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Tread here.

#funny tag #storytime

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For anyone who wants a free pose-able human reference for drawing

The other day I came across this awesome program by accident (I don’t even remember what I was actually searching for, but on the several times I’ve looked for a program like this I’ve had no luck). It’s cool enough that I wanted to share it.

It’s called DesignDoll (website here) and it’s a program that lets you shape and pose a human figure pretty much however you want.

There’s a trial version with no expiration date that can be downloaded for free, as well as the “pro license” version priced at $79. I’ve only had the free version for two days so far, so I’m not an expert and I haven’t figured out all of the features yet, but I’ve got the basics down. The website’s tutorials are actually pretty helpful for the basics, as well. 

Here’s the page for download, which has a list of the features available in both versions.

There are three features the free version doesn’t have:

Can’t save OBJ files for export

Can’t download models and poses from Doll Atelier (a sharing site for users; note that the site is in Japanese, though)

It can’t load saved files

The third one means that if you make a pose, save it, and close the program, you can’t load that pose/modified model later. You have to start with the default model. I found that out when I tried to load a file from the day before (this is why reading is important…). Whether saving your modifications (and downloading models and poses) is worth $80 is up to you. 

But, the default model is pretty nice and honestly if all you’re looking for is a basic pose reference it should work fairly well as it is. Here’s what it looks like:

There’s a pose tag that lets you drag each joint into place and rotate body parts. The torso and waist can be twisted separately, and it seems like everything pretty much follows the range of movement it would have on an actual human.

Even the entire shoulder area is actually movable along with the joint! See, like how the scapular area of the back raises with the arm:

The morphing tag is one of the coolest features, in my opinion. It lets you pick and choose from a library of pre-set forms for the head, chest, arms, legs, etc. It has some more realistic body shapes in addition to more anime-like ones. Don’t like the options there? Mix a few to get what you want! Each option has a slider that lets you blend as much or as little as you want into the design. 

So you, too, can create beautiful things like kawaii Muscle-chan!!

The scale tag lets you mess with the proportions and connection points of different joints. This feature combined with the morphing feature not only allows more body shape variations, but it also means that you can do things like make a more digitigrade model if you want. (The feet only have an ankle joint, but for regular human poses that’s all that you really need, so whatever.)

Or you can make a weird chubby alien-like thing with giant hands and balloon tiddies if that’s more your thing.

The ability to pose hands to the extent it allows is far more than I could have hoped for from a free program. Seriously, you can change the position of each finger joint individually, as well as how spread out the fingers are from each other. Each crease on the diagram below is a point of movement, and the circles are for spread between fingers. 

And to make it a bit more convenient, there’s a library of pre-set hand poses you can pick from as well, and then change the pose from that if you like. 

In both versions, you can also import OBJ files from other places for the model to hold, like if you wanted to have them hold a sword or something.

Basically, this program is awesome and free and you should totally check it out if you want a good program for creating pose references.

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i love how hyenas still have the winter coat gene

#hyenas ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #q*

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“Update: The student who wrote the letter has been found and we’re in the process of finding a way to reward her for her actions. Very grateful for what she did”

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An artist : Aw man! I saw my arts were reposted on Instagram. I’ve asked them to take my arts down but they ignored me.

Me : Say no more! Click this link, then click ‘fill out this form’. Fill the form and wait for about 1-2 days, the staffs will remove the image you were reporting from the reposter’s account :^)

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The American Midwest is being hit with dangerous blizzards and subzero temps that can cause frostbite in under ten minutes and my dad is outside grilling burgers.

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I don’t think we’re rick rolling each other enough anymore. 1. it CANNOT die out 2. this under saturated market is perfect for unsuspecting victims who’ve been lulled into a false sense of security. be the person you hate. bring back the dastardly link

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JUST LEAVE A COMMENT FEST MASTERPOST

DAILY THEMES DETAILS

HELPFUL COMMENT RESOURCES

FLOATING AO3 COMMENT BOX

BINGO CARD FROM LAST FEST AND LOTS OF COMMENT RESOURCES

HELPFUL COMMENT STARTERS

GUIDE TO LEAVING LONG AND DETAILED COMMENTS

FIC AND COMMENT TRACKING TEMPLATE

FIC AND COMMENT TRACKING TEMPLATE FOR DECEMBER 2023

MORE TO COME!

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A/N: For the @violeteverzine! I wanted to dig a little more into Clara’s story, it was so heartbreaking and I love the idea of leaving letters for the future, for those who miss you to help ease their pain and tell them all the things you’ll never have the time to.

…

…

…

…

By the eight letter, Clara Magnolia’s voice faltered. It surprised her, a little, that she had managed to make it so far, that her aching body had carried her voice for as long as it had. When she’d first paid for this commission, she’d been afraid. There was so much she wanted to say and so little time to do it. Even now, they still had six days to go and yet another forty letters to dictate.

And her body would only get worse with time. Fortunately, her daughter Ann wasn’t peeking inside the window like she usually did—seeing Clara like this would have only made her worry. There was no time to reassure her.

As she rubbed her throat, her companion looked up from her typewriter and impassively regarded her.  Even for a Doll, there was something remarkably doll-like about Violet Evergarden, from her soft blonde hair to her distant blue-green eyes. Her delicate prosthetic fingers gleamed silver in the light as she paused. “Do you need a break?”

“A little,” Clara admitted ruefully, leaning back in her wicker chair. Bright green plants infused her sitting room with a show of life that she just didn’t feel. Picking up her tea, she wrinkled her nose as she sipped the now-cooled liquid. “I should have drank this earlier.”

“I can make you a new one,” Violet offered, her expression unchanged. It was hard to tell if she was asking out of concern or politeness.

“No, that’s fine.” Clara set down her tea once more. “Besides, I’m sure your fingers need to rest too. It must have been difficult, keeping up with my rambling thoughts.”

“No, that…that was fine.” An unreadable expression flickered across Violet’s face as she looked down at the stack of papers next to her. Her silver fingers lightly touched the sheets. “How many letters are you planning on writing?”

“As many as I can,” Clara answered honestly. With the condition her body was in, that was all she could promise. It had taken her time to save enough money to hire a Doll to write her letters, especially over the span of a week, and she knew she had to make the most of it. Even now, she could feel herself dying, her breath clawing its way out of her chest. “Forty, at least. Seventy, if I’m lucky.” She chuckled, her fingers gripping her chair tightly, the stray wicker cutting into her skin. “Forever, if I could.”

Violet tapped the paper again. Inquisitively, she asked, “Do you have a lot to say?”

Clara stared at Violet, surprised by the frankness of the question. After a moment, she laughed, a short bark that her father used to love. Another thing she had to add to the letter—the memories of a grandfather Ann would never meet. “I do. I think we all do, no matter what age we are. There’s always something more you want to tell the ones you love, always something else you need them to know.”

She picked up the closest envelope, its contents already sealed inside. Her fingers pressed against a coin stuck in the letter—it was a family tradition to give a silver coin on a child’s tenth birthday. One day, Ann would give it to her own daughter. “I’m just lucky I have a chance to put it all down on paper. Too many disappear or die without saying goodbye.”

Violet’s lips parted. Her head bowed slightly, her bangs hiding her eyes, but Clara had lived long enough to recognize a pained expression when she saw one. “It is hard,” Violet murmured, her fingers curling on her lap. “When they don’t say anything. When you can’t ask.”

Who are you thinking of? Clara almost asked, but the war was still fresh, and Violet’s prosthetics were obvious. Everyone lost someone in a hail of bullets and fire, in the bombs that had hung over their heads precariously. Even someone as young as Violet hadn’t been untouched by it all.

“It’s painful,” Clara agreed instead. She could almost see Ann in the teenager in front of her, hurt and alone. “I don’t think there is any way to stop that. There will always be unanswered questions. Unsaid things.”

Violet looked up, her expression calm once more. “Is that why you’re writing so many?”

It took Clara a moment to realize Violet was talking about the letters. She lowered her gaze to the letter in her hands, her fingers still pressed against the coin. “Partially.”

“Partially?” Violet cocked her head, perplexed.

“It might be a little vain of me,” Clara admitted, setting aside the letter as she picked up another. She could smell the flowers inside, the roses and sweet peas pressed to a page as a reminder of the greenhouse. By the time Ann got it, would she remember the other flowers that bloomed? Or would these pressings be the only survivors in her memory? “After I die, all Ann will have are her memories of me and these letters.  The memories will fade, but these letters…I hope they last. I hope she’ll have them for the years to come.”

“If…” Violet paused, hesitant. She brushed her hair behind her ear. “How do you know what to tell her?”

“I don’t,” Clara answered honestly. Death made her frank in ways her life hadn’t. “I’m trying to summarize my entire life and the life we could have had together. It’s hard to pick what to say. Anything I don’t…will be lost forever.”

Stories of her grandparents. Clara’s own memories. The way she spoke, the foods she made—even with the recipe cards she’d prepared for Ann’s eighteenth birthday, there would be so many more dishes abandoned to the stream of time. The only parts of their family, the only parts of Clara that would live on would be whatever Ann knew, whatever Ann shared.

“I suppose...I’m just picking the important things.”

Violet’s eyes widened. Her right hand clutched the green jewel pinned to her cravat. She wet her lips and breathed, “The important things?”

Clara smiled softly. “Anything that can give her my love. She’ll be lonely, but she won’t be alone.” She picked up another letter. This one had a ribbon inside, a gift for Ann’s fifteenth birthday. At that age, she’d probably have a crush or two. At that age, she’d need advice more than ever. Clara’s throat burned, filled with everything she’d never say. “I hope these words, these letters, will be there for her when I’m not.”

It was impossible, she was sure, to infuse her life into ink and parchment, to pour every ounce of her being into a hundred, even a thousand letters.

But she wanted to. She needed to.

Violet clenched her jaw, that unreadable expression back in her eyes. Her finger brushed the jewel once more. This time, when she spoke, it was with a quiet confidence. “They will be.”

It was a kind response, a polite answer, but something in Clara eased regardless. “Thank you.” Sitting up once more, she cleared her throat. “Shall we continue, then?”

“Of course.” Violet smiled briefly, her fingers already hovering over the typewriter.

Despite all that lay ahead, Clara knew her messages, her love would reach her daughter. Her gaze flickered to Violet’s pendant.

Hopefully, whoever Violet was thinking of, their messages, their love would reach Violet too.

Leaning back in her seat, Clara pictured her daughter as a bubbly, confident teenager, making the most of her gangly arms and confusing feelings. It was easy, so easy, to think about what she wanted to tell this future Ann.

“Dear Ann, happy sixteenth birthday! I’m sure you’ve gotten so big by now. Hopefully you’re taller than me. Sixteen is a special milestone, so I want to leave you something special in the envelope. It’s a pin your grandmother gave to me.”

Clara unclipped the pin on her chest, a bright, cheerful yellow pansy. Brushing its petals, she closed her eyes.

“Maybe one day, you’ll give it to your daughter and tell her stories about me.”

In her mind’s eye, she could see Ann grow, from sixteen to twenty to thirty, from child to woman to mother. At forty, her hair tied up in a bun and laugh lines showing her age as she pinned the pansy to her own daughter’s chest.

Ann looked up, her eyes still as bright as a child’s, and smiled at Clara. She mouthed, Message received.

She mouthed, I love you.

Clara opened her eyes, returning to the greenhouse and her letters. To the small Ann, still years from receiving the letter, still sullenly wondering what was happening. Violet looked at her expectantly.

She smiled. “Dear Ann, I know this is a scary time, full of changes, but everything will be okay.”

#violet evergarden #clara magnolia #anne magnolia #fanfic #their story still makes me tear up #i really do want to write about her and astro boy though #one day

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Commenters are the real MVPs

#TRUE ❤️ #writing woes #q*

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Commenters are the real MVPs

#TRUE ❤️ #writing woes #q*

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everyone saying this didn’t happen reminds me that none of you guys have any concept of how age works. you just assume any child under the age of 13 doesn’t know how to say full sentences, much less be funny. i started and ran a 300+ person discord server when i was 11. no one ever asked me how old i was. i even recall when we learned a member of a groupchat was only 13 and being all “…” with the other members. looking back they probably suspected i was on the younger side but not that i was only 11 years old. also this did terrible things to my psyche but that’s unrelated.

#funny tag #hell i believe it #they probably don't *fully* know what it MEANS #but ''well we better be extra careful not to get hurt until we do this'' #is something an 11 year old can DEFINITELY understand and be funny about