#the most important thing when creating art is to have fun

[archerdepartures116]

Archer how to anatomy? I've attempted to draw the same pose 3 times already..I'm getting better but the arms are so fucking hard to draw..

I'm probably the last person on earth you should be asking for anatomy tips but here are the things that has worked out for me cause I am lazy and hate practicing fundamentals so most of this was just passive learning accumulated during just years of drawing in general

Also more things to keep in mind:

-Bone and muscle structure: learn how the muscles connect (especially when drawing busts, learn how the muscles of the neck overlap) and how the bones affect visual appearance on the skin (protrusions such as shoulder blades and collar bones)

-Proportions: learn the proportions of the body

"but Archer, what about stylization like chibis?" Even then, stylization requires a degree of understanding about the anatomy of whatever being ur drawing. For example, if your character has an arm or hand that is bigger than the other intentionally, fine, that's how the design is. But if it's not intentional, its not an art style. That's a mistake.

Basically don't let pride get in the way of learning tbh (my dad flamed me on this enough ( mf my greatest hater fr)) (I am still struggling with this don't be me and actually learn from ur mistakes and study)

But what if you don't wanna practice all that bullshit and jump straight to the fun part and draw your favs?

Use them as the character practice. Obsession is the pathway to glory.

But, of course, take everything I say with a grain of salt, I am no professional and just so happened to be able to stumble my way through shit without many ppl directly telling me "wow you suck ass at drawing *insert death threat here*"

Most importantly, reference the masters or whatever artist inspires you. If they have speed paints, watch how they construct the body and how they render it

[cuteniaarts]

What if… Suiren in Vaatu’s colours 😳👀

[vetyr]

hi, i ireally love your work and i don't know if you've answered this before but, what kinds of studies do you do or how did you learn color theory? i wanna get better at rendering and anatomy but im having trouble TT TT

Hi! Long answer alert. Once a chatterbox, always a chatterbox.

When I started actively learning how to draw about 10 1/2 years ago, I exclusively did graphite studies in sketchbooks. Here's a few examples—I mostly stuck to doing line drawings to drill basic shapes/contours and proportions into my brain. The more rendered sketches helped me practice edge control & basic values, and they were REALLY good for learning the actual 3D structure behind what I was drawing.

I'd use reference images that I grabbed from fitness forums, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and some NSFW places, but you could find adequate ref material from figure drawing sites like Line of Action. LoA has refs for people (you can filter by clothed/unclothed, age, & gender), animals, expressions, hands/feet, and a few other useful things as well. Love them.

Learning how to render digitally was a similar story; it helped a lot that I had a pretty strong foundation for value/anatomy going in. I basically didn't touch color at all for ~2 years (except for a few attempts at bad digital or acrylic paint studies), which may not have been the best idea. I learned color from a lot of trial and error, honestly, and I'm pretty sure this process involved a lot of imitation—there were a number of digital/traditional painters whose styles I really wanted to emulate (notably their edge control, color choices, value distributions, and shape design), so I kiiind of did a mixture of that + my own experimentation.

For example, I really found Benjamin Björklund's style appealing, especially his softened/lost edges & vibrant pops of saturated color, so here's a study I did from some photograph that I'm *pretty* sure was painted with him in mind.

Learning how to detail was definitely a slow process, and like all the aforementioned things (anatomy/color/edge control/values/etc.) I'm still figuring it out. Focusing on edge control first (that is, deciding on where to place hard/soft edges for emphasizing/de-emphasizing certain areas of the image) is super useful, because you can honestly fool a viewer into thinking there's more detail in a piece than there actually is if you're very economical about where you place your hard edges.

The most important part, to me, is probably just doing this stuff over and over again. You're likely not going to see improvement in a few weeks or even a few months, so don't fret about not getting the exact results you want and just keep studying + making art. I like to think about learning art as a process where you *need* to fail and make crappy art/studies—there's literally no way around it—so you might as well fail right now. See, by making bad art you're actually moving forward—isn't that a fun prospect!!

It's useful to have a folder with art you admire, especially if you can dissect the pieces and understand why you like them so much. You can study those aspects (like, you can redraw or repaint that person's work) and break down whether this is art that you just like to look at, or if it's the kind of art that you want to *make.* There's a LOT of art out there that I love looking at, probably tens of thousands of styles/mediums, but there's a very narrow range that I want to make myself.

I've mentioned it in some ask reply in the past, but I really do think looking at other artist's work is such a cheat code for improving your own skills—the other artist does the work to filter reality/ideas for you, and this sort of allows you to contact the subject matter more directly. I can think of so many examples where an artist I admired exaggerated, like, the way sunlight rested on a face and created that orange fringe around its edge, or the greys/dull blues in a wheat field, or the bright indigo in a cast shadow, or the red along the outside of a person's eye, and it just clicked for me that this was a very available & observable aspect of reality, which had up until that point gone completely unnoticed! If you're really perceptive about the art you look at, it's shocking how much it can teach you about how to see the world (in this particular case I mean this literally, in that the art I looked at fully changed the way I visually processed the world, but of course it has had a strong effect on my worldviews/relationships/beliefs).

Thanks so much for sending in a question (& for reading, if you got this far)! I read every single ask I receive, including the kind words & compliments, which I genuinely always appreciate. Best of luck with learning, my friend :)

[jaehaeryshater]

The King Come Over and his bride Ygritte Firekissed

art by : @shripscapi

Edited to add: I was hoping that people that did not like this ship could still appreciate the art as I gave them two separate pieces, but people have been coming into my inbox on all platforms, so let me encourage you to block the Jongritte and Ygritte tags on tumblr or twt, as well as me so you will not have to see it if this is you. I also would encourage you to create your own AU as it is very fun. My AU is based on Jon becoming King before leaving the Freefolk, so following his psychology as a character, Ygritte is his only choice as consort as long as she’s alive. You can make your own with Val if you want, but I do not owe anyone to pay for commissions of their preferred characters.

Look at my King dawg we’re definitely getting through the Wall!!!

For the last month and a half, I have been working closely with Liesl to design concepts for Jon as King Beyond the Wall and Ygritte as his Queen. Personally, I’m not invested at all in Jon becoming King of the Seven Kingdoms despite him being my favorite character. He’s not very connected with the South and I don’t feel that it’s his birth right or anything, even being the son of Rhaegar. I am significantly more interested in him becoming King in the North, but my interest in Freefolk culture has led me to be far more invested in the idea of him rejecting Southron society as a whole and becoming King Beyond the Wall (this isn’t necessarily mutually exclusive to being King in the North later on).

The motivation for Jon becoming King as opposed to Mance stems from a theory that has been around since AGOT has come out: that the Others will only treat with/negotiate with a Stark. In the prologue of AGOT, when the Others are speaking among themselves before killing the Watchmen, what if they were confirming with each other that Waymar Royce was not a Stark and that they could go ahead and kill him? All in all, it doesn’t really matter if this is true, but rather that this is a plausible rumor that could easily have been passed down among the Freefolk which could lead Mance to conclude that Jon as a leader would give the Freefolk the best chance of survival. It’s not very hard, at least in my opinion, to imagine an AU like this, since survival is the most important thing to the Freefolk during the events of ASOIAF. But is it plausible that under these circumstances that Jon would abandon his Night’s Watch vows? I think so if he can be led to believe that only Stark blood could defeat the Others, but that is not the only factor. Jon Snow is insecure about his bastard status, plain and simple. He’s always lived in the shadow of his Robb, though he loved him. He’s wanted Winterfell, though he didn’t want to nor had any intention to take it from Robb. But he’s known since he was a small boy that he could never Winterfell and that would never inherit anything because he was a bastard. Jon also has thoughts, at least in passing, that Ned loved Robb more than him. He perceives Ned as having been more proud of Robb, of looking at him differently than himself. He’s seemingly always believed this, but there is a sort of confirmation of Jon’s feelings when Ned allows him to join the Night’s Watch without much preparation on what the Watch is actually like. Fully me making assumptions here, not something Jon has explicitly thought, but it’s unlikely that Ned would have sent Bran off at 14 to the Watch without much warning of what it was like, had Bran not become paralyzed. While we never get this exact thought process from Jon, in my opinion it fits into his psychology and insecurity. All this to say, if Jon is offered to be a figurehead, King, a title equal to his brother, but without taking anything away from the Starks or from Robb, that would almost certainly scratch that itch in him. It would be of his own merit, and there would be people behind him that don’t care that he’s a bastard, don’t see him as less than, and are willing to accept him for who he is. Not to mention that it also lets him feel like a hero and as if he is saving something far more precious than himself. And it probably doesn’t hurt that he would be able to remain with Ygritte as well.

We know from the descriptions of Mance and Dalla, as well as from being told directly by the former, that the King and his wife dress like all the other Freefolk, in thick furs. While the Jon and Ygritte arts from above are not particularly ostentatious by Southron standards, they are in obvious contrast to how Mance and Dalla are dressed. My idea was that Jon, having lived South of the Wall in a Lord’s keep all of his life, brought his own ideas to the Freefolk and added a distinction between a King and all other men. Nothing like in King’s Landing, all changes are inspired by his experience at Winterfell. I tried to think of what was achievable by the Freefolk, that would be difficult enough that it can’t be easily replicated for everyone else, but also keeping in mind of what could be done relatively quickly seeing as the Freefolk are focused on migrating South and saving themselves from the Others. The cultures I took inspiration for the clothing from are the Byzantines, Russians, Incans, Aztecs, and Mongolians. I wanted more “open” and flowy clothing, as opposed to more closed off and excessively modest clothing of 1300-1500s Europe that most of Westeros is based off of. Ygritte is still wearing furs, but they are dyed and there is weirwood embroidery in symbolism of the Old Gods and flame embroidery to symbolize her being kissed by fire. Her jewelry are simply clay beads that have been powdered blue. I didn’t want to give her any jewels as I felt it would be too difficult for the Freefolk to cut them directly and just overall would be against the spirit of the Freefolk. However, getting the blue on the clay like that still would be expensive and take a lot of time. I tried to keep the main color scheme surrounding gray as obviously that’s House Stark’s color. Jon’s clothes are similarly nice, with my main concern being him looking intimidating. I want the furs around his shoulders to be black because I wanted to call back to his time in the Night’s Watch without him keeping his psychical cloak, because I’m sure the Freefolk would not want him to do that. The furs are massive and make his shoulders look far larger, in an effort to make him look more intimidating, especially on a battlefield or in negotiations. He also has weirwood embroidery and his sigil is on the front of his outfit (my original idea was for him to have a flag with his heraldry on it, in which case the sigil would have looked far different, with a full length direwolf). There’s a white wolf on one side and either a crow or eagle on the other side (up for interpretation, both are relevant to Jon and one is one of the animals that can be used a symbol of the Freefolk) and the flame in the middle to represent Ygritte, but also defeating the Others as fire is the way Jon originally tried combating them as a steward at the Wall. The sigil is more than about Jon, after all, as it’s for the entirety of House Whitewolf, the House he founds. I thought the name fit far more in to Freefolk culture than something like Whitestark or something along those lines. Ygritte was supposed to have sewn on the sigil herself, and was very adamant about it, and that is meant to be why the thread is uneven and more visible than it ought to be. She’s not very good at the craft!

As I indicated before, crowns are not something common to Freefolk. That would be something else Jon would implement. Ygritte’s crown is very much like a hat, very casual. The beads are nice but obtaining them wouldn’t be unheard of, and holly most likely would not be particularly hard to come by. The reason I gave her a crown with holly is that during Christmas in the Tudor period and even before during pagan celebrations, people would go out into the woods and find holly and ivy to decorate their houses with. Holly was a symbol of masculine energy and ivy feminine energy. If you found more holly, it was meant to indicate that the man would rule the household for the year, and if you found more ivy then the woman would rule the household in the coming year (this was a way to “tell the future” not a rule lol). I liked the holly better for Ygritte so I’m just saying the Freefolk had the opposite belief. Jon’s crown is made of weirwood, which was important to me as I feel like his connection the Old Gods is also important as it is something that him and Freefolk both use to guide them. It ties them together. That being said, a weirwood crown is often used for Bran so I did not want to use a design that was too similar to the one used for him. Bran’s weirwood crown usually is made of weirwood branches, however, and not weirwood bark or logs, so I feel like it’s different enough. The frozen weirwood sap, as far as I know, is also unique to this design. There’s also some ivy to parallel with Ygritte’s holly.

The remaining bits and bobs I wanted to explain are the blue rose and then the face paint. The blue rose is obviously something associated with Lyanna Stark, who is widely accepted to be the mother of Jon Snow. I originally wanted to give him a rose somewhere, whether he was holding it or it was in his embroidery, but I forgot to ask during sketching, and then it was too late. But Ygritte holding the blue rose isn’t just about Lyanna. It’s also about Bael the Bard, a most likely fictitious person (or at least, the tale is fictitious, though I personally choose to believe it’s real) that went South of the Wall posing as a bard. He impressed the Lord of Winterfell so much that he granted Bael anything he wished; all Bael asked for was the most beautiful flower in Winterfell. This was granted for him, but the next morning he had stolen the Lord of Winterfell’s only child, a girl, and had left the flower in her bed in her place. He hid in the crypt with her for a year and they had a son together. Bael eventually went back North of the Wall and eventually Winterfell, having no other heir, passed to Bael’s child. Under this story, Jon is descended from Ygritte’s idol (maybe idol is stretching it, but she really likes him), Bael the Bard. Not only him, but all the Freefolk including Ygritte, according to her story. Following the story’s premise, Jon also poses as Bael and Ygritte as Winterfell’s daughter, with Jon joining her home under false pretenses and “stealing her”, as she calls it. So the blue rose has significance regarding both the Starks and the Freefolk. The face paint is inspired by tattooing done by cultures indigenous to North America. Indigenous Americans are not the only groups to use facial tattooing, the Vikings were famous for it as well, but Viking facial tattooing had more patterns based on shapes rather than lines and dots. I didn’t like the shapes so much, but the chin tattoo was one was that observed in all sorts of different cultures. Usually the chin tattoos with the line were on women in indigenous America, but I found some on men in other outside cultures. The dots I didn’t see outside of Native American culture and the claw marks on Jon’s cheeks I found mainly among Vikings. Because these all are an amalgamation of different cultures, we did them as face paint instead of tattoos because it seemed disrespectful otherwise. Not enough research went into it to be a proper representation of any one culture so paint was a better bet than a permanent body modification that is sacred to a number of cultures. The only thing that was meant to be a tattoo was the chin tattoo, which like I said, actually is from an amalgamation of cultures. Among the Freefolk (in this AU), dots on the cheeks are widespread, one of cultural mainstays of their people, and are generally a sign of peace, whereas the claws are meant to look intimidating and is applied to look like blood (Ygritte applies it for Jon) and is specifically used for military leaders. I really wanted to drive home the point that the goal with Jon’s whole look is to look fearsome.

I have so much more to say about Jon as King Beyond the Wall, how he negotiates with the Wall, the different rules he sets in place, how he sets up being King as a hereditary title once his daughter Bael is born, etc etc, but then I’d be here all day and approximately one person total read through all this. Oops! Ask in my inbox if you have any questions because I would love love love to answer them. All in all, shripscapi (Liesl) is so talented and she worked incredibly hard for me. She was extremely accommodating and changed as much stuff as I wanted. She never complained about the million times I decided something was not quite right and she sent me so many updates. I would recommend working with her to just about anybody. It was very cool what she was able to achieve and I got it in time for the holidays so I can enjoy my winter themed pfp on twt. So thank you from the bottom of my heart Liesl, and I hope everyone showers her with compliments because she deserves it. I also hope that people that don’t enjoy Ygritte very much can still appreciate the art and the concept of Jon as King Beyond the Wall. Hopefully I’ve gotten across how much I love and care for these characters to a chronically online degree and nobody accuses me of mischaracterizing them because that would make me!!!! very sad!!!

Bonus Jon with weirwood leaves:

[stellarsecrets86]

All About Sun In Natal Chart

{PS: These are my own interpretations. For entertainment purposes only. Have Fun💚.}

1st House

The presence of the Sun in the 1st house focuses a brilliant beacon on the individual's persona and presence. This characteristically confident and charismatic person usually possesses much presence of self. Often a striking identity, or physical aspect of themselves, propels these people to be in leadership or at the helm of trends. They strongly need to be recognized and respected for themselves and are magnetic. However, this placement can sometimes create a self-centered or over dominant attitude if the energy of the Sun is not balanced. These individuals are those who come into harmony with their lives when humility befits their naturally born leading qualities and uses their light and brilliance to uplift others.

2nd House

If the Sun is in the 2nd house, then one's self-esteem is connected with material possessions, values, and financial security. They are also proud of earning and handling resources, often toiling toward complete financial independence. This house placement strongly connected identity to what one owns or makes and especially appreciates the finer things in life. Natural talent for building wealth with this placement, but personal value may be equated too strongly to material success. They flower once they learn to cultivate self-esteem that isn't hooked on what they accomplish out there in the world.

3rd House

Sun in the 3rd house indicates an individual who is vivacious, inquisitive, and communicative. The pride here pertains to intellectual capability, and they generally excel in learning, writing, teaching, or public speaking. Their identity comes from their siblings, neighbors, and the immediate environment. They seek appreciation, mostly through their ideas and modes of expression. This placement can certainly provide a gift in the realm of storytelling or journalism, but at times, there is a tendency to dominate conversations or need one's knowledge constantly affirmed. They come into their own when they learn to balance an expressive nature with listening. 

4th House

When the Sun is in the 4th house, the core identity of the individual is deeply connected with their home, family, and ancestry. They take great pride in building a safe and caring domestic sphere, many times finding their life's purpose within the circle of family. This placement can indicate a close attachment with one's parents, especially the father, or a deep desire to respect family values and traditions. There can also be tensions between personal identity and the pull of family expectations. They are in their best element when a home life is established that reflects their uniqueness but pays homage to their heritage.

5th House

Sun in the 5th house is very bright because creativity, romance, and self-expression are highly enhanced. Such people find their best way of expression in the most visible activities like performing arts, sports, or other creative areas. They have a big need to be acknowledged, and most of them gain much joy from romantic relationships and contact with children. Their exuberance and passion make them magnetic, but they may sometimes find themselves prone to being too dramatic or in need of constant attention. They find their best expression in creative undertakings and relationships that uplift others.

6th House

The Sun in the 6th House values work, health, and service to others. Meaning is found in routine, discipline, and serving one's community in concrete ways. There is pride taken in work ethic and a potential to do well in jobs requiring organization and putting in an effort. Health and wellness are important themes, and they may take an active interest in keeping fit or in holistic approaches. It only gets problematic if they overwork and force, or become overly critical upon self and others. They get along best once they master a balance of productivity paired with self-care and take time to find the moments to enjoy daily activities.

7th House

Sun in the 7th house expresses relationships through partnerships. Individuals identify themselves through relationships, seek balances of harmony in personal and professional partnerships. They may have a strong urge to be admired by one's partner or to work together on shared objectives. While charming and diplomatic, there can be difficulties with over-identifying with others' expectations or losing their sense of self in relationships. The brilliance is when they balance the need for connection with that of individuality.

8th House

Sun in the 8th House: passionate, profound, trans formative, shared resources-the subjects of self-discovery and intimacy. These natives possess an innately deep and magnetic presence; they're naturally drawn into the mysterious aspects of life through psychology, spirituality, or even the occult. They pride themselves on how no intensity of emotional or financial situations can make them daunted but makes them agents of change to their near and dear ones. While their intensity can be their strength, they either struggle with control or are afraid to be vulnerable. They are at their best when they trust, allowing that trans formative energy into growth and healing.

9th House

In this house, the Sun illuminates a love for adventure, philosophy, and higher learning. People find their meaning in widening their horizons through travels, education, or spiritual quests. They often take pride in their ability to inspire others with their vision and optimism. Their idealistic nature drives them to seek truth and meaning in life. However, there can be challenges with being overly dogmatic or dismissive of differing perspectives. They achieve their greatest potential when they balance their enthusiasm for discovery with humility and openness to new ideas.

10th House

The Sun in the 10th house speaks to an influential career, public image, and milestones of life. These people take professional success very seriously and sometimes aim for leadership. Ambitious and driven, commanding respect and authority flows naturally from their personalities. There may, however, be some imbalance in managing professional and personal life, or even in attaching too much of one's sense of self to external outcomes. They shine brightest once they align their career with personal values and use their influence to inspire and uplift others.

11th House

Placed in the 11th house, the Sun focuses attention on friendships, social networks, and collective goals. These people find meaning in contributing something to their community and not seldom take pride in a talent for bringing people together. They have a visionary outlook and are drawn to humanitarian causes or innovative ideas. While their emphasis is on group dynamics and therefore a real strength, there may be an issue of not being able to stand out in a crowd or even becoming overly idealistic about one's vision. They do well when they balance their individuality with their need to contribute to the world.

12th House

The Sun in the 12th house shines in the hidden realms of the subconscious, spirituality, and solitude. Many are deeply introspective, where the purpose is found within their own inner explorations and self-discovery. They may feel pride in their abilities to understand others or even work behind the scenes in some creative or healing profession. Self-doubt and/or unseen by others is a common struggle. They come into their full potential when they allow their inner light to shine and use their gifts to facilitate healing and inspiration within themselves and others.

Sun in Aries

When the Sun is in Aries, the individual is dynamic, bold, and naturally inclined toward leadership. Aries Suns are trailblazers, unafraid to take risks and forge their own paths. Their energy is vibrant and often contagious, inspiring others with their confidence and enthusiasm. They thrive in competitive environments and are drawn to challenges that test their courage. But the tendency of impulsiveness can also lead to hastened decisions or conflicts if not taking into consideration the feelings of others. Aries Suns are most radiant when their energies have been channeled constructively and independence is well-modulated with teamwork. They thrive in roles that let them be innovative and take charge, thus being natural pioneers in whatever field they enter.

          Sun in Aries (1°,13°,25°) Degrees

The energies of Aries are most daring and pioneering in these degrees. Individuals show natural leadership qualities, fiery ambition, and an uncanny drive to initiate any work. They are emotional, brave, found in constantly changing environments, and seek the inspiration of people around through fearless undertakings.

Sun in Taurus

A Taurus Sun is all about stability, sensuality, and a deep appreciation for the material and natural world. These individuals are so grounded and practical, seeking comfort and security in life. They can be very determined and usually do wonderfully through steady effort. The Taurus Suns love beauty and pleasure, and many of them are quite talented in artistic or culinary skills. While these are great traits of loyalty and stability, they can be stubborn in terms of change or attachment to things, people, or material items. They really thrive when they learn to be flexible and find security in experiences rather than tangible or financial ideas.

           Sun in Taurus (2°,14°,26°) Degrees

These degrees show Taurus as being very practical and steadfast. People with their Sun here are practical, patient, and connected to the material and sensual worlds. Security appeals to them, and they often work towards establishing relationships and creations that will truly last, finding success in art, business, or nature-related fields.

Sun in Gemini

Gemini Sun brings into light a person's quick wit, curiosity, and versatility. Gemini Suns are naturally communicative and do well in the settings where their ability for expression and contact with others is supported. They can become multi-talented, moving with ease from one interest to another. Youthful energy and love for learning keep them flexible and open to new experiences. Energy dispersal can make them superficial, incapable of serious commitment to long-term objectives. When they channel their intellect to focus and zero in their curiosity on some worthy pursuits through writing, teaching, or innovating, is when they really shine.

          Sun in Gemini (3°,15°,27°) Degrees

The Sun in these degrees brings out the Gemini communicative and curious nature. People with the Sun in these degrees are adaptable, intellectually dynamic, and capable of collecting and disseminating information. They are quick-witted in company and always shine in situations that call for speed and versatility.

Sun in Cancer

Cancer Suns are super nurturing, intuitive, and emotionally tuned in. They find purpose in caretaking others and creating a sense of home and family. Their sensitivity allows them to connect with people on a deep level, and thus many times empathetic and supportive friends or family members. They are naturally protective and may have strong attachments to their roots and tradition. But this emotional depth, at times, can also foster mood swings or a tendency to retreat into their shell when hurt. They do best when the need for security is combined with the courage to step out of their comfort zones.

          Sun in Cancer (4°,16°,28°) Degrees

In these degrees, like the Cancer sun, Sun becomes nurturing and intuitive. The individuals born here are sensitive emotionally, protective, and connected to family or home. They are empathetic and may give others a sense of protection; they can be the pillars in their community.

Sun in Leo

The Sun is said to be quite at home in Leo because it expresses warmth, creativity, and self-expression. The Leo Suns possess a magnetic charm and can naturally inspire others. They pride themselves on their individuality and can be preoccupied with their own talents. These individuals find ideal careers as performers, in leadership positions, or in jobs that allow them to express creativity. Their confidence is one of their biggest strengths, but often they risk coming off as self-centered or overly dramatic. They are at their best when using their light to uplift and empower others, thus really embodying a generous and noble leader.

           Sun in Leo (5°,17°,29°) Degrees

Brilliant and charismatic, Leo oozes from every pore in this degree. People with these degrees are confident, creative, with a natural flair for leadership. They look for the recognition that allows them to let their personality come through; they inspire confidence, boldness, and warmth in others

Sun in Virgo

Virgo Sun brings practicality, precision, and a deep sense of service into the fore. The pride is in analysis for details in service of the betterment of systems, and rather predictably, they usually do quite well in any work that entails organization and meticulous effort. They are modest by nature and believe in the economy, hence are always working toward perfection. The tendency towards perfection may sometimes manifest as self-deprecation or over-analyzing. Virgo Suns come alive when they embrace their imperfections and utilize their strong analytical skills for the greater good. Their natural inclination would pull them toward health and education careers or any other line of profession where they could serve others.

          Sun in Virgo (6°,18°) Degrees

The Sun in these degrees brings forth the analysis and service-mindedness of Virgo. People are detailed, practical, and committed to self-improvement. They can organize and polish processes in such a way that they become indispensable in solving problems and providing exactitude to whatever they undertake.

Sun in Libra

Libra Suns are charismatic, diplomatic, and extremely tuned into the art of balance and harmony. Finding purpose in the creation of beauty and in the maintaining of relationships, they tend toward excellence in social or artistic venues. Their innate sense of fairness earns them the reputation as good mediators or counselors. Yet, their need to please people can sometimes get them into indecisiveness or a tendency to please others at the expense of one's own needs. They really come into their own when they learn to stand up for themselves without sacrificing their intrinsic sense of harmony. Libra Suns often shine in collaborative environments where their charm and ability to connect with others are assets.

          Sun in Libra (7°,19°) Degrees

The degrees of Libra accentuate the diplomatic and reconciling nature of sun. People born under sun with these degrees are talented at balancing relationships, securing cooperation, and building something beautiful around them. They always strive for fairness and feel an urge inside themselves to relate to others meaningfully.

Sun in Scorpio

The Sun in Scorpio brings intensity, passion, and a deep connection to transformation. Scorpio Suns are deeply intuitive and often drawn to uncovering life's mysteries, whether through psychology, spirituality, or investigative pursuits. They are magnetic and never back down from a challenge or, for that matter, even the dark side of life. Their intensity can run them into possessiveness or a fear of vulnerability. The trans formative energy is really used in healing and growth when one allows trust and openness. People with this sign are usually good at depth, resilience, and emotional intelligence in their field of work.

          Sun in Scorpio (8°, 20°) Degrees

In these degrees, Sun is intense and trans formative. People are very emotional, determined, and resistant. They have a strong magnetism and find their strength in the discovery of any truth, in overcoming obstacles, and in profound changes.

Sun in Sagittarius

Sagittarius Suns are optimistic, adventurous, and philosophical. The desire to expand their horizons is a driving instinct-whether it's through travel, education, or simply the exploration of ideas and life itself. Freedom-loving, enthusiastic, and natural storytellers, they make great company. The restless nature of this sign may lead to scattered energies, a lack of focus, or commitment. They thrive when they balance their thirst for adventure with grounding and follow-through. Sagittarius Suns often are brilliant in roles where sharing their wisdom and inspiring others is possible, whether this be teaching, writing, or leadership in global and cultural undertakings.

          Sun in Sagittarius (9°,21°) Degrees

The adventurous and philosophical nature of Sagittarius dominates these degrees. Optimistic, freedom-loving individuals, driven by a desire to explore new horizons-physical, intellectual or spiritual. They inspire vivacity in others.

Sun in Capricorn

Capricorn Sun: ambitious, self-disciplined, and possessing a sense of responsibility. This is someone who takes great pride in accomplishing results through much effort and perseverance. They are natural leaders, often thriving in structured environments where their organizational skills can shine. While their determination is admirable, they can sometimes become overly focused on external success, or suppress their feelings. They reach their highest potential when they balance their ambitions with self-care and a connection to their inner world. Capricorn Suns will usually be drawn to the positions of leadership and management, business, or areas where they can create lasting legacies.

         Capricorn Sun (10°,22°) Degrees

The Sun in these degrees reflects the ambition and disciplined nature of Capricorn. They are focused, practical, and determined to gain success over a long period of time. They often rise to great heights and are respected for their dependability and perseverance.

Sun in Aquarius

Aquarius Suns are so innovative, independent, and deeply committed to ideals of progress and equality. They take pride in their ability to think outside the box and often seek to make a positive impact on society. Intellectual curiosity and their visionary nature make them natural problem solvers and innovators. However, an over-emphasis on collective affairs can sometimes make them feel disowned or disconnected from the self or others. They do better in life when they allow humanitarian goals to be balanced with personal connections and self-expression. Aquarius Suns often succeed with technology, social activism, or in other areas where their imagination takes center stage.

          Sun in Aquarius (11°, 23°) Degrees

These degrees bring out the Aquarian's inventive and visioning capacity. People are original thinkers, at times well in advance of their era, and aim at progress, humanity. Freedom of thought appeals to them, and they do especially well in a field where they can innovate.

Sun in Pisces

Pisces Suns are compassionate, intuitive, and deeply connected to the spiritual or artistic realms. They find their purpose in serving others and are often gifted at the creative or healing arts. They are able to connect with people on a soul level with their empathy and sensitivity, making them really inspiring and comforting companions. However, their dreamy nature may at times be given to escapist tendencies or poor boundaries. They really shine when channeling their creativity and compassion into tangible forms of expression. Generally, Pisces Suns do well in professions with fantasy, empathy, or close contact at the core.

          Sun in Pisces (12°, 24°) Degrees

The intuitive and compassionate energy of Pisces is strong in these degrees. People in these degrees are deeply empathetic, imaginative, and tuned into the spiritual or creative realms. They usually succeed in any role that requires emotional intelligence and artistic expression, embodying selfless service.

All Aspects Of Sun

Sun Conjunction with Planets

A conjunction is when two celestial bodies are aligned very close to each other, amplifying and integrating their energies.

Sun-Moon Conjunction: This aspect creates a profound harmony between the ego (Sun) and emotions (Moon), leading to strong self-awareness and emotional integration. These individuals are naturally aligned with their inner needs and external expression, making them intuitive and authentic in their interactions. This alignment also makes them subject to being biased, as keeping emotions and logics apart gets tough for them. Stressed mood swings are something they don't do pretty well, yet they have exceptional return abilities through self-analysis

Sun-Mercury Conjunction:The aspect of the keen intellect is that it's a powerhouse of communication. Individuals with a close Sun-Mercury conjunction possess sharp minds and, at times, could be very effective speakers or writers. They are quite excited by mental stimulations, although at the same time, they are too attached to their ideas and seem quite dogmatic. They're curious, lifetime learners with an intense urge to share.

Sun-Venus Conjunction: Grace, charm, and love of beauty describe people with this aspect. They are as natural at smoothing out relationships and environments as they are at creating an atmosphere of peace and harmony. The appreciation of art, culture, and aesthetics is high, and creative fields are often their calling. On the other hand, the need for approval may make them cling to others for their validation, though their warmth and magnetism rarely go unnoticed.

Sun-Mars Conjunction:This aspect lights up the core identity of the Sun with the energetic dynamism of Mars. Individuals with this conjunction are bold, assertive, and act on impulse. They are natural-born leaders who move with compelling desire to achieve what they want with passion. While this can bring impulsiveness or competitiveness, their determination is unmatched, often inspiring others to follow their lead..

Sun-Jupiter Conjunction: The placement empowers an optimistic feeling, wisdom, and a broad visionary world outlook. People like them spread all positivity around and automatically attract opportunity due to their generous, philosophic nature. They may naturally inspire others but must watch themselves from overindulging in vices or showing haughtiness.

Sun-Saturn Conjunction: Here, the life forces of the Sun are combined with the disciplined structural Saturn. Individuals born from this conjunction are industrious and realistic, and very responsible. Although suffering early in life, yet the experience builds resistance and prepares him for mature success. Suitable positions for them require authority and responsibility.

Sun-Uranus Conjunction: This aspect highlights individuality and innovation. These individuals often defy societal norms, seeking to express their unique identity in unconventional ways. While they may face unpredictability or instability, their originality and vision often lead to breakthroughs in their chosen fields.

Sun-Neptune Conjunction: A conjunction so spiritual, filled with imagination. It hooks together a strong core identity represented by the Sun with Neptune's mystique. Such individuals are compassionate and idealistic and mostly pick careers as artists or have healing professions. They suffer from escapist tendencies, confused aims, though rarely short of brilliance in these areas where they can get in step with higher ideas.

Sun-Pluto Conjunction: This is a transformative and empowering aspect, really filling the individual with intense willpower and a drive for personal growth. These people usually undergo such life changes that mold them into what they are and help them attain deep insight into themselves. They are naturally born leaders and change-makers in society.

Sun Sextile with Planets

The sextile aspect provides ease and opportunities but needs to be acted upon consciously to fully engage in its potential. It usually signifies those areas of life wherein growth and harmony are available when some initiative is taken.

Sun-Moon Sextile:It surely forms a strong interdependence between personal identity and the emotional well-being of every individual. Accordingly, they are very talented people in creative and caretaker professions because the capacity to merge logic and instinct is so great. As a rule, this creates supportive relationships because people can show empathy towards others without losing a clear sense of self. Innately talented mediators bring warmth and balance to tense situations.

Sun-Mars Sextile: This easy flow between drive and identity makes these individuals naturally assertive and goal-directed. They act precisely, using no more aggression than what is called for. Energy is focused for the purpose of attaining objectives with the least possible friction. It's an excellent aspect for athletes, entrepreneurs, and leaders who certainly do well in strategic effort environments.

Sun-Jupiter Sextile: Optimism and generosity flow, and opportunities for growth and success seem to come easily. They have a natural leaning toward learning, teaching, and sharing wisdom. Many people look up to them as mentors or guides in their respective communities, inspiring others with their broad-minded perspective. Their success appears almost effortless, but it is actually the result of their openness to opportunity and expansion.

Sun-Saturn Sextile: This is a harmonious blending of responsibility and self-discipline with the core identity. It makes him practical, reliable, and goal-oriented. They do well in any position that requires long-term planning and management. That person will approach challenges methodically for steady progress to lasting achievements. This aspect encourages respect from peers and authority alike.

Sun-Uranus Sextile: Creativity and innovation define this aspect, allowing individuals to embrace new ideas and unconventional approaches. They are open-minded and adaptable, often thriving in technology, social reform, or artistic fields. Their ability to blend their unique individuality with practical effort makes them influential and forward-thinking.

Sun-Neptune Sextile: The ability to be tender and creative comes naturally. Most of them are attached to spiritual or artistic pursuits, often finding themselves in positions that may inspire or uplift others. They are a soothing company and can make great healers or visionaries. They will put in effort to make dreams come true, blending idealism with realism.

Sun-Pluto Sextile: Personal power, transformation. Those with this aspect meet the challenges with dignity, using their inner resources to break through whatever is in the way. Sometimes seen as agents of change, they may facilitate growth and evolution in others. Their ability to hold power with integrity allows them to become a force for lasting progress in their communities or professions.

Sun Square with Planets

The square is a challenging aspect, creating tension and conflict that requires conscious effort to resolve. These challenges lead to growth, as individuals must confront obstacles and refine their approach to life.

Sun-Moon Square: There can be some emotional conflicts between what the individual wants versus how he feels. This may be internal, playing out as mood swings or indecision, and it pushes the individual to develop emotional resilience and self-awareness. They do learn to balance the inner and outer world over time.

Sun-Mars Square: The dynamic tension between assertiveness and ego may be preoccupied with impulsiveness or anger issues. Ambitious and driven, they can easily be prone to conflicts because of their hot-headed approach. Learning patience and finding constructive outlets for their energies allows them to reach their goals without extra strife.

Sun-Jupiter Square: Overconfidence or too much ambition can bring setbacks. People with this aspect often have high aspirations but must learn to be moderate and to concentrate. They have tremendous potential for success, but it requires discipline and a realistic assessment of their capabilities.

Sun-Saturn Square: The aspect brings challenges in the form of self-esteem, authority, and discipline. Early life struggles create feelings of inadequacy or even fear of failure. But these people have the inner strength to overcome such struggles with persistence and build a sound foundation for success.

Sun-Uranus Square: There could be feelings of restlessness and independence that may create instability. They can feel caught between their need to be free and what society expects. When they can learn to harness this different perspective into something constructive, they often are pioneers in their area.

Sun-Neptune Square: The ideal and the real are often in conflict, causing confusion or disillusionment. They can be subject to self-deception or escapism yet have the potential to manifest their creative vision through disciplining and clarifying it.

Sun-Pluto Square: Power struggles and transformative events are part of this square. While overwhelming, such struggles offer an opportunity for deep personal growth whereby one can emerge stronger and more self-aware.

Sun Trine with Planets

The trine aspect is all about natural talents and effortless harmony. It shows areas where individuals seem to excel in life with very little apparent effort.

Sun-Moon Trine:  Emotional well-being and identity are in natural harmony, thus giving an inner balance. Empathetic, nurturing, and deeply creative, these subjects often do wonderfully in any career caregiving, teaching, or the arts. Inner harmony translates into radiated warmth and confidence.

Sun-Mars Trine: Energy and determination run smoothly, and there they go-most effective. Charismatic, enchanting others by the mere sight of them in action, with a natural ability to take immediate actions without any inner conflicts, which easily makes them a leader.

Sun-Jupiter Trine: This aspect is accompanied by luck and wisdom that help the individual to achieve success without much resistance. They are optimistic, generous, and often hold leading positions or mentorship. The broad perspective and natural charisma attract opportunities and positive relationships.

Sun-Saturn Trine: Discipline and responsibility are innate strengths. These individuals are reliable and efficient, excelling in long-term projects that require focus and determination. Their consistent efforts lead to steady progress and enduring success.

Sun-Uranus Trine: Creativity and originality define this aspect. These individuals embrace innovation and are often ahead of their time in their thinking. They thrive in fields that reward independence and unconventional approaches.

Sun-Neptune Trine: There is a smooth flow of compassion and imagination, which makes these people very attuned to spirituality, art, or humanitarian causes. They have a soothing presence and are mostly inspirers through idealism and creativity. 

Sun-Pluto Trine: Smooth flow of personal power and transformation. Individuals with this influence are commanding and hold powerful positions in leadership, strategy, or in deeply understanding the psyche. They work their way through complex situations with ease, thus proving to be strong agents of change.

Sun Opposition with Planets

Opposition aspects are dynamic tensions that are generally expressed through relationships or challenges that come from the environment to push the individual toward their balancing and growth.

Sun-Moon Opposition: The conflicts between emotions and identity create tension in relationships or an inner storm. Such individuals grow by learning to balance their needs with the expectations of others, fostering emotional maturity and self-awareness.

Sun-Mars Opposition:The struggle between assertiveness and aggression often plays itself out in external conflicts. People with this aspect are driven and passionate but need to learn how to compromise and channel energies constructively to avoid unnecessary confrontations.

Sun-Jupiter Opposition: Overindulgence or unrealistic expectations set them back. Growth will come through learning moderation and focusing on realistic goals to make full expression possible.

Sun-Saturn Opposition: Authority conflicts and self-doubt can hinder progress. These people grow by battling through such challenges and developing confidence in their own abilities to achieve lasting success. 

Sun-Uranus Opposition: Individuality versus conformity often produces tension, which can make life very unstable. The balance required between personal freedom and cooperation allows these people to rise as innovators and pioneers of change.

Sun-Neptune Opposition: A battle between idealism and reality is often confusing and disillusioning. These individuals grow by developing discernment and grounding their spiritual or creative visions in practical reality.

Sun-Pluto Opposition:  Power struggles and intense transformations dominate this aspect. These individuals develop profound inner strength and a positive way of influencing others through navigating conflict and embracing change.

(Note: It took me several days to write this post. There could be writing errors that I did not notice. If you find any, feel free to correct me in the message. Thank You💛 )

[luveline]

more hotch with teacher!reader? maybe she’s trying to take a bunch of things into her classroom one morning and hotch jumps in to help (and flirt with) them :)) i adore you’re writing thank you for sharing sm with us lately!!!

you’re so welcome ily ty for requesting! <3 fem, 1k

Today, you and your class are going to make dioramas with a heavy focus on paper crafting. For the last few days, you’ve helped them make plans on what they want to create, and then you scoured the internet for origami and craft tutorials to suit. The only one you couldn’t find was for poor Jamie’s tractors. You’ll figure it out, you’re sure. 

You’ve been saving cardboard boxes, toilet roll inserts, and egg cartons for months. There’s a total mountain of things to bring in, so you’re here early. You figure if you carry huge armfuls, you can get everything inside in three trips. 

“Oh,” you say, as a cardboard box tumbles to the ground, and somehow doesn’t give you a clearer view, “whoops. I’ll pick that up. Jeez.” 

You step over it and almost slip. 

“Careful,” someone says. 

You jump and send an egg carton skittering across the floor. “Oh, gosh! You scared me!” You twist your head, the cardboard that had been resting on your face falling down into your collar. “Oh, Mr. Hotchner.” 

Of course it’s Mr. Hotchner. Aaron, predictably. 

“Aaron,” he says, leaning down to grab the things you’ve dropped, before he opens his arm toward you. You lean away from your tower, embarrassed but relieved when he takes the bulk of your tall tower from you. 

“Thank you, Aaron. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be here so early. Is everything okay?” 

“Let me help you with this.” 

Avoiding the question. You and Aaron carry your cardboard inside to the classroom, where you unlock your door (and you never would’ve been able to do without his rescue). He follows you to the arts and crafts table toward the back of the room, and you deposit your stock. 

“Thank you,” you say when he places his armful down. 

“It’s no problem. Can I help with the rest?” 

“Would you, please?” you ask. “It seemed a lot less before today.” 

You bring the rest back in. He’s the picture of a perfect gentleman and carries more than you each time, which isn’t to say you can’t have carried the same as he did, but it’s nice for once to be the one looked after. As a teacher, you get used to giving. 

He doesn’t make you ask him twice. “I’m here early because I wanted to talk with you if you’re free, before I head into the office.” 

“His Aunt is bringing him today?” you ask about Jack. 

“I didn’t manage to get home in time last night to see him, but I’ll be here at pick up time.” 

You nod, hyper aware that you’d swayed the conversation again. “Sorry, what were you saying?” 

“It’s about Jack. Well, it’s mostly about me. I’d like to ask you for a favour, if you’re willing.” 

“Oh, sure. Of course.” 

“You haven’t heard it yet.” 

You flush under the weight of his knowing smile. “No, I mean, I’m sure it’ll be fine. So…” 

“It’s hard sometimes to get Jack to tell me what you’re doing in school. I had no idea he’d be making dioramas today. And I don’t need your lesson plans, I’d never expect that of you, but I was hoping you could summarise the week for me on Fridays? Or whenever you can. I don’t need updates on how Jack is progressing, it could be a couple of words on the topics you’ve chosen, just so I know what he’s doing while I’m away.” 

You’ve never been asked to do it. Parents of kids in the second grade aren’t usually clocked in on what their kids are learning. School is still half fun at this age, your most important job is to make sure they can all read with acceptable fluency. And it’s hard because their parents don’t help, but it’s fine. You love teaching them something so important, and you’re ecstatic to meet someone who’s actually interested. 

You beam. “Yeah, of course I can. I can do that, I don’t mind. Nobody ever wants to know what we’re doing, which is such a shame! I mean, they’re so excited and of course their parents care, but if they have just a little bit of support it makes a huge difference. I can totally send you my lesson plans, Aaron. I’d like to.” You laugh to yourself smugly. “I never get to show them off. They’re extensive. And they take ages.” 

“You want to show them off?” he asks softly. 

His voice is velveteen. 

“Is that awful?” you ask.

“No, it makes sense. You really don’t have to if it’s too much trouble, but I… feel guilty, when I call him and ask how school was, and he can’t remember what happened.” 

“Don’t feel bad about that. The kids can’t remember what I told them ten minutes ago.” 

He isn’t like you, in that he’s very still. He doesn’t move or fidget, which makes his looking at you all the more obvious. “Thank you,” he says. 

“You’re welcome.” 

“Can I pay you back?” 

You catch one of your bracelets and twist it around your wrist. 

Aaron told you without hesitation that he profiles criminals. He can read their expressions, habits, and idiosyncrasies as thoughts and feelings. He can trace movement to the source. You’re positive he wouldn’t keep asking you such leading questions, or insist you call him by his first name every time you see him, if he didn’t already know that you find him attractive. 

“How would you do that?” you ask. 

“Is there anything else you… need help with?” 

A million things, but you’re no idiot. You can read subtlety too. 

“Well, I have a bunch of textbooks on the top shelf in the stockroom you could help me with.” You smile shyly. “It gets hot in there, though.” 

He begins taking off his suit jacket. “That,” he says, his gaze on you with all the tenderness and amusement of someone who’s known you longer, “won’t be a problem.” 

[kleopatra45]

Moon in the Houses of D9 Chart

1st House

When the Moon occupies the first house of your D9 chart, feelings become the driving force in establishing your identity. What you seek in a partner is someone who understands your need to feel things deeply and does not stifle or shun your emotions. This makes for a spouse who is most likely instinctive and sensitive to your moods. They may ease your self-soothing pursuits, providing solid support and peace of mind merely in their presence. You will be able to explore how relationships enhance your self-perception, and together with this individual, you will be at ease revealing the innermost layer of your identity. Prepare for someone who cares about your emotional state and pushes you to go beyond your limits.

2nd House

Possessing the Moon in the 2nd house indicates that the individual seeks a sense of stability and emotional containment within the constraints of relationships. Such a placement often indicates a spouse who prefers coziness, sameness, and pooling of possessions. They may have a serene down to earth personality that provides you with the peace and the assurance you need. The potential mate is most probably an individual who appreciates the need for anchor, perhaps more so one with a strong inclination towards creating a house and providing for the family. Somebody to help you build and maintain good foundations that impart a sense of security and encouragement within the connection and oneself.

3rd House

Having a Moon in the third house indicates a propensity towards relationships that are intellectually stimulating and characterized by plenty of dialogue. One requires a partner who is inquisitive, articulate, and emotionally available. Your spouse might resemble someone who loves talking about anything, serious topic or trivial, thus making you feel bonded by such verbal exchanges. They could be funny, artistic, or thirsting for knowledge and they will offer the mental and emotional challenge you seek. Conversations come easily with them, and you can anticipate enjoying the processes of learning, discovering, and creating with one another.

4th House

When the Moon occupies the Fourth House, one feels the intense craving for a warm and nurturing home which is laudable. Finding a mate who understands the importance of connections, heritages and emotions is the expectation. The potential mate is most probably one who derives satisfaction in the art of home making and prioritizes emotional connection with the propounded mate. Protective, and loving are some of the qualities that she possesses as well as ensuring that you are emotionally secure. It feels as if a fortress will be constructed, and more so, traditions and rituals will glue the two together. This deity will restore order and comfort within you as well as contentment with the relationship.

5th House

If the Moon occupies the fifth house, it implies that romance, creativity, and fun are significant features of your emotional life. You are more likely to attain a spouse with a certain innermost child, probably of a romantic, creative or an artistic nature. This individual will promote your self-expression and will aid in bringing active and playful dimensions to the relationship. Additionally, they might motivate you to explore your artist side after experiencing something beautiful together. This type of bond will have its share of play and leisure, and your wife will be very instrumental in helping you meet your emotional needs amidst love, laughter and various activities.

6th House

The Moon in the sixth house indicates that one has a craving for stability and constancy in any relationship. A spouse who pays attention to schedules, exercising and relies on the feeling of togetherness is required. Therefore, your prospective marriage partner is potentially disciplined, committed, and active in carrying on with her works— a spouse who plays an active role in sustaining their day to day activities. He might also urge you to create better habits and even assist you in bringing order in your life. This individual nurtures stability and peace within the everyday interactions of the couple and will carry you through the storms and rain with a warm embrace and unwavering affection.

7th House

The placement of the Moon in the seventh house indicates that such individuals have an emotional connection in most of their relationships and that they are inclined to believe that being in a partnership is the key to happiness. Such individuals probably seek a spouse who is loving, gentle, and responsive to them. Shisamba’s mate will most likely be the person who seeks symmetry and closeness in the relationship. This mate will know you instinctively and probably assist you in finding parts of yourself that you could not access by yourself. There will be a very intimate bond between the two of you and feelings of safety, respect, and fulfillment will be given to you in a way that is warm and affectionate.

8th House

With the Moon located in the 8th house, there can be a tendency for an individual to seek emotional depth, intimacy, and transformationalism in any relationship. A partner for this person is most likely to be someone with a dark, romantic and intense character. They may provoke your protective emotions, making you deal with your fears and weaknesses. They could be interested in something like working with the mind, the spirit, or the body, and they will encourage you to feel your buried emotions. Such a partner will not shy away from walking on the emotional deep end with you, hence, making the relationship very meaningful and healing as well. Together, you will experience love that is purging and liberating at the same time, through the process teaching you that there is strength in being vulnerable.

9th House

Having the Moon positioned in the ninth house indicates a profound joy in emotional pursuits of studies, travel or extensions in one’s views. A prospective life partner in due course will be a free-spirited and adventurous person who, most probably, belongs to a different culture or ideological setup. This person will promote your inquisitiveness, and urge you to seek answers about spiritual matters, or the big questions in life. This person allows for emotional growth in the relationship and also makes you feel bigger and better than before. It is with them that you will step out of the boundaries and gain lessons from experiences as well as from the internal spiritual quest.

10th House

With the Moon being positioned in the Tenth House, it suggests that you search for someone who will be a stabilizing force, enshrined in respect and potentially elevated social standing. This individual would apply themselves to the work at hand, fulfill commitments, and be dedicated to a cause. Such a person will be supportive of your work and ambitions, and together you will build a lifestyle that will be envied by many. They will help you maintain your public persona and assist you in integrating work and personal fulfillment. This bond will most likely have a beneficial and practical approach, where focus on joint results helps each feel secure emotionally.

11th House

If the Moon is positioned in the 11th house, one’s sense of belonging and emotional contentment are more inclined to friendships, group activities, and common objectives. You are most likely to marry someone who is rather liberal, social and broad-minded, probably someone in the field of charity or in a kind of teams’ work. They will push you to achieve your dreams and strive together with you for them, broadening the scope. This partner will be a confidant, who helps and motivates you to achieve desires that you both cherish. You will embark on a cause, and transform into a pair, inspiring and drawing strength from each other’s endeavors, while the relationship remains the area of comfort and cordiality.

12th House

When the Moon is placed in the twelfth house, it reflects an inclination toward spirituality and a desire to bond with one’s spouse on almost a mystical level. With this position, it can be assumed that one’s future spouse is likely to be an intelligent and kind-hearted person with creative or spiritual interests. They likely are soothing and serene by nature, encouraging you to examine the recesses of your mind. With them, you’ll be able to find emotional comfort, learning how to enjoy one’s company along with peace within oneself. This individual will assist in the loving exploration of more concealed layers of oneself, offering an unwavering love and primeval experience that is far from ordinary, and allowing for the appreciation of deeper, more occult dimensions of existence.

©️kleopatra45

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Neil, my name is Zalean. If you have a few minutes, I wanted to tell you a little story. Not really a question and I’m not sure how to use tumblr but I wanted to say thanks so much for coming to Florida a few months back and talking with Art Spiegelman. It was my first time ever figuring out how to buy tickets for something. I lived in, middle of nowhere, Vermont for most my life and had no idea what I was doing, I had never been to anything before, nothing had made me excited enough to do the 5 hour drive. And then you just appeared 20 minutes away from where I am living now.

See, I was just starting to get to know your books and work because I fell in love with Good Omens so deeply when I discovered it during season twos release. Funny thing is, I knew of you all along without even realizing it, Stardust has been my favorite book and movie since I was a kid because it was my dad’s favorite story. Finding out my two favorite things were actually connected, I started trying to get hands on as many of your books as I could. I hadn’t read in years before finding your books. It was eye opening.

The talk event at the Dr.Phillips Center was sold out by the time I knew about it, someone had asked me if I knew of the event when they saw my Good Omens keychains my mom had made me. I called the box office because there is no harm in asking. I explained how I’m an art student at UCF and desperately wanted to be inspired and learn from you both. The customer service people were amazing and ended up calling me back to get me a seat in the orchestra pit before they were released to the public. I drove alone, I walked there alone, I sat alone, and it was worth it. I was so thankful to get a seat and grateful to my professor who was a bit jealous he didn’t know about it but let me leave class early to go because of course the art professor would be understanding for any learning opportunities in the arts. And it was truly wonderful, it seemed real and that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want a show. I just wanted to hear, in some sense, that you were like everybody else. I brought a notebook and pen for any information or story’s that I thought made a difference to my little life. The other people around were wonderful, you inspire kind people.

Like I said, I had never been to anything like this and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know you would have signed books and I only found out because the people next to me came in late. I asked them why they brought the books after it was over and the lights turned on. They did look at me like I had three heads for a moment until they realized I didn’t know there were books to buy, they looked kinda sorry for me but they were so nice. I had never really thought about the importance of someone’s scribble before this but it’s something that proves you were there. It says “Remember when this person made you happy? Remember when they changed your life? Remember when they gave you hope? Look at this and remember.” I hope to see David Tennant and Michael Sheen to get an autograph now that I understand the meaning behind it a bit more but honestly I just love diving into everyone’s projects, the wonder you all create. Oh what fun it is to live a life full of stories!

The people that were sitting next to me let me look at their signed books and hold them. I flipped through some of the big ones, handed them back and expressed my gratitude just to be in the theater. I showed them all my little quotes I wrote down, I never want to forget why I create things and you say so much about never stopping, always creating. Then the women handed me a different book, a smaller book, but when I tried to hand it back, a bit confused, she softly placed it back in my open hands and said “I want you to have it, we have plenty and I want you to love these stories just as much as we do. It’s just starting for you, I want you to remember who started it”. The book she handed me being“The Ocean at the End of the Lane”. The first book I decided to read by you and had just finished a week before. The women had no idea she given me a signed copy of the book that made me want to read again. Your books make the world better. For such a big theater and such a big stage, I just wanted to tell you my little point of view.

The story you told about wishing you enjoyed the past more than you did, I hope you get to enjoy it now, and I hope you want to. And thank you, to you and to Terry Pratchett for creating something special. I convinced my dad to watch Good Omens with me over December break, he loved it.

I forget sometimes that everything is someone's first time, and then I read something like this and feel like I need to remember that better. I'm glad the people beside you were kind.

[oceantornadoo]

toxic but in love fwb!simon with some hurt/comfort

“i know your gala is important, si, but can’t you come? just this once i just want-“ you were wringing your hands, twisting them into unfamiliar shapes as you argued with simon, your situationship. you two were always like this, pushing and pulling at the boundaries of your relationship. moon and tide, destined to move each other but never close enough. “we’re not dating an’ i have a work thing. can’t come.” he shrugged nonchalantly, turning his head so he couldn’t see the pleading look on your face. instead, he pushed himself off your couch and reached for his jacket by the door. the silence in the air turned sour, some dark ugly thing created by him. his heart was a dead thing inside his chest, unable to muster a beat or two for you. he wanted to. a want so deep it ran in his blood, turning him cold. “fine. see you in six months or whatever.” your voice was stony, bitter. you reached for the tv remote and unpaused the show you two were watching, trying not to care about the sounds of him lacing his boots and grabbing his keys. you were done, done with this tug of war. you felt his stare drill through the side of your head as he put on his mask, the final bit to his ensemble. he might think that’s what got him named ghost, but it was really this, this act of playing human when he just didn’t care. he was a poltergeist in your life, knocking things out of order but refusing to show when it mattered. you were done.

one night later and here you were at your first art show, the debut of your career. dressed in your fanciest attire, second glass of champagne in your hand as you tried to network your way through the room. your feet ached from your shoes and there was an itch in your back you couldn’t quite reach, but you put on your best smile as another potential buyer went on and on about their summer in the hamptons. simon wasn’t here but it was fine. the tears you had been swallowing back for the past thirty minutes were just tears of joy at your accomplishments, nothing more. you thanked the buyer and turned the corner, finishing off your glass as you took a much needed break. suddenly a hush went over the crowd, a slight silence broken by a small quip. the room went back to normal but you went to check it out anyways, hoping it wasn’t someone making a bad comment about your work.

you arrived at the entrance and almost passed out at the sight before you. four men-no, machines, dressed in full military regalia stood in front of you. soap and gaz were already working the crowd while price was entertaining one of your donors, but your eyes were focused on ghost. ghost, who traded his balaclava for a more crowd-friendly medical mask, stood in front of you with a bouquet of carnations and a bottle of wine. you approached him slowly like you would a skittish animal, taking patient, methodical steps. “read carnations are for celebrations.” he said, almost sheepishly, as he mechanically thrust the bouquet towards you. you took it out of instinct, eyes still focused on his. “you came?” you said unbelievingly. simon was here, simon brought his friends, simon brought you gifts? he had to have been drugged or something. there was no way. “you called.” he answered, breaking out of his awkwardness. “‘m sorry for yesterday. knew i was coming, jus’ gave you a hard time. had to celebrate my girl’s first show.” your mouth dropped at that. my girl. “but…but we’re not dating?” you took a step forward, the rest of the room falling away as his gloved hand touched your cheek, brushing back the wrinkles on your forehead. “d’ya want to, lovie? was at this gala all night, thinkin’ bout how fun it would’ve been to have you there with me. makin’ fun of all those puffed up generals.” you let out a small chuckle and his back straightened, encouraged by the sound of your laughter. he loved the sounds of your laughter, your drunk giggles and your loud snorts. most especially he loved the sharp barks of surprise you made, the ones you gave when something or someone made you happy without expecting it. like now. “yes. if you’re sure.” the foggy emotions in your head were finally clearing, letting in the sun. his warm eyes caressed your face, pride evident in his face. “‘m sure.” he sealed it with a kiss to your forehead, not wanting to be unprofessional at your work event. simon felt something in his chest. maybe a heartbeat. maybe he had one after all.

—

thought of the “you came? you called” tiktok audio with this one. currently on my period so y’all will only be getting emotional stuff for the next couple of days 🫶

[thatrabidwolf]

hey so a little while ago I decided this would be a fun thing to make, and now 3 days and many, many hours later, I have it complete, and I would like to share it! So, here is:

Questions to ask yourself when creating / studying / writing about, etc a culture (fantasy or real)

I absolutely love creating my own fantasy worlds, and recently I have been looking at advice on how to do it better, but none of the posts I’ve found are quite thorough enough for me. So, I decided it would be fun to make my own list of what questions you should ask yourself when making a fantasy culture!!

This will certainly not be all-encompassing, and I am by no means an expert on any of this, but I have tried my best with the knowledge I have. Think of this as a jumping off point!

I will always refer to the culture you are making/studying/writing about etc as ‘your culture’. I do not mean the culture you are literally from.

Religion and beliefs 

Note- even if your culture has no god or religion, some questions will still apply. Additionally, a culture does not need a religion. 

How does your culture believe the world/them/nature/etc has been created? (E.g. the Dreamtime, the days in which God made earth, etc)

Is your cultures religion poly or mono theistic?

What does your culture believe is holy or good, religion wise? How does this affect people who do not fit that standard? How do people try to reach this standard? 

How does your culture worship? Do they have rituals or ceremonies? Why do they do this, in their eyes?

How does your culture think of its God(s)? Are they afraid? Reverent? Are they less than (the) God(s), or equal (I have never heard of non-Gods being viewed as better than (the) God(s), but hey, why not?)? Are they perhaps being protected or cared for by their God(s)?

What is your cultures view of death and the dead? What do they believe happens after death? How does their mortality affect this? (I.e. are creatures that live longer less afraid of death and hell?)

Are there any people who can be closer to their God(s), or servants of God(s)? (I.e. priests, monarchs, monks, nuns, etc)

How do religious people view non- religious people, or people who follow other religions? (and vice versa)

Are there multiple religions or belief systems in your world? How do they interact?

Why do people believe what they do? (Have they met the gods? Who made their religion?)

How does religion help or harm the people who follow it (And even the people who don’t believe it)? Are people aware of these issues? 

How does religion affect things like art, language, routines, clothing, food, etc? (E.g. hijabs and modest clothing, prayer times that cause people to wake up earlier, cursing.) do religious ‘uniforms’ exist? (E.g. a priests outfit) who wears them?

How does one pray, or service a God? 

If someone in your culture wanted something from (the) God(s), what would they do to get it? (I.e. what could they do for the god so their request is answered?)

Farming and Agriculture 

Note- most stationary settlements will farm, but not all cultures will be stationary. If your culture is not stationary, this may not apply.

Who farms, and where? (The who is very important. Are they willingly in this field (pun unintended), or have they been forced into it? Are they paid? How much? Are the conditions good?)

Does your culture have aid from animals or machinery when farming? How are they aided?

What do they farm, and how? (I highly recommend researching farming methods, if only because it can be really cool!)

Does your culture farm everything it eats/needs, or do they import and export things? If they import and export, what are their main imports and exports? Who do they trade with?

How important is farming and trading in your culture? How does it’s importance affect those living there? 

What foods are not farmed, or not as common? Why? 

What ingredients are most common? What are they used in? (Note- the answer to that second question is going to be ‘a lot’. Don’t just make one dish with the most common ingredients. Make a bunch!)

Other materials

Note- if the answer to any of these questions is no, then you must consider what the alternative is. If they don’t have clay, what is their crockery (if they have it) made of? If they don’t have metal, what are their weapons made of? Also, a culture does not, by any means, need all or any of this. This is just an example.

Does your culture have access to sand (and, by extension, glass)? Where is it? How is it transported?

Does your culture have access to stone and metals? And again, who mines for this? How is it transported?

Does your culture have access to clean water?  How is it transported?

Does your culture have access to wood and fire? If not, how are their environments heated and/or lit? (Do they burn another substance?)

Does your culture have access to paper and ink? If not, what do they write with? (If they write at all)

Does your culture have access to electricity? 

Does your culture have access to clay and porcelain? And do they have glaze or paint for their clay?

Does your culture have access to candles?

Does your culture have access to string, ropes and twine?

Does your culture have access to leather, animal skins and/or furs, horse hair, feathers, scales, ivory, and other such materials? Could they perhaps have similar animal materials from fictional creatures? (E.g. dragon scale suits from the how to train your dragon series)

Does your culture have access to plastic?

Does your culture have access to materials most (if not all) human cultures do not have? How could you play around with this? What could these materials be used for? (E.g. an underwater society could use shark teeth as daggers, a society in space might trap stars in lanterns for lighting, etc. be creative!!!)

Food

Note- I have not included drinks here, but most of these questions will also apply to them.

What proteins/vegetables/fruit/grains/dairy does your culture eat, and how much do they have access to? What portions do they eat? (Note- this is directly affected by the availability of certain foods, not simply personal preference of those living in that area. What is your climate, and what animals and plants live and grow there?)

What flavours are enjoyed by your culture? (Note- salty cuisine may be indicative of having to keep food fresh for a long time, sugar may be inaccessible in certain areas, etc. consider why you have chosen what you have chosen.)

How is food stored? (Important! If they don’t have fridges, how do they keep their milk and eggs from going bad while transporting it? Is all their food fresh? Is it canned or non-perishable? What areas will have lower quality food, and why?)

if food travels a long while, it may be worse quality. Keep in mind where the food is coming from

What foods are easily accessible for all classes? What foods are not?

What foods are eaten by upper classes? What foods are eaten by lower class? How will each class view the foods eaten by the opposite class? 

What foods are considered a treat? (Keep in mind; someone (potentially in a lower class) may consider a food that someone else eats often to be a treat.)

How do some cultures view other cultures cuisine?

Is your culture aware they need a balanced diet? Do they have one? 

Where is food bought? From whom is it bought? (I.e. are there markets and salespeople? What do markets or shopping districts look like?)

How much do people eat? How many meals do they have? How big are those meals?

What would someone eat as a snack? What would they eat if they just needed a lot of energy and had barely any time/money/resources?

Do restaurants exist? Would the food in them be entirely authentic to your culture, or would they serve other cuisine? What would a restaurant look like? How many are there, and how often do people go to them?

Housing and architecture 

What do houses look like? What are they made of? How are they made? 

Are there homeless people? How are they treated by society? How are they treated by the government/monarchy/whatever your system of ruling is?

How are areas organised? (E.g. is there separation between more and less expensive neighbourhoods? Where are the shops, and such things?) (note- bad planning=bad quality of life, and more time to plan=better planning. Why is it organised the way it is? Is the planning amazing because one dude got free rein to make a city (like Canberra) or is it horrible because it was rushed?)

What rooms do houses often have? Do they have rooms at all? How many rooms do they have?

What does furniture look like? What is it made of? What types of furniture exist?

How are spaces decorated? Are they decorated at all? How does personal preference affect this? (Does your culture decorate with paintings, mosaics, tapestries, etc? Do they grow plants up the walls to fill empty space?)

If permanent structures are not a thing, what do the people in your culture use as shelter?

How are houses heated and/or cooled?

Plumbing. Does your culture have hot water? Does your culture have clean water? How? Do they use wells, or do they have pipes and aqueducts? Do they have to drink wine/ some other drink because it’s easier? Please don’t just assume they’ll have easy access to water.

PLUMBING. How do bathrooms work? Where does sewage go? (Do they have toilet paper?)

How are areas lit? Without electricity, lighting is a big issue. How much can the people in your culture see when the sun goes down?

If one does not own a home, can they rent one? Do apartment blocks exist? Do hotels and motels exist?

Transportation

Does tourism exist in your culture? How do locals feel about tourists? Why do tourists come?

Do people leave the place they live often? Will they know much (or anything) about other towns, cities, countries, etc?

How fast is each means of transportation? How far will they have to go? (How long will a letter take to send?)

For each means of transportation you must be able to answer: how common is it? How accessible is it? What is the overall view on it? When is it used, and when is it not?

How do vehicles move? (Do they have an engine? Are they pulled by an animal? Do they have oars? Are they steam-powered?)

What does each means of transportation look like? What are they made of? Where are they made?

What is required for the upkeep of each means of transportation?

How does the terrain affect travel?

Are there paths to walk or drive upon? What are they made of? How are they made? Do they require maintenance? Do they get maintenance?

How does the weather affect travel? (Especially water travel)

How is cargo protected from water damage?

Public transport! Do they have it? What is it? Where does it go, and what are its limitations? How many people can it take to a place? If someone never takes public transport anywhere, how will they act if they have to take it somewhere? How would someone who does take it act?

How are letters sent? Why is it done this way? How long does this take?

Weather and climate 

What are the seasons? (You can make them up! You can have more than 4! You can be creative! Make a season where meteors are falling all day every day, if you want! Have fun with it!)

What is the weather during each season? (Does it snow? Do leaves fall from trees in autumn?)

Generally, what is the temperature during each season?

How humid is it?

How does the weather affect clothing?

What methods do people in your culture have to manage the weather or protect themselves from it? (E.g. covering oneself in mud to avoid sunburn and mosquitoes, hibernation, etc)

This isn’t all weather, but how often do natural disasters occur? Are there are many active volcanoes? Are tsunamis common? Do flash floods occur a lot?

What is peoples view on the weather in their area? (keep in mind that oftentimes people get very sick of the weather they are used to, and find other weather more interesting.)

Education  

Who has access to an education, and who does not?

How much would an education cost? 

What is learnt in schools? What does the curriculum focus on, and what does it miss out on? What subjects are there? Can it be harmful at all? (E.g. teach misinformation)

Do University and similar education options exist?

What would a school look like? 

How strict are the rules in schools? 

Who has access to literature, and is able to learn to read? Who is not?

Are there schools for children with disabilities? Are they good? 

If someone cannot have an education, what will they do instead? What work can they do?

Who teaches children? Are they paid? How much? 

When do children leave school? (I.e. at what age?)

Does homeschooling or other education options exist? 

What emphasis is put on an education? If someone did not go to school, how would they be treated? Alternatively, if someone that people thought should not go to school (e.g. women, in some places and time periods) did, how would they be treated? 

Language

Does sign language exist? How many people know it? If those in your culture do not have hands in the same way most humans will have, try to think of other ways they could sign! (I.e. flashes of colour like a chameleon or octopus)(Note; if you intend to have sign mentioned a lot in a story, it might be best to have an idea of what some signs may look like)

Does written language exist? Who learns it? Does illiteracy negatively impact a person?

Does spoken language exist?

Does telepathic communication exist? How does it work? (Keep in mind- thoughts are not always perfect, fully formed sentences. They may not even be words at all! How does this affect telepathic communication?)

Are there any other means of communication? (E.g. text to speech, body language, expressions) what are the limits of these, and how does that affect those that communicate using it?

What is the dominant means of communication? What is the dominant language? Is there a globally used language? What is it? Why is that one the globally used language?

Are there multiple languages? How do they interact? Are they similar?

Are there linguistic differences within a single language (I.e. Auslan having multiple signs for ‘eat’ depending on where you are)? (spoiler alert: there will and probably should be)

How are people with smaller vocabulary/more difficulty talking treated? Why do they have less linguistic ability?

With knowledge of your cultures beliefs and ideas, try to think of the symbolism that your culture might use. (E.g. If someone wrote a poem about how their lover is the dirt, would that mean their lover is unimportant and to be trodden over, or does it mean their lover is the home of growth and life, the thing that supports us all? What do things in your culture symbolise, and why?) Try to think of an object/place/plant/anything culturally important that someone could use to symbolise 1) their lover 2) the family members they love 3) someone they hate 4) a close friend

How is cursing treated? Is it commonplace?

And, just for fun; how would people insult each other? Come up with an insult in your culture! (My fictional world often uses ‘unnatural’ as an insult, as they worship nature)

Class and power 

Who is ‘in charge’? (E.g. A monarch, a council of lords, a government, etc)

If the person (or people) in charge leave their position (they are overthrown, their presidency ends, they die, they step down, etc) who takes over? How is a new ruler chosen?

How does the person in power rule? What do they have control over, and what do they not? 

What gives power? (Wealth, Magical ability, strength, etc) how would someone gain power? Can they gain power?

How is/are the person/people in power viewed by both lower and upper classes?

Is there a large class divide?

How do the lower classes view the upper classes, and vice versa?

What can someone in power do to lose or gain respect? Do they know this?

What is the currency? (It could be coins and metals, but it does not have to be.) Does everyone use the currency, or just upper class peoples? Is there a currency at all? If someone is not paid with money, how else are they paid? (Land or housing, perhaps?)

How much do upper class people know about lower classes lives, and vice versa? How does this affect relationships between the two? Does the ruler know what lower class lives are like?

Do servants, butlers, etc, exist? Who has them? Are they treated well? Do they live in the house they serve?

How are staff/employees treated? How good is their pay? How much time can they have off work? 

What is the cost of living? Can many people afford it?

Law 

I’m fairly sure this one is obvious, but: what are the laws?

Are there any things that are illegal that perhaps shouldn’t be? (E.g. being queer being illegal in some areas)

Are there any things that are legal that perhaps shouldn’t be? (E.g. my own fictional world having murder be legal as long as the victim is under 10 years old.)

What is the punishment for breaking the law?

How does age impact punishment?

What is the treatment towards the law and it’s enforcers? 

Who enforces the law?

What is the view on vigilantes?

How can the law and its enforcers be unfair? (Is it less harsh on more wealthy people, is it likely to harm minorities, etc)

What is the trial process? Is there one?

Is there a death penalty?

And if there is no finite law: what rules are generally accepted, and what is the punishment for breaking them?

War and combat

are children taught how to fight from a young age? Why? 

What weapons and armour are used? What are the restrictions surrounding them? How can they hurt/protect a person? What is the upkeep required for them?

How is a war started? Who calls for a war to happen?

How does war affect the world, and those in the warring countries? 

How does war affect the economy and trading?

What combat styles are popular?

What is the view of war from the view of civilians, those fighting, and those in power?

How is the army or those who can fight organised? Do they have sufficient training?

Who fights in a war, and why? Are they or their family compensated? Is it for honour? Who doesn’t fight? Why?

Is your culture particularly prone to war? Why or why not?

How are refugees in or from your culture treated? 

Prejudice

which groups are oppressed? What is the reason for it? What do the oppressors say the reason is?

Which groups are oppressors?

Are the oppressed groups in most of our modern cultures treated badly in your culture? (E.g. people of colour, queer people, disabled people, neurodivergent people, people who follow certain religions) are there any other oppressed groups? (E.g. people with magic)

How does prejudice affect oppressed groups? Are they hurt? Killed? What micro-aggressions are present? 

How do oppressed groups fight back? Can they fight back?

How do oppressed groups try to blend in/ hide their minority identity? Can they do so?

Art 

Who does art? Is it only those with the money to do it, or does everyone have access to it? And even if everyone can do art, who does and doesn’t? 

What forms of art exist/are most popular? (Don’t be afraid to make something up! Fantasy types of art would be so cool)

What materials is art done with? 

What type of art is most widespread? How does its popularity affect the culture? (E.g. in my fantasy culture, glassblowing and stained glass are very popular art forms, so I am sure to mention it more often than, say, pottery, and to be creative with what is made of glass)

Is art present even in everyday objects like paintings on the bowls you’d eat dinner on or detailed carvings in one’s bed frame, or is it very separate from non-art items? How can it’s prevalence help build the world or descriptions of said world?

Is art used for ceremonies or religious purposes? How?

How does your culture view art? Is it seen as important? Pointless? A fun little meaningless hobby?

What is art used to convey? (Can it protest bad ruling, share one’s life experiences, depict stories, worship (the) God(s)?)

Fashion and beauty 

Do sumptuary laws exist? Why? What are they?

How is clothing washed? How often is it washed? Who washes it? Where does it dry?

Who makes clothing?

Are fabrics often dyed or painted? What colours are they dyed or painted in? What patterns are painted? What are they dyed with? (Note: this will often impact cost. If someone does not have much money, they may not have brightly dyed fabrics, depending on the accessibility of dye)

What styles of clothing are popular? What styles are more expensive, and why? 

What fabrics are used? (Cotton, linen, wool, silk, velvet, etc) are there other fabrics or clothing materials you can imagine? (E.g. the spider silk clothing from Gregor the Overlander, or the dresses made of salt in ‘The Siren’)

How many items of clothing do people often have?

Do makeup and wigs exist? What are they made from? What styles are popular? Who wears them, and when, or for what? Are they gendered?

Does plastic surgery exist? And if your culture has no plastic, can a similar procedure be done with magic?

What are the beauty standards, and why are those considered beautiful? (E.g. being fat being the beauty standard in the past as it meant one had wealth) Are there prominent figures that affect this? (E.g. celebrities, popular artists work)

How do people treat immodesty and nudity? What parts of the body cannot be shown? Do these rules differ depending on who you are? (E.g. my fantasy world allows those with magic to show more skin, as that way you can see the physical manifestations of their magic easier)

How many layers of clothing are common, and what are those layers and their purposes? (This is affected often by temperature, or a desire for volume in clothing.)

What underwear is worn? (Optional)

What do shoes look like? What types of shoes are there? How many pairs would people own?

Is clothing and beauty gendered? (It doesn’t have to be!)

How does where someone lives affect their clothing? (E.g. a person living on a farm isn’t exactly going to wear ballgowns everywhere.)

What hairstyles are popular? Why? Who are they popular with?

What perfumes/colognes/scents are popular? Why? How are such scents made?

I don’t have another place to put hygiene questions, so they’re going here. How often do people in your culture bathe and brush their teeth? What do they bathe with? (I.e. do they have baths, and warm water to fill them? Or do they have to just towel themselves off every once in a while?) do they have soap? How would someone be treated if they did not bathe, or if they did not smell pleasant?

How is class shown in accessories or clothing? 

Sex and Romance 

Does marriage, or a similar legal, religious or romantic ceremony exist? What are the traditions surrounding it?

How would someone in your culture court/flirt with another? 

What is considered romantic in your culture? (E.g. Is there a certain flower used to convey romantic love? Would a kiss on the cheek be seen as more romantic than a kiss on the lips? Would there be specific romantic pet-names for a partner?) Why is this considered romantic?

What importance or weight is placed upon marriage, romance, sex, having kids, etc, in your culture? Is it entirely unimportant and optional, or is it seen as absolutely vital for everyone? Why is this importance or lack thereof present? How would a greater or lesser importance impact the culture and those in it? (E.g. In my fictional world, romance is seen as entirely optional and even unimportant or unlikely, and so people can be extremely close, and even do traditionally romantic things without others thinking they are anything but friends.)

How are gay, aromantic and/or asexual and polyamorous people treated in your culture? Why?

Is sex taboo in your culture? Is it more taboo for certain people? (E.g. would it be more frowned upon for a woman to speak about sex than a man? Why?)

How is pornography, sex toys, kinks and fetishes, STD’s and STI’s, sexual pleasure/ desire, and sexual discussions treated in your culture? Why are they treated this way?

Leisure

Note- it is easy, when writing fantasy, to forget that people have downtime. But in reality, people do stupid, weird things when they’re bored. People play games and goof around. Don’t forget this, as it really helps flesh out a world!

what sports exist in your culture? What is the ‘culture’ surrounding these sports? Do people get competitive over teams they like? Who plays the sport? Are there professional sports players, and if so, how do they get that status? How do people watch sports, and learn the rules?

If a child is bored with nothing to do, where will they go? Is there a library around? Is there a playground, or a relatively empty street they can kick a ball around? And the same sort of questions for all ages. Where do adults go when they’re bored? (Bars? Restaurants? Friends houses?) what about teenagers? Young adults?

What other games are there? Try to come up with at least three. 1) a game you can play without any materials, and in any place (something like rock-paper-scissors or eye-spy, but ✨fantasy version✨) 2) something you’d need the fantasy equivalent of a pack of cards and a minute or so of rules explaining. (Like Uno or blackjack, or some board games) 3) something more in-depth that takes a few hours or so. (Like DND, magic the gathering, monopoly, perhaps, etc etc)

What other hobbies can people take up? Do the people in your culture know how to sew? Are they super into taxidermy? What are very common hobbies (like watching TV or reading) and what are the less or not-at-all common ones? (Like spending 7 hours writing this godforsaken list because it’s extremely fun) How are these hobbies viewed by people who don’t do it? 

And if those in your culture don’t have hours of downtime, think about what parts of their day they might use as rest. Perhaps if a woman is forced to sew and clean all day, she’ll do it with other women so she can gossip and talk to them. No one can work all day every day without any sort of rest or fun.

Performances! Does your culture have operas? Dances that tell stories? Comedic performances? Do the performers travel, or do they stay in one place, like at a theatre? Do these performances cost money? Who will have watched one? Who watches them frequently? Who doesn’t have the time/money for them?

Do drugs and alcohol exist? What is the culture surrounding them? (Do people do them just for fun, in social situations, etc?) are there addicts, and how are they treated? What do drugs and alcohol do to the people in your culture? And if not drugs and alcohol, are there other substances one can use in place of them?

A few questions that fit nowhere else:

Do people have pets? What pets do they have? Do the pets serve a purpose (like wolves and cats to hunt, dogs to pull a sled, goats for milk etc?)? What is the general treatment towards pets?

Who takes care of very young children (below school age)? Is it a parent or an outside carer (Like a daycare)? 

Are there other holidays or special days unrelated to religion? Are birthdays celebrated? New years? How are they celebrated?

Feel free to add more!!!

[loveemagicpeace]

💗Astro Notes💗

The fire signs tend to be confident of finding light at the end of the tunnel. The earth signs are focused in the present - staying busy with practical arrangements can bring security. With planets in air, your key asset is objectivity - conversely, with planets in water you need to give due importance to deep feelings.

The cardinal signs tend to deal with difficuity by taking control and trying to make headway. In the fixed signs, there is natural resilience and staying power. If you have mutable signs strong on the other hand, running away might be your preferred option - but if not, you can use your versatility and capacity to adapt.

The 6th house is a good place to begin. Your daily health plan belongs here and so it is wise to create one which reflects your 6th house planets (and/or the sign on the cusp).

Sometimes there will be contradictions, such as having both Jupiter and Saturn in this house, but this simply means that you must pay attention to both and get them to work in tandem in this area of your life.

Even if you have Chiron or Uranus here, you can devise a way to honour these principles. With Chiron in the 6th, you might be interested in investigating complementary health practices; with Uranus, it might help to exercise in short bursts, and also to find ways to discharge the high-voltage nervous energy this planet exudes. Mercury in 6th house you can have a very exciting lifestyle, and you can also be distracted by many things during the day.  Sun in 6th house you like to be productive during the day itself.

The 12th house Traditionally this was regarded as the house of sickness, a place where planets lose vitality and are "weak" in their expression. Other astrologers speak of karma and "past lives" in respect of this house. A psychological approach can shed light on this.

Planets in the 12th are hidden from view - thus our motivations and behaviour patterns around them tend to be unconscious. In addition, the "past lives" can be seen as those of our ancestors; planets here can hint at complexes or traumas experenced by past generations, which we have somehow inherited.

These hidden feelings often make themselves known to us in psychosomatic form, as physica. symptoms. An example of this might be the Moon here suggesting an experience of lack of nourishment or care, which might emerge as a longing to be looked after; with  Mercury here you can experience of not being allowed to speak out, which emerges as illnesses or conditions connected to the voice.

People with a lot of neptune, 12th house energy are more prone to daydreaming and have a more relaxed outlook on life.You are not so inclined to be able to do something immediately or to be organized, you are often more inclined to do things when you feel like it. You do a lot of things by feeling.

Sun -your indentity and purpose can emerge from a life dedicated to service. Mercury- you have ability to manifest a lot of things. You have a wild imagination. Pluto- You have a very strong intuition and often feel things before they happen.

Pluto can be very powerful in this position.

Based on your venus u can see what type of love u want and where u feel the most loved. Venus is also your pleasure and desire. Where you find your value. Your beauty, art , music, things you love to do. Sagittarius venus you find beauty while traveling. The love you have for places is very big. You love people with whom you can share adventures, fun things, passion. Virgo venus for you grandness of love is shown through everyday acts of affection and care.

Virgo Rising -they have trouble finding true love. They attract many partners who don't suit them in the way they would like them to be. They are also quite individualistic. They like to be with people they can connect with as part of their routine, they usually look for someone who has a similar lifestyle to them.But many times they attract people who are the opposite of who they are, especially since they have Pisces in the 7th house. At least once in their lives, they attract someone who betrays them or has a false identity. They often have a thinner physique and have a harder time gaining weight.

Cancer Rising-they tend to find the right partner later in life.Usually when they have a Saturn return. Before that, they can attract many karmic partners.

Capricorn Rising-they are very independent and can do many things on their own. They also have a lot of luck in love, often find partners, are caring, and create a beautiful home with them.They have a lot of self-respect and will never let you humiliate them.

Libra Rising -They flirt a lot and always need love, but because this is the house of Mars, it is sometimes very difficult for them to regulate their energy. Your personality is naturally passive aggressive at times. You don't like conflicts.. You see the beauty in everything and always want to be kind to people. But there is one side of you that doesn't show as much. That is, people always think you are very open because of your friendly energy, but you are actually quite a closed person. You don't really share your privacy with others.

Sagittarius Rising- Your personality is very optimistic and you try to look at life from a positive perspective. Many times you can  have certain beliefs that you don't deviate from. You are also a very resourceful person. You can quickly get out of situations that are not pleasant

Rebekah🌙🧜🏻‍♀️

[alltimefail]

Agency Assignments: A comprehensive to-do list for saving Dead Boy Detectives!

I'm very easily overwhelmed, so I wanted to break down all the ways to help "Save Dead Boy Detectives" that I have seen floating around. This is meant to be something you can reference when you feel like there is so much you need and want to do to help, but don't know how or where to start.

Note: I will be updating this post as we go when necessary, so feel free to bookmark it in your browser for easy access, add it to your homepage, whatever! I'll always have a link to it in my Pinned Navigation post on my blog as well!

It is of the utmost importance that we fight as an organized, well-informed front. We need to be on the same page if we're going to save our show, so let's get into it! 💜💀🔎

➪ First and foremost, follow @savethedeadboys! They're going to be our best resource during this fight.

➪ Next, follow @deadboyagency for news and updates: they've been around since the show dropped and have been an invaluable source of information the entire time.

Now for some task breakdowns:

"One-Time" Tasks

➪ Like the header says, these things can only be done once. Once you do them, you don't have to give them any space in your mind.

Sign the petition*

Review & Rate Dead Boy Detectives on Google, IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes. Be sure on IMDB you don't just rate the show as a whole, but you also rate each individual episode! You can also "Like" the show on Google and click "Watched" which helps the show's engagement scores. (If there are other popular sites I haven't listed here, feel free to share them and rate Dead Boy Detectives highly on them!)

Notify Netflix customer service (through their online chat feature) that you're unhappy with the cancelation of Dead Boy Detectives. This is a short, 5-minute task that I wrote a guide on (with an example message) here!

"Repeat" Tasks:

➪ These tasks can become a part of your daily routine; do what works best for you! You don't have to do every single one of these tasks every day if that is overwhelming!

Share the petition* over and over again, on every one of your socials! Make everyone you love sign it!

Stream Dead Boy Detectives!* Keep it on a loop in the background on low volume as much as possible. Try to get others to stream it as well, especially if they haven't watched it before! Netflix cares about VIEWS: views save shows and I broke down the reasoning here. (Bonus: if you post over on Twitter about your rewatch, use the tag #ReviveDeadBoyDetectives)

Talk about Dead Boy Detectives!* You're probably doing that already, but just be sure that you're tagging your posts. Here on Tumblr use the "Dead Boy Detectives" tag at least (to boost our tag to trending) and anywhere that uses hashtags (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram for example) I would recommend #SaveDeadBoyDetectives and #DeadBoyDetectives as those seem to be the most commonly used tags! IMPORTANT: do not use more than 20 tags here on Tumblr! Any more than 20 and your posts might be marked as spam and hidden from the tags!

Create art, edits for TikTok, fics, gif sets, doodles, crafts, analysis posts, and so on for Dead Boy Detectives.* Having fun is important, too! This is an extension of the "Talk about Dead Boy Detectives" point, but it needs to be stated - don't remove the joy from the fight. If a drawing of our boys or a smutty fic with your favorite trickster cat king is what you can bring to the fight on any given day, that is a perfectly valuable contribution! It's not all emails and hashtags.

Daily request a show through Netflix. Bonus if you're signed in! (I do 3-5 times a day)

Send Emails advocating for Dead Boy Detectives (Email list & Email Template). You can do this as much as you want or just one time.

Send Snail-mail (physical letters) to Netflix advocating for Dead Boy Detectives. I also send a copy of my letters to Warner Bros. Studios. Again, you can do this one time or multiple times. There are dates set aside for "mass" mail sending as well, so check out info on that here!

Interact with articles posted about Dead Boy Detectives. Read them, share them, comment on them, thank the writer for writing them, etc. We want lots of press about the cancellation, and supporting journalists and publications will make them want to write about Dead Boy Detectives more.

NOTE: Anything marked with a * means it's extremely important; if you can only do a few things, these tasks are the ones that you should focus on first. Remember to take care of yourself. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so don't burn yourself out!

WE WILL SAVE THIS SHOW.

Say that to yourself as many times as it takes for you to believe it. We're doing this to get justice for the writers, the actors, for ourselves, and assert to these companies that diverse, queer stories are not disposable one-offs; they deserve to be told in full!

Hugs and Handshakes to you all - whatever will suffice. 💜 Always feel free to reach out if you have any questions, whether that be through private message or my ask box. I'm not going anywhere!

- V

[markrosewater]

If Universes Beyond is "Additive" as you said a few days ago, then why not make an "additional" format rather than forcing a change to Standard?

The psychographics are about the different ways you can psychologically approach the game.

If you’re a Spike, you’re about proving what you are capable of (which often means winning, but not always). That means you focus on picking the best card for the job at hand. That’s going to be dictated by card power and not creative decisions. Whether you like a creative execution (be it in-multiverse or Universes Beyond) or not simply isn’t the deciding factor.

If you’re a Timmy/Tammy, you’re about experiencing something. That means you pick the cards that best create the experience you want. If creative choices are a big part of that experience, then you will prioritize choosing cards that match what you want for your deck.

If you’re a Johnny/Jenny, you’re about expressing something. Your card choices are about you saying something about who you are. If creative choices are important to that message, it will impact which cards you play with.

The issue about mixing in-multiverse and Universe Beyond cards is only forced for the Spikes, because they’re the one psychographic that has to make choices irregardless of the creative execution of the card.

For the Timmy/Tammy and Johnny/Jenny players, if Universe Beyond cards dilute your experience, make other card choices. Don’t play with them.

That’s what I say about the cards being “additive”. You can add them to your deck if they enhance your experience. If they lessen your experience, don’t add them.

The big question is what matters most to you. If you’re choosing a card because it will increase your win rate, then you’re making a Spike-y decision. And that’s fine, but it means you’re prioritizing mechanics over flavor.

My core message is you the player have total power over what you play. You pick the format you play, you pick who you play with, and you pick the cards in your deck.

This issue isn’t new to Universes Beyond. Some people don’t like the cuteness of Bloomburrow, or the modernity of Duskmourn, or the famous characters in cowboy hats approach to Outlaw of Thunder Junction. If you want to make Spike-y decisions, then you play the card regardless of your personal opinion of the creative choices of the card.

Maybe you’re playing a card with a cutesy name you don’t enjoy, or a piece of art that’s not your style, or flavor text that you find groan worthy. That’s a decision you make when you build your deck and you choose what to prioritize.

Everyone has a different line of what creatively is acceptable, and it’s human nature to want to believe that your line is “the line”.

I’ve been doing this for a long time. Every line we cross is somebody’s line. But Magic, at its core, is about pushing boundaries and trying new things. It’s one of the defining qualities of the game.

My message is you can choose your own line. Magic adaptability allows you to play with what makes the game the most fun for you. You can choose to not cross your own line, but it does require you to prioritize that line over Spike-y decisions.

Look, we’re going to keep adding things to the game that players demonstrate they enjoy, whether that be mechanical or creative. It’s the defining quality of the game’s growth over the last thirty-one years.

And by the way, the data strongly, and I mean strongly, shows players enjoy Universes Beyond. All the people that made The Lord of the Rings the most popular set of all time are just as much Magic players as those that never purchased it.

And why not make an additional format? Because the data says there isn’t a large enough audience to support it. If there was, we’d make it. We’re very influenced by the desires of the players.

Our goal, as it has always been, is to make the best game in the world. We iterate, you give feedback, and we adapt. Lather, rinse, repeat.

One of the big lessons I’ve gotten designing Magic is that it’s going to adapt based on the totality of the desires of the players. Enough players like something, and the game starts adapting to it.

That adaptation is not always what I personally would choose, but over the years, I’ve come to realize the fact that the adaptation is not the choice of any one person, but the totality of the playerbase is the thing that makes Magic a game unlike any other.

It’s a living breathing entity that’s constantly becoming what its players want it to be. And that’s pretty cool.

[plleeeepppyyyy]

being wally’s newest friend!

(i love this arg and hopefully it gets more pickup in the near future!! especially love wally, silly little guy.)

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

(i love this arg and hopefully it gets more pickup!! especially love wally, silly little guy.)

basically you moved into the neighborhood and wally takes notice. and is infatuated.

warnings,, wally has some tendencies of being a yandere?? possessiveness, gaslighting, possible love-bombing, kidnapping. house pretty much indulges on wally’s behavior. i actually don’t have much about house in this writing, sorry!!.,,(;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`) also a little short,,?

reader is g/n. (gender neutral)

what glances see first. :)

__

so! you’re the new neighbor, no matter how new you are, as said, you’re still an important denizen. pretty much everyone’s gotta be talkin about you, the first one to greet you though is wally, ofc. ♡︎

at first he seems a bit zoned out? chilled out? by the tone of his usual voice and his facial expression,, you probably think he’s zooted up. but nope, that’s just how he is. he’s pretty friendly when it comes to you, he greets you, tells you all about the neighborhood, and is overall hopeful.

a good charmer too, despite his tone at first and such that made you doubt it, there’s still a way to find this man charming. i mean cmon,, look at his fashion sense, that laidback expression, he definitely looks like he has it all figured out. if you want, he’d gladly show you around the neighborhood. helping you socialize with your new neighbors, despite his short answers and such, he’s still helpful.

after this good greeting, you seem him around all of the time. with barnaby, julie, or just anyone. it could take a bit before you guys get talking normally too, whether you have trouble taking at times or whatnot. you guys get on fine, he’s a pretty likable person.

little did you know, he was the one staring mostly.

___

the friendship within, ❤︎︎

__

when you guys are pretty good friends, he tends to show you his paintings, and art. which are impressive and cute, he offers to draw with you. and definitely likes your company, he also shows you, “house”! which is an actual legit living object, it’s a bit weird. but, ignoring that aside,,. it’s a swell time hanging around with wally. especially if you got barnaby, or one of the others around. it creates a good dynamic.

he likes hanging around with you all of the time, whether it’s doing the most or just sitting around with you. wally really enjoys the simplicity of things, especially if it’s with you.

wally is overall a nice and sweet guy to you, charming at times. he’s definitely the guy to have around, whenever you have issues and need some assistance, he’s gladly ready to help! whether it’d be a simple thing like, deciding an outfit, he’ll help you out. (listen to this man with fashion sense, he’s got a hella good one. (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ )

he’s mostly nice all of the time, but sometimes he does get a bit blunt at times. usually to others or you, which he quickly takes back. it’s strange.. but friendship with wally is worth it!

he’s an interesting little fella to have around.

__

the strange thing about this.

___

around later into your guys’ friendship, you take notice of how wally is getting a bit clingier? he definitely hangs around you more, definitely more touchy. like, before he sometimes puts an arm around you, but barely he would be touching you. now though, he always finds a way to touch you. (not like that ofc,,)

he for sure takes you around and brings you around his house more, in some way he sorta isolates you from the other. he insists on you being around him 24/7.

like cmon, forget those other guys,, we can have fun on our own, together.

is what he would definitely say, he’s a bit passive aggressive when it comes to others. it should only be you and him hanging out, house insists! and house knows most, so why won’t you just stay around him?

during this period, he for sure compliments you more. like, how you’re the most to him, you’re great at drawing, doing this, that.. of course he would hype his best friend up!

he tends to give you little trinkets too. whether it’s stuff he makes, or anything he finds and just thinks, “yep, they would love this, i want them to have this.”

he feels a bit threatened whenever he sees you hanging around anyone, it doesn’t matter if it’s barnaby, frank, eddie, he just doesn’t like it when his bff isn’t paying attention to him! (ง'̀-'́)ง

sometimes he rants to house about how you don’t pay attention to him enough, and house said some good advice. so of course, he would listen to house. he starts giving you stuff, showering you in compliments, even though, it still doesn’t work.

he just adores you too much! don’t you adore him too?

why won’t you just stay with him? why can’t you just focus all on him.

he does it for you, so why can’t you the same?

he just wants to be your bestest friend ever.

____

__

stay with him. ♥︎

_

this period of your relationship definitely heightens.

wally has this great idea, from house’s help ofc. that you should live with the two of them, like roommates! just without you finding out. (yeah he kidnaps you, basically.. uh)

once you wake up, he definitely is happy. and reassures you, that you’ll be with him 24/7 now, it’s like a forever sleep over, ain’t that sweet? even if you’re freaking out, he’s patient, it must be because you’re excited!

he can’t just stay in this house alone, he needs you. he assures you that he’ll always be with you.

he’s not so sure to let you out of the house though, can’t have his bff leave and run. nor does he want you lonely, so he barely leaves the house too. when he does go out, he assures everyone that you’re just sick, sad, or need some comfort.

that’s what friends do, they’re there for each other. so, he makes sure everyone doesn’t worry that much for you. after all, you’re in good hands with wally!

that’s what at least they think, wally doesn’t give you much free will. unless he’s there ofc, best friends have to do everything together.

he still showers you in compliments and gives you stuff, but he does reach limits. if you’re too angry or crabby with him, he does have to make sure you’re not anymore!

whether that’d be locking you in a room, so you can just let it all out. or just keeping you near him, but tied up. just so you don’t hurt yourself on accident.

if you’re crying, he won’t let you be. he’ll hold you, usher and coo to you that you’re fine, he’s here. he’ll never leave.

but that’s the thing, he never will. even if you’re in the other room, the looming thing that hovers you is that he’s just waiting for you. he won’t let you go. and that’s the scariest thing possible.

so, you just have to endure the near thought of him by you everyday now. even if you don’t see him, you’ll hear him talk to house, or sing. you can’t escape, anything you do, he’ll stay.

but that’s the charm, no matter what wally will be there for you. you’re his dearest friend, well besides house. he can’t just abandon you, your his and he’s yours. the bestest friends forever, even if the others did find out wally’s true intentions, it’s not like they can’t stop him. right?

well, they’re far from that.

if he’s stuck here; he might as well be stuck here with you.

his dearest friend, the one he truly loves and cherishes.

he loves you, takes care of you, so,

why won’t you just stay for him?

if he would do it, you’d do it too,

wouldn’t you? ❤︎︎

_________________

literally this is my first time writing on here, so sorry if it’s a bit weird! also first time writing wally,, soooo yeah again sorry if he seems out of touch or smth. (╥_╥)

but this was really fun to write, i literally love this arg and this silly funky dude. i might write more for this fandom, since i love it, def need some ideas.

arg by _PartyCoffin_ on twitter and tumblr!!

(pls support them and this arg, it’s underrated as of now at least,,)

[heretherebeturtles-comic]

How long does the process take you to get one (or more) comic page done? I love the idea of making comics but i suck at structure, you know with the script and posting/layout. I was wondering if you had any tips or what you wish you knew before you started.?

Sorry if this had been asked before

OOOooooo a fun question for me!! I love talking about comic creation :D

I do my best to keep the full process under 2 days (or 12-14 hours of work) per fully coloured page. I'm trying to get faster, but speed comes with time and experience.

Hmmm as for tips and things I wish I knew... so many things... I should let it be known that I am an artist and not really a writer, but your questions are focused on script/planning/structure, so I'm going to focus the advice on that.

Start with something small - Learn about making comics and find a comfortable style through making a couple smaller comics and then try your passion project. Writing and planning smaller comics with fewer pages takes a different kind of puzzle solving and thought process. Smaller page limits can force you to try new things which you can then apply to larger projects to save time; limitations breed creativity after all. Every attempt made (even an unfinished project) is knowledge gained that you can apply again for future projects.

Study comics! - It's hard to create if you aren't feeding the mind and giving it things to learn and create from. Read comics made by professionals and study how they handle pacing. How many pages are they dedicating to each moment? What do you think of their pacing and what would you change? Take a sketchbook and make small rectangles and draw out the panel layout from that comic. What are they doing that works and what don't you like about it? How would you do that differently? ... I think this is me assigning homework... i am so sorry.

Set a hard page limit - Try to get your story told within that limit, and then add more pages if necessary. More pages = more time you have to spend working on it. Most standard single issue American comics are roughly 24 pages. I try to work inside that limit using a rough 5 page per scene structure.

Condense or Cut - I struggle so hard with this one, but comics aren't written in the same way as a novel is. They have a slightly different plot structure and a much more limited amount of pages to tell the story in. Obviously it depends on the story being told, and what kind of scenes are important to that genre of story, but in general, unnecessary scenes should be cut out. examples...

CUT! Having the characters go out to get ice cream is cute, but you don't need to show them each ordering their ice cream unless the flavour they choose is an important plot point. Skip to the last one receiving their ice cream and turning to the others who already have theirs and are having that deep discussion. OR skip that scene entirely and have a quiet panel of them sitting in the park at sunset, already holding their ice cream, before delving into the deep emotional conversation they will be having.

CONDENSE! You can combine two scenes if you need to. If you have one scene where two characters are having a casual conversation and another where they are sneaking into a building? Stick them together. They can sneak AND talk and now you've only used up 5 pages instead of 10.

Comics take a LONG TIME to make!! - you have to make peace with that _(:Ⅰ」∠)_ Comics, especially full colour ones, are an extremely labour intensive and time consuming way of telling a story. If one page takes 1 day (8 hrs of work) and you have 24 pages, that is 24 days of working on one comic.

Thumbnails! - Draw the pages small and rough first! It's easier to plan things and mess around with the layouts when you don't have an emotional attachment to how the art inside looks. Once you have a layout you like, you can then draw it again in full page size and work on it from there.

Page and panel layouts are my favourite part of the whole process, I could talk forever about it, but I do not have the energy for it right now. I'll save panel/page layout for another time.

It doesn't have to be perfect!!! - IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT!!!! (shouted with excitement btw). Panels can be boring! A page can be extremely simple! The art can be messy! The dialog can be simple! The plot can go nowhere! In fact it is really really fun to make a messy imperfect comic on purpose. Destroy the perfectionist in you, because they will always and forever hold you back from actually creating things. "what if it's bad?" what if it's fun? what if you learn cool things?

Anyway, those are my tips/advice, idk if I actually answered what you were asking... sorry about all the time commitment ones, that is something I really wish I had figured out a few years ago lol.

Comics are fun to make and a lot of learning how to make them is just jumping in, encountering a problem, and then learning how to solve it.

[vanessaverse-official]

In the beginning, there was a GGYweek by @puhpandas. Then, inspired by that, I made Vanweek, followed by a Vanniversay and a Vanbirth day. Now, I am proud to announce...

Vanuary! A month long event for February 2025!

In fact, you DO NOT have to try and do a prompt everyday if you do not want to. If you want to make something for just 1 day, that is perfectly fine. Feel free to do whatever you would like with the prompts. The only thing each creation needs to have is Vanessa/Vanny!

Be sure to tag your work (if possible) with "vanuary" and tag this account @vanessaverse-official if you decided to make anything.

The rules for this month are practically identical to Vanweek for the most part. There are several different prompts everyday, but you DO NOT have to do them all.

Also you are allowed to create stuff in advance if you do not think you will be able to create something for a prompt on the day of that prompt. This does mean you can create something a month in advance for, say day 5, and just post it on day 5.

This event, always, is meant to be a fun experience for all involved, which means that works should try not to include anything considered taboo. If your work includes any phobias or extreme gore, PLEASE be sure to tag appropriately.

You are also not restricted to doing just art or writing, other mediums are allowed.

When you do make something, be sure to include the day it is for as well as whether it's for the WORD or THEME in the tags or description. This will make archival and future viewing of these works easier.

Again, be sure to tag your work (if possible) with "vanuary" and tag this account @vanessaverse-official

Also try not to release whatever you've made until the respective "day" (i.e. release a story made for day 2 on day 2, no later, no earlier)

Any work released on AO3 will be archived on this collection as well.

However, the most important thing of all is to...

HAVE FUN!!! Like before, the main goal of this event is to have a good time!

If you have no idea what the Vanessaverse is, here is a link for more information!!