (sorry about that btw, not very good at this), but I do appreciate anyone who’ll give a silly person like me the time of day.

You see, I am a fan of Danganronpa, and as a result I like to read a lot of gay fanfic (and if I’m feeling daring I’ll even look at fan art, shocking). This series for all its ups and downs is quite important to me and becoming who I am today. Tokomaru especially helped me through a period of a lot of stress and depression, among other things. 

But as you can tell by the name this isn’t a Blog Dedicated to Tokomaru, it’s a blog dedicated to Junkan. Which might be very surprising to anyone who I haven’t divulged this info to personally. 

I try to make it a habit to not delve too deep into fandoms for the sake of my mental health, I look up fanart, read some appreciation posts on tumblr, read fics, and depending on the series make art for others to enjoy. However one thing I tend to become vaguely aware of regardless of whether I want to or not is what ships are and are not controversial. So I am very aware of the fact that saying I ship Junko and Mikan is bare minimum getting some weird looks from a lot of the people reading this.

Before I give a reason why I’m doing this let me just make clear what this is in the first place.

This is the 100 Days of Junkan, a project I undertook (Kind of as a joke) at the beginning of the year. I have made 100 Pieces to post across the next 100 Days. Some are finished art, some are sketches, some are sketches I added color to later, some are multiple images grouped into one day, comics, and far more. I’ve learned a lot through this project artistically, and some of the surprises I have in store will hopefully be worth the effort. I don’t know 100% for sure what day this post will be on, however the event itself will begin October 1st, and if I did the math right will continue all the way till January 9th. 

Why would I put this much time and energy into this ship, knowing that there are a lot of people who downright hate it? Simple, I just like the ship a lot, and wanted to make more art for it.

And I should further note, there are plenty of fans of this ship as well, however they may be disappointed to hear that unless you’re very much like me, you probably won’t enjoy what I’ve made with these two. In canon (much to my chagrin, because I’m not partial to the direction it took in DR3) this is a very abusive relationship. This is not really my thing, anyone who has seen the ship art I’ve done on my main page will know that I much prefer to draw soft, fluffy shipping art. I try to make art which will leave a positive vibe on people for the most part.

That said I understand why there are people who like this ship for how it is represented in canon. Shipping Junkan has taught me to stop being judgy of people for what they ship (I used to really hate Togami x Toko for example, and while it’s still not my thing I can totally understand why people are into it now). Everyone has their own reasons for shipping something, whether it’s an interesting dynamic, they just like seeing the characters kiss, as a coping mechanism, and plenty of other reasons. I have my boundaries of course, but at this point I try to be open minded towards peoples proclivities.

So if I’m not drawing a Canon Compliant Depiction of this ship, what am I actually doing here?

Well I’ve decided that I’m going to draw niche art for an already very niche ship. I like Junkan on the softer side, where regardless of where it's supposed to be in canon or an AU they just actually love eachother, I've seen and have been inspired by a decent amount of Fanfics depicting this exact thing. It's the dynamic that I find the most interesting personally, as I like the directions you can take it with the characters.

So that’s the deal, for 100 Days starting from October 1st you can expect this blog to post a constant flow of soft Junko x Mikan art. If that’s your thing, I sincerely hope you like all this! It’s been my number one goal to give some art to the people who share a similar desire for softer depictions of this Ship, along with all the people who have already made amazing pieces of writing and artwork depicting the same. If this isn’t your thing, I hope you’ll at least stick around to give it a chance, and if I can’t sell you on it like I have with some of my friends, I hope you can at least walk away from this with a shrug.

Apologizing in advance to all those who peruse the Mikan and Junko tag, because this is gonna be flooding those for awhile I imagine. I fully understand if you wanna block me for this, hope you have a lovely day after that! 

Now dear viewer, please watch this long road unwind and behold such sights as: Me slowly memorizing these two to the point that I can draw them almost entirely without reference at this point, inconsistent colors schemes,  inconsistent heights, so much goddamn blushing, AU’s galore, and the unspeakable things I learned how to do for this project! (And by unspeakable I mean I don’t wanna spoil the surprise!) 

Oh! And as an extra bonus to all this, go check out my AO3 account. I have a singular Junkan Fic on there right now, however as a little bonus for this event (and sure, thematic for Halloween) I’m going to be posting a Vampire AU Junkan Fic periodically throughout October. Partially inspired by the fact that Day 30 depicts a scene I came up with way before the actual fic, and I really want to have it written out and available to read before that post comes out.

The other reason is that if I say i’m going to post it here, that means I am required to actually do it by the law of my brain. Which will likely outweigh my complete lack of self confidence in my ability to write anything making me too paranoid to actually let it go public~

Here’s the link!

And if you stumbled upon this post through the Junkan Tag and not my main account, here’s a link to it!

You’ll find plenty of other Danganronpa Art, including Junko and Mikan on their own. I do other stuff but I imagine that’d be the most immediately interesting, but hey you never know. So hopefully if this blog doesn’t provide anything you’d be into, my normal works will catch your attention! 

I’ve also opened an Ask Box for this blog, why? I dunno. I’ll be real it just seemed like the thing to do. But feel free to ask questions and I'll try to respond best I can!

And finally here is the TL,DR for those who didn't wanna read through my mind numbing rambling.

I like Danganronpa, I like drawing Soft Junkan art for a lot of reasons. I’m posting 100 Pieces for 100 Days of this ship, and hopefully ya’ll will enjoy it. If not, that’s okay! I hope you have a great day! 

Reblogs Appreciated!~ Stay hydrated Everyone!~

[maliciousmagpie]

Not to be sappy on main but it’s genuinely really nice seeing people having so much love for Supernatural on this site.

Like, I know it’s terribly written, and omg some of the bullshit it pulls but that’s part of its charm, it’s pulled so much goddamn bullshit that I can’t even predict it anymore, which, idk the pattern recognition in my autism loves to predict everything (and it’s right a good chunk of the time too) so the fact it’s managed to break it is damn impressive in my book.

And the characters omg the characters, they’re so messy and so dramatic and they’re all so sad and I love them and it’s so nice to see other people also love them and see similar or even new things in characters I also love!

Idk, it’s just something I feel is missing from my main socials (that being instagram) and unfortunately none of my friends have watched Supernatural (Yet. It’s going to happen.) so I’m sort of missing that connection I suppose. It’s been a real long time for me since I was really this into something, arguably I haven’t been this into a piece of media since FNAF 1 came out, since that was what pushed me to start drawing and making ocs in the first place and now here I am planning a whole 7 season comic (I’m incapable of taking things slowly) just because of this damn show and because of how much I genuinely love Dean and Castiel and because I wanted so much more for them.

It’s unfortunate I feel a bit cringe unironically saying Supernatural is one of my favourite shows now, but it is! What started as just picking a long ass show I had some morbid curiosity about because of one of the characters getting sent to superhell for being gay where I couldn’t even remember the characters name but somehow remember he was played by Misha Collins has now basically become a cornerstone of my journey as an artist and the thing that pushed me to finally start seriously pursuing writing!

Saying all this I haven’t actually finished the show yet, I’m currently on S12 and no doubt I will continue to be angry at the absolute shenanigans this show will pull, but honestly if I’ve stuck around for 12 already, what’s another three?

And when the writers do something I really hate? Well I have my lovely ocs who are totally not based on Dean and Cas and are definitely not just so I can live in the delusion that in some universe destiel is real.

Tldr: I am cringe but I am free, I unironically love destiel and I love looking at posts related to it specifically on tumblr, good shit.

[timbit-robin-art]

aside from DC and marvel, from what I mostly seen on your page, what other show, comic, games, ect are you into?

Maybe it’s because it’s really late right now, but I find it funny that I open the app and caught someone in real time sending an ask. Imagine me reaching through the screen and grabbing at you. Gotcha.

So, while you can get a general sense of what other things I’m in to from my little Meet the Artist doodle (pinned post), the icons are a bit small so only eagle-eyed fans can spot their silly little interests. So I can get into it a bit.

I’ll get it out of the way that I generally like anime a lot. I have a love-hate relationship with a lot of it, like Naruto and Attack on Titan, but there’s some a fully love. Houseki no Kuni is one of my favorites. Though I’ve found the most rewatchable anime for me are the goofier ones, like Attack Junior High, Saiki K, Life Lessons With Uramichi Oniisan, Buddy Daddies, and (my most recent favorite) Monthly Girls Nozaki Kun. There’s a lot more that I like, it’s just we’d be here a while.

(Fun fact: my all-time favorite anime character is Hideyoshi Nagachika from Tokyo Ghoul.)

Then there’s the reoccurring Calvin and Hobbes that I’ve mentioned a couple of times here. It’s how I learned how to read.

I really like FNAF, but only 1 and 2. I also like drawing them in an 80s cartoon style, like the Garfield and Friends cartoon (another thing I like). While we’re talking about cartoons, I really like Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, Pink Panther, Scooby Doo (of all varieties), and a lot more.

Back on horror, many people don’t take me for the type, but I really like it. It ranges from Saw, Resident Evil, Faith: Unholy Trinity, The Walter Files, Marble Hornets, and much more.

I guess other things I find worth mentioning are Star Wars, Detroit: Become Human, Sonic, Psych, Voltron, Fire Emblem, rhythm games, and (arguably the most important) Ninjago. Edit: I just remembered another important one, and that’s Dino Squad. I’m also a big history fan, but I don’t know how you guys would feel about Lafayette fan art.

You will sometimes get a rare non-DC/Marvel drawing from me, but I try to space it out, as I know people see me as the DC/Marvel art blog. And I don’t say that as a bad thing, either. DC/Marvel is my number one hyperfixation, closely followed by Ninjago. I have been obsessed with these things since I was very young, and that means I’m also cursed with making art of them.

(But that won’t stop me from cursing you with my other interests every now and then, mwah ha ha.)

I hope this answers your question. Sorry if it might not be coherent. It’s very late, and I’m a yapper.

[master-of-the-game]

seeing you make oil paintings of elim garak has changed something about the way i perceive art, both in what others make but also in what i am capable of making.

it’s probably due to learning mostly euro-centric art history, but i’ve always thought of oil paintings as like the peak of painting ability? like, it’s fancy and it takes a while so i thought that it must be the best (ignoring the fact that my artistic field is mostly in acrylic paints and 3D sculpting and yet i still consider it very good). and i’m still working on disproving this sort of mentality that there are mediums inherently better than others, because it’s incredibly limiting to my creativity to impose a higharchy, and also it feels kind of xenophobic.

i digress a bit. point is, i’ve viewed oil paintings as a medium only deserving of gallery-type realistic portrait stuff, which is very much not what i do. i don’t make the sorts of fancy art rich people would pay for- the type of art i thought oils were for. i make paintings of comic book characters and sculptures of my personal heroes, i make jewelry and clothes and stuffed animals. stuff that i enjoy. which is good!

but still somewhere lurking in my brain was this voice telling me that on some level my works weren’t as meaningful or creative because they were fan works or made from materials i’m not an expert in or because the only people i draw and paint and sculpt are queer and trans, like me. that because my art was self-indulgent, on some level i suppose i thought it lesser.

but then i see your art. and holy shit! you’re work is INCREDIBLE! at first i was excited because, hey, i’m a big star trek fan, and garak is one of my favorite characters. i love coming across fan art of him, and it always manages to strike a chord with me. but then. as i looked at it closer, i realized it was on canvas. as i scrolled down i realize it was oil on canvas.

before, i’d pretty much only seen fanart as sketches on paper or digital drawings. one that is really only meant art-wise for quick sketches or planning of what will become “real” works, and one that doesn’t actually take up any physical space in our world, and is stored away in a little digital file.

but oil on canvas? that’s not meant to be thrown away, it’s meant to be held in gloved hands, as it is precious, and it’s not meant to be hidden away in the “files” on a laptop. no, those hang on the walls of museums or houses, meant to be displayed with pride for all to see.

and with those too colliding thoughts, that of fan works as some lesser form of art but oil paintings being the art of the rich and talented… well i realized that both were wrong. fan works are not in any way shape or form lesser than original works. what makes my layered ink painting of dream of the endless any less important than my painting of the ocean during a storm? nothing! they’re both good works. and on the other side, there is nothing that makes my oil paintings more important than my acrylic paintings or my sculpture or my knitting. it’s all art, lovely art, in the end. and the only thing that really matters is that i enjoy it.

seeing your art has helped me break some (minor) yet harmful thoughts i didn’t really even realize i had. so thank you for that. also your garak art is fucking good, and it really makes me think about what sort of life he would have after ds9. anyways, thank you. that’s what i’ve been meaning to say (that’s what this whole thing is). thanks for changing my vision for the better.

Oh wow! You know, it is very important and gratifying to know that results of your work make person rearrange their thoughts and views on something. Thank you for your sincerity! Now back to subject. I personally believe that fan work can be something fine and vice versa something fine can be a fan work. One thing that is very important to remember and remind yourself is that most of fine art that you've mentioned - gallery and most famous works (at least in european tradition) - are, well, derivative. Of Bible, of ancient myths. Yes. All this stuff can be considered maybe not fanart - but it is a subject for discussion - but illustration at least. And it is still fine art. Book illustrations - oh well. Sometimes I want to hang them on the wall, especially old ones. So - why not? Fan work always has a connotation of something derivative, and it certainly is... But just as well as most of the most prominent works. Dixi :D So that's the matter. Medium of course matters but medium does not always define the subject of art (except for common sense), as you've said. It's just maybe the cost of medium (some watercolor brushes for some reason cost... ehm. Too much :D) that defines its price, but not necessarily. I like thinking about this issue and discussing it... Plenty room for ideas. Thank you!

[pizzazz-party]

ice and snow spoilers issues #1 through #3

usagi’s arm—the one that got smashed by a kappa that one time—being the arm that got dragged by the yuki-onna 👀👀👀

watching keiko and jei eat. i’m gonna think of the emperor’s ban on meat until the day i die. meat was something basically everyone enjoyed anyway, if they could get their hands on it (the hikone clan gifting “medicine” to the emperor, the illicit meat market trade in the bigger cities, the fact that poorer towns with poorer harvests relied on hunting as another avenue for food), but these two really don’t do things by half, huh.

jei casually rooting through someone’s mind and memories, his victims eyes momentarily going white.

side note, i love these little details, like their (straw?) winter capes being “well-oiled to make them waterproof and keep in the heat,” i was wondering how those worked.

for tbs au stuff, i’ve been looking into housing around this general era. and it’s interesting to compare the few remaining farmer houses of the edo period (along with some amazing recreations in japanese museums), to what stan puts on the page. he’s a comic artist, and that means he has to work fast, and that means simplifying a lot of what he works with. no one except the nitpickers are going to care if his houses look less than lived in when there’s a greater story going on.

and in this case, it makes sense if the yuki-onna doesn’t have that much stuff lying around.

nonsequitor: yuki-onna’s fire burnt hair cut looks kinda gay (approving)

jei proves to be far more interesting when his face isn’t just stuck like that. or when he’s having opinions.

for the longest time, part of jei’s only slightly interesting angle was the fact that he was shrouded in mystery. but in my opinion, that’s held him back a lot. having keiko around, spilling his backstory, having him interact with other supernatural beings—all of that helps him become more like a character than a force of nature. which, in theory, sounds a little like a downgrade. but it’s not. lord hikiji can pull off the former, because his actions are used very sparsely by stan sakai, while simultaneously ghosting the entirety of the narrative. there is no story without him. by comparison, we get a lot of jei. and it only serves to draw attention to how little substance he has as a character.

he doesn’t have an arc. he never learns anything or grows (prior to keiko). he interacts with bandits the most (this is what, the second or third time he’s become someone’s boss?), but only to kill them really. and watching them cower around him gets real old, real fast.

even watching him fight usagi isn’t actually that interesting. i’m never as worried for usagi as i am for other characters. (rest in peace, inazuma—and hold on yukichi.)

unrelated: jei is made of void, confirmed /j

[briochebrioche]

MegaCon 2022 !!! ( I'm Batman )

The most recent convention that I’ve been to was MegaCon (2022) in Orlando. It was more comic book based, but there were many different fandoms and genres present. The venue was a really massive building that had multiple rooms for showings, small parties, and interactive areas. I’m pretty sure there was a small Vocaloid concert in one of the rooms as well. The main attraction of course was the main room where all the booths were set up. As I walked through the convention, I was able to appreciate just how much these fans had elevated the media to more than just entertainment.

First, there’s the place itself. The giant open hall was divide into multiple sections, such as the retail area, the artist alley, the celebrity booths, and the food courts. The retail area was mostly people selling props like ninja blades or things of the sort, body pillows, masks, shirts, cards, etc. It was a lot of merch for a variety of mediums including comics, anime, games, and movies. The other main attraction for me was the artist alley. It was just a very large area lined up with booths and booths of independent artists. It ranged from their own personal art to art of characters from beloved series. It was not just a commercial thing, but also a display of the huge variety in artistic styles. I saw spray paintings, watercolor on paper, acrylic accessories, metal pins, stickers, hand drawings, sculptures, and so much more. Personally, I got a My Hero Academia sticker of my favorite character (lemillion), a watercolor ghostface poster, and a metal pin of Calcifer (from Howl’s Moving Castle) for a friend that couldn’t be there. I think it’s really amazing how all of these fans are able to produce so much due to their love for these franchises. Sure, it has become a huge business that can earn someone a living. However, it’s the way that fans are able to physically possess this fiction that is so cool to me. The characters come to life in a way, jumping out of their source material to be presented by us in the real world in unique ways. It adds an interactive layer to the entertainment we all love. Relating to this extra layer, I didn’t even talk about the cosplaying and voice acting yet.

Walking around the con, I saw so many different cosplays that I recognized. Spiderman characters, DC villains like the Riddler and joker, Tanjiro from Demon Slayer and others from the series, Five Nights at Freddy’s characters, and so much more. I went dressed as Batman (the Robert Pattinson version) and had a blast. So many people came up to me to take pictures and tell me how cool my costume looked, and some even treated me as if I was the real batman and roleplayed a little. My favorite part was when a little boy (probably 10) came up to me in his own batman costume and took a picture with me. It was just very wonderful to see how the community was so positive and having fun. It really felt like a space where everyone could express themselves however they wanted and be encouraged instead of judged. It was also cool to learn about how people put together their cosplays, as a lot of them were hand-made or modified. One more thing that was awesome was the fact that there were a lot of voice actors and popular cosplayers that showed up. The most notable of these, for me, was Kevin Conroy (the iconic voice of batman in the animated series and the games). Being able to meet the person who voiced one of your favorite characters, as well as seeing all the cosplays around you, really makes you feel like the fiction has come to life. It’s also very validating to see other people enjoy these characters and shows as much as you do. Overall, it was an amazing experience that I will definitely do again.

[henriettalamb]

To Pause, and Breathe

Hello everyone, this is Wally, the author and artist of the comic- earlier I announced a hiatus for the Lamb comic series, and now I’m going deeper into why.

Lamb and Sweet and all the characters I made for the story, they were all made in a very precarious, precious, and specific part of my life when I was coming out and needed to find a source of happiness- and I could find that in them! Coming up with scenarios to draw them in was exciting- it was new uncharted territory for me and i was brimming with inspiration- and that led to the story of them that I’m telling now.

Unfortunately, I’ve been pushing myself so hard, keeping a schedule in unrealistic ways and it’s been negatively affecting my health, both physically and mentally. As soon as the art got more and *more* complex, with artwork taking longer and longer to complete each week, I eventually just hit a wall, and practically- it’s no way to release a comic, it’s unprofessional, and (to be brutally honest) it’s going to eventually kill me, I’ve never been so lethargic in my life. It will take way too long, and that’s not only a disservice to myself- it’s a disservice to all of you who wait patiently while i make a “weekly” update into a de facto bi-weekly one, it’s not fair to you all.

Changing the schedule to make it bi-weekly won’t fix the problem- it just delays it. But there is a more pressing, personal issue at hand- aside from the comic, it’s been leaving my accounts (on here and on Twitter) so stagnant and effectively dead- effectively meaning I no longer draw the characters for fun, or for boosting my mood, it’s become a job that frankly, I’m not even being paid for to begin with- I’m pressuring myself to unreasonable degrees

It’s spiritually draining, and as a result, I’ve become not only emotionally and spiritually detached from my characters i hold dear- I’ve become robotic with my comic, it feels soulless and that in itself is going to become a ticking time bomb in terms of narrative and output.

SO with that all in mind, what am I going to do? Where is the story going? And what’s going to become of the accounts?

I’m not going to stop updating the accounts at all, as a matter of fact, I’m going to do something that has been sorely lacking- while I’m on a comic hiatus, I will be making these....Lamb art accounts!

It helps me get used to them again, give some new ideas and life on these accounts and even may help me get new ideas in the process! Not only that, it may help me foster a more positive connection with followers or any that view it- I’ve unfortunately been dead doing comic only. So, I am excited for this, actually!

As for the comic: I DO want to finish the current issue I’m working on at some point- just to say that I gave it a full shot (plus you all deserve that).

After the comic issue ends though, I have to think it over on *how* to continue the story- whether it should still be told through comic....or something else, something possibly better even! (special illustrated novel perhaps?...)

Whatever it may be, this story is a burning passion from within me, i NEED to tell it- but I’m only human, a flawed being on a flawed world, and i can’t do it at the expense of you, my connections with others, and my own health. So, keeping that all in mind, I thank you for any patience I’ve received over the years, and instead of apologizing, I now need to move forward in a smarter, more emotionally, spiritually connected & healthier way, not just with my story, but for how I do art, and writing in general (as well as for my own personal life as well). And while I navigate through it all, I hope the stories of Lamb, Sweet, Coco and the others bring you as much joy as they did (and continue to do) for me.

With lots of love -Wally

[adorablediscoveries]

This Artist Turns Bananas into Iconic Movie Characters, Animals, and More

It has been proven time and again that true artists don’t need expensive supplies to create masterpieces. Many songwriters jot down lyrics on scraps of paper, and graphic designers have been known to sketch their first logo concepts on napkins in cafés—some of which later become iconic. This demonstrates that raw talent and artistic vision can overcome the absence of traditional tools.

Many artists embrace unconventional canvases for their work, choosing unique objects over paper or traditional materials. One such artist is Stephan Brusche from Rotterdam, Netherlands, who has turned an everyday fruit—the banana—into his primary canvas. His creations are both surprising and impressive, given the challenges of working with such a delicate medium.

“In the very beginning, it was more about how enjoyable the experience was—a ballpoint pen glides so smoothly across a banana peel. But I didn’t want to draw the same thing over and over again, so it became a daily creative challenge to see what else I could create. I started choosing subjects that fit the shape of a banana perfectly. Eventually, that led to my breakthrough technique of cutting into the banana peel to enhance my designs”, he shared.

When it comes to generating new ideas for his banana sculptures, Stephan explained:

“I usually draw things that personally interest me. I’ve always been fascinated by animals, so naturally, I began incorporating them into my work. Animals come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, providing endless inspiration. The Bible has also been a strong foundation for my personal beliefs, and since many iconic artworks throughout history have been inspired by biblical themes, I like to pay homage to both the artists and the stories they depicted. Additionally, I love reinterpreting globally recognized images through my banana art. My interests go beyond traditional art—I draw inspiration from music, movies, and comics as well, which is why you’ll often find pop culture figures in my work.”

“An idea can emerge in different ways. Sometimes, the shape of a banana itself sparks inspiration. For instance, when I created my version of Klimt’s The Kiss, I saw two bananas in the supermarket—one larger than the other—and immediately thought of the painting. The fact that both the banana and the artwork share a golden hue probably helped too. I usually sketch out my ideas on paper first, and sometimes I take a photo of the banana and edit it in Photoshop to refine the composition before drawing directly on the peel. Since I can’t erase mistakes once I start drawing on the banana, everything has to be right in one go.”

When asked about working under time constraints, Stephan added:

“But when I’m doing banana art for an event and receive specific requests, I don’t always have the time to go through that whole process. In those cases, I just start and hope for the best!”

[solstrix]

ART RESOLUTIONS OF 2025

Looking back at my progress this year, I can see how much I have grown…. And exactly where I want to improve in the future! To help me figure out how to improve in those ways, let us make a list to further define my goals and objectives, as well as to consult if I ever feel I am losing my way. But the most important thing to remember, is that every piece made gets me closer to being the artist I want to be.

As a disclaimer, this list is extremely specific to my own goals, please! Feel free to share your goals if you have them! I’d be curious to see, and I genuinely feel inspired by hearing what other people want to work on.

Therefore, without further ado…

Work on comics!! When we really get down to it, this is my most significant and most important goal. I have always wanted to be a comic artist, to tell stories using my art… But I’ve been holding myself back, feeling that my skills were not good enough, not consistent enough, just… not enough in general. That’s a lie though, and it has been a lie for a long time. I’ve been drawing characters since junior high. Backgrounds have never been my strong suit, but that is something that can only be improved by drawing more of them… Which I would have been motivated to do for the sake of my comics! I can only get better if I make them. And so I simply must make them.

Stay in my lane! Make less fanart, and more original work! Now don’t get me wrong, fan art is fun to make, and if making art of your fave is what keeps you picking up the pencil, then do it! But for me… I always find myself at the end of the year, wishing I’d dedicated more time to my own projects, my own stories, my own artistic voice. So this year I want to commit myself to finishing the first chapter of my webcomic, to draw my own characters, to draw from life or reference photos I’ve taken myself. Fanart will now be an occasional treat, not the everyday meal, so to speak.

Embrace my own pace! I’ve talked about this before on here, but the fact that I’m a slow artist has long been a struggle of mine. To make a long story short, I’ve decided that thinking of this as a flaw was in itself the real problem, and that what needed to change was my mindset. After all, it is when I take my time that I end up most enjoying the process. This means I might occasionally have to skip posting for a week, but most difficult… This means I have to give up weekly/monthly challenges. I keep trying to do these, and I keep failing, and it keeps making me feel burned out and worse than before. I have to let go.

Explore and define different approaches to making finished pieces. This one is a little hard to explain, but perhaps one of the most important for this blog. In the past, I’ve convinced myself that there was only one way to truly finish a piece: start with a sketch, do clean lineart, then flat colours, and then shading and rendering. Only once every single one of these steps was done, could a piece be properly considered “complete.” Not only is this completely untrue, but it is also incredibly limiting, and… perhaps even part of what makes me a slower artist… And what really broke through to me last year, was that many of the artists I looked up to and admired, often didn’t even follow these “necessary” steps! Vespertiliu’s hatched inks are just as complete as Abigail Larson’s flat colours as Julia Lepetit’s blocked shadows as PricklyAlpaca’s painterly renderings. I have such a range of options at my disposal, and I’ve been limiting myself to just one! I hope to explore more of these options and become comfortable with each of them, until I can approach illustrations with an intentional style approach in mind. And not every illustration needs to be done the same way.

Draw more scenes! Like I mentioned above, backgrounds have been something I’ve struggled with, and which I wish I was more comfortable with doing. But drawing a background for the sake of drawing a background has always been a bit boring to me… And it’s only recently that I realized there was an extremely simple solution to this “problem”: throw in a character! Not only will this motivate me to draw the background in the first place, but it will help me improve at proportioning things, considering compositions, and, of course, it will make it easier to draw scenes for my comics.

Sketchbook and journal regularly. So here’s the thing: I actually LOVE making traditional art, just as much as digital art. In particular, traditional art tends to be my sanctuary of sorts, the art I make truly and only for myself. Most of it will never be posted, and that’s part of the point. Sketchbooking for myself is how I practice and warm up at the start of an art session, but most importantly, it is how I nurture my own creativity and my love for making art. I must ignore the voice that tells me that art made behind the scenes serves no tangible purpose to my presence online: it serves a purpose to me.

Find my audience. Now let me be clear: I appreciate every single one of you who follow my blog, watch my progress, share my art… But I have to be brutally honest with myself, and with you, here. The fact that my original art gets little to no attention compared to my fanart, is… a little soul-crushing. But this is something that can change. By prioritizing my original works this year, I hope this means I can eventually find those people who would love my original creations for what they are, and to whom my art speaks to and compels in the same way that it does to me.

Have fun, and enjoy the process. Avoid the traps of perfectionism and succumbing to social (or invented) pressure.

[the-darklings]

As a life long lover of The Sandman comics, I feel that if Neil Gaiman were to ever have given Dream a happy ending of some sorts, it somehow would have been your Wanderer.

I have never read anything that has come close to how Sandman has made me feel, with the exception now being your Story. In some unexplainable way, you, Dearest Writer, are on the same wavelength as Mr. Gaiman.

(If you were an artist during his Sandman publishing days I just know he would have HOUNDED you to draw an issue, you just radiate the exact vibes)

Thank you so much! That means the world to me 😭

Perhaps ironically, I’ve had quite a few people ask me how I manage to write Dream so well (which is, of course, very subjective, but I deeply appreciate the sentiment all the same) and my half-ironic thought was always: I write like Neil Gaiman himself is standing over my shoulder, keeping me on the straight and narrow. Which is now unironically true by this point. In my mind, I write tibyim as if I had to turn this in to Neil himself as I would an editor. Maybe it’s the fact I work with comics too (albeit digital) but I have a lot of respect for Neil and his work just on author level. He’s actually become a bit of an inpsiration for me which I’m always wary about and rarely have “heroes” since we all know how those tend to go jdfhjdshf.

He created something truly unique with the Sandman, and it feels like the least I can do is pay homage to these characters in a respectful manner.

[catesartworks]

Answering Asks about Isekai Maid

I received a lot of asks about Isekai Maid in my inbox, so I will post them here under the cut! They are from November to now, so check and see if yours is down there!

Cw: Discussions of abuse, xenophobia, and assault.

This is gonna be long, so buckle up!

I get what you’re saying, I don’t think that every webtoon author has these same opinions on classism and racism in these stories, certainly not. Everyone is different, not everyone is going to make the same story and their views are based on their personal ideals and upbringing.

I can’t comment knowledgeably on East Asian nobility politics in fiction, or their dynamics and the tropes used in that setting, though I can recognize the tropes being used. When a webtoon takes place in an East Asian court, it’s harder for me to get the greater scope and the cultural context because it is not the culture I was born in, so I have to do research and think about how those translate. It’s part of the fun! I get to learn something new.

But the implications come with the setting they choose. And many authors choose European/western settings and thus carry all of the issues that come with it regardless of intention. 

In fact, when it comes to Otome Isekai webtoons and novels that I am criticizing, the majority I’ve read have the settings, character names, costumes, etc. are inspired by European aesthetics and nobility titles, western historical figures, artwork, etc. My “maid slapping” master post is pretty much exclusively western inspired settings.

I’ve read stories that I really love (Beware the Villainess) and ones I really dislike (Abandoned Empress), and they all to an extent use Western Aesthetic with some East Asian Nobility tropes that you mentioned at some points.

For example, the fact that Ian from Beware the Villainess and Ruve from Abandoned Empress become the Emperor when they’re illegitimate children and not born from the Empress wouldn’t happen in Europe, but I accept it nonetheless because it doesn’t really hinder the story and it’s interesting. It’s a different perspective. 

I can make concessions on certain things, but not slapping maids, no matter how justified it is in the story. It just doesn’t work in European/western settings, and it makes me uncomfortable.

I think the idea of being ignorance does a disservice to those who DO take the time and effort to do their research. The internet is there, and so are books, reference material, websites that many artists and writers draw from. And there are authors who do amazing amounts of research, and care into the dynamics of the setting they’re in, even when taking liberties.

One such example is Monster Princess and Contract Duchess. It’s one of my favorite webtoons ever, I even own the physical edition. The author took great care in depicting black people and how they are drawn. The politics and power dynamics in that story are also very good and show how corrupt a system can be to children who need help the most. There is an acknowledgement of Leslie being sheltered, and going past her preconceived notions of others, being taken aback by people who do not look like her and embracing the diversity of the world around her.

Which is why is pains me when authors, no matter who, use the aesthetic of European nobility and insert dynamics that romanticize social ills (like classism) that Europe and western countries struggle with historically. If you can do extensive research on historical costume and art, then the cultural information surrounding it was always a click away.

Maids historically in the west have been people who are lower status socioeconomically, and at the mercy of their employers especially in a western setting where they are often immigrants. There are Romance Fantasy comics that acknowledge that the noble is of higher standing than a maid (who are commoners) and has more power than them, would be free to fire them and yet, still indulge in maid slapping (Duchess 50 Tea Recipes, The Lady Needs a Break, Just Leave Me Be).

And when a western inspired story is exported into a western market, it’s going to be looked at from a historical lens by people who grew up in that culture. I’m sorry, but it can’t be avoided. The author’s chose to do this and it is inevitable.

Saint Soo is a woman who was accidentally Isekai’d into Teffrah. She had healing powers and was at odds with the Empress, Christina. Empress Christina, who herself had gone back in time after being killed by the Emperor over his love for Lady Soo, already met Lady Soo and assumed that she would be just like her previous timeline self and try to win the Emperor’s affections.

But Lady Soo, in this timeline, had no memory of the previous timeline and acted differently. She became disillusioned with the emperor and the noble court after witnessing them beating a servant to death for a minor mistake. The Emperor, no longer interested in Lady Soo, went back to the Christina, who was certain that he was a different man in this timeline and deserves a second chance.

She didn’t afford this mindset to Lady Soo, who she saw as ignorant for supporting the abolishment of slavery and supporting the people of Teffrah’s constitution. Lady Soo didn’t do that in the previous timeline, so the Empress thought that she was only doing this to look good for commoners.

She had Lady Soo accused of trying to start a coup because of her involvement with supporting the constitution, and had her executed. This nearly caused a civil war and the emperor later went back to his old ways and began mistreating Christina. She was later imprisoned and executed. Lady Soo was then made a posthumous saint.

Nora Williams is transgender. She was assigned male at birth, so that is why she was wearing boy’s clothes as a child. 

There are spells for transportation, time and space, sound, purification, temperature, and mind altering. Each spell has a time limit, but depending on your skill level, it can be extended from seconds, to minutes, to days to years. 

The general populace tend to use things like stones and wands because they are most accessible, but with sufficient training one can use their hands to use magic. There are also laws strictly forbidding certain types of magic falling under the “time and space” and “mind altering” types of magic (though there are some grey areas because transportation magic also falls under it). 

It’s a combination of a transportation spell and a sound spell. They look for key words like “reincarnator” and words relating to it, such as names of figures in history. What happens if it’s triggered is that Imperial Knights are sent an alert to arrest the person who set the spell off. 

There is also a dust that covers the person in question so they are easily identified.  It’s not a perfect spell though, it kind of relies on the only people who know about reincarnators being educated in that specific academy, so people who do know about reincarnators who don’t attend the academy won’t be prosecuted (like Linus)

Shellie was a bit of a troublemaker growing up, and hates the Imperial Knights with a passion. This is due to the fact that out of most of her family, she passes as a Teffrah citizen due to her light skin color. When she was a child, Imperial Knights arrested her and her mother and threw them both in prison overnight. 

They didn’t believe that her mother, who was darker in skin tone than Shellie, was biologically related to Shellie and assumed she stole her. When it was confirmed that she was Shellie’s biological mother, they gave no apology whatsoever. 

Shellie often got into trouble, and had a fiery personality until her parents got laid off from their work. For a long time, Shellie and her siblings had to be the breadwinners of her family, so she read hand me down books and as a result idealized the noble lifestyle to get away from the chaos. 

In the original timeline, this resulted in Shellie being a people pleaser who isolated herself and had an unbalanced relationship with Anette. But in this timeline, Bridgette became someone Shellie could vent all her frustrations with, and developed a good relationship with her.

Marina has autism, she is sensitive to certain sounds and noises. Her knowing magic contributes to her using her hearing sensitivity to track when people are using spells, but it can also be painful for her.

  Yep. What happened with Nahla (Lord Demeter’s birth mother) was very infamous throughout the Limpette community in Teffrah, and the nobility as well. The maids who were employed by the Demeter household were all let go, and forced to sign agreements not to talk about what happened in that household. 

Servants from other households also warned young Limpette women not to accept jobs there, so there was a massive decrease in maid applications as well. While the Demeter household attempted to spin it into “Nahla fell in love with Lord Demeter and killed him” while omitting that she was assaulted and forced to have his child, they also imposed a ban on female servants before the fact that female servants were too afraid to work there came to light. 

There are timelines where Marinus was rescued by his family, and Nahla survived, but they wouldn’t go to Limpette. Nahla’s family escaped Limpette because of Teffrah’s brutal occupation and military invasion. They couldn’t go back to Limpette because it’s not safe to live there. 

The timeline where Marinus lives with his mother’s family would be because Lady Demeter successfully gave birth to a male heir around the same time that Marinus was born. Marinus couldn’t pass as a Teffrah child, so he and Nahla would be expelled from the household.

Nahla, no matter what timeline, wouldn’t be able to bring herself to raise him (now named Seasalt) because of the trauma surrounding how he was born. He would be raised by his aunt Talia (Marina’s mother), his grandparents, and with his cousins. his relationship with his mother is distant, but she cares about him.

Seasalt would grow up to be haughty, and very charismatic but selfish. Overall a decent person, if a bit overdramatic. He can’t handle money and always has to ask Marina for it since she handles the family's finances. He would also constantly threaten to run away and never return, but always comes back home after a few days because he blows through his savings.

Gregory’s family belongs to a fundamentalist sect of Teffrah nobility. They don’t believe in medical intervention, and are strongly opposed to things that they consider “outside of the laws of the divine will.” 

To them, getting sick is just nature weeding out the weak, and if someone is weak enough to die, then they deserve to. 

However, it should also be noted that this apparently doesn’t apply to the leader of their sect, or his inner circle and their families, who are allowed to have as much access to medicine as they want or need. They are deemed “socially superior” due to their wealth, and must stay alive to keep the population of Teffrah “pure” from “foreign blood.”

When Gregory fell into a coma from the poison, his parents did ask for permission to give him medical attention, but their request was denied and he died as a result.

She finds them on the ground, puts magic in them, and when they’re done they turn back into rocks.

Thank you for reading! I haven’t read Ascendance of a Bookworm yet, but I’ll check it out!

OG!Delilah would probably be very quiet but ashamed. She doesn’t like getting attention and her reincarnator is an extrovert.

OG!Anette would probably be over the moon at first that Marinus finally loves her, then get very shocked when finding out his true nature and try to run away. She would probably be at odds with her reincarnator, they are very different people and would probably argue a lot.

OG! Phoebe wanted to be more assertive, but she didn’t want what her reincarnator wanted. She is horrified by the way she treats people and can’t stand Dimitri (who she thinks is creepy).

Yes, Caravaggio’s mom is from the same town as Eriadne, though a little in the boonies.

Demons are manifestations of the magic within people that is not properly contained. Nobles who aren’t interested in magic and neglect understanding it, and commoners who lack access to education to harness it are the main victims. Magic can manifest through trauma, and if someone is too scared to die, they have a high chance of becoming a demon or spirit.

Spirits can latch onto demons and do their bidding in exchange for more power, which is what led to the problems at Eriadne’s manor. Her demon stepfather had a whole bunch of evil spirits that followed him around and resorted to eating people/possessing them in order to try and become human again.

[dreadnotau]

This is probably not the post any of you wanted to see.

Before anyone panics, NO, Dread Not is NOT cancelled, and NO, I have NOT given up on it. It’s just being put on another hiatus, though I’m not sure how long this one will last.

TL;DR - when your “passion project” feels less fulfilling as an art activity than your college assignments do, you’re doing something wrong.

As some of you may know one person alone has been working on the art and management of the Dread Not accounts, the server, and most importantly the comic itself. That unlucky fucker is me. Managing it all used to be a lot more exciting, I guess, but nowadays it’s become a looming deadline and a chore. By purely my own fault, might I add. I’ve boxed myself into a lot of arbitrary things and now making this comic isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be, hooray. Coupled with the fact that meowchela, the co-creator of the au, the one who helps write it and spellcheck it (even if neither of us are good at it), and also my moral support and the only reason I started posting the comic in the first place, hasn’t even been into deltarune for the past half year. It all stacks up to a very tired and unhappy Kooki.

Now, most of you don’t give a shit about this melodrama, and that’s valid. You’re here to see my drawings of cute monsters in distress going through several kinds of midlife crises, and also baby Kris, and that’s good because that’s what I want out of this comic too. But right now? I am NOT in the mental state to be meeting my own arbitrary deadlines for a comic a lot of people don’t directly engage with. This isn’t to say that any of you are obligated to care, or reblog or like or whatever. It’s just the way the internet works. It’s extremely hard to engage in a productive or proactive way, and I think that’s why I have more fun with my art college assignments, nowadays. Because the art, whether it be good or bad and no matter the technique, immediately gets feedback both from my professors AND my colleagues!

Some of you who aren’t as involved in art making might not know that negative feedback is some of the most valuable feedback an artist can get back (when it’s given in good faith, of course), and as Dread Not as an art project was set up specifically to help me improve my art, it’s kind of a shame I haven’t been getting a lot of negative feedback from people unless I ask directly. It’s like the internet actually took the idea of “if you don’t like it don’t look at it” to heart, which is great! But not for me and this comic, sadly. Going forward (aka whenever I have the strength to start uploading weekly again), I might drastically simplify the visuals of the comic, maybe even change some style things because it feels like I’ve really stagnated with the art of the comic.

I talked about this with meowchela recently, I had a very specific style in mind when I first started the sketches for this comic, and when I finished the first page, it wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be. The truth is, I didn’t have the skills to execute the style I wanted for the comic, and to an extent I still don’t, so instead of the tedious and not-quite-what-I-wanted current style, I might just change it up to be completely different and less time consuming, because either way it won’t be what I want. (And, for the record, most of this drivel is about the backgrounds, the text boxes, and aesthetic choices, and not about the character art, because I’m decently happy with that)

And to the dedicated readers, I have to stress that this isn’t the end. Dread not is a story I care about, even if its amateurish and was basically made by accident. I WANT to tell this story, if only because I know a past version of me was yearning to tell it but lacked the bravery to even try (again, meowchela is the only reason this comic exists, and I basically owe her a life for getting me to start upload the ludicrous au idea I had so long ago). The story and comic WILL continue one day, just not soon. Call it an indefinite hiatus if you want, but it’ll come back one day, stronger than ever, and hopefully better organized. I feel a strange mix of melancholy and relief finally putting this beast down for a nap again.

If I may go a little bit into the behind the scenes, my creative process is hardly a coherent process at all, and is mostly a hodgepodge of spur of the moment ideas immediately put to paper without much thought. Days, weeks, months, or years later, I have to face the consequences of those split-second decisions, and that’s the process that’s been the status quo for this comic’s creation. Sometimes it’s good, like a core symbol to the story coming from what was originally a one-off gag (a-la early homestuck), but most of the time its bad, with hours spent reformatting and redrawing sketches in order to actually make it look competent, which just results in a lot more time that I feel I’m wasting because it’s hardly a part of the finished page itself.

All in all, Dread Not is my baby, my first large-scale project, and I’m not going to abandon it because of one really bad burst of art block. I’ve had other projects I’ve been slowly chipping away at (most of them deltarune related as well) that’ll also be put on hiatus too… not that anyone will really notice because I hardly upload them. But there’s also a lot of personal projects and OC stories I’ve been meaning to work on but just couldn’t get in the right frame of mind to, so maybe I’ll finally start work on those while I take a proper vacation from Dread Not. This whole hiatus thing, however, also means I’ll stop responding to messages, both on Tumblr and in the Discord server, as frequently. Some of you may have already noticed my decline in activity on both fronts. This break has been a long time coming, I’ve just been in denial about it.

And finally, thank you all, again, for reading and enjoying this comic. You probably enjoyed it more than I have! And I mean everyone, from the people who only read and don’t interact with any of the posts, to the people who reblog nearly every page that comes out (I see you guys, and I love your tags), all of you kept me going and I wish I had more to give for the support you’ve shown. I’ll take my time off to really put myself in the right place mentally and physically to bring you the best comic I can. And hey, if you stick around long enough, maybe you’ll even see the end of it! I know I will.

Stay tuned!

PS - If anyone wants lore to chew on while the comics on hiatus, have this bit of trivia I’ve been meaning to share: the current events that are unfolding were originally (and technically still are) only the backstory for the plot I wanted to tell from the beginning. It’s why Kris is so young compared to their deltarune self, it’s why a lot of locations are bare-bones and placeholder, it’s why we aren’t seeing many characters involved right now even though a lot of characters have appearances planned. What I’m trying to say is, this is only the beginning, and I’d love to see someone try to predict where things will go from here, because this status quo won’t stay for much longer, that’s for sure :)

[semper-legens]

3. Queen of the Sea, by Dylan Meconis

Owned?: Yes   Page count: 394 My summary: Margaret has always lived on the Island. She knows it inside and out - the nuns, the livestock, the storms that wash over the ocean. But when the supply ships bring new arrivals, her world is about to be upturned. First is her new friend WIlliam; then Eleanor, the banished former queen. And Margaret will soon find herself hopelessly entangled in the queen’s plans… My rating: 5/5       My commentary:

This is honestly one of my favourite books that I own, I am so glad that I picked it up randomly at a comic shop at that one time. This is a reread, I have previously talked about it a couple of years ago, but as I’ve recently played through the entirety of Pentiment (an excellent video game that you should play) recently, I thought I’d pick it up again. It’s such a sweet, surprisingly complex story, with a well-grounded and realistic cast of characters who are all very grounded to the world that they live in and the reality they inhabit. I absolutely adore it.

Margaret, our protagonist, is such a strong character, and a part of that to my eyes is the fact that Meconis doesn’t fall into the Not Like Other Girls character archetype. Margaret is raised with the expectation that she will become a nun when she is older, and doesn’t really seem to consider any other future for herself than that initially. We see her learning embroidery, and she seems to like doing it! She does her chores around the convent, and while she’s a headstrong and outspoken girl, she never really contrasts herself with other girls while being that, it’s just a character trait that she has, which is really nice. I love to see historical women who aren’t given anachronistic or heavy-handed ideas to highlight how they’re Strong Independent Women, and are allowed to be independent within a realistic image of how a woman in their era might achieve that. And in addition to that, Margaret is just really sweet, really positive and optimistic, and an interesting character in and of herself! I love her.

The art is gorgeous. It’s #bright, colourful but with more moody tones when needed, with a lot of soft curves and clean lines. Every character’s face is unique and distinctive, and easy to distinguish from each other, which is very much welcome given that all of the nuns have their hair and most of their bodies covered. I absolutely love this style, it’s very welcoming.

This graphic novel is very much made to be accessible to kids, what with the child protagonist and colourful art style and casual tone. However, it’s in no way dumbed down for that audience. It touches on serious themes and political machinations in a very accessible way that can be understood and enjoyed both by children and adults. Part of this is the coming-of-age aspect of Margaret’s life - she’s being introduced to a lot of the harsh truths about the world beyond her island, and has to grow up fast and come into the political sphere when she never assumed that would be part of her life. It’s very much welcome, though, and makes for an interesting, historically grounded narrative. Final note, though - while I’ve talked about the historical influences on this story, the world of it is not Tudor England, it’s a non-real world inspired heavily by Tudor England, so some artistic license and fabrication is absolutely fine because this is not depicting real history, which makes the places where it is historically attested and draws from reality all the more impressive to me. You didn’t have to put this degree of work in, but you did, and I appreciate it!

Next up, some tales from the depths, and the creatures that lurk there.

[t00thpasteface]

Expanding on the ask about the TES fandom having stage IV terminal Hiatus-Brain (paging @allroadsstilllead and @pleasespellchimerical):

It's a blessing and a curse, really. I love that it's become such a close-knit, creative, and supportive community for all sorts of OCs, canon divergence art/fic, speculative worldbuilding, you name it. Honest, it's wonderful!

But (and I don't know how to say this next bit without sounding like a total wet-blanket buzzkill) when you spend far, far more time creating and engaging with completely fanmade fabrications than the actual games/canon, even if it’s beautiful and bespoke and very lovingly crafted, I think there's definitely a line you cross where canon-- the actual thing you claim to like-- is really just holding you back.

And I mean this in a completely 100% affectionate, positive, even admiring way. The TES fandom has the most brilliant, creative, galaxy-brained, and just plain talented artists, writers, and worldbuilders I've ever seen in any fandom in all my years. And I think Todd is holding them back!! I firmly believe they could all easily launch into their own 100% original illustrations, short stories, comics, novels, you name it, to raucous applause. They have the talent, the drive, and the loyal fans!

If nothing else, I think they could benefit from seeking out things that already have what they want. Yes, it's hard to find anything with good, positive representation for all sorts of people and places. But TES, Bethesda, Zenimax, Todd himself... they will never give you any of that representation, either. I'm not going to use the phrase "consuming media" because (I despise it and) I think it waters down the profound experience of engaging with art. You need to engage with new, fresh, vibrant, different art. It’s wonderful to be inspired by art, to let any art move you into creating your own art, but being inspired to expand on something and being compelled to fix something are two completely separate ballgames. And they are not interchangeably constructive. One is buying brand new running-shoes and the other is tying lead weights to your bathing suit.

And, yes, even mass-produced blockbuster AAA games are art. And being inspired by art, creating things derived from the art you love, is a natural and wonderful part of the human experience. And it is because, not in spite, of those facts that I think you should never limit yourself to only the same tired art that ultimately makes you unhappy just because it is comfortable or familiar.  You don't owe Bethesda anything, any loyalty or continued affection, just because you have enjoyed their games in the past. You can shake off that chrysalis and find something that truly makes you happy as it is, without you putting it through the wringer of ten million fix-it fics.

I can’t say I’ve ever felt compelled to get into this degree of speculation and worldbuilding with TES in particular, but goodness knows I’ve gone through this a hundred times myself with my own fandoms. Over the course of only five or so years I went from wearing Eridan’s horns to class and talking everyone’s ears off about my own theories in high school to hardly breathing a word of Homestuck once I started college. My love of Overwatch pulled me out of a catastrophic months-long depressive episode where I didn’t draw from June to September until I just had to sketch McCree again and write pages and pages of fic, but I just flat-out do not play it anymore, and it’s not even installed on my current computer. I wanted them to be things they weren’t and could never be. I wanted the characters to grow and thrive beyond what their creators would ever write for them. And with every new update or lore tidbit I was left bitter and unsatisfied and ultimately resentful that I liked it only for its potential.

As an autistic woman I’ve had a new identity crisis with everything I thought was a crumbling cornerstone of my artistic identity-- I wanted the dopamine to hit in the exact same way forever. Ultimately they sloughed off like dead skin. Even an inferno can cool down to an ember, and they weren’t the only flames in town.

I mean, if you don’t like Picasso, why do you spend your precious time and money seeing Picasso exhibits? If you don’t like the taste of fish or shrimp or crab, why are you eating at the same seafood place every Thursday just to get your unsatisfying bread rolls and hush puppies? If you don't like your boyfriend one bit, you bicker with him all the time, and you wish you could just change everything about him from the ground up, why are you still dating him?

And if you don’t like the game-- the game itself, as the ones and zeros published by Bethesda Softworks, not the game as it exists in the nebulous aether of the fandom’s collective subconscious-- why haven’t you uninstalled it and played/watched/read something you really, truly, genuinely love?

Just sweetrolls for thought, I suppose. Again, I mean all of this affectionately, sincerely, and passionately, with nothing but love and appreciation from the bottom of my heart for all my wonderful artists and writers in the TES fandom. Todd doesn’t deserve you. You’re too good for him. All of you.

[7goodangel]

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) / Guidelines

~ 2021 Edition ~

Last Updated: 03/20/2021

(Note - This is also on dA - but the format on that version is not correct due to site changes)

-----

Any updated portion will be indicated by double asterisks (**) leading and ending section.

[TL;DR - Please at least read the answers to questions 6, 7, 9, 11 and 12]

This post is split to three separate sections:

Guidelines - Questions for permissions on character(s) and limits on said permissions.

General FAQ - Questions centered on 7goodangel.

Character Specific FAQ - Questions on individual characters.

-----

GUIDELINES

1.Q: Can I draw your character(s)?

A: Yes. Please credit myself in the description when you post it (and/or tag me if you post it to a platform I'm also on). Also refer to question 6.

2.Q: Can I write fan-fiction with your character(s)?

A: Yes. Please credit myself in the notes/description when you post it (and/or tag me if you post it to a platform I'm also on). Also refer to question 6.

3.Q: Can I have your permission to make an alternate version of your character?

A: Yes. Please take the time to read the full FAQ / Guidelines prior to creating your variation. And have fun!

4.Q: Can I voice act as [character] for comics / stories / etc?

A: Yes. Please refer to questions 5, 6 and 8 prior to publishing works.

5.Q: Can I be the official voice for [character]?

A: There will not be any official voices for characters I have made.

6.Q: Can I write / draw NSFW (Not Safe For Work) of character(s)?

A: No. Please do not post any variation of sexual NSFW including character(s) online. Do not show in detail on any acts that would require a 'fade to black' treatment. This includes but not limited to in$est, v0re, and r@pe. General violence - i.e. battles / fights - is allowed, however, please contact me for any additional questions regarding to this topic.

7.Q: I found NSFW art / story on [website / app] with your character(s) - what should I do?

A: If the website does not allow NSFW in any aspect, report the piece using the correct filter. If the website does allow, then please ignore the item. Do not report art / stories on my or any artist's behalf (i.e. saying you represent the original artist).

8.Q: Can we include a character(s) of yours in a project?

A: Yes, as long as there is no monetization. (Refer to question 9)

9.Q: Can I sell products / commissions / etc. with [character(s)] in it?

A: Depends - Please look at the list below for clarification. 1) One Time Products / Commissions: If a product is only created one time - i.e. a digital/traditional art commission or a one time custom plush - and is not sold in mass production, that is okay. There cannot be a dedicated page for a product with a character of mine - even if the item is labeled "Made to Order" or "Custom Plush [Character Name]" or similar variations. Refer to question 6 as well. 2) Mass Produced / Factory Made Products: No. Do not sell anything with any characters I've created that is massed produced. This includes but not limited to: TShirts produced on websites like RedBubble, Amazon, etc; Mass producing plushies either via factory or by hand (having many created prior to selling); Charms / Buttons / Stickers created in a factory to be sold. 3) Monetization of Videos / Patreon Support for Project / Kickstarter of Project: No. Do not include my character(s) in a project that is monetized. This includes but not limited to: dubbing comics / images / stories that I have created; dubbing comics / images / stories that include character(s) that are not fully distinguished from originals; creating a Patreon specifically around the project including character(s).

10.Q: Can I use [character(s)] as my icon?

A: Yes. Credit appropriately within your header / description (i.e. character by 7goodangel, art by [artist]).

11.Q: Can I repost your artwork to [website / app]?

A: No. Do not repost my artwork to other websites or apps.

12.Q: Can I do the lineart / color for a picture you've done traditionally / digitally sketched?

A: Please send me an ask on Tumblr or message me on dA if you plan to do this.

13.Q: Can I translate asks / facts about character(s) / etc to [language]?

A: Yes. Please give proper credit and links to original question.

14.Q: Can I create an ask/RP account for [character(s)]?

A: No. The only exception to this is if the version is a variation / alternate you've created or had permission for.

15.Q: Can I RP as [character(s)] in other ways?

A: You can RP as [character(s)] within private servers / chat rooms with prior noting that variation will not line up with original.

16.Q: Can we RP with [character(s)] in NSFW situations?

A: Refer to question 6.

GENERAL FAQ

17.Q: Where are you from?

A: Earth.

18.Q: Can we become friends?

A: There are no guarantees.

19.Q: How long have you been drawing?

A: Most of my life - but started to focus into current style in 2006.

20.Q: What programs / tools do you use for your drawings?

A: In the past, programs I used were Photoshop CS5 and Illustrator CS5. Currently, I use Clip Studio Paint. Traditional is mostly typical printer paper and mechanical pencils.

21.Q: Can you draw [character(s)]?

A: Not likely. If opened to suggestions - I may draw them if there is time. Please do not expect all suggestions to be fulfilled.

22.Q: What about pairings / ships?

A: I'm pretty neutral with most ships, except for dynamics like in$est, abusive or [adult x minor] (whether actual ages or coded like that). (Note: Exceptions can/is more than listed.). Though I typically ship in more of a friendship way verses romantic.

23.Q: Are you okay with the ship FreshPaper / PaperFresh / Fresh x Paper Jam?

A: I am fine with others shipping this. I have my own interpretations for this ship that are different from most. Refer to question 22.

CHARACTER SPECIFIC FAQ

24.Q: Is Paper Jam / Blue Screen a Sans?

A: No.

25.Q: Is there a biography for Paper Jam?

A: Yes. You can find here: https://www.deviantart.com/7goodangel/art/Paper-Jam-Bio-779347877

26.Q: Can we still use old design of Paper Jam?

A: Yes.

Note: Additional items can be added to this post, as well as edits.