#this is size a5-ish

[epikhightechnology]

Pete for @misspoetree 💛

[velnna]

I know you generally work fast but I'm curious on how long on average it takes for you to get out a page of ThUG? I haven't had the opportunity to read it yet (it looks SO good) but I'm making the assumption a page is the size of an average print comic style versus webtoon scroll episode length format. Also curious on what short cuts you might take to get them out faster/more efficiently. I'm currently planning a comic in a similar format and am trying to plan my process ahead.

Thank you!

I don't do whole pages in one go (I do all the thumbnails then all the lineart then all the colour) so it's hard to tell exactly how long but maybe around 3-6h per page? Which makes a chapter (25-30 ish pages) take around 150 ish hours. I definitely prefer this to the webtoon format for a number of reasons, one of which being the satisfaction you get seeing a bunch of panels come together versus having to scroll through them separately.

In terms of speed, my entire process is pretty optimised for it, both in comics and outside. I stick to an A5 format and downsize it further (I tend to work with pages at 1000px width and 300dpi) to keep myself from overworking details. If an eye closeup feels tiring to get right or loses proportion, my resolution is too high

I also use textured brushes and leave the lineart more like a clean sketch, which allows me to not only skip straight from thumbnails to it but also to skip work on backgrounds, objects and figures at a certain distance

The main point of comic work is to convey emotions, movement, etc, not to draw everything accurate all the time, and that's probably the biggest lesson I've learned over the past years. You want your art to evolve in a way that means even without a lot of shading/linework/detail the scene gets properly conveyed, imo

Aside from that, I skip work on SFX and just. Write the sounds down or sketch motion lines as basic as they get. That's a stylistic choice but it works for me. And I have a workspace + automated actions + keyboard shortcuts that are all sort of optimised to make me move as little as possible between tasks and screens etc

[boin-de-bindery]

Darling, I'm Starving & Wrap Your Teeth Around The World by Ethereally, @putsch

My dust jacket bind! Thanks again to both authors for giving me permission to make a fanbinding ❤️

This is a Blue Lock AU where Kunigami and Chigiri go hunting vampires across Meiji-era Japan. The fics are among my favourites, and they were a pleasure to bind.

The authors commissioned this wonderful cover art for their fic, which I knew from the outset I wanted to include. Hence, adventures in DIY dust jacket craft. I printed the front and rear + flaps as separate A4 sheets, cut them to size, then connected them with a spine made from endpaper off-cuts. Really happy with the finish ✨

I kept the book cover itself simple. It's red velour bookcloth with gold HTV for the lettering and AO3 logo. I used strips of the same HTV on the dust jackets to seal the external joints.

One of my favourite things about this bind is the inclusion of this illlustration by fleshcircuits, who kindly gave me permission to include his art! It's spooky and gorgeous, just like the writing.

I actually made three copies of this—one for me, and a copy each for the two authors. I made Putsch's a little after the other two, so I don't have a picture of all three together 🥲 but I like that each copy is similar with slight differences in terms of endpapers and small details.

Technical details:

A5 flat spine casebinding with red faux velour bookcloth (gotta say, love this stuff; I've bought more in red and in black).

I did different sizes of signatures for each bind, but they all clock in at 104 pages. The signatures were trimmed by guillotine.

fleshcircuits' illustration printed on white paper. This has a hinge that I sewed in with the regular signature sheets, along with the corresponding page on the other side of the signature. It didn't align precisely, but I still love how it looks.

Endpapers are from this pack of printed cardstock. Pretty decent quality and a nice weight for endpapers, but note they're completely matte: the "glitter" is printed.

Handsewn headbands.

Homemade dust jacket made from matte photo paper, scrap endpaper and PVA glue—tutorial to follow. I like the detail of having AO3 comments as "reviews" like a traditionally published book.

Fonts used were OldStyle, Fancy Text and Garamond. The title and chapter frames are doctored from a Vecteezy image and a Meiji-ish sample label.

[riaaanna]

Some PSA and vent about the Sotheby's auction and it's technicalities... longgg post.

(This post is written with about 3 hours to the online Sotheby's auction.)

1) Item/catalogue availability.

If you're aware there are 3 live in-person auctions and 3 online auctions. Online auctions start today (11 Aug) at noon BST so in just about 3 hours ish. They are the "In Love with Japan", "Crazy Little Thing 1", and "Crazy Little Thing 2".

Now, someone on FB last week asked the Sotheby's staff whether the items that are sold in online auction will still be available on the exhibition, which runs 4 Aug - 5 Sept. The staff said that items in the online auction will be removed as soon as they're sold online. So to get to see everything irl, you'll have to be there before the online auctions (which is 11 Aug instead of 4 Aug which I think was the initial date? Iirc anyway).

(I booked a ticket to London for the 11th thanks to this so typing all this rant from the train 💀)

However, someone else asked another staff the same question, and they said everything will be available until 5 Sept regardless. I asked a staff myself yesterday and they gave me that same answer.

It made more sense actually. Removing and rearranging the exhibition every time something sells online is impractical. Besides, I'm not sure how the online auction goes: eBay style (known time limit to bid) or a live but virtual style (because the website does say lots will close at 1 minute intervals).

Afterwards, someone on the forum said that they asked the staff about the online catalogue availability. They said the catalogue will be removed after the sale due to copyright laws.

Thennn I thought. What if what's going to happen is that the online catalogue is going to be removed after each object is sold - starting from the ones in the online auctions? That makes so much more sense and is much more plausible.

All of this occured to me at half midnight. My train to London is at 07:30 AM. Cue waking up at 5 AM desperately mass downloading the HQs from the three online auctions before I catch my train because the sale will start at noon. 💀

So if you're scrolling through this on this lovely, tropical Friday morning, and you have an interest in saving HQs yourself - do it nowww. Honestly I might be wrong in interpreting all this but I'd rather be stupidly wrong than losing the online catalogue this early.

I managed to save all the pictures clothes, shoes, accessories in like 40 mins and I hope I didn't miss any. I cba with them discs, the pdfs should be enough. And speaking of pdf...

2) The book is not the catalogue.

To my observation this is somewhat common knowledge so far but in case it isn't - the £50 Sotheby's book is not equal to the whole catalogue. It's a beautiful book with lovely descriptions and images of higlighted items, you can watch a flip-through here. But it doesn't have every single thing on the website on there.

So if you want a nice gift for yourself then yes it's worth buying (maybe). If you're just archiving, getting it off the website I think is enough. But I'll give it a look myself when I get there and see what it's worth.

You can save the catalogue in PDF by clicking the print button on the website (not ctrl+P). Select all lots and tick all the boxes especially "alternate images". When the print window opens select the A5 paper size. I find that one works best without cropping any of the images. But these are not HQ images by any means, that one still requires some actual work hhh.

You'll also notice there are gaps in the lot numbers because they're not all out yet. Some of them are already in the Sotheby's book iirc, but as actual lots in the online catalogue, the staff said they'll be coming up over the next few days - presumably when the online auction starts, so they'll always have something up for sale. So if you're a completionist you can check every now and then to save them as they come.

3) The actual auction

That sounds like I'm actually gonna bid but no I just wanna be there to boo the bidders...

Jokes aside, I asked and they will be streaming the auction on Sotheby's website, but you need to sign up for an account first (it's free).

But also I am planning to actually go but as a non-bidder and if anyone wants to come with and hold me back from rioting in there hmu so we can get tickets together 🙏

That was so long and for you experienced ones all of these info are probably redundant but I just needed to vent because I'm not ready to actually go see these things like what if I break down but also I am in the train I cannot escape please send good vibes ❤!

[errantsquam]

ERRANT MERCH MANUFACTURER MASTERPOST

list of manufacturers i've tried. hopefully easier for other artists to get started in the merch game. Singapore/SEA centric. I update this whenever I feel like it.

Taobao manufacturers require some basic Chinese knowledge, but it's honestly not that bad. May set up a phrases masterpost in the future.

Use at your own risk because your experience might not be the same as mine. But this is what I've personally experienced!

[R] - Recommended. However, try at your own risk. Caveats will be mentioned

[NR] - Meh. Usable but probably not recommended

STICKERS/PRINTING

[R] Danlim - Self-service again. Less self-prep needed, the people there will give you feedback if they think your alignment is messed up (very helpful!). Supports self-collection or delivery (but delivery is on the expensive end). Supports holo which is very nice. Low MOQ.

[NR] walyadfx.sg - (SEE UPDATE) Shopee manufacturer. Only tried them for transfer stickers. Self setup on an A5/A4/A3 sheet, but since they're transfer stickers there's no cutlines needed. Affordable and low-ish MOQ (if A5 sheets count as such lol) Came pretty fast and the quality was decent

UPDATE: Their printing is much duller on vibrant colors, but the transfers stick smoothly without finicky air bubble shenanigans! Smaller designs may be blurrier, too. Only use for simple designs.

[R] shuijingbiao - Transfer sticker manu. REALLY good quality, super vibrant colours! Blues and purples print well which is a huge shocker. Smooth and not blurry, even for text at smaller sizes. However, these are a bit more finicky to apply, and there may be air bubbles. A total bitch to scrape off too (which is probably a good thing). Make sure to order extras.

[NR] Gogoprint - Self-service is neat. However, you need to prep the files yourself, and a lot can go wrong. Some stuff to take note of is the correct PDF format (PDF X-1A), and making sure your strokes don't turn into vectors (there are some cases where this happens). High MOQ. Otherwise, more crisp than Vograce.

[NR] Vograce - Shipping isn't worth it. Printing is a little duller.

ACRYLIC CHARMS

[R] Juno Creative (Taobao) - Also on Alibaba at a slight markup. Good, affordable, better quality than Vograce. Hot stamped colors are gold/silver/red/green/blue/light blue/purple/pink. Please note that if you're doing hot stamping, DO EPOXY. The foil is not stable and will peel off otherwise. One-sided hot stamping otherwise. Use Weiyun to send larger files to them

[R] Bemick/Wenzhou Yadian (Alibaba) - My go-to for hot stamping. Supports single or double sided. Offer gold/silver/red/green/blue. Printing is generally better quality than both Juno and Vograce, but double sided prints "hover" slightly if that bothers you. Hot stamp is more iridescent than metallic. I like it though. Low MOQ but costly at lower MOQs.

[NR] Vograce - Still has the dull printing problem. Gross markup

PLUSHIES

[R] Gaopeng Toys (Alibaba) - Hesitant recommendation. They are the safe and commonly used option and have a low MOQ (as low as 1), but obviously low is expensive. Up to 3 changes allowed per sample, otherwise you pay the cost again. They handled the engineering of my complex sample pretty well. However, they have a tendency of using craft glue instead of something like a ladder stitch, which may be invisible or awful-looking depending on your product.

Have not mass produced with them yet. Treat as a cheap plush commission (assuming your local indie artist isn't open for comms).

[NR] Vograce (Manjuu) - They're probably middlemanning. They actually fucked up and sent my sample with its back upside down (yikes). Printing is dull (a common Vograce problem). Not sure who they're middlemanning for, but likely Doujin Studio (haven't tried) is my guess.

COINS

[R] Jinyin (Taobao) - Hesitant recommendation. WeChat needed for communication. Printing quality is nice, and they give advice to make your design read better. But the rep flipped out at me because I had an unusual shipping address (Taobao's warehouse).

[NR] Wenzhou Jinshi (Taobao) - WeChat needed for communication. Printing quality worse than Jinyin. Rep flipped out at me for sending the Chinese equivalent of Google Drive (Weiyun). Generally rude aside from that, no feedback given, and they get a lot of customers, so you're not important.

SPECIAL CLASPS

If yoiu're non-Chinese, you can order from here too! Do check the r/taobao subreddit for guides on setting up.

Please try to select 'Direct Shipping' instead of 'Consolidation' during payment though, otherwise you'll need to jump through some hoops with Alipay in order to pay Taobao. (Not impossible, just frustrating and scary if you think your packages are going to be held hostage)

Typical search term: 异形扣

Listing 1

Listing 2

Carbuncle Clasps

Jackpot

MANUS I'M STILL WORKING WITH

[NR] Kakubao (Taobao) - Soft (rubber?) PVC 3d charms, same as a lot of Sanrio charms. WeChat communication only. They fucked up the overseas shipping not once, not twice, but THREE times and tried to pin the blame on me and get me to pay lol. Only got a partial refund after a lot of complaining. They also bribe you to take down bad reviews. Don't use them.

OTHER COOL LISTINGS I HAVEN'T PERSONALLY TRIED

Doujin Studio Bottle Cap Buttons (Taobao)

Wing Flapping Acrylic Charms (Taobao)

Medicine Pill Acrylics (yes, it is that weird) (Taobao)

Please view listings and reviews at your own risk! Reviews may be doctored/paid for. Things to look for are

Unusually eloquent praise of the manufacturer, mentioning stuff like rush orders, etc.

Pictures that look like they came from a factory. The factory ITSELF, not the package. Common tells are gloves/factory equipment in the back/etc that multiple reviews have.

[nekorinaart]

And here's the last one of the kemonomimi ninja versions! A cute, tsundere-ish raccoon Morro~ 🦝🦝🦝 In Japanese folklore, raccoons (or tanuki) are supernatural beings well-known for their mischievous nature. They're also masters of disguise and shapeshifting. It felt fitting for his personality! Not to mention the similarity of their dark patches around the eyes!

💚 💚💚 Order your print at 👇

[cestvreth]

Happy new year everyone! ✨✨ A few days late but OH WELL. I started the new year by exploring a bigger sized sketchbook than I'm used to. I usually draw in A5-ish sketchbooks, recently started working in an A6-sized sketchbook and I felt limited. So bigger it is! These fruits were made after a references shared on @artchiu 's lovelt Discord server. The reference showed peaches, but I ended op with oranges? Tangerines? You name it. I painted these with gouache and added some coloured pencil on top. Love it! Materials used: Sketchbook by @stillmanandbirn Gouache by @royaltalens Pencils by @holbein_art https://www.instagram.com/p/CnALLSZL3XW/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[battywitch]

I am going crazy because I want to start working on my 2025 journal lineup setup, but I can't because I'm not 100% certain I won't pick up something during BF/CM sales. That's usually how I get my notebooks and stuff (like Archer & Olive mystery grab bag kinda things).

This got very brain dump/word vomit-ish

Like, I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing (the purpose of the journals I'll be using), if I can manage to get e writing set up, but for two, I don't know that I have a journal I actually want to use for those purposes.

And I really don't know what I'll be using for my main journal for the first half(ish) of the year because I keep waffling about wanting to use a B5 blackout journal (the size I prefer, but I've never had black paper before) or a square journal (with white paper).

But, also I had the idea of going back to an A5, but allocating a page for each day so I feel less cramped or whatever.

This is not important really, but it's frustrating because i sort of feel like getting started, but I can't until I know for sure what all of my options are. Even though I doubt I'll be getting anything new.

But I think Tiefosi and Notebook Therapy are having a sale maybe? and I've kinda wanted to try their journals for a while. But i also am lusting after Quirky Cup Collective journals still because holy shit those are all so gorgeous 😭 But i really don't need to spend that much on just one journal, especially right now 💀

And honestly there are enough A & O things from the last year that are on my mental wishlist so I'm willing to take my chances with another mystery thing from them, depending on price and options.

[glimpsesofeuterpe]

new g tablet made me re-discover i love the process of digital drawing and i could do it non stop if i only could (dumb human body)

differences:

- it's bigger (a5) than ol tablet (a6) - it has six buttons + a rolling wheel thingy, ol one has four - new buttons are customable while old ones say nope - its wire is pullable (it can work without it, mobile like), ol one's wire is always here and ages later it's kinda ugh (turned from white to yellow, gets in the way) - it makes that noise/texture-ish feel i somehow prefer more than the mostly soundless feel of the ol one's wannabe paper technology - its pen is a little shorter than ol one's pen (oh well) - it got all scratchy after a few months of use while old one struggled but stayed spotless for at least two years or so - scratches arent extra visible on black unless looking closer while they are obvious on light silver-ish (kinda nearly invisible on photos tho) - which one is better for drawing? idk i can make same neat-ish lines on both of them if i please- but i have noticed that sizes do make a difference in their case, like new a5 is come comfortable regarding doodling the whole picture without much of extra button pressing wheel rolling, while a6 made me zoom in a loot as apparently i somehow ran out of free space (i really dont know how it works but its a thing) besides, when in doubts — just pick a5, its the closest to the well known classic a4 - ol one has that touch screen thing (aka you can draw on it with your finger? in theory- or can use it instead of mouse) i never really used while new one doesnt (just like 90% of g tablets nowadays, unless they are monitors) - have to turn on a driver app every time new one is in use while ol one never needed it - old one's drivers noped out and demanded to get reinstalled every now and then while new ones drivers are all chill & fine so far (which i find kinda sus but well see) - android & windows > apple - dark design is cooler than light design

i love my old tablet but i have to admit it it's more of "i picked one from two available options at that time cause it seemed better" kind of love lol ....even tho it is still all working and reliable

+ photo of them both hanging out together is under the cut

xp pen star 06 & wacom bamboo fun pen&touch s cth-461

[nightside-of-siberia]

It's A4 size so it's big. I also carry too many things in my backpack but I hope to take advantage of the weekend to draw.

And you are very good at writing, I read your most recent work and I delighted in each paragraph.

Maybe you can try to start by making a character that you like (my recommendation is Perry The Platypus)

Aw, thank you 😊! It's always nice to know enjoy my work!

Is there anything in your bag that isn't strictly necessary?

I have a small, A5-ish sketchbook that I'm thinking I should use to practise stuff like hands - will probably end up starting there.

[velnna]

Hello! Would you mind sharing what resolution/canvas size you usually use for your art (especially your comics)? do you have any advise on finding a middle ground between high detail art vs. the resolution capacity for images posted to tumblr (or anywhere else, for that matter)?

Love your work <3

It really depends on the brushes I use but my resolutions tend to be tiny! Page width is anywhere between 1000 and 1500px and height depends on what I'm working on (generally A5 ish proportions). At 300dpi but that changes nothing in the actual process

I also work low res for illustrations, and again that depends on the brush. The lowest I go is 600-800px as the longest dimension and highest around 1500-2000px. If I need something at a higher res I'll work small then resize and fix it if needed

[brehaaorgana]

Sometimes I feel weirdly guilty that from time to time I make my planner look "pretty" because so many people (especially other folks with ADHD like myself) talk about not being able to keep up with cute/aesthetic/Instagram worthy planners.

Frankly, I can't either. It's too much and it's time consuming. But idk I do feel guilty sharing my beginning of the year planner! Because I added stickers or whatever and I don't want people to think they HAVE to do that (you don't) or you SHOULD do it (a lot of people would find this too distracting to them!).

But I have always LOVED stickers ever since I was a little kid and I don't try too hard. I was zoning out in front of the TV yesterday so I grabbed some stickers and washi tape I have and did this:

Like truly this was just...idk my equivalent of jiggling my leg a bit or Tumblr scrolling or whatever.

The red numbers are stickers (3) and the green is washi tape. #1 and #5 are from a thick washi roll you can cut to make smaller stickers of stuff. This didn't really take any time. I did not have to do it, or feel I needed to do it. I just did it for mindless enjoyment lol. It is purely a fun little hobby I can do on the side.

Like I clearly don't need a "Monday" sticker put on a day clearly labeled Monday. I just like having the pop of yellow color. The only semi-practical stuff is the thin green washi (#3) which marks my hours at work (8-5) and where I wrote over the 24:00 times to make them a 12 hour (1 pm instead of 13) because I find it easier.

But there are also times when my planner looks like this some weeks (if it's filled out all):

(Shout out to 2019 for being in my desk at work lmao)

Because I use the hobonichi cousin (a5) size, I also have a full page per day for like...writing down any old thing, random to-do lists, etc. (I wrote this more vague than usual so I could share it lol).

So it's not all about being pretty.

However, if I were recommending things to try for physical planners that are no frills, I would say:

Frixion erasable pens (what I write with in the example here). Ink is bold and sticks out to me more! But I need to be able to erase. This works nicely as long as you don't expose the ink to extreme temperature changes (it can erase itself if you do this but I've never had it actually happen).

Pilot Frixion also makes erasable mild highlighters. Super worth it! Mild (pastel) colors are easier on the eyes but still visible. Go for these or Zebra highlighters (I like the brush ones best from zebra).

Kuretake zig Clean Dot markers. They have a ton of colors but you really only need one. Those perfect circles in my to-do list are just the marker tip. I thunk it down and now I can check it off later. Less effort than drawing a checkbox! They also make washi tapes of check boxes if you prefer.

That's it. Basically erasable pen. And to be fancy: Highlighter. Dot marker. Done. If you write to do lists on scrap paper, get yourself a glue stick or glue tape and glue that ish down into your book.

[flydotnet]

WHUMPTOBER 2023, DAY 5: “You better pray I don't get up this time around.” Debris | Pinned Down | “It's broken.”

Welcome to my annual Peregrineship fic, because every year is the same: I write them, I swear I'll write them more this year pinky promise, and then I just don't. That's my shtick. (Actually, Fly, it's your second ShuSere fic this year.) For real? Well, that's cool. Hasn't happened since 2019, I'm pretty sure! Yeehaw.

I honestly stared at the lyric, went "wow that sounds like Shun Kurosaki", and went from there. I'm not even in any shade of YGO mood atm, and I'm sure you can tell because I was very uninspired and it's short compared to what it could've been. Oh well! That's the trials and tribulations of a month-long challenge for you.

I did also do "It's broken" while I was it because, c'mon… It's Kurosaki. It's even odd I didn't break a rib like I usually do when it's him. See? I'm generous! I'm not a one-trick pony when I want to!

Speaking of always doing the same thing, just better each year. I didn't feel like writing canon divergent A5 crap again, so this time, I busted out an AU! Specifically, a Fire Emblem Engage AU, because it's light on storytelling but would allow me to easily have a character of obvious Japanese origins (thanks, Kagetsu!). So, in this one, I made Serena a wolf knight and Shun a wyvern knight because it made sense and also they're both classes I love playing in the game (thanks, Kagetsu! again).

I've also added a bunch of accents because this game bathes in stupid Baguettese-ish lore and I'm taking full advantage of it.

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

Tooth and Nail

Summary: The battle rages on, someone falls from a wyvern, and it becomes another knight's problem.

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V // Fire Emblem Engage AU

Word Count: 1.3K words

AO3 version available here.

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

Amidst the smoke and debris of the battle, there runs a human-sized wolf. It sneaks through the enemy hordes, a dagger taking down those who get too close in swift moves, leaving only pawprints and the ashy blood of the long-gone Corrupted behind it.

The wolf isn’t running alone, far from it. Riding it is a knight whose eyes are fixated on the sky, a dagger always in her right hand and the left on the reins of her beast. Her armour, as slim as it is, is spotted with dirt and ash, rusts and browns mixing in with the blacks and greys until the original silver can barely be spotted by the naked eye.

The enemy troops are finally dwindling after hours of sending the dead back to their graves. Good thing, because the army of the Divine Dragon is starting to get tired. She has seen so many of her allies injured and teetering, the healers tired on the sidelines and barely hanging on themselves, and so many chipped-off weapons. The Emblems help, but only up to a certain point; and they need to avoid that stage of fatigue.

She herself has just disengaged from Ephraim, which considering they’re both so silent, only changes the background noise ever so slightly. It helps focusing, she supposes, especially since she’s been sent as reinforcement.                   

Then a body falls from the sky and, without even a wink of hesitation, the wolf knight speeds ahead.

For a long moment, she can only hear her heartbeats inside her brain. No new scream reaches her ears, her hands move on their own to eliminate enemies and protect both her mount and herself. She doesn’t have time for any of the Corrupted, no matter their rank in the hierarchy of power unofficially established among them.

She only stops when she reaches an armoured wyvern that’s landed near the body. It’s a bit of relief to see her companion has managed to land on his legs, sparing so many organs and dangerous bones in his fall; but the damage is clear, and despite the already pitter-pattering of the Corrupted corpse in front of them all, there is little reassurance to be found amidst the poison.

She dismounts in a flash, but before she can rush, she watches her comrade rises to his feet – or at least attempts to.

Somehow still able to move his feet in a coherent manner, he pierces the chest of his enemy on shaky legs and with trembling arms, gritting his teeth and prying his eyes open, before falling back down. The Corrupted fades away from existence at last.

“You better pray that I don’t get up this time around,” he spits out with a glare of fire risen at the sky, his hand grippling onto his spare spear with such strength that his knuckles have turned white.

She decides enough and enough and finally runs to him, her beast in tow, her ears careful to the tracks of foes but her eyes now glued to her companion, her friend, perhaps something more whose nature she now cannot ponder on.

Unfortunately, the wyvern doesn’t see it that way – and so she has to stop in front of her feet, recognizing the battle scars and knowing gaze of a tired but fiercely protective beast of scale and claw, the strongest in their army, whose armour is nowhere near as solid as her own skin. This isn’t the sort of barrier you can go through unscathed, but here, no fight has to be fought.

“Étranger, it’s me, Séréna,” the puny human says. “You recognize me, do you?”

The wyvern leans towards her, stares at her for a moment, and leans back.

“Thank you.” She turns to her beloved mount. “Luna, please stay here with Étranger. I’m going to check up on Shun.”

The wolf nods her head up and down before she rolls into a ball by the wyvern’s paws, letting her cavalier finally finish running to her companion.

It’s about time she does so: her fellow knight is biting his lip in what must be terrible pain, eyes shut close with tears prickling at their corners, so she kneels to his level. Even putting her hands on his shoulders doesn’t cause a reaction, so she has to resort to words – neither of their forte.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

That gets him to open his eyes again, his gaze still sharp as a blade in spite of it all.

“Séréna…? ’s you…?”

His voice is raspy yet remains understandable.

“Yes, it’s me. Are you injured?”

“I guess,” he hardly replies. “Annoyin’ shit, but nothin’ deadly.”

“Let me check.”

He takes a long, good look at her; then sighs and, slowly, switches position as to have his legs available to her.

“Make it quick, the battle’s not over yet.”

“For you, it probably is.” He prepares a witty response; she doesn’t let him be. “Don’t move until I tell you to.”

Shun blows hot air out of his nose but chooses to remain silent.

Of course she’s never been a healer, has never been good at diagnosing any sort of problems, let alone find a solution for your physical hurt. All she knows is from experience, experience that’s just enough to know what’s wrong in some broad stroke. She doubts anyone in the Divine Army trusts her with precise diagnosis; but when someone needs help, or getting to someone else who can provide it, now it becomes her mission. That’s what she’s learned by fighting by the side of the Divine Army.

Anyway, Shun’s legs are hurting, that much is clear. He can’t use them properly anymore, not without tumbling like a newborn foal or screaming with every other part of his body. When she tries touching them, just to evaluate how bad it gets, his face distorts and he loudly curses in a language she doesn’t speak. One of them is bent in such a way that she can only describe it as a capital letter. If she wasn’t used to it, perhaps she’d have been choked shocked – but she’s used to blood, ash, and injuries.

“It’s broken,” she says as bluntly as possible, so it can register through his thick skull. “In fact, they’re most likely both broken. No doubt about your left one, at least, that thing’s bent.”

“Goddammit,” he curses under his breath.

“I can’t do anything about it on my own,” she admits, shame washing over her like pelting rain. “I need to bring you to a healer as soon as possible.”

“Sucks ass,” he swears again.

Séréna gets back to her foot and gives him her hand.

“Come on. We’re riding my wolf to Ruri, or whoever else’s the nearest cleric.”

He doesn’t want to agree, she can plainly see it.

“Étranger can still carry me.”

The wyvern in question loudly blows from her nostrils.

“How do you plan on manoeuvring a wyvern without being able to use your legs?”

He swears under his breath again but grabs her hand anyway and pushes himself up. She barely has the time to catch him before he falls over, pain all over his face. In the end, she decides she may as well carry him like her bride; it’ll be both easier and shorter.

For all of his bravado, once in her arms, he melts a little, letting his eyes close back down. Even his breathing seems to even out, much to her incomprehension, and it’s only now that she lets herself have her heart sunk by how vulnerable he is. It’s like it shouldn’t even happen, but now that she does know how bad he must be feeling, her strive to protect him has increased tenfold. His life is in her hands and it’s a blood-soaked honour.

As carefully as one can, she sets him on Luna’s back, then climbs on top of the mount in front of him.

“Hold my waist,” she tells him. “I’ll be careful, but it’ll hurt anyway.”

“Whatever it takes,” he replies as he spits out. “Let’s… not make this drag on.”

“Agreed. Luna, onwards.”

The wolf turns around and, swiftly, takes off back to their army’s core.

[ixupi94]

Posting some WIP & BTS pics of this drawing, to answer @pizzawizardlady ! (And thank you ^-^)

For this specific traditional pencil drawing, I sketched and lined this with mechanical pencil (usually HB 0.5mm, for monotone pencil shaded drawings I use 2B mech pencil, smoothened here and there with a feather stick). As you can see, I did this in my small A5-ish size sketch book ^w^

Then I used a big box of (cheap but surprisingly decent, apart from the insides being completely shattered and breaking all the time XD) color pencils from my local Eurostore! I gave the lines some color with them as well. Bought them as I was picking art back up, to try it out before investing big. I used to have a Faber Castell box in my teens, that brand is lovely stuff I would recommend anytime.

I also like to ink my lines with a black (brush-tipped) fineliner sometimes, especially when I am working with my alcohol markers (Ohuhu brand, they're close to Copics but more affordable)! I've got a decent Japanese one that's nice and smooth and has been lasting me for a long time, whereas cheap hard-tipped ones I've tried feel rough and dry in comparison. And I like using a white gel pen on top of color, for adding shinies and sparklies. ✨️

And when I'm feeling rebelious and artistic, I love working with soft pastel chalks as well. ^w^

Hmmm~ I should art more, lol. Thanks for inspiring me :p

[Neftrus] "A formidable p-p-partner"

Antarctic training sessions, Twinsanity era.

(T_T ♡)

[not-xpr-art]

The Lament of Medusa ~

a graphite & colouring pencil drawing, around A4 size

(08/2022)

medusa is a figure I've always been fascinated with, and have done several artworks based on her and her mythology over the years, and so I wanted to create a piece that explores her and her character a little more...

I wanted this piece to reflect her guilt and shame of her ability to cause pain, and had an idea of her trying to reverse it by looking into a mirror to cause herself to turn to stone, only for it to backfire and for her to be stuck in a perpetual state of half alive, half dead, cursed to continue to turn the world around her to stone.

I was actually inspired by the video game 'House of Ashes' for this concept (which is a part of the Dark Pictures Anthology series btw) as there's a part of the game where a character from ancient times is half kept alive by this weird alien goo (no really) and I just thought it was such a dark and twisted concept (someone being perpetually kept alive for thousands of years but unable to scream or move or anything) that I wanted to carry into this piece lol

Below are some closeup shots of the piece btw!

I'm happy I went for a bigger piece than I usually do for trad stuff (I usually go for A5-ish size whereas this is closer to A4) as it really allowed me to add a lot of detail!

I actually did this as part of a 'draw this in your style' on ig where the original artist said you can draw any character but have to include the elements of roses, butterflies, cracks, and some kind of visual effect (which here I did the combo of the grey graphite pencil and colouring pencils lol which I've never done for a piece like this before!)

[bishopmyrielfundraiser]

Winter2122 Offer 9 It’s @bishopmyrielfundraiser time!

This year I am offering a bundle of:

- 1x physical copy of my The Miserables Month zine (A5 size, 32pp, staple-bound, hand signed, numbered first print edition)

- 2x holographic candlestickers (premium quality vinyl stickers, holographic candlestick feature, 3”x3” ish size)

- 1x original hand painted artwork based on a Les Mis character of your choice. Will be painted with watercolours and/or inks at around an A5 size. Below are some of my more recent paintings to give an idea of style!

Starting bid: $20

I will cover the cost of postage worldwide.

Rules for this years’ bidding can be found here.