#will get back 2 better quality art soon!

[upperhug]

had to do them too :}

#will get back 2 better quality art soon! #just been busy with a lot of irl happenings :’) #myart #punch out #super punch out #gabby jay #piston hurricane #bob charlie #dragon chan #masked muscle #heike kagero #mad clown #narcis prince #hoy quarlow #rick bruiser #nick bruiser

[thezombieprostitute]

I know we may not know him too well but how about Dream Come True- Steve and 29 from the kiss prompts 😏

Hummingbird 

Word Count: ~1300

A/N: This takes place a couple of years before Dream Come True. Ask is based on this post.

Warnings: Drugging of a character

Part 2

Series Masterlist

Steve had his best fake smile plastered on. He was hosting a party, he had to appear approachable and friendly, even if he didn’t feel like it. The conversations could be so boring and draining. His one reprieve for the night was that he was hosting the party at an art gallery. The last night of the display of one of his favorite artists. Every chance he got he was appreciating the art.

At least until he saw you. Steve knew everyone at the party, they’d been vetted by his team, but he didn’t know you. There was no recognition, no faint memory of ever seeing you before and Steve’s memory was better than most. Your dress was just shy of the quality he’d expect from his guests, indicating you weren’t in the higher echelons of the city’s social circles. You were definitely a party crasher who shouldn’t be here. 

He should call security, have them discreetly take you away, but as he watches you he realizes that, unlike other party crashers, you’re not here for the people. You never take a glass of the expensive champagne offered to guests. You barely talk to anyone and excuse yourself from conversation quickly. You’re looking at the art. You’re flitting from piece to piece like a hummingbird and smiling at each one. You might be a party crasher, but you’ve clearly got good taste and good manners. He decides he’ll let you stay but keep an eye on you.

Pretty soon he realizes he can’t stop watching you. Your genuine joy with each new piece of art you look at is endearing. Especially as he keeps having to deal with fake smiles and false promises. It also makes your frown stand out even more. 

You walked over to a man who appeared to be taking away a woman who’d drunk too much. While you hadn’t had any of the champagne, you couldn’t imagine it would get someone so drunk they could barely move. You approach, ignoring the glares the man gave you, and ask, “what happened?”

“It’s nothing,” the man replies. “She just had a little too much to drink. I’m just getting her home.”

“She doesn’t look drunk,” you retort. “She looks like she needs to go to a hospital.”

“She’s just a lightweight is all,” he sneers. “I’ll take good care of her. Now get lost.”

“Let me take a look at her, please. I really think she needs a doctor.”

“No,” he barks. “She just needs to get home and get some rest.”

“Walker,” a deep, stern voice behind you started. “Do you need some help?”

“Rogers,” Walker stammers. “Seriously, I just need to get the lady home. That’s all.”

“Walker, if I get security over here and search your pockets, are they going to find some pills?”

Walker stammers a bit before dropping the girl and trying to run for it. He only makes a couple steps before Rogers has him slammed against a wall, signaling security to come in. You’re already picking up the young woman from the floor, checking her pupils for dilation, getting her into a more comfortable position. 

Rogers is talking to a few people as security quietly takes Walker out of the gallery, “Sam, go get Strange or Badr. She probably needs a doctor. Bucky, go get Danvers and Rambeau to come help their daughter.” They head in separate directions and he turns to see you checking the girl. He bends down and turns her face towards him, “Monica, we’re getting your mothers. You’re going to be okay.” She seems to relax at that. 

Before long a few people come over and you step back so they can take care of the girl. You figure you should leave before your status as party crasher gets found out but Rogers gently grabs your arm, making you stay in place as he gets the situation sorted. You try to squirm out of his grip a few times before he pulls you to him and whispers, “settle down, Hummingbird. You’re not in trouble but we need to talk.” You’re unsure where the nickname came from but you take comfort in his words and stop trying to escape. 

They’re getting Monica to an ambulance but a tall blonde woman turns to Rogers, fury in her eyes. He points to the door where security took Walker and she storms in that direction.

Once you’re alone you try, one more time, to pull away, “I guess you should get back to your party, Sir.” The look he gives you makes you freeze.

“I’m not generally one for repeating myself, Hummingbird,” he begins. “But I understand you might be out of your depth tonight. You are not in trouble but we still need to have a chat.”

“Yes, Sir,” you lower your head. 

He chuckles and lifts your chin, “call me Steve.”

“Yes, St…Steve.” 

He smiles at you before turning and leading you to a separate wing of the gallery that had been closed off for the party. You know you should pay attention to him, but your eyes keep looking at the beautiful art around you. When you finally do turn back to Steve his smile has grown.

“So, what brings you to my party?”

“I…I just wanted to look at the art.”

“Why not look during normal gallery hours?”

“Work,” you confess. “I got so swamped I didn’t have time to come see the show. Jack Russell is such an amazing artist and I was desperate for a chance to see his art in person. I put on my nicest dress and slipped in with a small group. I’m very sorry.” You hang your head in apology, waiting for some kind of punishment or consequence for your actions. He said you weren’t in trouble but there had to be some kind of repercussion. 

“I believe you,” he states. “I was watching you almost all night.” You lift your eyes at his words, confusion written all over your face. “You weren’t invited, it’s true, but you weren’t drinking any champagne. You didn’t annoy any guests. You were just flitting from piece to piece, actually enjoying the show. I figured as long as you weren’t causing trouble, I’d let you be. And I’m very glad for that.”

“I wasn’t planning on staying long,” you sighed. “Didn’t want to get caught so I moved quickly between the pieces.”

“Flitting like a hummingbird,” he chuckled. “But in coming here, breaking into my party, you saved a young woman. In doing so you also saved my party and, quite frankly, my reputation. I can’t be known as someone whose parties are unsafe or cater to creeps like Walker turned out to be. As such, I would like to reward you.”

“Um..wh..what?”

Steve’s bright blue eyes seemed to shine with your response. “And I think I know the perfect reward. I’m friends with the curator here. I’ll give you her information and any time there’s a show you really want to see, but can’t get to, call her and she’ll make sure you get in at a time that’s convenient for you.”

“What?!” Your eyes grow wide at his words, “that’s far too generous, Sir! I can’t accept that!”

“It’s ‘Steve’ little Hummingbird,” he lowers his face to your level, his voice lowering with it, “and you will accept the reward. I’ll also make sure you get invited to every party I host at this place. Watching your genuine enjoyment was the highlight of the party tonight. I’d love to see more of it.”

“Are…are you sure about this, Steve?”

Eyes never leaving yours, he gently grabs your hand and kisses it, “I promise, I want nothing more than for you to accept.”

Many thanks @yenzys-lucky-charm for the ask! It really helped push the scales towards making a full mob/mafia AU. 😆

Part 2

Series Masterlist

#zombie asks #mob boss!steve rogers #mob!steve rogers #mafia!steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x female reader #mob!steve rogers x reader

[dirtytransmasc]

Spider and Tuk being the bestest siblings ever and spider being the mvp big brother we all know he is hc's (modern + adopted spi au addition):

Before he could drive he would wait at Tuk's bus stop to get her off the bus. He insisted on doing it to "ease the workload on his parents" (since with Jake and Neytiri's work schedule, Tuk would have to go to an afterschool program and someone would have to pick her up) which it does, but it was really cause he liked to have the quality time with Tuk.

On their walk home he would ask her about school. He asks about what she did, if she brought anything home she wanted to show him (normally stuff from art class), if she did anything special or fun, that sort of stuff. He also stays up to date on her school gossip and makes sure no one's bothering his baby sis.

They hold hands the whole walk home, and more often than not he ends up carrying her or her bag for her.

Once he gets his license he picks her up from school and fills the 45 minute-ish time she would have normally spent on the bus and walking home at the park or getting ice cream or something else of the like.

When they get home he makes sure to look at anything she brought home. All the cool stuff first; art, school work she's proud of, a pretty pebble, or the occasional half wilted flower from the recess field. He makes sure to give all the praise and compliments possible, especially to the art and school work, cause he's supporting those skills early. Then he makes sure he gets all the homework, permission slips, things like that.

When his siblings ask why he does it, he says, "Who's gonna ask her to see what she drew during recess? Who's gonna ask if she did anything fun with her best friend? Who's gonna make sure she's not left out of the loop? We're a busy family, I don't want her getting left out just cause she's little, I'll ask, I like doing it anyway" he knows his family's busy, he knows Tuk tends to fall to the background cause she's the youngest, and that Jake and Neytiri are busy trying to keep them all afloat, so he takes care of Tuk.

He helps her with her homework and never raises his voice or gets frustrated. He sits next to her and they figure it out together.

He's always proud of her, even for the little things, so he's always giving her hugs and kissing her hair and other classic big brother things.

More often than not, Spider puts Tuk to bed. Either Jake and Neytiri give up trying to tame the "cranky banshee" (what Spider call her when she's tired) of a child and call Spider in, or she asks for him. He'll lay down next to her and pull her close and tell her stories until she gets sleepy and cuddled into him. Only then does he pull out the "put'em to sleep" combo, as he calls it; he hum to her (he hums "a la nanita na", like his mama used to hum to him, fight me) while rubbing her back with one hand and plays with her braids with the other. She's out like a light in a few minutes every time.

He often refers to her as a little banshee whenever she's being feisty or especially energetic.

There was an almost 2 month streak where Tuk would only sleep if Spider stayed in her room for the night or if she was in Spider's bed (which she preferred cause it was bigger and cozier). Spider didn't mind so he gave in almost immediately. Best sleep he got in years, even with the bony knees and elbows poking him.

Spider will sacrifice himself when she gets sick, opting to be the one to go comfort her, knowing he'll be sick soon after. He has spent many nights holding her on the bathroom floor and wiping snotty noses. (he always gets it and gets it *worse* but it's worth it for his baby sis)

Tuk always does he best to take care of him after. She'll sit in bed with him and pet his hair or bring him snacks/water. When she was little, she'd bring out all her Doc McStuffin's toys (cause she'd love Doc McStuffin's, again, fight me) and try and 'make him better'

Spider has the strongest cuteness aggression ever for Tuk, like, he wants to squish her and bite her and squeeze her and shake her, with all of the love in the world. He satiates himself by snatching her, flopping on the floor, and bear hugging her as tight as he can, with his legs too, and just rolling back and forth till she's giggling so hard she can't breathe.

He is deeply invested in multiple children's shows because of how often he watches them with her. (His favorite is Wild Kratts, Paw Patrol, and Ninja Turtles)

(this one next one is so random but Spi and Tuk have pastina lover vibes, again, I dare you to fight me on this)

Spider spent time in the system and fending for himself, meaning he picked up a lot of easy recipes, one of which, was pastina with butter, broth, and cheese. He passed this on to Tuk, who has now decided this is the best snack ever and asks him to make it all the time.

Spider works out, just so he can carry her around forever and ever.

He always make sure that he and his older little siblings always give time to Tuk and involve her in their play.

They go on day trips after he gets his license, sometimes just the two of them, other times with all the Sully kids. They go to museums and science centers and such. He again holds her hand most of the time, or makes sure that she doesn't get lost while playing.

Worries over her constantly.

They trade art all the time. He'll make her a knew piece of jewelry and she'll give him a new painting to keep in his room.

He has a picture of her in his wallet.

He takes so many photos of her, he's like a facebook mom. Lo'ak makes fun of him.

He's teaching her how to skateboard, cause she thinks he's the coolest ever cause he knows how to skateboard. He got her a pretty skateboard and hot pink gear (in which he went overboard in buying considering her basically bought her a hot pink suit of armor) and helped her decorate it. He also makes sure she's not picked on when they go to the skate park.

He kisses every boo boo.

He makes and (never ever breaks) lots of pinky promises.

they have a special handshake.

When the Sully's go out anywhere, you can tell when Tuk wants to go home, because she'll be in Spi's arms, cause he'd never turn down an opportunity to hold his baby sister.

They match hair beads. Spi will always have at least one that matches with hers at all times, and Tuk will have one of his on the braid behind her ear so she can fiddle with it.

Tuk always double and triple checks that Spider has his inhaler (he doesn't know how she remembers better than he can)

She wears his shirts to bed a lot. They're big and soft and who could blame her?

should I do more of these (maybe one for each sibling?)

#Spider is the big brother who makes sure the baby of the family isn't left behind for being little #he spends intentional time with her #so even stuff like walking home or going to the park or doing homework feels so special to her #because he's making sure to do it. to ask her questions. to hug her and tell her he's proud of her. to play with her #he's not doing it cause he has to. but cause he wants to #he sees the way it makes her *shine* and makes sure to double down his efforts #the trope of the youngest sibling deciding that the eldest siblings bed is theirs and just refusing to sleep elsewhere is the superior trop #spider is the type to parentify himself and thrive #Tuk's his kid actually #the other sully kids are his siblings. Kiri and Lo'ak are his best friends. 'teys his little big brother. but Tuk is the *baby*. *his* baby #miles socorro #miles spider socorro #spider socorro #tuk #tuk tuk #tuktirey #tuktirey te suli neytiri'ite #tuktirey sully #avatar 2 #avatar the way of water #atwow headcanons

[in-g-major]

ATLA Unpacked: Ty Lee's Potential

One of the many things we missed out on from ATLA Book 3 was a Ty Lee character arc. Of Azula's trio she's ultimately the least explored and most auxiliary, which is sad. The possibilities were certainly there: a girl who seems too good-natured for the ruthlessness of the Fire Nation, coerced into helping Azula, seemingly naive about what her nation is doing or perhaps too timid to voice her concerns. Gee, all that sure rings a bell doesn't it? So, here are some things that I think could have been done w/ Ty Lee given what we know about her. 1. Friendship with Zuko and eventual Redemption Arc Canon screwed this one up during "The Beach," but there's no reason it had to be that way. Ty Lee should have been the person Zuko warmed up to the most given that they're both more caring people than Mai and Azula. With Ty Lee and Zuko, you have two sheltered and privileged teenagers who don't quite fit the mold of what Fire Nation children are *supposed* to be. As a result, Zuko is banished and Ty Lee leaves her aristocratic home life behind. Zuko's banishment and journey across the world helps him realize that the Fire Nation's war is wrong. Ty Lee, who was part of a traveling Fire Nation circus and eventually traveled the Earth Kingdom with Azula, could have easily come to the same realization. We never even get her perspective on the war in canon! Just imagine Ty Lee and Zuko bonding over martial arts, theater, and collecting pretty sea shells. They bring out each other's best qualities and motivate each other's redemption. 2. Standing up to Azula This has been commented on before, but Mai being the one who defies Azula instead of Ty Lee during "The Boiling Rock" is not a satisfying emotional climax. Mai happily left her boring life behind in "Return to Omashu" as soon as Azula gave her an opportunity, and she openly defied Azula's orders with no fear of retribution at least once. What Azula represented for Mai wasn't fear. Azula was the metaphorical "devil" on Mai's shoulder, distracting her from her lack of emotional fulfillment with fun and thrills. The one who was genuinely afraid of Azula, and abandoned her passion out of that fear, was Ty Lee. Ty Lee standing up to Azula and emerging victorious is far more emotionally and narratively satisfying given their dynamic. It also gives Mai a more character appropriate choice to make in the situation. Which leads me to my third point 3. Mai and Ty Lee marsreds made a fantastic commentary I read years ago. I'll link it in the comments, but her point was that throwing Mai into an awkward and uninteresting relationship with Zuko took the focus away from her relationships with Azula and Ty Lee and made her character arc about a boy. It's a pretty damning commentary on the sexism that seeped into the way ATLA's female characters were written, and how that became the norm for the franchise by the time of the comics. Anyway, a hugely missed opportunity for Ty Lee and Mai was their relationship with each other. Even though I am pro MaiLee, I won't make this ship heavy. Ultimately the writing has to come first, but Mai and Ty Lee do have a fun and touching dynamic. Ty Lee is even more playful and affectionate with Mai than she usually is, and Mai shows genuine care and empathy for Ty Lee. When they reunite in Omashu, Mai asks Ty Lee what happened with her joining the circus. Then, during "The Beach," Mai is the only one who stands up for Ty Lee, telling Zuko to back off and figuring out the root of Ty Lee's desire for attention. We never see Mai this invested in someone else's feelings and well-being with anyone else. The character appropriate choice for Mai in "The Boiling Rock" wasn't betraying Azula for teen love. It was choosing between the friend who encouraged her better self (Ty Lee) or the friend who kept her from growing as a person (Azula).

#atla #atla meta #ty lee #mai #azula #anti maiko #mailee #g major writes #g major meta

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

status of babbit's life yeehaw

tl,dr: busy moving and a couple of other big life things that just complicate things, but well on the way to being back to normal! new fic chapters and better quality art coming soon.

tl,wr (too long, will read):

Helloooo what's up its me, Babbit. or Rabbit. or Bones. or Idiot Moron Menace Child, idk im not picky lol

i know a lot of you guys have been wondering wtf is up with my upload schedule lately and the extreme lack of even basic content and also i am extremely aware that i have not updated my fics in a few millennia and for that i am very, very sorry. this post is to answer a few questions you might have, if anyone was curious about the 'reason' instead of just the 'when.'

my family and i have had a hell of a year, y'all. like, jesus christ, i really hope things level out and calm down for a while once we're moved in to our new apartment bc god damn we are so tired. the list goes: 1. we got kicked out of the house we were renting-to-own bc we wouldn't be able to afford the new rate, so they gave us two months to find a new place to live (not long enough, it turns out) and then foreclosed to get us out. 75% of our belongings were still in the house when we had to leave. that includes all of our christmas ornaments- including the ones kept for decades, and the ones made by me and my siblings, and the fancy ones made from blown glass. 2. the first night out of the house, one of our dogs, freaked out by the strangeness of the situation, panicked and slipped her harness and ran off. that was over a year ago. we haven't seen her since. 3. my cat got very ill and became unable to eat. she passed away almost exactly a year ago. she had been 14-15, and had been my baby since i was maybe 8. 4. one of the tires on my dads car blew out. during the night, while it was parked on the curb so he could put the spare on in the morning, one of the in-tact tires was fucking stolen LMAO 5. we applied to rent at so many places and got rejected so, so many times. it costs money to apply, btw. we're talking like $200+. no, u don't get that money back. 6. i lost my job bc knowing i would have to work 8 hours at a job that stresses me out to the point of exhaustion (at a place where no one takes me seriously and would actively laugh at me when i try to express my need to step away for a minute) sometimes paralyzed me and made me sick to my stomach and made me feel unable to leave the house, and i called out one too many times. a day after my birthday, too! 7. just recently, like within the last week, my dad's car got fuckin totalled!!!!!

THE GOOD NEWS IS WE OFFICIALLY, FINALLY, AFTER A SOLID YEAR, HAVE AN APARTMENT!!!!! I'LL HAVE MY OWN ROOM AGAIN!!! THERE'S AN ENTIRE KITCHEN!!!!!!!

the 'oh god' news is we still have to move in, and replace a lot of the stuff that we just couldn't take with us when we moved out (mostly stuff like bookshelves, dining table, dressers, etc) AND get the few things we could cram into a storage center out and moved into the new place, which isn't a lot but at the same time is more than we can realistically handle on our own. and then, we have to get my mums cats (a pair of kitty sisters that we had to temporarily house with my aunt, who got tired of looking after them and let them outside to be outdoor cats a few months ago. yes, this was an extremely shitty thing to do, and we've been working hard to get them back safely) AND my gecko (who my cousin has been looking after, even tho feeding him worms freaks him out LMAO yes i plan on compensating him) moved in, as well... basically oh my god there is so much to worry about but at the same time it's nice to have to worry about it bc it means we're making progress sdkfhsjdkfhdsjfh

basically i am just so tired but so busy and also thinkin abt so much im so sorry for lack of stuff but i am so looking forward to being able to bounce back, pls stick with me, it'll be sorted out soon i think and then i'll hit y'all with some good stuff i promise!!!!!!!

anyway thank u guys i love u and appreciate u all for sticking around

#bones of a rabbit #rambles #life update #lore of a babbit #babbit lore #personal stuff #vent #rant #in case anyone was curious #long post #tldr #tw death #tw grief #tw pet death

[akai-anna]

Rambling post about The Art TM

Firstly, a special thank you to @livmadart who fuelled my motivation with her lovely tags on my art to finish making this post as soon as I could (life just likes to get in my way). You are such an amazing person and artist (by the way, everyone should totally check out Liv's BDay piece for our favourite little menace BECAUSE IT'S GORGEOUS), and your words always mean a lot to me (even if I'm not the best at communication, for which I apologize, still love and adore you, despite the awkwardness and sporadic talks).

The Idea

My art was inspired by the amazing @detshin's piece. Ever since I've seen it, I felt the urge to make a companion piece for it; I adore the composition and the symbolism in it to bits.

The Concept

I also wanted to take my own spin on the piece. From the start I wanted:

Conan's eyes not being covered (because he can see)

Conan looking at the viewer like he is looking straight into your soul. No thoughts, head empty why, it just felt right.

His mouth to be the one that is covered in some way. The sheer symbolism of his mouth being obstructed (but cannot speak) just made my heart ache so badly.

Changing the outfit based on this musing of mine.

As for the rest, it came about when sketching around, and waiting for that CLICK in my brain. And the forget-me-nots covering his mouth was that CLICK: SYMBOLISM IS MY LIFEBLOOD.

The Materials

I had 2 techniques in mind: watercolours and soft pastels. Ultimately I decided on soft pastels because

I haven't worked with pastels in YEARS, yet I adore the technique

I haven't used these pastels since I got them from an attic cleaning that we did for an old lady last year-ish (they would have been thrown away, after YEARS OF DISUSE and my heart couldn't take it, SUCH BEAUTIFUL MATERIALS TO WASTE AWAY)

I felt that what the material has to offer suited this particular piece: the vibrant colours offering a certain contrast to the original piece, and a certain feel (especially on the right paper) to the texture.

After some testing, I decided that going with a dark background works better: it made the colours more vibrant, and the slight texture of the paper did its magic. + Dark VS Light background colour was another nice contrast between the two pieces.

The Making

At first I didn't know what to use to sketch with, so I tested a couple things, and ultimately went with a white pencil: easy enough to erase if needed but also visible enough to see on this particular paper I had.

Looking up and studying tons of reference pictures for various things (sometimes with more, sometimes with less luck): the pose, facial features, the flowers... I have a whole folder of 'em LMAO

Actually drawing that sketch LOL

Then came the colours, which I tested on a separate piece of paper, to see which ones I want to use... After that I added the main blocks of colours.

And when I liked it, proceeding with the actual colouring: mixing all the different colours and layering them. In some places I used 4-6 colours (or more, depending how you look at it), while I used only 2, but mostly 3 in others.

Lastly: I used hairspray as a fixative, which slightly changed the quality and texture of the pastels and colours. (See below.)

The Feelings

As mentioned above, it has been years (I think around a decade actually, what the fck) since I used soft pastels, so it was a bit of a challenge to get back into using the material (and I'm not as experimental and confident I want to be yet, and likely fried my brain a little in the process). Also tons of fun, though! I forgot how much fun is there in the process of creation, and this piece brought that back into my life.

#la junk talks #my stuff #just lots of rambling #also i've been meaning to finish this a lot sooner but life interrupted me #and ended up a lot busier than planned so apologies to my past self that thought i would be finished with this post much sooner #instead of only posting this on the next sunday #which makes it a week. to be fair i haven't had much free time all week. only today lmao #with this i'm shutting up #if anyone wants to ask anything or just want to chat about this piece (or in general): you are more than welcome to approach me #time to faint to bed #and if you want more detail pics i have tons so... i'M just proud of this piece ALL RIGHT? had to make sure i have PICS

[cathalbravecog]

Hi! I'm kinda shy but I love your vintage finish on your work. Would you consider offering pointers for how to achieve that vibe?

oh, absolutely!! i love that sort of style and i think more people should be able to achieve it if they want!! shouldn't gatekeep art stuff ^^ i don't really do vintage style stuff a lot, and i take more comic book/print/retro inspo than anything. but, these go hand in hand!! please know i am still learning, too! this is just how i do it.

also, there's a lot of guides for this online and tools... that you have to purchase. i can assure you everything listed here is free! (including my pirated SAI2 copy!) some things have donations available towards the artists that made them, so you can do that if you want to support an artist :D

i'll go over basically everything i know, so this WILL get long! i also spent hours going over several days searching for resources, so i'll list everything so you don't have to ^^

(PART 1/2 BECAUSE OF IMAGE LIMITATIONS!!! PART 2 SHOULD BE WRITTEN SOON AFTER THIS ONE!! reblog THAT once it's done!)

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THE ART ITSELF / INSPIRATIONS:

for the ARTSTYLE and WHAT you draw: you can just draw whatever!! really, do your own thing! twist this style in your own way, it doesn't have to be a 100% accurate!! i literally used these same vintage look effects in a drawing drawn in my usual style of high roller. you can draw anything you want and you don't need to copy comicbook styles or all that!!

or - you CAN take inspo from vintage comic books / artwork or other printed comics! (for me tom and jerry comes to mind as something with a toony style, since it's what i read as a kid. also donald duck comics! no need to follow this but if you wanna be extra you can! ^^ looking at inspo is good.)

however you will need to look at examples aside from just the Artstyle, to achieve the actual Look!!

here's some examples pics i took of some comics i own laying around in a shelf. these are mixed ages, the asterix and ducktales comics being older and the tom and jerry comic being newer. i have some oldies since i got them passed down! czech text + asterix jumpscare, sorry.

to move on from the artstyle talk fully and more to the general style/look part - notice how the tom and jerry has brighter colors, less dirt, and an overall better quality!!

one thing i want you to note, in older prints there's obvious color misprinting and imperfections! you may chose to do this, or don't! depends what kind of era or printing you wanna reference. of course, also keep in mind the veeery limited CYMK colors they had Back In The Day. also note the dirt!!! how some parts are lighter and more chipped and how it isn't a full block of color!!

a lot of this does parrot posessedpasm's own guide, which i HIGHLY recommend! it's where i got a jump-start on things. there's other things listed on their post, which you should give a read! goes over history of some things that will let you have a better understanding of stuff.

speaking of inspo and on the topic of posessedpasm, before we move on - they're one of my biggest inspirations for this! their art is incredible and i think it's important to look at other artists' take on these styles. go out there and look at other artists who draw in a similar style achieving the same retro look!!! (no but genuinely i could look at posessedpasm's art forever... i love just looking at it and studying it!! i want what they have... but i'm not gonna gush now!)

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

ACTUAL TECHNICALITIES / HOW THE FUCK DO I DO IT ???:

FIRST, LINEART!!: i choose a brush that's somewhat fluttery and resembles ink at least a little bit, instead of a basic round brush. here's the brush i used, for any sai2 users. i'll show my krita faves after!!

(note brush size, gets fuzzier the bigger it is)

and the krita alternatives! i don't do inking / lineart in krita in 99.9% of my art unless i'm experimenting. but there's some great brushes you can find online to use! here's links to the ones on screen

tomb of null

buck a. brush

ramonm inktober (he just presents it but since it's his post i named it that) (download link is on the video!)

that alone already gets the lineart look just a bit. but it's not all! krita is especially useful for this, as sai doesn't have this function. (but i find my way around it

here's a WIP screenshot i took while drawing that piece VS the final piece!

you may notice the lineart is "chipped" away in some spots. printing always wasn't perfect and created some imperfections, that may smudge and chip away as time goes on.

HERE'S A GUIDE FOR IMITATING THAT!!!!

what i do, is simply create a clipping layer on the lineart. (typically i do the lineart, then color, THEN do lineart effects, but this is just for show) (i also usually have a set, typically orange/yellow background color picked already, but i haven't done that here for Whatever Reason)

set it to "erase" layer mode... (and click the little "a" to actually clip it to the layer. you could also just make a quick clipping group that does it for you!)

and draw over the lineart! (preferably with a highly textured "dirty" brush!) the erase clipping layer will only erase the lineart, and nothing underneath it. you can change the opacity up and down to adjust the erasing... you can add more erase layers to play with the effect a little!

what i then do (sometimes), i ctrl+e the lineart group to one layer. i copy it. i ctrl+z to go back to keep the group if needed. i paste the copied lineart underneath it. i add a blur filter, shift it to be slightly off from the lineart by a few pixels, and set it to "burn". i may change the color to be a very dark orange-ish brownish color. gives an effect of the lineart bleeding a little!

COLORING!!:

color: okay so for this part i just kinda bullshit it and either pick whatever colors i want, or i color pick them from this image below then slightly alter if i need a different color. i do not have the patience to do my own cymk layer management digitally, just adding my effects can take OVER an hour and i have a way that looks nice Without It. i either fake my color misprints later or i just don't do it. still stuff to consider!

(taken from posessedpasm's guide! this is how i colored my sticky lou drawing. usually i will just pick my own colors and yellow them/dim them slightly.)

how do i do it: i color in sai using my usual brush or the one i showed previously. if i color on krita i use a different fuzzy kind of brush...

some colors i do on different layers and i move them slightly to make the misprinted effect. then i may erase small bits of it to make it look a bit better if i want.

if you really want the funky color mixing that may not be Extra Accurate anyway - draw using different colors on different layers. the layer overlapping with the bottom layer... set it to "multiply" and eyedrop the color where the two colors overlap. set the layer effect back to "normal". lock your opacity so you draw only on the Already Colored Parts and color the overlapping area using the eyedropped color! neato !

ONE THING TO NOTE!!! if something is white, you should leave it uncolored/transparent. unless you stylize it to be a different color entirely, if so... go ahead! but if it's WHITE white - just don't color it at all!!!

and now, to my Favorite part - the halftone overlay effect!!! here's where things can get fairly convincing already - plus, i use this effect / similar even in my normal art!

before ANYTHING!! at least, for krita - to achieve the best look i use the newspaper plugin!

newspaper plugin for krita

FIRST, i merge the color layer into one layer and then add it into a clipping group. i then copy the color layer and paste it OUTSIDE the clipping group.

then, select your PASTED color layer (named on the screenshot so u know what i mean) and go to tools>scripts>newspaper (once you install the plugin!)

i then play with the settings a bit. i typically don't touch everything - i just change the mode to Four color (CMY+K Pictures) or Four color (CMYK - Pictures) (this one usually looks better imo)

i also change the size to be smaller, usually around 4.00px.

click OK! it'll generate cymk halftone layers IN a clipping group! don't worry about the black, you can rid of it easily ;]

just close the group and move it to be inside of your color group below! clip the whole cmyk group over the color layer... and BOOM!

but that's not it! set the newspaper group's layer effect to luminosity (or whatever you find works best...!) adjust the opacity to around 50%-30% and BOOM!!

though, that's not all! do the same things we did to erase up the lineart earlier to the coloring, too. same steps! in the same clipping group! just make sure it's above the cmyk newspaper group.

you can then group both lineart groups and color groups into ANOTHER group that will contain them both. with that you can then make an erase layer over them both so they both get affected by it and make it look like both got chipped away, and not like they're separate entities. ^^

you can then use this for backgrounds... text... other things!

one important thing is also getting those papery, dirty effects... which i'll cover in a reblog! (image limit :,]) alongside that, i'll list all my resources for download there!!!

#art guide #art tutorial #art reference #vintage style #[answered] #guz art

[husbandohunter]

Hey I saw that your requests are open so, remember your genshin impact x reader, where the reader was very smol :X I have been recently Been simping intensely for ayato. Could you maybe make a part 2 where ayato is present? I would love to see that happen!

Inazuma Daycare [Baby Male Genshin]

Characters: Itto, Ayato, Thoma, Kazuha, Gorou

Synopsis: A supposed demon, a Yashiro Commissioner, a former criminal, a foreign servant and the General of Watatsumi…all under the age of six. Since it can’t be helped, you must do everything for them.

Tags: gn reader, platonic love, children

(A/n): When someone request the child series, it's free real estate *proceeds to insert the rest of the boys*

Arataki Itto

The loud kid who speaks before raising his hand. The kid who brings trading cards and aggressively shows off how poggers his legendary collections are worth MILLIONS (they're not). The kid who sucks the life energy out of your body.

"Teacher! Pick me, pick me!"

But you just can't hate him.

Itto would undoubtedly still be the tallest. His horns were like little bumps, barely poking out. He's not particularly savvy with his face painting skills yet, which you must fix it up for him after he got into a mess as always.

"I wanna use the colour red. Make it streak down like tears of blood on my face! Oh man, I'm going to look so cool!"

Okay Itto, now sit properly or this marker is going across your nose.

During art time, he likes to create his own version of 'Teyvat Creatures'. You had an earful of them: King of Hiligalaticalspectadogchurls and Evil Beans (the main villain of his hand-made manga by the way). Colours outside of the lines too. Very proud of his work. Sells them for 50 mora each.

Lunch time was the messiest for him. He can't hold his utensils and prefers to use bare hands.

The reason why Itto has such good beatboxing skills was that he practiced at a young age. Though he ends up spitting everywhere instead. You hope that he'll get better as soon as possible.

Voice cracks. You can hear him across the playground field.

But no matter how rowdy he is, Itto gets along with everybody and never leaves them feel left out. You find him inviting little children in the corner to a game of tag during recess. Sadly, he still ends up being last place in these games. Might pout. Might get salty. Might cry.

Itto refuses to agree that he is a crybaby. He runs a lot outside and would end up scraping his knee when too careless. You remember fixing a wound for him, his face would be all scrunched up as tears were piling up. He'll just keep repeating the same phrases: "this is nothing"/ "I'm a man and men don't cry".

You laughed, "Yes, indeed you are."

Kamisato Ayato

The kid whose parents fund your entire business. The popular trustfundkid. The kid way too mature for his age. Ayato holds tight to his refined image that he may come off a bit vain. Why is he even in your daycare anyways?

The first thing he does when entering you classroom was to mutter, "So this is where the donations went."

"Excuse you not everyone can afford high-quality furniture like you and for the record, I bought them myself."

When Thoma isn't available you'll be his substitute. It's unbelievable how rich the Kamisatos are. Ayato couldn't even fasten a sash knot and expected you to put on his kimono the moment he outstretched his hands.

You found a hidden bottle of Bubble Tea which of course, you confiscated. No desserts before lunchtime, Young Master.

Despite his rather lavish upbringing, you often found Ayato being picked up by his servants rather than his parents. His family loved him very much, but they were obviously too busy to attend their son's needs all the time. Since then, you saw him in a different light.

Thus when indoor recess was finished, you made Ayato in charge of putting the toys back into the toybox.

Thoma was about to help, that is, until you interjected faster than the Shogun's lightning.

This would be the first step to helping the young boy connect with his fellow classmates. He didn't have to be treated on a pedestal, he was an equal, a child who needed your attention more than anything. Initially, Ayato felt bothered by the tasks you gave to someone like him but those tasks ended up bringing the two of you closer.

For instance, serving the meals. Ayato genuinely liked your cooking much to your surprise. He was often served the best and healthiest dishes with the best ingredients but they lacked the cozy hearth-like feeling that you had. He said it tasted simple, yet honest.

Enjoys his hand being held when you both cross the street. Politely asks if he could keep holding onto you. “I like it when you hold me, teacher.” It's safe to say that the kid has grown attached, albeit clingy. Next thing you find yourself carrying him like a baby.

You will never know that Ayato intentionally finds excuses to follow you around. He'll get jealous when his classmates, even Thoma, steal your attention. And when you scold him for it, he'll get sad. But don't be fooled! They might just be puppy eyes.

Thoma

The kid every teacher- no, every MOTHER would dream to have. (Totally 100% a mommy's boy). He's got that vibe to attract grandmas and aunties of all sorts. Thoma deserves all the stickers and he always ends up claiming his sticker prizes first, for being such a good boy. In fact, he is the only kid that eats everything you serve, even the vegetables.

Give him the head pats, give him ALL the head pats (Ayato stares menacingly from the corner). "Whos a good boy? Yes you are, yes yoo are Thoma uuu!!"

In contrast to his master, Thoma was an appreciative, humble and attentive little boy. You found him glued to Ayato's side, performing duties such as carrying his luggage, smiling through the obvious heavy lifting. You feared that he was threatened and sold into child slavery.

Kid!Thoma would definitely be a ship figurine junkie. He'd bring in a new model everyday and held it tightly in his tiny, fat, little hands. It's so endearing to see him during indoor recess, when he drags his toy across the floor, making splattering sounds with his mouth.

"Sshhhhhhwishhhhhh, pow! Bam. Babababababbaammbam!!" he says while bumping two boats together in battle.

Thoma, boats can't shoot elements from their canons.

In art sessions, he drew you a picture of him and you together eating ?dango? (he tried his best, okay?), "This is for you teacher, because I love you soooo much!" HNNNNGG

*Clutching chest and dies of heart failure*

When there would be quarrels among the other kids (Oh the usual, Itto whining over how Sara took his favourite cup), he's the first to call you over. "Teacher said no more fighting, we have to be nice to each other!"

He's such a sweetheart. Thoma would pull in a stool and reach to sprinkle food into the fishtank before eating his lunch. He said he felts bad that the fish had to watch everyone eat while they wait for their turn :(

"Good job Thoma, here's your seventh sticker for the day."

Kaedehara Kazuha

The toddler 1/2

You recalled the day when Mister Tomo dropped off Kazuha on his in daycare for the first and he'd timidly clung to his pants while hiding from behind. He's a shy little one, still is. You had to do a little coaxing otherwise Mister Tomo would have been late for work and stayed in your school for the rest of the evening.

However when Mister Tomo managed to sneak out without Kazuha noticing, he started to cry immediately. It brought so much distress that Gorou felt like crying too. You had to carry him because if you didn't, Kazuha would have found some way and climb over the fence, chasing down the running figure.

It took a long time before Baby Kazuha became comfortable with you. He tends to be very sensitive, especially towards nature. You'd bring him to the school garden every once in a while to show him the flowers. He looked so cute when trying to grab a butterfly, twisting and turning in your arms.

Quiet reading time was when you spent most with the toddlers out of all the kids. Kazuha is the only one to take out a bunch of books but never go through all of them. He'd flip through a few pages before getting bored and moving on to the next. You found him to be an extremely fast learner when it comes to literate subjects.

The way his little smile stretches his chubby cheeks when he says a word out loud. That's it. That's the show.

Kazuha may be a toddler but he's old enough to walk and play with Itto and the other kids. The thing is, he never does. He prefers to quietly play in the sandbox with Gorou. It's a wonderful bonding experience for both of them. Since the day you taught Kazuha not to eat sand to draw shapes and build sandcastles, he couldn't pull away from it anymore. And if you did, he'll start whining.

Likes to play with the pet turtles. When I say play I mean he simply sits there and stares as they watch them slowly crawl on the floor. When Mister Tomo arrived to pick him up, Kazuha asked him whether they can have a turtle too.

Needless to say, he'll have no trouble coming to daycare anymore.

Gorou

The toddler 2/2

Juggling between Kazuha and Gorou was hard, especially when you had to shoo Itto away from petting his ears or prying Yae's hands from pulling his cheeks. He was often dropped off at daycare with a stuffed Shiba Inu in his arms, notably that it was his guardian and good luck charm. Everywhere he went, General Gorou Jr would follow him too.

Since he was still young, you also had to spoonfeed him his lunch. Ah but don't forget to feed General Gorou Jr! You would now be serving two small bowls as his stuffed toy took space on an empty seat. Most of the time it was just Gorou talking to his stuffed animal and you learned many things about his alter ego. From General Gorou Jr's birthday to the way that he liked his bread sliced up.

Gorou once placed his Shiba Inu against your cheek to mimic a dog kissing you indicating that General Gorou Jr appreciated all the work you've done. Totally not lowkey expecting a kiss in return.

It's funny how his dog sense would kick in and he would suddenly become shy about it. One of those moments was where he'll be digging the sand beside Kazuha's sandcastles and burying the shovels that were needed for the process. This would make Kazuha angry and they get into a fight over protecting/digging up the sandbox.

Then there were other moments when a ball would suddenly roll by (Yae) and it would distract him from whatever he was previously doing (ends up having his desserts stolen because no one was guarding it)

"Hehe, teacher did you know that Gorou sleeps while hugging his tail?"

See for yourself. When it was nap time, Gorou was the first one to fall asleep and the last one to wake up. He'd pull up his fluffy tail between his legs, nuzzling against the fur, dozing off into dreamland.

#Genshin Impact #genshin impact headcanons #genshin fluff #itto x reader #ayato x reader #thoma x reader #kazuha x reader #gorou x reader #arataki itto #kamisato ayato #kaedehara kazuha #thoma #gorou #genshin imagines #genshin impact scenarios #genshin headcanons #genshin #genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #nya writes #itto #ayato #kazuha

[flaretheidiot]

Y’know what? Screw it, I’mma finally post art here.

Here’s a line up of all my RTC + Legoland kid designs!!

I love them all dearly. Tall Penny/Jane, my beloved.

Headcanons under the cut!

Ocean O’Connell Rosenberg

-She/her

-Demisexual Omniromantic (female preference)

-Undiagnosed Autism + ADHD

-Constantly stims (her lil dances)

-Picks at skin or chews on nails when anxious

-Sleeps over at Constance’s so often that she has her own toothbrush there

-Learned social cues from reality TV

-Love-hate besties with Noel

-Sibling dynamic with Mischa

-Her parents legitimately suck I’m sorry

-Started eating lunch in the choir room with Constance and Ricky after almost biting Tammy in the cafeteria close to the events of Legoland

-No filter, says everything she thinks without realising if it might be rude

-(If all brought back) Is genuinely trying to be a better person, with the choirs’ help

-Love language is physical touch and words of affirmation

-Infodumps

Noel Gruber

-He/him

-Gay (canon)

-Autistic

-New Wave Cinema is his special interest

-Food problems (texture, taste, ect) make him rather picky

-Despises the smell of taco meat, but Taco Bell was the only place that hired him

-High metabolism

-Dad left Uranium after divorcing his mom when he was 5

-HARD pining for Mischa

-Writes nihilistic love poems in his free time (shows them to Mischa, Ezra and very occasionally Constance)

-Great at reading and using body language, but can exaggerate his facial expressions

-Has one very pampered ragdoll cat named Lola, whom Penny has practically fallen in love with

-Had a gut feeling/desire for Talia to be a catfish, and was low-key terrified for his life when he actually met her

-Started eating in the choir room soon after Ocean and Constance when a bully shoved his face into a plate of gooey mashed potatoes and triggered a meltdown

-Love language is quality time, words of affirmation and physical touch

-Loves physical pressure, owns a weighted blanket (sometimes uses Mischa tho)

Mischa Bachinski

-He/him (Trans man)

-Bisexual

-Dyscalculia

-Physically strongest of the kids (Jane/Penny is, surprisingly, a close second)

-Struggles with keeping his weight consistent

-His foster parents are pretty rich since their family owned the mines before they shut down, but they don’t share the wealth with him

-Will wear his binder for way too long if left unchecked

-Stealth, only Constance knew he was trans pre-accident

-Can get VERY dysphoric on his period

-Never brushes his hair

-Security guard at the mall’s movie theatre

-Regular at Blackwood Café

-The only choir member with his own car, carpools with Noel to the mall

-Is a lovesick puppy for Talia, but developing a thing for Noel (my man has two hands)

-He and Talia are a T4T couple

-Began eating in the choir room as soon as he found out that the others were

-Unspoken kinship with Ricky pre-accident, and low-key besties with Constance

-Does his own filming/editing for his YT music videos, though Talia sometimes helps polish things up

-(If they’re all brought back) he and the rest of the choir make music videos for all of their songs and post them to his YT channel, and they get pretty popular though a lot of people hate on Ocean for her song and Penny had to keep her face hidden because of her reputation

-Love language is words of affirmation and gift giving

Constance Eleanor Blackwood

-She/they (Trans Demigirl)

-Pansexual

-Autistic

-Gets very caught up in what others think of her

-Almost photographic memory

-Is the mom friend

-Has had to physically hold Ocean back from clawing Tammy’s hair out multiple times

-Transitioned at so young that almost everyone forgets that she’s trans, even Ocean or her own parents (the carney was okay with it, to her relief, but still a dick)

-The best baker of the kids, sometimes works as a waitress at the Blackwood Café in her free time

-They and her family live in an apartment above the café

-Has three younger brothers, two being twins at 6, and her baby brother being 2

-Sometimes babies Ezra out of habit

-Allowed to drive their parents’ minivan

-Played soccer as a kid, but quit

-Love language is gift giving and acts of service

-Penguin pebbles

Ricky Potts

-He/she/they (Transmasc Genderfluid)

-Bisexual

-ADHD + Autism

-Uses a Text-To-Speech app on his phone to communicate

-Mental echolalia

-Still needs crutches in the afterlife, but can move around more without getting worn out and has more strength to lift themself up

-He and Jane/Penny are platonic soulmates

-Read Warrior Cats as a kid

-Has seen CATS the Musical

-Savannah was her deadname, but he still liked it as a name and decided to save it for a character

-Has made characters based on all the other kids, usually with permission with the exception of Tammy, who he made into a villain

-Bonds with Ezra over their love for wrestling and shared creativity, occasionally joins in with his puppet shows

-Was the first to start eating in the choir room since she kept getting unintentionally pushed around in the cafeteria

-Love language is quality time and acts of service

-Infodumps and parallel plays

Jane Doe

-She/they/it/doll (Nonbinary)

-Lesbian

-Bipolar Disorder + Autism

-Struggles with tone, body language and forming connections

-Once asked if she could call Karnak “Dad” (he didn’t respond)

-Very similar to Penny, but more doll like in mannerisms

-Has brief memory sparks of important things in her life, but can’t recall details (remembered that they had a brother in TBOJD, its love for animals during her catchphrase, ect)

-Love language is physical touch, quality time and acts of service

-Penguin pebbles and parallel plays

Penny Lamb

-She/they/it (Nonbinary)

-Lesbian (in denial, Johnny was comphet x100)

-Bipolar Disorder (canon) + Autistic

-Also struggles with tone, body language and connections

-Easily overwhelmed by loud noises and flashing lights

-Semi-verbal, Ricky taught her how to use TTS on them and Ezra’s shared cellphone

-Writes 7UP what-ifs with Tammy

-(If all brought back) stole Virgil from the fair and keeps him in a nice big cage in their dorm after thoroughly researching rat care

-Ezra bought the doll (Dolly) for her with leftover drug money after they finished community service and it became a comfort item

-Likes to count Ocean, Ricky, Constance and/or Tammy’s freckles

-Was the first to die in the accident, having stood up in a panic while the rollercoaster was flying through the air because Dolly flew out of their hands and getting her head caught on some overhead track

-Had a HUGE growth spurt during puberty, was 6’0 during the events of Legoland

-(If all brought back) the others invited her to eat in the choir room with them after seeing it getting bullied on her way to the cafeteria

-Love language is physical touch, quality time and acts of service

-Penguin pebbles, parallel plays and infodumps

Ezra Lamb

-He/they (Nonbinary)

-Aroace

-ADHD (canon)

-Late puberty

-St. Cassian sent the Lamb siblings two girl uniforms for whatever reason, and they used Ezra’s to custom make what he wears now

-Noel, Mischa and Ricky are like older brothers to him

-Verbal echolalia

-If Penny’s there, they are never far away

-Their monkey puppet is his comfort item

-Jumpscares

-No personal space

-Forced to hang out with Tammy due to her being Penny’s “best friend” and plays some twisted-ass pranks on her (he also briefly stole her car once, but didn’t get very far)

-Has given Ocean death threats

-Gets piggybacks from Penny all the time

-(If all brought back) eats with Penny and the others in the choir room, no one could stop him even if they tried

-Annoying little shit/aff

-Love language is acts of service and gift giving

Tammy Edwards

-She/her

-Lesbian (very much in denial, a lot of Catholic Guilt™️)

-Undiagnosed Autism, but is unaware (Penny and Constance have their suspicions)

-Wears braces

-Deeply in love with Penny, but even deeper in comphet

-Lowkey scared of Ezra, but tolerates him because they’re her best friend’s little brother

-Academic rivals with Ocean, will most likely throw hands if left in a room together for too long

-Cringe/aff

-Father is a pastor, mother is absent

-Was gifted her dad’s old convertible for her sixteenth birthday, but she doesn’t know how to drive yet (she has failed her driver’s test many-a-times)

-Her dad is close with Mischa’s foster parents, but she generally tries to avoid Mischa

-Doesn’t have cable TV, watched low-quality niche religious cartoons growing up

-Hates velcro with all of her being

-Stims with her hands

-Was babysitting Ezra at the fair while Penny hung with the choir, and witnessed the accident

-(If all brought back) Penny invited her to eat in the choir room with her and the others, and she accepted, much to Ocean’s dismay (they glared at each other the entire time, and the only reason they didn’t lunge at one another is because Penny was there)

-Love language is gift giving, quality time and words of affirmation

-Penguin pebbles

#ride the cyclone musical #ride the cyclone #ride the cyclone fanart #ride the cyclone headcanon #legoland jacob richmond #legoland play #tammy edwards #penny lamb #ezra lamb #ocean oconnell rosenberg #constance blackwood #noel gruber #mischa bachinski #ricky potts #jane doe rtc #the lamb siblings #cdplayer #cdplayer legoland #nischa #nischalia #mischalia #my art #character design #height chart

[captaincartoony]

I haven’t the slightest clue as to how I have more than 2 followers with how mediocre my art is, but I’m glad I do!

(Mandy: “can we get the scythe back?”)

(Camera view.)

(I will upload a better quality image soon.)

#the grim adventures of billy and mandy #billy and mandy #digital art #mandy

[dreamtydraw]

Hello from the Fishbowl!

Oh I’m so glad you and plant anon agree with me on my vn red flags/icks! Like I said a lot of the red flags and icks I tend to have are really subjective so I get that some people will love what I kinda hate but it’s nice to see I’m not alone on stuff :)

Also, is it bad that I kinda wanna hear more about Heir to Love and Lie? I’ve never played any Fictif games but this sounds like some hot gossip I want in on, tell me more about how bad of a game it is lol. From an outsider perspective I think it’s kinda funny how it’s like “Yes the Fictif app has a bunch of great and fun stories with a ton of good content- NO DONT LOOK AT THAT STORY ITS HIDEOUS-” I know the stories are probably made by different teams so it makes sense that there’s differences in quality but still

Last Legacy and now Roadkill have peaked my interest since I’ve seen you talk about it here (I had never heard of Fictif at all before) but I’ve been a little hesitant to give the games a try because they’re mobile games and frankly I’m not the biggest fan of playing vn style games on mobile, I used to all the time but the grinding for stuff like story keys just to get content that may or may not be good kinda grated on me so I stopped and haven’t looked back. But idk maybe I’ll decide to give Fictif a chance when I have the time, your love for the games are definitely convincing me to give it a shot :)

Also I hope you get better soon and you’re not sick with anything too serious! Take care of yourself!

-🐟

( ok i’ll do proganda about the good game of fictif ask me about htlal on another ask )

Ok so i’ll start by saying that you should def play roadkil, last legacy and monster manor on the fictif app, WITH A CRACKED VERSION! If you have an Android play with a mod app and you won’t have to pay for the special choice ( you still have to wait for keys tho but it’s manageable) I personally use Modyolo. With the mod there is no grind, you just wait for your keys to regenerate to play the chapters.

Why you should play last legacy ? Last legacy is a really well written fantasy romance made by queers, for queers with good queers characters. The narrative is limited but realize that fans of this game haven’t had update in 2 years and we all still love this, that how good the game is for us. What I really appreciate is the approach of the romance, the well-written worldbuilding, and the interesting plot and evolution of the li throughout the story + bonus points the art is really pretty + the music is awesome

This is an otome where you feel the passion of the dev because of all the details and care they put into the characters. It sad that we’ll never get an ending but just because it’s my second favorite otome after Our life i really recomand.

Now another wonderful story on the app is Monster manor. It’s a reviseted tale of beauty and the beast where mc is a reparator that come helps the resident of the manor to fix the place and also fix their issue. Again it’s very well written and although you can get subtile subtext on romance this one is very axed on exploring the character's mental health and their story of self-improvement. ALSO IT HAS A CANON TRANS DRAGON CREATURE WHO’S THE SWEETEST I LOVE HIM HE’S SO WHOLESOME-

Bonus the music is so good i even added it on my spotify- and good art

Monster Manor is one of those stories that leave a very specific feeling in you. I don't know how to describe it but it just has a lot of wholesomeness and character going troughs sad but relatable problems that you see get better and makes you happy that they're healing.

now.... my guilty pleasure.... Roadkil !

THE BROMANCE OF THIS GAME IS SO GOOD I swear

Objectively: This game feels like a wild mess of fan fiction with random scenario after scenario and cliché horror moments, but oh man the ambiance. The best trio of Li, they are close friends, and in the 3 routes the group is just such an amazing friend group. The characters are lovely and it's like reading a bad yet good wattpad fanfic : well written ? no ? But the ideas ? good !

Like i said, this game is based on cliché of horror movies but also on american culture ( which I learned trought this game lol ). It has longer chapters than the other two games (except Tess but Tess got hit by the sexism of a greedy company that wants shirtless men in dating sim to attract gurls ) BUT they all shine.

Poe's route had me ugly crying in the end, Howie's ending is AWFULL but I had a great time, Tess is actually a superbe F Li even whith the dev having to cut her short and ruin her ending, she shine very britgh in the other routes and her own ( for ex she's the one with a shotgun and the one that won you and howie a teddy bear )

I really need more people to play roadkill because it's an underated banger in my opinion and it has many great scenes in the mess of scenarios ( the intro is really good for ecxemple )

Like, when I say not all game needs to be well written? That's what I'm talking about, this one is a hot delightful mess

ANYWAY! My rambling was long but I hope it was interessing !

#fish anon #ask answer #visual novel #fictif app #monster manor fictif #last legacy #fictif roadkill #dreamty's ramble

[sokka-with-his-hair-down]

hi!! so im getting back into drawing after like,, a couple years of not drawing and i was wondering if u have any tips! they can really just be general tips- like how to get better, if this makes sense?

peace xx

Hello! I’m always more than happy to give advice! I’m so honored you would come to me for help :D

Here are some things that have helped me improve a lot over the past few years

Don’t be afraid of making bad art. Whenever you start drawing it can be intimidating because there’s this mental pressure we put on ourselves to make it perfect so if it doesn’t look exactly how we imagine it we get upset. So when drawing, don’t pressure yourself to make it perfect and learn to be okay with not everything becoming a masterpiece. (95% of my sketchbook is just messed up half-finishes sketches that didn’t turn out lol).

Using references helps a TON. I had this weird thing for years where I didn’t want to use references because I was convinced I could figure it out myself and sometimes the idea of having to find a reference sounded aggravating. But it is SOOO worth it. My art literally skyrocketed in quality the second I decided to use references when I was struggling.

Follow artists who work in your medium! You can learn something from every artist but it helps to find people who use the same medium as you because you can pick up their techniques that are specific to those tools. So if you draw in pencil, follow other pencil artists, etc etc

Draw every day or as often as you can, starting as soon as you can. Allow yourself to have drawing sessions without the goal of making a finished piece, but rather with the goal of just practicing and making mistakes. Just draw draw draw as much as you can!

If you’re trying to learn to draw something (or improve on it), try mastering pieces incrementally. As an easy example, if you want to improve at faces, try learning to get better at lips, then nose, then eyes, then eyebrows, etc. Focused effort on each detail will eventually make all the pieces come together and improve your finished product.

This ties into #2 a bit, but try all kinds of poses/angles etc. This is still something I’m trying to improve at, because I stuck with the same 3-4 basic poses for so long it got to the point where I couldn’t draw much else. Try new things and regularly practice different things you’re not as good at

That’s all I can think of for now; anyone reading this can add on! I hope these are helpful! Thank you soooo much for the ask it’s seriously an honor <33

#art #art tips #art advice #l’oreal sokka answers

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 22/06/2023

Satinpanties Symphony

Season 5 Featured on: SiIvaGunner's Highest Quality Rips: Volume D

Ripped by eg_9371 Visuals by moralem (art), RHMan (chart), brubsby (recording)

There's a lot to be said about the frequently-ripped things on SiIvaGunner. I've already covered how rips like Wii Shop Bling paved way for the Wii Shop Channel theme becoming a permanent mainstay on the channel, and there are several other tracks like it that cemented their place on the channel in one way or another. Sometimes its out of popularity, like with the Super Mario 64 Slider rips, or out of a longstanding in-joke like with the Five Nights at Freddy's Circus rips (believe me, we'll get to those one day). But with a few exceptions, like Season 7s infestation of Raft Rides, a lot of these reoccurances stem from some sort of, long-running legacy so to speak.

Which is what makes the channel's direct ties to Friday Night Funkin' so interesting to me. The game effectively came out of nowhere at the tail end of Season 4, and without skipping a beat it started receiving regular rips as soon as Season 5 began. What set these rips apart was the effort that consistently went into them - visuals and charts were edited or made ground-up specifically to match the original game, like they were all-new songs to play in-game. On top of this, the rips were of course consistently bangers - it was a perfect storm that pushed FNF as an inseperable part of SiIva's identity in no time flat.

In the same way that FNF honors the legacy of Newgrounds, its always felt to me like the FNF rips on SiIva honor the channel's own legacy. Be it Gangster Mario, Among Us Drip, Astronaut in the Ocean - so many of the rips just feel tied to the channel's own foundation and community, especially in how it creates FNF character designs for these in-jokes. And to tie it back to these frequently ripped tracks I discussed earlier, todays rip highlights one of those in particular - Stickerbrush Symphony from Donkey Kong Country 2. A track less so heralded for its nostalgia or potential funnyness, but for its unbelievable quality despite the hardware its on. Its an important piece of music to a lot of VGM-invested people, and Satinpanties Symphony does it justice in spades. It stays authentic to the source track its building on and the game's general call-and-response structure between singers, even free-styling certain sections a bit to better fit FNF's pace, without ever losing the essence of the track its adapting. The serotonin that hits when both parties sing in harmony leading in to the chorus hits crazy hard, its honestly hard to listen to the track without a smile.

And that's really the thing - eg_9371s output on the channel is fucking HUGE in a way that I don't believe I could effectively summarize, yet almost all the rips I've heard from him just make me smile in the simplest of ways. His output is so varied it might as well be SiIvaGunner distilled into just one ripper - the consistent throughline being quality no matter what.

#todays siivagunner #season 5 #siivagunner #siiva #friday night funkin #fnf #donkey kong country #dkc2 #dkc #diddy kong #dixie kong #stickerbush symphony #stickerbrush symphony #newgrounds #Youtube #Bandcamp #eg_9371 #rip visuals #moralem #RHMan #brubsby

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (14/04/24)

suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuper late post this week, not only cause I started a buncha new stuff but I was also traveling on the weekend which cut off a ton of my free time (imas could've been last week but subs were late for a whole week 😒) also GBC and BA might not be on the corresponding sunday post for the ep that aired that week cause of their sub situation. Should be fine for GBC, but I ain't putting up with terrible subs for BA so I'd rather wait a couple days for better ones (even if I could watch the bad ones and understand it no problem)

but anyway, lots of yappin this time around, next week should be a lot more chill

green - new series/new to me blue - finale/completed

Anime

Girls Band Cry Ep1-2

this one is quite the ride for me. when it first got announced I was gonna watch it cause nari is the character designer and I love their art and it's a cute girls show. then it was revealed it was gonna be cg and I changed my mind. then the ep came out and people were praising it so I was like, "ok maybe I could watch despite it being cg". but then I saw a clip where it looked really bad so I was like "oh ok I was right not to watch it nvm" BUT THEN I saw a different clip that looked super good so after some deliberation I decided to watch it anyway and it turns out it's actually REALLY GOOD? like if every cg show was this level of quality I wouldn't be such a hater the op and ed(s) were really good too but they better be when it's a show about a band lol. the real ed (the one from ep2) has all the art done by nari which is super cool ep 2 was really good too, ep 1 had already convinced me to watch all of it, but still nice to see 2 being good as well

The Idolmaster Shiny Colours Ep1-2

while I was watcing GBC I was thinking "man the cg being this good is gonna make SC look even worse" and sadly I was right. Now, it's not terrible mind you but just like the ML anime, coming in the heels of something like the U149 anime which not only was traditionally animated but also had incredible direction with the quality art to back it up, it feels very bland. Luckily for it, it has the imas spice and, repeat it after me, I Am Not Immune To Idols. It's amazing how they get my ass every damn time... It's a shame that my lantica girls already had their episode so early since they're my favourites of the launch units but I'm sure they'll get at least one more at some point, along with a little more screentime every now and then like the others did on ep2 but anyway Ep1 was basically teasing the different units while introducing mano and getting her together with the other two. While ep2 was mostly about lantica with some small bits with the other groups spliced in. After ep1 I thought they weren't going to follow the usual formula of dedicating 1 episode per girl and/or unit but after 2 I'm not sure anymore. There's only 12 eps so if they do 1 ep per unit, while having little bits for the other ones, that would take us up to ep 5/12. We already know that there's gonna be a s2 with straylight and noctchill so we know they're not gonna show up in this season. I guess they could do a wing episode for each of the units which would put us up to 9/12 leaving the remaining episodes for big group episodes with everyone but we'll see.. Also speaking of s2, there's still 2 more units that weren't confirmed for it and since this s1 has 4 units you think it'd make sense for s2 to have 4 units as well. However the 2 units that haven't been confirmed are related to each other, in a way, so I could totally see them doing a s3 with just those units, since I don't think they'll introduce another unit any time soon. But anyway I'm starting to ramble and talking too much about meta. TL;DR: show shouldn't be cg and bandai can damn well afford a traditional show but they're greedy. other than that it's good ofc. like I said with ML, if you like any of the imas anime you'll like this. if you like the game/girls you'll like it as well

Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night Ep1-2

this got announced around the same time as GBC and I posted about it as well. I was going to watch it just because it was a dogakobo original and I like the studio and it seemed like a nice cute girls show. As the season came closer I wasn't sure about watching it anymore but was thinking of giving it the good ol 3 episode rule just out of respect to dogakobo. When it did start, something had happened that caused me to change my mind and decide that I wasn't going to watch it. I don't remember what it was anymore but anyway. However my buddy mega did watch it and said it was really good so I decided to give it a shot like originally planned and... it's really good too. The mains being takarie and mikku is a rare combo but very welcome and the show also has that characteristic dogakobo polish to it and the direction is very good as well. I also appreciate the yuri vibes but I'm me so yknow ep 2 was nice as well, both the op and ed are good, and kimura might be a little freak but she's fun. I guess the next episode will be dedicated to the vtuber girl but we'll see

Kaiju 8 Ep1

that was a solid first ep, there wasn't anything too impressive to show off so I guess we'll see how it goes in the next episode, but it looked good enough that I'm not too worried about it. shame it's only 1 cour but I'm sure they're planning on adapting it all since the manga is almost over too it'll be nice revisiting these early parts of the story, it wasn't that long ago that I caught up but it's been long enough because it's not weekly that I don't remember the early parts with that much clarity but yeah, ep was nice, good voices, good music, good art (for the most part I thought some shots of mina looked off) and the animation wasn't bad either. if they keep up this quality until the end it'll be a respectable adaptation but I hope they at least give us some sakuga crumbs during the big iconic scenes

Manga

Astro Royale Ch1

tokyo revengers' wakui ken as left kodansha to come to shueisha with this new series and you can really tell it's the work of a veteran author I didn't know what to expect since I never read/watched TR, outside of seeing some clips and caps here and there, but this was actually really good. the setting and the characters were all set up very well, along with the main trigger that sets off the story. really great use of spread pages as well I've been saying for ages that wsj needs a new hit with some of their biggest hitters ending soon and they seem to think so too since no recent series have really popped off (except kagurabachi [the power of memes]) so they decided to grab another veteran (there's a bunch more in the mag currently). We'll have to see the next handful of chaps but just from this debut I can see this series having the potential to be a hit for sure. I've been doing this long enough that I got a pretty good intuition for this kinda stuff, tho there's always exceptions like me thinking red hood would last and that nue would get axed but I'm usually right for the most part.. anyway the series seems like it'll be fun so looking forward to it, I know people complain that TR went downhill after a certain point but this isn't TR so no point comparing this to it on chapter 1. just trust that the author learned his lesson from whatever went wrong with TR and enjoy the series for what it is, not like it's a sequel or something

Two on Ice Ch28 (Finale)

well that's over and I don't really got much to say tbh I don't really care about skating so I wasn't interested in this from the beggining and the artist didn't do a great job showing it off either. it was informative but not engaging. there were a few good panels/pages but a lot of big spreads got wasted with tons of expostion instead of showing off the art. I also didn't care about the "villain" at all despite how much the artist loved and pushed him still not one of the worst things I've read on jump that's for sure, just not for me and not interesting enough for me to change my mind and care about. an opposite example of this would be blue box which is a romance series and I thought I wouldn't like it when I started catching up to it and ended up loving it cause it's a lot more engaging

#silver talks animanga

[shivering-isles-cryptid]

Hello! I’m doing art commissions now!

If you are interested, please look at the provided info and DM me here or on my Instagram: Velimation

Copyright

I (the artist) have rights to the finished project.

The artist reserves the right to post (or not to) the finished project on social media.

Any private, non commercial use is allowed, such as free personal projects, print the artwork for your own personal projects or as a gift, use it in your private games as your character token, and so on.

The artist has the right to use the artwork in any professional portfolio.

Commercialization requires at least a 150% fee of the total price.

The client still holds copyright claims to the character.

Any editing (asides from cropping for use as an avatar etc.) is prohibited.

All personal information will be kept private and confidential.

Full credits will be given if you choose to upload to social media.

Clients are not permitted in any circumstances to use any part of the finished product for non-fungible tokens or genAI. Use of my artwork for any advertising or profits associated with non-fungible tokens, blockchains, genAI, or cryptocurrency is strictly prohibited.

I will never sell/resell any of my artwork as non-fungible tokens. If artwork I have created, regardless if commissioned or personal, is listed as a non-fungible token or cryptocurrency, it is stolen.

General

Art commissions are a digital hood only, no shipping is required.

By ordering a commission and sending payment, you are agreeing to the Terms of Service.

The client is responsible for providing any necessary information and communicating clearly what their requirements are.

Commissions must be requested through either email ([email protected]) or Instagram DM until I set up the inquiry form.

Commissions are for personal use only.

If I accept your commission, I will contact you with a list of questions that you must answer. If I do not get back to you within 3 days, I have refused your commission.

I hold the right to refuse any commission without explanation if I deem it uncomfortable, or if I believe the client is being rude.

Character descriptions and references are required no matter the commission type or subject.

Payment & pricing

Commissions will be priced individually. The final price will be decided by the artist, depending on the complexity of the task, length of the project, and quality of the references/description.

Payment will be done through CashApp before I start the project.

Full 100% payment in advance. Payment in USD.

Additional fees

Additional limbs (wings, tails, extra arms etc.) will cost extra depending on complexity.

Very complex decorations (jewelry, tattoos, clothing designs etc.) will cost extra.

Portraits will be done on a solid color background.

Additional fees will depend on the complexity of the commission.

Once the project is finished, minor changes (such as minor color adjustments, mistake fixes, or minor details) will be free for three (3) business days. Any large changes (clothing changes, poses, setting) will be charged as extra.

Any deadlines must be communicated and agreed upon prior to the project beginning. Strict deadlines will incur a fee.

A 100% fee will be charged for every extra character that is commissioned as I prefer doing single character drawings.

Workflow

Commission time might take 3 days to 2 months depending on the complexity of the project. I will contact you for any delays.

The amount of time spent on the project depends on how quickly you provide feedback on the progress.

I will send updates as they occur. Please check your email for any updates every 1 to 2 days.

Any unpaid commissions will be removed after 5 days of no response of alternate arrangements have not been scheduled.

If you change your mind about the commission, let me know as soon as possible! It is not rude to let me know and will make me feel better than no response at all.

A 75% refund will be given if you let me know you are cancelling the commission. No refund will be given if you do not let me know, and a 25% refund will be given if the project is already complete.

I draw

Original characters

Fictional characters

I don’t draw

Real people

Furry art (not skilled enough)

Example Fandoms

Hazbin Hotel

Miraculous Ladybug

Dungeons and Dragons

Elder Scrolls

Sims

DC Comics

Marvel

Prices

Portraits: $20-$50

Stylized Portrait: $40 - $70

Full body: $60 - $100

Enviornment: $120 - $200

#art #commission #art commisions #art commissions open #art comms open #artist #digital art #fanart #Hazbin hotel fanart #helluva boss fanart #miraculous ladybug fanart #commisions open #elder scrolls #skyrim #tes #the elder scrolls #elder scrolls skyrim #elder scrolls oblivion #oblivion #morrowind #elder scrolls morrowind #fanart commissions #my art #my commissions #commissions

[maxinelugg]

Mephistopheles Update #1 - Concept, Head and Hair

I'm excited to share some progress on my latest personal project, and I thought I'd write a blog post discussing some of my thoughts behind the project and breaking down some of the processes involved so far!

Concept & Project Goals

Almost a year ago, I had the idea to create two full 3D characters based on my own interpretation of the two main characters of a 1592 play by Christopher Marlowe, The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. These characters would be the titular Doctor Faustus, and his demonic companion, Mephistopheles (not to be confused with the Mephistopheles of the D&D Forgotten Realms setting), created to fit within the Renaissance Germany setting of the playscript. In the play, itself based on German legend, Faustus sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for forbidden magical knowledge, supplied to him by a damned servant of Lucifer, Mephistopheles, who takes the form of a Franciscan friar. The idea of a deal with the devil, of selling one's soul or integrity in exchange for short-term material gain, often with eternally damning consequences, predates this play and the legend it's based on, but this story is still perhaps the most prominent example of this trope in the literary canon.

However, after a little while of letting the idea simmer, I'd decided to shelve it, as I felt it was somehow a bit odd to create a pair of character models based on a play from over four hundred years ago that hardly anyone had heard of. It wasn't until I was playing Baldur's Gate 3, several months later, that the idea returned to me. In seeing the many fantastic demon character models in that game, I realised I really, really, really wanted to revisit this idea. Suddenly, the project had life again.

Back when I first had this idea, I'd created some concept art for myself, as seen above. As you might notice, some things changed!

I liked a lot about this concept, but after time away from it, I'd realised the bright colour scheme, while definitely inventive and bold, and would read better from afar, might not be the most appropriate to the character, setting or premise. 

Ultimately, later in this project, I plan to pose the character with some props (books, similar to those in the concept above). The pose will be different from that of the concept art, as I will try to push for something more dynamic. I will hopefully get to share some of the progress on this soon in the next blog post.

Gathering Reference

1. Photographic monk/friar reference material

Straightforward, simple photographic reference of a friar/monk's garments (habits) and accessories. These are contemporary photographs, but are nonetheless the highest quality imagery I could find. This will be most relevant later into this project when I begin to focus on his clothing and attire.  

In the Marlowe play, Mephistopheles appears at first in his true demonic form, and is immediately demanded by Faustus to reappear in the form of a Franciscan friar instead, as the demonic form was too unsightly. It's implied that this new form of a friar appears very mundane, so I'm twisting the source material here to make him a demonic looking friar. Perhaps he has possessed the body of a human monk, but the demonic spirit inside has had an effect on the outward appearance, with horns bursting through his forehead and skin turned pallid. 

2. Primary face references

While I was not aiming for a specific likeness, I wanted to gather references of quite gaunt and aged male faces. It turned out that Peter Cushing's face was especially good as reference, as he had the long, hollow-cheeked face anatomy I was after.

When it comes to faces, I always find myself returning to the main cast of characters from Dragon Age: Inquisition for inspiration (I also just love this game in general, to be honest). I find the character work in that game to be an excellent example of exaggerating facial anatomy just enough to convey and emphasise personality and character, but not so far as to feel uncanny, and to fit into the rest of the art direction of the game which is, for the most part, realistic. 

I used a 3DScanStore diffuse and displacement pack for this project. All of the UVs of their heads and texture packs are the same, and they provide a free head base mesh (with the same UVs), which I wrapped onto the surface of the face highpoly sculpt using the SoftWrap blender addon (Other methods include Zwrap and even Houdini). After wrapping this face base mesh to match the base sculpt as closely and cleanly as possible, you can throw on 3DScanStore's displacement and/or diffuse maps onto the mesh, with the added benefit of now having much better face topology.

I really love this technique, as 3DScanStore's scan data is very good quality and straightforward to use. The diffuse map is an excellent base for texturing later. While scan data displacement maps can be useful as a finishing touch, it's important to keep in mind that a face still needs to read well at a primary and secondary form level before tertiary details are added.

3. Hair reference material

The hair provided a unique challenge. While the hairstyle was not complex, finding photographic reference for a tonsure was difficult. I ended up looking to a lot of historical paintings and illustrations. Using illustrations as reference has an added benefit of giving insight into how the hairstyle might be interpreted artistically, though this would be ideally supplemented by thorough photographic reference.

I sometimes find it useful to quickly sketch over a 3D work in progress to visualise my next steps (I did the same thing for my Guardian project!). It's a way of testing a visual idea without getting bogged down with how slow 3D iteration can often be.

I might revisit the hair a tad a later date once the character is posed, as I'm not totally satisfied with it. It might also be a chance for me to test how iterative and non-destructive I can make the posing process later on.

4. Horn surface details

Sometimes I like to find inspiration in abstract, natural textures and shapes, especially when facing a bit of an art block about a part of a design/character. As pictured above, the design for the horns changed a bit. The previous iteration was fine, but I felt it was reading a bit dragon-scale-like and I had, admittedly, failed to look at much ref for it, so it was feeling a bit uninspired. I could've changed them to look more like conventional goat/Caprinae horns, but I figured I might as well try how they'd look with a texture inspired by the bark texture pictured above. These shaped flowed with the direction of the horns, as if they'd grown directionally out of the head, which is something I'd wanted to evoke.

Pictured below are some other examples of abstract textures and shapes (generally from my mood boards, not necessarily for this project) that could be sources of inspiration when art block hits. It's very easy to get caught up in things and forget that a lot of art is fundamentally about shapes, colours and textures.

5. Spectacles

Simple ref for some wooden spectacles. My initial concept didn't include these, but as I began to design the design in 3D, I soon realised spectacles would be helpful signifiers of a scholarly archetype. Also makes him a bit more distinct as a character design.

6. Vibe Check

These paintings and illustrations, from a variety of time periods, will be more relevant later into the project when I think about my final presentation, but I keep them here in my Pureref as a reminder of imagery and a general vibe I'd like to try to evoke. This keeps me focused on a visual goal, which proves to be important when working on a concept that's changing frequently. 

Developing Productive & Sustainable Habits

Before now, when I've worked on self-driven projects, they have primarily been for university assignments, which had a solid deadline, and I could work towards full-time. Since finishing university and starting a full-time job, figuring out how to weave in time for personal work, and how to push that work as far as I can visually, has been something to adapt to. 

The following are various habits I've tried to make an active effort to implement to better achieve these goals:

Not waiting for inspiration to hit like a lightning strike, and instead scheduling time to dedicate to personal work. Obviously, the most rewarding experience in working on art is when you're in a flow state and completely lost in the moment, often right after you've made a breakthrough or are otherwise intensely inspired and moved to create. The kind of flow state where you look down at the clock and it's somehow already 3am. These moments are awesome, but are unsustainable to depend on in the long term. Making time, even if it's only a couple of hours at a time, over a long time, is better for your work and your life (at least in my case!).

Coming back to it with fresh eyes. Whenever I'm working on personal work, I like to take progress screenshots and post them in a personal Discord server at the end of every session I spend on it. This means I can look back at it on my phone or wherever whenever I need. And sometimes it's good to not look back on it until a day or two has passed, because with fresh eyes errors are glaringly obvious. In working on a face, like I have so far with this project, I found this to be especially important, as I'm still fairly novice at facial anatomy so my eye for what does and doesn't look right is still developing. 

Seeking feedback. Admittedly, this is something I could've done better with this project so far, but getting input from others is invaluable.

Inspiration is more than the Artstation front page. This one is important, and I really mean it. It's a topic deserving of an entire blog post, but I think it's important for game artists to look beyond other games/game-adjacent media for inspiration. Watch fashion shows, go to museums, read some books, watch some documentaries, go to a contemporary art exhibition, watch some theatre - literally whatever. I recently read Lent by Jo Walton (and loved it) which, while I didn't read for this project, it ended up being massively inspirational; the book's detailed descriptions of the life of a monk in 15th century Italy reinvigorated me when I'd hit a lull with this work.

That's all for now (: I hope to be able to share more updates on this project soon! Thanks for reading!