#this was actually an attempt at remembering what my old art style looked like and I’m not sure I succeeded

[fennel-tea]

all i ever draw these days is shit that's only funny to me and a handful of people in a niche discord channel

[traumatizedartist]

*AHEM*

My murder drones au headcannons (the one with actual digital art)

These 👇

Anyways yknow the drill at this point, look under the cut for the headcannons

TW FOR SUICIDE ATTEMPT IN THE HEADCANNONS (I'll have it be in red so you can skip past it if it makes you uncomfortable)

Uzi- Autistic, clearly

She has daddy issues but not nearly as bad as in canon(Khan doesn't leave her for dead in this au she "sacrifices herself") she's still super emo. She has a more scene style. Her, Lizzy and Doll are actually kinda close, they become even closer(become friends) after the series ends, cuz, yknow, Uzi saved the world? Anyways, she's dating N, and she doesn't care that he killed her mom(I mean she does but it only affected them for like, a year, so I guess a long time, they actually broke up cuz of it but they were both fuckin miserable and Nori slapped some sence into her cuz she saw how N looked before killing her and he looked so guilty ((wow the run on sentence go crazy))) So yeah they're the dictionary definition of a great not toxic couple

N- very sweet, very loving good boy. He has PTSD, obviously. It's like, really bad tho. Nightmares every night level bad, and that's how him and this aus Khan bond. They trauma bond, yay!! He's very in touch with his emotions, and he's a bit of a push over. He's a very big people pleaser and has a lot of trouble placing boundaries. Uzi helps him with that when they start dating, so that he doesn't get hurt all the time

V- once you crack her shell, she's a very shy and sweet person, not like her personality back at the manor, but like a mix of her current canon personality and manor. C PTSD, she remembered more than N about the manor before Uzi unlocked those memories. She also has nightmares a lot but Lizzy and Doll help her with them. Nothing cuddles and wholesome movies can't fix. At least for a little bit.

J- bless this girls lonely heart. She's still greiving Tessa(she's alive in Uzis mind just no one knows yet) she ends up breaking down after her and N get into a mother fight after he tries to be there for her for the like, 10000th time. When she comes back to the bunker with N, everyone, understandably, is very suspicious of her. But when she does get there, for the first few months, she's just a husk of her old self. Shes quite and agrees to do anything because she just doesn't care anymore, the moment she starts to truly feel at home is, ironically, during her rock bottom

TW FOR SUICIDE ATTEMPT

V is the one that finds her, she had gotten worried when she noticed all the uneaten oil in front of Js room. When she comes in she sees J with her rifle to her head.

TW OVER

V tackles her and starts interrogating her, asking why and is very worried. J, seeing this, just breaks, she begins to bawl her eyes out, crying about how much she misses Tessa, how she was the love of her life and can't live without her, how she wants to be with her, how she can't take it anymore. V and J spend the next 3 to 4 hours crying together. V had texted N telling him what happened and to get his ass over there now. So, of course he does,when he gets there he sees them hugging and J crying and he joins them, bringing the oil so when Js done crying she can eat. She had been starving herself toAnd this is when J truly sees how much people care about her, which, in turn, makes her cry even harder. When she's done crying N feeds her the oil and they cuddle together for a while. She's a lot better now but she's in for a very big surprise

Cyn- that's right baby! Cyns alive! Because I felt so SO bad for her that I had to have her live in my au. She still talks the same, but she's very sweet and innocent, her and Uzi have an older/younger sister relationship. Her and N reunite in the cutest way, they're both crying and hugging super tight. V and J are tearing up as well. I have more headcannons about her on my drawing of her lol so wait for that lol

Tessa- I don't have a lot of headcannons for Tessa, so just go to the hashtag Died and got over it and take pretty much all the headcannons of Tessa from there and that's how it is here pretty much lol(I'll find the @ I promise)

Thad- he's a straight ally and single(looking at you @rory-multifandom-mess) he's Lizzy's younger twin brother and his personality is pretty much the same. He's friends with the wrong people. He's a very big sweetheart. He's a Femininominon. A green flag icon. The best football player on his team(he isn't a dick about it tho) I don't have anything else for him but I do have a drawing for him so you'll have to wait on that as well lol. Srry

Lizzy- Thads older twin. She's dating V and Doll(you can't stop me) she became friends with Uzi after the show ended. She's a Y2K girlie. She is also very sweet when you tear down the asshole popular girl walls. She's quite traumatized from the show and sometimes has nightmares about it. She doesn't tell anyone but people found out(*cough cough* V and Doll *cough cough*)

Doll- she's dating V and Lizzy, she was never revengeful of V, as her dad survived the attack(so did her mom but literally no one knows that yet) she's still very blunt and has a flat affect, she also doesn't show her emotions a lot, but from the unfinished comic I already posted, when V and Lizzy get back to the bunker after the canon ends she breaks down. She thought they were dead. Uzi and her are cousins(not really but their dads are best friends so they view each other as cousins) I don't even have a last name for her yet so you'll have to wait(again) for the drawing to see more headcannons of her)

Khan- WOOO WE'VE HIT THE JACKPOT BABY! Autistic. He's half DD in my au(and he has the solver with the back hand things that we see nori having at the beginning of episode 7 I think, either 7 or 6 idk) idk how hes part DD yet, my thoughts are either forbidden love or cabin fever failed experiment. I'll probably make a poll of that, see which ones you all like the most. He's very insecure about his body, he used to get bullied back in high school because, no matter which choice I make, he gets to experience high school(with the cabin fever experiment he went missing for like, a year, and then escaped, he tried to get nori and yeva but they told him to go or he'd get killed, so he left, he still has a lot of pent up guilt from that) he's also a trans man(YIPPIE) but he's also curvy, hence the insecurity. He's a good dad and actually helped with the fight with the AS(he fought j as a distraction and effectively got his ass beat((Lizzy laughed at him, he also laughed, he's a dumbass))) so he had to recover from that, also, in my au, him, the teacher(I'm naming him Lewis) and nori are dating, so when Lewis is hanging for his fucking life Khan flies down and saves him lol. Also, he does get to reunite with nori, as everything that happened to her in the show happens in my au, but them reuniting happens differently, through Uzi(yay)

Guh, I've ran out of ideas so when I get more(and the motivation to write more) I'll reblog this post with more headcannons, hope y'all like this lol

[dollya-robinprotector]

FINALLY! DOLLYA CONCEPT

I'll have a little look back and remember how I came up with this current Sona design. The me of 2021 definitely would look at this and go "WTF???". When I search and place old drawings side by side for comparison, It's really been a process of changing my perspective on myself and constantly finding what I want.

It'll be very random and full of my old drawings, so if you don't mind a little rambling, welcome to go under the cut and go back in time with me!

Let's start with this design. As you can clearly see it was based on how I actually look irl, from the outfit, hairstyle to make-up.

Tbf this was not my first attempt to create a Sona, but it was a huge milestone because it's 2018, the year I got into my dream Art university and left home. My style completely changed, and this Sona showed it perfectly.

I drew this with my fingers, on my broken phone, to enter a Vietnamese clothes design competition, where we modernized some traditional clothes. What I did here is a modernized Nhật Bình. I won and got my design made into real clothes and sent to me. I'm still proud of it to this day XD

It was fun! I draw her almost daily, like how I do with Lya and Lyah in this blog. I used her to make friends with other artists. I even created a gender-bent version for her : D

But the uni life was stressful, especially when I entered my third year and tried to escape my parents' grasp. They were furious and threatened me, I started working extra and do commission to pay for my own living and rent, lessons were hard, and homework and projects were pilling,... As a result, I often use my sona to stress draw.

It didn't help much, my anxieties and insecurities kept adding to the molten fire inside me, and my overthinking got worse day by day.

But then at some point, I decided to separate myself from that sona. She turned into one of my many OCs, maybe more special but I no longer see my entire self in her anymore.

I have to thank my two besties for that. They pulled me out of my darkest moments and stayed with me. They remain to be my only two most important people in this whole world.

I started to "reuse" the sona appearance into creating many other OCs for many other fandoms I joined (Cookierun, HnK, FGO, KnY, Genshin,...). I had fun jumping between different styles lol.

The idea for the current design started to take shape when one day I drew her wearing a white delicate dress (I usually just do red) and a see-through sleep dress I just bought.

Something started clicking.

Then I became an assistant for an Ero Artist. Yup. I started to be exposed to more "sexy" character designs and tbh I just love those. I love drawing female characters already, but there's something something about cute and sexy girls in lingerie... If you know what I mean.

The design slowly became clearer. Cute and pristine-white, see-through lingerie, with little four petals flowers, and little bows, perfect.

The details still varied. They depended on the style I was using or my mood, whether I wanted to go into details or not. That's the fun of drawing your own design, let's keep it.

And here we are~ Maybe it's still not final, but I'm happy with it, and that's enough for me now!

If you've been reading this far, thank you and congratulations! I will send you a kiss and wish you a good day~~ Hope you're having fun scrolling on my blog~

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

Human Alastor (FTM trans headcanon)

Full size image

Commentary below:

Here, Alastor is shown at four different stages of his human life:

Childhood - around 12 years old

“Voodoo Killer” - late teenage years

Jazz Musician - early 20s

Radio Star - later adulthood to time of death

His career as a serial killer started when he was around 12 years old and continued up until his death.

The three stages of his adult life are supposed to correspond with different aspects of his demon form’s hairstyle.

During the “Voodoo Killer” stage, he straightened his hair and styled it similarly to his demon form’s hairstyle. However, he did not have an undershave. If viewed from the back, it would look like a simple bob. His appearance is inspired by Clementine Barnabet. I intended for his tignon to be tied in a similar manner to Clementine’s. Additionally, the bandages wrapped around his legs are meant to make him look a little like Voodoo Queen Lala from the 1930s. I gave him bandages instead to make him look like more of an edge lord (lol). The cross worn was originally his mother's. After she died, he painted it black in mourning. He wears it at all times, up until his death, to remember her.

During the “Jazz Musician” stage, he kept his hair short in order to pass for male. This is supposed to correspond with the back side of Alastor’s demon form, which is shaved short. His appearance is inspired by Jelly Roll Morton, one of my favorite Jazz musicians, who also happens to be Creole. Not visible in this pose, but Al wore black gloves that match the color of his hair. 

During the “Radio Star” stage, several aspects of Alastor’s appearance are inspired by the late, great Cab Calloway. Like Cab, Alastor styled his hair in a conk. His suit is also inspired by the iconic white suit worn by Cab Calloway.

That being said, creative liberties were taken with Al’s white suit, which is anachronistic for the 1930s. Cab famously wore zoots, but I don’t think that would be Alastor’s style. Since I know so little about 1930s fashion, I gave up and didn’t attempt to give him a historically accurate suit. Instead, his tuxedo is based on the one he wore in the pilot. There are several anachronisms present in Alastor’s canon design, so it might actually fit his character to wear a suit atypical of the 1930s. This could preserve the otherworldly, “Willy Wonka”-esque presence that he has, even on Earth. Still, it’s a pretty glaring historical inaccuracy. Once we get to see Al’s canon human form, I might redesign him.

Since Alastor would have more than one suit, I didn’t worry too much about the inaccuracies present in his clothing. The one thing I refused to compromise on was his microphone.  In the TV show, Alastor’s iconic microphone is a vintage ribbon mic. However, this “pill capsule” style looks more similar to models that were only invented after Alastor’s death. Here’s an example of a ribbon mic that was rolled out shortly before Alastor’s death: The RCA Type 77-A. As you can see, it’s a lot larger in size than Alastor’s microphone.

My first attempt at drawing human Alastor gave him a ribbon mic, seen here: https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Human-Alastor-ribbon-mic-1035514228

In order to be more historically accurate, I discarded this design. Instead, I gave him a spring microphone, technology that is more iconic of the 1920s/1930s. 

Here’s an image of Cab Calloway in front of a spring microphone, one year after Alastor’s death:

I took some creative liberties with the flag of Alastor’s microphone. Normally, it is supposed to say the radio station. Since I don’t know what radio station Al’s show aired on, I just had it read “ON AIR” in red.

Importantly, Alastor’s suit has to match the design of his microphone, which is an extension of himself.

It’s a little awkward how Alastor is holding his microphone, so here is how it looks from the back: https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Human-Alastor-back-of-mic-1035514255

The backside of the microphone is supposed to look like an eye, and have a bit of an ominous presence.

A headcanon I have is that Alastor had a severe case of stress-induced vitiligo. Because he was very egotistical, this was a source of shame for him, so he hid it with makeup and clothing. Here is how his face would have appeared shortly before his death: https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Human-Alastor-no-makeup-1035514264

Al’s colors are mostly browns, whites, and black, to keep with the deer theme. The black tips of his shoes are supposed to look a bit like deer hooves. I pictured his height as 5’10, one inch taller than Michael Dillon. Since the average male height was around 5’7, Al was still taller than most men, which made it easier to pass for male.

In addition to Clementine Barnabet, Jelly Barnabet, and Cab Calloway, FTM Al’s appearance is largely inspired by the famous biracial drag king Stormé DeLarverie.

I picture Alastor having a darker complexion than Stormé, or Cab Calloway for that matter. Compared to Stormé, his nose and eyes are different (his eyes are supposed to have the same shape as his mother’s. distinctly African, not European at all) but his mouth, jawline, and overall facial structure are similar. He’s basically supposed to be a much less white-passing version of Stormé DeLarverie. Because he was born around year 1900, Al would not have had access to any form of medical transition. He would be physically indistinguishable from a cisgender drag king.

I also picture his physical build being pretty similar, but he’s taller (I’m not sure how tall Stormé was, but I don’t think she was 5’10) and skinnier. He’s supposed to have a really striking appearance, where he’s really slender but really tall for someone born in his time, and he has an androgynous face.

In my more recent drawings, the drag king Alberta “Bert” Whitman has also served as visual inspiration for human Alastor:

Bonus image:

https://www.deviantart.com/thegirlwhodidntsmile/art/Alastor-kill-count-1035514155

[thepolysworldau]

( inbox is empty and I am thinking about this. So I figured while we waited it would be fun to look at some old art of this AU. )

( one of my first passes of Tom. Also a poor attempt at perspective )

( here is an old sketch around when I first started to ship polysworld. I think at the time I had Edd as the shortest )

( a drawing with some REALLY old designs and a ship child some people may recognize as a kid from a now defunct blog )

( Me not knowing which way hands went. )

( VERY old pass at Edd sprites )

( I think I struggled with Edd's design the most..)

( He looks ill in this one )

( Actually still proud of this drawing, but the designs are old and the style is a lil weird )

( pretty sure this is my first ever attempt at a lineup of them. )

( I used to be so proud of this help )

( Look, ocs! First one is an (i think old) design of @corrupte-hunter 's clone oc and an old version of Quincy )

( "textured shading looks so cool it adds so much feeling to the art" -me 4 years ago )

( old pride headcannons )

( people underestimate how unhinged she is. )

( an oc that has not showed up yet. Wow. )

( I present shit that got me bullied on tik tok )

( Tbh this isn't as bad as I remember )

( I present my first piece of eddsworld fanart. )

( old Quin ref wow )

( this just makes me remember how long ago beaster bunny came out got-- )

( Tomtord )

( Backgrounds? I don't know her. )

( I actually still really like this design. Idk what I did but I ate. )

( This looks nothing like Tord help )

( hey look, the neighbors )

( I end with stuff I lack commentary for )

[borisbubbles]

Eurovision 2024: #36

36. FINLAND Windows95Man - "No Rules!" 19th place

Decade ranking: 143/153 [Above Nadir, below Let3]

Okay so, I promised in Saturday's post that I would try to be positive, but I may already have to rescind on that promise lol. (the "lol" is for punctuation because I definitely did not laugh.) "No rules!" stinks and has very few redeeming qualities. 🙂 Natalia was right, she WAS robbed by a Nudist Demon!

For real, does anyone over the age of twenty-five enjoy this dumpster fire? If so, fukk meee. LOVE YOURSELVES.

As I noted in my UMK review back in Feb:

I have difficulty buying into this hyperactive ball of bad taste. “Fuck The System” always feels like the go-to message of individuals that fail to fit into social structures that aren’t fully of their own shaping. For an entry that’s all “live as you like, there’s no rules!” in its messaging, these two look like they conform to just about every styling and behavioural rule associated with Zoomer culture: A total disregard for general aesthetics over a dumbed-down drone of a beat because everything is ironic and nothing is to be taken seriously.  It is a depressing take on life. Yeah sure, a bit of camp levity is welcome in this loathesome world, but any happy song that weaponizes irony like this one trends towards encouraging irresponsibility, cynicism and nihilism. Some things DO matter in life, you know? You need to afford your bills and groceries, charge your social batteries, cultivate your friendships, or else you’ll wind up living alone in a van, down by the river. But if the latter life appeals to you, then this is the entry for you, I guess. For me though; this contest is already has one Joost Klein. Let’s not add a second one from Finland.

Funny how I nailed that even before knowing the full extent of it. I ofc vastly underestimated how bad the live would be, and as soon as I'd seen it my scepsis immediately supernova'd into intense HATRED. If ONLY "Paskana" hadn't been weak as piss. Yes, the cringe in "No Rules!" is deliberate, obviously, I have a sense of humour. Having a sense of humour is why I hate it? How much "deliberated cringe" can one tolerate before concluding "nope, this is r o t t e n." Does it start with

THE BAD GUNTER IMPRESSION?

or

THE DONALD DUCKING?

or

CALLING HIMSELF" A QUEEN"?

or

screaming "SEE ME SLAYYYY" :proceeds to not slay: ?

It definitely ends in whatever this shot is supposed to be.

Humour is subjective sure enough, and Windowsninetycringeman's jokes fall flatter than a pancake á moi. Why is everything denim? Why is this THIRTY-NINE YEAR OLD MAN still engaging in toilet humour and internet speak? Grow the f up? The art lies in the execution and Finland showed neither. I do NOT like Europapa much, but having Finland and not Netherlands in the final vibes wrong on so many levels. Europapa at least had a clear plan and delivered its nonsense in contained, piecemeal doses? It was COMPETENT in what it attempted to be (A Televote Winner), not a lazy amalgation of simple-minded drunk jokes strung together over a Planet of The Bass megamix as some sort of a Hail Mary. Joost and Teemu represent the Expectations/Reality divide of Zoomer Nonsense and it was darksided that only the latter got to compete for points. But on top of that, Teemu was generally just full of shit? Hooray, an Old Millennial engaging in Zoomer Cringe who lets an actual zoomer do all the vocal heavy lifting, without giving him a single featuring credit. Yay! It's a painfully accurate depiction of what being a zoomer is like, but not an intentional one.

Also remember when Teemu said he would "try to discreetly approach the other contestants to find ways to show support for Palestine" (remember that this contest was supposed to be 'not political'?) Hm yes discreet. So discreet he declared his intentions to interviewers so that everyone would know it was HIS idea. "Discreet", human please. And the result of all that talk was...

(lol I'm SO making it sound like I care about what political standpoints any of these acts took, and I don't. But I do call out a fraud when I spot one.)

Yeah well thanks for trying, but I'd rather you hadn't. A statement you can apply to my feelings of the entry overall. Okay, we've reached full circle, time to move on to our designated palate cleanser because THIS page is a safe zone for people of good taste.

The universe where YLE overrules the results and sends THEM to ESC is the one where we head to Helsinki twice in a row.

THE RANKING

[psystirene]

some iterator doodles bc I like. never post drawings of them??? and i think that's just criminal of me. I didn't realize how long this was so uhh

little bit of context under the read more ig!

millionth attempt at an nsh but i'm happy with this one. i had the idea of them having the cone-ish antennae(?) and idk it wouldn't leave my head. as you can kind of see i sketched out the entire body, i've been more consistent w my iterator depictions- that being said it's kind of hard to see and i can't find the file so. whimpers

second is so old to me, it's five pebbles but the rot is more floral. specifically it's meant to be stylized petunias, and was vaguely related to my AMterator AU. Petunia flower symbolism (sorry if the website was lying to me)

3. a pass at designing FP and LttM

4. look at me boy. i'm normal. this is more recent, vaguely low effort lilypad art for my idea of a mobile puppets au. I think that Moon would have an attachment to the raggedy cloak she's been given and has done what she can to style and fix it in a way that's more convenient for mobility. NSH's clothing was probably fine but they sewed matching patches onto their clothes for homo reasons <3 the other two bozos are FP and UI. I will eventually post my UI design when Iget to it

5. more UI and FP bc I vaguely ship them (more specifically my version of UI which is probably not all that canon compliant- I can't even remember stuff I say 5 seconds after I say it so I probably have forgotten a lot of lore). I think UI and FP would bicker constantly but like each other. At this point UI would have apologized to him but that doesn't change that they're both Like That

6. just Moon

7. abhorrent malevolence and unparalleled innocence staring. they probably wouldn't get along tbh

8. the iterators if.. if they had hair (according to UNPARALLELED INNOCENCE) not necessarily accurate to haircuts i think they'd actually like to have I just. idk. i like NSH's though. also i don't currently have a gw/cw yet so that's why they're not there

9. abhorrent meowlevolence

also bc this is a nsh-having post. i am yet again pushing my any pronouns ??? gender nsh agenda. he can be girlwife AND dudehusband

[stephofromcabin12]

Any art tips for artists just starting out? I’m struggling big time to find my style 😀

Sure.

It got kinda long. Bc when have I ever been a person of few words?

There is no trick to finding your style other than drawing a lot, and setting a, more or less, loose goal. When I was young it was old school Disney and Don Bluth. That was my holy grail, ideal style. But it evolved to be something else, because that's how style works. You'll put your own twist on things, in time. But first focus on practicing and don't narrow yourself down to just one thing. You'll also probably develop multiple styles out of convenience. Sometimes I prefer the cartoony, simpified stuff. Sometimes I'm more into fully rendered pieces.

Experiment. Make bad art a lot. The more you expose yourself to the inherent let-down of sucking at something, the less it stings. The key is asking yourself why something didn't turn out right.

You can't get good at All Art at once. Start with something you're most interested in learning. Maybe it's anatomy, or gestures, or expressions, or colors. Start with that one thing and practice is with a specific goal in mind. Fx: "I want to get better at drawing faces and expressions, so I'm going to do an expression sheet of a character once a week, and do a little practice every day if I can" – That sorta thing. Everyone is different, though. My old music teacher used to say 30 minutes a day. If we couldn't do 30; 15 mins. So on. As long as you do a lil doodling every day that's still progress.

Learning art is sometimes frustratingly non-linear. Somedays I still 'forget' how to draw a certain thing I've had down since I was 14. Other days I bang out something I've always struggled with on the first try, then fail the next day. It's not a linear progression, it's a damn roller coaster. Best you can do is throw your hands up and try to enjoy the ride. The pipe line for me is usually: First attempt (sucks ass but I've learned to laugh at this stage, just throw ideas at the wall) -> getting comfortable (this is where you think to yourself you have a concept down but you really don't) -> Getting good (you start to draw with more ease, you're not having to 'remember' how you wanted something to look, it's just muscle memory by now) -> Actually having it down (and still having more growth to go. But this is where you get to look back on the comfortable phase and go: 'wow I really had a long way to go')

In fact, having fun is by far the thing that's made me progress. More than tutorials, more than fancy equipment. If I'm not having fun, I have no motivation to keep going. If it's not fun, try and make it so.

Get into the habit of stepping back (whether physically or more metaphorically) and really looking at your art often while you draw. When you add a line, or color, or background element etc. Ask yourself "Does this work?" And adjust accordingly. It seems like a lot of work at first, but eventually it becomes a natural part of the process. I don't really realise I'm doing it but most of the patreon screen recordings I have show the way I zoom in and out of the canvas constantly lol.

Make the things you want to make. Even the most self-indulgent stuff. We have a million artists already doing their thing, but we don't have you yet. Show us what you got! There's room for everything.

Get used to people expressing mild envy/annoyance when you're drawing near them. I've gotten the 'wow I wish I could draw, I can't even do a stick figure!' comment from waitresses, cabin crews, classmates I'd previously never spoken to, teachers, strangers on trainstations, etc etc etc. But! Learn to say 'Thank you' when people compliment your art.

Don't ask for critique if you don't really want it. Don't let people critique you if you didn't ask for it.

You! Don't! Need! Fancy! Equipment! Save your money and get the version of a medium that's affordable and comfortable for you. Look at Stardew Valley's creator's old setup. It's really not about how the tools are set up or the price of them. It's how you make use of them. Didn't FNAF's creator build the models in a moving car on a laptop?

Art takes time. There is no short cut to make it take less time. But the more fun you have the more it'll feel like it's faster. If you're miserable the time will drag on and on and on.

Look at a lot of art. Take in and analyse. I wish I could go back a few years and tell myself to analyse paintings I liked, rather than just going "Oh I like that! Nice!" and then moving on. Why is it good? Why does it move you? What captured your attention? Be the person at a museum leaning forwards to see the paintstrokes, you learn more that way.

Don't feel ashamed if you want to take inspiration from others. Everyone takes inspiration from somewhere. If you see something cool another artist is doing with their rendering or lighting or whatever, try and do a drawing or two emulating it! Maybe you'll discover a new favorite technique, or you'll not really jam with it. Either is good. Both teach you something.

You'll go through more eras than Taylor Swift. Sometimes you gotta do a lil Eras Tour of your own and go back through the catalogue. I'm currently working on reviving several projects I made when I was 13-14. Keep everything. Don't delete; archive.

Get good storage. Like, seriously, wish for a harddrive your next birthday or christmas or whatever. If you're working traditionally wish for some good ringbinders and the good plastic sleeves. Much nicer than running out of storage and having to delete things. Never delete!

You are already an artist. You became one the second you picked up a pen and put it to paper, and then decided to keep going with that. So don't compare yourself. When you find yourself jealous of someone, it's because they have something you want. Figure out what it is, and make it for yourself.

Deadass? Tracing helps so much with learning forms. But it's only helpful when you also practice drawing the same things freehand.

The trick to coloring is just that everything looks good shaded with purple set to multiply, and that if you're ever in doubt go in an L shape on color wheel. Down in brightness, inwards in saturation.

People who say you can never use white or black in drawings are jerks and you should not listen to them. You can do literally everything you want. Sure, experiment with other ways of using white and black. But art advice is just that: It's an option, not gospel. As a wise prophet of our time, Justin Bieber, once said: Never say never.

People will say you should be your own biggest critic. But fuck that. Be your own biggest cheerleader. Love what you make, even when you hate it, find something that works. That stepping back I mentioned in point 6? Sometimes that's zooming out and saying "Damn! That looks really good!" – People will often make art out to be something that should be suffering and painstaking. It's not though. In my honest experience, I've made just as much good art when I was happy and content, as I did when I had severe depression and anxiety and burnout. You're not an artist because you suffer. You're an artist because you can't just sit in that suffering all the time. You know there's beauty besides your pain, and so you'll remind yourself in the act of creation that there is always something more.

Once you realise you have the power to draw truly anything, you'll start having a lot more fun. "Oh but I've never done it before" or "Oh I tried and it just didn't work" Okay. So?

In case of frustration to the point of throwing your art supplies out the window: Take a breath. Go for a walk. Sometimes it's just not your day. Sometimes the rollercoaster gets stuck in the middle of a loop or right at the top of a hill. Wait it out. Try again.

You have absolutely got this. Let me know if there's anything else I can help with.

[retellingthehobbit]

I went to read your comic on Ao3 and I noticed you'd started back in 2020. Aside from your clear and beautiful art progression, what can you tell me about the timeline of your comic?

Thank you! And yes, started this webcomic in January of 2020. “I sure hope nothing bad happens in 2020 that will hamper my ability to focus on a large personal project!” — me in January 2020 with all the naivety of youth. Top ten images taken minutes before disaster. This comic is like a deeply personal diary of my mental state, complete with the long empty hiatuses that are sort of like that part of Twilight where months of depression are represented by blank pages.

One of my favorite things about webcomics is how you can often see an artist’s style grow organically over time. I think it’s something that’s getting lost in the age of “Webtoon Originals,” where people are starting to expect webcomics to be produced by an actual production studio with a team of artists behind them and to maintain a consistent highly curated art style throughout. These professionally funded comics are fun, but they do lose the messy personal organic growth that used to separate webcomics from traditional print comics? But i could go on a whole tirade about webtoon haha 😂 !

The Hobbit is partially a story about someone learning how to express themselves. Bilbo starts the story as this stuffy little guy who is repressing a lot his own personality; he ends the story as a skilled artist writing elaborate prosy poetry about his adventures. I deliberately chose to start drawing the comic before I went to college, knowing my art style would change a lot of over that period!

Anyway here's the timeline as I remember it: Pre-development: I was working on sketches of the comic itself as early as 2016. Chapter 1 (A Bedtime Story/Tooks and Bagginses): (Posted on Tumblr in January 2020, on Ao3 later): Published shortly before I went to college. I was drawing in Paint Tool Sai, and hand-writing all the words instead of using a font. I set out to adapt at least the Unexpected Party chapter, but thought I'd probably adapt the entire novel within a year or two. ("It's a webcomic Michael. How long could it take? twelve months?") Chapter 2: (A Very Respectable Hobbit): Posted like a week after Chapter 1. This was when I still thought I could post a ten page chapter every week, haahahahahahahahahaha Fs in the chat.

HIATUS #1: DANCE BREAK: TIME FOR A GLOBAL PANDEMIC. The exact timeline of 2020 is a blur for obvious reasons, but I do remember the updates became very sporadic over this period. Chapter 3-5 (Very Old Friends and An Unexpected Party chapters): there’s a global pandemic. During Spring Break my college abruptly kicks us all off campus and sends us home. I keep looking at the “post dates” on these chapters like what??? Really? I posted that at thAt time? But there was a global pandemic happening and I was so busy and overwhelmed with college???? When did I have the time? I have no memory of drawing these. My memories of all 2020 are so blurry. I think these chapters just manifested spontaneously.

The weekly/biweekly update schedule has been tossed to the wind, never to return. Alas. Chapter 6 (An Enormously Important Dwarf, aka Thorin’s intro): I was back “at college” during our “hybrid” year, so in practice I was extremely isolated. this was posted during a year after the first chapter, in 2021. I would never have found the motivation to continue if I wasn't so excited to draw Thorin! I also joined a "comic club" at my college which was comprised mainly of awkward video calls with like three people. On a weirder note, this chapter was posted a few weeks after the January 6th attempted coup. I was drawing in a a weird headspace.

DANCE BREAK #2: IT’S TIME FOR A YEAR LONG HIATUS:

I've started to often dislike the word “burnout” when it’s applied to art. It implies that the problem is that you were drawing too much or that you can’t find inspiration, when often the problem is much bigger than your art-- it's wider economic anxieties and social circumstances outside your control. It is very hard to think clearly and create things when you are worried about your future, about work, about housing, about a global pandemic, about constant demands on your time, and about being extremely isolated. In hindsight, I wasn’t “burned out”— I was in a situation where I could not think clearly or produce anything. Chapter 7 (The Lonely Mountain): posted a full year after chapter 6. For a while I considered having this be the “last chapter” of the comic!

Changing art styles was a thing I was really motivated to do, and was my last “bucket list” item for the comic.

HIATUS #3: I get really busy with junior year of college! I grow more and more disillusioned with Tolkien as I learn more about The Hobbit Law crushing labor unions and worker's rights in New Zealand, and how Amazon takes advantage of that. The Tolkien Estate also releases a statement saying they disapprove of any unauthorized use of Tolkien's works for profit or not, which isn't really legally enforceable but is also just an act of pure contempt XD. Chapter 8 (A Tangled Web): I get sent to the emergency room in an ambulance for Reasons and begin drawing this in the weeks after, as I realize I don't care about the Tolkien Estate or Amazon or Warner Brothers or whatever hollow marketable products they produce under the tolkien brand. I think this is the weakest chapter of the comic, both in writing and art, and in hindisght think the comic works better without it pacing-wise. However!!!! I was drawing it in a weird mental state, so. XD

Also, at this point I am drawing entirely in Photoshop. Chapter 9 (Ash and Smoke): Back at college for senior year— time for dragon! The comic starts updating with something that resembles a "regular schedule!" this year had more and more people on campus in person, and I started to slowly make college friends :). Also, at this point I am the President of the comic club, and we are now meeting in person and rebuilding our comic empire. Chapter 10 (The Heart of the Mountain): Some funky bits of writing I'd like to revise at some point, but I enjoy the art in this chapter. Chapter 11 (Polite Nothings): If I were to do this all again I'd shorten this chapter and combine it with chapter 12. One important note is that originally, I tried to keep all chapters under ten pages. This made it easier to post them to Instagram and Tumblr, because tumblr still had a “ten image limit” at the time. However at some point I realized that was more trouble than it was worth, and really made the pacing difficult/slow as I struggled to split the story into ten page chunks.

A lot of webcomics often fall into what I call a “wheel-spinning” phase, where the author is so focused on finishing smaller updates that they lose the pacing of the larger narrative—- and so the story stalls out. I feel like I dealt with a lot of “wheel-spinning” while I was at college, both in my life and in my comic XD. Chapter 12 (The Quest): My internship company gives me an offer to work full-time, which I accept. in the last semester of my last year of college, I take the most helpful elective class I have ever taken: a class on using 3D models in blender to aid with blocking out illustrations. This is the first chapter where you see one of those backgrounds! From this point on my background art will improve dramatically. I also have lots of internet friends and college friends!

As I grow more confident in my art I also make the decision to change the character designs, something I’d wanted to do for a while. Chapter 13 (The Necromancer): I graduate college! It's time for some Lotte Reiniger art. I stay in my student housing until my lease ends. The art starts to grow more elaborate as I have more time to spend on it. Chapter 14 (Terms and Conditions): my summer is free, so I spend it drawing gay little hobbits. I move up North to live with my grandmother until my work start date. This is the very last “normal-sized” chapter of the comic, where I hold myself to keeping it under 10 pages. I also think this is where my new more elaborate character designs actually start to look a lot better XD.

I was finishing up apartment-hunting at this time, so both Bilbo and I were goin over contract terms. Chapter 15 (Unattached): summer free time!! More gay little hobbits. I move into my New apartment and sleep on an air mattress for a while. I have a lot of time to draw and the art gets far more complex; this chapter was also twice as long as my usual chapters. I am still proud of this chapter, honestly, even though it's gotten less attention than Chapter 16/17-- it's one I'd been excited to draw for a while. A lot of this chapter was drawn on my beautiful powerful beloved air mattress. Air mattress, my beloved. Chapter 16 (the Song of the Lonely Mountain): I start my new job! I get a BED. Lots of exciting things are happening. I was really excited to draw and post this chapter, because it’s one id been dreaming about drawing from the beginning-- it was surreal to see it "posted" because part of me never thought I'd get this far. I even started a tiktok and posted the chapter there, certain that people would enjoy it. However, tiktok basically ignored it, alas! This is why tumblr is the only social media site. Chapter 17: I continue my new job. My roommate surprises me with the news that they will move out at the end of our lease, making me realize that months have somehow passed. I make a post asking for anyone looking for roommates in Milwaukee to contact me via dms (that offer is still open, if you’re looking to move here in early June.) I privately am very confused about why anyone would ever want to leave a comfortable settled home to go off on an adventure and then realize that I am behaving exactly like pre-quest Bilbo Baggins.

Chapter 18: the chapter I am working on now!!! Another chapter I have been excited to draw forever!! It’ll feature studio-Ghibli-inspired backgrounds, exciting landscape art, and so much fun! I’ve also started a Patreon where, if you want to see “one page a week” instead of “twenty pages every Mystery number of Months” you can subscribe there. (The first page of Chapter 18 has already been posted!)

But yeah! The TL:DR:

I think the moral of all this (to me) is that it’s hard to make art if you’re just not in a position to do it, and you have to allow yourself time to grow and change as a person XD. Sometimes you need to spend a few years thinking and getting better before you're ready to go on an Adventure. I started this comic when I was very Young and Naive to the Ways of the World. The quality (and dips in quality) reflect my wildly fluctuating mental/emotional states while trying to draw each chapter in the midst of a global pandemic. My art has improved a lot lately, and I think a large part of it is really just being in a situation where I *can* improve— having a decent job, not being in the middle of a global pandemic with no vaccine in sight, not needing to live in constant fever-pitch anxiety, having friends, etc etc. I am completely different person now than I was while drawing chapter 1.

Not to be dramatic, but I think you can see there’s a lot more joy in the recent chapters than there is in some of the older ones. It's weird to look at your art and realize you've gotten happier. XD

[noblechaton]

gonna ramble a bit about the ml art style change bc ig I have more thoughts about it than I knew. tagging this as leaks but no like story stuff is gonna be mentioned bc I don't really know any lol

so going off what little we've seen of it (and in arguably the lowest possible quality at that) I think it's gonna make the show very visually pretty which isn't to say it couldn't be or wasn't in the older style(s) but that was def more inconsistent between studios and such so if this new style is the standard then like. yeah it's gonna look great

buuuuuuuut I also think it looks kinda. generic? like what's happened to a lotta brand logos that used to have personality but now all look super flat and simplified. like the Pepsi logo or whatever. it's a similar situation to the movie (I'll get into this in a bit) where like yes it looks pretty but it doesn't really look like Miraculous to me? like ik the style kinda varied somewhat between the studios but it was largely consistent enough and felt much more unique. like I could see a screencap from any timestamp of any episode and place it as Miraculous just bc of the visual style

now tho it looks less unique to me and more....like a mobile game ad? some kinda un-marketed direct to streaming movie? not trying to sound mean or anything but it just doesn't strike that same feeling the old style did for me as of yet. it feels more like an attempt to ape off a generic Pixar/Disney sorta style which the movie's style did too - and that ig is a good excuse for me to kinda dive into my thoughts there bc like. it looks way more like that movie now right? the y'know completely non-canon movie that to my knowledge wasn't received too terribly well lmao. I feel like this is on some level purposeful tho

I made a post the other day about how someone (especially the youngins) might go into season 6 thinking it's actually more of a season 1 only to presumably find that very much isn't the case pretty quick lmao - but that's still a new viewer, which makes number go up, which is a Good Thing. that s6 looks to be something of a fresh start given the whole Gabe in da Ground situation makes me believe this more since I'm pretty sure he got got in the movie too (<- does not remember the movie she saw twice) albeit in a different way. very real chance they view s6 as something of a soft launch pad with the hope of ppl who only saw the movie just jumping in without looking first. I also have an even more insane conspiracy theory that they're using movie assets at lower res for the sake of cost management but again. nutso hunch

regardless I'm kinda surprised they're changing it so drastically this deep into the series and I have no idea how the quality of animation is gonna hold up from episode to episode, season to season. presumably this is part'a why we haven't had s6 drop yet, that they've been working on it thoroughly, but it's been a good minute since s5 ended and I feel like the drought in content isn't really worth it?

like it's been so long that to me sometimes it's felt like the show straight up ended and while I don't mind a wait like this, the show then coming back looking entirely different to how it used to is gonna be jarring. I'm giving it a chance bc we haven't really seen it yet and that footage is very likely a wip of some sort but all the same I'm not terribly impressed? the emotions seem more stilted and flat, there's a few sorta redesigns that look....off (namely Adrichat, imo), and it feels too much like an attempt at cashing in on whatever success the movie might have had by bringing the look of the show more in line with it

think what gets me the most is that the style and animation of the show was one of the biggest things that drew me in beyond the bugcat of it all. it was the first CG animated show I'd seen where I felt as if the animation really worked; the world felt alive and vibrant, the city lived in and populated, but it didn't feel uncanny or like realistic in any sense, and there were plenty of gaffs and flaws throughout but I feel that only endeared the look of the show to me more - it had its own style that stood out for better or worse and I think that played more a role in the show's success than most have given credit for, and now that it's being entirely dropped in favor of a style that feels much more like some generic CG animation style I can't help but feel a bit disheartened and even nervous about the future of the series tbh

want to say that I'm not looking to hate it - I'm gonna give it a chance, and again I think it does visually look pretty, but I feel like it loses a lot of what made the show stand out to me and changes things I don't think really needed changed. time will tell but as of now I'm really not sold on it

also think having a special (or two? maybe?) in the old style just to drop us into the newer one presumably shortly after is kinda weird. wonder what happened there. bad timing? tbh using a special to introduce it mighta helped a bit but idk for sure

[descendantofthesparrow]

POYW Rewrite V2 - Harry Hook x reader - P6

Warning; referenced to/mention of/implied physical and sexual abuse, nothing graphic but its easy to know what it's alluding to.

=

Jane found herself in Evie and Mal’s dorm room, her arms straight out to the side as Evie measured every square inch of her. She couldn’t believe you had actually commissioned Evie to make a new outfit for her, Jane had nearly fainted at seeing the sketch Evie had created.

A crop top and top-down overalls? Oh, gods-she would not be able to pull that off-no matter how cute her hair was now. You and Evie were adamant she would look amazing in it though-and Jane let Evie measure her, moving to sit on the bed next to you as Evie went to work cutting and sewing the new fabrics she had gotten for Jane’s outfit.

Jane liked the pattern of the shirt, along with the color. “so-when do you think it’ll be done?” Jane asked, and Evie pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes as she calculated how long the outfit would take to make. “Maybe tomorrow, I pre-ordered the overalls, just have to make edits to it to make it more…” Evie gestured to Jane with a small grin. “Jane.”

Jane giggled slightly, messing with her hair as you admired Mal’s art skills. “Do you think this’ll get me a boyfriend?” Jane asked, thinking of Gil. Mal just scoffed as you grinned knowingly. “Boyfriends are overrated,” Mal said, erasing a bit of her sketch and blowing the pieces away.

“And how would you know Mal, you’ve never had one~” Evie teased, pausing in her work for the moment to grin at Mal, who glared back playfully. “Cause I don’t need one, E.” Mal and Evie had a staring contest for a moment then she directed her attention to Jane, muttering the words over her shoulder “They’re a waste of time.”

Evie gasped, suddenly remembering something “I forgot to do Chad’s homework!” she bolted up, forgetting about Jane’s outfit and grabbing the backpack from beside Mal’s bed, muttering to herself in panic as she did. “And that is exactly what I mean~” Mal sang while you sighed, wishing Evie would just realize Chad was a jackass already-you had nearly gotten through to her earlier-but she was adamant in her attempts to be his girlfriend.

You turned as a knock sounded at the door, seeing Lonnie jumping into the room with a coin purse in hand, wearing a cute pink raglan-style tee and a sea green skirt. “Hey guys, I’m Lonnie~” Mal just stared at her as Evie continued to get Chad’s homework out. “My mom's Mulan?”

Evie dropped Chad’s bag to the floor with a loud thunk.

“No?” Lonnie brushed their reactions off and turned back to Mal-who went back to her art. “Anyways, I love what you’ve done with Jane’s hair. And I know you hate us, and well-your evil~” Mal grinned. “but, do you think you could do mine?”

Mal stopped, looking back at Lonnie-confused. “And why would I do that for you?” Mal asked, watching as Lonnie held up the coin purse, the money inside making a noise. “I’ll pay you fifty dollars?” Lonnie said, hoping to entice Mal into spelling her hair. “Good answer,” Evie sang, snatching the purse away from Lonnie and giving a sly grin to Mal who pouted at her. “I need to buy more material.”

Mal just huffed and rolled her eyes as Evie talked hair with Lonnie, suggesting to lose the bangs and add layers and highlights. Lonnie shook her head; she already knew what she wanted. “No no, I want it cool, like Mal’s~”

Mal glanced at Lonnie, not expecting the compliment. “Really? the split ends too?” Evie teased, shaking the bag as Mal glared at her. Mal huffed, accepting her fate and turning over to grab her spell book. Evie and Lonnie shared a grin and Lonnie stood pin-straight as Mal positioned herself at the edge of her bed and flipped to the page she needed.

“Okay, beware, foreswear, replace the old; with cool hair.” Mal snapped the book shut-waving her hand around and Lonnie’s head followed the motions, until Mal slowly brought her hand up and Lonnie’s hair became long and a lighter shade-curling down her back and framing her face.

Lonnie gasped, feeling the long locks between her fingers as she went to admire herself in the mirror-you and Jane following as Evie ‘comforted' Lonnie over the ‘bad’ hair-do. It was better than her weirdly cut bob-but it could do with some styling. “I know, I know, I know! it looks like a mop on your head.” Evie glanced at you as you snorted, hiding your smile behind your fist. “you know what, let’s cut it off-layer it" Lonnie stopped her before she could go on.

“No no no! I love it~!” Lonnie gasped, grinning at herself in the mirror, ignoring the sneer on Evie’s face. “It’s just-“ Lonnie leaned down, ripping a seam of her skirt-making it reveal a bit of her thigh. You slapped your hand over your eyes as you held back a laugh, remembering the hardcore rock music that had played when she did that in the movie. Evie and Mal just stared, eyes widening in shock as Jane looked on in awe. “now I’m cool,” Lonnie breathed, grinning as Mal nodded.

“Like ice,” Mal said, watching as Jane went to stand next to Lonnie and did the same thing to her skirt-though she panicked as soon as she realized what she did. “What did I do!?” Jane gasped, staring at the tear in her dress. “Mom’s gonna kill me!” “No she won't” you sighed, patting Evie’s shoulder and nodding over to her sewing kit, “Evie can sew it right back together; like it never happened-now calm down bluebird.” Jane took several deep breaths as Evie sewed the tear back together, and like you said-it was like it never happened.

“Now come on, im sure these girls have shit ta do” Jane gasped at your curse word but did as told-skittering out of the room as Lonnie thanked Mal and waved them goodbye. You nodded at Carlos as he stepped into the room, Dude in one arm and a laptop in the other. “hi dude,” you cooed, scratching his chin-grinning as he leaned into it. “good pick puppy, Carlos is a keeper.” Carlos grinned, holding Dude close as he walked into the girls room and introduced them to Dude. They looked shocked to see Carlos so willingly holding a dog but got over it quickly, Evie happily gave Dude her attention as Carlos sat down at the end of Mal’s bed and opened his laptop.

You closed the door behind you, heading back to your room to get some work done and maybe hang out with the boys more. You passed Jay on your way over and told him everyone was in Mal and Evie’s room. he nodded and jogged off in that direction, a grin on his face as he wore his new jersey; clearly excited to show it off.

Jay threw open the door, showing off his jersey as Carlos whistled the girls not exactly reacting as Jay posed and strut around the room. Evie gave him a once over, nodded, and went back to Chad’s homework.

Jay, seeing Mal hovering over her spell book-flipping through it frantically-wandered over. “Did your plan with Jane work? you going over to see the wand?” Jay asked, blinking as Mal glared up at him with puffed cheeks. “do you think I would be going through every single spell in this book if I hadn't completely struck out?! Harry’s little girlfriend ruined it, swooped in and saved the day,” Mal muttered, looking back down at the book and continuing to flip through it, hoping for some sort of spell that would just-magically give her the answers.

“Someone’s cranky,” Carlos muttered to Evie, who gave him a tight-lipped smile as Mal flicked Carlos on the head. “My mom’s counting on me! I can't let her down!” Carlos pouted back at Mal, rubbing the back of his head as Jay sighed. “we can do this!” they paused, all staring at Jay, he had never said that before “…if we stick together.”

There was another pause, before Mal broke it. “And we won't go back, until we do….because we’re rotten-” The others nodded, finishing the sentence quietly. “To the core.” Mal nodded once, going back to her spells as Evie sighed, remembering her earlier conversation with Doug.

“oh yeah, I found out Fairy godmother blesses Ben with the wand at the coronation and we all get to go.” Mal stared at Evie, her jaw dropping open slightly. How had Evie failed to mention that before?! “I have nothing to wear of course,” Evie groaned, thinking of the dresses she could wear to such an event.

She realized everyone was staring at her, and frowned-a knock at the door interrupted Mal from asking for more details. “What?” Evie asked, watching as Mal snapped the book shut and held up her finger as she stood. “hold that thought,” Mal muttered, walking over to the door and pulling it open to reveal Ben.

“Hey, Mal” Mal smiled slightly, tilting her head as Ben continued. “I didn’t see you guys today; I was just wondering if you had any questions or anything you needed?” Mal shrugged, looking back at her friends to see if they needed anything, they all shook their heads. “not that I, know of?” Mal looked back at Ben, shaking her head. Ben nodded, a little disappointed he couldn’t help them but started to head out.

“Okay, well, if you do need anything- you” Mal quickly remembered the coronation and called out for Ben to wait-he happily took a step back and waited for Mal to continue. “is it true? That we all get to go to your coronation?” Ben nodded with a smile. “Yeah, the whole school goes,” Mal gasped, a new plan forming in her mind. “Wow~ that is beyond exciting~" Ben grinned, happy to see Mal so excited about his coronation. “Do you think that it’s a possibility, that the four of us could stand in the front row next to the fairy godmother, just-“ Mal took a deep breath, the others behind her holding back their laughter at Mal’s act. “Soak up all that goodness?”

Ben looked as if he wanted to agree, but sighed, shaking his head. “I wish you could, but up front, it’s just me, my folks, (y/n), and my girlfriend.” Mal paused, there was an idea. “And your girlfriend?...wait, (y/n)?” why would you be upfront? As far as Mal knew-you were just kinda-a person; with no status.

Ben laughed a bit, nodding. “yeah, she’s kinda my unofficial bodyguard, so-she stands near me, next to my girlfriend.” Mal slowly nodded, glancing off to the side as a new plan formed. “Huh, question-if she had a date for the coronation, would they be standing with her too? Or would they be separated?” Ben shrugged, nodding. “I don’t see why not? She’s not dating anyone though, so at the moment she’s alone at the coronation.”

Bingo, two tickets to the front row. Mal stopped the evil grin from growing on her face, waving Ben goodbye as she went to tell her friends the new plan. “Okay thanks bye~!” Ben went to say there were plenty of spaces near the front-but Mal had already closed the door. He sighed and walked off.

“I think it’s time Benny boo, got himself a new girlfriend~” Mal purred, sharing a grin with her friends. “and I need a love spell,” she held her hands out, Carlos tossing her the spell book and Mal caught it with a grin. Finally, a plan was about to be in motion-and Mal would make sure it went off without a hitch. “Carlos, go find Harry and Gil, while I despise Harry, I’m going to need him for this plan to work.” Mal muttered, quickly finding the best love spell in the book, love spell cookies.

Carlos furrowed his brows, setting Dude down and standing-setting his laptop aside. “Sure? But why?” Mal sighed, honestly how had none of them seen it?! “(y/n) likes Harry, that’s clear to see, and she stands up front with Ben, and if she brings a date-they stand up there with her. Harry’s going to be her date. Harry’s going to give (y/n) one of those cookies, just to make sure (y/n) brings him.”

Evie blinked, something in her gut telling her that wouldn’t work-but she didn’t bring it up, not wanting to bring Mal’s high down. “All right then, but don’t blame me if they don’t listen,” Carlos said, Dude following him out the door as he went to Harry and Gil’s room.

“If she likes Harry already,” Jay said, rubbing the back of his head-now remembering all the little looks you had given Harry over the last day. “Why do we need to spell her? Cant Harry just ask her out?” Mal shrugged, tilting her hand back and forth. “He could, or we could just love spell her and guarantee a spot for Harry next to the wand.”

Jay shrugged, couldn’t argue with that.

Mal cursed; dammit-the cookie dough would need to rest for at least five days before they could be baked-something about full potency. Meaning they wouldn’t be able to spell Ben till Sunday at the least. Well, they had the time, the coronation wasn’t until the 16th. That wasn’t for another two and a half weeks. They had time.

-

Carlos knocked on the boy's dorm, frowning as no one answered even after the seventh knock. He turned, hearing the sound of music from your room and walked over, knocking once and hearing your voice from inside-telling him to come in. He stepped inside, seeing Harry and Gil on the floor in front of the tv, playing some sort of fighting game against you-which you were kicking their asses.

Harry turned to look at him-raising his brow at the sight of Dude at Carlos’ feet. “Hey pup, and….dog?” Harry said, narrowing his eyes in confusion at Dude, who just tilted his head back. You turned, beaming at the sight of Dude and crouching with your arms out, giggling as Dude ran into your arms and happily accepted your cuddles. “Hi Dude~ I see you’ve made a new buddy,” you cooed, winking at Carlos who smiled, his eyes on dude.

“Hi puppy!” Gil said, reaching over to pet dude behind the ears. “oh you’re cute-Carlos, I thought you were scared of dogs?” Carlos shrugged, picking Dude up as he slipped out of your arms and ran back to Carlos. “I was, but…he’s different,” Carlos said softly as he rubbed Dude’s head, the mutt panting happily.

Then he remembered why he had come here in the first place, “Harry, Gil?” they turned to Carlos, Harry raising his brow. “Mal wants to talk,” Harry just rolled his eyes, turning back to the tv and pushing Gil to do the same. Carlos sighed, he knew Harry wouldn’t want to talk, he hated Mal, and had since he was 10. Since the shrimpy incident. “either you come to talk right now or she comes to find you, and we both know what she's like when she doesn’t get her way.” Harry groaned loudly, slowly and painfully standing up, clearly not wanting to talk to Mal.

“Ffffine,” Harry muttered, pulling Gil to his feet and saluting you. “see ya later lass,” you waved them off, setting down your controller and going back over to your computer-resuming what you had been doing before Harry asked for your help.

Carlos led the way back over to Mal and Evie’s room, knocking on the doorframe as he entered. “Got em,” Carlos muttered, sitting back down at the end of Mal’s bed as she nodded, crossing her arms as Harry and Gil stepped into the room, Gil looking around at the constant pink as Harry glared at Mal-who glared back.

“What?” Harry hissed, smirking as he realized what was going on. “Ye ran outta ideas, didn’t ye? Why Mal~ its only tha’ first day! And yer already comin’ crawlin’ ta me~ How fuckin’ pathetic.” Harry sneered, cackling as Mal’s eyes turned a toxic green.

“Mal-“ Jay hissed, pushing her shoulder to shock her out of her emotions before she blew something up. Mal took a deep breath, opened her spell book, and showed Harry the love spell. He rose his brow, wondering what she wanted to do with that. “Evie learned that we all get to go to Ben’s coronation, and the wand is used to bless Ben. I found a way for two of us to stand up next to the wand, and…” Mal struggled to get out the words, biting her finger before she forced them out. “And I need your help.” Mal heavily sighed, looking sick to say those words.

Harry giggled, pressing the tip of his hook to his cheek, grinning cheekily at Mal. “Those words must’a hurt Malsy~” Then his grin dropped, suddenly taking the situation seriously. “In all seriousness, why do ye need me fer this bullshit? I get the idea, use the coronation ta nab tha’ wand-but?” Mal sighed, rolling her eyes. Even Harry was obvious.

“Okay-so, (y/n) and Ben, their dates stand upfront with them. Getting the picture?” Harry slowly nodded, then a heat crawled up his cheeks, glaring at the fae. “Ye cant mean-the lass…that’s a bit…I dunno if I can force something like tha’ on the lass” Harry muttered, shuffling uncomfortably on his feet.

Mal sighed, rubbing the back of her head. Harry had always been a major one for consent, she should’ve foreseen his hesitancy to spell you to love him. “Yeah yeah, but-we need to get the wand, and this might be our only shot.” Gil shrugged at that, tilting his head slightly.

“Maybe not? We were kinda planning on gaining (y/n)’s trust and getting her to take us with her to the museum next time she stole the wand?” Mal huffed, that was a good idea she had to admit. “You can keep trying to do that, but I’m making those cookies tonight, they need at least five days of rest to gain full potency, and if you haven't gotten her to agree to take you to steal the wand with her by Sunday? We’re going with my plan, deal?”

Mal held out her hand, staring Harry dead in the eyes. He narrowed his eyes, it was a stupid plan, one that could get them sent back to the isle if they were caught. I mean-spelling the prince? Spelling you? It was dangerous, and who knew if it would even work?

Harry eventually sighed, reaching out and shaking Mal’s hand “We have an accord.” Harry grumbled, wiping his hand on his pants as he released Mal’s hand-she did the same. Mal nodded. “Good, meet at the student kitchens at ten thirty, that should be late in the night enough to where I can make the batch without anyone walking in but early enough to where we won’t miss curfew.”

Harry just nodded, turning on his heel and walking out of the room-Gil close behind. Harry pressed his fingers to the gold shell bracelet on his arm, reminding himself that this was for their freedom, he could do this. Gil was doing the same, his eyes on the floor as they both passed your room and went into theirs, not baring to look you in the eye right now, knowing what they were about to do.

-much later that night; in the student kitchens-

Harry kicked his legs from his spot on the counter, sitting across from Carlos and Jay with Gil beside him, watching as Mal made the all-important cookie recipe. Harry had brought the magic map which lay open beside him, once in a while, a name or two would pass by the room, but never close enough to warn Mal about it.

Mal was mixing many ingredients together, mostly making a normal cookie with a few odd ingredients plus an incantation. “Crush their hearts with an iron glove/ by making them a slave to love,” Mal said, her eyes flashing as her voice echoed slightly. The bowl sparkled a pale purple and Mal moved onto a smaller bowl, mixing together brown sugar, white sugar, and melted butter; Evie hefting up a bag of walnuts.

“All right, it says we still need one tear,” Mal said, huffing with her brows furrowed, realizing she couldn’t provide the last ingredient. “and I never cry,” Carlos grabbed an onion, holding it out to Mal. “let’s just chop up some onions, those always make me cry?”

Mal scoffed, smacking her hands on the edge of the metal bowl “No! It says we need one tear of human sadness, and Mom noted this potion as the best in the book-so we have to follow it exactly.” Jay sighed, rolling his eyes.

“A tears a tear,” he grumbled, pouting as Evie interrupted him, her work on Chad’s chemistry homework filling her mind with things she never would’ve known before. Even simply using her mirror had helped her study and remember complicated facts. “That’s not true Jay, they both have antibodies and enzymes, but! A hormone tear has more proteins than a reflex tear.” Mal grinned, bumping Evie’s hip with hers as Evie stared at Jay with a smug smirk.

“Listen to you~” Mal sang, giggling as Evie shimmered her shoulders, giggling as Jay shook his head, saying he knew that. He was just pulling their legs. “No you didn’t,” Carlos chuckled, smacking his shoulder and turning back to Dude, handing the mutt another treat he took from the cupboards. “All right then, why don’t we just mention Uma or the twins, that’s bound to make Harry cry?” Jay suggested, a slight mean smirk on his lips. Harry just glared; his eyes flashing red. Jay’s smirk dropped, realizing he hit a nerve that just made Harry mad. “Never mind,” Jay grumbled, crossing his arms and glancing away.

Harry huffed, glancing back down at the map and then to the kitchen door. “Lonnie an’ (y/n), incoming,” Harry announced, swallowing at the mention of you. He had skipped dinner that night, the pit in his gut at the thought of spelling you to love him had made him queasy-and he couldn’t even stomach the idea of dinner.

Mal quickly tossed a towel over her book, mixing the last of the wet ingredients as Lonnie pushed open the door, wearing her pink PJs. You stepped in right after her, wearing that same skull hoodie from yesterday and a pair of sweatpants, sneaking past Lonnie to go into the fridge.

“There you are Mal! I was been looking for you,” Lonnie cheered, Mal smiled politely, wondering why Lonnie had been looking for her. “you know, all the girls want you to do their hair.” Mal just nodded with a strained smile, continuing to mix the batter. Lonnie peered into the bowl, pursing her lips at the mixture. “Midnight snack huh? What’cha guys making?”

Lonnie went to dip her fingers into the mixture-the vks screamed to stop her-but Lonnie was stopped by your hand on her wrist, giving her a look. “Lonnie, I love you. But do not go sticking your finger in random mixes; you could be allergic to something in there. Also it’s rude.” Lonnie gasped, as if just realizing that and pulled her hand away, holding it to her chest with a sheepish grin. Mal fell into Evie in relief, not knowing if the potion had activated at all yet, even missing the last ingredient.

“I’m so sorry! But-if you’re making cookies, you’re missing the most important ingredient!” Lonnie said, skipping over to the fridge and taking out a bowl of chocolate chips. Mal sighed, going back to mixing the potion. “And that would be?” Mal asked, because she was pretty sure she had gotten everything she needed in the two bowls, other than the tear.

“Chocolate chips~” Lonnie cooed, pouring them into the bowl, and stealing one for herself. You walked over to Harry, smiling softly and holding out a box that you had saved from dinner, he glanced between you and the box-raising his brow. “It’s from Ms. Potts, she made them fresh but you weren’t at dinner, so.” You pushed the box into his hands, giggling as he pulled it open and gasped-inside-were six cinnamon rolls, made mere hours ago.

“i-uh-fuck.” Harry cursed, feeling bad he missed dinner now, his stomach grumbling suddenly. After only a day, he was already used to the three meals a day provided by the school. You just smiled, making Harry feel worse, patted his knee-then Gil’s; and then made your way out of the kitchen, having gotten what you wanted. (grabbing a snack and giving Harry the cinnamon rolls Ms. Potts made specifically for him)

Harry stared down at the cinnamon rolls, looking up when Lonnie’s words caught his ears. “I mean-I just thought-even villains love their kids~” Harry’s blood ran cold, remembering every nasty word, every seething glare, every cut on his back-all from his father. Love? Yeah right, on the isle-you were lucky if you were ignored, very few kids on the isle got the privilege of being loved by their parent.

He could count on one hand the loving parents of the isle, and his dad was very much not on that list. Lonnie looked at each of the vks, each looking lost at the thought of their parent…loving them, they had all wanted it-once upon a time-but after 14-16 years of getting nothing but hate and abuse…it caught up to you, and made you accept it was never going to happen.

“Oh, how awful,” Lonnie said quietly, tears welling up in her eyes and trailing down her cheek, reaching out to grab Mal’s hand to comfort her. Mal just glanced at her hand, then saw the tear trailing down Lonnie’s cheek. She quickly snatched it with her finger and threw it into the mix, Lonnie being shocked out of her sadness by the action.

Mal let out a laugh, slightly uncomfortable with confronting the feeling of wanting to be loved by her mom. “Yeah well, big bummer-but we gotta finish these up-“ Mal pushed the bowl over to Evie and she mixed up the completed wet mixture with the dry-finishing the recipe. “And get them into the oven before curfew-so thank you so much for coming by-really really have a good night-“ Mal pushed Lonnie towards the kitchen door, who waved the vks goodnight and slipped out. “evil dreams!”

They were all silent for a moment, then Mal turned-clapping her hands. “Okay! So-let’s get this into the fridge to set for five days, and we’ll be back to bake them Saturday night, okay?” the vks nodded, Harry now staring down at his cinnamon rolls, that pit in his chest growing bigger. “okay-Jay- grab that clear wrap stuff-Carlos, make a note that it’s ours, you have nice handwriting; Harry, Gil…you guys can leave.”

Harry hopped off the counter, locking his map and closing his box of cinnamon rolls, slowly making his way back to the dorms with the box held tight to his chest. “Are you sure about this Harry?” Gil asked quietly as they stepped into their room, closing the door and locking it. “I mean-(y/n)’s nice, and I really don’t think she would object to us going with her to steal the wand. We just have to ask.”

“Aye, I think so too. So let’s try ta get her ta agree before Sunday, okay? I don’t want ta’ spell her,” Harry muttered, playing with his golden shell bracelet. He really didn’t want to spell you, to make you love him. Since he was young-his choice had been ripped away from him by his father and his ‘clients’, his innocence gone before he hit the double digits. He didn’t want to take away your choice, even if it was for the wand.

He really hoped he could gain your trust to where you would practically steal the wand for them, because if he didn’t? he didn’t want to know what would happenen; after all, He made a deal with a fae-and fae deals were impossible to break.

-

Uma huffed as she tossed down another tray to an unruly customer, who growled about his order being wrong. Uma just glared back, nodding towards the ‘you take it how we make it’ sign near the kitchen. The pirate huffed and grumpily ate his food.

Uma tossed down her last tray, storming back into the kitchen to grab another set. It had only been two days since her boys left-and she already felt the strain of their absence. The pirates around the wharf were braver now, leering at her and the other members of the wharf rats-Uma did her best to scare them off, but it was getting harder to do so, most of the girls didn’t walk around alone anymore-even in the daylight.

Uma never truly realized how much Harry had done for them, for her, even just a glance from him would send those creeps running-and having Gil around didn’t hurt. She missed her boys, deeply, she missed the sound of Harry’s stupid laughter, she missed Gil’s questions and ill-timed sentences.

She missed them. So much, she hoped they would get the wand soon, she needed off this rock.

“UMA!” her mother screeched from the back and Uma groaned, getting back to work.

-

You looked at your clock as you heard the sound of someone rapidly knocking on your door. 1130pm, who in the hell was out this late just before curfew? The vks maybe, but…you stood, walking over to your door and opening it, stumbling back as a sobbing Audrey collapsed into you, her arms going around your waist and squeezing tightly.

“Aud-rey” you choked, unable to breathe as she sobbed into your shoulder, squeezing your ribs as you carefully backed into your room and closed the door with your foot. “uh-Aud?” you wheezed, patting her back awkwardly as she continued to cry, and not the pretty princess cry-full on snot and heaving sobs kinda cry.

She was really torn up about something. “Audrey?” you asked one last time, squeezing your arms between hers and prying her off you, moving her arms around your shoulders and hugging her tightly. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Ben-“ Audrey cried, her voice croaky and weak, as if she had already spent hours crying. “Ben broke up with me-e-e” Audrey collapsed into your arms again and you tugged her over to your bed, setting her down and getting her some chocolate milk from your mini-fridge, sitting next to her as she clung to it and your arm.

“What did Ben say?” you asked gently, hoping he had taken your advice and gotten Audrey a shit ton of flowers and candy to make up for him breaking up with his girlfriend of 3 years. Audrey just sobbed, curling into your arms as you held her tightly. “he-he, he came over to-to my dorm. And-and, gave me a big bouquet of flowers-and they smelled so nice and-I thought we were going on-“ she took a deep breath, wiping her nose with her sleeve “-on a date but-he-he said he wanted to break up!” Audrey broke down into sobs again, clinging to your waist as you rubbed her back, letting her get it all out.

After a few minutes of Audrey blubbering and ranting about how she thought they were going to get married, and live happily ever after with three kids and seven dogs-you sighed, biting your lip as you looked at the clock. It was 20 to midnight.

“Audrey?” you asked quietly, hearing her hum against your lap. “do you want me to listen? Or do you want advice?” she sniffed, sitting up slightly and rubbing her face. “B-both?” Audrey croaked, letting you dry her face and hand her a water bottle.

“Okay, so-Ben broke up with you, and I’m sorry about that. But-maybe you two weren’t meant to be forever?” Audrey started to cry again at the thought and you hugged her again. “I know I know, not what you need to hear, but your happily ever after isn’t always with the first boy you date, sometimes your greatest love is just a passing face; you and Ben were just, a chapter in each other’s lives. And that’s okay!” you shook Audrey gently, grinning at the slight giggle that came from her.

“I know we don’t see eye to eye Audrey, but you deserve to be happy, both of you do. And-I’m sorry say this-but Ben wasn’t happy in your relationship anymore.” Audrey gasped, looking up at you with wide eyes. You sighed, nodding to confirm your words. “I’m sure you two had a true love for a good while, but- at some point, Ben started to drift away and he wasn’t happy anymore. He didn’t want to drag you down with him, so-you broke up. You might not be happy now, but that happiness will return, all on your own.” You smiled, and Audrey smiled weakly back, that heaviness in her chest that had been there since Ben broke up with her easing off a bit.

It wasn’t gone, and probably wouldn’t be for a while, but it was easier to breathe now. “Thank you,” Audrey croaked, hugging you tight. “Really, I don’t know why we don’t get along, you give great advice.” You snorted, patting her back.

“Probably because our views clash more often than not and I don’t mind the vks?” you teased, laughing as Audrey huffed and pulled away, nodding. “yeah, that would do it…thank you (y/n).” you smiled and took her hand, nodding.

“you’re welcome Audrey, get some sleep.” She nodded and slipped out of your room, with only 15 minutes to spare till midnight. Your eyes widened, remembering what was to come this Sunday's tourney game, and quickly grabbed your phone, texting Audrey.

‘hey-you remember where im from right?’

She took a moment to respond.

princess-‘yeah???’

‘Ben does something really stupid on Sunday, after the game. Don’t take it to heart-okay?’

princess-‘okay????’

you nodded; you couldn’t reveal too much but at least you had warned Audrey about the whole love song fiasco so maybe she would protect herself from getting her heart broken further by then. You would make sure she was off the field before Ben even took the microphone though.

You set your phone onto its charger, slid into bed, and curled up; taking a deep breath as the curfew bell chimed gently across the halls.

-

Harry took several deep breaths as he prepared himself to go to breakfast-he had time, he didn’t have to spell you. All he had to do, was act normal, gain your trust, and use that trust to get the wand.

Manipulating you with you being conscious was a better option than love spelling you, because at least then you wouldn’t still be in love with him while he let the villains destroy Auradon. He felt sick at the idea.

He towel-dried his hair as Gil finished up his homework, putting them in his bag as Harry finished getting dressed “We ready?” Gil asked, nodding as Harry grabbed his bag and walked out the door. “I’ll take that as a yes,” they went to breakfast, sitting with you, Jane, and Lonnie again-this time joined by Fergus. Harry launched into another conversation with Fergus, eventually talking about the ROAR tryouts at the end of the school day.

“Ye gonna try out?” Fergus asked and Harry nodded, licking his lips free of egg yolk. “Aye, sounds intrestin’, besides-what’s better than hitting other kids with swords and being allowed ta’ do it?” Harry chuckled, grinning as Fergus cackled, slapping his hand on the table.

“Yoo're reit! Cannae bide tae see whit ye can dae Hook.” Harry returned Fergus' feral grin and nodded, collecting his tray and setting it on the collection rack, making his way to his first class of the day.

He frowned when he realized the pan kid from yesterday was no-where to be seen. He didn’t question it though, one less trigger. Gil followed him up to the spots they had taken yesterday and took their books out, once again listening intently as Professor Thatch continued about the history before Auradon.

Math was, easier-than it was the day before. Harry had borrowed your notes the day before, using the cheat codes you had given him and luckily, Ms. Honey always had open-book exams, seeing no point in challenging their memories, since in the future they would always have access to calculators or direct answers with a touch of their phone.

Ms. Honey looked so happy to see him working on his paper, your notes in one hand with a pencil in the other, there were still things he didn’t understand and refused to make sense to his brain-but it was less frustrating now knowing there was a reason behind it. He wasn’t stupid, he just had a learning disability. He repeated that to himself every time he got stumped, the red barely flickering into his eyes as he worked.

By the end of class-he felt satisfied, for the first time, he had completed a worksheet and didn’t feel the need to curl up into a ball and die. Ms. Honey smiled brightly at him as he left class, and he couldn't help but smile back, a small gold star on his math book.

He decided he liked Ms. Honey.

In life Skills, they finished baking their bread-Mal’s not looking all too edible, reminded him of the bread they made back on the isle-not enough yeast and too much flour. His turned out perfect and he got an A for it. And now he had warm bread to snack on-putting the fresh bread into a plastic bag to carry around.

Lunch that day was just as good as the day before, and Harry found a pack of cookies on his tray under his plate. But he was sure cookies weren't being served during that lunch, and when he checked-no one else had cookies. But when he made eye contact with Mrs. Potts, she winked and Harry laughed.

He decided he liked Mrs. Potts.

Remedial goodness was just as mind-numbing the day before, this time the six of them were given worksheets, things like ‘why should you help a struggling person instead of stealing their wallet?’ and ‘if you weren't invited to a party that everyone else was invited to, do you a; crash the party? B; send a mean letter to the host for not inviting you? C; curse the host? Or D; make your own fun?’ were some of the many questions for them to answer.

Harry couldn’t help but smirk at the ‘not invited to a party’ question, knowing exactly who it was aimed at. He remembered Evie’s 6th birthday party that every kid on the isle was invited to, and Mal hadn't. Maleficent was pissed at that and banished Evie and her mom from the main isle-the two ending up at the castle across the way for 10 years. actually, Evie had barely returned to the main isle before they were all shipped off to Auradon.

The ball rang and they handed their worksheets in, FG calling Harry as he was packing up. “Aye?” he said, shrugging his bag onto his shoulder and getting ready to head to chemistry class with Evie, wondering what class would be like with the substitute teacher FG had hired for the week.

“I just wanted to remind you, Roar tryouts are after school, please do make sure you attend them.” FG said with a smile, and Harry nodded, turning on his heel and out to the lockers, switching out his goodness books for chemistry. He made sure he had your notes since without them he was sure he would combust and slid into the room, surprised to see a tall slim woman wearing clunky heels, with big pink glasses and a yellow band in her air, complimenting the yellow dress she wore under her lab coat.

“Ah-you must be Harry~” she cheered, grinning at the pirate who stared back-she was-a big difference from Mr. Deley, bubbly and sweet. “im Jennifer Torrez, but you can call me honey lemon if you wish~” Harry nodded, looking around the class, and then at the clock-it was almost five minutes to start and no one was here? “Everyone’s outside if you’re wondering~ I have something special planned for you all~ I heard about your previous teacher and-wow! Awful so~ please make your way outside, I have everyone out front so they’ll be easy to spot-near the big blue tarp with the folding table on it~” Harry nodded again, backing out of the room and making his way outside, easily finding everyone around a tarp like Honey lemon said.

He found a spot between you and Evie, Evie holding her magic mirror as you stood on your toes to get a good look at what was on the white folding table in the middle of the tarp. “what do ye think she’s plannin’?” Harry asked you, watching as their substitute teacher beamed as she made her way through the students and introduced herself again. You shrugged, pursing your lips “No clue, but I think it’s gonna be good.”

“so-today, I wanted to do something special or you all, since I heard about your last teacher being very rude. So! I wanted to make this-fun~ with the right attitude and teacher, chemistry can be one of the funniest classes you can take! So today-elephant toothpaste! Let me show you how fun chemistry can be, shall I?” with that, Honey Lemon turned to her table-which held several large Erlenmeyer flasks, dish soap, food coloring, hydrogen peroxide, and one more chemical Harry couldn’t read from here he was.

Honey Lemon excitedly described what she was doing as she mixed the chemicals together in a large flask, dying the mixture blue and then setting it on the tarp “Now I want all of you to stay where you are-and back up if you need to! This gets dangerously hot when it reacts to-until I give you the go ahead-stay back!”

All the students took a far step back as Honey Lemon poured the potassium iodide into the dyed mix-jumping back as the mix shot up out of the flask and turned to foam-expanding quickly and steaming as it did. The class gasped in awe, some laughing as Honey Lemon grinned, clapping her hands. “Yess~~ elephant toothpaste everyone-the chemical reaction between KI and H202~! With some dish soap and food coloring in the mix~ okay-it should be cooled down now-everyone come touch!! Just don’t get it on your clothes-it stains yellow!”

Harry broke away from you and Evie, reaching out and scooping the foam up, laughing as he played with the foam. Honey lemon explained exactly what happened between the two chemicals, and with the added mix of dish soap-it created the foam tower that constantly expanded thanks to the oxygen multiplying and escaping.

“Now that we’ve seen what this looks like on this scale,” Honey Lemon gestured to the flask-which was an average large flask. “now what would it look like-with” She turned, grabbing a giant flask from under the table and setting it on the desk. “this!”

The class cheered-very eager to see what a giant foam explosion would look like! “Wonderful! Now-I want some of you guys to help me make this mix-Harry, Evie, Jordan?” the three students perked up, Harry very much still having a shit ton of foam on his hands that was slowly shrinking as it cooled. “Grab some gloves and safety glasses!”

Harry threw the foam off his hands and left his bag with you, grinning as he slid on a pair of thick rubber gloves and a pair of safety glasses, Evie next to him with her hair up as he, Jordan, and Evie made the new soap mix-dying it green this time.

They ended up making three extra flasks of the mix-each dyed a different color. Honey Lemon each handed them a cup of potassium iodide dissolved in water, and instructed them to pour it all into the flask as quickly as possible-then run. “okay, three, two, one-pour!” Harry poured the mix into the flask, laughing loudly as the mix turned to foam and the four flasks were spouting colored foam into the sky, everyone screamed with delight, watching as the foam continued and expanded, collecting around the flasks.

“Now that’s a chemical reaction!” Honey Lemon cheered, throwing her hands into the sky as the foam descended and collected along the flasks-still expanding and steaming. Harry flicked his hand, some hot foam on the glove-it was so hot he could feel it through the rubber.

As soon as Honey Lemon gave the green light, the class surrounded the huge pile of foam, shrieking and laughing as they played with it. FG looked out her window-seeing the class playing with the foam and smiled, nodding to herself. She found her new chemistry teacher.

Honey Lemon then revealed a box filled with enough flasks for every student, and soon everyone was standing in front of a flask in a circle, holding a cup of KI and water, waiting for the green light. “Three, two one, pour!” Everyone poured the water mix into the soap mix and bolted back, screaming with delight as the flasks exploded with foam-the tarp now covered with fresh and old foam.

Harry giggled as he held a pile of green and yellow foam, smacking his hands together and spreading the foam about-Evie screeching and reminding him that the foam stained. “sorry-“ Harry kept giggling, Honey Lemon grabbing the hose connected to the school and turning it on-cleaning off everyone's hands and gloves before they all returned to the classroom-still high on giggles from their outside experiment.

“I hope you all had a blast and I hope I was able to prove how much fun chemistry can be!” the class whooped, and Honey Lemon grinned, clapping her hands “Wonderful ~  now I’ve given you guy some worksheets and we can work on those until class is done, you may begin!”

Harry pulled out a pencil from his bag, noticing some foam in your hair. “Ye got some,” Harry pointed at your hair and you reached up to take it out, missing it entirely. “Here-lemme just-“ Harry gently took the foam out of your hair, wiping it off on the paper towels provided in the desk cupboard. “there ye go.”

You smiled and thanked him, and he smiled back. “Yer welcome,” he ignored the flutter in his gut at your smile and went back to work-packing up and handing the worksheet over to Honey Lemon as the bell rang. “Great job guys, I’ll see you all tomorrow!”

“Are we going to do another outside experiment tomorrow?” Evie asked as she went to go to her next class, grinning as Honey Lemon winked at her. “Wicked~ bye!” Evie ran off to go find Mal and tell her about the experiment while Harry went off to English, realizing it was the last class of the day before Roar try outs.

And he still had no idea who the captain was. Harry let out a slow sigh, rubbing the back of his head as he walked into English and took his spot, getting out his books and leaning on his palm-his hook hanging from his belt loop.

Roar was the least of his worries, he still had to figure out the wand situation.

-end of p6-

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[fruitsofhell]

CW for an anti-black slur cause it's the name of a damn movie title, also mentions of historical racism in cartoons

Get really pissed off whenever I think about Coonskin by Ralph Bakshi because I need to rewatch it to see if it might be a fave movie of mine. I want to go over all of Bakshi's filmography sometime and really digest how he deals with depicting black people (especially Fritz the Cat cause the black crows are so cute!), cause he's in an interesting perspective where he is undoubtably sympathetic to us and grew up around us, but expresses this in ways that are soooo over the top we commonly see them now as only acceptable For A Black Person To Do.

Like, he's some white Jewish guy from the slums, he doesn't really have the right to reclaim the racist iconography as we think of it but at the same time it's like if someone's doing interesting artistic work they're doing interesting work. And I as a black person have actually been really inspired by that film ever since I watched it.

Ever since the rubber hose style became super hot again cause of Cuphead and Bendy I've seen people actively downplay how goddamn racist old cartoons were, or I've seen people pick up a clip from an old film and I just go "Chat, they don't know this is a quietly racist animation trend...". But it's not even just that old cartoons were racist and had racist trends, it was baked into their fundamental styles of comedy and cartooning - they were built to either exclude or humiliate blackness. And I feel like Coonskin is a work that expresses that very very loudly but with some sense of purpose.

I personally have wanted to tap into that idea since I started playing with golden age art styles, but for the tone I set in my shit that's way too overbearing. Plus, maybe as an actual black person something unique for me and not Bakshi is a wish to actually see myself represented in those old cartoon styles as more than as an object of controversy. I've also been meaning to watch more of the Proud family and works by Bruce W. Smith cause of that too, I heard in an interview he was motivated to draw because he wanted to see black folks in that mid-century, modernist style and like, SAME.

But it's actually way easier to work black features into that incredibly flexible style than it is to brute force them into the centerline/rubberhose ones where their origins can be traced back TO BLACKFACE. You guys remember that fucking lesson right? How the entire generic rubbergose face is a play on blackface, that's why the mouths and eyes are white but the body is black. If you're unfamiliar with that idea or don't believe it, look up Bosko, Warner Bros first attempt at a mascot, and see if you can tell what he's supposed to be.

It's more of an uphill battle, but not impossible to make it work in those styles. Though I have also considered the utility of borrowing directly from those racist designs to express a meta-contextual feeling/understanding that that is what you look like as a black person in this time period - that is you in the dominant narrative vision of the time. No matter what you are as a black person, to the historical zeitgeist you just appear as some flavor of coon yknow.

It could be a very potent visual tool I think, and I don't know if I'd be considering that if not for Bakshi and my relationship to Coonskin and its themeing. Which is the point, Bakshi was one of those racey types who always wanted to get people upset to start a convo or whatever. It's interesting to look at older but earnest expressions of this that would seem disastrous by today's standards - imagine "They couldn't make Blazing Saddles today" but true and on steroids.

[hannahssimblr]

Chapter One (Part 3)

I am sitting in a café on Patrick street with a sketchbook on the table. Fintan, the manager, has provided a free coffee while I work, remembering the way I like my cappuccinos without any chocolate on top, and apologises for the latte art when he carries it down to the table. 

“These new waitresses.” He says to me quietly. “They can’t do those wee hearts and leaves the same way that you could.” Watching them scurry around in their aprons makes me feel wise and important, like I know something that they haven’t learned. I’ve been here, I’ve worked this shift and I survived it, and they will too, they just don’t know it yet. I go back to my sketchbook. 

I can’t decide which design I like best. One says “Life is better with good coffee” in a looping font, and the other says “Let’s take a coffee break!” In this retro cartoonish style. It’s not usually the kind of art I would make, and I would be embarrassed to tell anyone from college that I’m doing something like this, but I privately enjoy the process. Fintan says he likes both designs, and I can choose whichever I want, so I go with the second. I finish my coffee and then start drawing the outline with white liquid chalk pens. 

There’s a young man sitting near the window who’s been watching me work for a while, and I’ve been pretending not to notice him. Perhaps I want him to think that he’s being more subtle than he is so as not to make him embarrassed. Or perhaps I’m afraid that if I look him in the eye he might take it as a signal to come over and talk to me. I don’t look, but eventually he comes over anyway. 

“Hi there, I was just watching you work over there, you’re doing a nice job.”

I glance up at him from the floor. He’s not from Offaly, he doesn’t have the right accent. Perhaps he’s from somewhere up north. He doesn’t look like he’s from here either, as he’s bravely chosen to step out in a pair of slip-on Vans and an oversized beanie hat, even though it’s about nineteen degrees this afternoon. I want to ask him is his head not boiling, but I just thank him for his compliment instead. 

“I’ve never seen someone actually doing this kind of work before.” He continues. “It’s always just kind of there one day, like, poof.” He does a hand gesture like clouds of smoke have burst from his palms. ‘I’m just a bit interested by what you’re doing, and even more by the fact that you’re doing it in reverse.”

“Yeah I never anticipated that it’d be so difficult to write words backwards. I suppose now I’m thinking that I should have done a sketch on the outside of the window first and then rubbed it off later.”

“I see what you mean.” He rocks on his heels with hands in his pockets. “Would you like me to get a coffee for you to drink while you work? Might keep the energy up and the head working.”

“Oh, thanks a lot, but actually the manager is keeping me fed and watered today, so you’d only be wasting money on me.”

“I see.” He pauses like he’s trying to think of something else to say. “My name is Geoff, by the way.” 

“Evelyn.” I say back, not really sure why I felt the need to go with my full name, like it’s a protective shield against him. Against Geoff, the very nice man who’s not doing anything wrong. I have a distant thought that I’m probably still a bit fucked in the head since Dean, and then I quickly try to stamp that thought out and think about something else. 

“That’s a nice, old fashioned name.” He comments. “You don’t meet a lot of Evelyns around the place anymore.”

“No, I suppose it’s a bit granny-ish. It’s actually an old family name, I don’t know if I like it that much really.”

“I like it.” He insists. “It’s very pretty.” And so are you seems to hang in the air after he speaks. I turn back to what I’m doing, rubbing out the crooked “O” I’ve drawn with some soapy water and going in for another attempt at it. 

“Are you from around here?” He wants to know. 

“Yeah, I am. But I don’t really live here anymore. I go to college in Dublin so I won’t be around much after this month.”

“Ah cool. I’m not from here either. I’m from up in Monaghan.”

“Miles away.”

“Yeah. I actually work here now, but I’m up and down to Dublin the whole time. Have to pass through on the bus to get home, sure.”

“That’s the thing about Dublin.” I say. “Everyone has to pass through it, against their will usually, I imagine.” “Yes, the horrors of Busaras station. I know it so well.” Geoff laughs. “Here, I’ll leave you to work, but if you change your mind about the coffee, give me a shout.”

I smile, and he goes back to where he was sitting. I don’t look in his direction once, but I feel his eyes on me the whole time. 

About half an hour later he leaves, and as he does he quickly, awkwardly hands me a folded piece of paper. I look at it in surprise. “Oh.”

“Nice to meet you.” He says, blushing, and dashes out the door. I leave the note there for ages. I finish doing the window first, and then I clean up my workspace and wipe the floor after me. Then, when there’s nothing else to do, I take it and fold it open.

Hello Evelyn, 

Just a note to say that you’re completely gorgeous. 

I’d love to meet you in Dublin sometime and buy you that coffee. 

Geoff (From Monaghan)

His phone number is scrawled at the bottom.

I take the note along with all of the kitchen roll I used to wipe down the window and toss it all into the bin in one go. Then Fintan tells me he likes what I’ve done and hands me fifty euro from the cash register. I walk away with a small, satisfied smile on my face, knowing that now I can say I’m a real artist. 

Beginning // Prev // Next

[mayordea]

huzzah! 2023 art review!

it’s almost the end of the year, wowzers! i always do one of these art review thingies since i always like looking back at the art ive made :> last year i posted the review on my other account and left it at there, but this year i want to actually review each month and notable pieces i made… just for fun!

this post is very much just for me lol, but i hope someone out there enjoys it. month-by-month review + previous year in reviews will be under the cut! 🩷

(also, shoutout to tumblr for going rouge and posting this way way earlier than i had scheduled 😍 luckily tumblr post editor is weirdly based and kept all my embedded links when i pasted it from the old one? hell yeah)

Jan: started off the year with a painting of my beloved ocs after ending last year with one! (and i will be talking about my older year in reviews, rest assured). this was my obligatory cute shared scarf art, and i wanted to try attempting to render something more involved like two characters and draping cloth. i don't think the result was too shabby, though this was before i discovered my favorite rendering brush for procreate, so in hindsight, it looks kinda flat and boring now. where's all the crunch? ah but anyway, starting a whole year with your art in a mid place compared to what you made later on is par for the course.

Feb: probably the month where i had the least art to put here, i remember scraping a little to find one. this was a chrobin piece i made in my sketchbook! nothing too noteworthy... i think i tried doing a slightly different approach to coloring with markers (applying the color before the lineart) and incorporating paint, but i remember this one giving me trouble. first of all, the size i drew this in was really small (it was in a small sketchbook and i decided to mask the margins with comparatively wide masking tape), and second of all the paper was absolutely NOT built for gouache, so it ended up a kind of wrinkly and muddy mess. i mean i'm still not the best with gouache now but still, not my best.

March: a redraw of a robin piece i made back when i was still on amino. i probably won't share the old versions because they're crap, so just trust me on the redraw part. anyway, the last iteration of the concept was in 2019 i think? and while i was proud of it for a while, its luster finally faded and i decided to try doing it again in procreate. this was when i discovered my love for the soft chalk brush in the jingsketch basics brush pack. for a while i've been using the hard render brush in that pack to render, but this one's texture and chalkiness totally changed the game. i was in love!! also tried to be a little more crazy and vibrant with how i applied the base colors, using saturated colors across the board. this process didn't consistently stick, but i think it yielded some neat results here. another hit from this month was my piece of grandmaster robin, since i'm really proud of the detail here!.

Apr: guys, april was MY MONTH! i remember making so much art in just a few weeks, something just clicked in my brain i guess. i chose my drawings of hagane rin and len since this was when i truly began to get comfy in my lineart era (after the grandmaster drawing). this month was full of detailed line drawings at that, but this one was what made me both enjoy the process a lot and do more of it. hell yeah. other hits: vocaloids at mcdonald's (i drew a background omg!!!), alice in ny fanart (just the euphoria of finally nailing a composition for this piece after struggling with it in november was great), and the end-world normopathy fanart (it's a line drawing, and a traditional one at that. i was happy with incorporating gold accents into my typically monochromatic style when it comes to my line-focused drawings as well as getting tamari's mechanical details nailed).

May: hell yeah. evil power couple time. this one was another line-art heavy one since i thought it fit the vibe. the softer colors in the background i feel like could have been executed a little better, but i do like how this came out, especially the armor (good god fe armor is a pain to render, but i think i've gotten better at it this year! middle school me would be so jealous). not much else to say here. Other hit this month would be my alice of human sacrifice fanart, another line-heavy traditional drawing. i think it turned out nice, especially for a crammed composition lol.

Jun: another end-world normopathy-centered fanart. i mentioned it in my og post but i was trying out a slightly different painting style where i did a black-and-white base first and then added colors as an overlay (also in the initial upload of the post i was so fucking meek about posting fanart of mariyam's alternate design teased at the end of the mv?? 😭 sorry about that, i've edited it out but it's still in early reblogs. kind of cringe on my part). i didn't end up committing to this consistently cuz the beginning process was kind of tedious (plus i'm too inept to pay close attention to values anyway), but laying down all the colors after the long rendering process was rewarding! it's a nice alternative with i get bored with my other method to yield basically the same-looking result lol. this month featured some more pieces that tried using this process, like the one with my oc alice, lucina and dark pit hanging out, and f!robin's resplendent design from feh.

Jul: ah yes my typical flavor of "improvised oc art that i invent new symbolism for on the fly that i apply meaning to after i'm finished". kinda just wanted to paint something again because i've been doing a lot of line drawings lately and to go back to my old painting process again. honestly, i mainly picked this one because i wanted more oc art and non-lineart drawings to be in this chart lol. art i made this month that i'm real proud of is this family pic of some young cryptonloids (i really like how the colors came out on this one!) and my birthday drawing for miku's sweet 16, which was originally completed this month. i opted out of considering it for my july art to avoid confusion. also also, this very whack pathological facade fanart (plus some doodles i didn't post) opened my eyes to the beautiful world of NOISE and HALFTONES and just slapping crazy textures onto my art like nobody's business. hell yeah.

Aug: ok this one is kind of another piece i picked to represent this month that isn't quite my favorite but i chose anyway for the sake of variety (in this case, i wanted more traditional pieces and non-vocaloid stuff). for once, i used my bigger sketchbook to make a big n detailed piece for my boy's new brave alt in feh (that game has zero significance to me outside of cool alt costumes for my faves). my actual fave from this month was young miku/meiko/kaito chillin in their house; i'm real proud of the background and lighting! but i still like this robin too ofc, big fan of how the colors came out ;3

Sep: another traditional drawing! felt compelled to draw kandy again, specifically her evil miitopia great sage incarnation :> this one was pretty standard in terms of process, and not much was really done to experiment. just wanted to draw something cool of my girl for my sketchbook. other fave from this month is this sketchy miku i did, i like how loose it came out and how the colors pop.

Oct: pretty palutena!~ i think i went into this trying to do something a little different with my painting process (i think it was to try incorporating more colors in the shading like the blue in the dress or more saturated colors near the focal point, but i can't remember LOL) or try rendering a more detailed character w/ a background (even if the background was pretty vague). i like this one! especially the color cohesion, it's pretty swag imo. other faves from this month was fanart i made for the song "orbit" since i also like how the color cohesion came out for this one, and the maid dress/crossover drawing i made for cringetober. no other words needed to explain why.

Nov: another digital painting! it's yet another ghost song, this time "uncanny". i really loved the aesthetic of this song, especially its bold colors and simplistic shapes, so i wanted to try capturing it in my style. i really love how the colors turned out on this, though i've yet to truly recreate what i like about this particular painting again? regardless, it's one of my faves, deserving of one of my favorite ghost songs. few other highlights from this month would be my obligatory purple robin drawing for the month, my sketchbook drawing of my luka design, and my fanart of utsu-p's song "ga". i like how i was able to do a couple of my different "styles"/processes this month rather than just sticking to just one. they all have their own feel to them that i like to play around with depending on the idea.

Dec: and finally, we're at the end. like july, we have another heavily improvised oc drawing with symbolism i came up with on the spot. that's just how i do things. anyway, this turned out really good in my opinion! i tried to stick to a color palette i saved in procreate a long time ago, and damn is it a fine palette. it helped me get a little loose with the colors and solely focus on creating a strong composition with colors and contrast rather than get hung up on sticking to typical color palettes. i also really like how i did the background by essentially using the liquify tool to swish all the colors around and then polished it a little on top. made for a really cool effect. other notable work would be the companion piece i made with my other oc that had a similar style since i liked the process of this one. there will probably be more as of when i'm drafting this (at the beginning of december) but i just wanna be finished w this post already bro

all around, very satisfied with this year. there was kind of a lot of song fanarts (something that i am somewhat guilty about because it feels like i'm unoriginal or something, but i swear it's cuz i'm really passionate about vocaloid music and need to act on what my braincells do when i listen to certain tracks), but overall i'm happy i was able to maintain some slight variety in the art i made this year through my chosen mediums and "styles" or processes i use.

this was the first year where i really wanted to have a fully rendered piece i'm proud of to represent every month. now, i wouldn't recommend this since forcing yourself to make art is not a good mindset to be in (sometimes, with how early i pushed some pieces out in certain months to get the monthly quota over with makes it seem like i'm getting paid to have a pretty year-in-review LOL). i was pretty lucky to not really have much burnout i guess?

~~~

ok now that all that boring stuff is out of the way, here’s my previous years! this is the sixth year i have made an art review chart.

lightning round review time! (probably just gonna be more boring stuff)

2018: ok, so this was the year where my prime art hosting platform was… amino… specifically smash amino. as much as i could rant about how much i hate that place now, i cant deny that it got me creating a lot of stuff. also it was an actual date archive for my traditional art because i never got in the habit of dating my physical art 🙃 uh don’t mind the absolute horrid graphic design on this one. i grabbed a template which was probably saved from a bunch of other places from amino and… didn’t really know how the formatting was supposed to work. first of all, i edited this in picsart on my phone and the chart wasn’t transparent, and second of all i didn’t know you were supposed to crop only the main focus so it could fit and be a little more clear. hence why its such a visual eyesore. i've been meaning to remake it to make it a little less bad (once i get my hands on the traditional pieces again), but i guess its shoddiness adds to its charm, much like amino. but anyway, 2018 was a bit of a turning point year for me in the smash amino art biz. on amino, i mostly made copies of official artwork from smash (character renders and so forth), and this year i actually tried experimenting with my own original ideas and scenes (my copying roots were still around at this time tho, seen in the november drawing which is based on ssbu’s mural art. i mainly moved on to copying artwork from feh). this was also the year i got my ipad and finally got into making digital art. i didn’t have the knowledge of digital art that i have today obviously, so colors and lighting were usually on the plain side. i also hit my stride with making more ambitious traditional art that incorporated backgrounds and such, and they’re pieces i’m still really proud of!

2019: so, i actually made this chart some time in 2021 or 22 because i didnt make an actual chart in 2019 officially (i forgor). which bums me out because i deleted my amino account by then, so a lot of dates for traditional pieces were flushed down the toilet the one time i needed them. so, to compensate, i tried scraping any digital piece i could to fill in some spaces, which is why some are more underwhelming than others. but yeah since this isn’t fully accurate to my art progress that year, 2019 is a bit fuzzy. main thing of note that year is midway through i got really REEAALLY into fire emblem: three houses and drew a lot of art of the characters (not shown much on the chart because they were mostly sketches and whatnot). imo there’s not much improvement or stylistic changes from 2018 in this year to note. 2020 on the other hand…

2020: if it wasn’t clear, this was my jojo phase. i got into jojo at the end of 2019 and my downward spiral into jojo hell bled into 2020 :p as such, i made a lot of jojo art. and because i made a lot of jojo art, this was the year where my style shifted drastically. i feel like it’s a common phenomenon for artists getting a total stylistic makeover after getting into jojo. whether it’s to imitate araki’s style or just trying to accommodate the characters’… features, i ended up facing the same thing. gone were big round heads with tiny mouths and in were tree trunk necks and higher effort placed in learning anatomy, both for the full body and well as the face. it was around may of this year i got procreate and moved on from ibis paint for digital art. while i still have my personal hangups with procreate, im glad i ended up investing in it since it really just works for me!!

2021: around summer 2020 in peak pandemic mood, i decided to indulge in some nostalgia and listened to some old vocaloid tunes from my middle school days. and then i kept rediscovering more stuff, and then i ended up browsing producers' individual discographies, and uh yeah i am still suffering the consequences of my vocaloid renaissance to this day. while it wasn't prominent in the 2020 chart, it really started to leak its way into my art subjects in 2021. however, i still primarily stuck to my roots with fe/"smash"/jojo fanart. this year was mainly trying to find my style again i suppose? i had already learned the ropes of procreate, its limitations, and the options it has to aid with the art making process, so it was just a matter of flinging a bunch attempts at a ~style~ to see which one i liked the most. i did try finding a painting/rendering style a lot by way of copying (mainly guessing based on speedpaints) other artists' styles and process with digital painting which ended up growing into my own thing. i know they all sort of look the same, but march, april, and october of this year all had slightly different ways of doing all the shading n rendering for painting that i liked experimenting w/ in the future.

2022: by this point, i had fully gotten used to procreate and the methods i used to make art, and the vocaloid train had no signs of stopping. i think the main thing of note this year was that i was able to break out of the "5 million overlays of pink and purple color vomit" box my digital art was set it. while it used to amuse me when i first began abusing it in my art, i guess i just sort of grew out of it? it ended up making a lot of my art look homogeneous, and it took out the fun trial and error of picking the colors to match the atmosphere myself. i also tried to get more experimental with my compositions, mainly in trying to make them more dense with Stuff as well as finally get a little more comfortable with drawing backgrounds. besides those things however, i remember feeling my art progress was very stagnant this year, with not much noticeable change from january to december. perhaps i've gotten a bit comfortable with the state it's in. regardless, still a good year all around.

~~~

whew. THAT'S finally done with. if you made it to the end of this very me-centered ramble, congrats. i will probably make reblog additions in future years to continue this little saga. idk if i'll be as detailed as i was for the 2023 lineup, but we'll see.

[lovely-english-rose]

⚓ What made you want to start drawing?

🥦 Can you share an old piece of work next to a newer piece and say what you've learned?

🦑 How did you design your OC?

🌜 How would you describe your style?

⚓ What made you want to start drawing?

I actually have no answer for this one! I've been making art longer than I remember (my mom says I may as well have been born with a paintbrush in my hand lol). So drawing has pretty much always been a constant in my life, and I really can't imagine my life without it. If I had to take a guess, I probably started and kept doing it for the joy of getting to create something ;w;

🥦 Can you share an old piece of work next to a newer piece and say what you've learned?

I had to DIG but I was able to find the old drawing I had in mind for this- Left is from 2010, and my first real attempt at digital drawing, right is from this April - so 14 years difference! I've learned alot since then, I've gotten better at dynamic poses, and I think what I'm most proud of and have put the most effort in working on is drawing fabrics, how they layer and fold and just move in general. I've also learned how to draw backgrounds! Be they simple hints of a location, or a whole atmospheric room. That's another thing I'm proud of

🦑 How did you design your OC?

This honestly varies from oc to oc. I think most often though I pick a color for a character who I'm getting the idea of in my head and go from there. Usually then I'm looking at different fashion to get ideas on how a character might dress. Like Alyosha, Vasile, Leaf, and Kale all started with colors I wanted to use. And then some other characters started to stem off of them, such as Liesl, Amy, Verusya. For Lethe, I saw a cool fish and thought "well I can't NOT make an oc out of that" so I did. And he needed some friends so I started looking at other fish and boom we got Blaise and Hibiscus.

Cerdic's process was a little different, I wanted to fill in a blank in Fates canon of Garon's other children, so I started by flipping through my Fates art book to decide which class he would be and if I wanted to mix and match versions of the uniform or how I might want to customize his look. So he more started based on already existing official works, and then personalization came in later.

🌜 How would you describe your style?

I'd say a blend of realistic and cartoony? Realistic in that I try to keep proportions and body shapes looking more real, but my lines and how I draw certain features like eyes or hair lean in more to the cartoon area.

Artist asks!

[eralea-art]

found some old sketchbooks

[artwork made by any other teenager] "this is great! I love your attention to detail!" [artwork made by my teenage self] "what is this trash toss it and never draw again"

normally I have to put in a lot more effort to overcome this extremely unreasonable take, but these were drawn so long ago that I actually feel a bit disconnected from the version of me who drew them.

back then I usually drew on loose leaf paper and threw them out when I got tired of them (I still do this), so I didn't think I had any drawings older than a few years until I dug these books out from the back of a cabinet

(using the pencil in lieu of a signature, not that anyone would steal these)

there was a fan artist I followed who could draw in (what seemed to be) every style in the world, so my younger self decided that being able to draw everything in every style in the world was obviously the pinnacle of artistic skill

I stopped caring about developing my own style and went through a phase of just practising other people's styles for a few months

it's all very wonky and the lines are unconfident and there are smudges everywhere and I have a bad habit of drawing on both sides of the paper(I still do this)

but I feel like the young artist who did this was making a genuine attempt at learning how to draw everything

ok, a mostly-genuine attempt at learning how to draw cute cartoon animals and not much else

there's also an alarming amount of 90s shoujo-style doodles here that I'm not putting online

bonus ponysona

idr her name (Feather-something) but I remember she sculpts clouds to sleep on (she contributes nothing of value to pony society)

I stopped watching mlp after Twilight became a princess so this has to be from before that. was that really 2012? what year is it??

even though I neglected developing it, there is still a style that I call "my" style - it's the one that I find easiest to draw.

These are more recent, maybe 2016-2017? 2017 is recent, right? omg what year is it???

maybe it's because of the recent discourse about genAI vs human art that I've become more charitable towards amateur work, including my own. (it helps that while I know I drew these, I don't remember the process of drawing them, so it feels like I'm looking at someone else's work and I don't have the immediate gut reaction to trash it)

it's certainly more effort than what the genAI frauds are doing.

I don't think there's anything wrong with mimicking a style you like - styles can't be copyrighted, so if you have the skill to replicate it then it's fine.

Prompting "in the style of [artist name]"/img2img "to the style of [artist name]" is different because it's a cheating shortcut - you didn't earn that ability. You didn't put in the work. You're nothing like the max skill fan artist who could draw in every style.

New Year is in a few days

I'm going to ditch the perfectionism. My work is fine. My work from 10+ years ago is fine. Everything I do has more soul than the frauds using their plagiarism machines. I want to upload more often again.