#they have like printed designs on them so they can't really be used for drawing

[tj-crochets]

Any chance I could buy a little mushroom plushie guy?

Probably! Depends on which version you want; I'm willing to make more plain mini mushroom guys, and I still have both the original mini mushroom prototypes*, but if you want an inky cap mushroom creature it'll probably be more expensive. I've been adding beads to the current one for about an hour and I'm still not done lol *I'll want to keep at least one because I have not yet typed up the assembly instructions, and I try to keep at least one prototype of every pattern until I have instructions saved

[ot3]

I do not understand your love for image genAI bc apart from the rampant theft from artists most of its uses are just. Not good like. Some people are capable of making interesting things with it but 90% of what it's being used for is like. Terrible anyways.

i don't really have any particular love for image gen AI. for starters, the styles its primarily designed to emulate are completely outside of my taste bracket and i find those types of work exactly as hollow and soulless when produced by human hands. there's a reason you don't see me going out there using gen ai for a bunch of stuff. i've never even touched midjourney. i like to draw! i dont want something to draw For me!

but here's the thing. if '90 percent of stuff made this way is crap' was a valid reason for something not existing we would have to get rid of every single art form on the planet. it's the same argument people make about booktok books - Stuff Used To Be Better But Now We Have This Sludge Factory Turning Out Fine-Tuned Consumer Slop With Reckless Abandon And It's a Threat To The Fabric Of Society

buddy ! that sludge factory is the Human Race! what you're witnessing is the lowering of barriers! the more people are capable of producing a specific type of creative work, the overall less quality there will be, because most people are not particularly skilled in creative work, or lack the taste you need to make something compelling when unskilled. that's a good thing. i would rather 99,999 people get the chance to make something i hate if it means 1 person gets the chance to make something i love that they wouldn't have otherwise been able to.

i think that the question of art theft as is done in the training of AI image generation models is a sticky one. i hate the fact that tech companies have made boatloads of money that wouldn't have been possible without a truly countless number of man hours by artists that will never see a penny of that wealth in their lifetime. but i also think the more time i spend sitting down and thinking about it and the more conversations i read on the subject, i can't view the output of these generative models as theft. at least, not without conceding a ton of ground to ideas about intellectual property that i think have been overall much more harmful to the health of the art world than AI image generation will be in the longterm.

gen AI models do not store images. they are not churning out recombination of images that have been fed into them. they were trained to analyze visual patterns in these images, associate those patterns with specific concepts, and produce new images following these patterns when prompted with the specific concept. it is fundamentally not dissimilar to how human artists learn and for me i can't in good faith view it as morally wrong on its own merits. i think where plagiarism/theft/fraud-adjacent concerns come in is 1. attempts to disguise how a piece was created and 2. attempting to create stuff that pass muster as a specific other artist's work.

but neither of these are problems unique to AI. people have been arguing about lying about how you make your art and copying other peoples styles for ages. what AI does is it VASTLY increase the scale this can happen at, because it's removing an insane skill barrier from the whole process. and yeah ultimately at the end of the day that's annoying. there are absolutely going to be repercussions on the art world the same way the digital camera impacted portraiture and the printing press impacted scribing. but ai image generation... isn't going to go away. it's just not. so i feel like developing standards for how we engage with this insane, objectively cutting edge and impressive tech, is going to make the art world much safer than starting what boils down to a fucking culture war about it.

[dailycass-cain]

It's been A LONG TIME, but I feel I am so gonna have to catch up on my thoughts with Birds of Prey. So tonight I'm gonna do a three-parter.

Tonight, part 1 will cover #9-10. So let's start with my thoughts on the two issues.

Starting off, this issue means a bit to me three-fold as #1 it occurred during the character's anniversary month.

#2 Artist Jonathan Case once again draws the character (having gone to town with the character in Batgirls #14).

#3 said GORGEOUS AAPI variant cover by Phillip Tan and Elmer Santos. I remember seeing Tan's Cass at a C2E2 a few years ago and nabbing the print (for myself and a friend). He always drew a nice Cass, and I'm glad AT LAST he drew an official one.

As for the issue itself, it's a nice beginning piece to the new arc as the Birds are basically lost trying to find Babs, along with figuring out their new surroundings.

For the special costume given to Cass this issue. I saw an article via Screenrant going into detail on how edgy this suit gives off.

I agree it does, but also to a degree of how maybe she views herself internally. Though of all the unique designs, I'm quite curious on how the artists throughout this arc corresponded with writer Kelly Thompson on the unique looks to each Bird.

Regardless the "Victorian Era" Birds as I view this issue give a very Gothic style and lend to the twists and turns this issue has.

Which, leads into one of the major moments Cass gets in the issue.

The first is a move hyped on the covers during the first arc: Barda launching Cass via a fastball special.

The moment had me squeeing as we get our first tag team move of the two and I hope there is MOAR from them besides the old classic (which you can't go wrong with).

The Birds rescue Babs, and for the briefest of moments everything "seems" right, but well Thompson remembers something OTHER writers kind of neglect with Cass.

In that, she can tell when someone is not truly themselves and is a walking lie detector.

It's a brief, but if "you're in the know" of the character, yeah Cass would easily see via a few steps of body language and behavior that Babs wasn't really Babs.

It's a character quirk that a lot of writers usually overlook coughs some Batman writers coughs.

Again, Dinah trusts Cass 100% with her insight (as the series has already established) and attacks "Babs" and we get out fight in the issue: the Birds vs. this mangled Bat Babs creature.

This issue also feels like the closest meta Thompson has regarding the whole Babs as Batgirl in the issue too. If you take in the fact that her costume has a rather "classic" look to it. And well...

And that leads me to the only downer of the issue because like the Birds themselves, as the reader we are left clueless as they are as to whom or what is behind all of this.

However, for this "one and done" different look. I'll give it being something totally different and again this series trying something new (akin to what we've gotten in the first arc).

Case's art is still stunning, and though more minimalist (compared to his Batgirls issues) still packs a punch. The costumes and crazy demon she-bat Babs still pops in my head.

I just wish we got more information other than the teases for the issue, but this is an unfolding story and like the Birds I'm here for the ride.

Birds of Prey #10 continues this wacky out-of-this-world adventure this time with a 50s twist that has the same dark edge of the prior issue. So what about the Cass within? Well...

Again, another artist of Batgirls helps with the issue as we get Robbi Rodriguez (who's been drawing A LOT of Cass granting 2016 me a wish) and Gavin Guidry on art duties.

Their art compliments the setting within the issue with this 50s to 60s style with a dark undertone (like the prior issue).

So the issue begins with the newest suits we get a '66 version of Cass. The suit itself uses a bit of what we got with the '66 bat costumes but we get Cass bits to it. The bat symbol. The belt. Oh hey! A domino mask! How Black Bat of this suit!

I do love the look, and for a "66' Batgirl" look for Cass checks all the boxes making it different from Babs' look.

Though I have to admit it's weird that Babs herself looks a lot more like her short-lived Sean Murphy bat ears look than something more to her '66.

We also get A LOT of exposition in the issue of what's going on, why someone is targeting Babs, and HOW this is happening.

And it works for me given well we need that info dump and this does feel like the part where we NEEDED this. Even if it does feel like a slight retread of Megaera from the first arc.

However, with one tiny bat twist…

The big fight for this issue is the Birds vs. a corrupted Barda. And oh dear me she is utterly terrifying. But like I said we get a twist, and it is SOOOOO Cass-characterization perfection.

Instead of a brutal fight between the two new friends we get Cass trying to reason to Barda, knowing the New God can beat this on her own.

The moment between the two is just SOOO Cass. Akin to so many stuff with the character in the past. Thompson just GETS Cassandra Cain as a character.🥺

If there's any really nitpick of this issue I have is this issue felt so quick. Like we get so much info, Possessed-Barda, Cass does Cass thing, and that's it. I kind of wish we got more but I get we're sprinkling the Sin and Vixen stuff for later.

But man, Barda/Cass are just the anchor of this series period. Their friendship is something I always wanted and this series hasn't disappointed. I can't wait when Thompson repays this with Barda coming to Cass's aide or does this.

I KNOW THIS IS COMING.

I just wonder WHEN and if I'll have tissues for this moment when Barda unleashes hell or shows this compassion to free Cass from whatever bind.

But yeah Birds of Prey has been my favorite book of the early half of the month, with Tec always complimenting it for the back half.

[elodee]

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 30

SmallishBeans x Mononoke

For Joel I chose the gorgeous anime mini series, Mononoke!

I chose this for Joel because Mononoke is the most beautiful anime I have ever seen. Others have come close, but Mononoke is number one for me. The bright colors, detail, and texture variation remind me a lot of Joel's base.

The show is animated with a paper texture and looks like a moving Edo era ukiyo-e woodblock print. Still images don't do the show justice, so please go watch it.

Do note, however, that the show is technically horror. The series is beautiful but very eerie and touches on dark topics. It also has a lot of surreal imagery that could be upsetting to some people, so discretion is advised.

To learn more about Mononoke and see my style references, go below the cut.

@hermitadaymay

(Gamers Outreach fundraiser)

Mononoke is the story of a nameless person known only as the Medicine Seller who wanders Edo era Japan. The enigmatic figure seeks out restless spirits called mononoke who bind themselves to negative emotion and haunt the living. The Medicine Seller finds ways to get close to the spirits and learns their purpose for lingering in the human world, then attempts to exorcise them. Every two to three episodes follows the story of an new exorcism.

The draw of the show, in addition to its beauty, comes from unravelling the mystery behind each mononoke, since the Medicine Seller can't perform an exorcism until he understands what happened to cause the spirit to become attached to a specific place or person.

The show feels almost like a detective story, but a really creepy one where you're not really sure what's going on half the time. Mononoke is unique, and definitely not everyone's cup of tea. However, even if the genre isn't your vibe, it's definitely worth watching at least some of it for the visuals alone.

Style references:

The show has a papery texture behind the animation, making even very simple shots look really detailed and beautiful.

Some episodes reach hyperpop levels of colors and patterns, though still using paper-like texture throughout. The results are stunning - I remember pausing episodes on my very first viewing just to take in some beautiful scenes.

The title design in a piece of art for Mononoke.

[snek-panini]

At long last, it is Post Stuff I Made Time again. The last time I had a book to show off was in May and that's just too long. Not a fic (this time. I have them, they're coming) but a journal:

I made this as a dnd journal for my husband, and it was originally supposed to be a Christmas present, then a birthday present (in March), and finally it has reached its true potential as a Labor Day Week present. But it's gorgeous, he loves it and I'm proud of it. The cover is Allure book cloth (the color's called skylight), with the strip at the bottom in chiyogami (from ChibiJay; I got it in one of their assorted strip packs), and the flower is gold foil htv. The campaign is pirate/high seas themed, and his character's background has a distinct Fantasy Japan element, so a lot of the design choices followed from that.

More photos under the cut!

Close up on the cover. I thought I had a close up of the flower icon but I must not have taken it. Love how close the color match is between the blue in the waves and the book cloth. The gold htv came out a bit less smooth than I'd have liked, but it has a kind of gold leaf look to it that we both ended up really liking.

He requested a Coptic bind so it would lay flat when opened, and I did Coptic end bands for stability and because they look cool, especially with the exposed link stitches. I find the link stitches also add a bit of stability when you've got fewer Coptic stitches. I special ordered the pink thread (again, his choice) from Hollander's, and it was expensive and totally not worth the hassle. The only way to get this color was pre-waxed and there is SO MUCH WAX on it, it's ludicrous. I scraped a lot of it off on a blade and it was still too waxy, like handling a candle. It's also very stiff and thicker than I'm used to, to the extent that it was hard to thread the needle with it. I've ordered their unwaxed thread before and would do it again, but this is the last time I buy the waxed stuff. Embroidery floss is cheaper, easier to work with, and comes in more colors.

Please ignore the blurriness in the second photo; I have never claimed to be a photographer and didn't notice it till now. This is the doublure on the inside of the front cover, and it's more chiyogami from Chibijay. The wave pattern wraps around from the front to finish up under this paste-down; I wanted to do the same in the back but didn't have enough of the wave print, so the back is plain.

I thought I'd taken a photo of the pages but I guess I didn't because I can't find it now. Being a journal there was no typeset for this. I actually bought a pre-cut and pre-folded unsewn book block from Hollander's for this. They come in a couple of colors and you can get them blank, with lines, or with graph print for drawing, and Husband chose the graph paper for ease of drawing and making charts.

As a rule I don't normally make journals; books only become interesting to me after there is something in them. So I just skipped the part of the "learning to make books" process where most people make a bunch of sketchbooks. This is actually the first one I've ever made. I'm pleased with how it turned out, and Husband loves it, but I can't see them becoming a regular part of my output unless it's requests like this. However, I've got six finished fic binds to post, so stay tuned for those.

[katsukikitten]

for clarity Hakuji has his human eyes, blue iris and white sclera, normal lashes and no face tattoos but shares a mix of his demon and human form tats. Currently he goes by Akaza in this fic as an alias. Please enjoy ~

You've been hunting down this bag for months, a cute weekender duffle by a designer that had a bit of an agreement with certain stores. Bought in bulk and at a discount because it didn't meet the luxury brands normal standards however the flaws are so small most people didn't even notice them.

You were dying to have this bag.

Especially since you'd gotten a purse in all black by the same brand for a heavily discounted price, the only one in the store and it haunted you enough you woke up early to fetch it the next day.

But as you stand in the store you drove nearly an hour to be in, you frown. Not because of the size oh no it was perfect for a week stay, maybe longer if you used packing cubes, the design just as you wanted it where there were Js in hearts printed into the bag but the pattern didn't overly draw attention. The only problem was the bag was in a soft blush pink and not that dusty pink or black you've seen them use before.

You place it on your cart, debate if trying to find it in ‘licorice’ online is worth the hassle, wonder if you can find those black heart shades you've been wanting too.

“Whatcha got there princess?” The man's voice is smooth, cutting over the ambient music and chatter that you'd toned out. You hadn't noticed him approach, silent footsteps to near you and of course there wasn't a single reflective surface in sight.

But before you can scrunch up your pretty features an arm is presented to you, palm up. Body ghosting yours while he waits for you to take notice of his inky midnight bands on his forearm, three thick lines encircling thick muscle that flexes from his twitching midnight fingers.

“Akaza!” You purr and he adores the sound. Glad he's the one who can disarm you so quickly, “M not dressed to see you.”

Truly you weren't at least not for a…what should you call this? Not really fuck buddies as each meeting didn't always end in sex and there were too few dates between you to be dating. It was more like a situationalship if anything else. A situationalship you held with someone who you were pretty sure was muscle for a notorious mafia head, that his ranking was higher than just a goon. Much higher.

“Not dressed to see me?” There's a chuckle to his voice as he wraps his arm around your rib cage to pull you to him. His scent has a richness about it that always invades your senses. He smelled like fresh air, faint cigarette smoke and a cologne you can't quite pin point.

“Mmhmm I don't even have my lip on.” You pout hiding away your bare face when usually you'd see him with some strategically placed highlighter, mascara and at least lip gloss. Normally in a skirt or dress that hid away some frilly lingerie set in case he decided to unwrap you that night.

Now you weren't sure your plain bra and underwear even matched.

Akaza thought you looked cute in a form fitting black tee with monster girls on the front, paired with skinny jeans that hugged your ass and thighs nicely and black flip flops that made your white toe nail polish pop.

To him you looked sexy.

His fingers gently tilt your chin to look up at him and he's met with the cutest pout he's ever seen. True to your word your long fluttering lashes were bare, your top lip naked with not one single swipe of black lip stain while your bottom was your natural color either on its own or enhanced with gloss or a nude lipstick. Under the afternoon sun and fluorescent lights he can even make out your freckles.

“As beautiful as the day I first laid eyes on ya.” He leans in and kisses your lips, smiling as he does so his natural fangs can catch on your pout. His heart races when you giggle into the exchange.

“Flattery will get you nowhere Mr. Akaza.” You tease, looking into his icy blue eyes fighting off a sigh.

Flattery got him pretty far with you already.

“Hmm.” He hums, grabbing for the only thing in your cart, dark digits wrapping around the light pink handles but your clawed fingers pull it back into the cart. He lets go of the bag, puts the matching brown duffle in your cart too, you look up at him and replace the light creamy brown back onto the shelf. When you go to add the pink one back as well he puts it deeper into the cart and gives the handle a nudge so that you'll keep shopping. Reluctantly and with a sharp cutting glare, you start walking again and he follows.

“Shopping with your friends?” He looks around for a few of the guys he knows dates your girlfriends, doesn't see a single one. No lanky dark haired mop, no sunshine boy, and no scar face either.

“Hmm? No.” You wrap around to the next aisle, futally looking for that duffle in black, before you purse your lips in agitation, moving onto the next aisle that was now lined with hand bags and purses. Maybe a new one would take your mind off of the licorice duffle. It doesn't.

“By yourself then princess?” He watches you eye a mini tote, it's the same brand as the duffle and much larger tote on your pretty body now. You don't pick it up despite it being a dusty pink. Akaza reaches over you and nestles it into the cart, smiling down at you as he does.

“Yes. All by my lonesome.” You sigh dramatically before giggling, “Everyone is busy or out of town. I'll probably have dinner somewhere nice too.”

“By yourself?” He can't keep the growl out of his voice and you dangerously give him your back, looking at another bag.

“Most likely.” You leave it and when he tries to add it to the cart your flaring glower makes his lips pull up into a smirk.

“Lemme join ya for the day then, Princess.”

“No, ‘m fine.”

“I insist, don't like ya wandering around alone. Who knows who might find ya and try to bother you.” He teases, leaning in from behind to press a kiss to your throat, “I'll buy whatever ya want baby.”

“M a big girl. I can pay for my own things. Besides, how did you find me, Akaza?” You've gotta stop saying his name like that, he's gonna keep you forever if you don't. It doesn't help you turn to face him, stalking closer like a cat with easy prey. Until your chest is pressed to his and you're leaning up on tiptoes even in those platform flip flops to purr into his ear.

“So what's it on? Did you sew it into my purse? Is it underneath my car? Or did you download it onto my phone after you made sure to smear my pretty lipstick onto your sheets?”

You pull away before he can answer, innocent smile on your face as you blink up at him cutely, whine to your pretty voice, “But we'll be shopping all day, Kaza and I like to take my time!”

It takes him a moment to collect himself from the whiplash you give him. A smile slowly pulling up his lips as his tattooed fingers brush hair behind your ear.

“That's okay princess. I love taking my time with you, remember?” Letting his thumb come down to press gently on your throat before he lets go altogether, “But if you agree to me coming along just know that every outfit, every bag, every little thing ya look at a little too closely is gonna be in that cart and stay in that cart until we're ready to swipe my card.”

“Your card?” You curl your fingers through the loops of his black jeans, let your thumbs slide under his form fitting black wife beater that clings to his toned abdomen as you trace the hidden bands at his waist.

“My card princess. M not gonna argue about it.”

“Kay!” You lean up and kiss him between the thick twin bands on his throat, turning back and grabbing the cart to push along as you think of where that black bag could be. Maybe a sister store had it or maybe you should try online again.

Meanwhile Akaza smirks behind you as you allow him to be your scary guard dog, at least for the evening. And without a single effort to insist or remind him of your hyper independence he knows you have. He likes it, loves that you give into him even if it is just a little.

That you trust him to take care of you.

The afternoon moves along nicely. Akaza is always a man of his word, pulling out his card at the counter no matter how steep the price. He carries your bags to your car between each trip to every store while he holds your hand with his other until the final trip where he has you leaning against the drivers side door as the two of you agree on where to eat for dinner.

He leans down to kiss you, usually his parting is tender and yet intense leaving you giddy and dizzy until your next meeting but this time it is different. This time he cups your jaw and lets it move to your throat as his tongue slides into your mouth to lick the inside of your teeth, groaning as he does as if he's trying to taste all of you like it could be his last time. Starving that pretty head of yours of oxygen between his own searing kiss and the way he squeezes your throat before he finally lets go. Icy blue gaze boring into yours as he watches hearts form in your eyes before he presses his lips to your ear for a confession.

“I installed it on your phone.”

His mind flashes images of the exact moment his possession grew unstable, uncontrollable. Of you beneath him, fucked out and mewling his name, tenderly holding his hand while the other clawed his shoulders to shreds. Of you in his shower, giggling as you clung to him before he could fully step in, wetting his body with your suds before helping him wash. Of you lying next to him, giving such a cute smile before you reached out to caress his cheek with such a heavy sigh.

“Because the idea of any man seeing you the way I do makes me violent.”

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Do you sell versions of your embroidery designs? I'm obsessed with your Solas patterns and would love to try them!

Hello!

So, short answer is yes, while the first digital mockups I made were designed just for my own reference and as color guides for transferring the designs painstakingly by hand, I ended up going back to them and turning them all into digital vectors. This means they can be printed onto transfer paper or directly onto stabilized fabric for stitching, which is MUCH easier than drawing by hand. Lots of people asked me if I could sell the designs so I figured this part out and was able to test it myself--the tower embroidery was an example of printing the vector directly onto the fabric and worked out great!

(above: tedious hand-drawing process for the Hierophant design, vs my failed attempt at transfer pencils that did not work at all for the Tower, vs printing directly onto fabric which did work in the end)

Long answer is after I did that, I uh, never figured out how or where to list them for sale online. Or what all to include with them--like what level of written instruction to include, should i also make notes on the thread colors I picked, should I include my colored-in-versions as color guides or just let everyone free-for-all it, in the case of the Tower embroidery i also hand-dyed a lot of grey thread that was crucial for it coming out how i wanted it to look--is it deceptive to sell a pattern when other people can't necessarily recreate it the same way because of that? Should I list in general the dye instructions if they wanna recreate it, or for people who want some of my extra thread or for people who don't have an inkjet printer so can't print the design onto the fabric themselves, should i think about selling full "embroidery kits" that include the printed pattern sized for a display hoop and the thread needed? etc etc etc

(above: photo of the color guide I made myself with tentative thread color selections (warning NOT the ones I actually ended up using), photo of my pile of threads I picked from, and photo of some of the threads I ended up dying myself to get closer to the design I wanted)

Anyway that was all a lot of thinking and work to do, so i put it off!!! and uh here we are 2 years later and I have still not posted them anywhere. I really gotta get around to all that still...

But in the meanwhile, if anyone reading would like a pattern, just let me know directly what you're looking for and I can save the versions of the files as needed for your plans and send them over. like for a digital only version (so no threads or me printing for you) i would probably make a zip file with a transparent png of the design (so you can put it in a word doc to print at whatever size you desire), as well as a pdf with a few copies of it already pre-sized for a display hoop for ease of printing or transfer, the colored-in version i used based on the tarot cards, photos of my finished versions, etc (note to self i must remember to include the design both normal for direct printing and horizontally flipped for anyone who plans to use transfer paper for it since those are mirrored...). Oh and a quick explanation of how i managed to get my fabric through a standard printer if you wanna try that.

But yeah i'm happy to work out something with kofi or paypal or venmo and sell the digital ones for like $20 each or something for now, if you don't mind not having written step-by-step instructions accompanying the patterns and example photos. Or if anyone has suggestions on where to host them for sale, for someone not interested in maintaining a dedicated storefront like etsy or storenvy long term. Maybe Gumroad? If i stuck to digital-only sales something like that might work. I'm open to input for sure. If you want something more than digital like a pre-printed fabric (since it's kind of weird to do yourself), I'm still open to trying, it just would be a little more $ to account for the fabric/stabilizer and cost of shipping, and probably take me a few more days to do.

(above: example of finished DA themed embroideries)

But regardless, thank you for your interest at all!! I'm so glad people have enjoyed my embroidery series :) While I'd love to make lots of copies to sell to whoever wants one, I simply don't have the time, and they are SO labor intensive to make it really is like 80-90% of the cost is manhours. I spend anywhere from 5-15 hours making the patterns and vectors, but the stitching and rest of it itself is easily the bulk at 40-100 hours depending on complexity and number of threads used. So WAY more feasible to sell the patterns than make more to sell myself, and then anyone willing to put in the time can have one too :)

[avatarrecom]

Cutesie little things they do for you

Pairing: Poly!recoms x Recom!reader

Word count: 875

A/N: Just a little something something for @raving-raven-writing's birthday, so here's my (belated) birthday gift to you! I hope you have a lovely birthday next year and I can't wait for your next awesome writings!

🌍 Recom Miles Quaritch If your shoelaces are loose or undone, he��ll tie them for you. That’s it, that’s the headcanon.

No but seriously, imagine this man crouching down in front of you, putting your foot on his thigh and tying your shoelaces. Or even better, after a long day, he’ll take off your shoes and massage the painful spots 😫🤤

😈 Recom Lyle Wainfleet He hates it when you’re sad. So if he sees your sad face, he’ll do one of two things. 1: he’ll make the corniest, most horrible jokes to make you laugh. Or 2 (this is his standard go to when you’re crying): he’ll cup your face between his hands and starts kissing your face everywhere. Not a single spot goes unkissed. And he’ll continue kissing your face until you’re laughing, even if it takes all day.

🍬 Recom Z-dog Z-dog has asked you many times to design/draw tattoos for her. Even if you have the artskill of a 3 year old who’s been left alone with several markers and a giant white wall, she’ll get them tattooed. If you have several tattoos, she’ll design one for you too. If you don’t like tattoos because of the needles, she’ll still design one and print (?) them out as those temporary ones. It's her way to make sure that you carry a piece of her with you (and to claim you as hers, but she's not gonna tell you that).

🥽 Recom Walker I headcanon that human Walker was (and still is in her heart) a woman of color. She used to help her mama with braiding at her mama’s shop and knows how to do all kinds of braids. So when she’s bored, she tells you to sit in front of her and she’ll braid the most complicated things in your hair. She has special products to use and everything she might need. You’re her only victim (muse) because you’re the only one with long hair, since she can’t really do anything with Z-dogs short mohawk (she tried, Z-dog looked ridiculous and she made Walker swear to never tell anyone, but Walker has pictures to blackmail Z-dog when needed).

😎 Recom Mansk Mansk always has a spare pair of sunglasses with him. If he sees you squint in the sunlight (Idk if Na’vi eyes work the same as human eyes, but just pretend they do), he’ll magically appear behind you and puts his spare sunglasses on your nose. If they are too big for you, he’ll order and carry a pair of the exact same ones that he has in your size.

🧯 Recom Prager We all know that dying as a human and waking up as a Na’vi is difficult. The memories of your past life, the life that you can never return to, sometimes give you nightmares. When Prager sees that you’re having a nightmare, he’ll run his finger over the bridge of your nose, careful to not wake you up. It’s really soothing and often calms you down. When you’re awake the next day, he’ll be expecting a kiss as a thank you tho.

⚕️ Recom Ja Ja always carries snacks for you (for the others too, but only if they really need it). You can just reach into one of his pockets for a snack anytime you want. He carries all your favorites, if one of the other Recoms is close to fainting and they need something to eat, they get what they get. If they don’t like it, too bad.

🧢 Recom Brown He celebrates everything in your relationship. He celebrates the first time you two met, the first time you two talked, the first time you two kissed, the first time you two hugged, literally everything. He even knows how long you’ve been together to the second. And he has gifts for every celebration. Those gifts are like the little things.

Imagine that there is a mall/store(s) on Pandora (accessible for recoms/Na’vi as well). If he sees you look at something, he’ll secretly buy it for you as a gift for those celebrations. Also, he’s definitely the type to do those trends where the guy buys everything his s/o has in her online shopping cart/wish list.

📿 Recom Lopez I’m pretty sure that we all headcanon that Lopez carries extra medical supplies for Ja. So I think that he carries extra mags and whatever you might need when you’re on a mission. You forgot something? Don’t worry, he knows how you sometimes forget things. You have run out of something? Don’t worry, Lopez has some extra because he knows that you can’t live without it. Sometimes he’ll prank you with it too. Imagine you’re looking for something. You’ve looked in every single one of your pockets, both of your clothes and of your vest, your pack, literally everything. So now you’re just going through everyones stuff. Suddenly Lopez has the exact thing in his hands. He swears it was in your vest the whole time, but you’re 100% sure it wasn't.

⛓️ Recom Fike So we all know that I headcanon that Fike is an anxious boy. When he’s stressed or when you’re stressed (and the situation allows it) he’ll hold your pinkie with his own. It’s not a huge gesture or something sappy (except it totally is), just a reminder that he’s there and that you’re not alone.

[b-blushes]

did i ever talk about the a4 planner notebooks i designed and had made on here? 👀 (they all have blank covers which i decorate with stickers each month)

blank inside cover (this is my may/june planner which i started decorating yesterday, so there's a thank you note from my raahatillustration order in there), all the printed pages are printed on square paper! next page is a 2024 and 2025 calendar (minimum print quantity was 10 books, so i designed each book to cover 2 months and had 12 printed, for 2 years supply!), followed by a blank grid for future log of the 2 months that come after the ones in the current notebook).

page for trackers! i use the left hand page to write the things i'm tracking (sideways in the top box, so a column of boxes is assigned to each activity/task), then colour in the boxes corresponding to the date and each activity/thing each day. also doubles as a migraine log (colour in the box containing the date when i have a migraine), and the blank column is so i can colour in a mood tracker. the right hand page is for making a record of what i'm reading and watching (genre, start date, end date, title and author if applicable). lots of extra space for decorating or notes if i want to.

monthly page! (2 per book). the left is for a monthly overview that is heavily decorated/all the things i'm doing are written in (no completed version to show bc i have too much personal info in my completed ones to redact. sad bc they turn out very cute!!!). the space underneath that is where i stick in a copy of the playlist i'm listening to that month/any decorations i want to add. the boxes at the bottom have 31 spaces, so on the left of that i write down 4 physical therapy things i track to fill in each day. on the right hand page is where i write a little brief list of things that will be nice the following day, then the grids at the bottom are for me to shade in 'the degree to which i went outside', and a 'big picture' idea of the weather.

weekly spread! (10 per book). how i keep on top of the day! for vertical planning, with a running list-ish style chores log on the top left corner, and a blank setup on the top left corner of the right page for things i want to achieve across the week but that i can't assign to a specific day yet (or take place over multiple days). lots of room for me to stick in photos, a column for notes, and a gap at the base of the page for me to track other things. i colour code each month so it's easier for me to keep track of where i am in time, so a strip of washi tape goes along the bottom 3 rows of squares, and then above that i'm left with 3 more rows of squares - in the 'notes' column i pick 3 things to track, and then draw a line across the column for each day of the week when i do that activity/task in the corresponding row. for example:

weekly horizontal spread (10 per book). this is for my daily reflections, i write down things like my step count for keeping track of health stuff/energy expenditure, when i got up/any time i had to lay down, a bullet point summary of all the activities i did that day, times i made a decision that was, like, good for me, things like that!

blank squared pages (7 per book) and inside back cover for miscellaneous uses. i've used them for far for garden planning diagrams and collages, sticking in notes and ephemera, and collecting odds and ends of stationery. i usually stick an envelope that i've made inside the back cover so i can stuff a bunch of papers in there as i accumulate them (receipts, tags from clothes, order delivery notes, etc), for example:

tada! really happy with how these turned out, very good investment of the money i would have put into buying a hobonichi each year for example, which is simply too small for my needs!

[bunni-lime-boutique]

Hiiii

Your work is soooo coolllllll!!!

If I may ask, what was your process in making the MM pants?

-XO

Hiii! Thank you so much!! And Great Question! I didn't take too many pictures of every single part of the process so this is going to be mostly words if that's ok 😅

but here's

How I Made The Mutant Mayhem Pants

First We Need Our Materials:

An Idea or A Drawing Of Your Design

A nice pair of pants ( The wider the pants leg the more space for your design! So I personally prefer to not use skinny jeans but at the end of the day it's up to you! :D )

Eyelets

Heat Transfer Paper

Something Non permanent to mark your pants ( I used heat erasable fabric pens )

Scissors

Parchment Paper

Clothing Iron

Shoelaces ( or whatever you want to connect the pants like chains or ribbon or safety pins etc. )

Step 1: Design

I use the app Procreate on my iPad to design all my projects! I just take a picture of the piece of clothing whether it's shoes or clothes and edit/draw my design on top of it until I'm happy with it! ( which usually takes a really long time 🤣 these took me 14+ hours to design )

Also here's a secret tip I used for this project: I put a denim overlay over the gray parts of the design before printing it so that when I printed it on the pants it blended in perfectly with the denim jeans! You can't even tell it was printed on, it looks like it was always there!!

Step 2: Cutting the Pants!

Use the Non-Permanent Pen where you want the opening of the pants to be. ( if you're making them for yourself then you can always double check by trying them on before cutting them just to make sure that they're being cut in the right place! ☝️🏽 )

Then once the markings are good, cut the pants!

Step 3: Eyelets!

Once I had the pants cut, I marked where I wanted the eyelets to go with my non permanent pen. Then I added them in one by one! If you've never worked with eyelets before it's not that hard. You can find a bunch of tutorials on Youtube! That's what I did lol! There's NO SHAME in being a beginner! :D ( Also beginner tip: practice putting the eyelets in the scrap pieces of pants that you just cut off )

Step 4: Printing and Cutting out the design

Get your heat transfer paper and print whatever your design is with a printer! If you have a big design like mine I had to use 2 pieces of heat transfer paper for each turtle!

Then after I took this picture I cut them out! Then I sat them on the jeans again for a couple of minutes just to make sure that they were perfect and I didn't need to re-print them! ( also to make sure I liked the order they were in. I put my favorite 2 ninja turtles at the top so that if I wanted to remove the shoelaces and wear these pants as shorts I would only be left with my favorites...so sorry leo and raph 😅)

Step 5: Ironing Them On

Place the design where you want it, cover it with parchment paper, and then iron it on the highest setting with no steam! THE NO STEAM IS VERY IMPORTANT, PLZ DON'T FORGET TO DUMP THE WATER OUT OF THE IRON BEFOREHAND ☝️🏽

Step 6: Shoelaces

Put the Shoelaces ( or whatever you used to keep em together! :D ) inside the eyelets. Then I just tied them like I would tie a shoe but it doesn't really matter how you tie them as long as they're secure!

Step 7: Cry and Marvel at your astounding work

And there you have it!

That how I made the Mutant Mayhem pants!!

Next time I do a project like these I'll take more pictures of every step, but until then I hope this was helpful!!

If ya ever make these or use this tutorial for anything plzzz tag me! I wanna see what ya make!! :DDD

And if there was any part of this tutorial you want me to elaborate on OR you know/found a better way to do some of the steps then please let me know!!! :D

[shapelytimber]

A Taste of Faith

[PRINT] - [COMMISSIONS]

Ok so the concept for this piece was : historical gay nuns, and 70s lesbian vampire movies meets tes (don't ask me why- I just had a vision at 3 am)

Because I think Serana should have been meaner<3 I love women's wrongs and when vampires do the suck <3

Btw of you want to see more gay Serana art, go check out @gay-of-waterdeep, their art is wonderful, and I can't say this was not a bit inspired by what they do :))

Process (and me rambling about some of my favorite 70s lesbian vampire movies (because I have a problem)) below vvv

Additional details about this drawing ! 1) I used the same Mara design than the one from my tarot deck :)) and 2) the other woman is one of the priestess in the temple in Riften lglggigkglgl her name is *check wiki* Dinya Balu

And now......... Some movies I enjoy because my house my rules, you came this far so why not hear about niche european movies :))))))

Disclaimer for a majority of the films in this genre : the male gaze is very fucking obvious in these movies... they were made by men for men, and the message is often "lesbianism is a dangerous temptation for women". It's a glairing flaw nearly all of them share and that sucks (and frankly it's a flaw Serana's writting kinda has in my opinion, minus the lesbianism part, but let's not dwell on that)- so if you can't get past it, it's completly understandable, be on your way and have a nice day <3

- Daughters of Darkness ! A toxic man is returning to london with his newly wed wife, but they get stuck in Belgium and are forced to stay in a luxurious hotel. Don't worry about the 10/10 smokeshow countess seducing his wife :). Completely unrelated, this movie has, in my opinion, the most beautiful lesbian kiss I've ever seen- but I might not be very objective because Delphine Seyrig is there lglglflflllglm The best one in the list ! So if you want to whatch one, whatch this one <3

- The blood spattered bride ! This is more of... an aquired taste let's say- but I really like it ! A quite effective horror movie, with goofy ass scenes (shoutout to the vampire lady buried in the sand naked with only a diving mask that is not the screenshot because tits), and emasculation being a recuring theme <3 (but if you want to watch it, please check the content warnings beforehand, it has a lot of very shocking and frontal scenes, and it's the 70s so it's not done very tactfully. Also pretty intense flashing lights)

- The vampire lovers ! Ok so this one is a lot less fun compared to the other two because it's made by the Hammer BUT... 1) Ingrid Pitt hello and 2) it's such a intriging thing to see a very christian/conservative studio make a film like that. I know a lot of people don't like the Hammer movies from the 70s, because the studio had a lot less money, and were making wild decisions. But I love them, because they tend to be much more fun bloody and sexy ! I'm a simple woman mjllkklhkhlhlho case in point with the vampire lovers (although if you want a fun vampire hammer movie from the 70s, Dracula ad 1972 is way better). And Peter Cushing is there (i love this man so much-) !

And now I shall resume my quest to find Vampire Lesbos by Jésus Franco and have a probably mid experience watching it xoxo

[astronicht]

☕️ book bindings!

for the spill some tea meme! (a million years ago but what's time. let's consider the tea meme a rolling thing.)

Very Honorable Mention: Ge'ez manuscripts from Ethiopia and Eritrea tend to be bound with leather over boards of heavy wood, and you MUST respect this because, added to the fact that they're written on vellum, the weight is astronomical. Also the smaller ones often come with their own bespoke satchel.

Christies (x)

3rd place: Mostly-intact Renaissance red velvet bindings. Textiles freak me out because they're so delicate and I'm not used to things I can actually destroy, but they're so COOL. And often balding, lmao. Some have little appliqued designs on them. Annoyingly, I can't find good examples. Here are a few, but really I'm thinking a lot less Tudor, a lot more Italian monasteries with good funds, stitching their logos onto their nice textile book covers. The Met has a blog post on Renaissance velvet.

Cambridge, St John's College (x), British Library (x)

Amusingly these are allegedly bound for queens Elizabeth and Mary, respectively.

2nd place (should be first):

Bonhams (x) The Met (x) Sothebys (x) Free Library of Philadelphia (x) Museum of Fine Arts Houston, on loan from the Hossein Afshar Collection (x)

There is almost nothing like the 19th century Iranian (Qajar Persian) bindings. They're entirely hand-painted, often on fields of gold, and then heavily lacquered. Photos really annoyingly make them look a little floral wallpaper?? They are not. Even the way they clack against each other or when tapped is delicious. They glitter, they draw you in, almost physically. In general, Persian/Iranian manuscripts are some of the most beautiful books to exist on this good earth. I only say some because I haven't seen all books in history yet.

1st place: I'm a basic bitch, and I like limp vellum soooo much. Does it warp, yes. Does it totally show all dirt and smudging ok yyyyes. But damn it lasts and uh. Okay not many benefits and there's no real way this should rank first. But here we are. Stupid euro bias. It's so blank and there's so much book inside:

Ovid's Metamorphosis, Sothebys (x)

She is so sexy 2 me

BONUS: sexy limp vellum #2!! by wild and beautiful coincidence, @ehyde did a beautiful ficbinding/fanbinding of a fanfic by yours truly in vellum, specifically in imitation of the earliest 16th century Venetian limp vellum bindings that sort of ended up defining how printed books would look. As you can imagine, I took this very calmly and I continue to be so chill about it. It's on my bookshelf in pride of place. I am looking at it right now.

FULL POST BY OP HERE

[ryuichirou]

Replies

More replies! The first one is related to our reply from yesterday, and then a couple of other twst-related ones (about Trey, about Grim, etc).

Anonymous asked:

How about Sebek and the Tweel’s reaction to the accursed dakimakura? Speaking of which, have you ever thought of making one? If you could, who would it be of?

First of all, “accursed” sounds like the word Sebek would use to describe it. The accursed dakimakura would make him super uncomfortable… why would one own a pillow of that size, especially with some lecherous woman printed on it? (SO FUCKING RUDE, Idia’s waifu isn’t lecherous, she is actually pretty cute looking and pure!) Anyways, sometimes Sebek looks at it, then gets grumpy and looks away. He would be a bit jealous until Idia says something about the possibility of creating a daki of Malleus, and then Sebek’s head will stop computing. He is also someone who is the most likely to fall asleep hugging it… Idia doesn’t want Sebek to hug his waifu, especially after he disrespected her like that, but he looks like Sebek’s going to wake up and bite him if he tries to steal it from him.

The Tweels would like it and find it kind of funny, but in different ways. Jade would hint at Idia having interesting hobbies without outright saying it, but he would also treat the pillow like a lady. He would move it very carefully, maybe even apologise to it once. It amuses him to be such a gentleman to an object, it’s like he is trolling Idia for having a body pillow as a companion to sleep with. Idia doesn’t consider it “a companion”, but somehow still feels embarrassed about it…

One time Jade would find a picture of someone tying up a daki pillow shibari-style and “accidentally” send it to Idia. Just to see how he would react.

Now, Floyd. You know like some guys sometimes grab plushies and punch them in their plushy solar plexus? This is what Floyd does. He grabs this poor pillow and punches it for no reason other than it being soft and punchable. But then he would squeeze it and hug it tightly, cuddling with it and maybe even pushing his entire face against it. But then he would fold it in half and sit on top of it. But then he’ll nib on it gently. But then he’ll yeet it somewhere. But then he’ll caress its printed face and stare into her anime bug eyes for 30 minutes. And Idia can’t do anything about it, just wait until Floyd loses interest :( Idia’s poor girly…

Sorry, I got carried away lol But yeah, I have drawn pictures for dakis before! But all of those are private commissions, so I never posted any of them. I like drawing it though; it’s a lot of fun! Would you like to own a daki drawn by me?.. I don’t know why I haven’t thought about it all that much before.

The only one I actively thought about drawing is actually Edmund, the main boy from the Nebula College. I’ll definitely draw it one day. But if I had to pick someone from twst, then actually Lilia! He would be so cute on one side and so sultry on the other side lol

Anonymous asked:

Have you guys thought of human Grim design? 

Not really, but I’m not opposed to the idea. I don’t draw Grim enough in general lol even though we like him.

I can’t quite imagine him as a human yet, but he’s probably still going to be short and gremlin-like… maybe it’s better for him to stay fluffy.

Anonymous asked:

Hiya. I'd like y'all's opinion on something.

So, I've had this headcannon for a while about a yan Trey. (or just a normal Trey, I guess)

Where basically he likes to brush someone else's teeth for them cause "they obviously can't do it properly themselves."

And I was looking through y'all's ship list and saw Trey/Idia and thought that fit really well.

And I just started imagining Trey brushing Idia's teeth for him, like gripping his face and just brushing away.

And I was wondering what y'all thought of that.

Yeah, Anon, this is pretty much regular Trey behaviour lol

Trey’s interest in Idia’s teeth is one of the reasons this ship could be so fun and hot, one of the drawings of them that I did was teeth-related… even though Trey isn’t brushing anything here, just touching and scaring the shit out of poor Idia… But still, I feel like drawing Trey brushing Idia’s teeth is somewhat inevitable. Hopefully. I really want to do it. Trey Clover isn’t alright.

We do have an ask about yandere!Trey hcs, and I didn’t have time to write anything for it yet, but whenever I think about it I think about pretty much what you described, so uhh it’s definitely going to be there…

Anonymous asked:

Me waiting on the whole school to have on big ol gang bang🧍

Stay tuned for Twisted Wonderland Book 8! 🥰

[chipper-smol]

2 for the artist asks! :>

2. 5 favourites of your own work?

ough this one is going to make me go digging so give me a second.

My dragon AU design for Hornet. I just love it so much that i'm probably going to re-use this eventually for an original project if it'll fit in it.

My married husband ocs, Trotter and Cygnus, lovin' on eachother. (Cygnus is a black hole and he's floating. Trotter has no concept of personal space)

I need to draw them more. Little Chip made them in highschool and was so valid.

This was for my hollow knight space AU I had with Paya. We had a FUCK TON of good ideas adapting the lore to a futuristic setting. I just didnt have enough energy to flesh them out in art.

But space Quirrel genuinely makes me happy every time I see him. It's just a very good design.

this one i made in a feverish state of hyperfixation in under 5 hours

i have no idea where my mind went, but when I came back this was on my screen

This one was just really fun to do and came out really well. The designs are satisfying, the posing is engaging and dynamic, and it encapsulates both universes equally.

my aroace girls :3c

This was originally gonna be posted like my usual comics (frame by frame) but the page composition turned out REALLY NICE and honestly makes me want to do comic pages more frequently

also im surpremely proud of Macaque's face and the bottle

look

the legs, the hesitant hand, macaque's ears over wukong's heart, the grass, the tree leaves shading, the grass, the colors-

im just really really really really happy with this one and might end up making it my first print (along with another piece im proud of but can't post yet)

There's 7 pictures here BUT THERE WERE SO MANY I PASSED BY

[vitiligo-is-not-a-trend]

Hello!! How are you? I’m a writer and I’d like to incorporate someone with vitiligo into my story, however, I don't know much, which is kind of a problem seeing as I want to be sensitive to the community. Would you be so kind as to tell me some things you do/don't want to see in characters that have vitiligo? Thank you so much!

Hi! Im good thanks for asking, hope you're also doing well!

That's a wonderful question! Before I start I'm just gonna say these are my views on the subject so if anyone else with vitiligo wants to chime in please do so! I'm probably gonna miss a few things!

Let's start with the donts first, and I very much appreciate the fact that you also asked for dos!

I think one of the more a major issues I see around vitiligo have to do with the way in which it's designed. I've made a few posts about it in the past with more details, I think theyre tagged under "character design( tips)". So doing things like making repeated shape patterns like hearts or animal prints or like skulls or whatever is Not Great. This includes making humanized versions of animals. Like recently for the new Puss in Boots movie a lot of people were drawing Kitty Softpaws as a human with vitiligo, and that just...does not feel great lmao. I am aware that things like that don't come from malice but it feels like being compared to an animal in a way.

Another issue I've seen is when it comes to how the character developed vitiligo it happened due to some curse or magic or (demonic) possession something along those lines. This is also a very bad idea, seeing as it's basically demonizing the condition.

Vitiligo is also complicated when it comes to its genetic. There are working theories/plausible explanations for how it occurs but there are a lot of varying factors. However, it is NOT passed down genetically (to an extent) so having a child does NOT mean that you're character's child will also have the condition. It is also not something you get get at birth/in the womb.

Don't change the coloration of it! Vitiligo is DEFINED as a lack of pigmentation, not a change in it, so you can't have characters walking around with pink and patches. You could make an argument with yellow if its for legos I guess but unless you're drawing every white person lego as that neon yellow I'd avoid it still.

Don't only give it your characters of color!! Especially if you only have a few! I feel like this is something I see frequently unfortunately, but having a character with vitiligo or albinism or pibaldism or whatever doesnt make a character less or more of one race or another. I saw a post where someone said it's "curing POC" so....yeah big yikes. I know because it's not as visible on white people some people dont think they can have it, and it doesnt get used frequently in examples which doesnt really help so yeah.

Also try not to make them a villian especially if theyre the only character with vitiligo

As for the Dos:

I'd love to see a character embrace this aspect of themselves. I know a lot of people and for a very long time myself include feel a sense of shame about it. It took me years to get to a point where I feel comfortable let alone happy about having it.

I'd love to see another character comment on it with a compliment, and have the majority of other characters reacting positively and/or neutrally towards its.

However this is technically a disability and there are people out there that do make fun of people for having it so maybe lightly touching on that would also be a good idea. if you don't feel comfortable out-right writing a scene like that, mentioning things in passing like "oh yeah I got bullied for it when I was younger" or "I actually used to cover it up with clothes and makeup" are good ideas.

Having your character also be aware of things like the time and UV index and whether or not they have sunscreen on is also important. Vitiligo is essentially the lack of melanin, which means that there's no real natural defense against sun exposure at play so being sensitive/aware of these things is a good idea especially if they're fairly new to the condition.

Maybe there's another character that also has vitiligo present in at least some aspect. Whether its just some person that your character looks up to and doesn't know personally, but knowing that they have it makes them feel better about themselves. For me this was Michael Jackson!

This is technically kind of a dont but vitiligo spots are very different depending on the variation that a person has! Spots seem to have a relatively slow progression and, as I mentioned, depending on variation, might not progress at all past certain areas. So if the character has a more progressing variation like Universal or Segmental maybe another character can note that a patch or few have gotten larger since they've last saw them especially if its been awhile and not like last moth.

That's all I can really think of as of now, but I'll reblog this if I think of anything else to add!

[layingeggs]

Uh oh Dragon Ball negativity I'm going to be negative about Dragon Ball.

It's crazy how, as Akira Toriyama's health and ability to draw declined in his life, the artists who admired him most and followed in his footsteps, never bother learning to emulate his earlier stronger work and are content only to emulate his later weaker work instead.

You look at Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball Daima. Like, yeh, Toriyama can't draw anymore. And a lot of these new characters, have a lot more shortcuts taken in their character design and are a lot more friendly to draw for an old person with arthritis and memory problems who has to look it up on the wiki to remember exactly what the character looks like.

And like, I sympathise for Toriyama. But he's not the lead artist for Dragon Ball anymore? He hasn't been for a long time?

Dragon Ball Super was, I think, actually made by the guy who made the old infamous Dragon Ball doujins where Goku went Super Saiyan 7 and had long white hair and was cast in godly energy?

Someone who's been drawing Dragon Ball for that long, and has had that long to percolate story concepts, is now in charge of the show, and has no desire to bring the art direction back to the standard of quality of old school Dragon Ball, is simply happy forever to make something that feels like a cheap but fun doujin.

It's just sad isn't it?

And I especially think of this any time I see Bulma.

Bulma is a huge character for this. Every time I see DBS or DBD Bulma, I'm always thinking, wow! She used to be so pretty! What happened to her?

And every time I see Dragon Ball Bulma, or early DBZ Bulma, I think, wow! She's so pretty! I'm actually surprised that Toriyama used to be able to draw pretty girls in a way that you'd expect to see in shoujo manga!

I mean, let's be honest. Dragon Ball is pretty misogynistic. I love Dragon Ball, but it's hugely misogynistic.

But Toriyama clearly studied the contemporary art trends for how to depict a cute girl in a stylish feminine way. He must have been reading shoujo manga. I would be shocked if he wasn't. Or at least doing what the shoujo artists were doing, watching loads of Chinese films and basing his manga girls off of beautiful Chinese celebrities and actresses.

And it's not just Bulma, you can't just say oh well it's because Bulma's old now in the fiction. Because even the young girl characters just don't look as pretty anymore. And the flashbacks to young Bulma, she just looks very plain and stocky, but actual DB and early DBZ Bulma has a softness to her that's very appealing.

And it was the whole art style. It wasn't just Bulma. Goku also had a softness to him that was very appealing.

And it's crazy to me, that someone could grow up loving Dragon Ball, growing up loving Toriyama, get there foot into the industry through making Dragon Ball doujins, and all you ever draw is Goku powering up and going Super Saiyan?

You never once draw any of Toriyama's cute girls? :c

And that's before we even get into the decline of the background art. And the decline of the machinery art. And the decline of the fashion.

WHEN was the last time YOU SAW Goku wearing a hat or a jacket that had the words "SON GOKU" embroidered or printed on them?

I know that young Toriyama was a beast. I know that it's very rare for an artist to have all of the skills that Toriyama had. Even Toriyama himself didn't have those skills for very long!

But it's just so depressing that Dragon Ball Super was a labour of love, and all of the love went into making it canon that power levels don't matter anymore, instead of any of the actual important stuff.

I would really much rather Dragon Ball just be laid to rest.