#this composition is a little busy but i think it looks nice :3

[aster-go-brrr]

made a colleirose (idk their ship name i literally just made that up) phone bg :3

[triflesandparsnips]

I'm not seeing enough deep-dive nonsense about the new Good Omens season 2 poster drop on my dash, and by god that means I must be the one to deliver it.

For those who haven't seen it yet, behold:

...there's a lot in here to go a wee bit feral over, if one was so inclined, and lord knows I love an inclination.

The Obvious Stuff

1. There Was Only One Bed Chair

This is the bulk of the commentary I've seen, and tbh, it's pretty great. "I am bored/busy and ignoring you but also what is personal space, never heard of her, we will not be taking questions at this time."

Notably, however, this is the second time we've seen them back to back-- the majority of the poster art we saw for the first season had them side by side. In both cases they're in a position to face some third thing together-- the difference, perhaps, is that side by side might imply equality of situation, while back to back implies implicit trust that the other won't stab you there.

2. The bookshop

Aw, look at them. Look at it. What a glorious little mess. This is them in London. Arizaphale looks pleased with the situation; Crowley looks bored af but he's also squished up on that one dang chair, so there's a "cat sitting next to you because parallel play and mirroring are the Best Interactions" feel to it.

3. Tea and wine

Arizaphale's got a teacup, Crowley's got a wine glass, this is very Them and indicative of their Vibes. Tbh, I think this is just a nice bit of design work, but it's worth calling out.

4. The outside street

The shop across the way is using a Gothic and reads "GIVE ME" before being cut off. No clue what it means, but it probably means something.

5. The tagline

The previous tagline we got was "Something's going down in the Up" (with that grey feather falling between their black and white wings)-- this tagline reads "Everyday it's a-getting closer."

Easiest interpretation is, oho, we're getting closer to the second season, and gosh there will be some Plot in it. And sure, yes, it works for that too, huzzah. But leaving aside the "it" and what that may mean-- "a-getting" is a fascinating word choice. It evokes similar constructions like, say, the somewhat obscure "Sumer is icumen in" (a song about the changing of the seasons and also encouraging a cuckoo to go lay some eggs in other birds nests if u no wat im sayin eyyyyy)-- and the significantly less obscure protest song "The Times They Are A-Changin'", whose ending stanza is:

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin'

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin'

Gosh.

Now the Real Fun Starts

This poster is a composite image (as so many ads are), composed of different bits and pieces to form a whole impression -- based on fun stuff like relative pixelation and whatnot, you can often tell what portions of an image were there to start with, and what were specifically added in after the fact. How packed this poster is in tiny details -- which is exactly where I would hide fun hints to things -- is generally a cue for me to take a closer look, and I have been, I think, rewarded.

1. The books with legible titles

Zoom in on Aziraphale's book-- he's reading Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. The "two cities" in play are Paris and London, and the book is set before and during the French Revolution.

It's the story of a man who had been previously imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years, and then was released to go live with his daughter -- who he has never met, what with the whole "imprisoned" thing -- in London.

The opening paragraph is:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

The pile of books in the foreground have two visible titles: the topmost one is Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (a "novel of manners" that's considered a heavy-hitting romantic classic, and also yes the leads are both prideful and prejudiced and it takes an entire book for them to clear that up) and Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (a young adult coming-of-age adventure story about a kid who finds himself on an adventure with a bunch of pirates to discover buried treasure).

Of note: A Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island also all have note tabs sticking out of them, and are the only books that have them. This is reminiscent of how Arizaphale studied and referenced Agnes Nutter's prophecies.

Some of the books beneath the window technically have titles, but they appear to be about as pixelated as the rest of that section, and so I suspect they're just part of the scenery.

Similarly, most of the books on the background shelves are like that as well, except:

Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (A satirical novel set in World War II; Wikipedia briefly explains that "the novel examines the absurdity of war and military life through the experiences of Yossarian and his cohorts, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home." The book also coined the phrase "catch-22," which is a situation someone can't escape because of paradoxical rules-- in the case of the book, you can't ask to be evaluated for insanity so that you can be exempt from flying dangerous missions, because "anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy.")

Iain Banks's The Crow Road (and a first edition, perhaps? I haven't read it, but apparently it's a Scottish family drama about a perfect murder against the backdrop of the 1990s Gulf War. Its opening line is "It was the day my grandmother exploded." The phrase "the crow road" is a euphemism, in the book, for death.)

Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim (Sparknotes says it's "the story of a man named Marlow's struggle to tell and to understand the life story of a man named Jim" -- a young man who goes to sea, makes a terrible and cowardly decision while following his leaders, and then spends the rest of his life haunted by it.)

There's at least one extra, partially obscured title:

It appears to read "THE BODY ------ and ------", which makes me wonder if it's an anthology of murder mystery short stories.

Leaving aside the uncertain book, commonalities between many of these books include:

soldiers, war, and the horrors/absurdities thereof

doubles and parallels

death and murder

a young/inexperienced protagonist thrown in with more experienced/weirder folk

fragmented and out of order narratives, sometimes having to be pieced together from multiple viewpoints

...pirates

2. The strange but noticeable inserts

There are several images that have been inserted into the poster that -- unlike the teacup and wine glass mentioned above -- don't seem to make a lot of contextual sense and are therefore, perhaps, extra information. These include:

a. the three lizard boys

b. the broken smartphone

c. the matchbox with the quote on the side

d. the camera

e. this statuette that seems suspicious

f. this record and scroll that seem out of place

g. the clockface with the missing hand (which may be just for the Aesthetic, but whatever, I'm including it)

What do they mean? No clue. I suspect it will become apparent as we get trailers and/or the actual show.

In Conclusion

Uh.

Look. Design teams can do all sorts of things for all sorts of reasons. All of this could mean absolutely nothing.

But.

Using my magical powers of bullshit deduction, I might look at all this, and that grey feather falling from the earlier poster, and say... well... the war's still ongoing, yeah? So maybe... maybe there needs to be a new angel keeping an eye on things on Earth. Or an eye specifically on Aziraphale and Crowley.

And that would look SUSPICIOUS, right? So this is an angel who's maybe... a little bit Fallen. For the sake of the Mission. Like, they've agreed to sin just a lil bit, just enough to justify being thrown out of Heaven, and they're not actively in Hell because they're, oh, just stopping off, or maybe just going really slowly, or maybe they were sent back up from Hell because they were still "too good" and all that Pureness of Spirit was stinking up the place--

Whatever. Point is, they're on Earth, they're very confused, it sure would be nice if these very Established metaphysical elders could give them a few hints about how to get on. We'd then get to enjoy a Guide to Living a Totally Normal Human Life given by these two disaster dorks, plus whatever nonsense is derived from, idk, various extraneous plot shenanigans, probably involving a Murder and maybe a MacGuffin Maltese Falcon.

And most importantly: this new angel? Wow no they couldn't possibly be a spy because again WOW, what kind of angel would deliberately Fall? Wouldn't that require doing the wrong thing to do a right thing? ...okay maybe, but can it really be wrong if it was done by command? ...well, wait, it surely must be wrong because otherwise the mechanism wouldn't have worked-- but then, wait, which thing was the wrong thing--

And Aziraphale and Crowley would watch this bouncing volley of cognitive dissonance with great interest, also possibly while holding hands.

[osatokun]

Hey, do you mind if I ask what your process is for drawing scenes/rooms? They have such a nice flow and soft feeling to them that I admire so much. My own scenes get a very stiff and naked-looking perspective, and I'd like to improve on that.

Hello! Thank you! <3 For complicated perspective shots I use very basic 3d models, it helps a lot in figuring out the right angle. I'm not good with perspective myself and I have too many ideas that needs to jump over my head and do it FAST before inspiration fades. So this is the good tool. (obviously, I start with thinking out the idea and composition first, and then figuring out perspective. The app is called design doll)

Then I sketch over

then *draw the damn owl* XD

The biggest part is to think about characters on the picture, where they are, what they like, what are they doing etc. This exact picture is a small celebration of ressurection of that little pink bear-chimera. All of the kids are living hard life, more or less they are all warriors (a werewolf, 2 changelings (and Glinda) and a vampire, Prince's adopted daughter).But Charlie want to let them be kids as long as they can. And then the details comes from the understanding of the characters. Werewolf kid has 2 boxes of noodles (and probably finishing up 3rd) because they eat A LOT and use a ton of energy. Vampire kid has no food because vampires rarely can eat food, Charlie is a special bean. They left a bun for Charlie because he doesn't like to eat much (he doesn't need too), but still enjoys the taste and sharing meal. He is busy changing plates and washing tho. There are werewolf's hoodie on the chair and a backpack, because it's Charlie's and Glinda's home, everyone but Monica are guests. There are coffee machine because Glinda works A LOT during the day and also wants to hang out with her new found family at nights. Each syrup bottle picked according to Glinda's and Monica's taste. a ton of frogs stuff- Glinda loves them. An unfinished painting-the abandoned woods in Umbra. Halloween lights-it's Charlie's favorite holiday. Little duck - one of the first things Charlie saw when he first come to Glinda's house (it sit in the sink, drifting in pink colored water). A bouquet of raspberry - Charlie gave it to Glinda in the first days of dating to impress her ( he also thought it had a good symbolism). he killed people to get this bouquet (no joke!!) I'm sorry, I got carried away! But if your question was only about perspective, you have the answer!

[ideavian]

Your art and the style you have can only be compared to a resplendent dream. I'd love to know about your history in art, ie, your inspirations, how long you've been creating, and the story behind your fascination with distinctively ornate birds. My guess for the birds is Articuno, but what do I know?

Thank you so much!! That’s so nice of you to say akskkssk the birds are not really based on articuno sadly but articuno is one fine bird. Would love to catch it in Pokémon go one day 😔

I’ve been drawing birds for some … 8 years now? It started out less as birds than as colours in shapes tbh, like this one from probably 2016:

^Brought to you by sketch express and its 3 whole layers on my iPad 2. I think the first such bird drawing I ever did was based on a particularly nice sunset I saw :) I drew a whole series of these elements-based birds but I can’t find them anymore…

After playing around with that for a few months I started taking requests for birds based on anime characters like this one (mid 2017)

^rip Lelouch Codegeass you were a real one. I mostly drew characters from bungou stray dogs and That One Obscure Chinese Anime which. Really didn’t work that well in hindsight considering that the designs were more casual than what this style was suited for. But that’s where I started basing birds on people :3

And then in 2018 I got into a little dress up game called Love Nikki and started using the costumes as inspiration and also ran an art request blog, so I was drawing stuff like this for maybe four years? Also I got involved with an art club associated with the game so I was drawing a lot. Most of my stuff from around this time is on this blog!

(August 2018, June 2019, September 2020, August 2021. These are very representative of my personal growth because if you look at my signature you can tell I changed from a cat person to a crow person)

In the summer of 2022 I started doing commissions and got to see a lot of of people’s OCs! It was a lot of fun honestly and I think some of my best work was from then tbh. I think seeing other people’s character designs in different styles really helped me with learning to work with different elements and compositions and such :3

(August 2022, June 2023. Finally got a proper watermark because if I didn’t use them I’d get cancelled so hard on Chinese social media)

And also I discovered genshin character designs around that time and really vibed with the amount of detail on them :D I know people complain about how complicated they are a lot but my style only really works with complicated designs alsjsk

(April 2023, January 2024. Found out about lighting this year and it’s so exciting)

And that’s my bird drawing journey so far! I’m busy with school right now but I’m definitely looking forward to drawing more consistently after I’m done :D I love birds and fancy clothes and birds in fancy clothes

[dragonowl]

Pathcode:

Light Through a Broken Lens

The Sky That Doesn't End: Part 2

Masterlist

Genre: EXO AU, Romance, Mystery

Rated: PG

Pairing: Byun Baekhyun x Lara (OC)

Summery: Exo has scattered. Now in hiding after the Red Force closed in on them and Luhan went missing. Baekhyun finds himself in a small town while he waits until they can reunite again. Guarded after everything that has taken place, he’s not looking for friendship, or anything else, until a light shines through, even as the darkness closes around them.

First, Prev, Next. AO3

Chapter 3: Composition

A little bell dinged above Baekhyun as he pushed open the old wooden door and he sighed as the smell of freshly baked goods surrounded him. His heart tightened slightly, remembering the smells that would fill their small home when D.O. would cook. 

“Hello,” a young woman said from behind the counter. “How can I help you?”

“Umm…” he hesitated and craned his neck to see behind the counter as he took some small steps forward. “Is Lara…?”

“Oh,” the woman’s face looked surprised, but she covered it up quickly with another smile. “Just a moment.” She disappeared quickly through a doorway towards the back of the room and Baekhyun busied himself with looking at the goods behind the glass case as he tried to ease his nerves while he waited.

“Hello stranger,” a familiar voice said, and he straightened to look over the glass case to where Lara now stood. 

“Hi,” he said. “Thought I’d grab some breakfast before getting to work.”

“Well, everything is pretty fresh,” she said, slipping her hands into her apron pockets. “What can I get you?”

“What do you recommend?”

“Hmm…” She looked through the back of the glass case. “Well, these are the muffins that I just made,” she said, pointing at a loaded tray. “Or, if you’re wanting something with jam you should try the kolache.” She pointed at another tray that had some red-filled pastries. “And these are really good if you’re wanting something like a cookie.” She pointed at a tray of round, icing-coated desserts.

“Hmm,” Baekyun hummed as he looked over her recommendations. “I guess I’ll take a muffin for now…and a few of each of the others for later.” He met her eyes, slipping his hands into his pockets to match her stance. “Something to snack on.”

“I’ll get right on it,” she said with a wink and grabbed some tongs. “So, back to the field today?” she asked as she wrapped the muffin in a napkin and handed it to him. 

“I might take some pictures in town today,” he said. “I think black and white would be nice.”

She nodded as she listened while filling a paper bag with the baked treats. 

“Actually,” he said, looking around the bakery. “Would it be alright if I snap some pictures in here?”

“I’ll have to ask the owner,” she said, moving over to the counter. “He’s in the back working on another batch of bread.”

“Okay,” he said, handing over some money. “I’ll just take a seat out here and eat my breakfast.”

“It shouldn’t take long.”

~~~

After gaining permission, Baekhyun went about taking pictures of the treats behind the glass case and the breads packaged and on display in the small bakery. The lighting and decor gave the perfect vintage look he was hoping for and he was completely lost while looking through the lens. 

“Would you like some lunch?” Lara asked and Baekhyun glanced up at her from where he was crouching in front of a table. 

“It’s a bit early for lunch,” he said and glanced at his watch. His eyes widened in shock at how much time had passed, then he glanced at his stomach in betrayal as it chose that moment to alert him about his need for food. He looked back up at Lara and rubbed the back of his neck with a chuckle which she met with a smirk, but she spared him the embarrassment of laughing at his expense. “I guess I should go, huh?”

“We’re making sandwiches in the back,” she said, pointing her thumb behind her. “We trade our second-day goods for other food and make our lunches and dinners with that. The boss said he’s happy to trade lunch for some of your pictures. We need some better ones for advertisement. Hopefully, we can pull more business in from other towns.”

“That sounds great!” Baekhyun said, finally getting to his feet. “If he even likes any of them.” He paused for a moment as he looked over his camera. “Uh…hmm…I’ll have to come back later with my digital camera though. I’ve been using my analog camera lately, so these pictures will be physical unless they get scanned into a computer. But, they won’t look as nice.”

“Whatever you think is best. He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry, but you can run it by him if you want,” she said with a bright smile. “Come on back and we’ll get you some lunch.”

First, Prev, Next. AO3

[natimiles]

Come a Little Closer | Chapter 3

Read: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Words: 3071

Pairs: gn!reader/Arthur; f!MC/Mozart

Tags: swearing; drinking; spoilers from Mozart’s and Arthur’s route in one big bowl of salad; lots of pet names (because I love it); MC is the one in-game, just to make it more clear; Mozart being petty; reader and Arthur being adorable and chaotic; suggestive scenes because we have Arthot as one of the main characters; Arthur simping over you.

It’s been a few days and you could see Mozart was trying to respect your boundaries. He still complained sometimes, but didn’t sit in between you and Arthur or cleaned your hands when you touched. A tiny progress, but one nonetheless.

As dinner time approached, you were relieved that MC was there to help Sebastian. It was nice having another person around, you’d be late in assisting the butler otherwise. You were certain he didn’t mind managing the entire mansion alone before, but he appreciated the assistance. You were entrusted with cleaning and organizing the parlor. How these vampires managed to make such a mess with their mere presence in a room was astounding! Putting the last deck of cards in its place, you hummed contently, your hands on your hips while you proudly looked around. Too bad it’d probably last for only a day.

“So you’re here,” Mozart said, only his head peeking into the room. He never set foot inside the parlor and apparently had no intention of changing that statistic. “Are you busy?”

“Hey, Moz,” you said, turning and walking over to him. “No, I just finished here. Do you need something?”

“Yes, I need you to listen to this song and tell me what you think.” He allowed you space to exit the room and close the door behind you. “Can you help me, or are you going to help Sebastian with dinner now?”

“MC is with Sebastian today, so I can help you.”

“Great!” He smiled widely — or as widely as he could.

Arriving at his music room, he sat at his piano bench, and you dragged your own bench to his side. Mozart had asked Comte to buy you one, as you spent a lot of time there with him. The patron ended up buying you a piano as well, even though you just wanted a place to sit. You closed your eyes, listening intently to every note he played until it softly ended.

“I really like it,” you said and smiled. “But if your face is any indication, there’s something you’re not liking.”

“Yes, there’s a part that doesn’t sound good enough. Can you guess?”

“Mmmm, knowing you, I think you don’t like this one,” you pointed to the sheet music. He nodded. “Well, it’s all really good for me. I think you could play it in your next performance even.”

“You always say it’s good.”

“And you keep asking for my opinion,” you both chuckled. “But I mean it everytime.”

A soft knock on the door interrupted your little chat. “Herr Mozart?” MC called from outside.

The musician huffed before saying, “Yes?”

The door opened just a bit, and she peeked inside the room with a soft smile on her face. “Hey, YN, you’re here too. I came to tell that dinner will be ready in 10 minutes.”

“Thank you, MC,” you said. 

The woman gave you a thumbs up and closed the door. Through your peripheral vision, you could see that Mozart wasn’t pleased. His music room was even more sacred than his own bedroom; he didn’t like others in there. He was already upset that the new guest was the one delivering meals and interrupting him on a daily basis. He had even considered stopping his compositions to attend all the meals in the dining room, just to avoid having her there.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to be nice, you know.”

“Are you gonna start with that again?” He sighed. 

“Well, yeah! MC is helping everyone and she’s always kind to you. Why can’t you treat her the same?”

“I don’t like her.”

“You didn’t like me when I arrived. Hell, I broke a glass of rouge on your crystal-clear white floor on my first week here! You almost killed me that day, but here we are now.”

He chuckled softly, as if recalling a fond memory. “You were quite a nuisance, but I don’t know, you showed me you were a good person. And you gave me all those chocolates, so I forgave you for the mess you made here.”

“Chocolate maniac,” you teased, poking his ribs. “But seriously, you gave me a chance. Can’t you give one to her?”

“I don’t trust her.”

“You didn’t trust me before.”

“She has no self-preservation,” he said, crossing his arms. He looked like a child throwing a tantrum. “She followed a stranger, without even knowing his name or where he was going.”

You deadpanned at him. “Are you serious right now?”

“Ugh! She’s insufferable.”

“She’s my friend,” you gave him your best pout. “If I trust her, can’t you too?”

“Are you trying to use my love for you to convince me?”

“Yes. Is it working?” 

“It would work better if your ability to judge people weren’t clouded by your relationship with Doyle.”

“I’ll humbly accept you calling him by his last name instead of any curse,” you said with a smile. “But seriously, can’t you try? For meeee?” You grabbed his hands in yours and gave him your best puppy-dog eyes, blinking at him.

“You really have to stop doing it,” he said with an annoyed sigh, but you knew he was caving in.

“We can go out, I’ll be there to help you… We can double date! That way you’ll see Arthur is not as bad as you think either.” 

“What’s a double date?”

xxx

Could you have explained to your brother what a double date really was? Yes. Did you? No. 

You just told him that you, Arthur, him and MC would go out to a coffee shop. Your little sibling charm worked wonderfully, or maybe it was because you said he could keep an eye on you and Arthur… He agreed too quickly when you said that. The important thing is that he agreed, but you’d have to sit by his side in the carriage, to help with his anxiety; he almost asked for you to hold his hand, but he didn’t want the other two asking stupid questions. The ride downtown was unusually quiet, interrupted only by your sporadic comments about the differences between the past and the future with MC. Your boyfriend sulked throughout the ride because he wanted you by his side, yearning for the moments when he could wrap his arms around you.

“Wow, this place is lovely,” MC exclaimed with a wide smile, her eyes twinkling as she took in the place. 

It was a small and discreet coffee shop, but really comfy. The exposed brick walls, the wooden flooring, the turquoise counter on the back (filled with all kinds of treats), plush armchairs aligned around white-round wooden tables and the warm light provided by the chandeliers... It all created the perfect setting for a cozy date.

“I know, right?” you said with the same expression. “You should eat their chocolates, it’s divine!”

“There’s chocolate?” Mozart asked, trying to sound nonchalant but you saw the glint in his eyes.

You guided everyone to a table in the corner and pulled Arthur to sit by your side. Mozart didn’t want to be near the writer, so he quickly sat by your other side. It was good, he could directly glare at Arthur in this disposition. You four ordered and you tried to bite back a laugh when Mozart ordered every chocolate dessert he laid his eyes on the menu.

“You like chocolates, Herr Mozart?”

“What other reason would I order it?” he said curtly. 

You pinched his arm under the table and muttered, “Be nice.” Arthur stifled a laugh supporting his chin on the palm of his hand.

Mozart glared at you and your boyfriend, but decided to answer MC appropriately to make you stop bothering him. “It’s good with coffee.” 

You wouldn’t let him maintain that kuudere personality or whatever it was, not today. You had a mission, and you’d complete it!

“Yes, he does!” You interjected with a smile, pretending to study the menu to avoid noticing the glare he directed your way. “We can say I bought his love with chocolates.”

“Mmm, I can understand that,” MC laughed. “I love chocolates too. I used to make and sell them to help pay for college.”

The chocolates piqued Mozart’s interest, but he refused to show it or say anything, annoyed for being dragged there and the people chatting loudly. 

“Oh, that’s nice! What did you study?” you asked.

“I have a degree in Tourism,” she said. “I had a travel blog and ran an agency in the future. Well, sort of an agency, since it was just me.”

“What is… all that?” Arthur asked curiously. Mozart was curious too, but he’d refuse to ask anything to her.

“Well, in my degree, I studied the world, the countries and their cultures, to put it simply. And a blog is like a diary, but one that everyone can read.”

“Why would you have a diary that everyone can read?” The musician blurted out, unable to hold his tongue, apparentlyt.

“It’s not for personal matters,” she giggled. “I wrote about my trips. For example, before coming here, I was on a trip to Paris. When I got home, I’d write about the sightseeing, good restaurants, and the hotel I stayed in. Then, whoever was interested in that would contact me, and my travel agency would help them to travel there.”

“You must speak lots of languages!” You beamed at her.

“Yes and no,” she giggled. “I know the basics of some, just so I don’t get into trouble on my trips.”

“Which ones do you speak?”

If Mozart was sure of something, it was that you, Arthur and MC talked a lot. His head was spinning and you three didn’t seem like ending this conversation anytime soon. When the four of you walked out of the coffee shop, he thought it was time to go back to the mansion, but you weren’t satisfied yet.

Walking side by side in the streets, you pointed out every place you thought MC would like: the sightseeing spots, the good stores, and where you and Sebastian bought food. At times, you’d turn to Arthur for guidance, considering he had been a resident longer than you. Excitedly, you gestured towards the square plaza and tugged at your boyfriend’s arm, dragging him to a group of people gathered around a man playing a violin. In your excitement, you left the other two behind. You were so enthralled by the people dancing that you didn’t notice MC was distracted, gazing at a window shop.

She was looking at jewelry, enchanted by their beauty, which shimmered in the sunset light. They were so different from the ones in her own time. When she turned around to call you, she realized you weren’t nearby anymore.

“They are dancing over there,” Mozart said. He didn’t like being left alone with MC and thought about going home alone, but he felt a twinge of guilt when he noticed her looking as though she might panic, thinking she was left behind.

She startled when she heard him, thinking she was all alone and lost. She turned around quickly to look at him and then where he pointed with his head. “Wow, that’s a lot of people! I suppose you stayed back to avoid being too close or touched by anyone,” she said. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and she added, “YN and Sebastian told me you don’t like people touching you.”

“I don’t like people I don’t trust touching me. There’s a difference.”

“I suppose,” she smiled. “Not exactly what I heard from Mozart in my time.”

He scoffed and crossed his arms. “I know,” he said, looking at where you were dancing. Your request echoed in his mind, and he let out a low groan. What you wouldn’t ask for with a smile, that he wouldn’t do crying; or whatever the saying goes. “Sebastian and YN have told me about it. It’s really strange, the things you people have made up about my life.”

“At least you really are a good musician.”

“Good?” he asked, sounding a little offended.

“Well,” she said, prolonging the word. She put her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. He fixed an intense gaze on her, and she couldn’t bite back a laugh. “You don’t have to kill me with your eyes, Herr Mozart. You’re an excellent musician, the best I know.”

“You ruined it a little, because I think you don’t know other musicians.” The smug smile on his face was a new sight for her. She was only accustomed to seeing him grimacing, frowning, or rolling his eyes. It was a pleasant change, she wouldn’t deny.

“Now you’ve got me,” she said with a smile. “But it’s still the truth.”

Mozart and MC chatted without realizing it. She shared details about her life, her likes and dislikes. He talked — he talked —  about his music and his desire to compose a masterpiece. You and Arthur watched from a distance, grinning. If it took you two a little longer to reunite with them and return to the mansion, it was purely coincidental.

xxx

MC should’ve seen this coming. She had decided to make some chocolates to thank Mozart for keeping her company the other day. So, when she, you, and Sebastian went downtown to buy some things, she asked where she could buy what she needed to make those chocolates. However, the sweet aroma was too strong and enticing for everyone else in the mansion, even though they just had breakfast. They all asked for some, and she ended up making more than she had initially planned. 

She finished cleaning everything, after all, she wouldn’t leave the kitchen in such a filthy state, and filled a tray with chocolates, organizing them as best as she could. She looked at the little box beside it, took a deep breath, and then grabbed it, leaving the kitchen. She didn’t know why she was doing it; she just felt like thanking Mozart somehow, as he had been nice to her a few days earlier. No big reason, she was a kind person. Yes, that was it. Then why was she nervous to know if he’d like it? Was it because she now knew he loved chocolates? Well, that was the main reason she thought about making them, as she was sure he’d like them. But what if he didn’t like hers?

She noticed the music room was unusually quiet when she stopped in front of its door. Was he even inside? She leaned closer to the door, straining to hear any sounds. The only way to be sure was to knock, so that’s exactly what she did.

“Herr Mozart, are you in there?” She asked from outside, not daring to open the door. If he wasn’t there and she entered the room, she’d be in trouble, and he’d complain and glare at her for the rest of her stay in the mansion.

MC heard an indistinct mumble, followed by his answer, “Yes.”

She opened the door and peeked inside, finding him in his usual spot by the piano. Encouraging herself mentally, she closed the door behind her and walked over to him.

“Hi! I, uh, got you something,”  she said, lifting the box to his eye level, mentally cursing her unsteady voice. What was wrong with her? While Mozart could be intimidating, she had never been afraid of him before.

He raised an eyebrow at the small box and then gazed at her without moving a muscle. “And what is that?”

“Chocolate,” she said, a timid smile spreading across her face. His eyes widened and he swiftly snatched the box from her hands and eagerly flipped it open. “I made it myself, like I used to.”

“You made them… for me?” He asked, a light in his eyes that couldn’t be hidden. “Why?”

“'To thank you for the other day. For keeping me company and, um, being nice,” she explained, slightly flustered. He continued staring at the chocolates, so she kept talking. “I was making it for you, but then everyone saw it... Well, Napoleon saw it, and suddenly, everyone knew about it. I ended up having to make extra chocolates for them. Theo sounded like he was threatening me, but YN said it was just his way of saying he’d love to have some, apparently he has a real sweet tooth. I’m actually impressed the news didn’t reach you.”

His gaze turned to her, a little frown on his face. For some reason, he didn’t like knowing everyone was getting chocolates as well or that Theo was… acting too much as himself with her. However, he’d just push this weird feeling aside. “I didn’t leave the music room after breakfast.”

“Ah, then I guess that’s why! I’m actually glad they didn’t spoil the surprise,” she giggled. “Well, I need to go help Sebastian with lunch. Thank you again and I hope you like it.” She bowed a little and went away, leaving Mozart alone.

He looked at the closed door for a few seconds, then turned his gaze back to the blank music sheet and the box in his hands, narrowing his eyes. Picking up one of the chocolates, he analyzed it before taking a tiny bite. His eyes lit up, and he put the rest of the piece in his mouth. He thanked every divine entity that he was alone when he hummed in satisfaction, closing his eyes.

He’d appropriately thank her later, because he had manners, but she didn’t need to know that those were the best chocolates he’d ever eaten, even if he couldn’t understand what was so special about them.

She didn’t need to know he was thinking about the ‘double date’ his sibling arranged. She didn’t need to know that when she knocked on the door, he actually jumped out of his skin and cursed himself for being distracted for so long and unable to compose something, anything. She didn’t need to know he didn’t eat all the chocolates in one sitting, but he saved some for later. She didn’t need to know he was still thinking about how all those vampires were so nosy that she had to make chocolates for them too — and how it made him narrow his eyes even more.

She didn’t need to know he was changing his mind and that she wasn’t that bad after all.

MC in-game understands every pet name they address her, even if it’s in their mother language. She even understands the name of Mozart's owl! And considering she had a travel blog and stuff, she might know at least the basics of lots of languages. If she understands Shakespere talking, she can understand anyone Such a smart cookie 🤍 

Masterlists

Read: Chapter 4

[madmachaca]

More Lyla and Camera 9 short fanfiction?

Why not? I am inspired these days, it seems

I got a lot of ideas, so I will be posting them in parts (I will stop each part whenever I think it is getting too long)

These here take place before my last short fanfiction that is here.

And part two is right here

Feel free to read:

1.

She had accepted his invitation, but not because she wanted a hot drink to warm up. She didn't need anything of the sort. She accepted, particially, because she actually likes him.

The other reason was because she wanted to know if she could trust him. When she had the negatives on her hands and saw the note he had placed with them, she realized she had been distracted by how well he kept a low profile. She had nothing on him.

She didn't know where he lived, she didn't know how old he was... she didn't even know his name. And she was intrigued.

"Your hot cocoa is getting cold" he said in between sips. She rested her head on her hands and looked at him inquisitily

"Thanks for the photos, and the negatives. You didn't have to do that"

"I know," he said, taking the envelope she had just place on the table for dramatic effect and took out the photos to see them again. "I like this one"

Lyla got close to see it. It was the picture of her, talking to other time police agents. PK was there, too

"It...it does have a nice composition" she pointed out, avoiding what was actually on it. "You can tell it was raining, but it doesn't distract you from... it must be a difficult picture to accomplish"

"Oh well, I have my trick here and there. Things I learned over the years" and he sip on his hot cocoa again "this is good, specially while hot"

"What do you want, nine?" She asked abruptly. Maybe it was time to stop being so kind. She did know if he was potentially dangerous

"Whatever you are doing, it's not my business, Miss Lay. For all I know, you could be trying to get insights from informants, I can understand that. Sometimes, as a journalist, you need to get acquainted with all kinds of people"

Lyla relaxed a little, but the questions were still running in her head

"Something tells me you are not a simple camera, man," she said lightly with a smile, and he smiled back

"I was curious once, but not anymore"

Again, with the cryptic phrase. She hated when people alienated him at work, but even she had to admit he was an odd one. They, then, remain in silence. He, sipping on his cocoa, looking pit the window, and her looking at him with growing curiosity

"What's your name, Nine?"

"....that's not important now"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.

"Ok, let's go!" He said as soon as he jumped into the vehicle, adrenaline still rushing through his veins. Lyla, at the urgency on his voice, drove fast to get them out of there as soon as possible. Things had gotten progressively weirder since hot cocoa buddy date, as she called it

"We got a good one!" He said once they were far enough, "and I got it all recorded!"

"You checked?"

"I always do"

"As expected from you"

She glanced over him every now and then. He was clicking buttons on his gear, rewinding and pausing, checking things were all right

"Nine, when you told me to wait for you after our scoop ended, I wasn't expecting... whatever that was"

"Oh, I stumped upon incriminatory information. Don't worry about it for now"

But she did. She wanted to ask, she wanted an explanation. Going off track, getting into potential danger, risking the scoop... he couldn't help but wonder if he did stuff like that often. What else was he doing that he was telling no one about?

But she couldn't complain. How many times had she disappeared in the middle of things, and he had covered up for her without asking? Asking him would come across as hypocritical since she was about to ditch him without explanation to work on her own mission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

3.

"And why would I buy such hideous jacket from you, Mike?" Said Angus in a mocking fashion.

"Come on, Angus! It's a nice jacket"

"It's uglier than yourself"

Mike knew he was going no where with him, so he looked for his next potential client

"Lyla!" He called her as he saw her. "Surely a beauty like you would look fantastic on this"

"Can it, Mike, not even her can pull that monstrosity off"

"Oh, I would love to try it on" she replied politely, "but I have so many jackets now I can't afford to get another...I am actually thinking of donating some"

"Donating it sounds like a good idea, Mike. You can give it to camera 9, he never wears any but the uniform. Likely, he has no other clothes"

"But I do" said the cameraman who had been listening quietly to this sad attempt of a sale

"Well, would you take it, anyways?" Asked Mike, trying to sound sympathetic

"No, thank you," he answered. " The color clashes with my eyes"

This is when Lyla realized that aside his age and his name, she didn't know the color of his eyes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4.

She was so distracted by the collapsing structure that she didn't see that someone was running towards her, the attacked sent them both directly to the ground and avoided the big rock that was about to crush her.

She immediately put distance between herself and the duck on the floor. He stood up calmy and looked around

"So weird debris was just ... lose"

"Who are you? Are you with the organization?" She asked, pointing her weapon at him. The guy dusted off his long trench coat and checked a camera that was hanging from his neck, not a scrash on it, fortunately. On his head, an old school hat shadowed his face, making it difficult to see him

"Are you with the organization?" She repeated energetically

"Relax," he said, raising his hand in surrender "the rock was about to crush you, and I moved you out of the way, that's all"

His voice was familiar, but she wasn't going to let that distract her! She couldn't let her guard down, not when in the middle of a mission with PK

"Why were you nearby? Have you been following"

He smiled, barely, not big and brightly, but enough for her to notice

"Would you believe me if I tell you I was minding my business and it was a coincidence?"

"No, that's the worst excuse I have ever heard"

"That's fair"

She looked at him closely, trying to figure out why he felt so... familiar...

"Let me guess," she asked with irony on her voice "you saw people running into an abandoned warehouse and got curious"

"Lyla," he called her, and she tensed immediately at her name being spoken. "I've told you before: I was curious once, but not anymore"

She lowered her weapon slowly as realization hit her. She wanted to ask him something, but for a moment, couldn't decide on what

"Nin..."

The sound of struggle and fight could be heard on the distance. Lyla knew PK needed her help! 'The mission comes first,' she told herself and ran towards action

"The name is Stefan Vladuck, by the way"

She stopped briefly on her tracks. Shook her head and continued running to where PK was.

All it took was to hold him at gun point, huh?

End of part one

I am having so much fun writing this.

[worldofavania]

Drawn: 2020

Analysis:  The 7 panel rectangle-fest again with a big bottom panel... Not too fancy but looks nice enough! Not that the first half of this chapter isn't also chock full of characters, but this page really crams in a lot of them (hope there's enough room in this little barracks to fit everyone!) Given the busy work of moving in though, I think the crowded panels actually fits the scene really well! I also had fun showing nearly all of the Black Lanners crew members here (10 points if you know who isn't pictured--One is really obscure too.) I also was amused at how the floor scuffing turned out, but I think with that many pairs of hooves trodding on those planks they'd definitely show it! Anyway not too much to else to say other than I like how the panel art turned out for the most part, even if most of the scene takes place in cramped hallway.

If I drew it again:  The main issue I have with this page is that the bottom panel is a little wonky with its perspective... The depth is exaggerated so the characters' sizes look kinda weird even though it was done intentionally. It still more interesting than a flatter depiction that also wouldn't use the space as effectively, but I think I could do this approach better than it turned out here. Not so bad that I feel the need to fix it, but it does irk me a little... Though the characters themselves look pretty good, so that does help distract from my issues with the perspective.

Favorite Panel: Charlotte's Bu-- I mean, probably the first panel; it's zoomed way out and not a big panel, but I like the composition and nice outdoor night lighting. Favorite interior shot: I like each of the four small ones, but probably panel 3 the most for the most dynamic composition.

[lilgruntsshane]

Final Scene for Project -The Opening

This is the opening scene for the animation, in which Zach and Riley load in to the jungle in a pop-up door, shocked at their surroundings. Because of the different elements of this scene, from the loading screen, the door frame, the animated element of the door, to the characters, to the background, it is quite a busy scene, and therefore timing is key, as you don’t want to overload your audience, and you want them to have time to take in everything, so every element needs its own space. I added a a few blank frames between the loading bar disappearing and the door appearing, and I added a pause of about 3 seconds after the characters change expressions to let the audience read it, and to build anticipation of what they are looking at.  The many different elements also require a lot of planning, because it presents issues as both a background artist and animator, that people who aren’t working on backgrounds may not consider and I am going to go through them below.

For instance, I needed to have the door separate from the rest of the background, but also animated slightly to hint that Zach and Riley opened it intentionally rather than simply stepped through by accident or something. This required planning in terms of matching it up to the rest of the door, which I did by constantly importing both elements into after effects to see what they looked like composited. 

I also needed to consider what needed to be opaque for clarity, as our animation isn’t coloured, the characters and the backgrounds are mostly transparent, but occasionally for clarity, as with the bars on the birdcage when Gabe needed to insert his birds, I need a colour layer of white underneath the lines to separate the layers. I did this with both the animated door to sperate it from the door frame and the door frame to separate it from the jungle background. As the background was drawn in Photoshop, even though the rest of my animation is created in toon boom, I decided it best to animate the door in Photoshop also, with the same hard round, size 6 brush, so that it would match up with the rest of the door, and I could also easily match the same colour of white for the door as used on the door frame. 

For The door animation, I wanted it to be quick, as Zach and Riley are rushing through it after Lyra, before coming to a stop, in awe of their surroundings, but I also wanted it to feel natural, so I animated this on one’s rather than two’s as the rest of the animation is, as I felt that it was too jerky on two’s. I animated an ease at the end as you can see on the onion skin above which also gives it a more natural feel despite the quick nature of it as doors don’t move at an equal speed through opening, they loose momentum.

As shown above, I also added a touch which I feel lifts the door animation up a little more, and that is the last frame where the door moves back, giving the effect of overshoot before settling, I think this also gives a nice natural feel as the momentum usually reverses a little at the end of a door swing, with how much depending on the ferocity of the swing. 

For the loading bar, I also created this in photoshop, as it has very handy shape tools, I used my background as reference when making this to make sure it is positioned and scaled correctly, although I could also rescale and position it when in after effects.

When In after effects, I knew that I wanted the loading bar animation to be more than a simple appear and disappear, so I decided to go for an simple animation when the loading bar disappears which sort of mirrors what would happen when turning off an old TV, which fits with the tech theme .   

I changed the scale to stretch the bar, making it both longer and thinner.

And then I made it shrink altogether, until it disappeared. This stretching before the shrink gave a nice anticipation effect I think, and again, like the overshoot on the door, just lifted up the animation from what it might have been to give a bit of visual interest.

When animating the characters, I of course was referencing the model and expression sheets for Zach and Riley by matthew, and also matching it up with aodhan’s scene which follows the opening for consistency. I chose the two expressions circled for Zach and also chose two for Riley, keeping to the approved model and expressions. 

I again was animating on twos at 24fps in toon boom, I don’t think we had agreed on a brush size for animation, so I matched mine as best as possible to aodhan’s although, I could have communicated to see what brush he had used in retrospect, but I was already working on it and time was of the essence. 

Niall had given some advice earlier about expression changes and posted some examples of his own work, I took this into account in the expressions changes for Zach and Riley. I added in an overshoot to both the eyes and the mouth for both character before they settle back into place, and I think this adds some interest to what is a fairly static scene. 

10/05/23

[pioneeroverc-my-5000th-sideblog]

Summary of November:

Not focussed at all. Started doing some random studies of other artists. Leaning hard on composition-over-plotted-out-backgrounds, which, while good for my composition skills, is not what I wanted to be doing

Plan from October :

All monthly/weekly goals for the year ✗

Proko: ribcage ✗

Review all Proko notes ✗

DAB Lesson 7 ✗ working through

One FE fanart every 4 days ✓ averaged out to every two days!

Draw N7 Day piece before N7 Day ✗ only did a boring fullbody sketch (at least I did something)

December plan:

All monthly/weekly goals for the year

Proko: ribcage

Review all Proko notes

DAB Lesson 7

One FE fanart every 4 days AND NOT MORE OFTEN

Plan out and draw all the Kylux Advent ideas I have

Put Kylux Advent into my spreadsheet

notes and improvements from finished stuff:

try to find photo reference for expressions✗, do Proko ribcage lesson✗, draw and detail with linework everyday objects✗

lute: proportions screwy, uncanny valley eyes, lineart+painting don't blend well together

valter: though I like the composition overall, it goes dark too quickly. hair is too abstract to really look like hair. awkward pose and his right hand looks kinda flat. cup looks too smooth/undetailed to fit in the picture

linhardt: eyes too far apart? attempt at softening lineart edge where it meets the tree is very messy and detracts. overall very plain and flat, could have used some patterns in the background or thinner lines

n!heath: expression is REALLY BAD (mouth), armour doesn't align with arm orientation and pose is stiff. however, detail level is nice!

shep: leg muscles are completely made up and it shows, hand is v bad

limstella: composition isn't very interesting, rendering on sleeve is just a bunch of random triangles because I don't know how to draw folds, facial features look uncanny and not in a good way, I do like how their hair fades out into the background though

revan: face is flat (nose looks 2d), colours are too busy with too-sudden contrast changes, hand perspective is a little screwy but looks ok overall, background is a mess

revolutionary girl eirika: gormless expression, cheaped out on drawing hands, she isn't actually putting any force into the hand on her hip, sleeves don't have clearly defined planes

lyon: i hate that bright white nose highlight so much, lighting direction overall is p unclear, hand is too dark and looks dead, eyes too far apart

heath 2: forearm should be facing more to the left because it looks like the upper arm is too short otherwise, face isn't tilted up enough (I remember struggling with this one because being able to see too much of the underside of the chin in a stylised drawing is… it looks weird), I do like how vibrant the colours ended up though. i think I was playing around with curves at the end?

kylux: hand looks very fat unintentionally, tried to convey the reflectiveness of leather but couldn't, they don't really look like they're interacting (works for the dynamic but I didn't mean to draw it this way)

karel: back of head too large, hands too simplified?, dull values, hair looks really bad/stringy

grado bang: I need to stop using a lineart brush that's too big because it makes any kind of details look really bad

ice machine: composition KINDA works but actions aren't clear, lines feel v lifeless (esp. chair). not sure why

karel: think his shoulder is in a bit of an awkward angle and hair feels a little contrived but overall this is p ok

heath 3: pose looks like he's overextending his shoulder, arrow hand could use a little more definition, bow lineart is wobbly, colours feel dull and unbalanced, I really should have put more detail into the background

ACTIONABLES: practice expression sketches from photos, do Proko ribcage lesson, draw and detail with linework everyday objects

[sunshineseung]

Journal Part 3 // Jeongin

🍄 | genre: smut ☁️ | pairing: Yang Jeongin x female!reader 🌿 | wc: 4.3k 🌸 | includes: milf!reader x babysitter!college student!jeongin, “mommy”, shower/morning sex, handjob (m!receiving), cum swallowing, smut within smut [mentions of punishment, spanking, pegging, free use, “mistress”, flogging, chastity], masturbation, brief phone sex, bratty jeongin, punishment, spanking with hand, grinding, overstimulation (m!receiving), PIV (riding, cowgirl/reverse cowgirl), unprotected sex, creampie, aftercare… phew good luck

🌊 | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Finale |

The morning sun blinds Jeongin through the curtains, and he lazily rubs his eyes to see steam coming from under the bathroom door. You’ve already gotten up to get a shower, but you so rudely forgot to invite the sweet college boy blissfully sleeping next to you. Jeongin springs out of bed with a little too much energy and sneaks into your bathroom, being as quiet as possible.

“Jeongin, I know you’re there.” You fold your arms as you face the clear shower door Jeongin’s silhouette was on. He freezes, shrugs, and opens the shower door just enough so you could see only half of his body. 

“May I come in?” 

You sigh and swing open the door fully, making sure no water can get out. “Sure, baby.” 

Jeongin gets giddy and hops in, smiling brightly as you continue to lather soap on your body. Suddenly, he hugs you from behind, pulling you as close to his body as possible. You feel his semi-erection on your back, but that’s not your focus right now. You just want to be clean for your day off. 

“Thank you for letting me stay over.” Jeongin nuzzles his head in the back of your neck, cuddling you under the running water. “I really enjoyed last night. Did you?” 

“Yes, sweetheart. I enjoyed it a lot.” Your reassurance makes him blush, and he’s happy you can’t see the flustered expression on his face. He doesn’t know what to do next. Luckily, you have plans. “Hey, Jeongin, do you write… fantasies about us in class?”

“Oh, uh, sometimes. I make sure no one sees, though.” He backs away, leaning on the far shower wall. “I mostly write in my composition class.” 

“Who’s the professor?” You turn around, facing him fully, pinning him to the wall with your eyes. 

“Mr. Lee?”

“Lee what?” 

“Lee… Minho?”

Damnit. Of course. Of course it was going to be your ex husband. Admittedly, this wasn’t the best time to interrogate Jeongin, but it’s still early, and the kids aren’t up yet, so you have time to turn this around.

“Mommy, can you put shampoo in my hair?” Jeongin’s cute little voice almost makes your heart burst, and it’s practically impossible for you to say no now. Jeongin turns around and kneels, patiently waiting for you to wash his hair. You squeeze some shampoo into your hand and spread it through Jeongin’s wet hair, making sure it suds on his scalp. He hums in content, loving the feeling of your hands through his hair. “Thank you.”

“No problem, baby.” You kiss the back of his neck, making a shiver run down his spine. You hear the light sounds of Jeongin touching himself, slowly and quietly enough that he hopes you don’t notice, but you obviously do considering you see his right shoulder moving.

Once the shampoo is finally rinsed out of his hair, you pull him onto you, his back falling against your chest and stomach. You run your hands over his abs before taking a hold of his cock, wrapping your fingers around it gently before slowly jerking him back and forth. Jeongin weakly bucks his hips into your hand, dazed and clouded with neediness. 

“You like when mommy touches you like this, huh?” The water sprinkles down onto Jeongin’s cock, creating a weak lubricant for your hand. He doesn’t answer you; he can only whimper, too far gone to even form a thought. He slipped into this headspace so fast, and it kind of shocks you. Jeongin rustles in your arms, seeming to wish to break free from your hold. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“W-want to see you.” Jeongin squeaks out, prompting you to turn around and pin him against the wall so the water hits your back. You get on your knees, looking up at him as his face is bright red and his eyes are half-lidded. “You’re so pretty, mommy.” 

“Aw, is my little boy trying to compliment me so he can cum?” You go back to stroking his cock, licking the tip once to remind him of how your mouth feels. His sensitive cock begins to twitch, begging to release. Another lick, this time from his balls to his tip, and he’s cumming on your face, shooting his load across your features, mostly in your mouth. 

You wipe the cum from your face to your mouth, swallowing every last bit of his tasty release. Jeongin only watches, eyes glued to your mouth, but he doesn’t know if he can kiss you considering you just ate his cum. 

“Mommy, can I kiss you?” You look up and him and groan as you stand up, your knees feeling the repercussions of kneeling on the hard shower floor. He raises his chin as you grasp his face, pulling his soft lips to yours, kissing you sweetly. You press your body against his, your tits coming in contact with his chest, and he has to fight every thought to snap his neck down to look at your chest. Still, your lips were made for each other, perfectly in sync with every ministration. He’d be a fool to break this kiss right now. 

Nothing in Jeongin’s wildest dreams could have prepared him for being with you, even if it isn’t anything serious. He loved just being in your presence, focused on your every word and every action, mentally taking notes so his memories of his time with you could be as vivid as possible. 

On the other hand, nothing in your wildest dreams could prepare you for your ex-husband rudely coming back into your life only to shame you for possibly having a relationship with another consenting adult. When he called you last night, you had no idea Jeongin was one of your students, but somehow, Minho saw what he was writing in his little notebook, and it all seemed too descriptive to be fake. Jeongin was younger when he saw Minho the most, and there was no way Jeongin could recognize him as his ex-neighbor now. It was all an innocent mistake that cost you a lot of sleep last night. 

You weren’t thinking about that now. All you could think about was what time it was, because your daughters would be awake any minute and you always make them breakfast on your days off. You break the kiss and get out of the shower with Jeongin, graciously helping each other dry off, and you go out to begin making waffles for your kids.

“I didn’t know you could cook!” Jeongin sits at the dining table, full of glee just like a child would be. “Can I stay for breakfast?” 

“Jeongin, you can stay as long as you’d like.” You press the waffle iron closed, beginning to cook the first of three. “But no funny business. I don’t want the girls to know what’s going on between us.” 

“Oh, that’s okay! I just know there’s no fresh breakfast at my house.” He laughs a little, lounging back in the wooden chair. “I’ll leave after I eat so you have a day with your kids, and I also have homework to do.” 

“They give you kids homework on the weekends?” You sound almost offended by the thought of doing any type of schoolwork on your days off. “From what I can remember, we never got homework on the weekends, or if we did, I certainly didn’t do it!” 

You both laugh, then go back to a comfortable silence. It felt right. Having another adult in the house, someone to talk to who isn’t only talking to you because of work. This is what you’ve been missing. 

When your daughters wake up, they’re shocked to see Jeongin sitting at the table, but they’re also happy to see him. They drag him out of his seat at the table so he can play with them before you tell them to behave. 

“Jeongin is a guest this morning. Treat him nice!” 

Jeongin’s embarrassed to admit that he almost said yes mommy, but the glorious taste of the syrup-covered waffles takes his mind off that. You just lean against the counter and watch them eat, sipping your coffee as the sun continues to rise.

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

“Jeongin, where were you last night?” Felix says through his headset, waiting for his game to load. “We need a team of four!”

“I thought Hyunjin would have been on.” Jeongin yawns, tired after having you wake him so early. “I was busy, sorry.” 

“Busy doesn’t mean writing in your diary, Yang.” Jisung chimes in, calling Jeongin by his family name as if it’s an insult. 

“First of all, it’s not a diary, and second of all, I was busy with a… girl.” Jeongin hesitates to give away too much information, but he folds the seconds he’s brought back to where he was last night: under you. 

“Aw, our baby Innie has a girlfriend?” The group fills with oohs and ahhs as Jeongin groans and rolls his eyes, adjusting his headset out of frustration. “Let us meet her! C'mon man!” 

“You can’t meet her. We aren’t dating.” Jeongin threatens to leave before they drop the topic, but he can’t stop thinking about you, being already semi-hard by the end of their first match. The team berates him for his poor playing, but they can’t even fathom the thoughts going through Jeongin’s head that he can’t wait to put into his journal. 

I want mommy to punish me. Punish me for these thoughts, punish me for touching myself without her, punish me for anything she pleases. Her perverted little boy wants to be ruined, and yet she’s so gentle with me. I don’t care if the sound of her spanking me wakes up her kids. It’ll be worth it just to feel her treat me like I’m her servant who lives to please, because I am. I’m nothing but a vessel she should be free to use at her will. I’m her toy. All hers. 

Jeongin’s phone pings from the other side of his desk. It’s a text message from his favorite neighbor, and what perfect timing too. In your little text conversation, you and Jeongin discuss the babysitting times for the week, and don’t even manage to mention anything about sex. As upsetting as this is, while he waits for your answers, he’s diligently jotting down all of his twisted fantasies. 

“You take my strap so well, honey.” She thrusts into my ass again, this time going even deeper than before. I hold my legs up with my hands around my tights, spreading my ass for her to fuck. My cock is leaking with precum while she strokes it with one hand and plays with my nipples with her other. “Dumb little boy’s being so good for me now.” 

When you finally say goodbye over text, Jeongin shoots back a short “can we call?” As strange as you thought this text was, you press his number, soon to be greeted with the heavy breaths of the young boy. Luckily, the girls were asleep and you were alone in your bedroom, so you could say anything. 

“Aw, is my boy all needy while he’s alone?” You tease him across the line, although you could just yell this out your window to his. Jeongin slips his pants down his thighs to release his cock, playfully touching his tip before gripping his shaft and stroking himself slowly. “Are you thinking about mommy?”

“Y-yes, I’m thinking about you, mommy.” How he got so excited so quickly is beyond his own understanding, but just from hearing your lustful voice, Jeongin’s already brainless, hardly able to utter a simple sentence. 

“Good boy. You’re always such a good boy, huh?”

“Only for you, mommy.”

“Then why does my good boy want to be punished?” Jeongin’s breath hitches, suddenly remembering the short, revealing conversation with you about wanting to be used. “I wouldn’t want to punish you without a reason, my little prince.”

“Wh-what can I do?” He heaves out, quickening his pace on his dick. “Give me rules, mommy. I want to break them.”

“Oh, pretty boy wants rules now?” You take a moment to ponder, hearing the light sound of skin slapping from the other side of the phone. “Stop jerking off. No masturbating without my permission.”

Jeongin freezes, taking his hand off his cock slowly, writhing from the ruined orgasm he was so close to having. He sighs to catch his breath, pulling the phone away so you couldn’t hear how desperate he was to be touched. “What else?”

“Hm,” you scratch your chin in thought, “you have to show me everything you write in your little journal, got it?” “E-everything?”

“Everything.” Jeongin’s focus goes to the journal, looking at the depraved words he scratched onto the page. If he wants to get what he wants, he has to show you just so you know how much he wants this. “Yes ma’am.”

“One more thing, baby.” Jeongin’s worn out just from the first two rules. One more might break him. “Promise to take care of yourself. Brush your teeth, eat your meals, drink water, ya’know, things like that. I don’t want this rule broken.” 

The sudden overflowing of care and wholesomeness makes Jeongin’s face turn red, partially because you’re so sweet and partially because he forgot to eat dinner today. He nods before realizing this was a phone call and squeaking out a meek “of course”. 

“Don’t break these rules, okay sweetheart? Or else you’ll be punished… unless you break the last rule. Then I’ll give you a stern talking to. Got it?” 

“Yes, mommy. I understand.” Jeongin pulls his pants up, cock now fully limp. “See you tomorrow!” 

“Yup, good night.” You both hang up, setting your phones down for the night. Jeongin sits back in his desk chair, feeling victorious after finally cementing a sure-fire way to get his ass spanked. Before he goes to bed, he has to eat dinner. No way he’s getting a stern talking to!

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

When you come home from work on Monday, Jeongin’s watching TV (scrolling through his phone) while the girls were most likely asleep. You come sit next to him, tossing your bag next to the couch and figuratively letting your hair down, unbuttoning a few buttons on your work shirt. 

“Hey, Y/n! The girls were great today.” Jeongin smiles, folding his hands in his lap. “They went to bed like two hours ago. It was an early night for them I guess.” 

“Yeah, they were up early this morning, even before me.” You both laugh, finally being able to get down to business, at least in Jeongin’s mind. 

“I ate three meals today, I drank three bottles of water, and I brushed my teeth this morning.” Jeongin sounds oddly proud of himself for doing what most people think is the bare minimum. “I showered, I took my meds, and most importantly, I didn’t jerk off.” 

“Good boy.” You kiss him on the cheek and pull his head into your chest so he’s leaning on one of your tits. “My Jeonginnie is always so good for me.”

“Can I get a reward?” His puppy eyes look up at you, warming your heart from the long day at work. He looked so sweet and innocent, just pretty enough for you to destroy. 

“Hold on, baby. You didn’t forget the second rule, did you?” You tap the side of his head and point to his bookbag. “Show me your journal.” 

“B-but mommy, that’s embarrassing.” He whines, turning off your chest and to his bag, leaning away before unzipping his bag. “Do you have to?” 

“Don’t be bratty with me. I just called you my good boy!” You reach for the bag, but Jeongin pulls it back to him. He hides it behind his back, putting his nose up at you. “Jeongin…”

“No!”

“Give me the j-“

“Make me.”

You lean into him, suffocating the younger boy with your shadow. Now standing over him, you put your hands on his face, cupping his cheeks before one hand pulls back and harshly slaps him across his handsome face. He doesn’t whine in pain, though, he just moans. 

“M-more.” 

“What was that, baby?” 

He begins to repeat himself, but you slap him again before he can finish the word. His face is red as a tomato, and you don’t care whether that’s from your hand or his blushing. Looking down, you can clearly see how hard he is in his pants. You remove your hands from his face and press one down onto his bulge, making his face contort into a wince. 

“Does my little boy want me to touch his cock?” You taunt, tilting your head as if the answer isn’t obvious. “Or more importantly, does he deserve it?” 

“I’m n-not letting you read my journal.” 

You huff and straighten your posture, taking his wrist in your hand and making him stand up with you, leading him to your bedroom. You slam the door behind you just quiet enough not to wake the kids. When you turn around, Jeongin is bent over the bed with his pants down to his ankles. He’s shaking. You like that. 

“Take your clothes off, bitch.” He kicks his pants away while tossing his shirt off and pulling down his underwear at lighting speed. You sit on the bed and pat your lap, signaling Jeongin to bend over you, which he obediently does. “My little boy’s being bad today. Why?”

“I don’t want you reading what’s in my journal.” He sounds angry when you know it’s all for show. 

“You don’t think I already know what perverted filth is in there?” You spank him, quickly making a red mark on his pale ass. He groans, bucking his hips into your leg for some friction. “You just want mommy to treat you like this, don’t you?” 

“Yes mommy.” Another spank hits his ass, causing him to jolt forward. You bite your lip looking down at him, just now noticing how muscular he is. 

“Count for me.” You spank him again, and again, and again, as he pliantly counts and whines, his cock dangling below him fully erect. By the end, he’s out of breath, and he isn’t even doing any of the work. 

“Ten.” You pet his back while his ass is red as ever, looking like it can’t take any more hits of your palm. You kiss him on the shoulder, an especially soft moment after what just occurred. “Mommy?”

“Yes, dear?”

“I’ll show you my journal now.” He can’t move, but the journal is still out in his bag. 

“I’ll go get it, baby boy. Lay down on the pillows. I want to read your slutty little stories to you.” He gets off your lap and lays back while you go out to the living room to get the journal. You sift through his bag, looking back and forth between binders and folders, but you don’t see it anywhere. You bring the bag into the bedroom, tossing it on the bed. “Where is it?”

Jeongin does the same as you, sifting through the bag with no sight of his precious journal. His heart stops for a minute, beginning to break into a cold sweat. 

“Where did you see it last?” 

“I was writing in it during my comp class.” 

Lee Minho teaches that class. Your ex-husband teaches that class. This feels like the end of the world, and unlike earlier, you’re now genuinely angry. Your face begins to boil as you throw the bookbag off the bed and undress down to your panties. Climbing on top of Jeongin, you press your cunt down onto his cock, applying just enough pressure to make you both moan. 

“Dumb little boy wants to ruin me, don’t you?” You wrap your hands around his neck, not choking him, but rather threatening him. “You want Lee Minho to know about us. You want him to have your stupid fucking diary so he can read all of your slutty fantasies.” Your grip tightens around his neck slightly, and Jeongin looks like he’s in pure bliss. He can’t even defend himself. He loves this too much. 

“I love you, mommy.” He hums, leaning back into the bed as you begin to tease his cock with your slick panties, grinding against him. 

“You don’t love me, Jeongin. You just love when I treat you like my little toy.” You lean down to make a dark hickey on his neck, something his friends will surely tease him for the next day. “All mine. You’re only mine.” 

“Y-yes mommy. All yours. Only yours.” He moans loudly, suddenly nearing his high just from your grinding. The cloth of your panties feel like heaven. He can’t help it!

You look down to see him shoot his load on himself, spurts of his hot cum covering his abs and chest. He looks so pathetic, but at least he’s yours. 

Pushing your panties aside, you slip him inside you, overstimulating him with your tight cunt. You bounce a few times on him before stopping your movements completely, bending over to put your tits in his face. He grabs your tits and sucks them, jumping back and forth between them every couple of seconds. Your hands are still around his neck, keeping him down on the mattress, unable to move. 

“You love being mommy’s toy, huh?” You start to choke him more as you pull your tits out of his face, starting to ride him again. “Ah~ and mommy loves your cock, babydoll.” 

Jeongin’s overwhelmed. He just came but he feels his second orgasm rapidly approaching. He can’t think or speak. All he can do is moan and whine “mommy” over and over again. 

“Let me try something, my little prince.” That was always his favorite pet name you gave him. He thought he was about to cum, but you pull off of him, rotating your body so Jeongin has a perfect view of your ass. You sink back down onto him, his cock filling up your pussy again. 

He felt so relieved being inside your warm cunt again, but now you start riding him harder and faster, his cock hitting so deep inside you with each thrust. He can’t hold it anymore. Jeongin’s cum fills you up, dripping down out of your pussy and onto the base of his cock. 

He feels so weak under you. He’s in pain from the overstimulation, but he can’t deny that he adores feeling like this. The safe word isn’t even in his mind. He just wants you. 

“Mommy’s gonna cum, alright?” You start to tighten around him, your movements getting sloppy and labored. “Hold my hips like a good boy. I want you to fuck me just like this.” 

Jeongin’s hands hesitantly move to your hips, holding you up while his hips begin to stutter and thrust into you, fucking his cum deeper inside you. The convulsions of your dripping pussy is making his head spin. If he cums again, he’ll be so embarrassed, but the more he fucks you, the more his cock twitches. 

“Good little boy. Such a nice cock, baby. Mm, so good.” Words mindlessly fly out of your mouth as you slam your ass against him, forcing him to bottom out. Neither of you move as you cum on him, your cunt tightening its grip on his length. Jeongin shuts his eyes as he ruts into you, cumming the same time as you. It feels euphoric to both of you. Jeongin’s hands move from your hips to your ass, massaging the skin as you come down from your highs. 

“Thank you, mommy.” Jeongin whines as you get off of him, cum dripping out of you onto Jeongin. You hold it in as best you can as you lay down next to him, your legs feeling too fuzzy to get you anywhere. Jeongin nuzzles into your chest, holding you as close to him as possible. 

You kiss his forehead before getting up to clean the mess you two made, mostly the mess between your legs. Coming back with water for your pretty little submissive, you lay back down to cuddle with your sweet boy. 

“You need to get that journal back, Jeongin.”

“I will, Y/n. Don’t worry. No one will read it.” 

🍓🍰🐤🍀💐🍯

His finger wraps around the thin paper to flip the page, only getting a fourth of the way through the messy journal. Everything is vile, and more importantly, everything is about his ex-wife. 

Lee Minho’s cock is hard in his hand as he strokes himself back and forth, biting down on his lip so he doesn’t moan too loudly to alert his girlfriend in the other room. He can’t believe the raunchy smut he’s reading can turn him on this much. 

“F-fuck, Y/n. My cock is so much better than this college boy’s.” 

Minho gets vivid flashbacks to him dominating you, tying you up and spanking you with his paddle. Your teary eyes were always his favorite, especially when the tears were mixed with his cum. 

He looks back at the page after returning from his haze of days gone by. His cock starts to twitch as his eyes skim the page, focusing on the parts with your name.

Y/n’s arm enters my peripheral as she hits me again with her flogger, the leather straps leaving red marks against my back. I lose balance, unable to catch myself on the hands that are cuffed behind me. I fall onto my face, and Y/n laughs at my pathetic form. “Dumb slut can’t even stay on his knees for his mistress.” Her heel presses against my spine, arching my back with force. “Ten more, then I’ll remove the cage, got it?”

Minho tosses the book aside as his pace quickens, cumming all over his lap. He looks down at the mess he made, his sweatpants covered in the reminder that he’s still head-over-heels for his ex-wife. 

taglist: @milkym00n​ @sparklysung​ @fanchengsgf​ @sailorhyunjinz @gothicstay​ if you wanna be tagged in part four, send me an ask :)

[whatdoesshedotothem]

[KISS] Friday 11 August 1837

7 35

12 40

          [KISS]                                         last night she had pain in her stomach gave her a tablespoonful of sheer brandy she turned to me and had a goodish kiss  I heard her crying afterwards  I feigned sleep and talked said distinctly ‘the receipt you see is of no use to him’ (Mr. William Priestley against her aunt) this caught her attention and I think helped to stop the hysteric tears and she fell asleep – fine but dullish morning and F59° now at 8 ½ - out about (A- off to Cliff hill rode to the top of the turnpike hill and George walked by the side) till breakfast with Mr. Gray at 9 ¼ in about ¾ hour – proposed his publishing – he mentioned Hogarth’s print illustrating false perspective and said he had some sketches of his shewing the common faults in composition – E.G. a sundial – a lady sitting – a little dove-cote set on a pillar – so placed that looking from a window the lady sitting with her feet on the sundial, and the dove-cote to be resting on the ladys’ shoulders! a few spirited sketches of this sort with a well-written humorous text nicely got up in 4to. would take, and pay? out with G- at 10 – busy planning terrace tower stair – 19ft. 7in. of descent – want an ou-vouz-savez and a small garden tool house opening upon this little staircase then planning about the troughs in the carriage court – the larger set this afternoon – the little field trough brought down this evening and left ready for setting tomorrow and G- and I after Hainsworth busy ordering about stone (one long one) to form the archey architrave of the pillars to support the carriage court rain water cistern – Mr.Hainsworth came at 9 this morning but with Booth till who checked and signed his bill for stones for Shibden hall the garden etc – settled with Hainsworth – paid him in full for the wheel-race ashler 47.15.11+ £130 paid in a/c = £177.15.11 and paid his bill from 30 April to 4th instant for stones =£56.9.0 ½ - his last ½ years’ upper Place quarry rent = £28.2.6 – then sat talking politics – H- all for my association system – he himself can influence – can count upon – (he made?) 20 votes – Mr. Holroyde the attorney their present active secretary to the conservative association of which Mr. John Edwards Dyson is chairman – all application to be made to, and information given to Mr. Holroyde – but Hainsworth himself could give a great deal of information – he and Messrs. JE.D- and Mr. Holroyde would be glad to come here, and talk things over – said I should be glad to see them – Mrs. Prescott (Hainsworth’s landlady) would lay nothing out – for £40 might have made another vote and H- would have paid her £3 a year more rent – no! but he had laid the money out himself on a condition in the lease to be paid or take the buildings away on his leaving the farm (Folly) – lastly mentioned the cattle market (Hainsworth knew of 12 masters who would act with him in politics if not afraid – if sure of being borne out) – I saw H- was not much for it – knew nothing about it – the town had a field for the purpose in Pellon lane – but owned at last that people would not take their cattle there, so cold and out of the way – I said I was indifferent about the market being in my ground – why not be in Mr. Pollards on the other side of North parade – but if the market did not extend below a certain limit, I could make it derange my plans so little that I should make no objection if the town and I could agreed as to terms – I could only let them have about 6300 yards – but the horses might be shewn, in the north parade road which would give about 1000 yards more room = 7300 yards but they wanted 3D.W. or 9000+ yards – in a fortnight or 3 weeks should have  a birds’ eye view of my idea of laying out the ground – mentioned my idea of an exchange that might be if wanted – (a circle of 20 yards diameter) and if not a circle of small shops – but something must pay – H- asked if I had many applications for the hotel or if it was let I forget which – I said I thought I had let it sometime ago but that it was not yet exactly settled – I thought however it would not stand long empty after it was finished – but it was so planned that it would easily turn into shops and private dwellings – something must pay – said I had began my platform and hoped to have my colliery complete in 2 years – should loose 112 acres of coal of my own – did not .:. want to buy any – and when the 112 acres were got I had a still further loose, and all was arranged accordingly – H- here from 11 to 2 – then out again at 2 20 all the afternoon till came in at 7 25 ((vid. line 14 of last p.) in the carriage court and about – at six went with G- to the Lodge. Mawsons’ 6 men just going away – then to the platform – and at the back Lodge – stood sometime talking to the gardener about [?] Hemingway’s son aetatis 17 coming on trial – the father came to me between 2 and 3 pm to ask me for work himself or to take his son – at any wages I liked so long as they would keep him and leave something for shoes etc.  said I dared not give him any hope but would think about it – the gardener would keep (board lodge and wash and sew for him for 7/. a week) and 2/. more would be enough to give him – the gardener himself had but 6/. a week at Mrs. Cunliffe’s – paid a shilling a week to an old woman for sewing and cooking for him had but 5/. a week to feed and clothe himself and slept in the garden shed – came in at 7 25 dinner at 7 35 – coffee – A- came upstairs at 10 and I about 10 25 – having stood talking to G- about the 2 letters applications for the hotel to Mr. Lever (Charles, Esquire) 10 Kings’ Road, Bedford Row, London and forwarded by him to Messrs. Parker and Adam, and received per post in blank envelope from Mr. Parker tonight – one applicant late of St. Leonards’ hotel Hastings asking many questions in a very neat good hand – the other from the Adelphi Liverpool – George Bacon – asking if the proprietor would object ‘to put a young man in the hotel to manage it on his own account’ (i.e. the proprietors’) ‘for the 1st year then after that time if he finds the young man goes on according to his satisfaction he will let him have the hotel at a certain rent and take the stock at a valuation’ – G- thinks well of this and would answer it soon – but I need not do so of ten days – G- would ask the young man’s prospects etc – Mr. Charles P- coming at 10am tomorrow to hear what he says – A- and Messrs. G- and Harper think CP- will not take it – I think he will – to open the conversation tomorrow by asking his advice about the tap – and I shall ask him if he knows anything about Mr. George Barker of the Adelphi – A- in bed when I came upstairs at 10 25 at which hour F57° - fine day – ¼ hour looking about me in the west tower and about its staircase then till 11 40 wrote all the above of today – Mark Hepworth and 3 carts carrying terrace-stuff from opposite tower to front of house embankment and Mawson’s men sod-walling with platform sods from Back Lodge downwards – Edward and John (Waddington and Sharpe) doing the red room passage top and window and doorway into tower – and Firth the glazier and his 2?man at the leading that is to cover the passage – Parkinson and his men at the terrace walls, and Nelsons 2 or 3 men at terrace tower

Hemingway had been at Rotterdam in June 36 hours going 29 hours returning Steamer starts every Wednesday night £2.10.0 cabin fare. 15/. steerage

[blancamz]

“It’s Over Isn’t It” Reanimation progress

Honestly one of my favourite parts about animating is posting the WIPs online. Here’s the step-by-step of how I went about doing my reanimation for the end section of “It’s Over Isn’t It” from the Steven Universe episode Mr. Greg.

1) Idea and Prep

I was flicking through Steven Universe: Art & Origins. I think at the time I must’ve been between jobs or bored or something, because it came into my head to do a bit of animation based on the pilot style SU. I’ve always been quite fond of the pilot style, especially Pearl’s David Bowie / LaRoux look. The little tux design by Hellen Jo was quite snazzy as well, so I decided to have a go at doing a segment of “It’s Over Isn’t It”, using these designs.

I traced the turnaround from the book in Clip Studio Paint and approximated Jo’s design to it. At first I had the colour turnaround, but did the low-colour turnaround with the heads to give me a better idea of where the lines are and proportions of the body. I also get a clip of “It’s Over Isn’t It” and trim it down to the section I want to do.

This is a long one so strap in.

2) Sketch Pass

I’ll be using gifs that show the first 100-130 frames of the animation, because the full segment is 22 seconds long.

Very very loose animation of what I’m going to be doing with this segment, done in Adobe Animate. I have a video of the real segment in the corner of the stage and audio in the timeline, and closely reference them for layout and acting.

I’ve decided I want to go really nuts with the animation. Lots of angles on her face, smooth movement, secondary animation / follow-through on her various clothing elements. Technically her earring’s supposed to be on the other side but I want to animate that flailing around dangit, so I change it so it faces the camera.

3) Rough Pass

I tidy up the rough I did somewhat. It’s still very rough, but Pearl is better proportioned and the motion is more complete. I get a better idea of how she moves by focusing on drawing keys (the most important drawings) and breakdowns (drawings that help you figure out the motion a little bit, without full animation). I have Pearl, her suit, ruffles and earring on separate layers so I can turn things on and off or lower their opacity as needed.

4) Tiedowns

At some point between the rough and tie-down phase I realized that I’d been animating at 30fps instead of 25fps like I’d meant to, so I had to end up shifting all the roughs I’d been doing. Bad news: having to wrestle with getting the timings I’d so carefully planned out in the rough to still look good. Good news: I have to animate and clean up 5 fewer frames per second, so that’s 110 fewer drawings to worry about. Yussssss. For reference, the above clip has now gone from 132 frames to 107.

During the tiedown phase, I go over the roughs and more carefully try to match the proportions in the turnaround. I keep a flattened version of the first frame of animation to use as reference thoughout to prevent morphing. Sometimes when you’re animating, things will get bigger or small as you re-draw them, so it’s good to have a base drawing to refer back to and make the sizes stay consistent.

At this point I’m way more aware of reasons behind the big design change for Pearl between the pilot and the show. She’s so dang skinny and tall with that extra poof of hair up top that she’s really annoying to frame up. If you want to keep all of her in the frame, there’s going to be tons of empty space.

I also find that my turnaround isn’t enough reference for Pearl’s awkwardly-shaped head. I snap me a bunch of screenshots of pearl’s head from different angles and collate them into a big sheet.

5) Inbetweening

Inbetweening, aka filling out all the gaps in the timeline between the keys and breakdowns. If you’ve done your keys and BD’s well, inbetweening can be a pretty straight-forward.

But I’ve got like a million bits of secondary animation to content with, which means this still takes a significant amount of time. The hair and ruffles have to move a little later than the rest of the body, and some parts of the ruffles have to move at a different rate from the rest. I’m trying to animate like there’s wind since Pearl’s on top of a tall building. I keep animating until it feels good enough.

This is what my timeline and stage look like in Animate by this point. The animation is mostly on 2s, with some 1s, 3s and 4s thrown in when needed.

6) Cleanup and Colour

I did the cleanup in Toon Boom Harmony. As a program, I like it was more than Animate, even though it isn’t without it’s flaws. But it’s also really dang expensive. Fortunately, by this point I’d been working on the upcoming Deadendia series for Netflix. What with the pandemic, we were working from home and the studio gave me a license for Toon Boom. So I exported my frames from Animate, put ‘em in TB and started cleaning up.

I’ve found that cleanup is something that’s often offloaded to new or less experienced artists at studios because blah it’s just tracing the rough animation. But you’ve got good cleanup and bad cleanup, and a good cleanup artist will compensate for flaws in volume and have a good, clear and natural line.

I’m not terribly fond of doing cleanup myself. I feel I tend to end up rushing, which leads to sloppy work. I tried really hard to keep up a standard here.

7) Comping

a.k.a. Compositing, the final layering of the various elements before exporting a film. Another stage I don’t quite care for because of its nuances. Also drawing backgrounds.

I admit that I’m not very good at drawing backgrounds or environments. I tried to do the one for the second shot of this animation, since it was acutally really important. In shots 1 and 3, you don’t really see the ground or even the railing that Pearl is leaning on, but 2 is a wide shot. My first attempts at it were unfortunate. Fortunately my husband @joe-sparrow is both good at backgrounds and good at imitating the style and colour palette of the show. He volunteered to do the BGs and I accepted. See mine vs. his:

So yeah, get me some nice backgrounds, put the animation on top, then fiddle with a couple of elements in the comp to give things a little bit more depth. During this stage, errors that had happened during the animation progress that I hoped would just go away became annoyingly obvious, so there was a fair bit of going back to fix them.

So that’s how I done made this animation. I started April 2018 and posted in on January 1st 2021, so that’s over 1.5 years it took me to do these 22 seconds of animation. However, I wasn’t working on it continuously through that time. Sometimes I’d be working on it every day, other times I’d not touch it for weeks or months at a time. It really depended on how busy or whatever I was at the time. I think if I’d been working on it non-stop, it still would’ve taken me at least like 2-3 months to finish it.

If you made it to the end of this post, I hope you found all this information interesting.

Happy drawing.

It’s over, isn’t it.

[berrydoodleoo]

Two tarot for the price of one! Ardyn and Ifrit as the Devil (of course) and Aranea and Garuda as the six of swords. More about these choices beneath the cut:

So first, Ardyn. I was not super drawn to Ardyn on my first time through the game, I was busy yelling at the characters (specifically Iggy and Gladio) for making such bad decisions. Why on earth would you trust him even a little bit?!?!?! He is practically carrying a sign saying ‘I’m a bad guy’! You’re protecting the primary leader of your government AND your only hope of salvation! Obvs I’m still frustrated.

But moving past that, I think the connection between Ifrit and Ardyn is interesting. It’s probably the most obvious connection, as they appear together often, and Ardyn can control him through the Scourge. But I think they mirror each other well on a story level -- Ifrit was originally a kind and benevolent god, who gave humans the gift of fire and uplifted them (like Promotheus). Ardyn was originally a kind and benevolent healer/king, who wanted to save humans from the Scourge. But like Prometheus, they both end up in chains and tortured for millinea. In the end, they both decide to destroy humanity.

They also tie into the Devil nicely. Upright, the card symbolizes oppression, addiction, obsession, dependency, excess, powerlessness, limitations. Reversed, it’s independence, freedom, revelation, release, reclaiming power, reclaiming control. The card itself shows the Devil front and center, with two smaller figures enchained at his feet (in this case Somnus and Aera). I originally had something more complicated in mind, including both Scourge Ardyn and Healer Ardyn to emphasize the upright/reversed sides of the card, but between the additional two characters and the flames, there was just too much visual chaos. And I had to include the Bone Throne, of course. :)

Aranea! This card took F O R E V E R, mostly because I decided to be clever and create Aranea’s canceled DLC look and Solara, who used a few existing elements but needed a lot of customization. I really liked Aranea’s character in the game, but I feel like the chopped story between Aranea and Solara is a major missed opportunity. There are a growing number of video games that focus on fathers and their children, and I would love to see something similar with a mother and her child. Aranea and Solara traveling and training together during the apocalypse, with Solara’s potential destiny as the Empress of Niflheim, would have been a fascinating mirror to the Witcher 3.

My original idea was to put Aranea and Garuda together, even though Garuda isn’t one of the Six. They’re both linked to air and the sky, Garuda as an eagle and Aranea as a dragoon and airship commodore, and they both have a tendency to drop in and save Noct’s royal rear when he’s in danger. FFXV Garuda is a counterpart to FFXIV Garuda, who is screamy and tyrannical, which mirrors Aranea’s role as counterpart to invading and conquering Niflheim.

Given the air connection of the characters, I focused on the suit of swords, and the six of swords really captured some elements of Aranea’s character. Upright: moving on, departure, leaving behind, distance, accepting lessons, and reversed: stuck in past, returning to trouble, running away from problems, trapped. Aranea isn’t loyal to the Empire, although she does care about her country and countrymen. In DotF, she is very aware of how she is exploited as a mercenary and commoner, but also how the MTs have it worse. Underlying that is the reality that, despite how badly she and her men are treated, as Niflheim subjects they benefit from the exploitation of the MTs -- and we know that the MTs are just regular humans whose growth has been accelerated and who have been systematically abused by Niflheim. So the card’s themes of running from problems captures this element of avoidance of responsibility, and the themes of transition and accepting lessons capture her rejection of the Empire and its military and taking on a role as a leader.

The card itself is a really striking image of a woman and child on a boat, with six swords stacked in front of them. There is a man pushing the boat, but to me, he always reads as an outsider -- he is standing well above the woman and child, and is separated from them by several harsh lines. To me, the card symbolizes the act of fleeing from hardship into peril, and being surrounded by danger and bleakness on all sides.

Which led me to creating Solara’s model! I stuck to her concept art as closely as possible, and also gave her a stuffed Cait Sith. I started with an unused child mesh from the game and rigged it with Talcott’s armature and using the Data Transfer to get most of the weighting correct. It was definitely a learning experience! It’s not perfect, but for a simple pose like this it worked.

For the rest of the card, the six swords became a six-legged spider demon (also chosen because ‘aranea’ means ‘spider’). The boat is symbolized in Aranea’s ship, approaching in the distance with a little help from Garuda. I’m still not completely happy with the final image, especially the wheat and how busy the composition is, but eh. I do like how Aranea’s jacket and Solara turned out, so I’ll have to find a way to use them again.

[funkylittlebard]

69 Followers Means The Bards Get To 69, Too

IT IS DONE HERE HAVE HORNY BARDS

here on ao3

thank you very much to @jaskierswolf for beta'ing <3

Rating: Explicit

Tags: Yes they 69, oral sex, tiny bit of exhibitionism but blink and you'll miss it, porn without plot

bards celebrating appropriately under the line

Soft moans drifted out through the open window into the fading light of the night sky. It had been a hot day, and even when dusk came, the temperature showed no signs of dropping. Jaskier had spent most of the afternoon swearing and sweaty as he pored over his composition book, searching for the perfect note. Dandelion, by contrast, had spent the day largely lying under the shade of a nearby tree and whining at his boyfriend.

"Oh, it’s so terribly hot, Jaskier, how is a man supposed to cope? I shall simply wither away," he had said, fanning himself dramatically with Jaskier’s notes before they were snatched back with an outraged gasp.

Now, however, in the comfortable seclusion of their bedroom, Jaskier had Dandelion right where he wanted him, doing exactly as he was told. Currently, that meant that the blond was perched on the end of the bed, whimpering as Jaskier stroked around his hole with an oiled finger. Jaskier smirked up at him, and carefully licked a stripe up Dandelion's hard, quivering cock, relishing the gasp that burst out of the other man.

Jaskier kept teasing his fingers around his boyfriend’s hole, never dipping them in for a few minutes, too busy savouring Dandelion’s squirming to move on just yet. But he did have other plans for this evening.

"Dandy," he said, after enjoying the man's wriggling and keening for another few minutes, settling back on his heels, and taking a moment to adjust his own hard cock. "Why don't you lie back for me, get yourself nice and comfortable on the pillows?"

Dandelion blinked at him for a second, mouth opening as if to ask a question- before seemingly thinking better of it and flopping backwards onto the large fluffy pile behind him, shimmying his hips as he settled. Jaskier licked his lips, feeling his mouth begin to water as his plan began to unfold.

"That's it, being so good for me, Dandelion," he murmured, stroking the other man’s hip as he did so. He pulled himself upright and shuffled up the bed, before pushing Dandelion's shoulders firmly down into the mattress. "Stay still whilst I get myself settled, alright?"

The other man’s eyes had blown wide and he nodded fiercely, his curls flying around his shoulders, but he brushed them back off his face quickly, wiggling in excitement.

"I'm ready, Jaskier! This is going to be simply- hnnf" he said, as Jaskier span around, and sat his full weight down unceremoniously on Dandelion's chest. He lifted his hips up a little after a moment so as not to crush the man, and positioned his cock over the blond's lips. Jaskier shivered as Dandelion's pink tongue shot out to lick over the tip of his cock, feeling himself throb, and he looked away, taking a deep breath to settle himself.

Jaskier let his eyelids flutter close and lowered himself down until he felt his lips touch the hot, damp tip of his boyfriend's dick. He licked his lips and wrapped his mouth around the end of it, and heard Dandelion moaning out his name. He pulled back for a moment. With both hands on Dandelion's hips to hips to balance him, he leant down again, trailing a line down towards the other man’s balls, just to hear Dandelion squeak. Dandelion had always been more verbose than him, and it was deeply satisfying to reduce him to squeaks and groans. He swatted at the man’s thigh.

"Well get on with it then, Dandy," Jaskier said, surprised to find he already felt a little bit impatient. He licked back up Dandelion's prick and sucked the head back into his mouth as he finally felt the other man reciprocate. He groaned slightly as his cock was slowly engulfed by Dandelion's warm, wet mouth, and then groaned again, louder, as he felt the man moan around it.

The vibrations quickly became almost overwhelming. Jaskier could feel himself becoming sloppy, drooling onto his boyfriend’s dick as he whimpered around it, thrusting his own hips a little frantically into Dandelion's welcoming tight heat. He could feel Dandelion's moans around his cock, and the obscene sounds he was making went straight to Jaskier’s dick. So much was happening all at once, and suddenly Jaskier wasn't sure he'd be able to last very long at all. He keened around the thick cock in his mouth as Dandelion began to thrust into him as well, fucking his face with vigour and reducing Jaskier to a moaning puddle, barely able to suck at the dick in his mouth. The whine coming out his mouth was constant, high and reedy, his eyes full of tears, and he doubted Dandelion was doing any better.

He was struck with a sudden thought of the open window- anyone stood below it right now would be getting an absolute earful. Somehow, this thought only spurred him on, finding the strength to rut into Dandelion's mouth again until finally with a choked whimper he was coming, barely able to hold himself up and stop himself from collapsing limp onto his boyfriend.

Beneath him Dandelion cried out, hips jerking up wildly, making Jaskier gag around his cock as he came with a loud, shocked yelp.

They lay there for a moment, both covered in sweat and far too hot for so much skin contact, but not ready to move just yet. Dandelion groaned suddenly, beginning to wiggle, and Jaskier rolled off him, his breathing just about back under control.

"Jask...hhnngff," Dandelion said eloquently, still panting and with a hand thrown over his eyes, face damp with tears that had spilt over. "I… must say, darling… well," he wheezed, chest heaving.

Jaskier laid a clammy hand on his sweaty chest. "You can describe it to me in great poetic length later, Dandy, let me just enjoy the afterglow for a moment," he said, smiling softly. He let his eyes slide shut. Then blinked them back open. "My ballad! I have the perfect ending!" He yelled and sprang out of the bed towards the table.

Dandelion chuckled as he watched the brunet fling himself across the desk, quill flying across the page at great speed. He rolled his eyes, and snuggled his head deeper into the feather pillow. Perhaps there was a bawdy song he could make out of this, too. But that was a problem for future Dandelion to come up with, as his eyes were drifting shut, lulled to sleep by the sound of Jaskier’s quill scratching across the parchment.

[ashenlights]

From planning to posting, share your process for making creative content (part 2!)

RULES: When your work is tagged, show the process of its creation from planning to posting, then tag 5 people with a specific link to one of their creative works you’d like to see the process of. Use the tag #showyourprocess so we can find yours!

Thanks for tagging me @vishcount! :D Here’s the process of my Liu Sang art which I drew for your birthday (and which is technically named “Waterfalls of the Sun” in my files ^^) This drawing wasn’t as neat as the process of my LWJ art that I showed in the last post -  I didn’t have a super clear idea of where I wanted to go with it at first, so it really evolved a lot as I drew!

1. Planning

Step 1 of planning was to brainstorm and try to find a quote/lyric that captured his whole character in a nutshell. I had 2 other ideas at first - one was to take inspiration from his character song The Man in the Rain (雨人) (with the lines “Maybe if I listen to the sound of rain, I will then be able to face the inevitable separation”) and draw him in the rain with an umbrella. The second idea was to take that quote from Liu Sang to Wu Xie: “One good ear is enough for me in everyday life. Consider the damaged one as my present to you”. But in the end, I couldn’t find a solid translation of his song and I found both of these ideas a little too depressing/tragic to draw and wanted something a little more positive for your birthday present ^^; So I went with the excerpt from Dogfish by Mary Oliver which you used in your edit x instead! (”You don’t want to hear the story of my life, and anyway I don’t want to tell it, I want to listen to the enormous waterfalls of the sun”). I have to mention here that your edit was a huge inspiration for this art and I purposely referenced its aesthetic a lot, as you’ll see later on in my process! (You can see it in the colours, the forest/water aesthetic and the flowers).

2. Sketch/ Basic colour plan

A messy sketch as usual! The plan was to have him use his hearing abilities - him drawing out the map of some tomb while listening and working out its structure. I knew I wanted the sun/circle as the major focal point of the composition. It’s probably impossible to tell from my scribbles, but originally I was thinking of going a bit more abstract with the background. Along the edges (in dark teal), I was going to draw those bronze pieces from that giant bell structure in s2 and have those illuminated by the golden light of the sun. But it ended up looking too busy and geometric, so I scrapped that idea.

3. Some painting and thinking about the background

Here, I slowly started to paint and shade things. Not sure if you can tell from the scribbles, but I was thinking about having a more organic nature-y background- those scribbles are flowers and trees XD This is also where Mary Oliver’s quote came in and helped a lot! As you can see on the left, I was going to have more abstract tear drop shapes as the “waterfalls of the sun” and then some reflections of the golden sun on the lake waters. But the composition really didn’t work and got too busy, so then I thought - wouldn’t it be cool if the sun was dripping like an actual waterfall? Which is where the right picture came in! This is also when I did some flower research to try to figure out which flowers to draw. I wanted something that would fit into the colour scheme and also had suitable meanings for this present and for Liu Sang - I ended up going with hydrangea for gratitude and daisies for innocence. I was also going to have a border at first! I wanted it to be like the maps Liu Sang drew in his notebook, but that also ended up looking too geometric/busy so I took that out.

4. More painting! And considering borders again

Mostly more painting and detailing of the face and the flowers here! And I was considering no border vs border and going slightly crazy trying to decide XD

5. Final painting steps and overlays

I ended up going halfway - I got rid of the fancy border and stuck with a plain rectangular one. And I placed the daisies into the scene, floating on the water! I also finally figured out the dripping sun! I had so much trouble with it in step 4 (where it looked really thick and plasticy?) But here, I discovered the perfect solution - I erased bits of the “drips” with my brush, and then blended them into the empty layer, which produced a really nice wispy fade effect ^^ And the final step was adding a few overlays - some highlights to make the sun and its waterfalls really glow, and some extra shadows here and there to clean things up. And that’s it!

6. Posting

This time I didn’t end up posting it right away because I had to wait until it was your birthday in your timezone haha. But I didn’t have to wait long - I actually only ended up finishing it the day before ^^

Bonus speedpaint!

And a speedpaint because my iPad actually recorded some of the process! I wasn’t expecting to share any of it when I was drawing, so it’s not the best and not totally representative of my whole drawing process  ^^;  Some parts are cut out because I turned off recording to check references and forgot to turn the recording back on again haha. But maybe you’ll find it interesting to see anyway? At least you can see my million other border ideas that I briefly considered but scrapped XD