#thinking of making it an end of the year tradition 2 post doodls...

[crescentfool]

some minato doodles from throughout the year! 💙

[mysticsparklewings]

Obscutober 2024 Day 19: Feuillemort 🍂

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Feuillemort (adj.)

the color of dead or dying leaves; a dull yellowish or orangish brown

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Finally, one of the words I was most looking forward to, & one of the most seasonally appropriate! 🍁

...If only I hadn’t been distracted by art supply news for most of the afternoon so I could’ve given it the attention it really deserved. 😅

Click the "Keep Reading" and we'll talk a bit more about my general thoughts/process. ✨

⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

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Okay, circling back to do this description properly now, after speed-running to go ahead and just get it posted without one. (😅)

That was even necessary for a few different reasons:

I got distracted by an announcement from a certain marker company this afternoon and that distraction ate up a lot more time than I wanted it to.

This isn't the first time I've had to post one of these later than I was really happy with this year—You Sparklers know that. But at a certain point, it became obvious I was going to come uncomfortably close to the late posting hours that have plagued me for Inktobers' past, and I started to mildly panic.

Point 2 was not helped by the fact that dinner was ready just about time I finished the art itself, but I knew if I stopped to eat, I'd be set back a whole additional hour, if not longer. So I put off dinner for as long as I reasonably could, and then still had to work through dinner with one hand because trying to Just Eat and Not Think about The Obscutober Post was making me panic more.

And it's a real shame because if you Sparklers remember from yesterday, this is one of the words on the list that I was really looking forward to—So much so that I almost accidentally did it early. 😅

Sparklers, if you learn nothing else from me, please at least take to heart: Life is much easier and less stressful when you have actual time management skills and use them!

Ironically though, and kind of in spite of not getting to give this one as much careful attention as I wanted to...I don't feel like I have too much to say about how it did come together in the end. 🤷‍♀️

At it's core, the mandala here was mostly just drawing leaves, after all. It did take me a few tries to nail the shape of the Maple and oak leaves, though that's largely because they look weird of you don't get the subtle roughness of their edges just right. [At least if you ask me.] But the rest of the leaf shapes mostly took figuring out in how to place them together, not so much in how to achieve them.

Much like Day 8, I felt like I kind of had a leg up here because of a project you Sparklers haven't seen yet but my Ko-fi Members have. [And hopefully you Sparklers will get to see it soon, too, I've just been too busy to squeeze it in yet!] Said project also involved drawing a lot of small leaves, so I had a bit of experience with simple leaf shapes up my sleeve. [Up my sleaf. 😃]

I was kind of worried I was going to/had maybe overhyped working with this word also like Day 8, but really my biggest problem was just the ticking clock.

The one other "major" problem I had was that after the past few mandalas have felt more doodle-y and less mandala-y to me, I wanted to insist on getting some more "proper" mandala elements in here. That was easier for the simpler leaves that served more as filler and more difficult for the more specifically-shaped leafs.

Getting the more traditional mandala elements in there was also kind of important to help keep this from looking like a giant mess of lines for the different leaf segments and such, which I didn't realize until I'd started on maybe the third different kind of leaf or so.

Speaking of late-stage realizations: Believe it or not, it only occurs to me now that this looks kind of like a fall wreath. 😆

But I managed to get through the line phase and still feel pretty good about it. My goal was to get a nice leaf-pile sort of thing going and despite my anxiety over how long it was taking, I think I got pretty much what I wanted out of it.

Next, of course, was the color. There was little argument to be had there because that's sort of what today's definition hinges entirely on.

I did however have a bit of a fight trying to get the right brightness and the contrast I wanted in some areas. While I did want to stick fairly close to the definition and limit how much red and green go in there, at least some of both felt necessary to stay true to the nature of dying leaves and I didn't want it to just be a flat yellow-y-brown blob, either.

I stand by the outcome I got, but I do think if I hand't been so pressed for time I could have arrived at a just-as-happy conclusion a lot easier. As it is, I spent most of the coloring phase just kind of smashing fall colors on top of each other; If I'd had more time, I would've selected my colors a little more carefully and wouldn't have had to layer some of them up so much to get the color I wanted. 🙃

And then when I thought I was finished, I had to go back twice to brighten it up because it just didn't look as vivid on screens that weren't my iPad and it bugged me.

...Sparklers, here I was typing a paragraph about how I originally misspelled "dying" as "doling" in the image definition and had to go back and fix it right before posting, only to realize I didn't even completely fix it. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

It'll be fixed by the time I update this description to actually be a description, and I'll fix it in the few other places I'm able, but I can't fix it everywhere so now a bunch of the cross-posts are just...stuck with "dyling" instead of "dying" up there. 🫠

*Sigh*. I knew that was going to happen eventually. It was just inevitable with a format that includes text, the same way it's pretty inevitable that every time I do a daily challenge with the mini-magnets, I make some kind of dumb spelling mistake I can't easily fix with those, either. At least this way is technically easier to fix the image itself and it's just the posts that are the problem; The magnets are often trickier to fix because I have to decide if I want try to literally fixing it with the magnets or just Photoshop it instead.

Still, I absolutely exhaust myself with these dumb oversights. 😫

Maybe that's a sign I should leave (ha) this description here before I knock all the remaining wind out of the sails I have left for this artwork. 🙃 I think I mentioned everything I wanted to about the making-of, before that realization happened. I think that's why I was even bothering to bring it up—To make sure I'd covered as much as I could.

Well. I suppose I would rather realize the mistake now than like, a week from now or sometime in the future when it would be way more ridiculous how long it took me to notice. This is still not great, but at least I know the main reason it happened was because I was just in such a rush from the coloring phase onward and that mistaken was collateral damage.

Remember that thing I said at the beginning? I think it bears repeating once more: If you learn nothing else from me, please at least take to heart: Life is much easier and less stressful when you have actual time management skills and use them!

Bleh. I think I should also say I do still like the art itself, The frustration I have towards myself is just very strong right now. I knew cross-posting went a little too smoothly once I got started tonight.

Sigh together with me for a moment, Sparklers: SIGH.

And now please send thoughts of better time management my way, because clearly I could use them as to hopefully not have another day like today. 😅 I'll see you Sparklers tomorrow, hopefully with a proper description the first time, everything spelled correctly, and in much better spirits than the mood I've just put myself in. 🫠

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See the Prompt List

Artwork © me, MysticSparklewings

Obscutober Concept Inspired by nikolas_tower

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⭐️ Like My Art and Want to see more of it? Here's All My Links! ⭐️

[tophattrio]

TOP HAT TRIO ARCHIVES: Part 1

Warden: Look at all this lovely art of us! We could fill a museum! Professor: There's so much it seems like we can't keep up... Once-ler: ..... Y'kno what guys? I'm gonna take a break...

((A small fraction of my old old old trio art, most of which has never seen the light of tumblr (under the cut)! None of this is colored. Some of this is pre-blog or just... REALLY early-era Trio art, so some of it is... dated. Also, as indicated by the top, this is part 1. Meaning there will probably be more, LOL...))

((I hope it's okay if I ramble some fun facts in the middle of this!))

We're gonna start off with this silly lil doodle of the lads! This was drawn during the era where I did my silly crossover drawings, before I mustered the courage to turn them into an askblog.

Based on the date, I must've drawn this next one while I was in the process of actually making the blog... potentially their original "profile" images? Or just a doodle I did to get me hyped...

As you can see, all the drawings so far are pencil and ink... that's because (if I remember correctly) this is when I was VERY new to computer tablets! I felt more confident in my traditional art so I would slap quick colors onto the back of a bunch of ink-drawn replies and make minor adjustments with the tablet. I remember being hesitant to switch to a fully digital style since I felt the sketchiness was almost part of the style of trio? But I've come to accept change is good! Everything post-Greed M!A is all (or mostly) digitally lined (with the occasional trad sketch), but if you look closely at the trio in this (and many other) early-day responses, you can definitely see the pencil marks!

Unposted Thneedville High Trio!!! I was SO obsessed with the Once-ler Askblog AU's back in the Once-ler Fandom's hayday... they were a lot of fun to observe on the side and I wanted to be part of that in my small way, but unfortunately, I was a coward so I never did LOL... I'm thinking this was drawn in February or March 2013...

And, something I drew on the same page, Truffula Flu Trio!!!! I think I briefly thought about making it (and thneedville high) a sideblog but I felt like I couldn't commit for multiple reasons: (1) AU hype was dying down a little, (2) It was a bit too serious a concept for Trio; I wanted to keep them lighthearted and silly (covers bad end with a hand). And (3) I was still doubting whether or not my blog counted as a Once-ler blog (being only 1/3 once-ler) and whether I was valid to participate in events. Eventually I got over that fear when I joined Camp Weehawken and participated in the fandom revival of 2015, but the fear was definitely there at the very beginning and I hesitated to jump in on some stuff because of it!!

These were some of my earliest (unanswered) asks! I think for a while I thought I accidentally deleted the Pinkie Pie one, but it mysteriously came back one day?? I don't plan to finish these but might as well get some closure since I already drew them. I had to look up which troll typing was the one being used here so I might be wrong, I know nothing about homestuck except chapter 1 and 2 and whatever I osmosis from my mutuals LOL...

Peacock was drawn before I knew anything about Skullgirls...... within the past few years I recently watched her gameplay/storyline! She's defs a fun character. Trio are probs neutral about her. I'm not confident enough to do anything major with her, but I would love to cameo her more!

I got a few asks / M!A's about genderbent versions of the trio back in early 2013 and these were my doodles for that. The designs were based off of different designs floating around tumblr at the time that I liked. I'm not interested in doing this M!A anymore, but the dresses are cute!

Some glasses shenanigans I never posted for some reason?? (For reference: (1) (2) (3) (4).) It's silly stuff like this that make me realize Trio!Professor is a little bit like "Cheerful Mystery" Professor but like... waaaaay more tame HAHA (I never read the manga back then because I was upset they made Layton OOC, but from what I've seen he's... a lot more chaotic there). Which, ykno, good chance explains why Trio!Professor stays sane around Once-ler and Warden and their wacky selves.

Some wardlers and layclaires!! Also a few super old things I doodled out for Lovestruck M!A part 2 (including warden being a perv and oncie being flustered and confused, LMAO) but... idk if I have the energy to commit to it at the moment... partially bc thinking about getting an influx of shippy-type asks gets me overwhelmed and idk if I can commit to another magic anon all my magic anons manage to kill the blog somehow 😭, but ykno... saving the anons in my inbox in case I change my mind... Love these guys dearly regardless,,, <3

Some doodles of Layton and his rivals!! I think someone sent a small "Descole takes over the blog" M!A (hence the itty bitty chibi head LMAOO) but (again) I don't have the energy to commit to anything but vanilla THT right now. I still thought the idea was fun enough to draw out and anticipate in advance! If I change my mind y'all will know about it...

My first drawing of Wilson from Don't Starve!! I didn't even play Don't Starve at the time, but I wanted to do research if I was going to properly execute the magic anon and I fell in love with him immediately. Unfortunately he (and his game) became my new brainrot and I still feel really bad about that LAUGHS, but hey! Was worth it! Maybe someday I'll redo trio mods for DST...

I may have him cameo again, but potentially after his character update in Don't Starve Together eventually drops, of course, :3 chants give us lore lore loRE LORE-

Aaaaaand that's all I'm gonna show for now... until next time everyone!

PART 1 (you are here!) || PART 2 (TBA) || PART 3 (TBA) || …

[o0o0thorn0o0o]

Mineko Old Art Dump, Cont.

Part 2 of 2 :

Now, time for info!

So, for starters: her name. As mentioned multiple times by now, her name is Asano Mineko, as in 峯子. Whereas Karma gets his kanji from their mother (my OC Kuniko) and Gakushuu gets his partially from their father, Mineko gets the remaining two from both. I was trying to see if there was a similar “updated” thing with Gakuhou’s second kanji (like how 学 is derived from 學), but that doesn’t seem to be the case from what I could find. So even though I don’t need to explain why they did that for Gakushuu and Mineko, I came up with one anyway: it’s a trade-off. Gakushuu keeps the reading over the exact kanji, and Mineko keeps the exact kanji over the reading (Mineko was always the plan, though; not fond of “Houko”, especially for her).

I also mentioned this before, but since I’m dumping quite a bit of info about her here, I’ll mention it once more: Mineko’s the middle child, with her birthday being January 1st, just like her younger brother. In these AUs, Karma could be born on the same day, or he could still be born on Christmas—both ways are possible, though I have a slighter preference for the former for some reason.

Before I get into her personality a little, lemme explain some of the drawings. Only some things. The rest will definitely be mentioned in a character sheet—or before: if I happen to draw it again before it gets done, I’ll probably talk about it at least a bit. Let’s go in order now, shall we?

So, um, height? Mineko’s tall, but idk, I feel like I made her too tall in that Until Dawn AU sketch (she’s not in the AU officially, but I do think about her in it from time to time. And jeez, I need to post about that AU some more…). Either that, or I made Rio too short. Like, idk, year 3 Mineko is 5’6” (167 cm), and she’ll be 5’8” (172 cm) at her tallest.

Second: er, you know that sketch that looks like she’s holding a large ice cream cone in a weird way? Uh, yeah, that’s supposed to be a telescope ^^;;; I just never got around to adding the tripod… or, like, referencing an actual telescope instead of from memory, oops. I might actually turn that into a proper post, but no plans as of the moment. But yeah, anyway: Mineko loves astronomy, and one of her favorite hobbies is star-gazing.

Another one of her favorites that I feel like mentioning now, too, is she loves listening to and composing music—mainly instrumentals/orchestral music. She’s the kinda girl you’d invite to an opera, haha (though, not romantically; she’s aroace. The main reason why this is is because I did not want to end up making an OC to pair with her (this has happened multiple times before with others, so this is a way of me putting my foot down with her, haha). That, and it kinda references the fact that at some point in time I headcanoned Karma and Gakushuu as aroace. Though, I still do personally see them being somewhere on the spectrum. But yeah, she aroace).

Then that one sketch where the art style’s very different from the rest—I’m actually not too fond of it anymore, especially the face, but I thought to include because I like the rest of the sketch and especially because—you know that art style I dub my doodle style? The one where the nose connects to the upper lip, and if the mouth’s open, I add a bottom lip? The one I introduced Mineko in? Yeah, fun fact: this sketch was the start of that art style. It’s changed a lot since, but perhaps I wouldn’t have drawn in it were it not for Mineko, haha.

Last thing before I get to her personality and stuff: I’ll mention something about the traditional sketches. Idk if you can tell, but Mineko is a huge junk-foodie—a sucker for fast food. She still keeps track of healthy food, for the most part—but yeah, she’d never turn down fast food, haha. Also, regarding the water: she’s more likely to casually see food in a “romantic light” than she ever is people, haha.

Speaking of, I headcanon both Karma and Gakushuu as good cooks—they can whip up something decent, at least, haha. Mineko on the other hand has no such interest. She’s got her brothers, after all. She doesn’t see a reason to… until she grows up, and her brothers are living their lives, and she realizes she’s got no one to cook for her anymore… Welp, fast food and restaurants have never left her down before, haha.

Ok, now I’ll finally discuss her personality a bit… well, traits? I wanna talk about her intelligence first. She’s a very smart girl, being in 3-A, but she’s not as smart as her brothers and has to try harder to somewhat be on the same level grade-wise—definitely not touching the virtuosos, but 3-A all the same. She also participates in extracurriculars but not nearly as many as Gakushuu—she can only handle so much.

But while she knows she may not have as high an IQ as her brothers, she very much believes she has a higher EQ than them. And to her credit, she does, but probably not by nearly as much as she thinks. See, she’s emotionally repressed, too—don’t let that smile fool you, haha.

For one, she doesn’t like conflict and does her best to smooth things over when/if she can, play the middle man (she likes to think of herself as a bridge, connecting two conflicting sides (especially her brothers; she also likes to say that’s the reason why she’s shorter than them, as (certain types of) bridges tend to dip below the two points they’re connecting, haha. Just a silly thought she likes to muse)). She likes fixing conflicts but would never intentionally start any. Cautious of stepping on toes.

That’s always why she tries her best to plaster on a smile regardless of how she feels—everything’s fine, don’t you know? She’s completely happy with her circumstances; don’t ever worry otherwise! She should be more worried about you than you about her! But yeah, she’ll either only let it slip should a situation get too stressful that she can’t keep it up or if she believes she’s all by herself. All that said, she’s usually fine. Usually. It’s just… when she isn’t…

Also, this girlie’s got major trust issues and is a misanthrope (Gakuhou’s her dad; enough said). She does believe that, of course, not all of humanity is bad. It’s just… she doesn’t trust individuals, especially the more friendly seeming ones. She’s been raised in a family of masks, adorning one herself, so she has no clue whether someone is being genuinely kind or not. It’s just easier for her not to trust them rather than be let down. Everyone’s got hidden agendas, it seems.

And while she’s friendly and polite to everyone regardless of her suspicions—even when there’s blatant evidence she’s right. Because she wants to be kind and helpful regardless. And again, she kinda believes most are like that anyway. Proof is just more of a confirmation of something she believes already—and while most would find her company agreeable, she currently doesn’t have any friends outside her brothers. And nor does she care to. She doesn’t see what she’s missing. Why would you hang out with someone who’s potentially fake? While helpful, she tries to make herself scarce whenever she can.

But yeah, the only way she’ll ever make friends is through a whole lot of interaction; she needs to be able to build up that trust and feel safe. Being close to her brothers is a good start, but she’ll still be wary for a good while. Not something easy, essentially, and could take years. Hence, no friends as of the moment.

Er, yeah, I guess that’ll be all I’ll share for the moment. Ended up being a lot longer than I thought, but I don’t feel like cutting anything either. So yeah; here is she! I adore her, so I hope you like her, too, or find her interesting at least ^^

I feel like you know about her more than the other OCs I’ve already revealed when they’ve been out for a couple years now. Oops ^^;;

[digitalgate02]

Daisuke Week 2023 • Day 2

[old doodle from Daily Daisuke Doodle project from 2021]

Day 2- Blue Lightning, Lighdramon (episode 11)

sub prompt a) Making friends is hard, but Daisuke and V-mon formed strong bonds through their road. Let’s talk about some of them!

Friendships are important for children, and I love how 02 work in a non-traditional way: Its development is through relationships instead. Which means, a character’s development in 02 is shown by how they interact with the other characters through the story.

With this, Daisuke’s changes come from how he stopped being wary around those kids… And how he became friends with them in the end, to the point in Kizuna he’s going to pick Iori at school with Takeru so they can discuss about his idea of going on a trip with everyone to study ramen (which we know he could’ve done that alone with V-mon, but nope, he wanted to invite EVERYONE if possible!)

First things first, I’m sorry to disagree with Kiuchi Reiko (who voiced Daisuke in 02 and post media until Kizuna) and say the first person Daisuke considered his equal was Inoue Miyako. If you watch 02-or-even-Kizuna carefully you can see how both Daisuke and Miyako get along! He’s fine teasing her, having ridiculous siblings-like fights… But he also seems to respect her as well, and even care about her opinion when she’s gushing about Ken or Michael in front of him. And Miyako on her end, tends to care about what he thinks of her as well, and never tries to treat him differently – remember, she’s a year older than him! And if either of them call by something different, like Daisuke adding the ‘-san’ honorific at the end of her name, or her calling him by ‘Daichan’ (or, in the BR dub: “Dai querido” → “Dai darling”), they will definitely find it suspicious or odd. Their M.O. is just teasing the heck out of each other! Like… In Kizuna:

The first thing Daisuke says to Miyako once they meet in New York is not “Hello” or “How are you” – he straight teases her telling her and Hawkmon. And of course, she teases him back, because that’s how their relationship had been for years!!

Daisuke likes to tease her, as much she also likes to tease him – To be quite fair, everyone in Daisuke’s friend circle likes to tease him. They all love him to the bits. Even V-mon teases the heckie out of him too!! Though in V-mon’s case… V-mon is blunt and honest just like Daisuke, to the point he has no filter when he says things. Which could lead to Daisuke getting embarrassed in front of the others. But okay, Daisuke loves them all, V-mon and Miyako and everyone, so much he’s thankful for their support and being there in his life:

Let’s bring everyone along with me, today, too Really, always, thank you, Thank you so much • RUNNING MAN lyrics TL by Kazari

The Kizuna drama CD also has this funny cute moments of Daisuke getting excited for every suggestion given by his friends, and only at the end of the story he reminds them what was the purpose of this group trip. Not only that! He also credits everyone for helping him with valuable advice (which some of them said to not remember of it being legit advice lol) – which only shows how Daisuke values and treasures all of the five and the digimon.

[shynetyme06]

1 - 23 :3

cracks knuckles okay

1. how would you describe your art style? uhhhhhhhh, maybe "safe" is the word rn. whenever I think of my art style, what comes to mind is just how little I've been pushing things with it. I wanna change that ;D

2. what's your favorite thing about your style? I realize I like to use semi-realistic proportions, its cool how comfortable I've gotten with drawing faces and bodies

3. what's your least favorite thing about your style? It's so static man. same thing I said for the first question, I don't think anything really looks bad, but it just is lacking in creativity in comparison to the older art that should be looking worse than what I do now. I prefer my older stuff ;D (looking at you inktobertale2021.. where did it all go wrong)

4. favorite thing to draw? regular ol people. human characters are def more in my comfort zone, which explains why I keep hitting skeletons with the humanization ray (also I prefer to draw feminine characters)

5. least favorite thing to draw? I can't even say I rlly dislike it cuz of how rarely I even do it, but I am procrastinating so hard on learning backgrounds..

6. warm colors or cool colors? cool colors are my fav, but i find it easier to work with warm ones (I used to put a cool overlay over all my warm toned drawings hgdhfg)

7. show us a WIP behold, the wip ever. this drawing... was supposed to be posted on august 2022. and then, it was supposed to be posted on dec 21st, dream and nightmares birthday. (atp if I do end up wanting to finish this idea again, I'll probably just scrap it and start over)

8. what's the most fun and least fun parts about your process? most fun is flat color and rendering. (though I rarely do the latter anymore) and for least fun, tbh a lot of the sketching part tends to be difficult for me, sometimes its cool tho

9. show us a finished piece alongside the original sketch example from when sketching was fun

10. how many different sketches do you usually have until your piece is finished? I think I do need to make more of at least thumbnail sketches tbh.. I usually just make one and keep editing it, trusting the process. (and that fails like 70% of the time. woww wonder why sketching isnt fun for me-) 11. show us the last thing you drew, be it a finished piece or a small doodle can this count,,

12. show us an old drawing first deltarune drawing. here's the redraw I later made of this :3 (also old hsgdhgf)

13. how long do you usually take one a piece? depends. I'll have like 276478923 wips started, and then I get a random idea that I just have to do right at that moment, and I'll get it done in like 1-4 hours. meanwhile old sketches start to rot and maybe if its lucky I'll revisit it before my motivation dies and my style is too different to wanna continue from where I left off 14. digital or traditional? digital all the way, i've gotten too dependent on the transform tool + liquefy ;D (and many other things tbh but I'd be here all day if I tried comparing them more jhdjdf)

15. if digital, what program do you use? procreate, the layouts on other drawing programs scare me

16. favorite media to work with when drawing traditionally pen on paper (am I understanding this right wdym media-)

17. what do you love getting compliments about? I like when people enjoy the humanizations I come up with, and also original designs in general 18. are you satisfied with the attention your art usually gets? hmmm yeah

19. how often do you draw? very often, I just don't have finished things to share most days

20. a piece from this year that you're really proud of :3

21. something you would like to improve on the dynamicness (well, the lack of it) of everything, as said before

22. what inspires you? Ink sans and a ton of creators in this fandom (also animated shows and movies, I love animation)

23. what's something you hope people notice when looking at your art? idk tbh, just notice it at all and I'm happy :>

[enviousennui]

Nobody asked me so im doing it on my own accord

1/2- My chum handle is my username, so yes my username is hs related. When coming up with a username, i thought hard about it and ended up leaning towards the hs format. as for the meaning, it doesn't particulary have one. Im not really an envious person but i guess ennui works sometimes? Idk it doesnt mean anything deep

3- I have referred to my partner as a matesprit in the past but i dont currently since it isnt something ive done for a while

4- I have with online friends but i dont irl. I probably would of in the past though

5- I used to say i kinned Jade but It was always more in the way of strongly relate to instead of traditional kin culture. I do not kin anybody in that sense

6- Sylph of Light

7-I do! It's mostly doodles and more relaxed art as opposed to more detailed pieces, but i post art here and my ask blog

8- I do not but i have been thinking about a potential fic. Im not sure if i will or not though

9-Im currently on a rp server which i play as WV. i havent been super active this week but i try to hop on every week. I used to rp on msprp all the time though

10- Ive been looking to pick up cosplay again. I have cosplayed hs before in the past, that being Terezi. I made her stick and the horns using felt sheets, but it definitely looks like a first cosplay. I gotta revamp it

11-Yep! It's very casual but I've got a wayward vagabond ask blog. I've been thinking of stuff to draw from it aside from asks, since i xo not recieve many asks, but i have not had time recently.

12- not particulary other than the disgrub rp group

13- fuckk thats a hard question. June, Jade and Roxy are very high up there...Terezi ofc, i wouldnt of cosplayed her otherwise. These characters all mean a lot to me but those are the top. Oh and i think it goes without saying but the exiles are definitely top too

14- Equius ane Damara. I like fanon interpretations but those two are just not my faves. I dont need to get into it

15- rosemary, cottoncandy, wvpmar and pepsicola. Guilty pleasures guys.

16- ugh really not a fan of pm/bec noir. Its not very popular and only mildly implied as a black rom thing but no. As for other ships? there's probably a few but none on the top of my head

17- Jane and Dirk. I love their friendship sm

18- I have a lot of mixed feelings. I like aspects of hs2 but yeah.

19- I played the first act of hiveswap when it released but i wasn't able to play act 2. I watched it on yt instead and i enjoy the game. I cant wait for whenever the next act releases....

20- Well i got into it when i was around 13 and im almost 20 now. It feels like a significant amount of my life has revolved around it. I used to reference it at school and even now i make subtle jokes when they pop up naturally

21- not particularly but i do know a few people online through fandom

22- yes but it wasn't an intentional leave, it was more of a slow interest decline where i got into something else at the time. But it came back, this comic is very relevant to me all the time. despite not being my number one interest at times, i always reblogged art.

23- i originally read it during the gigapause, then i read it again once it had ended. I read through it again after hiveswap was released and then again in 2019 before 413 (unaware of the upcoming epilogues that would be released that day) and finally at the beginning of January this year

24- i hate to admit it but when I first got interested in the comic, i couldnt read it. So i decided to watch the voxus dub but i got bored, so i started skipping through and upon seeing Karkat, i thought john had turned into him? When it came time to me actually sitting down with my old shitty pc to read it, i skipped the intermission. I went through the pages but i didnt read it. I didnt think it was important :/

25- once again, mixed opinions. Current fandom is fine, old fandom was all over the place. I was an avid tumblr blogger then and was in a lot of the popular fandoms at the time. Fandomstuck had so many fandoms i was in, for example. Seeing old posts makes me very nosta!gic though and i love to see how loved and active it once wasgic

26-Oof. Okay. The comic is rough but for all the circumstances, it still holds up well. Of course with the website being in shambles, flash being extinct and certain...writing choices...its hard to recommend to people. But if you can look past certain things, or even read the unofficial collection if it makes it more digestible, i still think you should read it cause it does a lot of things i love. And also things i dont. But thats not unheard of

27- carapacians

28-Oo i should of read through this question sheet before answering them all in one. Thats hard to say but cascade is still a huge moment to me. That or jade:enter (yes these are both flashes but those are what came to mind)

29- the retcon. Not the idea of it but the fact its so vriska central. Vriska is not the problem solver. Also hate hate the whole vriska (vriska) stuff. I like (vriska) and seeing her get shredded to shit by the "better" vriska is just. ugh. Theres definitely other things i dont like. Oh god trickster mode. I love the designs but i hate what it is in the comic.

30- *insert the cop upd8 story because im not coming up with something on the fly*

31- Pretty much 95%. In the paat it was more like 50% but now its pretty much blog wide.

“Homestuck Isn’t Dead” Tag

I wanted to make one, so send a number or reblog to get one!

1. Do you have a chum handle? What does it mean?

2. Is your username homestuck related/have you had one hs related?

3. Do you call your s/o a matesprit?

4. Do you call your best friend your moirail?

5. Are you “kin” with any characters or commonly called a character?

6. God Tier?

7. Do you make HS fanart?

8. Do you make hs fanfiction?

9. Do you roleplay homestuck? where and how often?

10. Do you cosplay homestuck characters? Who and where?

11. Are you apart of ask blogs?

12. Are you in any homestuck groups?

13. Favorite character?

14. Least favorite character?

15. OTP?

16. NOTP?

17. BROTP?

18. Do you want homestuck to just die already?

19. Are you following up with hiveswap? Do you play? Watch YT videos?

20. Tell us how homestuck has effected you in real life?

21. Have you met anyone through homestuck?

22. Have you left the fandom before?

23. How many times have you read through it?

24. Did you ever skip intermissions/dialog/animations?

25. Opinions on the fandom?

26. Opinions on the comic?

27. Do you favor the trolls, humans, or carapaces?

28. Favorite moment of all of homestuck?

29. Least favorite moment of all of homestuck?

30. Tell us a homestuck based story.

31. How homestuck related is your blog?

[corpsentry]

january: an art retrospective

i did some stuff last month (but it’s a lot of stuff and there’s a photodump + some Serious Fucking Reflection, so it’s all below the cut)

so ok, let’s start with this. here are some heads. each head has a red arrow. that red arrow is what i call the red line of the devil. it’s the slope of the face from the side of the eye to the cheekbone and then down towards the chin. up until like 2 weeks ago, i couldn’t draw it. i couldn’t fucking draw it. i would edit over that part of the face over and over again until i was frustrated and tired and i had a raging homosexual headache and it still never looked right. notice that each head is different. notice that each head looks wrong.

at the start of 2021 i finally admitted to myself, as per the image above, that i was deeply, deeply unhappy with my art. what was the problem? i dunno. but i decided i was going to fix it and i was going to do so via another one scribble a day event wherein for every day of january i would find a photo of a human head, and i would draw it.

january 1st, 2021. i was embarrassed to tweet this even on my private account where like 5 friends and a rock would see it. in retrospect, you can also see all of my bad habits emerging like dicks from a hole in the ground. it’s disproportionate. the brows look flat. the eyes are slanting upwards. the entire drawing looks flat, like this isn’t a 3d person but a caricature of one.

january 2nd, 3rd, 4th:

on the 2nd i decided to start a separate thread for doodles and applied learning. here’s the first set of tests

the rest of the week is kind of uneventful so we’re going to skip those. fast forward to january 11th

this one is especially bad. i am acutely aware, suddenly, that i am not changing anything at all. i’m stressed and miserable about it because i’m still trying to see people as people and trying to draw people that look attractive and proportionate and hot. my friend, leny, reminds me that i need to think about faces in terms of planes. i have a moment. my other friend masha sends me some links to anatomy tutorials. i have another moment.

january 11th. applied sketch

january 13th is when i start the troubleshooting process. the link above drives me mad because i’m pretty happy with the face but then i realize that there’s something very fucking wrong with the shape of the head LOL and then i realize that i’ve never had any idea what the proportion of the face to the rest of the skull is so i grit my teeth and i open a new canvas and i

bald studies. it seemed like the right thing to do. can’t draw heads? ok draw some heads. look at some photographs. i traced each photo but tried to stick to straight lines so that i could replicate the shapes more easily. i broke each face down into shapes. i thought about airplanes

i got really excited. i started doing studies, then applied studies, then stylized studies.

sketches. i’m not sure what’s going on (as always) and it’s very rough, but they look different from the sketches i did on january 2nd. that’s a start

january 16th’s daily study. looks more like a person now. juuuuuust a bit

more applied studies

on the 18th i take a break and go stare at some lips because i don’t understand how the fuck they work. again, i focus on shapes, on volume, on the fact that these things exist in 3d. holy fuck lips exist in 3d. holy fuck we are real

january 19th. i’m working on it.

january 22nd. some sketches + a daily study. it has finally occurred to me that heads can tilt up and down and that things look different accordingly. yes i was not aware of this before. yes i have been drawing for over a decade.

january 23rd. by this point after doing my daily sketch i almost always go back and do an applied study which is basically to say i drew a lot of fucking links. this one looks kind of okay. i’m kind of proud

january 25th. links. trying to make sense of everything i’ve learned

26th, 27th, 28th. daily studies

january 1st. january 31st

The End Of The Photo Dump (dab)

ok NOW i get to talk about what i discovered while studying the shit out of human beings

FIRST OF ALL, there is something precious and magical about drawing shit without the explicit knowledge that you’re going to tweet that shit out to 45 people later. it takes the burden of perception off your shoulders and that does something to you, or at least that’s my theory. i told myself i wouldn’t post any of this stuff until the end of the month (if i wanted to post it at all) and kept everything off my public social media accounts and that meant i could draw ugly as hell without worrying about who would point and laugh, which i absolutely fucking did. a lot of these are fucking trainwrecks. most of these are fucking trainwrecks. why do they look like that?? why??? this doesn’t look like the work of someone who’s allegedly been drawing since they were in kindergarten, does it?????

here’s why: because that person took a huge motherfucking swing at everything they’d ever known about art and spent a month building something new in its place. the abstract explanation is that i grew up on shoujo and weird old anime and my understanding of anatomy was unironically kamichama karin and while i love kamichama karin, when kamichama karin is your rule even if you try to break it, you’re going to end up going nowhere. “you have to know the rules to break them”, yeah? well i didn’t know shit. the abstract explanation is i’ve been miserable about my art for a few years now because i saw other people doing things effortlessly which i couldn’t and instead of going back to the basics, i tried to do what they did (not plagiarism, mind you, i mean i literally tried to copy the red line of the devil i mentioned above because i couldn’t even make that happen) and then i fucking failed.

the simple explanation is this. i had to unlearn everything, and relearn it again (like some kind of new renaissance clown, what the fuck is this?)

take this for example. all my life i’ve drawn faces in the order: eyes, nose, mouth, face shape, head. this works for some people, im aware, but it was something central to how i had always drawn, so i decentralized it. i said fuck you to the old me and changed the order up. now i start with the nose, then the eyes, mouth, the chin line, and the sides of the face. now i force myself to think about the human head as a series of parts interacting with each other instead of a bunch of disparate features which i want to look pretty.

or let’s use this zelda from last year. something about this looked wrong last october, the way something about all of my drawings looked wrong, but i couldn’t pinpoint it for hell the way i couldn’t articulate Any of my feelings about the visual arts. now, looking back, here’s what i see. that nose is sticking out far too much given how she’s not really facing very far away from the camera. that ear at the back shouldn’t be there. her forehead is too big. she doesn’t have a forehead. what the fuck is up with the shape of her head?

so apparently reject modernity embrace tradition has its roots in alt-right terminology and i’m not very horny for the alt-right (you understand), but the spirit survives here. you know sometimes you have to admit that you have no idea what the fuck you’re doing and draw people for 31 days. i’ve spent my whole life drawing stylized people and while again there are artists who have no issue with this, i veered off the track of the Good and the Holy and couldn’t get back on. i had no point of reference because i’d never thought about what an actual human being looks like, so i had no way to fix what i knew in my gut looked wrong but wouldn’t come out better.

this was hard. this was like oikawa tooru swallowing his worthless pride and admitting that ushijima wakatoshi had gotten the best of him for the last time in his high school career, but in haikyuu!! by furudate haruichi oikawa tooru fucks off to argentina and then joins the argentinean national team, and you know what, i think i’ve made it to argentina (not the team just the country). as per the golden rule of dont fucking move until you’re at least two thirds of the way through the month, i only started trying to draw Shit shit on like the 22nd or something, but i was happy with that i created. i am happy with what i’ve done. i’ve posted like 2 things this month that involve people with what i now call ~applied Knowledge~~ and they’re, like, not perfect obviously (perfection is an unattainable ideal), but i’m fucking proud of them. i didn’t spend 5 hours hunched over my laptop adjusting the red line of the devil because it’s not a devil’s line anymore. because i finally sorta get how people work. because i sat down and i said ‘we are not going to fuck with this misery shit anymore’ and then i did that. it’s just a line now.

here are 2 collages tracking my painstakingly carved out progress from january 2nd to february 2nd because i’m a slut for collages

and here’s what i’ve done to my art! the same person drew these but also Not Really! you know! for the first time in a year i don’t immediately hate what i’ve drawn. you know what guys? art is fucking fun. zelda’s forehead doesn’t scare me anymore because i know how foreheads fucking work now, and i don’t know everything, and i’m going to keep troubleshooting stuff as i go (i want to draw a skeleton. like a. i want to draw a goddamn skeleton guys) but i’m honestly and genuinely proud of what i’ve done in the span of a month, and i’m also in disbelief. i started this month-long challenge out as a last ditch effort to make peace with my art because i’ve been tired for a long time and i was ready to kick the bucket on drawing people altogether. i didn’t think anything would happen. nothing’s happened for years. i’ve been miserable for years.

this was the caption for january 1st, 2021. i was super, super fucking embarrassed and it looks like super fucking shit, but you know what, i think i did in fact triumph over the bullshit. surprisingly enough, when you put in consistent effort into something, You Will See Results. didn’t see that coming, did you? i know i didn’t.

this isn’t a success story. it’s a happiness story. i never gave a shit damn about the institute of art or whatever, i was just mad at myself because what i saw in my head didn’t match up with what was on the canvas. and now it’s getting better. now i’m calibrating the compass. now drawing not just backgrounds but also people is exciting to me, and i can stick my links in your face and tell you ‘they hot’. i’m going to keep doing that. i’m going to keep going until i drop off the side of the earth and then spiral towards mars like some kind of fairy, and then i’m going to create something beautiful.

thanks for reading. here’s a pr department link for sticking around until the end

[thepiecesofcait]

Calling all Les Mis content creators! (Including but not limited to traditional artists, digital artists, writers, cosplayers, mood-boardists, podcasters, glass blowers and pottery enthusiasts.)

The above list is a Les-Mis specific alternative to Inktober this year (courtesy of the recent controversy and me not wanting to engage with any avoidable drama where possible). Huge thanks to everyone that sent prompts in! 

Please see below the cut for the basic breakdown of how to participate!

The 31 prompts correlate to the days of October. You can elect to tackle one prompt per day, one every other day, one per week, or just pick one or two for the whole of the month - whatever suits your time, energy, and enjoyment levels. This challenge is meant to encourage you to develop a consistent creative habit, not to overwhelm you to the point that you don’t make anything for the two months after completing it.

While the Official Inktober leans heavily towards traditional inking artists, I would like this to be a much more inclusive challenge for all walks of creatives. 

If you are a visual artist and want to challenge yourself to create 31 polished pieces by the end of October, that’s great. If you wanna just do a quick doodle three times a week, that’s also very great! 

If you’re a writer, you could post short ficlets or poems - or smash out an entire prompt-filled fic! 

Cosplayers, you might choose to photograph yourself as a different character each prompt or pick one character to do a weekly vlog (in canon era, modern era, or a space-cowboy AU, it’s up to you!) 

The idea is to have a fun, creative month. I think we deserve it.

The one rule I encourage you to follow is that pieces relate back to Les Miserables in some way, be it the Brick, the Musical, the Miniseries, the Anime, one of your favourite fanfics, or just a personal headcanon you have about a character or scene. 

Post your pieces on the day they correlate to (or mix it up to make an order that suits your groove, you do you boo) and share them wherever you feel comfortable (even if that just means treating your close friends to a peak at your brilliance!) 

If you’re posting here feel free to use the hashtags #The Miserables Month or #TheMiserablesMonth to make it easy to see what everyone’s doing!

If this challenge gets a decent amount of participants, I’ll make a side blog dedicated to reblogging all of the posts so that they’re easy to find in the future (looking at you, Tumblr search function).

A Final Note: This list is up a month early to allow for you to do some pre-planning. I encourage everyone who is looking to participate to at least ponder on what you might do for the prompt/s you will be tackling. If you want to have full sketches / scripts / brainstorm docs done beforehand, that is totally fine. There is no way to “cheat” here: if planning now will help ease stress levels later, I wholeheartedly encourage it. 

If you have any questions please reach out! I will endeavour to answer as promptly as I can! 

Here is the typed list of prompts, if that’s an easier format for ya’ll:

1. Last 2. Scorch 3. Quiet 4. Sea 5. Metallic 6. Riches 7. Crew 8. Fly 9. Strength 10. Crisp 11. Desperate 12. Shadow 13. Repair 14. Disguise 15. Wish 16. Intrepid 17. Cat 18. Adventure 19. Fold 20. Boot 21. Bloom 22. Leaf 23. Threadbare 24. Crush 25. Sing 26. Far 27. Light 28. Bare 29. Time 30. Flag 31. Future

[chatonyant]

Some hella messy doodles for the shippuden designs! Excuse the every changing details because I am never truly happy with final designs dear lord-

I’ve got design notes! Long wall of words belooowww

Starting with Naruto once again!

his clothes are based off of several unfinished ideas I had of Uzushio and how their proficiency with seals would allow them to be more flamboyant or lighter in their gear. The magic of storage and protective seals!

there are seals embroidered into the inner lining and occasionally the exterior, acting as both armor and pack. Uzushio always seemed like a rather bright place, connected to the sea, so I made the robes generally blue themed but also darker as they are still shinobi in the end and bright colors are harder to hide. 

I added a hood because Naruto just,,,, he has modern streetwear vibes. He’d love hoodies

The whole Uzushio inspired ensemble is cause I was thinking that in this au he finds the opportunity to find and visit the island itself. Probably during the time skip, considering it’s hard to really place the discovery of a long lost village within the six-month period between graduation and the chunnin exams

At first I wanted to give him like a mesh crop top to show his seal but then it kinda didn’t have that traditional vibe that I wanted, so I added the kimono top and a red obi with symbols that kinda symbolize the seal (because Naruto connects with Kurama much earlier in this AU)

The headband was honestly ridiculously tricky to place because i was trying to draw this longer hair without making it poof weirdly at the top. Plus I wanted to keep the headband where it was cause,,, cause i was thinking when he goes into tailed beast mode the ribbons flare up to look like Kurama’s ears :”DDD peek design amiright-

his hair. is longer. because i love long hair Naruto to bits and it makes him look like his parents ;;; both of them

the gloves. I have no excuse. They just Look Cool

Sakura:

I gave her an undercut

she deserves it

I didn’t mention this in the other redesign post but she has dimples (though i’m really bad at drawing them

that one scene where she tied up her hair in the Kazekage Rescue Arc was so fucking beautiful I couldn’t resist throwing it in here lmaoooo

i can’t draw it right but imagine the ponytail kinda flowering out like a sakura blossom 

I took a lot of different things I liked about the older!Sakura designs and smooshed them in one with my own twist

like sleeveless qipao

Belt from pre-timeskip period stays, except now with an extra medical supply bag

longer pants cause they look nice

Sasuke:

honestly I like his normal shippuden design a lot so i kept most of it

I added a cape though, cause he does travel around a bit

and as i was drawing him the collar reverted to a similar shape to his kid clothes

fun fact

the reason that his outfit remains largely the same is because

Sasuke does leave

the action itself doesn’t change, but the circumstances and the ensuing effects do. quite a bit, actually.

and no it does not take the entirety of shippuden to get him back

because he is not a revenge obsessed angry kid here

the biggest reason for all this change is cause I want to change Orochimaru cause i wanna make him live purely because I love mitsuki so fucking much

also i gave him a little half ponytail cause i wanted to give him longer hair but then realized that idk how to draw that and make it look good sO new style boyos

Kakashi? what are you doing here?:

I wanted to change up Kakashi’s look as well because it’s actually really fun to design these outfits no matter difficult it may be bUT it was difficult because I just... can’t see him without a vest. 

Not that i can’t see him without wearing a vest, because i have and it’s good and I like it, but i can’t see him going into battle or on missions without one. 

I’ve got this headcannon that the vest is lowkey like a security blanket and it’s this grounding weight whenever he’s in this adrenaline filled situation where he may suffer many varieties of consequences if he’s not careful. It has his tools and it’s his armor. Replacing it with a robe feels like robbing him of something he’s always had and is always used to

SO

he keeps a vest

i modified it a bit to make it more right hand sided (i may headcannon Kakashi to be ambidextrous but there’s no denying he uses his right hand more) and the collar to be a bit thinner

Kakashi is like, made for biker fashion. like leather or denim jackets on motorbikes. So I gave him a haori that emulates that look 

Naruto came back, saw that Kakashi didn’t change at ALL and took it as a personal offense and dragged him around to get new threads because “Kakashi-sensei, we all upgraded our closet, you should too!”

kind of a sad headcannon that Kakashi didn’t quite let himself enjoy things that wouldn’t benefit him as a ninja and therefore just stuck to his normal outfit of ninja clothes and jonin vest. Icha Icha was the one exception and he picked it up because he had no idea what to do once he was out of ANBU (i would like to back this hc up by pointing to Boruto where Kakashi no longer really holds himself to this rigid ideal of a ninja and lets loose and has fun with Gai and Mirai)

ANYWAYS

he actually likes the stuff Naruto finds for him, though he has no idea where the boy is actually finding all this shit

some misc info about the outfits:

Naruto began learning sealing after the Wave Arc, and he took to it like a fish to water. (i have uzushio spirit hc that I will tell at a later time)

a rare nugget of information he found about uzushio seals was that they were often stitched into the clothing itself

so Naruto went wild with this

he learned sealing while practicing normal embroidery on the side and as he went on his 2-3 year trip with Jiraiya he learned more and just got better and better

He added the seal to his own haori himself and actually made one for Kakashi too. Kakashi just didn’t see him whip the gift haori from one of the stitched sealing scrolls

embroidering takes a really long time and matching it with sealing? oof, hard work. So he actually only got two done and is in process of Sakura’s next. Now that he’s back in the village, he can talk to her about certain things she would want/need considering Naruto isn’t sure what a medic-nin requires.

he made additional gifts for everyone in team seven (even sasuke, even if he doesn’t know what will happen) and hopefully as time passes little trinkets will start to appear

i just really like the idea of naruto being a really craftsy person. He just keeps making small trinkets except these trinkets have sEALING POWER cause he’s very chaotic with his experiments like that

[petalharbor]

One time an anon asked me to answer every single question on an ask game that was like 60 questions and I haven't stopped thinking of it since, so in honor of that legendary anon, every question

DHSKSKCJCJDJSSJXJFJRJS OK

Do you prefer traditional drawing, or digital?

I like both, but I like digital sliightly better, and that’s because 1) I’m a leftie and pencils get my hands messy, and 2) no undo button

How long have you been drawing?

Ever since I could pick up a pencil, so about 14 years. If we’re talking digitally, then about 7 or 8 years

How many classes have you taken?

I’ve taken art electives in high school and that’s about it. I did learn a lot from my teachers, though.

Do you have a DeviantArt, personal website, or art blog?

Yeah I’m on DeviantArt (it’s kinda dead though djdjsndndjfkf)

What’s your favorite thing to draw?

Sonic characters by a long shot. If I start doodling absentmindedly there’s a 99% chance it’ll end up being Sonic.

What’s your least favorite thing to draw?

BACKGROUNDS. And anything overly detailed. My brain can only handle so much

How often do you use references?

Whenever I’m working with something unfamiliar, which is fairly often

Do you draw professionally, or just for fun?

A little bit of both, I think. Art is definitely something I enjoy, but I do want to make a career out of it even if I doubt myself sometimes

How much time do you spend drawing on an average day?

Whenever I can, which varies from day to day. If it was up to me, it would be for hours lol

Are you confident about your art?

Yes and no? I can look at a piece I made and be like “yes this objectively good because of x thing I did” and then there’s some days where I’m like “EVERYTHING I DRAW IS AWFULL”

How many art-related blogs do you follow?

As many as I can find! I love seeing other people’s art!

Is it okay for people to ask you about your process?

Heck yeah go for it! Man I haven’t posted a speed paint in forever I should do that

Do you prefer to keep your art personal, or do you like drawing things for other people?

Both! There are times where I draw things that I don’t even post! But I also love surprising my friends with art of their characters!

Do you ever collaborate with others?

Sure! I’ve hosted an art collab once before.

How long does an average piece take you to complete?

Depends. If it’s something I’m familiar with (like a sonic character), a finished piece can take a few hours. But if it’s something I struggle with it could take waay longer.

Do you draw more today than you did in the past, or do you draw less?

Hmm, I’d say I draw more, but my output speed is slower. I still draw every day, but I don’t post every day because I don’t always finish what I’m working on. Way back when I first started this blog my art took less time to complete but it…didn’t look too great (if you remember my missunsmiley days I’m so sorry)

Do you think you’re justified in giving other people art advice?

I guess? I feel like I can help with some things, but I wouldn’t give advice on something like realism

What are you currently trying to improve on?

Backgrounds. I’ve mostly focused on character art for most of my life and it’s biting me in the ass now. I want to be able to draw comics by myself so it’s a priority.

What is the most difficult thing for you to draw?

Anything with straight lines. It usually doesn’t end up pretty.

What is the easiest thing for you to draw?

Sonic himself, I suppose. I can draw him in my sleep

Do you like to challenge yourself?

Definitely! Lately I’ve been going all out with shading and not just using airbrush and calling it a day

Are you confident that you’re improving steadily?

Haha no. But I’m gonna keep drawing anyway

Do you draw more fanart, or more original art?

Depends. Where do sonic ocs fall on that spectrum

Do you feel jealous when you see other people’s art, or inspired? (Be honest!)

INSPIRED! Whenever I see something that looks cool my brain goes “❤️💖💙💛✨ OOO SO COOL”

Do you like to draw in silence, or with music?

Oh I need noise of some kind, whether it be a video or loud Sonic music at 2 am.

For digital artists: what program(s) do you use?

Clip Studio Paint is my best friend. Firealpaca’s good too, I’ll use it sometimes.

For digital artists: how many layers does a typical piece require?

Hoo, boy. Depends on how lazy I am that day. I try to put all my colors on a separate layer, but that usually turns into just two. So yeah my layer count varies a lot.

For traditional artists: what medium do you like most? (Pencil, charcoals, etc)

I like pencils because forgiveness

For traditional artists: How do you usually start on a big piece? (Light sketch, colored lead, sketchpaper, etc)

I don’t care what it is I need a sketch first. Never going in blind, no siree

What inspires you to not just make art, but to be a better artist?

If I’m being honest? Making enough money to move out HDISOXJCJGKFKDKSKDFJCNSKFX I just…really need my own space.

Phew, that was a lot! Thanks for the ask!

[riisinaakka-draws]

part 2/6

2nd part of my old Black Sails scraps and doodles from 2016–2021. Not in any particular order.

This time the drawings are short comics that were abandoned for a reason or another, mostly because I lost the interest or felt like there was too much to redraw compared to the satisfaction of finishing something else more interesting. There’s also some talk about rigid mindset and how overthinking can lead to stagnation.

Contains early silverflint moments, specks of dust, rackham's glasses are found, jealous-Billy spying, desk-Flint gets caught, "squint-squint", a quiet moment and its bird dilemma etc.

And please do not steal and repost elsewhere. But if you do get inspired, feel free to make your own interpretations!

Long-ish post under the cut!

“What are you thinking about?”

“Specks of dust.”

“Liar.”

The idea was to show how much they and their relationship had changed. This was around 2016 when the season 3 began and I was still re-learning to draw with a tablet. Another art from the same time period (and idea) is this art: The Dynamic Duet. 

And for some reason I was really stuck up thinking that I’d have to first do the sketch, then the clean line art, then planes underneath, then shadows etc. and I have always struggled with that kind of approach! Mainly because I hate doing clean line work, lol. And I was a fool for trying to start with a white canvas! It’s so much harder to find values and plan things, or at least in my opinion..

“Rackham’s glasses are found”

To celebrate their new pirate alliance, they share the four lenses of Rackham’s sunglasses as they were also found at the time (because I wanted it to resurface and they could be made into jewellery you know...). This was right after the episode where Anne fights and hurts her hands (here wearing protecting mittens from Max even though she’s not trusted at the moment). Uh, this doesn’t spark joy interest me much and it’s quite stiff and would recuire a lot of redrawing faces, so - discarded!  

I somewhat like the idea still (them having something to share, although it’s on Jack’s detriment). I tried to find a stylished comical easier doodlier? way to draw them and draw clean lines etc, but it just wasn’t for me. Also here too, the background is blank and too bright. Later I started to think things as scenes and draw everything at the same time instead of adding the bg later or trying to show everything (and everyone) at the same time.

Here’s also Billy in the same story:

He’s spying on them and since it’s so bright he’s wearing his diy “sunglasses” and being envious to the others. *cough* uhhh...Idk? Also people were shipping Ben Gunn (and cheese) with Billy, so that bled into this too... Charles’ spirit is riding the “big white bird” that was mentioned in Teach’ story and in this case it’s a pelican.

As you can see, I also wasn’t using the brushes that I use nowadays. A hard (or soft) round brushes with no change in opacity just aren’t for me. For example, in traditional art, I struggle with markers and copics, but really enjoy charcoals and watercolours. I prefer ragged edges, layering and thus blending things into each other (and leaving the viewer to fill in the gaps) instead of having stark or definite things. I also struggle with vector drawings, although I have decided to finally start learning to use them...somedayyyy.

Also, I wasn’t paying attention to anatomy, like, at all LMAO. I was just so happy to be able to put something on the canvas.

This is one of my first ink drawings, but I cannot find the original anymore. Again, I like the idea, but not how things look art-wise. And I was so adamant, that I have to get everything right in the traditional drawing and not fix anything later on on photoshop because then it would be cheating. And thus, I was never able to move on or finish this properly the way I liked it (idiot).

BUT! It was a good practise to just draw and test things on paper and gain confidense on drawing things in overall (as I was still getting back into art). To get over the fear of blank paper you know, and try to find my style whatever it would start to form into.

Oh, yeah, Desk Flint.

Desk Flint was a thing for a while (still is, lol). Another drawing from that time is this Slingshot Pirate (2016). And Desk Flint keeps repeating in many later works too. The point is mainly “Flint sitting behind his desk and people interrupt him and I don’t have to draw him fully”

Well, anyway... moving on.

Here’s a plan that has been stuck for years. It’s name is “Squint-squint.” Left is the sketch (with another sketch underneath because the expressions were clearer in the old one). On the right is the continued piece with colour scheme but I cropped the eyes panel and faces out (it was so ugly for some reason) but if I ever continue/finish this, it will be redrawn there in the middle.)

Left. “On that moment their eyes were literally open(ed).”

Right. “After squinting on the shore for days, they had actually forgotten how pretty the other idiot’s eyes were.”

I still like it, quite a lot, but my perfectionist ass only sees too much “boring” things to draw and get right, so it hasn’t been a priority for a long time and other works have kept me occupied and more interested in them.

--------------------

“Quiet Moment.” 2018 (a wordless comic happening after the events of Charles Town)

I’m going to explain after these pictures, but see how big the difference is when you start to look at references and plan things together (the space, “camera” movement, background etc). I also started to colour with coarser brushes:

I drew this around early 2018. A lot of improvement! Still quite a lot of negative space (empty white backgrounds), but it fits this work. A few things tell where we are (the ship’s cabin and the balcony). Changing distances and how things are cropped/framed make things more moving and focused (and less to draw, lol). Colours and brush strokes are softer, more layered and so on.

But guess why it’s still a wip!

I couldn’t decide what bird is flying over there.

Yeap! At first it was an albatross (doesn’t go to Bahamas?). Then a seagull (but which seagull? there’s so many subspecies! Is the ship at sea or at the harbour? what birds are there on the open water/ close to the shore?? oh noo...) So, yeah, wayyyy too much over-thinking.

At some point I ended up with white-tailed-tropic-bird which was a plus! because it sounds like the bosun’s whistle, but at that point I was so tangled and frustrated and still had so much to finish with this that I left it be. Also Flint’s face looks different in every frame so I would’ve had to change some parts, lol. And then I forgot it for a couple of years! And then I had learned to draw a bit differently and again saw too much things to do, so it’s quite hard to take on this again, especially when there are so many other interesting wips waiting...

But I still really like the feeling of it! And the colour scheme. So I might just limit the things I’m allowed to fix and then post it as it own someday. I mean, it’s 90% finished, but the last reach just feels like miles.

And that’s what usually happens with my wips. They reach a certain point and it suddenly becomes really hard to finish or get back into.

But every time I learn things and then use the information in another work! :D

Final note for this post (altough this has been said hundreds of times): use references and look how things go and try to see the structure and form beneath things. And think where it is happening and how the light and surroundings affects the characters and/or spaces. And maybe think what you’re trying to convey with the art, what idea? what emotions? what purpose? or like, what are you trying to learn with the piece? and so on...

Thanks for checking this out, I hope you had fun <3

[musicfren]

tend hearts to bloom (our folly exhumed) part 2

Everything takes time to grow. Some good things take so much longer than you could have ever thought possible, and the best things might never grow at all. All you can do is tend to your garden. Part 2 is HERE y’all. Me and @nottesilhouette have finished part two of our hyper-extended flower metaphor saga :P You can read part 1 here. Happy @felinettenovember y’all! May this post last you a lot longer than 3 days <3

Felix lives in a state of “too cool”: too cool to be friends with the kids at school, too cool to be friends with the teachers and faculty, too cold to be friends with anyone at all. So he’s the last to realize when a new trend finds its feverish way across the school in whispers and muffled laughter behind lockers. Normally, he wouldn’t care-- schoolyard trends are little more than the transient, ephemeral whims of children drifting on the winds of their judgement, but there’s something about the ink that peeks through the sleeves of Kim’s shirt that demands his attention. 

“What is that?” 

“...are you checking out my muscles, bro?” Kim is genuinely baffled, not a trace of judgement in his tone but clearly trying to slot the puzzle pieces together as to when Felix became someone who cared about brawn, either in himself or anyone else. Still, Kim is nothing if not kind, so he flexes in Felix’s direction to give him a better look. 

His sleeves ride up when he does, and Felix brushes his arm over the bulge of Kim’s forearm, which probably doesn’t help the confusion. But the ink is irresistible to Felix. It’s familiar and gorgeous, sharp clean lines on Kim’s skin, and so glossy Felix worries it might smudge. It doesn’t. 

There on Kim’s wrist, perfectly framed by his bulging veins, is a comically cute grey dumbbell, and a doodled little snapdragon curled around the handle of the weights. 

“Oh, dude, did you mean my tattoo?” Kim is clearly relieved that his perception of Felix can remain intact, and helpfully flexes a little more. This is a much more reasonable thing for someone like Felix to find attractive. “Yeah, I finally caved and got it done, I wasn’t really sure what to get, y’know? I didn’t want to show up there like an idiot with no idea what to say or ask for, but Max told me that she was really good about just listening to you talk about what you liked and working with you to get something nice done. I like Max a lot,” he shares conspiratorially. 

Felix nods, as if this makes sense, and wanders away. Show up where? Get what done? Clearly someone was drawing this on Kim. There’s no way he could’ve done it himself; it was on his right wrist and Kim is right handed, but… Felix needed to know. He just didn’t know what to ask, or whether he should ask at all. 

But Felix knows how to hold his tongue, how to say the right things and keep himself safe, so he waits three days before ending up in a partner project with Max. Not by design, he plans to insist to anyone asking. No one asks. 

They’re listing their skills to decide who’ll take which piece of the project when Felix makes his move. “And you draw, too, right?” 

“No?” Max looks flummoxed, and Felix panics immediately. 

“Oh, well… I just… you had… Kim-told-me-you-drew-a-dumbbell-for-him!” He rushes the sentence out all in one breath, and Max looks more startled at his explanation than anything else, which sends Felix spiraling even more. 

But Max just takes a moment (a way too long moment) to process, and then laughs. “Is that what Kim said? He must’ve explained poorly. Nah, he got it the same place I got this.” And then Max is unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it up enough to show off the robot brushed over his abdomen, adorned with a cheerful amaryllis where its heart would be. 

“Where… um, where did you get it?” 

“Oh, art room after school! I’m surprised you haven’t seen the line out the door yet, it reaches well past the auditorium and I know you like to practice violin there after school. So, the project?” 

Max is too focused on the work to answer anything else after that, and Felix is too afraid to try. But he does know that Alya spends ages in the art room writing up articles for her blog as she waits on Marinette. 

He doesn’t get a chance to ask Alya anything, though, because Chloe derails the rest of class bragging about the shopping bags on her bicep and thoroughly avoiding the subject of the creator. Each one of them has an orange lily stamped on it in bold color, and Felix snorts. Fitting, though he’d never say it. Beautiful hatred is the modus operandi that Chloe exists on. 

The day after that, he waits until Nino is busy getting lunch to corner her at a lunch table. 

“Cool drawing, Alya.” Compliments are good, right? Compliments help people get what they want. And Felix wants, needs to know what this is, because there’s something so familiar, important, the way they’re tagged, and he would know it if he just had one hint, the right clue to fit into this picture-- 

“Thanks! My girl’s talented, don’tcha think? I love the way she let me match Nino.” She tugs down her collar to show off headphones slashed through with a pencil, and the ball of a group of sycamore flowers dangling off the end of the eraser like a pom pom. 

Felix bluescreens. No, no, that’s wrong. That’s not what he’d glimpsed on Nino’s neck, and Alya said they matched, something is wrong.

“Why is that flower there?” 

Alya laughs. “Well, every designer’s gotta have her tag, right? She’s a real tattoo artist, tags every piece with a flower she chooses out of nowhere. No one can work out what the pattern is, even when we cross referenced traditional flower meanings, but they’re always gorgeous and fit in so well-- have you seen Juleka’s? You’d hardly even notice, it’s so punk rock.” 

Nino’s making his way back and there’s no sycamore pom pom on his pencil, just an aster on the ear of the headphones, and Felix’s mind is whirring too fast to follow but Alya is walking away and the clues are slipping away like sand between his fingers and gripping harder only makes them slip away faster and--

“That’s the wrong flower.” 

“What?” Nino startles, absolutely taken aback at this out-of-character greeting. He’s used to Felix being curt, speaking out of context, but this is beyond even Nino’s ability to nod through. 

“It should be a marigold, right? Creative, passionate, absolutely driven by your art and the things you love, that’s who you are, why is it an aster?”

“...what??”

Felix can do little more than point. “Alya: sycamore, curious, journalistic drive, asking questions and doing everything she can to know a person so she can take care of them. Max: amaryllis, determined and focused on the work he builds and proud of it when it works because he has every right to be. Kim: snapdragon, strong and gracious and so, so, so protective, because that’s who he is so why is yours an aster?!”

“He deserves to know he’s clever, even if he doesn’t feel it.” 

Felix whirls around, and Marinette is standing there clutching her bag to her chest, trembling, but glaring at him from half a foot shorter than where he stands. She’s so strong. She’s so strong, and Felix wonders if she kept marigold for herself. She deserves to, if she wanted it. 

Maybe it shows on his face, what he’s thinking, or maybe she’s just always been the kindest person he was ever dumb enough to let go, because her gaze softens, hurt and hopeful in equal, anxious measure. “You remembered.” 

“...you made it hard to forget.” The way her face crumples confirms that yep, nope, Felix is an idiot. He scrambles to fix it, take it back, get it right this time no matter who’s watching. “No, no!! Like… unforgettable.” His voice is breathy on that last word, nostalgic for a childhood they barely shared, and it’s wrong and someone’s going to make fun of it but right now just for a second he doesn’t care. 

“...oh.”

What people really do make fun of him for is the way he ends up apologizing, for hours, sobbing into her blazer and wiping tears from her cheeks, and still not walking into school with her art on his skin, and Felix doesn’t correct them. 

He was right: there’s a marigold inked over her heart like a treasure. 

There’s a butterfly inked over his, now, landing on the petals of a geranium, and they’ve talked about now. Butterflies, first of all, can live for years, so that wasn’t even true, and friendships… friendships are like flowers. They take root and they grow, and when the sun hits right their seeds will burst into petal and stem and exist, persist, against every odd and obstacle. 

She has no idea how apt that butterfly is. Felix brushes his fingers over a brooch barely visible behind his tie, and feels hope blooming in his chest for the first time in years. 

This time, he knows how fragile it is. This time, he vows, he’ll keep the sunlight on it, patch the soil around its roots with fertilizer and keep it safe. This time… he’ll love her the way she deserves to be, the way she wants to be loved, the way he knows he’s allowed to.

[quonit37]

2021 Art Showstuff

Decided to revive that old post where I’d update it roughly once a month with art updates. I figured it’d be really convenient to have an archival post like this for the end-of-year “art from each month” posts I’ve started to make. That and I just liked them!

This first post is made on March 7th but nonetheless here’s stuff from each month.

January:

Date: 7th March 2021 Hyperfixation: Sonic Posts: ??? Followers: ???

Art: Funnily enough, I didn’t post anything really this much. Most of my work this month went into Cradles. I made a lot of Sonic drawings, though. Another issue regarding my art imput that month had to do with that for a week and a half I didn’t have my computer settup, meaning that I actually couldn’t make much art.

Here are some stills from Cradles I made that month!

February:

Date: 7th March 2021 Hyperfixation: Sonic, at the very end FnF Posts: ??? Followers: ???

In February I was really able to get more back into things. I created my Sonic sideblog, and it quickly grew as I posted just my little doodles to it.

I made a lot more this month, but my favorite art peice has to be the Valentines Day Contestshipping ones.

I like them both a lot, but I think that I might like the Drew one more because I didn’t forget to add his pokeball and because I think that it’s the best picture I’ve ever made of him. Who’d think that drawing the same character for five years would mean you get better at drawing them...

I’ll update again at the end of March to show off what I think beat that month!

March:

Date: 30th May 2021 (FUCK I forgot about updating this) Hyperfixation: FnF, mild Sonic Posts: ??? Followers: ???

So this month I made a LOT of more famous FnF content. My doodles REALLY started dating off, and I made Past Dust and started characterizing Alucard.

Favorite art peice this month (that isn’t a comic) might be this one I did for Error’s birthday!

It’s a traditional art peice where I used my watercolors and then made Knuckles and Dan using my markers and cutting it out. I think that’s creative and uhg finally I’ve done something new lol.

April

Date: 30th May 2021 Hyperfixation: FnF Posts: ??? Followers: ???

I was REALLY managing my FnF at this point. It got close to hitting 300 this month.

[Post here] [Speedpaint]

So this was a collaboration but I’m gonna allow myself to cheat a little but on it, sense 95% of it was me. This is one of the best things I’ve made and it’s SUPER amazing color wise and just VERY epic looking in general. I think I’ve finally defeated the “Too cute to be epic” disease I’ve had.

May

Date: 30th May 2021 Hyperfixation: FnF, Team Fortress 2, Ladyverse, Sonic, Sanses Posts: 33,168 Followers: 320

My hyperfixations suddenly exploded... IT’S KIND OF FUN TO HAVE FIVE HYPERFIXATIONS AT ONCE? But also very stressful. I try to ignore that I like Sanses again.

I think I’ve made quite a few nice things this month. But I think the one I need to point out is this one of Alucard.

[Post here]

It’s a traditional Copic peice with my markers, but this one is SUPER special to me because it’s the first copic piece I’ve done without it being a fullbody. Mom compared it to looking like a playing card, which I agree with. I love how I did the magic, with how the green light reflects off his glasses and the edge of the colors. How I avoided coloring parts which really makes it pop far more. The eyes- the EYES.

It really taught me a lot about copic drawing going forward and gives me more confidence. Though... I think I need to buy more refills first.

June

OH WOW did this month go on for a while.

Date: 3rd July 2021 Hyperfixation: Pokemon?? I guess?? Posts: 34,066 Followers: 326

Well I can say that I’ve been doing a lot of copic drawings recently. This month I made a bunch of doodles and me and Error started an RP and worked on a few fanfics... OH YEAH AND I FINISHED CRADLES

Took long enough! I got a positive response and I am tired.

Although I did finish about... Like, the entire third half this month that I don’t think counts as art of the month because this project spanned over many months.

I did a few colored pictures this month but most of it was focused on finishing Cradles. I actually finally got around to doing two other portaits in the style of the Alucard one for his siblings!

[Post]

I’m not as happy with these two as I was with the Alucard one for a few reason... I feel like the proportions feel more off than I’d like for the Cassandra one, and the Girlfriend one has a lot of uneven coloring and the streaks are very visable but not in a good way. + I screwsd up the eyes a bit. I still like them both though!

I do like this picture I did in the style of Kawai_Niy on Twitter though :O It’s not as impressive as the others but I got such a positive response from the person I copied the style from!

Hope this section isn’t too picture heavy. oopsss

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter - Monday, December 28th

Doyle: "If you need help. Then look no further. Angel Investigations is the best! - Our rats are low."

~~Hero~~

The Sunnydale Herald is currently looking for a few good editors! Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! For more information, send us an ask (on Tumblr) or post a reply to this post (on Livejournal or Dreamwidth)!

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Painted Eyes (Angelus/Drusilla, E) by Cut Out Stars (Coldest_Fire)

Oh, Grow Up! (Willow/Tara, T) by Tuxedo_Mark

Probably Demons (Dawn/Stiles, Teen Wolf crossover, G) by seraphina_snape

Worry With a Side of Tea (Giles/Jenny, T) by Cornerofmadness

Mistletoe Traditions (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by acekoomboom

A Touch of Basil (Buffy/Spike, G) by all_choseny

[Chaptered Fiction]

A Heart That Can Hurt (Ch. 20 of Giles' Detective Agency, Mission 2) (Ensemble, Devil May Cry crossover, T) by madimpossibledreamer

This Year's Boy, Chapter 10 (Xander, Faith, M) by Kylia

The Unlikely Chosen Ones, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Ash Williams, Evil Dead crossover, E) by BloodyGelPens

Xander Manages Some Mischief Makers, Chapter 1 (Xander, Fred & George Weasley, T) by jujukittychick

Buffy and Faith VS Fairy Tales, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Faith, G) by RavenclawSlayer

Dress My Body All in Flowers White, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, R) by othellia

A (Mostly) Comprehensive Guide to the End of the World, Chapter 27 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Annabellee

Flickers, Chapter 33 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Dusty

Anniversary, Chapter 43 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Nik84

Rebuilt, Chapter 18 (Buffy, comics/Sci-Fi crossover, FR15) by batzulger

The General's Artifact 6: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 (Buffy/Spike, M) by Myrabeth

[Images, Audio & Video]

Cosplay: Giles the Watcher by itsannieyall

Artwork: Inspired by one episode in season 2 I can't remember (Buffy, worksafe) by arcturedraws

Artwork: Take me back to the 90s (Sims versions of Buffy, Xander (?), worksafe) by lili4sims

Artwork: I can't think of anything actually substantial so take this instead.. (Buffy, Spike, Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, Wesley, worksafe) by punksouthie

Artwork: Made an edit of Willow ..I don't know what it is I adore about her but she's just my fave from Buffy by stardust-strange

Artwork: Doodles of the girlfriends :3 (Buffy, Faith, worksafe) by toyhdgehog

Music: Close your eyes - Buffy the Vampire Slayer piano cover by Esa Kosivalta

Video: A Very Buffy Holiday by Howard Washington

Video: Spike and Buffy- A Little Bit Stronger by Molls and Syd

Video: Buffy and Spike | Bad Boy | BTVS by Sappy Syrup

Video: Buffy + Spike | Coney Island by siredtodamon

Video: Faith Lehane - Therefore I am (BTVS/ATS) by Magic Box

Video: Buffy characters by Wιτch

Video: Dragon Ball GT + Buffy the Vampire Slayer by my name is not important

Video: Buffy The Vampire Slayer (GBC) in 26:46 (WR) (BtVS platform game playthrough) by TexanRedWolf Speedruns

[Reviews & Recaps]

Review of Boom's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reboot volume 1 by shy-ginger-in-the-graveyard

Discussion of 5.12 "You're Welcome" - Aired 2/4/2004 (WB-US) continued by Lovetheearth

Most Definitive Episodes [of AtS] by redditguy628

S7 Rewatch!!!! "Sleeper" by caldude1985

[Recs]

Fic rec: Ketchup Blood (Buffy/Spike, G) by Kalima recced by Priceless

Video rec: Buffy & Spike - Can't Deny My Love by Naomi Selig recced by Priceless

Fan art rec: BtVS Band Candy Giles + Joyce by IgneousSpirit recced by ash-related-fanart

[Community Announcements]

Black Is Beautiful gift exchange; nominations start January 8

You are cordially invited to the Headline Awards 2021 Red Carpet Gala (nominations: Jan. 1st - Jan. 20th 2021) by The Headline Awards

[Fandom Discussions]

It does not make any sense for the mythology of BtVS to say that vampires cower from/are injured by crosses, but not other religious symbols by aliceinwondrbra

The scene where Buffy trips and a bunch of medieval weapons fall out of her bag by lovelyamneris

Believe it or not, but I'm watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the first time by undaggered

Yo Parker is a bitch. by anonymousrobinhoodqueer

Giles was straight up about to try and fight the Master himself by lovelyamneris

Unpopular opinions continued by Lostsoul666

Question: Does "Angel" feature any type of foreshadowing? by dcgraca

Was watching a comic con panel and James Marsters said the first time he and Sarah Michelle Gellar kissed was when SMG was playing Faith by Desperate4AShagGiles

A Buffy moment in the McDonald's carpark by bumpy_beagle

Spike recites his infamous poem about Cecily at an open mic by Use_Her-Name

When you haven't done a Buffy rewatch in around a year... by Lozbear91

Question: Was the show supposed to end with S5? by dcgraca

Spike continuity error? (Trigger warning) by mrblueitoldyou

SOLVED!!!! Solutions to the Angel and Spike hate brigades by caldude1985

What do you think about this idea fora comedic episode? by Proud3GnAthst

I just love Alyson's delivery of this line by GreyStagg

I find it ironic that both Buffy and Dawn missed the heart the first time they went to stake a vamp, but Cordy didn't by Grebnesorwolliw

I want to know what Tara's theory was. Anyone else? by Grebnesorwolliw

Finish the meme to fit every Buffy character: by SpaceD0lphin

[nikibogwater]

2020 Creator’s Self-love Extravaganza

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 8 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

I’ve been tagged for this a couple of times in the last few weeks, but haven’t had time/brainpower to work on it until now (but I love you all, and thank you for the tags!!!!)

This is probably going to be filled with nothing but my Tales of Arcadia stuff, as that was where I think my creativity really peaked during 2020. I’ll try to split the list evenly between fanart pieces and fanfics, but honestly, I’m most happy with the fics I published in 2020, especially the 6 parts of the still-ongoing Immortal Bonds series.

8. This doodle of Douxie, Archie, and Nari

One of the only scribbles I did in the month of August that I do not now cringe at whenever I look back at it, haha. It’s pretty rough, I’ll admit, but I really like the feeling it conveys--that this small found family is looking towards an uncertain future together. 

7. “You will not touch him!”

This was an experimental sketch in a few ways. It was the first really “thematically intense” doodle I ever tried, featuring an injured Douxie and his absolutely furious Bean Sister. But it was also a fun experiment with hybrid art. After finishing the traditional sketch and scanning it into my computer, I played around a bit with touching it up digitally. All the green in the picture was added in digitally. The actual physical sketch in my book is completely colorless. I later decided that I preferred sticking to exclusively traditional methods, but it was fun to play around with something different for a bit. 

6. These Douxie & Archie sketches

The first (and so far, only) piece of art I ever did that broke 100 notes. Apparently, people really love Soft Kitty Snuggles, haha. But I do genuinely love how these two side-by-side doodles show the relationship between Archie and Douxie--how it’s evolved, and how it’s stayed the same.

5. Glitter Wings Nari

Drawing Nari with her glitter wings for the first time was one of the best creative experiences of my year. Up until that point, I’d been putting a lot of pressure on myself to make stuff that looked “good,” and that meant all of my doodles were colorless because...well, I can’t color things “professionally.” But it hit me one day that “Hey. My art is stagnating, and it’s not very fun anymore.” So I ditched all my aspirations of making something “objectively good” and went nuts just making something I loved. I do colored pieces all the time now, and I love them, even though nobody would ever describe them as “professional.”

4. A Moment to Breathe

Moving on to fics now (which is really my area of expertise), A Moment to Breathe is just a wonderfully soft moment of relationship-building between Douxie and Nari. I felt that Nari’s dialogue here was especially good, capturing that dichotomy of ancient wisdom and childlike trust that makes her character so appealing to me. Also a good example of Niki just going absolutely nuts with headcanons regarding magic and the physical sensations that accompany it.

3. Feline Paralysis

This piece was inspired by a prompt from my very, very dear friend @poetryinmotion-author, and was extra special to me because I was able to pull a lot from my own life experiences. Writing from Archie’s perspective for most of the fic was incredibly fun, and I particularly love his stand-off with Merlin in the latter half of the fic. 

2. The City Never Sleeps

My first ever ToA fic, and the one that really launched my fandom career here. It was sort of a therapy-fic for myself, a way of dealing with the intense emotions left by the ending of Wizards. It basically just poured out of me in a rush of passion, and somehow, remarkably, is still one of the best pieces I’ve ever done. It’s also, as far as I can tell, the first post-canon Wizards fic published Ao3, so I guess that’s something, haha. 

1. A Shot in the Dark

My followers are probably getting tired of hearing me harp on about this one, but A Shot in the Dark was by far the greatest project of my 2020. Unlike my other fics, which were mostly slice-of-life stories about the characters dealing with personal problems and relationships, this was a higher-stakes plot with a slow-burn buildup of dread and apprehension. I was able to push that sweet sweet Hurt/Comfort to the absolute max with this one, and I am so, so proud of how it turned out. It may have underperformed in terms of Kudos/Hits, but I still consider it to be my current Magnum Opus, and definitely one of the highest points of my 2020 as a whole.

I am quite late in getting to this post, so I think most of my fellow creator friends have already been tagged by now. But here’s a couple No Pressure tags: @a-s-levynn and @sergeantsporks. Anyone else who sees this is welcome to jump on board, and make sure you @ me if you do. ✨