#true to form i have a bunch of drawings of this character but things get lost in my brain

[antimnemonic]

the aforementioned big booty gf, i promise to post the haya to her ryo soon

[risingsunresistance]

would you believe me if i said this is skyblock fanart 😭

explanation below for anyone interested. it's a bit long 🐖

basic explanation for people who dont go here. or the tldr: the rift is a separate dimension in hypixel skyblock where reality and time itself do not function the same. the other npcs tend to take on different forms in there. this is my interpretation of what might happen to techno if he were to travel into the rift based on some other theories about the place and my own headcanons for him

less basic explanation for the rest of you: ok so. first thing to get out of the way, the rift isnt completely separate from the main reality. SOME of your own thoughts and feelings influence the way you exist in the realm and the way the realm itself behaves. not very many people seem to take on forms ENTIRELY divorced from themselves, save for maybe enigma (we dont know who he was originally, if he was anyone at all)

but i have a theory backed up by absolutely nothing that your rift form is mostly influenced by three different things: your inherit magic, your ability to control and manipulate that magic, and your overall stability. stability will look different from person to person and you dont always know if someone is stable or not just by talking to them. even something as simple as a phobia might change them drastically. still, the rift is unstable itself, so sometimes people get altered horrifically even though they were perfectly fine

my main points of reference for this are that some of our most altered characters are some who check all these boxes, and some who are relatively normal dont check any of them. lathrop/porhtal is split into a bunch of eyes and has one human-looking form that sits motionless at the wither cage and doesnt speak. we know he was incredibly magical, eventually got a great grip on said magic, but was also very very unstable. the wizard is very magical, is a master of said magic, and is pretty well put together. he is nearly unchanged in the rift. barry is the same as the wizard but went a bit nuts before he left, so in the rift he seems just a bit... off

on the opposite side of things, maddox is someone who we are told has ZERO magic in him. the only thing that changes in the rift is the fact that his helmet is red now. kat has never shown us any magic and seems to be pretty normal, so she's also just a different color palette in the rift and happens to have a weird job

anyways back to techno. (btw if you're reading this and happen to not be a regular here this is a mix of headcanons and "canon" but im treating it ALL as real and true facts for the sake of this drawing ok). he could be one of the most magical people here... but he has no idea how to use any of it on command. if you asked him if he possessed any magic, he would say no. his healing ability, while it is VERY strong, is passive, and he was only able to gather magic during the resistance fight with the help of the wands we were given. but he was able to gather a lot of magic during that fight, concentrate it, and release it all on his own. not many people could handle that. he also worships the blood god and has its blessing, and has some connection with spirits in the form of the voices / chat / whatever you wanna call them. there might be even more to him, who knows

so that's already a setup for disaster, but what about his stability? well he's constantly followed by a chorus of thousands of voices all screaming at him and god itself might be hanging around in that mix, led a war against the server staff and a dictator that lasted for 2 years skyblock time, and did the whole potato war thing which was ~70 years server time iirc. i wouldnt really call him stable KFJHG

so what you end up with is a very violent beastly thing, nearly unrecognizable save for the fact that he's still a pig (my first point, you dont become a COMPLETELY different thing under most circumstances). i think he's entirely out of control of himself and would not remember a trip to the rift. a stability elixir might help him in terms of being more aware of himself (i think sirius really downplayed what that potion does lmao it's not just a fun drink, he wanted to guarantee himself some control over his mind while he was conducting his "business" in the rift) but there's no saving the physical form

i wanted him to be beastly to mimic what happens to "dante" in the rift (the memory of dante, it's complicated. but dante and bacte are most likely two different people who are also the same person). yeah he was a big slime in the overworld, but now he's more monstrous. he also doesnt speak, he might not have any idea what's going on. same could be said for techno in a way. of course this is related to dante, what else would you expect from me :P i want to see them fight at the colosseum so bad...

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

but anyways THIS WAS SO FUN AAAAAUGH IM SO GLAD I FINALLY GOT THROUGH THIS. MY IPAD FINALLY DIED AFTER AN ENTIRE DECADE IN THE MIDDLE OF LINING IT AND I HAD TO CONTINUE ON A NEW TABLET WHEN I'VE SPENT MY ENTIRE LIFE DRAWING WITHOUT A PEN... THIS DRAWING WAS CURSED KJFDHGK

here's a version without chat and the blood god so you can just see the big hog

and here's my old concept from july of last year for comparison :P

initially in the post for the old sketch i said he was based on what i think would happen if he got a hold of some sulphur. i actually think that would be about the same as his rift form because sulphur seems to do very similar things under certain circumstances. always corrupts your form, can sometimes make creatures MUCH larger (matriarch, kuudra, magma boss), heightens your magic (mage outlaw), and can make you incredibly violent (barbarian duke)

bye i hope i tricked someone into reading a really long skyblock theory post expecting more info about techno FKJHG

[marinasekuz]

I DID IT AT LAST!!!!

Relationship Chart for my LMK OC Qiu 🎉🎊

Yeah, trying to explain short or dump the whole lore I had of her…

Maybe I will info dump her lore cuz I’m excited to share her story

Here it is:

Qiu, Yaksha at service of Guanyin, at first she was a demon that guarded part of east coast, killing the greedy humans that took too much from the ocean. Guanyin took action on this disguising herself as an old lady, the goddess went to visit this demon (not knowing who she was) saying that she wanted to set sail to catch some fish, to feed herself. Qiu was careful and defensive but she let the old lady go (she found something strange)

The old woman was a bit clumsy so she helped her to catch one fish, enough for her to eat, but the old woman ask her for another to her son, Qiu was mad for the human’s greed, saying that why asking for more when one is enough.

The old lady said that the ocean has plenty for everyone and that not all humans are greedy, even when she had her weapon in hand, she listened carefully to her.

After that, Guanyin showed her true form in front of Qiu, she was shocked. The Goddess then asked her if she wanted to be a guardian of her, her Yaksha, Qiu thinking about all the things she could learn, and that maybe the humans weren’t all the same, she hesitated a bit but accepted her offer.

After some time, Qiu learnt the way of mercy and compassion with Guanyin, that not everything can be solved with death.

She stayed in the Celestial realm with the Goddess for a while, reading and learning about her ways, and one time when she was searching for her, she found Sun Wukong eating all the peaches of the garden. She told him that he might get sick for eating all the inmortal fruit, he looked at her, asking if she was some of those boring and correct guardians but she was not like that, Qiu wondered about the reasons and why he does things, he just lazily responded that he wanted to be inmortal and to leave a print every way he goes, she was a bit confused, not understanding his ways, then between bites he kept talking about how she should be more open minded on seeing the world and that the Celestial Realm will only mold her ideas like a fragment of a full picture.

“Why don’t you go to the Mortal Realm to learn?”

He asked me, i couldn’t give him an answer because the maidens found him and started following him, he just chuckled and leaved to cause more mayhem elsewhere.

That question leaved her thinking, she kept her search for her goddess, and when she found her she hesitated a bit, but finally ask her about going to the Mortal Realm to share the wisdom of Guanyin and get to know the mortals nature, study their actions.

The goddess think about it for a moment to then accept her request.

—Maybe she knew that Qiu will cause a good impact on the mortal realm—

And since that day she started learning more by living and seeing about Guanyin’s teachings.

She wasn’t involved into the fight against heaven (she just met Wukong that once, didn’t met the rest of his brotherhood either)

She was asked to side the Celestial Realm when some battles came up, (she could refuse to fight if they didn’t tried a more parley way) she was a pretty skilled soldier, using only a naginata as a weapon.

She did met Nezha in his earlier years, he is like a little sibling to her, trained with him many times.

—After all, a spear & a naginata are pretty similar in combat and battle skills—

And that’s all that I have of her, for now, and also this is the first time that I draw the other characters from LMK (only draw a bunch of Wukong and Macaque and sometimes MK)

[loganrestarts]

My DIY Art Degree

Some people think there’s an arbitrary marker where you’re finally a self-taught artist, that you eventually reach a point where you’re done with your art education. But I think we spend our whole lives learning, so my goal for my 37th year on earth is to start being a committed self-teaching artist. 

I have so many interests I want to improve and learn that I can’t predict what my progress or end result will look like, but some of the things I want to explore are:

Sketching and drawing

Coloring techniques and color theory

Painting with watercolor and gouache

Painting on the Procreate app

Creative Journaling

Handwriting, hand lettering, and calligraphy

So I dug up a bunch of books and videos to make up a curriculum and planned out my own DIY art degree to start learning them all! 

Each month has its own focus:

Learning About Learning Art 

Mark-making, Sketching, & Basic Shapes 

Perspective

Figure Drawing & Anatomy 

Gesture Drawing 

Character Design

Color & Light 

Composition 

Landscapes & Environmental Design

Using Markers & Colored Pencils 

Painting with Gouache & Watercolor 

Digital Art

I don’t have a syllabus for the full year planned out yet, but here’s a rough draft of the materials and activities I want to try out for Quarter 1:

❄️ January ❄️

✨January Focus: Learning About Learning Art✨

📚 January Materials 📚

Drawabox.com: Lesson 0

[Book] Art & Fear by David Bayles

[Book] Debt Free Art Degree. Foundations in Drawing by Marco Bucci: Chapters: 1

[Book] Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

[Book] How to Keep a Sketch Journal by Marisa Lewis

[Book] Sketching from the Imagination: An Insight into Creative Drawing by 3DTotal Publishing

[Book] Art Fundamentals: Theory in Practice by 3DTotal Publishing. Chapters: Fundamentals & Critical Thinking

[YouTube] Veritasium: The 4 Things it Takes to Be an Expert

[YouTube] Ian Roberts: 5 Principles to Master Anything

[YouTube] Proko: Getting Better Faster - Painting with 80/20 Rule

[YouTube] Proko: How to Hold and Control Your Pencil

[YouTube] Sycra: Iterative Drawing

[YouTube] Love Life Drawing: 10 Stages of Learning Any Art Skill

[YouTube] Love Life Drawing: Practice Like a Pro - How Steve Rude Improves

[YouTube] Sinix: Art Theory Tutorials Playlist

[YouTube] Sinix: Art Warm Up & Exercises

[YouTube] belartsy: the “right” way to start learning how to draw

[YouTube] Paintable: Sketching For Beginners

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: How to Draw Anything - The 7 Fundamentals

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: How to Draw Good Lineart

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: Stop Learning to Draw the Wrong Way

[YouTube] Marc Brunet: The Most Important Art Skill

[LinkedIn Learning] Drawing Foundations: Fundamentals

[Gumroad] moderndayjames: Intro to Dynamic Sketching ($8)

[Reddit] r/ArtistLounge: How to get better at observing the world around me?

✍️ January Activities ✍️

Set a baseline by making whatever I want

(I know January has already passed; I'll post an update with what I actually managed to get through.)

💝 February 💝

✨ February Focus: Mark-making, Sketching, & Basic Shapes ✨

📚 February Materials 📚

[Book] How to Draw and Think Like a True Artist by Warren Martin. Days 1-5

[Book] Drawing for the Absolute Beginner by Mark and Mary Willenbrink. Chapters 1-2

[Book] You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler. Lessons 1-7; 10-13; 15; 19

[Book] Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling. Chapters 1-8

[Book] Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition by 3DTotal Publishing. Chapter: Perspective & Depth

[Book] Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

[Book] Debt Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing by Marco Bucci. Chapters: 1, 3

[Book] How to Draw by Scott Robertson. Chapters 1-2

[Reference Pictures] Fundamentals: Shiny Forms

[Reference Pictures] Fundamentals: Basic Forms

[YouTube] Uncomfortable: Drawabox Videos Playlist (Lesson 1)

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 1

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 2

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 6

[YouTube] The Art of Nemo: The ONLY Box Rotation Exercise That’s ACTUALLY Useful

[LinkedIn Learning] Drawing 2-Point Perspective

✍️ February Activities ✍️

drawabox.com 

Lesson 1 & Homework

250 Box Challenge

🍀 March 🍀

✨March Focus: Perspective ✨

📚 March Materials 📚

[Book] Perspective Made Easy by Ernest Norling. Chapters 9-18

[Book] Drawing for the Absolute Beginner by Mark and Mary Willenbrink. Chapters 2; 5

[Book] You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler. Lessons 22-27

[Book] How to Draw and Think like a True Artist by Warren Martin. Days 6-14

[Book] How to Draw by Scott Robertson. Chapters 2-7

[Book] Art Fundamentals 2nd Edition by 3DTotal Publishing. Chapters: Perspective & Depth

[Book] Framed Perspective I - Marco Mateu-Mestre. Chapter: 1

[Book] Debt Free Art Degree: Foundations in Drawing by Marco Bucci. Chapters: 3

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 3

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 4

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Perspective 5

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Visual Library I 

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Visual Library II 

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Visual Library III

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching I 

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching II

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching III

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Vehicle Sketching IV

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Sketching Figures in Extreme Perspective

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Emulating Even Amundsen Series

[YouTube] moderndayjames: Becoming a Gi Series

✍️ March Activities ✍️

drawabox.com: Lesson 2 & Homework, 250 Cylinder Challenge, Begin 25 Texture Challenge

100 Rotated Objects - based on moderndayjames Visual Library videos

100 Unique Studies (machinery, vehicles, plants, animals)

🖌️ Some Ongoing Activities 🖌️

50/50 Rule: 50% studying, 50% funsies

[Book] 30 Days of Creativity by Johanna Basford

[Book] 2025 Johanna Basford Wall Calendar

[Book] The Lost Art of Handwriting by Brenna Jordan

[Book] Spencerian Handwriting: The Complete Collection of Theory and Practical Workbooks for Perfect Cursive and Hand Lettering by Platts Roger Spencer

[Workbook] New Spencerian Compendium Plate 2 Practice Sheets (Found on PDF Drive)

Hand lettering worksheets I made in Canva

This is by no means a comprehensive education, but I feel like I came up with a good introduction to the things I’m interested in. I’m not going to learn everything about all of these topics in just a year, and I know I'm not going to get through all the resources I found.

I also want to make this process as cheap as possible, so I’m using a lot of free stuff from YouTube and my local libraries. Many of the resources came from radiorunner’s Curriculum for the Solo Artist and suggestions I found through the almighty social media algorithms. 

If your libraries can’t get the books on order or Inter-Library Loan, or if you’d rather just buy them to keep, I’m including Amazon affiliate links. (Many can be found as PDFs through other free methods but I definitely don’t recommend looking for the books on Demonoid, Mobilism, or PDF Drive.)

What do you think I'm missing? What do you think is too extra?

Learning is a life-long process, so even though I gave myself a year to restart, it’s just that: my restart. 

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Peaceful Property went hard with dreams this week. You know, 'dream' like the American Dream? You know, 'dream' like Peach's dream of cooking in a palace for a bunch of rich people and refusing to make peace with a 'hypothetical' rival? You know, 'dream' like Home's nightmare of his poorer friend overtaking him for the harm Home caused him? You know, 'dream' like Home's fake dream of moving to America and having ten wives? You know, 'dream' like Home's real dream of having a normal family??

The dreams themselves had an air of love and hope about them, and they were nurtured with kindness and support by members of the ghost hunting team, but the show kept subtly drawing our attention to the hollowness, violence, and repression inherent to the 'dreams' in this episode. These were capitalistic and patriarchal styles of dreaming.

Notice, they exorcised no ghosts this episode. We saw instead our influencer Chai-Un (Pompam, doing THE MOST with this Old Queen stock character) ignoring Peach's offerings to his family's ghosts and going full glutton all by his lonesome. The upper crust might offer invitation to one or two from the lower class entering into their echelons, but what has that spiritually alleviated?

If the mutual heartbreak at the end of the episode wasn't enough to clue you in, these themes are the biggest indicator that Home and Peach will end up together as family. The show has framed the inherent harm and distrust between the aristocracy and the lower classes as foundational in making the patriarchal family primary. I had previously thought there was a possibility we'd get a little weird found family ending. Home, though, faked drinking to let us know he's faking other things--heterosexuality. BUT ACTUALLY, we got so many references to full-on gayness this episode, but in ways that let us know the show has a queer Marxist vision even for that. Chai-Un referring to his partner as his "wife" and playing the stereotype of Rich Gay: these aren't arbitrary.

This gay baiting question is actually thematically important. I've been enjoying the revisit to some old-school homoerotic subtext, because old-school homoerotic subtext was often tied into the same problems of patriarchal capitalism. They forged intense bonds that they then had to sever to form family units as they economically competed against each other and maintained the honor of their patriarchal position. The participated in societal dick measuring contests to see whose estates were grander and whose cok was long, as the neon sign says.

With Peach's adjustment to the contract, we are now left with the possibility for Home's queerness and desire for Peach to possibly disrupt his family's fortune in a major way. If Home really wants to exorcise the specter of Peach's pain and suffering from his waking dreams, Home can't be one of the 12 gay billionaires in the world. He's not going to be his investor or his savior. He'll have to let go of his patriarch's will to find something that won't sooth his wallet but will sooth his soul, something decidedly 'not normal.'

Side note: Who gave this show the right to let New and Tay and Jan show the true force of their full RANGE????

[rulernogard156]

Okay, I'm going to preference this before I make my claim and later draw my art.

I grew up protestant (if u don't know what that is, neither do I, I think it's one of the chiller forms of Christianity though) my immediate family wasn't super religious,(my mom probably the most) but we lived in a hick town in a rural part of the USA.

I would consider myself now agnostic. When I finally figured out I was queer and trans I deconverted and was one of those raging fedora atheists for a year or two.

Then I moved halfway around the world, made a bunch of friends all with different veiw points, met the platonic soul mate, and did a lot of self refection. I let go of the rage, the anger the betrayal, and finally admitted that I didn't know the true workings of the universe.

I personally now still don't believe in God(big g) or really any other gods.

I personally believe in a more lovecraftian/cosmicism view of the universe.

Are there any true gods? Maybe. But if so, they are as alien and unknowable as the deep abyss between the stars. Personally, I don't really think they care whether you worship them or not.

Now, I'm also a proponent in calling The Abrahamic god by his "actual name" as "God" is a title, not a name. His name was/is Yahweh. Personally, i see him more a god akin to Zues and Odin.

But anyway, all this to say:

I love og Christian mythology!

Like I'm talking stuff like the tower of babble was torn down cause Yahweh was an asshole who just wanted to see what happened if everyone spoke different languages.

That same stuff where Satan/the devil/Lucifer wasn't the snake in the garden of Eden. And the snake had motherfuckin legs, and as punishment, Yahweh said, "heha crawl bitch!" And made it so snakes nolonger had legs.

Like, I loved learning all these fun things and equated them to the Greek myths of promethus, Icurus, etc. You know?

I also loved the fanfics that a lot of people just except as cannon now.

Paradise lost(gave us sympathetic Lucifer, some fire quotes, and a lot of people forget "Sin" daughter of Lucifer and guardian to the gates of hell)

Danté's divine comedy(this was a particular favourite of mine, had a kickass videogame adaptation, and help set up how a lot of fans structure hell and the sins)

The lesser and greater keys of Solomon (Gave us 72 new characters and updated lore on hell's hierarchy, as well as some angle lore and Solomon's ring!)

Like objectively, the Abrahamic faith and the offshoot(mainly Jedehisim and Christiananity, sorry I've never read the Quran) have some genuinely cool stories.

And let's not forget the cool ass artefacts. The Ring of Solomon (can bind any summoned demon into servitude, if worn on different fingers grant's different powers.) The spear of destiny(the spear tip used to peirce Jesus. It took in his demigod blood and so never rusted and could alter the course of history)

Now again, I'm going to say I do not believe any of this. If *you* do cool.

I also condemn orginised religion! People often use it to get into positions of power and abuse their followers. It is often used as a political stance as well as justification of horrid unforgivable acts.

I like the myths, legends, and stories, not the people who use them irl to hurt and take advantage of the innocent, forgotten, and the other.

[dluebirb]

Alright, so I finally jumped on the bandwagon (for better or for worse) and redesigned the main cast of Hazbin Hotel!

Disclaimer: I am not saying that my designs are better than the ones in the show, I am just saying that this is what I would have done if I were to design the characters, plus addressing some common criticism of Vivziepop's character designs. I enjoy the show, and with that comes some artistic liberties. Proceed.

So I'm going to show each character individually, plus a brief explanation (EDIT: They were not as brief as I thought... I love these characters, so sue me!) of what I changed and why, and then a lineup at the end!! Stick with me please, I put a lot of work into these!

@theosb0rnway they are real and in decent quality this time!! Wow!!

First up, Charlie! I had no idea she was meant to be based off of a porcelain doll. I thought she was a weird hell-vampire thing ngl. Fangs, pastey skin, you get it. The only thing the doll thing had going for it was the cheek marks, and I though that was a design choice for blush, like Mabel in Gravity Falls!

Porcelain dolls are really just those gen alpha tiktok influencer-level skin care routines plus dresses from two centuries ago, so I decided to go with a more puppet-leaning/mouthpiece design, plus some more goat-ish attributes, like her lil hoovsies!

Her color pallatte is brighter than the other designs because I wanted to show how she (while still utilizing the pinks and reds of hell) is the most pure-hearted of the bunch, as she's the only one who really doesn't belong in hell.

If this does well (or I want to) I might do her demon form!

VAGGIE! My girl. I love her.

So my main problem with Vaggie's current design: HER HAIR. I'm sorry, but how are the physics of that supposed to work?? Please? /gen

She also says in the show that she's "not used to fighting with long hair, and the ponytail in episode 8 doesn't really serve that purpose? At least from the viewers POV, hence the bun.

I know she's not technically a moth demon, since she's an ex-exorcist, but I wanted to lean into the imagery. She and Charlie look a little too close to human in comparison to almost anyone else, so I wanted to give her some moth-isms. And I find it more believable that she could fight like this! Ik Alastor's the hotel's protector and all, but old habits die hard n such.

Onto Angel Dust! Okay, I gotta say, I should lower his colors general brightness-

But other than that, I think I did pretty good with him!

I am probably in the minority who thought the eyes thing in episode four was pretty cool, but I wanted to make him more visibly spider-like, and eyes seemed like a good place to start.

I will admit to taking inspiration from the iron spider suit in Avengers: Infinity War for his extra arms. I was a Marvel kid, the legends are true.

Also, PINCERS! I think that's what those are called- They're only sorta there because any other way I tried ended with messing up his general face, but the thought's there!

I did forget his spider ass, but it's there in spirit, trust.

BIG OL' SHOUT OUT TO OZ FOR HELPING ME WITH THE DEER MAN'S FACE. He was giving me a TIME-

His fuck-ass bob is NO MORE. I rest my case. Also the monocle was annoying me, so he gets old lady glasses. I don't know why his shoes look like deer hooves. he's a little fucked up anatomy-wise.

I don't have much to say about him, but I loved drawing his hair. He gets to keep some of his red, because he WOULD. I also have a design of Alastor with a coat/jacket thing that's more time-period accurate, but I really liked this design, so it's what you're getting unless someone asks for it.

I also don't have a lot to say about Husk- I took away a lot more than I added if we're being real.

Hat? GONE

Weird wing design that makes my brain hurt? GONE

Eyebrows? YOU BETTER BELIEVE THEY'RE GONE

(I had a grudge against his eyebrows, leave me be-)

He's also short and fat now, so... YEAH (for a while I thought he was real short, but that was only because I kept seeing screen caps of him next to Angel, and the guy's a beanpole-)

His wings resemble the succubi in Helluva more so now, because Hazbin has a weird relationship with wings, so I wanted to make the distinction clearer than it is in canon.

His eyes glow now because have you SEEN a cat in pitch black, dead of night? Scary little assholes. (/aff, I love my cats.) He's dead and in hell, so they glow perpetually.

As with Charlie, I had no idea Niffty was supposed to be a bug. This seems to be a recurring issue.

I shifted her hair and outfit to be a lil more 1950s-accurate, but it was pretty good before, all things considered. I actually like Niffty's Canon design a lot.

In terms of making the bug-ness more pronounces, I gave her antennae (they can glow because YES) and wings. I imagine the wings are kind of like grasshopper wings, so they make a lil weird noise. I also gave her four legs, because if there's one thing I know about bugs, they have an abnormal amount of appendages.

The quality got CRUNCHED so click on the lineup, PLEASE-

And yeah, there are the sillies! I tried to differentiate them from the RED, but I think I overdid it-

Eh, I like them!

Send an ask or comment if you want me to do any more characters, or send me a screenshot from Hazbin and I'll redraw it with these guys! It'll also give me the chance to work on backgrounds, which I need!

I really hope you guys like these!

[54625]

Five do you have any cloud tips? you are very good at them and i am struggling. (specifically rain clouds if you are able, but i'll take normal clouds too)

Hopefully this doesn't end up too long-winded, but here is MY general process on how to paint clouds. This is not guaranteed to work for everyone, it's just a walkthrough of how I see it.

On the (semi) realistic side of things

There are some general rules of thumb when creating the form of a cloud. With your average cloud, you can split it up quite easily into large shapes and layers, which you then simply detail a little to form the fluffiness.

This is a very simple and classic example of a cloud. I kept the basic outline of the cloud rounded, formed with essentially a bunch of intersecting circles. I made the layers slightly different colours to get across a sense of depth; don't forget that clouds exist in a 3d space and aren't just a flat shape. When adding in the highlights, I made sure to shape them. If you look a little closer you'll see that pretty much all of them make little "C" shapes, continuing to establish the roundness of the cloud. (I do this for traditional painting too; making sure that my paintbrush always goes in round, circular strokes to blend the paint into that shape.)

Now let's look at rainclouds. Same principle, a couple differences. Firstly, and most importantly; most of the time, when it is raining or storming, the entire sky is clouded, no blue visible. You can usually get away with portraying this by simply replacing the blue sky in the background with grey, but don't forget to introduce a little variation/shape to show that it's not flat.

Secondly, one thing I love to do with clouds like these is this sort of "negative highlight" thing. As you can see at the peaks of the cloud it actually gets darker, and the cracks or creases between the layers are the lightest parts. This gets across the look that the cloud is being lit from behind rather than the side, which makes a lot more sense for clouds like these.

On the stylised side of things

Clouds in real life come in tonnes of different shapes, sizes, and colours. Because of this, clouds can look like pretty much anything; you can and should use this to your advantage in your art.

Clouds are the perfect subject matter for stylisation, in my opinion, as they do not have to look realistic at all in order to get across their intended effect, and because their real life counterparts vary so vastly.

When drawing clouds in a stylised way, I find there are two main principles to remember:

1. Prioritise colour.

and

2. Contextualise.

It is pretty easy, despite the lack of detail, to understand what these colours are meant to represent. You can get a lot across by simply using very strong and well selected colours, and this is true for all aspects of art, not just clouds. The white and blue makes you think of bright clouds on a sunny day, the orange and pink is so famously associated with sunsets, and the dark greys remind you of storms and rain. Even without much form, good colour choices will still help you tell what you are looking at.

This is where "contextualising" comes into play. Your clouds will immediately become much more recognisable as clouds as soon as you give them a good context (with colours that match the atmosphere) to stand behind. You put them above a landscape or behind a building or above a character and it becomes obvious as being the sky. Adding a context frees you and really allows you to fuck around with styles and shapes to your heart's content, while still keeping the intention clear.

With this in mind, you can stylise in whatever ways you so wish, and play around with shapes and movement and brushes. (And hopefully be a little more creative than these examples 😅)

I hope this was at least a little bit helpful! I look forward to seeing what you have made/ will make.

[swallowtailed]

palisade 41

honestly don’t really know where to begin here.

because, like, we all kinda knew this was coming, right? odds were it had to happen sometime. now it has.

but there’s still a real cosmic unfairness to the timing of it. figure died right after they decided they didn’t want to. breaking the wheel of their resurrection is fine and all, but they fought so hard to escape clem and join perennial that it doesn’t really ring true to me.

hearing future in the same sentence reminded me that there’s another suite of definitions for figure, aside from the noun meaning shape or form—the verb meaning guess, consider, imagine.

i’m inclined to read future and perennial as two sides of the same coin—two views of the principality. future sees an inevitable road toward culmination, perennial sees that it’s all the same fucking cycle. also, future seizing on a moment of power from perennial and turning it to their own ends.

real gur just cannot catch a break. they’re stuck with future, inside their own reanimated corpse, guarded by the shell of figure? some real eternal torment there.

so, you know. shit sucks!!

i was really, really hoping eclectic would steal future, and it would also have been incredible for gur sevraq (who, as we know, stole the future) to be stolen from future, but the dice fall as they will

really interesting contrast between the two sides of this arc wrt divine/axiom/mortal/etc relationships. thisbe is guiding integrity and communicating with ebullience, building relationships across ways of being. figure is destroyed just by exposure to divine power, subsumed by the weight of a god rearing up on its own. the axiom being willing to treat with thisbe, the divine destroying figure. which is maybe less about those powers than about the hands moving them—instrumentalization as always a core theme of palisade. 

of course it is also a cautionary tale of the capriciousness of dice. if figure and gur had gotten to speak with future i can imagine it going more like thisbe’s side. but maybe not! we’ll never know.

characters being demanded to envision a future was one of my favorite beats in partizan and it was really cool to hit that again (and to call back to leap!). but also heartbreaking. cori, happy and safe…

aw fuck the crew’s still gonna have to find out that figure is dead… mortality of course goes hand in hand with grief. much like valence’s death i think the positioning of figure’s death is ultimately going to be shaped most by reactions to it

dre’s pc deaths are always so fraught, huh. valence and chine were also kind of messy, sudden deaths—no clean tragedy. which, like, is life, but also, ;-;

the music was incredible. like breathing. and the way the dirge just stops—blinks out.

eclectic drawing up the seismic power of opposition, his own power, was really moving. a bit of grace in that moment.

i’m not sure where they’re gonna go from here, especially in terms of character arcs. it’s a rough downbeat. kind of falls in line with the conflict turns, though—fighting back and forth down to the bitter end. might be a bleak finale although at least one more thing seems set to unfold in this arc so honestly who knows

incidentally, bets on that: the smell of computer parts immediately made me think of the nobel, but the mechanical whine heard across the continent made me wonder if it could be palisade waking up (/being woken up). either way, it’s definitely getting to be alarm clock time, right?? (on the other hand maybe this is just motion activating all across palisade, but a bunch of motion factories just got taken down.)

it’s nice that the a-plot crew were having a fun heist though. cori deserves an alise breka mission

tragedy-ass podcast.

[jukebox-arts]

Mal-vember mega drop (1/2)

So the month of November (minus the bronchitis I had) was dedicated to concept and design work for @quilandscroll 's @mal-car project. Many of them are first draft ideas, but Aavir got lucky enough to enter second phase, as you can see.

The first design was taurian and didn't quite hit the vibe she wanted so I went with a more draconic-leaning body shape, which we both love so much more. As for his human form, the colors will remain the same but his physical design got some tweaks and the distribution of color will change to better match whatever his true form will look like.

The gods of Mal'car barely pass as humans, as it's not their natural shape. Their skin reflects the color(s) of their fur, feathers or scales, and they retain some features of their godly selves, never mind also being 7 feet or taller no matter what. There is no mistaking them for human.

The hips wings were the best worst idea I came up with.

The styrix (left) are one of the designs giving me trouble for being too "bird". I went through a few renditions but decided to wait until I had a few others done to better get an idea for what I can do. Many things in Mal'car are heavily reptilian or avian derived but "animal+" is a tad boring, don't you think? I have so ideas after Aja and I tossed around some inspirations, but the body shape is giving me issues.

On the right are some ideas for animals present on the continent that expand on the lizard energy a bit, including a small bird often kept as a pet, a bovine for cart hauling, a cat-like predator and canine-like companions.

The other bird issue is the Vicari, which started off as just giant birds. I mostly enjoy the head and beak shape and want to keep that, and the giant bird idea would be fine as long as it was unique to them, so it may or may not change as well. The human forms were much easier, as they've always been an inversion of "big man, small woman" with the males taking the mantle of "delicate, beautiful and ethereal" homemakers and the women being "giant, brutish and strong" hunters.

The easiest of the bunch though, were the Drakki, which are derived from a standard drake conceptually but given a few tweaks. Instead of secondary wings, they have vestigial limbs that help with carrying or gripping things, optional horns, and extremely thick skulls like pachycephalosaurs. These guys (and gals) are broad, thick and heavy, slamming their heads into anything they can for the fun of it, and beating on each other to show affection. (Hands rated E for everyone)

I greatly enjoyed drawing dense men for the human bodies (references go brrrrrrr) and Aja enjoyed the top left so much he became a canon side character in the drakki novel. His name is Voldin.

My only correction might be to change how their toes sit and make them more lizardy and less paw-like but I'm still deciding.

[griffonsgrove]

OC || Introductions

hello my darlings!! I've really been wanting to introduce a few of my main characters to you all!! I was thinking of possibly doing headcanons/oneshots/drabbles in the future! (May be purely self-indulgent but we'll see) That being said, This is basically a very brief intro and info dump about each character. So let's get started!!

All characters and art belong to me!! Like I've said before I'm an artist and draw scenes and characters. I have a shit ton of art of all these guys that I'd love to share if anyone's ever interested!

cw: death, murder, cannibalism? minor sexual themes (one of my ocs is an incubus), minor violence.

Night

I've had her the longest, I made her several years ago. She's literally just a self-insert for EVERYTHING I enjoy sshejwka. But on another note! This is Night, she's a humanoid griffin hybrid (griffins being the mythological beast, half eagle half lion). She's very sweet and friendly. She's so mom-coded omg. Like she'll bake you little treats, makes sure your dressed for the weather, and reminds you of things you need to get done.

She has this locket around her neck that she keeps close to her. This is because it contains her "soul" or "spirit" inside of it. Every griffon has one, and it's what helps her to transform. Which btw shapeshifterrrr. Her true form being that of an actual griffin. She's a gentle giant though don't worry.

Tom

I know what you're thinking and no, he's not related to Bill Cipher. Tom is a 25-year-old art college student. He's a no-nonsense kind of guy, and very easily irritated. He's a fine arts major and does a lot of painting. He HATES his roommate (there's literally nothing wrong with him he's so nice and friendly, tom is just a dick). He's got a pet snake!! He's a hognose named Poncho! He's a total stonerrrrrrr, it's the only time he'll be chill honestly.

He and his roommate live in a city style apartment, on the first floor, complete with a basement. Unbeknownst to his roommate, Tom has a secret black market business selling organs to dealers. The basement is where he does all the harvesting, it strictly prohibited for anyone to go down there. It makes hella money though, which he uses to help pay his tuition (art college is expensive!)

Orphan btw. His mom is Night actually (an adoptive relationship) She loves and cares about him very much, the same goes for him. He usually acts more behaved if she's around.

Roman

Roman is, well he's a--thing?? creature?? I haven't decided in all honesty but he's dangerous. He travels all across the country, making sure to be well hidden. He's a serial killer oop. His signature weapon being a bowie knife. Bros got some major sadistic and animalistic tendencies. Eats his victims btw. He can't rly show his face in public, and the mans gotta eat right??

He likes to hunt. His victims are essentially "prey" to him, and he does so enjoy the thrill of a chase. He's got a looooooong tongue (as you can see) he's accidently bitten it once or twice with those sharp teeth of his. Has a tail as well, yk what espeons tail looks like? yea it's like that. His ears are sensitive btw he doesn't like them being touched.

Can never stay in one spot for too long, constantly on the move, he's got great stamina and can run for quite a long time.

Damien

WOOO. RUFFmEOW. BIG STRONG MAN LETS GO RAGHHH. ya so this is Damien. As you can tell I love him very much and I'm so very normal about him. He's an incubussss (sex demon basically). Literal definition of a Himbo. He's a big beefy guy who's wholesome and sweet, despite his line of work.

Super flirty, and also hypersexual. It's what he feeds off of, and how he regenerates and gets his magic. which btw, he can be summoned!

He's got a looot of body hair, happy trail for dayysss! Also has a bunch of peircings, snake bites on his face, and nipple peircings on his pecks. He's got numerous scars littered all over his body too. He's really sweet an attentive, as well as respectful! What more could you want in a man??

Alecto

BIG WOMAN. she's literally just my "villain" version of Night, however she's not a self-insert. I gave her, her own story and lore. She's the main antagonist in an animated series I'm creating. Her name is based of the Mythological woman "Alecto" Who was a fury of the underworld, she symbolizes rage and spreads it across the world.

She's very quick to anger. "hot-headed" (Pun-intended). The back of her hair is literally fire, and it can grow and change depending on her mood. Those gauntlets on her arms are strong AF and razor sharp, you do not want to get on her bad side. Ngl, she kinda feral at times, yk how Miguel O'Hara literally ran on all fours to chase after Miles Morales??? Yea she does that.

She's evil muehahshegsh, but also classy. She's also really tall!!! like about 8'6'' DAYUM. she'll crush you.

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

annnndd thats a wrap!! These are the main Oc's that I adore and use on a regular basis, they each hold a special place in my heart. I rly would love to do occasional drabbles or head canons with my babies at some point, but I'm not sure anyone would read/enjoy them 😭

Nevertheless, I do hope you enjoyed my small ramble about these guys, as you can see, I'm totally normal about them.

Oh!!! and if you're ever wanting any more of my art just lmk!! I mainly post my writing on this blog, but if y'all wanna see, I can def show!!

[crashdavis]

Ron what are your top favorite tv shows

hi kait. thank you sooo much for this ask. television is my first and true love and i have a great many things to say about it.

Black Sails - Black Sails is like a show made in a lab to please me. It is a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" which integrates the fake pirates from the book with the real pirates of history. It is about my number one interest of all time, historiography, the way that we tell the story of history. It is about the way that society uses stories and shame to control people. Its epic.

Trust FX - A miniseries. This is also about historiography, you will sense a theme. This is about the Getty kidnapping. It is full of beautiful sexy Italians and horrible horrible Americans. Brendan Fraser slays as a PI slash Greek Chorus. Luca Marinelli gives the performance to end all performances as Primo Nizzuto.

Justified - A tribute to the now rightfully dead Western Genre Justified is about a bunch of guys who suck that you cannot help but root for. A big city Marshall is forced to return to his hometown of Harlan, Kentucky after shooting a man. Some of the greatest characters of all time come from this show. Raylan Givens, Dickie Bennet, Dewey Crowe, Tim Gutterson, Rachel Brooks, and above all, Boyd Crowder. If you are compelled by slow talking, fast drawing men with problems, you will love this brilliantly witty crime drama.

MASH - Hawkeye Pierce is like a real friend to me. This too is about historiography. 11 seasons of swirling 70s sleaze and the hardest hitting antiwar commentary wrapped up in the warm and fuzzy packaging of a pleasantly green sitcom. In the first season Frank asks Hawkeye if he's ever serious, Hawkeye responds "I tried it once, everybody laughed," and it felt like my life flashing before my eyes. Trapper John McIntyre, BJ Hunnicutt, Margret Houlihan, these are just a few of the greatest characters ever written. And they're on mash.

This is where things get hard, this answer has changed a lot over the years, a few years ago, It's Always Sunny would have been like 2 on this list, as far as number of funny episodes, its still pretty high up there, I also have to mention The Monkees of course, Turn: Washington's Spies was a formative classic for me and me alone, Star Trek: The Next Generation is brilliant. There are the modern classics, Succession, Severance, and Santa Clarita Diet. The old greats, Cheers, Taxi, Star Wars the Clone Wars. My past obsessions, Jonathan Creek, TAITV, I Made America, Torchwood. Flight of The Concords and What We Do In The Shadows informed my humor so much. But I think in the end the 5th greatest television program is the San Diego Padres. Not a show in the traditional sense, but TV certainly, and a program I have probably spent more time watching than any other.

[apollosocrants]

All of the Series and What They’re About!

Hero/Hero

Main character: Oyakawa Benedict

This is my first series!

Plot: A teacher helps a group of students become true heroes, and another school is trying to do the same.

Derealia

Main Character: Venus Sparrow

Plot: (I might change this later, I don’t have a set plot for this series) a group of college students get transported into a Weirdcore-based world, where they have to play a series of games, hosted by Kidd, in order to escape.

Dragons & Damage

Main Character: Macen Crawne

THIS IS THE SERIES IM MOST HYPERFIXATED ON, SO IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE, PLEASE ASK.

Plot: The Bad Bastards are a group of 10 vigilantes who get rid of real nasty guys. They go on missions to get money. This money is to help everyone in the Bad Bastards move out of the horrid town of Escalagara.

Companion Cabin

Main Character: Quincy

Plot: A husband and wife create a camp made just for pets and animals.

Rocky Rails

Main Character: Rocky

Plot: An inexperienced group of space bounty hunters finally gets some sense by Rocky. He is extremely serious about his job, and he keeps himself anonymous.

Of Clowns And Men

Main Character: ZIP

ZIP, a clown from an alien planet, meets two friends, Astro and Giana, at a mall in Oklahoma. They then form a strong bond, and teach this clown everything there is to know about Earth, and then some.

Disaster Days

Main Character: Harley

Plot: A zombie apocalypse has spread across the state of New York! Harley, Junior, Sunny, and a mysterious lemur join forces as they try to not let the apocalypse spread across other states.

The Lounge

Main Character: There is no main character currently.

Plot: A bunch of people that represent different aesthetics hang out and have fun. Join Terabyte, BunBun, Sills, Ollie, Dr. Crisis, and more at THE LOUNGE!

Wow! What a World!

Main Character: Jasper The Red Fox

Plot: Animals and mythical creatures alike explore the Earth free of humans.

The Trash Table

Main Character: Spike The Skunk

Plot: A group of anthropomorphic animals go on a road trip across America.

That’s all! I think… oh, right! One more thing I’ve gotta share!

PLEASE, don’t ask me to draw my ocs. I will draw them on my own time. I’m not good at drawing to begin with anyways :3

[cattyanon]

Sonic but Undertale Souls: Forces Version 3 Sonic

If you aren't aware, this is one of many Sonic AUs about if the Sonic world has Undertale Souls in it. I explained how all that worked in a separate post and it's recommended you read that to understand some of what I say- and don't worry! It's not a long read!

Anyways this is specifically about Sonic Forces and version 3 of of the other two possible outcomes, all having something to do with Sonic's soul getting fucked up. Anyways, there's more about him and how I came up with the idea below the drawing!

He's finally here, and now I get to rant about what I came up with for him! >:)

You can probably skip this part but if you're curious how I managed to come up with this here's the story behind that: It came from me rewatching Jacksepticeye playing Undertale- specifically from the True Lab section and onwards. During his fight with Asriel I was thinking about how I wanted to do some cool design stuff like Asriel's God of Hyperdeath, but how? If the death rate for absorbing a soul is super high then how on earth could literally any of the characters absorb enough souls (not to mention why and how they'd absorb that many) to gain a form at least somewhat as cool looking as Asriel's? Then version 3 of my Sonic Forces AU came to mind and... well... I'll explain the rest below.

So idk the specifics but during Sonics imprisonment on the Death Egg not only was he tortured but Eggman did all kinds of unethical experiments on Sonic's soul, eventually causing it to turn a color nobody has ever seen before: Black.

With such a corrupted soul and many months of torture he eventually breaks and instinctively kills Infinite (the reason he's got that tail) and eats his soul. Not absorb. Eat. And in this way he gains soul power without absorbing another soul. (Note: He only has this ability due to the corrupted nature of his soul. If a regular person were to try and eat a soul one of two things would happen depending on how fast it breaks: 1 is that nothing would happen, 2 is that the souls attempt to combine and inevitably kill that person's own soul) He ends up repeating this process with Eggman and, deciding he's a monster, stays up on the Death Egg. But eventually he gets hungry. He tries eating the food on the Death Egg but it just doesn't fill him. There's still this cold, empty, and hungry feeling inside of him. And he has a bad feeling the only thing that'd satisfy him is a soul.

So he goes awhile without food, probably about a week, and eventually he's so damn hungry that ends up going down to earth to look for some animal souls to sustain him. He sucks the soul out of the animal's body and basically just secludes himself in the forest. He feeds on the souls of animals, getting ever so slightly stronger with each one, even if he has a feeling that human and mobian souls would be much more fulfilling.

But eventually a nearby village starts finding these untouched corpses left behind when scavenging for food in the forest since the war only very recently ended and get concerned that there's a monster in the forest. So they send a few hunters out and... well... they found what they were looking for, but died in the process.

As for Sonic he's having major issues after consuming a bunch of souls (also causing him to look like the drawing) that had murder on their minds. He tries his best to resist but he ends up wandering close to the edge of the forest near the village, just barely keeping himself from going on a murderous rampage. But then the village sends out a rescue party and he snaps. He ends up consuming every person he finds which is like almost the entire village cause he can see souls that are close by to him.

Although thankfully for literally everyone he ends up staying in that area and basically claims it as his own. The few survivors tell their horror stories and very few people (basically idiots thinking they can kill him with simple weapons) ever go there. But once the world kinda gets back together enough to establish communication again the Resistance Restoration hears about this monster and, of course, want to help. They've got super powers and Sonic has taken on plenty of monsters. All they gotta do is find the Chaos Emeralds and kick this thing's ass!

Thankfully the monster can't absorb their souls in their super forms, but it doesn't take them long to realize who said monster is. And given time the 'monster' might just find these people to be strangely familiar...

Anyways that's it for now! Feel free to ask questions while y'all wait on me to design the form they find him in. Might be hard since I don't wanna make it look like Asriel as much as possible but hey, we'll see.

[mexicanegbert]

on hammers (from hussie commentary)

here is anything relevant to hammers i could find. all commentary is sourced from here.

(Book 1, 10) The ghost gauntlets holding that ridiculous paisley hammer are just a fixture of the environment in this game. I didn't want them to be an item you could use, because that would have been complicated to implement. It was a little attention to detail on my part, by which I mean my inclination to consider how John could wield this huge hammer in his inventory. Specific items that are accrued by the players become a lot less relevant much later in the story. Because it stops being a thing about a Guy In A Game You Are "Playing," and starts being more about a bunch of Characters In A Story You Are Reading, Who Are Sad All The Time.

(Book 4, 20) What the hell is going on with that hammer? Actually, let's not talk about the Zillyhoo hammer yet. Jade was right that John would get this unstoppable bunny warrior exactly when he needs it, just in time to defend against an unwelcome, highly premature Jack-murder. And Jack knows he shouldn't mess with this thing, no matter how powerful he currently feels, because this was the exact instrument he used to kill the queen and steal the very powers he has now. He knows he is no match…yet. What Jade doesn't mention (or know) is that this timely assist she helped provide is the very reason for Jack's rise, and therefore John's need for assistance in the first place. Idiots. They're all idiots.

(Topatoco 1, 22) John: Deallocate hammerkind specibus, reallocate as ghostbusters2mmorpgkind.

(Book 2, 34) A basic, serviceable sickle is readily available for Karkat to wield in lieu of the simple, workmanlike hammer that was available to John. Is there any meaning to draw from the fact that the hammer and sickle combine to form a widely recognized symbol for communism? Doubtful. Except to provide the shippers with a quality name for the Johnkat ship.

(Book 2, 54) Behold, the mighty pogo hammer. Once, John's dangerous childhood nemesis in the form of the backyard pogo ride. Now, a similarly self-jeopardizing implement of only marginal combat value. Just think how easily one misfiring BONG could send him launching off the roof, or maybe just send the hammer careening back in his face?

(Book 2, 189) If you ask me, there aren't enough hammers whose handle is a fully functional, presumably delicate telescope. Not enough hammers made out of huge ancient joke books either.

(Book 1, 263) In this scene, a moment in Con Air is reenacted, when John Malkovich threatens the bunny and delivers that line, while Nic Cage assaults him with a sledgehammer, discovers it's a bit too heavy to wield, topples backwards and breaks it, while Malkivich proceeds to taunt him with the bunny forever thereafter via infinitely looping animation. (Some of that isn't true???????????)

(Book 1, 289) Davesprite made this sick time-powered hammer because he spent months on LOHAC and presumably mined its legendary riches. Including the hammer, or at least the ingredients to make it. His denizen, Hephaestus, is a legendary blacksmith, and his planet is a realm of clockwork, tailor-made for a Time Hero. Also look how big it is in its natural state. Almost like a thing an absolutely huge blacksmith would wield in the core of a planet made of lava.

(Book 1, 290) When you bash someone over the head with this hammer, it stops time for them for a little while. Regardless of its actual damage-dealing capabilities, it's a very tactically useful weapon. That's probably why it actually stays in John's inventory all the way to the final battle, and he still gets some good use out of it in that fight.

(Book 1, 299) John just got this killer hammer upgrade, so of course we should get to see him take it for a spin. We've never even heard of a lich before, but it stands to reason they are a lot deadlier than mere imps. But John makes light work of them anyway with his new hammer. So, yep, it's a strong hammer all right. Good to know.

(Book 6, 415) Then we enjoy another sick weapon upgrade, which is always gratifying. CD agrees, obviously. ONE ZILLION isn't even a fucking number, so I'm really not sure how this thing ever got made. But it doesn't matter much, because these "ultimate weapons" are all deus exed out of a self-fulfilling paradox hole, in a way that sort of makes it clear that it isn't the point to see how they get made or where they originally came from, and any future access to this info will basically be bonus material. But for the record, Gamzee probably made this thing originally. We saw him with it earlier, and he's a random ass clown, so…checks out? Yeah.

(Book 6, 416) Obviously we need a very serious Flash accompaniment to celebrate the existence of this preposterous hammer. Which I guess I should point out originated in a Problem Sleuth bonus page, per a fan's suggestion. The name of the hammer was provided, and I simply drew a rather silly fucking hammer, and that was that. Until I crammed it deep into the unforgiving craw of Homestuck lore, because given enough time, I'm just going to find a way to import everything I've ever done in the past into everything I will ever do in the future.

(Book 5, 455) I have another confession to make: this battle serves no purpose. Few of them do, really. It's just that the game logic was already there, so it was easily adaptable for this game, with a couple of updated sprites. It is a more challenging battle, though, and you get to try out your cool, new time-freezing hammer while you're at it. Which, to be fair, isn't just a fun thing for you to try out. It actually does help defeat this much tougher imp in a tactical sense.

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Volume 4

The beginning of this volume flat out spoils things by putting characters that haven't been introduced yet on the character page. (MarineAngemon, the Juri clone, the D-Reaper queen...) Maybe that's a common practice with shounen manga...but it shouldn't be. Like, what's the point?

Ch. 22

Lopmon and Terriermon interacting will never get old. Love how they lift their ears with curiosity when they first see each other.

I think I prefer experiencing the ~sad~ part of Tamers better in manga form. I remember it being quite drawn out in the anime and I rather just blitz through it at this point. I think the whole Leomon death storyline just annoys me because they barely developed his character and then the writing expects me to be devastated. Juri was more developed, sure, but we barely got any insight into her relationship with Leomon so her deep, dark depression doesn't feel super warranted either.

Ch. 23

I think this chapter was pretty well done. They're giving an epic battle it's time instead of zooming past it.

It bugs me that there isn't a specific name for digimon/human digivolutions. In this translation they called it a "true mega form." On the wiki it's called both an ultimate and a matrix digivolution. IDK why it doesn't count as a jogress. I guess there's like...two different things: the way you digivolve (matrix) and the digivolution level (ultimate)? If it's confusing for me, I can only imagine it'd be confusing for a kid.

It's a bit weird for an English translation, but I like that Guilmon says "MMA!" a lot. I can totally hear him making that noise with his OG voice. Creative onomatopoeia.

Ch. 24

Grrr Jian said "crumbcakes," so done with this stupid translation

This chapter was hella short, not much to say about it.

Ch. 25

Okay, now they're calling it a "biomerge digivolution." I guess the localizers also thought "this needs a cool name!"

Casual 90s/early 2000s sexism sprinkled throughout this translation. Takato says he "screams like a little girl" in a previous chapter and in this one he says "easy to forget Renamon and Rika are girls when they're always kicking butt!" Eye roll...

SaintGalgomon looked super badass but for some reason when Sakuyamon appeared they chose to dedicate two closeup panels to her chest and high heels? Sus...

Ch. 26

Juri's face didn't look as sinister here as it did in the anime (when it's revealed she's possessed). I guess that's probably a good thing. More subtle.

I don't remember the sovereign digimon giving Culumon a "you're a real boy now" speech in the anime. That was sweet.

They cut the part where Beelzebumon gets zapped by a bunch a digimon. In this he just collapses after the battle with Dukemon, which I think I prefer. (But why'd he say he'd be "bunny chow?" He wasn't even fighting Terriermon...)

Ch. 27

The grotesque, over-the-top facial expressions the artist keeps drawing for Hirokazu piss me off. They're just so ugly.

Ugh...they really had to ruin a serious moment (Guilmon getting the ark to stop) with a poop joke. This manhua does NOT treat its audience with respect.

Hmm they completely cut out Juri's family. So much for developing her character I guess.

They kind of forgot to imply that the ark is sentient. I mean they showed it stopping on its own, but in the anime they really hammered it home by having Guilmon have a conversation with it and showing it's HAL-like eye. That was one of my fave parts so I'm sad lol

Ch. 28

Okay, this is starting to feel totally different from the anime, they skipped like 5 episodes worth of content. Also, IDK if the scanlation I'm reading is missing some pages because the ending with Dukemon being beat up was completely nonsensical (it cut from Beelzebumon being hit to a panel with Dukemon outta nowhere?) I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that there are missing pages...

The scene where Beelzebumon uses Leomon's attack to save Juri played out differently here. She doesn't seem particularly perturbed by it and Beelzebumon can't save her because he gets attacked, not because Juri recoils for too long.

Ch. 29/30

Lol they completely cut out Justimon. Makes Ryo's role even more pointless! Ryo doesn't even reappear at all...

This manhua series was crap to begin with but they really screwed the pooch with this ending. SOOO rushed. Grani appeared outta nowhere with zero introduction. Like they just went immediately to Grani's sacrifice. I still don't know if I'm missing pages or if the writing is just that garbage. Oh well! I tried.