#this is a pretty old lineart but the anime made me want to try some bold colors

[skattig]

Don't get her angry!! Or her not-a-boyfriend will panic

[hinamie]

hi hina i have some art related questions! 1) is it easy to go back to an old art style on account of already having drawn in it or do you actively have to train yourself to go back? for example, i notice that your lmhs art style is softer and your current one is sharper (that's the extent of my technical art terms knowledge gomen) 2) which of your own art styles/eras is/are your favorite(s)? 3) do you prefer more stylized or more realistic art styles? 4) are you easily influenced (consciously or unconsciously) by other art styles? i know when i read something i really love, i start to mimic that style in my own writing. 4) do you have any favorite classical paintings? i know the fallen angel is one.

hi mariam!!! sorry it’s taken me so long to this so late fjhdskgdjf i won’t lie some of these questions Stumped me but i will try my best to answer !

it depends? I think a lot of my art style shifts come naturally as the result of growing and improving my skills, so “going back” to an older style might be hard to do without falling back on bad habits that I might have grown out of, or simply things that i no longer think look good. i don’t think i would have to train myself necessarily because the muscle memory is still there, but i might have to stop myself from wanting to Improve aspects of the style in ways that might fundamentally alter what made the style recognizable in the first place. in terms of the lmhs art style, or the soft/sketchy look i was using at the time, that specifically would be pretty easy to go back to I think, since it’s basically a slightly cleaned version of how my art looks early in the process :> i would just have to take a clean sketch + add colours w minimal shading, skipping the lineart and intense render 

it feels like a copout to say but i love where i am now :’> from what i’ve seen it’s almost like. a gag among artists of arcane being a catalyst fr drastic art improvement but it IS . everything about the art and animation in that show inspires me so much and it’s been great taking what I like from it and trying to mimic and adapt it into something that suits how I like to work. even though it’s frustrating that I take longer to finish a piece, I really am so happy i’m back to painting i’m so proud of my current render and anatomy and use of colour. i think i’ve finally found a good balance of textures as well and overall i’ve just been having so much fun pushing myself into new brushes and finding new ways to use old ones :D

i think i’m somewhere in the middle but leaning more into realism, especially when it comes to the way I colour. obviously there are aspects that I stylize to suit my needs but especially in terms of Other Anime Art i’m aware that I fall more on the realism side of things lol

yes omg i’m so easily influenced and that constant influx of new inspiration and learning how to adapt to it is one of the things i love most about drawing and making art!!! i kind of mention this notion in my lil gush about arcane but i LOVE looking at other artists' works or at things that inspire me and picking it apart in my brain to see what/how i can use it! i got into art by “copying” and even as i’ve grown into being comfortable enough to make my own stuff, I think that there is always value in learning from what you love and figuring out how to make what you love about it your own. maybe it’s not that deep bc i draw anime fanart but art fr me is an amalgamation of every piece of media ive loved and of everything i’ve ever found beauty in

i do love the fallen angel painting but tbh i don’t think classical art occupies a very big place in my brain fhjdskgfj my knowledge is sadly lacking :< i like claude monet and roberto ferri’s work a lot but overall i think modern art and media means a lot more to me in terms of where I draw my inspiration from

[cutepastelstarsalior]

Helluva Boss watch though part 2

Episode 3

Blitzo has an ex, and he also has a sister. 👀

Verosika. That like a weird mashup of Veronica and Vriska….But she was in rehab?

Ok Veroskia’s design is so pretty. But man she and Blitzo do not look like there from the same universe. Made it’s the color palette, or the lineart, it they kind of collide.

Oh, she’s a succubs. Neat.

Loona has a human disguise? Do all Hellhounds have one, or just her? 

Verosika human design is very pretty.

Loona having a crush on Vortex is cute. But man Loona human design is god awful when she’s standing next to Vortex. Her head is too big in some frames, and her anatomy looks off.

Moxxie and Millie team name is M&M, that’s cute.

Oh, Blitzo adopted Loona, who was almost 18 and almost aged out of the orphanage. Interesting choice. I wonder when that decision was made from the pilot to the actual show? Because in the pilot, Loona was just a snarky rude teenager receptionist. Here in the show, she insincure angry teenager.

So human alcohol can make imps drunk, but demon alcohol can make animals into violent mutants monsters..cool.

Vortex has a girlfriend, but it’s cool that he wants to help Loona make some friends!

Scale of 5, I give this a 3. It was just an ok episode.

Episode 4

Ok this version of heaven is very different then the Hazbin heaven. Maybe this is because this show was created when Hazbin was still a pilot? But there a a Cherub version of the Imps. AKA 3 angels trying to save people’s love ones. Ok that a cool premiere! Assassin group vs rescue (?) group!

Oh seems like Blitzo’s sister is his twin! Again, are they human that turn Imp or a hell-born demon?? It’s also cool how in the background they show small but important details. Like in a few episodes ago, they had a bunch of ads and poster of Fizz the clown robot.

Heheh her name is a play on barwire.

There 3 trilionaires in the human world??

Blitzo does have a point, when they kill somebody for hire, the victim gets sent to hell. Why is that? If it’s like a murder and the victim wants revenge that’s understandable. But in this case, the client wanted to kill the guy because he doesn’t want the person to have the inheritance. Why would that make the potential victim be sent to hell? Why would the clients want the people to be in hell anyway? To physically torment them? Like the episode where the teacher wanted to kill the girlfriend, what would she do once the girlfriend is in hell? Kill her again? Torment her?

Idk why, maybe it’s the lighting, or maybe it’s because Blitzo out makeup on, but in this episode he’s like a weird pale pink color then his normal red. I noticed this too with Moxxie in the beach episode. It’s kind of distracting.

Little pet peeve; I feel like there too much cursing? Like I can toon it out, but still. That and the causal fatphobia, sexism, and slur shaming..😬

Seeing 2 out of the 3 cherubs getting angry and curing, make me wish that when an Angel starts to do that, they start to fall. That the hate and stress corrupt them. It would be so cool to see.

Oh!!!!!! OMG the cherubs accidentally killed the old man, and now can’t be allowed back in heaven!!! Though the little deer girl didn’t actually explain what the rules are? BUT JUSTICE FOR LITTLE GOAT BOY HE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING WRONG HE WASNT STARTING TO GET CORRUPTED. Goat boy is my son now. And I’m taking him as mine now.

Scale out of 5. I give it a 5. I love this episode, it shows a deeper worldbuilding of how heaven and hell operates and how both sides try to get humans on their side.

Episode 5

Ok, so the deal Stolas and Blitzo had was about having casual sex. Thought Blitzo can’t really do his job without the grimoire, but neither can Stolas. So what does it do?

Blitzo’s co-workers are from the ring of Wrath. 👀 interesting.

Yooooooo Millie’s parents!!!! Oooooo a lore episode. Ok so Millie has parents, so I guess Imps are born in hell? Then what’s the difference, the physical differences, between a human turn demon, and an Imp? Maybe it’s the white spots/marked they have??

Moxxie infodumping about war and the history is cute.

Millie moved to Imp City. I guess that’s either the capital of the ring they stay at, or like an area only for Imp???

In Dante’s Infero, Wrath is the 5th circle of hell. There 2 groups of sinner in this circus, those who anger is expressed, and thoese who anger is internal/repressed (sullen). The groups have different punishment. Thoese who express their anger fight one another on the surface/side banks of the Styx, and the repressed are underneath the river Styx, in the swampy mud.

What Vivzie does here is have the Imps play games an annual Pain Game. I’m getting the Imps here are just farmers??

Moxxie feeling insecure about not being physically strong is neat. I like his and Strikers dynamic.

Blitzo having some insecurities is odd, idk if feels way out of left field? But Striker does have a point, why does Blitzo stay or keep going back to Stolas if he needs the book? Can’t he find a different way to get to the human realm?

👀 stolas’s wife hired Striker to kill somebody. My guess it’s Blitzo, since I don’t think She would kill her husband, and especially not tell her plans when they’re at the dinner table.

Score out of 5, I give this a 4.

Episode 6

So the government as been noticing and keeping track of the Imps. 👀. Blitzo and Moxxie were kidnapping and Millie became extremely overprotective and while Loona was concerned. Nice that the girls are going to help.

Moxxie making an extra long and complicated code order, and then laughing at the humans and just being chill, is a bit odd. I’m use to him either being angry, insecure, or being empathetic. So seeing this side of him is new. Also, I feels like Blitzo, Stolas, and Moxxie and the ones that have the most screen time/character development.

“I’m like 5 years older than you”. If Lonna is 18, that means Millie would be 23???? Idk if that’s true or not but if it is….WHAT?????

👀 yoooo higher animation for the hallucinations scenes!!!

Ok, wow. I love this?? Moxxie hallucinations is him and Blitzo dress as phantom of the opera, and Moxxie is questioning his “friendship” with Blitzo. Asking him why he keeps pushing his friends away, why he alienates other with his toxicity. Meanwhile Blitzo is dress in a clown outfit, in the mud, seeing shapes. The hallucinations of Moxxie telling him that Blitzo needs him and that he doesn’t want to be alone. He also hallucinations Striker, Fizz, and his ex. Saying that people resent him. And that he doesn’t understand relationships but also craves it. Moxxie wants to speak his mind and be a better friend to Blitzo.

After they hallucinate, Moxxie tells Blitzo what he said to Moxxie on their first day together. Blitzo also compliments Moxxie and tell him to use his name instead of sir.

This is a sweet bonding between the two. I don’t know how to feel about it though? Like it feels like progress and to make the two characters that fight and argue at lot to finally come together…But at the same time, it feels a bit too soon? I don’t know…

The fight scenes are very good! Lots of camera movements, fluid animation, and fun angles. Thought at some parts when there wasn’t that many characters and it only focused on one person, the space of the room felt too big and the animation felt slow.

“HEY THE ENDO PERIOD WAS BADASS AND YOU KNOW IT” haha nice.

Uno oh spaghetti O….the gang is traps by the two governments agents……and they….cant get out with the book because the room is too dark? Seriously. Guys, there like, 4 of you and 2 of them. You literally massacred a room full of agents…

Oh well, Stolas came and save the day. That little horror scene is neat, I like his monster demon bird form. But also how did he knew what was happening????

Oh…Blitzo kissed Stolas…are they a thing? Just friends with benefits? I don’t ship them so I don’t care. Well, besides Stolas’s cheating.

Dang the government guys have evidence now!!!

Score out of 5. I give this a 3. The fights and hallucinations scenes were cool, but that all that was interesting.

Episode 7

For some reason this episode is title as final but there also an episode 8?????

!!!! Well dang, Blitzo is having a character growth. He acting nicer to Moxxie and Millie. Also, it’s Moxxiea and Millie anniversary! Demons can get married. They’re also going to the Lust ring.

In Dante’s inferno, Lust is the second ring, but the first sin. Sinners are punished by being whipped and hurled around tornado and violent winds. Dante also thinks lust is the least serious sin. Also King Minos is a demon who judge and listens to sinners and send them to their correct circle. Btw, Dante infero hell has 9 circles; Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Hersey, Violence, Fraud, and lastly Treachery.

In the Christian mythology, the seven sins are lust, pride, greed, gluttony, sloth, wrath, and lastly envy.

It’s interesting to see how Viv will combine or different the seven sins vs Dante inferno…

“Boring as fuck monogamy” 👀 Blitzo polyamorous real.

Blitzo asking Stolas out of a date, just to spy on Moxxie and Millie, but then end up actually talking to Stolas, is interesting. I just the having a slow burn from friends with benefits to being an actual couple??

ALEX WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE????

Fizzarolli…..that’s his name….baby why does your name sound like a weird soda or pizza knockoff???

Why does Fizz have robots of him? Also the one at LULU Land made more money entertaining kids than the robots that do sex work. Interesting. Also are all the robots alive??? Are they a hive mind???

Moxxie sing a song he wrote for Millie is cute. To bad fizz and Ozzie interrupt him…Asmodeus is the embodiment of lust. So is he a prince/represent of lust??? Also I heard a few covers of this song…and this is like literally the only sing from this show I enjoy.

Ozzie commenting that Stolas gave up his life, his kid and wife to be with Blitzo. Yeah. Like the dude literally cheated on his wife??? Why is the show trying to make us feel sympathy for Stolas??? Dude a homewreaker.

Aromantic Ozzie. To MEEEE.

“Octavia is with her mother this weekend” 👀 oh they did get a divorce!!! Got for them. Well, like, not. But I’m glad they decided to end it instead of staying together and keep fighting every day. I guess Stolas can now try to be with Blitzo since he and his wife broke up?? But I still think it’s not good..

Scale out of 5. I give it a 2.

[randevu-01]

2023 art summary time!

some of my thoughts and comments are below the cut :)

This was... an interesting year. I got out of my DmC shell (after 3 or 4 years) and spent most of the year obsessing over other fandoms, e.g. Call of Duty of all things lol. I also got into Trigun, watched and loved both adaptations, as well as Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note - quite an accomplishment for someone who generally doesn't like anime. Oh, and closer to the end of the year I discovered a whole new world of music band fandoms after I somehow got invested in Sleep Token and Ghost (it's the masks I'm sure)

Productivity-wise, even though I couldn't even fill in all the spots in the template, I feel like I did pretty good. Some months I didn't manage to finish anything, but October was wild, I did a lot of nice complete pieces then. A significant portion of my time and effort was put into drawing comics for the DMC ask, and I also took some commissions at the start and in the middle of the year, so there was very little time for me to make personal art, which I miss greatly and hope to make more of in 2024.

Speaking of future plans, I definitely want to give more attention to my OCs from Waffen AG and City Ghouls. When it comes to making OC content, I tend to stop at colored sketches at best, but in 2024 I hope I can make actual polished art of my characters. (Though I'm convinced that this will make my social media reach even worse than it is now, I'll try to not gaf, 'cause I learned that making and developing OCs can be super fun, and oh boy do I need that serotonin lol)

Skill-wise, I think I've definitely improved at making comics, lineart and anatomy, which were my 2023 goals a year ago. However, I feel like I could've done even better. But, again, I was pretty busy with irl stuff, so it's okay.

In general, life was pretty exciting in 2023. I visited 4 cities this summer, met my old friends and made some new ones. Despite some heath issues, I had a great time!

Thank you all for sticking around and appreciating my art! I cherish every little comment and reblog ^^

Hopefully, I'll be able to reach even more people on this platform in 2024. Happy New Year!

[metukika]

What's the piece of art you've made that you're most proud of???

idk if i have something im MOST proud of but these are some examples for things i was at least proud of when i posted them:

this and this are sp fanarts i made for my twt bffs' respective dtiys. theyre a bit old at this point but it made them very ecstatic so i was really happy with it!

this and this were both experimental and difficult as shit. i like playing around with lighting and even tho im shit at perspective i always want to try and mess around with that too!! after i finish a big piece i always want to post it immediately for validation of my hard work but with these i was determined to be a little more patient and post them in a set. i like putting a feeling into a drawing. i remember sending the first one's second drawing to my teacher cuz she asked for pics of my art and ig she showed some of the other teachers cuz my tanakh teacher came up to me and told me how much he loved it which is great cuz hes one of my top 3 fav teachers pretty much lol.

this dr post is more recent but its the first time in a while i didnt color the lineart and i thought it looked so so good i like the coloring in this one. its around when i just started coloring the shading individually instead of using multiply and i like how it turned out! coloring the lineart was fun but i think like this the colors match more and its less work! i love souda lol i loved drawing him and i like the stylization of their faces. i always struggle between wanting my stuff to be super stylized and for it to be instead rendered like anime game merch or something.

[tyrantisterror]

THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST 3-D!!!

YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SAFE!  YOU THOUGHT THAT THE TIME OF MONSTERS WAS AT AN END!  BUT YOU WERE WRONG, FOR NOW YOU MUST WITNESS…

THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST 3-D!!!

That’s right, it’s back!  Celebrating the publication of The Atomic Time of Monsters Volume 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth! (which in turn completes The Ballad of Tyrantis arc for this series), I’m holding another monster design jam.  The third of such jams, in fact!

Like the first A.T.O.M. Create a Kaiju Contest, the aim of this contest is to create kaiju that would fit within the setting of my big kaiju story series, The Atomic Time of Monsters.  Think of it as me letting you into my sandbox to play with my toys for a bit, or like you’re being put in the director’s chair of a new ATOM-verse kaiju movie.  That means your entry does have to fit into ATOM’s world, which in turn means that yes, there are limitations to your creativity here.  But limitations can be good sometimes - they can make us explore options we wouldn’t consider when given completely free rein to do what we want!

(also you don’t have to make a three dimensional image or anything, the title’s just a pun on how the third movie in a monster movie franchise will often be a 3-D film)

Read below the cut to learn the rules and whatnot:

THE RULES:

1.  You are limited to one entry per person.  Work hard and make your entry count!

2.  Your kaiju must have some sort of description of its physical appearance and its personality - you can submit a drawing or a written description (or both!) for the physical appearance depending on what you’re most comfortable with.  Using the same template/format as my official ATOM Kaiju Files (https://horrorflora.com/monster-menageries/atom-kaiju-files/) isn’t required, but it was cool when people did it in the last contest, so feel free to do so this time too!

3. The kaiju you create must specifically be created for this contest  - no repurposing characters you made for other, wildly different stories.  This is not “trick TT into drawing/canonizing my main OC” time.

4. The kaiju must fit the setting and aesthetics of ATOM.  I’ll explain this in more detail down below.

5. The kaiju should add something meaningful to the world of ATOM. The more unique and interesting your kaiju is, the more likely you will win the contest.

6. Don’t make your kaiju too dependent on pre-existing ATOM characters - no “Tyrantis’s long lost evil brother who’s the strongest kaiju in the world.” These should be to Tyrantis’s story what War of the Gargantuas is to Godzilla’s movies – heroes (well, monsters) of another story in the same world.

THE REWARDS:

I will make pencil sketches of the top 5 entries in the contest.

I will then make fully rendered illustrations (lineart, colors, & shading) of the top three entries.

The winning entry will be made into a model ala the ones I’ve been making for ATOM’s core 50 monsters, which can then be shipped to the person who created it (should they be able to cover the shipping costs).  That’s right, your kaiju could be brought to life in THREE GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR DIMENSIONS!  (Hey, we worked the gag title in to the prizes!)

THE DEADLINE: All entries must be submitted by July 3rd, 2021.  You can submit it here on tumblr, via the horror flora e-mail, or any other channel you know how to reach me through.  I’m in a lot of places.

THE GUIDELINES (TO HELP YOUR ENTRY FIT THE RULES AND WIN):

The smartest thing you could do if you want to win this contest is familiarize yourself with the world of ATOM by, y’know, reading all the material I’ve published on the subject.  In addition to the many kaiju files that are free to read on horrorflora.com, there are now TWO, count ‘em, TWO novels in this series for you to peruse, both of which establish many of the rules of the setting as well as its general themes and tone!  You can get them in either paperback or e-book formatting (I’d recommend the former over the latter since I lack the technology to make a really nice ebook, but if money is an object, the kindle version is only $1).  Here’s the links again if you missed them:

Vol. 1: Tyrantis Walks Among Us!

Vol. 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth!

However, since I know reading a bunch of stuff is, y’know, not something everyone is inclined to do, I’ll jot some good bullet points for you in an attempt to outline how ATOM works in a brief, easily digested way:

ATOM is an homage to the monster fiction of the 1950’s and 60’s (i.e. the Atomic Age), and is set in those two decades, albeit an alternate universe version of them where, y’know, monsters and space aliens exist.  If you aren’t familiar with the monster fiction I’m referring to, there will be some reference material provided at the end of this post along with some recommendations for further research.

Kaiju/giant monsters in ATOM work under very specific rules.  There’s a full description of those rules at this link, but here’s the jist:

ATOM Kaiju are created created by the radiation of a mineral called Yamaneon, which naturally converts harmful radiation into its own unique energy.  In natural circumstances, it takes hundreds of years of exposure to Yamaneon radiation for a creature to become fully transform into a kaiju (luckily, Yamaneon radiation slows the aging process while speeding up the healing process).  However, an explosive burst of energy - such as the geothermal and kinetic energy released by an earthquake, or the blast of a nuclear weapon - can speed up the process, turning a normal animal into a kaiju within a matter of seconds.  

All ATOM kaiju can heal grievous wounds within minutes or even seconds, are supernaturally strong and durable, and can convert harmful radiation to harmless energy that they then feed off of.  Kaiju do not have an equivalent of old age, and can theoretically live forever (though their violent lifestyle means that few do).

ATOM Kaiju generally don’t need to eat unless they are severely injured, getting most of the energy they need from solar or geothermal radiation - but many still have instincts that drive them to seek out food from time to time.

Most ATOM kaiju stand roughly 100 feet tall (depending on their body shape), i.e. smaller than the original 1954 Godzilla.  There are exceptions to this rule - younger kaiju can be smaller, while exceedingly old kaiju can be significantly larger, but these are rare.

In general, ATOM kaiju are significantly more intelligent and emotionally complex than people expect animals to be, though most are incapable of speech or complex tool use.  There’s a reason ATOM Kaiju Files have a “personality” section.

Most ATOM Kaiju are tooth and claw fighters - ranged weapons are a rarity in this setting.

While the terrestrial monsters in ATOM look strange, they are intended to fit within the taxonomy of animals in reality - reptiles, mammals, fish, arthropods, molluscs, etc.

ATOM’s mesozoic era was dominated by a fictional clade of crocodile-relatives called retrosaurs, which are based on the outdated paleoart that one would find in the 1950’s/60’s fiction - i.e. when dinosaurs were viewed as trail dragging lizards instead of strange birds.  You can learn more about retrosaurs here (https://horrorflora.com/2016/11/15/atom-kaiju-file-bonus-a-guide-to-retrosaurs/).

Kaiju appear on every continent in ATOM, but certain areas tend to be dominated by different types.

North America is mainly besieged by retrosaur kaiju and giant arthropods.

East Asia is technically also mainly plagued by retrosaurs and big arthropods, though they tend to look more fantastical and mythic - and, often, oddly well suited to being portrayed by a person wearing a monster suit.

Russia is beset by prehistoric monsters that seem to come from the Cenozoic, particularly the Ice Age.

Western Europe is plagued by creatures that vaguely resemble creatures from myth, if they were also prehistoric.  Dragon-y lizards, fiery birds, etc.

Towards the mid-way point of ATOM’s timeline, earth is invaded by a coalition of aliens from different solar systems called the Beyonder Alliance, and as a result a bunch of alien monsters can be found on earth.

Mars and Venus both host (or hosted in Mars’s case) animal life.  The surviving Martians colonized Venus, and sent some of their kaiju guardians to earth to help us fend off the Beyonders (who are responsible for the destruction of Mars’s ecosystem).  Martian and Venusian kaiju have specific anatomical quirks, which you can see by looking at these kaiju files:

Venusians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/03/atom-kaiju-file-29-karamtor/

Martians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-39-kemlasulla/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-40-podritak/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-41-sombarvot/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-38-ullawdra/

Giant robots exist in ATOM, but are big, bulky, and incredibly expensive.  Fancy beam weapons also exist, but are similarly clunky - there are no sleek, elegant machines in ATOM.

Since the fiction ATOM takes inspiration from was made at a time when interplanetary travel was only just beginning to be possible, its scope is significantly smaller than modern sci-fi.  Alternate universes/dimensions were pretty uncommon because the idea of alien planets still held a lot of wonder to it.  So, as a general rule, don’t try to go farther than the one galaxy.

ATOM is a setting for stories that are focused on humanity learning to coexist with monsters, rather than humanity destroying them.  A certain level of sympathy is put into almost every creature of its canon, even the ones that are meant to be villains.

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Here is a playlist of 1950′s monster movie trailers.  

Here is some reference material from various monster comics of the 50′s and 60′s. 

Good movies to track down to understand ATOM’s inspiration and tone include Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Them!, The Black Scorpion, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Gamera, The Giant Claw, and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

And here’s the intro cutscenes for all the different giant monsters in the PS2 videogame War of the Monsters.

[iggyalfi2319]

Between Borrower and Giant

BBAG: X/2/? - A/N A little idea I had on my mind after reading different G/T stories and different perspective. And I thought, “Why not crossing the perspecives in one story?”

The storyline isn’t really solid and expect me to use OCs and weird ideas. The scaling might fail me a lot, I’m not good at size appreciation ^^;

I’m all ears if you have questions or suggestion.

I hope I won’t drop it like other countless stories I gave up from laziness and block -_-; Also, English isn’t my native language, don’t be mad...

Hai, I stop rambling and let you enjoy that thingy.

=====BBAG=====

Giant: (noun) a person or thing of unusually great size

Tiny: (adjective) very small.

Borrower: (noun)  One who takes what belongs to another, and uses it as their own

Everything is just a question of perspective.

Patton hummed softly as he was cleaning his little cozy home.

It was located somewhere in the forest, few minutes away from the nearest town. He enjoyed the peace and calm from his place even though he kind of craved other’s company. Sometimes, he could be touch starving, causing him to be very clingy toward his friends.

Yet, he gladly enjoyed some time for himself in his little home too.

Being the “Dad” of the crew could be pretty tiresome.

Sometimes, he felt that he was abused for his kindness. He gave and gave. While he didn’t get much in return.

*tunk*

Patton got pulled out of his reverie when he heard a familiar clatter.

He quietly went to the kitchen while trying to contain his excitment of getting the visit of his favourite little guest.

Virgil came out from the teapot that was actually a secret entry specially made for him. The original hole in the wall being too small for him, he had widened it and hidden it behind a broken teapot, so he just had to lift up the cap for getting in or out from the pot/entry.

You see, Virgil was “slightly” bigger than the few Borrowers that Patton had caught the sight of before. The bigger male was curious about it, but the emo generally avoided the topic.

Patton got on his knees and slowly crept in the kitchen before watching Virgil dropping his bag outside of the pot and pushing the cap back to its place. Then he hopped down from his porcelaine perch, dusting himself off.

He looked around, noticing that the place was unusally quiet at this time.

“Odd...” He muttered. “Maybe Patton went out -”

“PEEK A BOO!”

Patton jumped out of his hiding spot, scaring the shitz outta the poor emo.

“UWAH!” Virgil yelled and fell on his butt. “HOLY FRIGGING SKET, PATTON!”

He grasped his chest, his heart beating like crazy.

“Oh I’m sorry kiddo!” Patton panicked. “I just wanted to surprise you...”

“Just don’t do it again...” Virgil muttered, trying to calm down.

“Any way I can help? Do you want some water?” Patton asked sheepishly.

“Go for water...” The tiny male answered, using the 4-7-8 breathing technique.

The young fatherly man went to fetch the small cup he got from a doll sized tea set he got specially for Virgil. While he knew he couldn’t force him to stay with him, he wanted at least to enjoy some time together. Virgil started to openly interact with him not this long ago, heck, Patton knew that the Borrower was still a bit weary around him. There was some days where the emo would sneak in, unannounced. Probably for taking some emergency stuff. In these occasions, Patton would pretend not to acknoledge him, despite really wanting to. He prefered avoiding raising up Virgil’s stress level. Though, that didn’t keep Patton from ostensibly leaving the needed objects or food.

“Here your water kiddo.” He came back with the little cup. “I brought some cookies too.”

He had been practicing on making smaller portions. Virgil’s unusually big small size made things slightly easier. If it was for standard Borrowers, making even smaller pieces would be too complicated. Especially with Patton’s bad eyesight.

Virgil thanked him before drinking up the cup. Then he picked up a cookie. To him, it was the size of a plate. He broke it into smaller pieces before eating it up.

“How is it?” Patton asked. “Do you feel better?”

“These are delicious, big guy!” Virgil moaned softly at the taste. “I feel a lot better already.” Patton gasped in delight, stars in his eyes while the smaller male finished off his cookie.

“You’ll have to thank Cara for giving me her recipe.” The glassed man chuckled softly.

He looked at the emo sitting on the counter, letting out a small sight.

Slowly but surely, he moved his hand.

As expected, Virgil watched his movements.

“M...May I?” he slowly approached his hand toward him.

The doll sized male leaned carefully against it.

Patton tried not to squeal in happiness.

Virgil was like a wild animal. Very hard to gain his trust and so easy to break.

The tallest gently ruffled the smallest’s hair with his thumb. The Borrower closed his eyes, enjoying it.

They stayed like that in silence, savouring the moment.

Patton must admit he loved Virgil’s company more than anyone else’s. For Virgil, Patton was someone nice to have around, even if he was a bit suffocating sometime. But that was a part of his personality, so he accepted it even though he voiced out or showed his discomfort, knowing that Patton would step back.

Soon, the Borrower moved away from the hand. Patton whined softly but he didn’t protest.

“I have a present for you, from the kids.” Virgil ruffled in his bag.

“Really?!” Patton bounced excitedly.

He had a soft spot for children. When he learned from Virgil that he was in a foster family with 8 kids, Patton wanted to know everything about them! Heck, he even wanted to meet them. Of course, Virgil downright refused. At first from the lack of trust toward the big guy. But then, from the dangerosity. From the travel from their place to Patton’s house, or from the hostile environment that Virgil had experienced himself.

While Patton pretty much immediately welcomed Virgil and the Borrower slowly growing close to him, he really didn’t like Patton’s friends and did everything to stay hidden from them. So bringing children was out of question.

Virgil pulled out was seemed to be a blanket to him, which ended up being like a small tissue in Patton’s palm.

“That was the biggest sheets they could get.” The emo scratched the back of his head. “Cara helped sewing them together.”

Patton vaguely hummed, admiring the artwork.

It represented one big purple and black person, a couple standing next to them, smaller in size, then 8 smaller figures surrounding the big purple one. The details in the lineart was impressive, and even the slightly crooked coloring was beautiful. “For Mister P” was written on the top of the artwork. “Mister P?” Patton chuckled.

“W...Well I wanted to keep it vague at that time...” Virgil sputtered. “But I promise I’ll consider introducing you properly to them...one day...”

“I’ll be looking for it.” Patton lightly petted him.

Virgil blushed lighlty.

“Guess who is here, Padre ~!”

Both of Patton and Virgil jumped out of their skin at the ceremoniously booming voice of one of Patton’s friend, Roman.

“It’s time for me to leave.” Virgil stood up. “Thanks for the cookie.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for the night?” Patton asked, a bit disappointed.

“I have people waiting for me...” Virgil mumbled, packing the cookies in his bag, as well as some foil, toothpicks and other knickknacks that Patton would probably not need anymore.

Patton scooped him and brought him to the teapot.

“I guess I’ll see you later, big guy.” Virgil saluted.

“See ya, kiddo.” Patton smiled.

“Patton are you here?” Roman called.

Said glassed man just had the time to put down the cap on the pot.

“In here, Ro, I’m coming!” He called back, preciously cradling the present given by the Borrower.

“Ha! There you are.” Roman let out a princey huff.

Logan was apparantly here too.

“Greeting Patton.” He nodded slightly, before noticing the piece of fabric that Patton was holding. “What is this?”

“It’s a present from a little guest.” The father smiled

Logan and Roman eyed him suspiciously, but Patton was too busy admiring it to notice.

-

Virgil flew throught the forest, swinging his hooks from tree to tree like Spiderman. He had a long way to go and night was already falling.

While he enjoyed his little time with Patton, he cursed himself for not leaving sooner.

Cara, the foster mother, was surely waiting for him, a pan in her hand.

Though, she was used to it. Even before Virgil, because her husband, Amos, was the one going in the Giants’ realm for borrowing. He was the one who taught everything to Virgil.

The young man wondered how Amos could do that during so many years, especially when he was franckly smaller than him.

Soon, the trees were getting smaller and smaller, when Virgil reached the other realm.

Time for the change of perspective.

Virgil knew that he was near home, when the trees were just a few feet bigger than him.

He reeled back his hooks in his bag before continuing by foot, slowly heading toward the big old shacks, patched up here and there. Signs of expansions were very obvious.

A blonde woman around her 50s with glasses and green eyes, wearing a pastel green dress with a yellow apron and sandals was waiting for him outside, her hands on her hips.

“Hi Cara...” Virgil looked down at her.

“Virgil Andersen! What took you so long!” She said sternly.

Though her expression softened pretty quickly when he winced at her tone.

“Amos and I were worried sick, and the kids wanted to wait for you before goint to bed.”

“Because I’m technically their bed, right?” Virgil snorted.

“Don’t be so cocky young man.” She scolded him. “Amos was even about to get you himself.”

“What?” Virgil’s eyes widened. “But it’s dangerous!”

“Hey, don’t forget who taught you everything, kid.”

A man also around 50s with wild blond hair, a thick beard, greyish blue eyes and dressed like a lumberman joined them, dragging some logs.

“Since you’re here, get them on the pile before we can finally go to sleep.”

Virgil easily scooped up the logs and put them with the others.

Amos opened the entry made for Virgil, meaning the whole front walls in two big doors.

The shack was big enough in width for him to live in but slightly cramped up because it wasn’t high enough for him to stand in.

The young man shuffled inside on his knees, careful not to knock down anthing. Of course, the furnitures were pushed against the walls so Virgil could easily move around, but years of living here made him an expert in twisting and avoinding objects. Very useful when you live with messy and mischevious children.

He let his bag in the entry, Amos saying they would take care of it tomorrow before shuffling to the sleeping area.

The floor was a giant mattress and above there was 8 hammocks.

Assuming that the youngest inhabitants were asleep, Virgil carefully stripped down to his shirt and boxers before lying on the mattress. He couldn’t fully lie down, and shuffled as quietly as possible to find a comfortable position.

Suddenly -

“Virgil is back!”

“Get him! Get him!”

“Finally!”

8 smaller figures fell on him.

“Oof! Hey, slow down!” He groaned as the kids crowded him.

“So you went to visit Mister P?” One who looked like a younger version of Amos asked. “Tell us! tell us!”

“Did he like the present?” A red haired girl who seemed to be a native American piped up.

Are you two getting close? a voice rang through everyone’s head as a white haired girl had galaxy like eyes glowing softly.

The kids snickered at the thought while Virgil sputtered.

“What make you think that!” He hid his face.

“So it’s true?” a brown haired boy jumped in.

“Okay, that’s enough!” Virgil huffed and plucked them off him.

He set them in their respective hammocks.

“I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. Now, good night!”

He curled up and started to drift off.

When he heard a soft “THUMP”, before feeling a small weight against his torso.

He opened an eye, noticing that the smallest of the children as nestled up against him.

Soon, another child joined.

Then another.

Then another.

Till all the children were all cuddling him, peacefully asleep.

Virgil sighed soflty and protectively curled up around them.

Between Borrower and Giant, the 20ft tall emo had to find his place in this two opposite worlds.

=====BBAG=====

BBAG: X/2/?

Leave a comment and a like if possible ^^

[irisadielsart]

As anyone can attest, 2020 has been a rough year. A punctuated rough year in a string of rough years. My experience has been no different, but as for my personal artistic growth, 2020 has actually been exceptionally good to me. I went from thinking that doing a picture a month was asking way too much, to doing basically a drawing everyday. It’s a bit funny, I’ve been on tumblr since 2012, and i’ve posted some art here and there, but this year is when people finally noticed. I’ve had a couple of people say to me “I didn’t know you did art.” I don’t know how I feel about that, but I’m happy that my art is finally getting notes at least.

January - This is when i’m still in my dark phase. Drawing hurts, but I’m still trying my best to put something, ANYTHING on paper. i’ve spent 2019 drawing lines and squares on paper to just get used to drawing again. I’m trying to do people again. I had an idea that i was going to do a drawing a month for birth month flowers. January was carnation, and i had a sketch for February, but it never made it to completion. I’m still using traditional markers, pen and pencil.

February - This is where I found out that using a reference for art made things %100 percent easier. This is my very old OC Zora, made when i was in middle school. Using references cut out a lot of the initiation process i had when starting a drawing, all I had to do was trace, i didn’t have to think at all and the product was still good. Honestly pretty revelatory.

March - this is when i bought some really neat artists models that i could pose in any number of ways. They have proved their worth over and over again. Still doing traditional, but i did enhance this picture on the computer. 

April - My markers were running really dry and I couldn’t afford to buy a new set, so I dragged out my laptop and drawing tablet to see if i could start drawing digitally. I was never really good at drawing digitally, though I got a little better in my animation classes. Colors aren’t true on the monitor and doing lineart feels odd and hollow. i can’t put it into words. but I downloaded Krita because i also couldn’t afford Photoshop. so on top of learning digital art again, i was learning a whole new program. So this picture was a culmination of a lot of things, and a really good first step for the rest of the year.    

May - Here, this is when quarantine was in full swing, but drawing is no longer painful and i’m actually looking forward to it. Still learning digital again, so I decided to go with my tried and true love of fashion and clothes because that’s what i know best. Backgrounds suck

June - This month i was doing a lot of sketches and little doodle drawings. i decided that i wanted to try something more realistic, just to see how it would turn out. i think it is a bit of a mixed success.

July- July was busy, so i didn’t do a whole lot. This drawing was based off the designs of another artist that i loved a lot. I’m really big into character design, and I go crazy over a really good design.

August - My busiest month! I did so much in August! i wanted to take a break from all the Zelda art I was doing and decided to try doing an Alucard. Yoshitaka Amano is a big inspiration for me, and the way they do Alucard absolutely melts me. Someday i’ll draw Alucard as pretty as Amano does. 

September - I dragged another OC out of the grave and thought to myself “How can i improve on my art?”. It’s amazing that in January i didn’t know if i would still be drawing, but here I am trying to not only draw as much as i can, but also trying to improve. I loved the way this picture came out, but the process that i used to color it took 3 days! I don’t have that kind of time to spend on my art, but maybe someday i’ll do that technique again.

October - This month was a bit of a low point for me. I was getting depressed again and was struggling to draw. I didn’t do a whole lot. But i didn’t want to go back to the way things were at the start of the year, so i just took a break for myself and reminded myself that low points were going to happen, but it didn’t mean that my progress was erased. i went back to trying a more realistic approach because with LOTR characters, i can use actual human models which is great for getting the subtleties of shading.

November - Busy month that i didn’t have a lot of time to draw for. but i did a series that I am very fond of, the picture shown being my favorite of the series.

December - the end of the year! and i’m still drawing. I’m drawing so much! December isn’t over yet, and I’ll have more drawings to show later, but i can’t show them here yet because a lot of them are presents. so, this picture is the one that everyone liked the best, or at least it got the most notes. instead of using my usual ultra saturated color, i went with greys and sad colors. but people liked it a lot, and i don’t know how to feel about that. 

[rabonghee]

2020 Creator Wrap: Favorite Works

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 (or so) favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2020. Tag as many writers/artists/etc. as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

thank you @deokmis for tagging me ilysssm

This year I didn’t do many gifsets and the ones I did were pretty basic so they’re definitely not my faves lol. However I did try to make some edits and drawings which I’m really proud of (although they were the reason I hurt my wrist lol)

This BTS edit I made at the beggining of quarantine. I got the idea at like 3am one night and the next day was rushing to find all the pictures I could to pull it off and I still think it’s one of my favorite works

This drawing study I made based on a picture of an old hotel in my city. I’ve always liked that “anime backgrounds vibe” and I tried to recreate it. It didn’t turn quite like that but I still love the result lol

This Azula drawing. Drawing people is definitely my least favorite thing to do and doing lineart is my second least favorite, but for what I think was the first time in my life, I loved how the lineart turned out. Maybe in a future I will draw it again to fix the face since it’s the only part I’m still not convinced of, but I feel like I made a big progress with the rest.

tagging: @eunsjisoo @michin--yeoja @dramallamaring @yesdramas

[elstreem]

I thought it would be fun to do a comparison art of how I’ve been drawing my OC Raine - so here is my first ever drawing of her, all the way back in 2012, versus my most recent drawing of her in 2020! 

Back during 2012, I was obsessed with Adventure Time and giving bird companions to my characters. Also, 2012 me felt like a genius drawing this in MS paint. Simple times.

Everything that happened in between (with significant art every two years) is below if you want to check it out! This post is a little long, so I’ll put the rest under the cut.

This one is 2014 - I used the default drawing app on the iPhone I think. She was still an Adventure Time OC at the time so I pretty much stole the Ice Queen’s gown and gave it to her. Also I see you, younger me, hiding hands in long sleeves AND behind the back. 

2016!  This was drawn on my phone using Sketchbook (the old version with a blue icon). Not entirely sure where this gown design came from, but at this point I was starting to think about drawing less stylized bodies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just wanted to move away from purely copying something else’s art style, which is what I was doing at the time. 

Things were getting somewhere in 2018 - Raine was no longer an Adventure Time OC, she was my own character, a spirit of the rain with a dress and hair of storm clouds. Also lol, tried to draw her original look but the outfit and colors are all wrong. This was also drawn on my phone using Sketchbook.

Also 2018, but on a brand new phone and a new app! Trying out Medibang Paint is one of the best decisions I ever made, and it’s still what I use on my mobile devices. This mer-Raine design isn’t entirely original since I was drawing from Legend of Mana (Specifically I used Flameshe’s design), but this is still a huge step up from what I was able to do with Sketchbook. Also yay, drawing more hands!

2019!!! By this time I know for sure what I want Raine to look like, and it was also in 2019 that I stepped up my backgrounds. Which lead to...

This monster artwork in December of 2019! I was on a kick to draw characters as detailed as possible with fantasy inspirations, so Raine became a merperson with an Aquarius look going on. The water took so long to paint but I’m glad for it! Also I got a Samsung Galaxy tablet in 2019, and having a stylus makes for cleaner, quicker lineart. I still prefer to draw on that instead of my Wacom tbh, but I just gotta adapt to it!

And here are my other 2020 drawings for Raine (with a bonus Alexandra and Destiny)!

It’s been a long journey since I started out with MS Paint, and it’s good to remember how far I’ve come and what else I’m looking forward to achieving. I’m still working on drawing Raine consistently (kinda still have the tendency to draw characters with long, model-like legs and I want to move away from that). I’ve been trying to draw Raine to look more Filipino over time, and maybe sometime I can make a story for her set in or using mythologies of the Philippines, so I have that to work towards to. 

Also, some other lessons I’ve learned: 

A good art app can make a difference! Medibang is my current go-to and I’m adapting to Clip Studio Paint as well. Experiment, try to find out which is comfortable to use. I’m only using Medibang’s default settings but it’s taken me quite far because I’ve been using it for quite some time now.

When you want to develop drawing something - in my case it was hands, draw it over and over and over again! It’ll look bad and awkward but you should rinse and repeat until you get the look you want. 

Don’t be scared to go back to basics. I started drawing Raine exclusively in an art style mimicking Adventure Time, and over time my inspiration shifted to anime, so I drew Raine with that kind of visuals in mind. But when I wanted to draw her in a style I really wanted, I looked up drawing in a more realistic style. I still don’t draw realistically, but that helped me find the look I want for my art.

Addition and subtraction - when it comes to character details, some stuff gets left behind, and new stuff gets added in. Like with anything, just go on and try out what works! Raine lost her earrings (though I might return that now lol) and she used to have a feather in her ponytail, but she got this look with the cloud hair and clothing, and I think that will be staying. It’s a design I love - I love how it looks and it’s fun to draw!

Well, that should be enough rambling. I hope this is fun to read for other people as fun as it was for me to gather everything up!

[darkkept]

RULES. repost; do not reblog! tag 10! good luck!

TAGGED BY: stolen from @salt-water-and-glaives forever ago TAGGING: Steal it from me or I will kill again.

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Astraea Andromeda Lucis Caelum NICKNAME/S: Stray, Rae/Rae-Rae, Starshine BIRTHDAY: February 28th NATIONALITY: Lucian LANGUAGE/S: Lucian, Tenebraean, Old Lucian, Altissian, fragments of Imperial SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Panromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS: It’s Complicated (verse dependent)

CLASS: White Mage

HOMETOWN / AREA: Insomnia, Lucis. Born a royal in the Crown City, Stray was raised in the highest echelons of Insomniac society. Raised above most, she was kept largely to the world of privilege and safety afforded by the wealthier circles of her walled world. CURRENT HOME: On the road

PROFESSION: Princess, Advocate

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Inky black in color, shot through with traces of blue highlights. It falls thick and loosely curled to her mid back, though is often styled tidily up and away from her face in vintage styles. After the fall of her homeland, she cuts her hair just above her shoulders and only styles it minimally.

EYES: A dark shade, leaning heavily towards a steely blue. Downturned and mono-lidded in shape. Has long dark lashes framing them, often accented with a hint of black eyeliner along her upper lids and highlighter to obscure dark circles beneath her eyes.

NOSE: Straight, with a slight downward turn. Average sized.

FACE: Diamond shaped, with an angular and overtly feminine face giving way to a pointed chin. Slightly elongated in imitation of her father in his youth, with no noticeable scars or discoloration

LIPS: Wide and plush, naturally a pale pink. Often decorated with a smear of neutral lipstick or gloss during public appearances. Most often pulled into a placid or neutral smile.

COMPLEXION: The light ivory skin of a person who does not often brave direct sunlight, with warm undertones. While she might burn at first, with time she’ll settle into a soft tan when introduced to the world outside of the city. Appears more ashen in the post-Nightfall world, due to a combination of factors.

BLEMISHES: None, and should any appear. they’re likely to be photoshopped out or made to disappear via make-up.

TATTOOS:  A small lineart of a feather on her left hip, a remnant of a past relationship. The feather means a lot to  her on again off again boyfriend, and she thought it would be a cute surprise for him. That on again lasted all of two months after this tattoo. She’s mortified by the mere thought of the ink on her hip now.

HEIGHT: 5′1″

WEIGHT: Around 105-110 pounds.

BUILD: Slim and diminutive, with delicate bone structure and slender limbs. While there is some toning along her upper arms and core, she remains slight. Her figure is relatively straight, with little in the way of curves.

ALLERGIES: None.

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: in public: A vintage brush out or demure braid will be her go to hairstyles when facing the people. The  styles are made more elegant by the inclusion of hair accessories, usually dark silver clips to contrast off of her dark locks.

in private: Keeps her hair loose or in a low ponytail, letting her curls simply be so long as they are out of the way. She’s not particularly fussed about her hair when her time is her own, and actually enjoys just letting it loose and bouncy down her back.

at work: Kept into a messy ponytail or bun with long, loose curls falling at the sides of her face if not swept back behind her ears.

USUAL EXPRESSION: You know how newscasters have that perpetual, unnerving buoyancy to their smiles and unblinking eyes? Unfortunately, that is Stray, who wants to always appear affable and trustworthy to the people. Smiling softly, eyes bright, but in an altogether neutral expression otherwise, she might come off as insincere were she any less pretty.

USUAL CLOTHING: The modern goth meets the vintage rack. Stray has an appreciation for old school elegance, be it tea-length dresses or old pencil skirts and cardigans, the more femme the better. Her choice of fabric is overwhelmingly black, though she accessorizes with shades of red and magenta. Has been known to wear sunglasses when out in the world. Polished black heels are a must, as Stray refuses to live at her actual height.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR/S: Seeing as Stray is a person to define herself by her use to others, she has a twofold fear of uselessness and imperfection. If she is not the best she can be, the nshe struggles to understand who she is or what her purpose might be. Beyond this, she has a deep-seated fear of losing what little family she has, which unfortunately comes true during the course of the narrative. 

ASPIRATION/S: Above all, Stray hopes to see a Kingdom united, with no walls and prejudices. Her primary goals as a political figurehead focus on the plight of the Outlands, and especially that of refugees. She hopes to one day make reparations for what her forebears did so wrong in handling those outside of the Crown City.  Her more personal goals are mainly defined day by day, though as of the game’s primary plot, she is focused totally on finding her brother and keeping him safe. After his loss, Stray throws herself into finding a conclusion that does not end with her brother being sacrificed to Bahamut’s game.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Approachable. Caring. Generous. Just. Passionate. Playful. Witty. 

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Evasive. Insecure. Self-sacrificing. Smothering. Subservient. Workaholic.

MBTI: ENFJ-T - THE PROTAGONIST

Protagonists are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, Protagonists take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community.

The interest Protagonists have in others is genuine, almost to a fault – when they believe in someone, they can become too involved in the other person’s problems, place too much trust in them. Luckily, this trust tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Protagonists’ altruism and authenticity inspire those they care about to become better themselves. But if they aren’t careful, they can overextend their optimism, sometimes pushing others further than they’re ready or willing to go.

People with the Protagonist personality type are passionate altruists, sometimes even to a fault, and they are unlikely to be afraid to take the slings and arrows while standing up for the people and ideas they believe in. It is no wonder that many famous Protagonists are cultural or political icons – this personality type wants to lead the way to a brighter future, whether it’s by leading a nation to prosperity, or leading their little league softball team to a hard-fought victory.

ENNEAGRAM: The Reformer

ZODIAC: Pisces (sun sign), Libra (rising sign), Taurus (moon sign)

TAROT: Death: “You can be a bit intense and find yourself drawn to dark and mysterious things. You’ve been through a lot and have probably seen your fair share of endings, but probably cope with it through humor. On top of that, you are surprisingly easygoing – you’re open to change, try not to let past baggage weigh you down, and seek out new experiences” (there was a quiz going around and that’s where the description comes from)

TEMPERAMENT: Sanguine

SOUL TYPE/S: the caregiver (change)

The quintessential characteristic of a Caregiver type is the desire to take care of others. For this reason, Caregivers may be drawn to the long-term care of children or the elderly. Though some Caregivers find their need to nurture satisfied by raising a family, many others seek out work in such venues as schools, hospitals, and animal shelters. The long-term care of those with Alzheimer’s, autism, and mental illness often becomes the responsibility of Caregivers.

If you recognize yourself as a Caregiver, you may already have noticed the tendency to put others’ needs ahead of your own. This trait makes it essential that you go out of your way to take care of yourself as well as those around you. Remember that you’re no use to others if you’re not healthy or fit enough to help them.

You are loyal to the extreme, and you guard those who are entrusted to your care with your life. Fighting another person’s battles can be important if that individual is unable to stand up for themselves, though you should be cautious not to dis-empower those in your care by not allowing them to do things for themselves.

Your empathy allows you to understand nonverbal emotional signals. This ability will tell you when someone needs your help, and how best to assist them. It is common for Caregiver types to intuitively know what someone needs at any given time.

VICE/S: Stray is someone who cuts loose by thrills. A favorite vice is driving fast, racing around the Crown City once the streets are emptied. She tears across the roads like a stunt driver, handling her car well but with a blatant disregard for traffic laws. She has also been known to take part in recreational drug use in secret, favoring marijuana to unwind when her stress peaks. 

FAITH: Formerly a lapsed adherent to the Astrals, the six gods of her native Eos, with a particular focus on the veneration of Bahamut as patron of her family. While raised a proper faithful child, Stray never had a vested interest in the Astrals, and began to put her faith instead in the physical world over the spiritual. In the time since the fall of her homeland and the revelation of her brother’s fate, her disinterest has turned to outright hatred, and she now aims to work against the gods and their ambitions.

GHOSTS?: Misidentified daemons, in her honest opinion. If the haunted painting can actually be possessed by one, who knows how many times ghosts have simply been misidentified species of Daemon? She wants to believe, however.

AFTERLIFE?: She’s unsure what shape it takes, but does believe it exists. Whether you ascend to dwell with the Astrals, or go on to watch over your loved ones from above, she cannot say, just that she doesn’t think life ends just because your body dies. Not that it immediately concerns her, seeing as a lot of her ancestors end up stuck in a ring for all eternity.

REINCARNATION?: A fascinating theory she’s seen bandied about certain Outland beliefs. It’s not truly in line with the Astral-based faith she was raised in, but she does think it’s a beautiful idea. Though, she does tend to treat it irreverently when drawing comparisons between the Founder King and her younger brother.

ALIENS?: You mean like the kind Cor swears up and down he saw driving through Tenebrae once? Sure, she totally believes the Marshall. 

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Revolutionary. At heart, Stray sees little use in a continued monarchy, and believes in equality for the people who would ideally represent themselves. Outwardly, she settles for being the more liberal royal, campaigning for changes to at least two generations of perceived injustice against Lucian citizens.

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: Surprisingly frugal. Most finery she owns was either a gift or a necessity for osme event. On her own, Stray has a preference for function over anything else, and durability over couture. This might go a long way in explaining several of her vintage interests.

SOCIOPOLITICAL POSITION: Royal, the eldest child -- though not heir -- of an established monarch. Stray is at the highest level of Lucian society, trumped only by her father as ruler and brother as heir. 

EDUCATION LEVEL: University educated. Topped her classes throughout her private education, and truly excelled in high school. Earned her Bachelors in poli sci, despite intending to study medicine at the start. Her education goals have been put on hold due to her familial obligations, though prior to the treaty signing she intended to continue on for a Masters.

FAMILY.

FATHER: Regis Lucis Caelum, King - deceased

MOTHER: Aurea Lucis Caelum, Queen - deceased

GODFATHER: Clarus Amicitia (her father’s Sworn Shield)

SIBLING/S: Noctis (younger brother)

EXTENDED FAMILY: Ardyn probably counts here as her 114 times removed great uncle. In the more realistic, she has a maternal uncle on the council, and a few younger cousins she sometimes hangs around with.

SIGNIFICANT OTHER(S): Verse dependent.

NAME MEANING/S: Astraea is derived from the root Aster, meaning ‘Star.’ This was the name of a classical goddess of justice and innocence. Andromeda roughly translates to ‘mindful of man,’ and was the name of a bound princess in mythology. Lucis Caelum is a Latin surname, taken from the words for ‘light’ and ‘sky.’

Her first and last names become ‘star of the light sky’,’ in juxtaposition to her brother as the ‘night of the light sky.’

Stray is a nickname derived from her younger brother’s attempts to pronounce her name as a young child. It was easier on the tongue than her full name, and stuck among both the royal family and the prince and princess’ closest friends.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION: The eldest child of the royal family of Lucis, a dynasty dating back 2000 years. Though not the heir -- inheritance favors female rulers only when there are no men left -- Stray is among the latest link in a very long chain of duty and magic. She is 114 generations removed from the Founder King, and sister to the long-prophecised Promised King.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Stray is most engrossed in medical journals and any technical publications that come her way. That is, she has more time for magazines than books. When she has a moment to sit down, however, she has a taste for poetry and the classics -- Tragedies, especially.

MOVIE: Legally, the princess is required to say that she enjoys a good drama, and is very interested in the yearly award circuit nominees especially. In private, the princess prefers less conservative fare, namely erotic thrillers. There is something about the interplay of sex and danger that she enjoys. None can know just how lowbrow her tastes are.

DEITY: Outwardly, she will admit to being a great admirer of the stalwart Draconian who protects her family and their kingdom. In private, she often had a soft spot for Titan, shouldering the load of saving the world from calamity. Now, she thinks they are all unworthy of worship.

MONTH: October.

SEASON: Autumn.

PLACE: Her private chambers within the Citadel, where she can really  be herself at the start and end of every day.

WEATHER:  Cool and overcast, with the threat of rain on the horizon not quite reaching her. The kind of weather where you bring your umbrella just to be safe, but still go about your day.

SOUND: The laughter of her loved ones.

SCENT/S: Roses. Sea salt. Old books. Her partner’s cologne/soap.

TASTE/S: Honey. Molasses. Black tea. Apples.

FEEL/S: Leather. Fur. Velvet. Scar tissue.

ANIMAL/S: Chocobo.

NUMBER: 13

COLOR: Magenta

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Public speaking. Problem solving. White magic.

BAD AT: Obeying traffic laws. Expressing and working through negative feelings. Accepting failure.

TURN-ONS: nonsexual: Older/stronger partners. Emotional intimacy. Risk-taking. Tolerance for others.  Free-spirits. sexual: Spanking. Praise. Roleplay. Big dicks. Being able to let her partner take control. Laid-back sex.

TURN-OFFS: Degradation. Unyielding. Lack of compassion. Traditionalist views. Immaturity.

HOBBIES: Socializing. Reading. Research. Racing. Clubbing. Chess.

AESTHETIC TAGS: Stars. Midnight. Moon cycles. The serpent. Rebellion. Stranger in a strange land. Girlhood gothic. Shades of red. Growing up too fast. The healer has the bloodiest hands. All-loving heroine. The dutiful daughter. Shields. Dark mirrors. Breaking cycles. Dark curls. Sensuality. Who’s a heretic now?

[dolphiana]

So...I entered a contest about creating science comics for 8-12 year old kids. They wanted 4 pages and a concept for 16 more pages and would pick the 4 best comics. The prize would have been enough to survive financially for a whole year and finally get some time for my own art and ideas instead of gradually getting a burn out from all the commission work and worrying if I'll manage to cover my costs each month.

Well,I didn't win. Of course, because why should anything I do ever work out. :|

My friend works at the institute which hosted the contest and kept me updated. My comic made the 6th place of around 90 submissions ( place 1-4 won the money ). Up to the final meeting of the jury everyone liked it, because it stood out style-wise and was the only one featuring an animal protagonist. The jury members also liked it...except for a school inspector and one art professor, who kept nagging the protagonist HAD to be a child because kids need kids to identify with and couldn't relate to an animal. Ex-fucking-cuse me??? Ever heard of „The Lion King“, „Bambi“, „My Little Pony“, etc. which don't feature any humans and still every child loves them? That's like the lamest reason ever to boycott a comic! That damn art professor managed to convince the rest of the jury that a child protagonist would be better and so they picked 4 comics which pretty much all have the same plot and styles which can be found in any average school book. Yay. Definitely worth hosting a contest for.

I was and still am rather frustrated about the decision, because all seemed to be going well, everyone liked it and I already had the whole comic planned out in my head. When I heard an art professor would be in the jury I already had a bad feeling. Thanks for ruining everything. -__-

My Mom suggested finishing the comic anyway and trying to get it funded online, but I don't have time to work on such a big project next to commissions and I doubt anyone would be interested in paying for a science comic targeted at kids. *sighs*

Anyway, hope you like these 4 pages.

Traditional lineart drawn with black fineliners and coloured with Paint Tool Sai & Photoshop CS5.

[dotzines]

Artist spotlight: Lunarin-Arts!

✿ Commissions ✿ Instagram ✿ DeviantArt ✿ Twitter ✿ Tumblr

Header source: [X]  

Introduce yourself I am Lonneke! But online I prefer going by the name Rumii. I am currently 20 years old and I live in the Netherlands. In my spare time I like drawing (of course), Cosplaying and Gaming. I used to be really into anime, And I still have favourites like Kamisama hajimemashita, Black butler and hetalia. But right now I am more of an artist/ gamer. In which I play alot of Overwatch, which would be my main fandom. and Story rich games like NieR; Automata. I love meeting new people, and especially other artists. Even though I tend to be a bit shy at first //especially in large groups Nonetheless I hope we can get along!! And Im very excited to try out zines. as I have never done them before. When did you start drawing? Are you a digital or traditional artist? I started drawing in last grade of primary school, so around the age of 11/12. I primarily started out traditionally, but quickly picked up on digital art. Mainly using MS Paint when I just started out. Next thing I know I had a drawing tablet and extensively used Paint tool SAI. So I would say I am a digital artist. Though I do traditional as well, but I don't upload traditional art as much.  Do you use any traditional mediums? If so, which are your favorites? I have! for traditional work I just use whatever pencils I have around for sketching. Micron fineliners for Linearting. I don't color my works often, but have started getting some copic markers, pro markers and twin markers to try out. I like using the copic markers alot, they are very expensive.. but I can just feel how much better the quality is compared to my other markers.

image source: [X]   Why do you prefer traditional over digital? (or viceversa) I highly prefer digital, mainly because it's way more easy to manipulate your works, edit any smaller mistakes without having to draw them over again. and from lineart on, nothing you do is permanent. Plus I can use way more colors than I can on traditional mediums right now. What do you think is the most challenging part about being a traditional/digital artist? I think the biggest challenges for me were getting accustomed to my drawing tablet. I mean it really takes some time to get used to the pressure, and it really feels different than draiwng directly on paper. and after that getting familiar with the drawing programs. I just switched programs again and I am still figuring out all the tools. So even though I think digital mediums make things alot more easy, it takes a long time to get everything out of it. even years later you can discover a function you never knew of. which will elevate your art even more. What inspires your pieces? I take inspiration from various places, I like doing challenges, or just fanart. but also alot from music. it can get me into a certain mood or I can just see a piece that fits with the music. and then try sketching it out while listening to this song. I also like looking around for special things like 'mermay' for example. Look at the themes and just try to imagine what kind of piece I can do with that.

image source: [X]   Explain your "everyday" drawing process I kinda take I gotta explain how I get through an artwork? well, first of course I try to find my inspiration. Or I already have a vague idea of what I want to do. And I make a super super rough sketch. then I go over it and add slightly more details. My sketches are still usually very messy. but I love that when I lineart I can make everything pretty and detailed. and it looks better compared to the sketch. Which is obviously my next step. After that I lay down base coloring in seperate layers. Always starting with skincolor > Haircolor > eyes > bigger parts of clothes > smaller parts of clothes > details If I have background I try to go with the biggest parts like the sky or ground or whatever first. and move up from bigger to smaller things pretty much. I work very organized so I always have my layers in different maps. Usually one for each character, and for the entire BG. sometimes also different ones for different parts of the background. so it's easy to find back if I have to fix something in a certain part of my artwork. Besides this I also sometimes do more painted works, I have only done those in portraits so far. But in those I made the sketch > put colors below it > merge layers > start the shading part by part on top of it. usually working back to front on which colors overlap eachother Do you have an artist you admire (or more than one)?

I have a few people I know that inspire me, like Chance-To-Draw on DA ( https://www.deviantart.com/chance-to-draw ) And my best friend of mine who doesn't really upload her works anywhere anymore ;;-;; So I can only admire her through our discord server >< I also love Lord_Gris (https://www.instagram.com/lord_gris/) alot! And Rosuuri (https://www.instagram.com/rosuuriart/) ofc those are a few well-known artists. I follow alot more people with amazing art but gosh I can't possibly list all of them here >< I just like seeing a variety of different art styles and OC's Is there an artwork you are most proud of? Why? Right now I'd say this one; http://fav.me/dd4acw5 I just..love how the coloring turned out. this was a really hard painted piece to do aaa >< especially her hair. But Im just so happy with it! I really feel like I have been improving my coloring again lately and I can't get enough of it jgkdhf

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing? YEees, I listen to vocaloid covers alot, actually. also covers from other things. just..alot of covers. or original fanbase songs ahah A few examples here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwMZhdyZHVI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNoy_b_JYU0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPMhkIiapIA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPw-0vctJJQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Tr014nQ4pk

image source: [X]   What makes art interesting for you? For me it started alot as a way to vent my emotions. It calms me down to draw when I am sad, angry or happy even. I love being able to look back and see the improvement. and know that in 2 years I will once again look back at the stuff I am currently very proud of. and know I can already do so much better than that! This is really what keeps it interesting to me, I think. What do you do when art block strikes? //Cry// Jk, To be honest. I either try to break through and search for any inspiration. Or I just call it a day and go game or listen to music. In the last 1.5/2 years I have had a massive art block. I was dissapointed in my own art. didn't know what to draw anymore. and didn't see the point of continuing. Just recently I found a new art program. which in this case helped me get out of this huge slump. and I'm ready to be a bit more active. and get into new projects and broaden my horizon's in general What’s the most valuable art advice you’ve ever received?

Well, I haven't asked for alot of advice before. but a while ago I sortof got the advice to use references more often. After which I feel alot less afraid to do so. and feel like my works are getting alot better. and I find it easier to start on things after searching for pose or background refs

[edelwary]

when you were first getting into art, what and how did you draw? (like did you just doodle ur masterpieces on pieces of paper and posted-notes or did you have a proper sketchbook) how did you find motivation? bc ive been trying to draw but I always get unmotivated and stop while still wanting to get better just by doing nothing.

REALLY LONG, LOTS OF ADVICES FOR ARTISTS : 

TL;DR ; skip to the HOW TO ACTUALLY FUCKING DRAW part bc i have a megaton of shit to say lol + The MOTIVATION part 

mmh… I’ll get into details with this one tbh bc it’s a long ass process ahah : 

I live by the sea ; when i was youung i used to draw TONS of boat, but like, dollhouse boats, you could see the insides and stuff ; i loved to add tiny details and stuff, and imbricate everything together !

around 8 or 9 yo, i went to the public library with school and discovered the wonderful world of mangas ! I basically… Copy pasted an entire Mermaid Melody tome x) 

For about 2 years i alternated between reading mangas and trying to copy them ! Then i just kept drawing in the margins of my schoolwork for about… 5 years ! I have a Fuck Ton of sketchbooks of that time, it was… The start. Lol. Never say it’s bad because it’s never bad, just not there yet !!

Around my 13 yo, i went every saturday, for two years, under a bookstore ; there was a cave, and drawing classes ; that teacher was mean and harsh and stuff, but like… Not really. He would take away my eraser for the class, force me to use pencil, to draw something else (bulky boys instead of magical girls). 

I’ve learned a lot, more in terms of How To LEARN to draw than to draw itself, but i still progressed a LOT !! 

Then i kept drawing by myself for a year and i really worked hard on it ; about hours a day, trying watercolors and stuff ; i have a real problem with colors in traditionnal art, but i’m much better with lines (i should scan some RAD stuff i made in the weekend, yall ive never done anything this good i stg i dont know why i always forget im so much better on paper) 

This gets us to my sweet 16 ; i have to year of advance, bc i got ‘’’promoted’’’ idk how to say it ; anyways, i entered my (current) animation school for the first year at 16; vERY IMPRESSIVE AND TERRIFYING. 

And i learned. A fuckmegaton. Of shit there. 

Now i’m going for my third year there and i can make photorealistic marmora blades and cyberkpunk decors if i want to and that’s rad, but here is

 HOW TO ACTUALLY FUCKING DRAW : 

I have one HYPER important advice, and i’m keeping it to heart since i’m like, 11 : Have. Sketchbooks. Please !!! It’s very important. Here’s why : 

You keep everything with you in one place. You have 1 sketchbook, it’s basically easy to take every where (a A5, or A4 are pretty easy to carry, i have like, 12 of those, and around 8 of A3) 

You keep track of what you’ve done. It’s super important, bc first you can cry of laughter at your old stuff bc its cute but not so good, and second, you can just be like ‘holy mama’ and see how much you’ve improved

It’s very important to be organized. I WORK in art, and trust me, if there’s something that i’ve learned this year through tears and missing files and bugs : Be. Impeccable. Now if it’s for fun, go a little loose, and just have a folder for art on your computer, and a sketchbook, no need to stress, but the better you try to keep a record of where is what, the better you’ll see whats wrong

Notebooks are friends !! You can draw, write, glue stuff, make notes, lists, everything !!! I have my life in those. It’s more important to me than any of my phones. 

Be proud of it. Like, not everything, duh ! But try to tell yourself than it’s like a RPG ; even if it’s only 2 xp here and there, one day you’ll beat level 40, and that’s super important : art is. Fuckin. Long.

I cant stress it enough. It’s soooo long !!! SO LONG !! it’s years. It’s like karate and fishing and ANYTHING. To be good at it, it takes time, but it WILL COME if you keep trying. There’s no secret passage. 

You’re gonna me it, believe in me who believes in you. 

Use. References. 

Coming from a little shit who’s got a really good visual memory, that can sound like bs, but i stg everything is always AT LEAST twice as good if you’ve used a visual support. 

I’m not saying COPY EVRYTHING (even though thats a good training) I’m saying, if you really want to do that asian tiger, please have at least two or three pictures of it nearby. Take photos of your hands, and stuff ! 

Make it harder. 

No eraser. 

Paint. 

I draw all my backgrounds on my sketchbook with INDIAN INK; no returns, no refunds. 

Ink, Ink, INK !! Don’t allow mistakes.

And if you make mistakes :

New page, restart

It’s okay

It’s for you

I once started back again a whole EXAM bc it was bad, i got one of my best grades 

You’ll improve and be more assured if you know you just have to DO IT. Trust me. It’s VISIBLE; if you can erase, you fidget and hesitate and ‘’kbeujebez hahhaaa idkkidsd’’ ; stop ; do it, and if you don’t like it ? Try again, there’s no time limit

Draw as large as you can 

There’s no interesting story here, it just helps. Bigger movement of the hand, more place for details, breathing lines

Thin lineart helps

Thinner. Make it even thinner

Break the rules, but not the ones that structure your art 

Big lineart ? Why not

Unfinished lines, vaporeous colors ? Pretty

Cubism is actually based on extensive and intense practice of classical art, it’s not wibbly wooblly ; the anatomy is more correct than you think 

Structure and composition are important, but so is movement and life ; choose your fighter ; mine is fluidity and fun, i’m like, a rogue/archer in drawing. Some people are dwarf fighter. That’s amazing and great. 

Don’t be afraid to do nothing

Pages and pages of my sketchbooks are actually just lance facing right and smiling, you know… 

Sometimes it just doesnt work : two ways :

Take a break, Kiki’s delivery service style

Keep trying, break your art until it obeys and comes back

Take breaks. Breath. 

Don’t compare. I do it, it doesn’t help at all. You’ll make it ; and if you compare, keep in mind that everyone’s different

I’m not gonna lie, it’s NOT easy, it’s even hard 

But I really, really think it’s worth it 

MOTIVATION :

My main bitch 

I’m always pumped for art because i can LITTERALLY NOT do anything else ; i love reading and writing and stuff but at the end of the day i just want !!! to draw !!!! aaaaaa-

Fall in love with it, and with the possibilities ; i have stories to tell, tell me yours ! Do your best, one day it WILL work

Actual advices : 

I have an inspiration blog where i just reblogs stuff i like to draw them later

Find a picture, copy it. Do it again. Change the characters (i have 2 ocs and Lance and Keith as default characters) in the pic. 

Like an artstyle ? Break it to its very core, analyse it, copy it, redo it, trace it and ABSORB it. Don’t copy/past, LEARN from your heroes.

Do what you like. I have 86578 pieces of voltron, this is not a coincidence. I have ENDLESS ideas for this show, wtf. 

Try new things. Buy indian ink im begging you. It’s so cool. 

Have a game with yourself, or a challenge. STICK TO IT. 

Study. When you’re bored, usually it’s because you’re stagnating. Make it harder or do hands until you cry. 

Love your backgrounds; make backgrounds, study trees, and tokyo streets, and venice’s bridges. Decor is just as cool as characters, if not more

Mess a little with everything. My roomate more than one found me stained from head to toes trying to DO STUFF 

Draw outfits. Draw what you want but can’t afford 

MAKE YOUR LIFE A COMIC. Remember those sketchbooks ? Make a comic a week/month/every full moon, whatever, and draw your life (mine’s the roomates au lol) 

Prompts blogs are cool too 

Make fanart of a fic you liked ; you have the characters and the pose already, you just have to illustrate ; double bonus, you probably will make a writer’s day, if not year !

That little movie that plays when you listen to your favorite song ? DRAW IT

Your favorite scene in your favorite movie ? Redraw each shot. On post it. Plus it looks awesome afterwards to have the infamous TREX scene of Jurassic Parks in post it

Get bored. That’s inevitable. Dance, scream, get back to it. Walk, draw everything you see. 

Make a paper google map street view : Take a walk : every 50 meters, draw what is in front of you. 

Snapchats your friends. Draw their snapchats when they answer 

Draw maps. Invent places. Invent bikes, and hovercrafts, and monsters. Make your everyday inventory. Make your life a video game, and do the concept arts of it. 

FETCH your inspiration. I have approx. 20 artbooks, full of drawings and concept arts of my fave movies/games ; take what you like and add it to the story you have since you’re 8. We all have one. 

Ask for it ; your sis, your mom, me even ! If you dont have ideas, someone will have them. 

WELL i’m gonna stop there, even though i got like, 9864567 more to say, but with this you should be fine ! Anon, i’m rooting for you ! we all start somewhere, just hold on!!!! 

[ick25]

Rockman.EXE Episode 43 Review.

Ahhh! Where did that woman come from?!

Hi everyone, we have stumbled across the third episode that was never aired outside of Japan, why is that? I don’t know, but let’s try to find out.

Oh man, I know nothing about baseball, this episode is gonna eat me alive! T.T

We start the episode in Netto’s house one evening where he and Rockman are focused on a baseball game.

Aren’t they adorable? But now I’m curious, is Rockman watching from the same TV as Netto or he is live streaming it online? It could be a live streaming because we also see Dekao watching the same game from his computer.

Maybe Dekao doesn’t have cable?

They are watching a player name Hoshida Kyuuma who surprises everyone with a homerun. Both Netto and Rockman cheer for the player as he runs the bases making some famous gesture he has of scratching his nose, something that Netto copies before the title screen appears.

Nihon Senators? It’s not bad, but at least make up something creative, there is a real Japanese team called the Ham- Fighthers after all.

The next day, Netto greets Dekao and Tohru on his way to school taking part in the stereotypical guy exchange of “did you catched the game last night?” With Meiru and Roll stereotypically uninterested in the subject.

“Next thing your gonna say is that cars are cool”

At school, Mariko-sensei introduces a new student to everyone who just so happens to have the same last name as the baseball player they saw last night.

Geez, what a depressing looking kid. He looks sadder than Tohru’s picture in the N-1.

After introducing this new character, we then cut to them at P.E. where Netto and the rest of the class are playing, coincidentally, baseball.

Uhg, somehow Dekao in sports cloths looks fatter than usual.

Netto is at the bat, Dekao is the pitcher and Yaito is the catcher who makes hand signals to the pitcher behind the batters back. Looks like Netto sucks a this because Yaito kicks him out after calling Dekao a cheater and only getting two strikes.

I never thought I would miss their Navis commentating. It feels boring watching them on their own for so long, especially doing something unrelated to the net.

Mariko-sensei models her pink sweatsuit as she calls the new kid at the bat. Dekao is confident in his pitch, but Kyuuta shuts him off by hitting a homerun and surprising everyone.

As Kyuuta runs the bases and scratches his nose, Mariko-sensei reveals to everyone that he is the son of the baseball player Hoshida Kyuuma.

This is enough to make him “mister popular” since Netto and his friends start talking to him.

“So... Do you like Net Battles?”

He doesn’t seem happy with all this attention since he suddenly stands up after Yaito mentions his dad being transfered from another team.

Turns out Kyuuta is sad because he misses his friends since he is sitting alone after school looking at a baseball covered in signatures and starts crying. Netto walks in and asks him if he wants to walk home together (lucky bastard), but he ignores him and accidentally drops his baseball that rolls over to Netto’s feet. Netto picks it up and then notices that Kyuuta was crying.

Wish I had someone like Netto ask me to walk home together back when I was in elementary school. Sure, it’s dangerous for kids to walk home by themselves in Costa Rica and my house was pretty far, but I was a very lonely child, okay? :c

Kyuuta wipes his tears and just leaves Netto with the baseball. In the next scene we see Kyuuta arriving at his house.

You should answer when your mom asks you a question! I can never get away with that!

I wanna point out something first. This anime is not the best at portraying good mom characters, you know how I constantly call Netto’s mom a useless woman? Well this one right here I’m gonna call her... Sad face woman in the corner. It seems cruel, but believe me, you’ll see why.

We see Kyuuta sulking in his room when Netto and his friends arrive at his house to return the baseball he dropped. Kyuuta just puts on his shoes and tells him that he doesn’t want that ball anymore and runs out of the house.

See? She did it again.

Anyway, as Kyuuta is running in front of the sunset, his mom tells everyone that he is sad because he is constantly changing schools because of his dad getting transfer to other teams, but in the last school he was in he made friends with the kids in a baseball team and had to leave them behind to go to Akihara.

Kyuuta’s dad overhears this and gets all fired up for some reason while the mom does what she does best and goes hide behind a corner to cry.

THIS is when you realize this episode is not to be taken seriously. It is obvious that they are making fun of something. I would say this is a satyre of sports anime, but since the only sports anime I know is Captain Tsubasa I’m not really sure if there are others like that one.

So Netto and his friends along with Kyuuta’s parents find him and say that everything is alright since they figured out a way of solving his problem, by using the net!

They tell Kyuuta to go to a stadium where he finds his friends from the baseball team on a huge screen. They ask him to play baseball with them, Kyuuta doesn’t understand what they mean and that’s when Netto and all his friends including Tohru, Higure-san and the Net Agents, explain to him that thanks to the internet and some super special equipment installed in that stadium, they can play baseball using their Navis.

And of course Kyuuta just happens to have a Navi name Leagueman, but I have no idea why he has restrains.

Right before commercials we see Dekao planning to get his revenge against Kyuuta as we see Gutsman in a baseball uniform at the bat, only to return with Midorikawa as the commentator and Gutsman getting three strikes in a matter of seconds.

Aren’t they just balls if the batter doesn’t swing?

So yeah, in this episode we get to see some of our favorite Navis, and Glyde, playing baseball and wearing uniforms. Skullman is up next where we can see how the field switches from humans to Navis.

But I can’t tell if they are like holograms or if there is a seperate cyberworld for them with the same field.

Skullman proves to be a good player because of his speed and attempts to steal the bases as Glyde is next at the bat. Leagueman quickly get the upper hand by making Glyde strike out before Skullman can steal all the bases.

Thumbs up at Glydes pants.

Now it’s Woodman’s turn at the bat, but he quickly gets three strikes off screen and Saloma confesses that she have never played baseball before, to which Miyuki replies with annoyance as we see Skullman’s image break down and regenarating into Miyuki standing on the same base.

Again, making it very confusing how the set up is suppouse to be like.

Now we get Midorikawa naming the line up for the Akihara team.

Rockman looks so cute in that uniform! But I don’t understand why Gutsman has a plant in his mouth, is that like the Japanese version of the old gag of baseball players chewing tabacco?.

Roll-chan is the pitcher, and yes, she throws like a girl, and maybe that’s the reason why most of the balls she throws are hitted.

The batter hits the ball, but luckily the cute shortstopper catches it for her.

Their interactions are just so cute.

Now, if you are a baseball expert, unlike me, then get ready for to see how crazy Navi baseball can be.

The batter hits the ball, but it’s too high for Numberman to reach it, so Woodman creates a platform for Numberman so he can stop the ball and “pass it” to Skullman.

Kyuuta’s father, who is with Midorikawa at the commentator booth, praises their teamwork, a confused Midorikawa asks him if that is allowed, but then she gets this.

Thanks to the subs and by searching on google I figured out that this guy is actually doing a play on words. “Ari” is also used to affirm something in a sentence and he dresses up as an ant because Ari also means ant in Japanese.

We get more Navi baseball madness when Iceman freezes a ball to catch it and throw it at Woodman.

“Ant, I mean, yes.”

I haven’t seen these many fouls in a sports game since Space Jam.

Now the moment we’ve all been waiting for, it’s finally Rockman’s turn at the bat! Yaaaaaaaaay!

Save me from this nonsense, Rockman!

The humans are replaced by their Navis, and is it just me or is Netto and Rockman’s art a little diferent in the last panels? Either that or they suddenly got dirty

Leagueman does a ballet pose and throws the ball in a weird way, Rockman is ready to hit it, but the ball suddenly splits in two.

Rockman get’s his first strike. Midorikawa asks Kyuuma what just happened, he explaines that it’s a move called the “Mayor ball”. Leagueman put pressure into the ball and mixed with the sand from his kick created an illusion of a second ball. That’s quality BS right there, and WHY THE HELL IS HIS LINEART SUDDENLY DIFERENT IN THIS SHOT?

It’s like seeing an Archer crossover. o_o

What is the meaning of the dragon vs tiger scene? Because this also happend in episode 40.

Leagueman throws the ball again and Rockman gets a second strike. You would think that this time he would go for the first ball, but they reused the animation from before.

 After their second stike Rockman and Netto figured out a way of outsmarting this move, if they can’t tell which ball is real then they’ll just have to hit both with this over the top anime scene.

If Rockman wears pants, does it still count as a butt shot?

Rockman hits a homerun and Leagueman praises him after he runs the bases, but then Commander Beef ruins the moment by anouncing that it is Sharkman’s turn at the bat and then getting three strikes.

It looks like Sharkman is bitting his tongue. :P

Then Higure pushes the commander out of the way to plug in Numberman, and what a surprise, he gets three strikes as well. So in short, everyone sucks except for Rockman.

We then get various shots of the rest of the game and for some reason a close up of Gutsman’s jaw plant.

Oh great, Rush is there too, now I definitely have no idea if this shot is from the real world or the cyberworld.

The series of pictures ends with Roll-chan looking tired and Midorikawa telling us how it looks so far.

I have no idea what she just said, but I guess that is baseball talk for “Akihara team is losing, and with Leagueman at the bat they are pretty much screwed”

But worrry not since Akihara still has their secret weapon, Rockman! With Rush calling to change the pitcher because apperantly he’s the coach now.

I did some research, and it seems to me that the shortstop position is kinda important, so why the hell is Rush a better option than Roll?!

So once again Rockman, Netto and now Leagueman’s lineart changes, (along with a coloring mistake on Rockman’s neck) Rockman pitches and Leagueman gets two balls, not strikes, balls.

Rockman throws the ball a third time breaking Leagueman’s bat.

I don’t know if that counts as anything. Has this ever happen in baseball?

Now get this, since Leagueman’s bat is broken, Kyuuta’s dad leaves the commentator booth to give HIM some special red bat he had with him and says how Netto and the others are very good friends to him since they are giving him a good game.

Those last shots just made things even more confusing! Can he see Rockman standing there or was he just looking at Netto the whole time?

Kyuuta accepts the bat from his dad that somehow ends up in Leagueman’s hands and we get this last shot of sad face woman in the corner watching from afar as always.

Still, she cares more about her son than Netto’s useless mom does for him. She even came to watch him play, so this is the best mom I’ve seen in this show which is pretty sad if you think about it. 

Rockman pitches one last time with the whole dragon vs tiger background again, where Leagueman finally hits the ball and it’s a homerun!

And of course he has to break a light with that homerun, or is it a cyber light? IDK O.O

Leagueman runs the bases scratching the nose he doesn’t have, Netto congratulates kyuuta and the episode ends with Midorikawa announcing Kyuuta’s team as the winners. Oh, and a little sceane with Rush losing to a Metool virus.

Admit it, by good players you just mean Rockman.

My thought?

This episode was crazy! A little confusing, but fun to watch. It’s nice to see some of the characters play a casual game of Baseball because its something diferent to what we normaly see. The episode was obviously a satyre of sports animes (Again, I dont know any sports anime besides Captain Tsubasa), the overdramatic characters, the over the top animation, the art style, the firing up thing that happend like four times in this episode mostly from Kyuuta’s dad, and maybe other things that I didn’t catch.

This episode is indeed a filler, but that can’t be the only reason why this episode was never dubbed. So I made up these criterias to figure out the reason why it didn’t aired in America.

1. Was an important new character introduced that will appear in future episodes?

2. Does it introduce a new game, style or battle system that fits in with the theme of the show and will be mentioned again?

3. Will the dubbing for this episode be worth the effort?

Let me explain using episode 40 as an example. With the first criteria, even though Torakichi and Kingman never appear again in future episodes, they were still considered important characters in the Battle Network series, especially since the purpose for the episode was to promote the upcoming Battle Network 3 game.

Yes and no for the second criteria. It fits the theme of the show because it combines Net Battles with chess, but it is not mention again.

And for the third criteria, it was not hard to dub, there was no reason to explain Net Chess Battles because we already know how Net Battle works and Chess is already world wide knowen as a game.

Now for this episode. First, no. Kyuuta, leagueman, his parents and his baseball friends are not important in any way and are never seen again. 

Second, it was just baseball. Even though we saw the Navis used their abilities during the game, it was still baseball. It did not have Net Battle rules and it is never mentioned or seen again.

And third, it was not worth the effort to dub. Trying to explain how Navi Baseball worked, especially since Japan didn’t do a good job in explaining it, would’ve required unecessary effort. They would have skipped the ant joke, but how would they explain how the Navis seemed to be in the real world? It was terrible confusing because it is the first time we see something like this on the show. People would get curious to see this again only to find out that this was a one time thing.

So that’s strike three and this episode is out of the dubbed version!

[tyrantisterror]

REVENGE OF THE A.T.O.M. CREATE A KAIJU CONTEST!

Eons ago, when the earth was young, I held the first A.T.O.M. Create a Kaiju Contest, and creators like YOU populated my activity page with a legion of giant monsters!  Now, years later, in celebration of publishing the first volume of The Atomic Time of Monsters, the contest calls to us once again, and it’s only grown bigger and spikier with age.  If you wish to once more ravage the world with atomic titans of your own design, then please, read on after the cut to discover the rules of this thrilling kaiju role call!

Ok, for clarity’s sake I’ll drop the goofy melodramatic tone.

Like the first A.T.O.M. Create a Kaiju Contest, the aim of this contest is to create kaiju that would fit within the setting of my big kaiju story series, The Atomic Time of Monsters.  Think of it as me letting you into my sandbox to play with my toys for a bit, or like you’re being put in the director’s chair of a new ATOM-verse kaiju movie.  That means your entry does have to fit into ATOM’s world, which in turn means that yes, there are limitations to your creativity here.  But limitations can be good sometimes - they can make us explore options we wouldn’t consider when given completely free rein to do what we want!

THE RULES:

1.  This time around, you are limited to one entry per person.  Last time we produced 60+ kaiju, which was awesome, but this time around I want to narrow the scope a little bit - especially if I end up doing something crazy and end up drawing them all like last time, since my carpal tunnel syndrome afflicted hand just can’t do what it did those years ago.  Work hard and make your entry count!

2.  Your kaiju must have some sort of description of its physical appearance and its personality - you can submit a drawing or a written description (or both!) for the physical appearance depending on what you’re most comfortable with.  Using the ATOM kaiju file template isn’t required, but it was cool when people did it in the last contest, so feel free to do so this time too!

3. The kaiju you create must specifically be created for this contest  - no repurposing characters you made for other, wildly different stories.

4. The kaiju must fit the setting and aesthetics of ATOM.  I’ll explain this in more detail down below.

5. The kaiju should add something meaningful to the world of ATOM. What would be the point of having another fire-breathing t.rex monster?  The more unique and interesting your kaiju is, the more likely you will win the contest.

6. The kaiju must be independent of the main plot of ATOM - not “Tyrantis’s long lost evil brother who’s the strongest kaiju in the world.” These should be to Tyrantis’s story what War of the Gargantuas is to Godzilla’s movies – heroes (well, monsters) of another story in the same world.

THE REWARDS:

I will make pencil sketches of the top 5 entries in the contest.

I will then make fully rendered illustrations (lineart, colors, & shading) of the top three entries.

The winning entry will be made into a model ala the ones I’ve been making for ATOM’s core 50 monsters, which can then be shipped to the person who created it (should they be able to cover the shipping costs).  That’s right, your kaiju could be brought to life in THREE GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR DIMENSIONS!

THE DEADLINE: All entries must be submitted by August 9th, 2019.  You can submit it here on tumblr, via the horror flora e-mail, or any other channel you know how to reach me through.  I’m in a lot of places.

THE GUIDELINES (TO HELP YOUR ENTRY FIT THE RULES AND WIN)

The smartest thing you could do if you want to win this contest is familiarize yourself with the world of ATOM by, y’know, reading all the material I’ve published on the subject.  In addition to the many kaiju files that are free to read on horrorflora.com, the first actual, factual novel in the series was published very recently (and, y’know, is the reason I’m holding this contest), which you can get from amazon in both paperback and/or kindle editions (I’d recommend the former over the latter since I lack the technology to make a really nice ebook, but if money is an object, the kindle version is only $1).

However, since I know reading a bunch of stuff is, y’know, not something everyone is inclined to do, I’ll jot some good bullet points for you in an attempt to outline how ATOM works in a brief, easily digested way:

ATOM is an homage to the monster fiction of the 1950’s and 60’s (i.e. the Atomic Age), and is set in those two decades, albeit an alternate universe version of them where, y’know, monsters and space aliens exist.  If you aren’t familiar with the monster fiction I’m referring to, there will be some reference material provided at the end of this post along with some recommendations for further research.

Kaiju/giant monsters in ATOM work under very specific rules.  There’s a full description of those rules at this link, but here’s the jist:

ATOM Kaiju are created created by the radiation of a mineral called Yamaneon, which naturally converts harmful radiation into its own unique energy.  In natural circumstances, it takes hundreds of years of exposure to Yamaneon radiation for a creature to become fully transform into a kaiju (luckily, Yamaneon radiation slows the aging process while speeding up the healing process).  However, an explosive burst of energy - such as the geothermal and kinetic energy released by an earthquake, or the blast of a nuclear weapon - can speed up the process, turning a normal animal into a kaiju within a matter of seconds.  

All ATOM kaiju can heal grievous wounds within minutes or even seconds, are supernaturally strong and durable, and can convert harmful radiation to harmless energy that they then feed off of.  Kaiju do not have an equivalent of old age, and can theoretically live forever (though their violent lifestyle means that few do).

ATOM Kaiju generally don’t need to eat unless they are severely injured, getting most of the energy they need from solar or geothermal radiation - but many still have instincts that drive them to seek out food from time to time.

Most ATOM kaiju stand roughly 100 feet tall (depending on their body shape), i.e. smaller than the original 1954 Godzilla.  There are exceptions to this rule - younger kaiju can be smaller, while exceedingly old kaiju can be significantly larger, but these are rare.

In general, ATOM kaiju are significantly more intelligent and emotionally complex than people expect animals to be, though most are incapable of speech or complex tool use.  There’s a reason ATOM Kaiju Files have a “personality” section.

Most ATOM Kaiju are tooth and claw fighters - ranged weapons are a rarity in this setting.

While the terrestrial monsters in ATOM look strange, they are intended to fit within the taxonomy of animals in reality - reptiles, mammals, fish, arthropods, molluscs, etc.

ATOM’s mesozoic era was dominated by a fictional clade of crocodile-relatives called retrosaurs, which are based on the outdated paleoart that one would find in the 1950’s/60’s fiction - i.e. when dinosaurs were viewed as trail dragging lizards instead of strange birds.  You can learn more about retrosaurs here.

Kaiju appear on every continent in ATOM, but certain areas tend to be dominated by different types.

North America is mainly besieged by retrosaur kaiju and giant arthropods.

East Asia is technically also mainly plagued by retrosaurs and big arthropods, though they tend to look more fantastical and mythic - and, often, oddly well suited to being portrayed by a person wearing a monster suit.

Russia is beset by prehistoric monsters that seem to come from the Cenozoic, particularly the Ice Age.

Western Europe is plagued by creatures that vaguely resemble creatures from myth, if they were also prehistoric.  Dragon-y lizards, fiery birds, etc.

Towards the mid-way point of ATOM’s timeline, earth is invaded by a coalition of aliens from different solar systems called the Beyonder Alliance, and as a result a bunch of alien monsters can be found on earth.

Mars and Venus both host (or hosted in Mars’s case) animal life.  The surviving Martians colonized Venus, and sent some of their kaiju guardians to earth to help us fend off the Beyonders (who are responsible for the destruction of Mars’s ecosystem).  Martian and Venusian kaiju have specific anatomical quirks, which you can see by looking at these kaiju files:

Venusians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/03/atom-kaiju-file-29-karamtor/

Martians:

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-39-kemlasulla/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-40-podritak/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-41-sombarvot/

https://horrorflora.com/2017/01/17/atom-kaiju-file-38-ullawdra/

Giant robots exist in ATOM, but are big, bulky, and incredibly expensive.  Fancy beam weapons also exist, but are similarly clunky - there are no sleek, elegant machines in ATOM.

Since the fiction ATOM takes inspiration from was made at a time when interplanetary travel was only just beginning to be possible, its scope is significantly smaller than modern sci-fi.  Alternate universes/dimensions were pretty uncommon because the idea of alien planets still held a lot of wonder to it.  So, as a general rule, don’t try to go farther than the one galaxy.

ATOM is a setting for stories that are focused on humanity learning to co-exist with monsters, rather than humanity destroying them.  A certain level of sympathy is put into almost every creature of its canon, even the ones that are meant to be villains.

REFERENCE MATERIAL

Here is a playlist of 1950′s monster movie trailers.

Here is some reference material from various monster comics of the 50′s and 60′s.

Video of retrosaurs in action.

Good movies to track down to understand ATOM’s inspiration and tone include Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster, Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Them!, The Black Scorpion, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Gamera, The Giant Claw, and The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

Finally, here’s the page for the original ATOM Create a Kaiju Contest, which has even more reference material for you to peruse.