#And practicing with drawing characters in different ages

[maretriarch]

i do think the like..endless agonizing quest of young artists to find Their Style is such a self administered poison and is totally caused by like. social media and how it effects artists and Brand Imagery/brand recognition but like. as well as as being a futile endeavor like its just not something you can force, variety is the spice of life stagnation is worse than death its Killing Your Art isis stoppit for real stoooopp

#JUST TRY SHIT OUT #stop putting yourself in boxes #i think theres a difference between practicing like Consistency and being able to draw a character looking the same way twice and trying to #figure your art all out at like age 15

[chromatic-corrosion]

Character/Show information found on Gooseworx's tumblr (part 1)

I went into Gooseworx's tumblr and made a list of all the info found on there so far.

Note: This will update as more and more posts are made.

Caine named himself before deciding that it's an acronym that stands for Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity (he thinks it makes him sound professional)

Caine does not have an age. He is an AI.

Apparently, Caine is likely the best singer out of everyone in the circus.

Caine would own a circus peanut shotgun.

Caine can't grasp the concept of irony.

Caine is not affected by "this statement is false"

If Caine could remove his clothes, he'd have nothing underneath.

Caine would only bite his eyes or tongue if he thought it's funny. Otherwise, they clip through his teeth

Caine is short.

Caine does not understand verbal pranks (example: 'Joe Mama', 'Updog' etc). Even after having them explained, he'd still take them literally.

Bubble speaks in reverse once in episode 3.

Bubble is a much simpler AI created by Caine

Apparently, Bubble is the biggest slut.

Bubble is Caine's little hype man

Bubble likes being popped.

Bubble is a boy

Out of everyone, Bubble is the most likely to wear drag.

The moon is an AI "like Bubble".

The sun can talk too.

Pomni's hat is a part of her body

Pomni does not like being touched

Pomni's first design looked liked a frog

Pomni's reaction to herself in the mirror isn't a positive reaction

Apparently, Pomni's hair is black.

Pomni is good at accounting.

Ragatha gives the best hugs

Ragatha has been in the circus the second longest.

Ragatha is older than Pomni.

Ragatha likes horses.

Ragatha can play the Cello.

Ragatha can see through her button eye.

There's a particular character who hasn't been revealed yet who's practically a Gooseworx self-insert. (He's the mean one...Jax?)

Nobody likes Jax

Jax doesn't have a tail.

Jax's colour is periwinkle.

Jax deserves to be trapped in the circus the most

There's nothing heroic about Jax.

Jax is morally the worst character in the show.

Jax is the youngest member in the circus.

Jax didn't enter the circus at the age of 14.

Jax mistreats Gangle the most because shew the easiest to mistreat.

Jax is afraid of corn because it reminds him of something called 'the farm'.

Jax is a troubled individual.

If you gave Jax an unholy amount of praise, he'd be confused and frightened.

Jax mainly bullies the girls because he has issues he hasn't worked out with himself yet.

Jax most likely went through an emo phase

Gangle like to draw, specifically anime.

Gangle only has comedy and tragedy masks.

Gangle's favourite animal is Azumanga Daioh.

Gangle has a body pillow with a character on it.

Gangle watched One Piece, and her favourite character was Chopper.

Kinger is not British.

Kinger is the tallest and oldest

There is an episode that heavily features Kinger.

Kinger and Zooble eat like a chao

Kinger saw the gastral giveaway in a vision after eating two spoons of gravel.

Kinger knows how to play chess.

Zooble almost gets no screen time in the first two episodes

Zooble's appearance is based on ZoLo blocks

Zooble has a 'zooble box' of parts in their room.

Zooble does not like hugs

Zooble has been in the circus the second shortest.

Zooble is very grouchy and irritable.

Zooble is half a year older than Jax.

Zooble is alright with any pronouns

Zooble would smoke weed if possible.

Zooble is the worst at giving hugs

Zooble is constantly trying out different parts.

Zooble is the most likely to punt Jax into the abyss at any given moment

Zooble can play the drums.

Zooble most likely went through an emo phase.

Zooble was a tattoo artist at one point.

Zooble was a stoner

Zooble most likely dyed their hair in the real world.

How each member of the cast would react if you called them 'adorable'.

Nobody in the circus is truly sane

Heres the casts ages.

Pomni - 25

Jax - 22

Ragatha - 30

Zooble - 22

Gangle - 26

Kinger - 48

The performers can feel pain

Every character has a reason for the way they act.

The cast doesn't have bones, but they do have a visible skeleton when they're being electrocuted.

The black queen chess pieces name is Queenie

Queenie being a black chess piece and Kinger being a white chess piece has no relevancy to their relationship. It's only a design choice.

Queenie and Kinger aren't siblings.

The abstracted and lost eyes only look similar due to limited creativity in creature design.

Abstraction can't be undone.

The abstracted all look the same

A gloink king exists. It looks exactly like a normal gloink and dies immediately after mating.

There's "technically" a worm in episode 2.

There are "many" characters in the show that we don't know of.

The typical episode length will be 21-25 minutes.

There won't be any romance on the show. Stop asking.

Some episodes are a '1' on the horror scale, some are a '6'.

Apparently, a character we haven't met yet is getting the next episode for them.

As of november 6th, Gooseworx says, "The plan is eight episodes total, one season"

Note that some of this info may have changed since posting (or may have been revealed in the pilot), some may change during the course of the show, and some may be joke answers. Please let me know if there's anything I missed!

#I DIDNT SLEEP TO MAKE THIS. :-) #the amazing digital circus #tadc #digital circus #TADC Caine #Caine #TADC Kinger #Kinger #TADC Pomni #Pomni #TADC Gangle #Gangle #TADC Jax #Jax #TADC Ragatha #Ragatha #TADC Zooble #Zooble #TADC Bubble #text #amazing digital circus #seasalt speaks #long post

[gingersnappish]

A Big Collection of Art Tutorials

I find art tutorials really useful and also, sometimes quite far-flung. I'll come across one cool resource here and another incredibly helpful post in a totally different place, months later. I've been collecting bits and pieces of art advice that ease my way for a long time now, and I wanted to make a post to share some of the good art resources I've come found all in one place! GENERAL RESOURCES The Etherington Bros. have an enormous repertoire of drawing advice on their blog and I find almost all of it spot on! Griz and Norm have an incredible tumblr chock full of tutorials!

Drawing Den is a great tumblr that collects how-to-draw resources! Zephy.fr has some lovely free tutorials on their Insta (their main site is paid, but I've found the free resources to be quite helpful all on their own)

Sycra has a truly wonderful YT channel comprising a zillion vids on practically every topic - he's been going a long time and it's all excellent (his stuff on human anatomy and figure really fixed some difficulties for me)! DRAWING PEOPLE THIS is my favorite basic breakdown on expressions! A HELPFUL WAY to conceptualize drawing hair! People are complex - simplifying with CLEAR SILHOUETTE helps!

Aging or de-aging characters can be rough- THIS HELPS imo! WHEELCHAIRS are easy to get wrong if you don't have one/haven't studied how to draw them - and this is a very helpful remedy!

CLOTHES Hats are difficult to get sitting right and THIS POST helps a lot!

Suits and formal clothing can be A Lot: THIS LAYS IT OUT helpfully!

Historical Menswear is tricky: TRY THIS LINK by Shoomlah

And as always.... DON'T FORGET TO STRETCH YOUR HANDS!!!

(this makes a big difference in the long run, I can't emphasize enough that you oughta try a little stretching on the regular!)

#art tutorials #art resources #how to draw #art tips

[exlibrisseverus]

The torn bond of friendship

The silence between us every time we meet makes my heart ache.

You avert your gaze just so you don't have to look me in the eye. I know that you don't hate me. But to be honest, I'd rather have your hate than your pity.

You wish things had gone differently. But I can't change for you the way you would like me to. Nevertheless, you are important to me.

(You always will be.)

[I tried to put myself in his shoes and that's how these few lines came about. The background in the illustration is a photo I took, it's the view from my window.]

The artist's commentary – psychological aspect/my two cents…

->

Nobody is perfect, no human being is.

Especially not adolescent teenagers who literally have almost no idea about life. Who lack empathy, compassion, maturity, experience and so many other things. All of us have certainly lost a friend at some point in our childhood or adolescence. Close friendships at a young age and the experiences associated with them can have a strong influence on our behavior later in life. All of a person's first intensive relationships with family, friends, etc., whether positive or negative, shape their world view and character immensely.

We can't expect a young person to be flawless and perfect. Maturity comes with years and experience. It is not uncommon for children and youth to be self-centered and egocentric, but that does not make them bad people. To a certain extent, selfishness is even important. As we grow up, we learn to act autonomously, make decisions and form our own opinions. It is clear that we can make mistakes during this process and possibly hurt others. We all make mistakes on our journey through life, that is part of growing up. That is a part of this life.

I have to remind myself each time that they were practically still children as at that time.

Sorry for my poor English, it’s not my native language. I do my best though. Thanks for reading 🖤

(Additional edit 10.02.2024 Tumblr confuses me a little bit, i was wondering why my previous image lost it’s quality after uploading. It took me too long to draw and i need to show the details. Anyways for better detailed view -> I’ve split the artwork. 😌)

#severus snape #severus snape fanart #lily evans #lily evans fanart #snape community #pro severus snape #snape fanart #illustration #harry potter fanart #snily #my art

[just-jordie-things]

truth or dare - fushiguro megumi

word count: 6.2k warnings: swearing, drinking, smoking weed summary: the classic party game gets megumi and (y/n) get flustered when they’re asked just how intimate their friendship is. more info: all characters are aged up! a/n: all those kiss prompts had this idea brewing in my head lol ___

It probably wasn’t a good idea to be drinking and smoking in the common room of the main temple, but it was a special occasion, having all of the first and second years in the same place at once.  That hadn’t even happened for the Exchange Event.  So when Nobara suggested celebrating, everyone agreed rather quickly.

(y/n’s) not sure who was able to get their hands on pot, or the beer and rum, but she mentally praises them as she takes a drag of the blunt currently in rotation before passing it off to Megumi beside her.

He gives her a lazy smile, his eyes hooded from the weed already in his system, but he happily takes another hit before passing it to Yuji.  (y/n) can’t help but watch him as he does, her gaze focused on his long fingers which handle the dwindling blunt with ease.  She’s a bit lost in her thoughts already, but she doesn’t mind the warm haze over her mind.

“Need a refill,” Maki says, standing from her seat between Yuuta and Panda on the sofa, wiggling her empty red solo cup.  “Anyone else?”

Nobara’s quick to leap up and follow, even though some of her drink sloshes out of her cup as she does.  (y/n) and Megumi share a look, giggling quietly between themselves at the total girl crush that Nobara had on Maki.  it had become sort of an inside joke between them, but they’re sure the others have noticed, too.

Toge and Yuji also follow after the girl, eager to refill their cups, too.

“You wanna place money on if they’ll hook up tonight?” (y/n) murmurs from behind her cup, so as not to be heard by Yuuta and Panda.

From where they’re sitting on the floor, it’s a few feet away from the couch, but she didn’t want to make it obvious that they were gossiping about their friends.  But with half their crew leaving the room, their whispering is significantly more noticeable.

Megumi chuckles from next to her, and discreetly slides a little closer to her so he could also speak low under his breath without being noticed.

“Twenty bucks, Maki makes the first move” 

(y/n’s) laughter is less than discreet, although she’s still hiding her lips behind her cup, as if the plastic is doing anything to keep her hidden.  Megumi would tell her that her cup isn’t doing her any favors, but he’s too amused by it, so he keeps it to himself.

The pair were practically attached at the hip, and they had been ever since (y/n) joined Jujutsu Tech.  She’d enrolled shortly after Megumi, so for quite some time, they were the only first years.  Which gave them plenty of time to get to know each other.  It didn’t take long for them to become the perfect team- both on assignments and just in general.  Megumi’s not sure he’s ever had a best friend before, but it was easy to look at (y/n) and know she was the closest person in his life.  After all, she was the only person whom he could indulge gossiping with, of all things.  He thinks perhaps she could convince him of indulging in anything.

He was here drinking and sharing a blunt with her, wasn’t he? 

When Yuji and Nobara also joined them, it was clear to everyone that his bond with (y/n) was different, because he didn’t treat them nearly the same as he treated her.  Even though he’d easily say they were close friends too, they simply weren’t (y/n).  She was his best friend.

“Really? After how Nobara just skipped after her?” (y/n) draws him out of his thoughts with a shake of her head.  “I’ll take your twenty bucks, and I’m putting it all on Nobara”

“Alright, you’re on” Megumi sticks his hand out, and (y/n) shakes it with a confident smirk.

“Prepare to lose twenty dollars, ‘gumi” She declares.

If it was Itadori, he would’ve smacked his head and told him not to call him that.  But it’s (y/n), so he smiles as he tips his cup to his lips.

When the others return, each taking their respective seats in the awkward circle they’d made, Yuji announces the great idea he’d come up with.

“We should play a game!” He says excitedly, practically falling onto the floor beside Megumi.  “Like a real party game!” 

“Spin the bottle!” Nobara announces, slurring her words just a little.

(y/n) doesn’t miss the way Megumi side eyes her before sending a pointed look Maki’s way.  She hides her giggles as she takes a long drink.

“We’re not playing spin the bottle,” Yuuta laughs at the idea, his cheeks pink.  Although it’s hard to tell if the idea makes him bashful, or if he was just crossfaded.  “Is there even anyone here you want to kiss?” 

Nobara rolls her eyes, muttering under her breath that he was boring.

“What about truth or dare?” Yuji suggests instead.  “That doesn’t have to involve kissing” 

“What’s with the obsession with kissing?” Yuuta mumbles to Panda, who shrugs his shoulders.

“But it could involve kissing?” Nobara questions, eyeing Yuji carefully.

“I mean,” Yuji looks around the group, who mostly seem indifferent to the idea.  “Yeah? I guess? No rules truth or dare?” 

“Nothing illegal” Megumi pipes up, because someone had to say it.

“Yeah, like drinking and doing drugs on campus” (y/n) agrees, giggling as she finishes off her drink.  Megumi chuckles at her but rolls his eyes.

Everyone agrees to truth or dare, and Yuji takes it upon himself to go first, since he’d suggested it.  His first victim is Toge, and he dares him to take a shot.  The cursed speech user gets up to bring the bottle of rum from the kitchen, and he takes a massive swig of the bottle.  The group hollers and whistles, surprised he’d so boldly drank more than his share.

“That was way more than a shot,” (y/n) mumbles, and only Megumi is close enough to hear her.  “Do you think he’ll get drunk and start cursing us to do stuff?” She asks, turning to him with a surprising amount of delight in her eyes.

“I don’t like that you look excited by that” Megumi mutters back.

“Could be fun” (y/n) shrugs a shoulder, a mischievous glint in her eye.

Toge points to Maki, who also gladly accepts a dare.  Toge texts her, daring her to do a handstand for a full minute.  She laughs at the simple challenge, and gets up from the couch to do her display in the middle of the group circle.  Again, everyone’s amazed at her ability to keep her handstand steady for the full time, even while intoxicated.

When she’s upright again, she takes a dramatic bow.

“Alright, who wants next?” She grins deviously, eyeing her group of friends who all seem equally excited to watch the fun continue, and anxious to be the one she calls on.

However one stands out more anxious than the rest, and she eyes him down like he’s her natural prey.

“Megumi,” She points to him dramatically.

He groans, throwing his head back in a way that looks dramatic but is all too honest of a reaction.  He could tell by the excited twinkle in Maki’s eye that she intended to drag him through some sort of hell.  He had trained with her enough to be familiar with that look.  Being on the receiving end of it was nothing short of… chilling.

“Well what is it? Truth or dare?” Maki raises a brow, and the simple, game inducing question now sounds like a threat.

“I don’t trust you for a second, Maki,” Megumi’s eyes narrow back at her, and the room laughs and oohs.  

Beside him, (y/n) prods her elbow into his side, and when he casts her a quick glance, she beams with eagerness for him to take his turn.  He knows this is genuine excitement, but he can’t help but think of her as cruel for willing his certain embarrassment with this game.

“Truth” He finally answers Maki, who scoffs at his chicken-like behavior.

“Lame,” She grumbles, taking a swig of her drink while she lets her imagination run wild with the most ruthless question to bait him with.  

She mulls over the obvious questions which always come to mind, but brushes them off as typical, and boring.  And then her eyes land on (y/n), who’s giggling behind her drink, and clearly speaking but not loud enough for the group to hear.  Upon further observation, she can see Megumi mumbling back.  Curious, Maki smirks to herself at this interaction.  She’d always wondered about the… expanse… of the pair’s friendship, as had everyone else in the room right now.  Perhaps she could use the means of this silly party game to dig a little further.

“Alright, truth it is then,” She muses.  “Well then I’ll ask this one out of my own, genuine curiosity…” 

She gives him a look he can’t decipher but he knows he doesn’t like it.  Still, Megumi braces himself by putting on a brave face and tilting his cup in her direction for her to go on. 

“How many times have you and (y/n) hooked up?” 

While Megumi’s eyes go wide, it is (y/n) who reacts first.

She finally pulls her cup away from her lips, her jaw dropped open and her brows raised nearly to her hairline in shock.  A scoff escapes her, the odd choice of question hitting her chest and practically knocking the wind out of her.

“Hooked up?” (y/n) repeats, her brows falling into a furrow as she processes the question further.

Had she given some sort of indication that this was a… plausible question? Had she shown a little too much affection? Had she been caught staring when she could have sworn no one was paying her any attention? The thought that she’d given away the confusing feelings she’d harbored makes her heart race, and the hair on the back of her neck stand up.  She felt more fear now than she ever has when facing a curse.

“We’ve never hooked up,” Megumi’s answer feels hours late, but it had only been a minute in real time.  He’s shaking his head and scoffing at such a ridiculous choice of question, and clearly, he had no trouble calling Maki out on it.  “That’s really your truth? What kind of question is that? It’s obvious” 

(y/n) remains silent as she watches the conversation unfold.

Maki shrugs a shoulder as she purses her lips in thought.

“Really? Not ever?” She asks in disbelief.

“No, not ever” Megumi repeats.  

He looks more annoyed than anything.  Maybe even bored by her choice in question.  Of anything he could have prepared himself for, he supposed that was the easiest one to answer.  It was the truth, after all.  Had she asked him a more damning question pertaining to his feelings, well, maybe that would have been a bit tricker to glide over.  Still, something nags at him as to why Maki chose that question over all others.

“Well I wouldn’t have guessed that,” Nobara speaks up, and now the attention of Megumi and (y/n) are on her, waiting for her to say her piece.  “What?” She questions them with a drunken smile.  “You guys are super close.  You seem like the kind of friends that would… you know…” 

Rather than explain what she means, she decides to lewdly clasp her fingers and smack her palms together.  (y/n) chokes out a laugh, more so at her friend’s antics than the accusation, and Megumi’s face sours.

“Why would you think that?” He asks, his bewilderment beginning to shine through his annoyance.

“You’ve never even kissed?” Yuji pipes up now.

“Don’t you only get to ask me one question? Isn’t it my turn?” Megumi asks, trying to change the subject before this one makes his face turn red with embarrassment.

However, his timing is awful, and now the whole group are egging on the pair to answer Yuji’s question.  Even Yuuta is roped into the peer pressuring.

“You didn’t say you haven’t!” Panda whoops at Megumi’s lack of an answer.

“That’s not what I-” 

“So you have kissed then?” Maki asks with a devilish smirk.  Certainly she couldn’t have predicted this reaction, but Megumi thinks she’s enjoying it far too much.

“Tuna tuna!” Toge hollers.

(y/n) think she should probably say something to diffuse the situation, a quick laugh and shake of her head and she’s sure she’d convince her rowdy friends that nothing romantic had ever happened between her and Megumi.  It should be easy to say they were just friends, because that was the truth.

But her thoughts grow cloudy the longer she sits on it, and she finds herself unsure of what to say.  Maybe they’d never kissed, but… if one holds romantic feelings for another, then certainly romantic things had happened… right? 

Maybe she was just a bit cross faded, but she knows she’s found herself on numerous occasions getting lost in his eyes for a little longer than what she’d deem as friendly.  Maybe she wasn’t always sure why, maybe she was still exploring the realm of her feelings for Megumi, whatever they may be… but one thing was for sure.  There were feelings there.  More than friendly feelings.  Confusing feelings.  Feelings that made her heart race just at the idea of their friends thinking they’d been having some sort of casual affair all this time.

“Well how many times have you kissed then?” Yuuta asks, and Megumi sends him the harshest glare of all.  He was the only one left in the room that he’d been sure would mind his business, but clearly the upperclassman was just as nosey as the rest.

In Megumi’s silence, eyes begin to turn to (y/n), who isn’t bothering to hide her amused smile as she watches the drama go on.  However, now that their burning gazes are waiting on her response, she’s also struggling to find her words.

“What’re you looking at me for?” She tilts her cup to her lips again, eager for just a bit more liquid courage.

“Come on (y/n/n), we’re dying here,” Yuji begs, crawling across the carpet to plead with her, his hands clasped together and his face construed into his best puppy dog beg.  “How many times have you and ‘gumi kissed?” 

(y/n) barks out a laugh.  Megumi knocks his hand against the back of Yuji’s head.

“Don’t call me that” He scolds, and his eyes meet (y/n’s) for the briefest of moments, but he’s so sure that if he looks at her for too long that his entire face will go beet red, so he turns away quickly and hides behind a long swig of his drink.

“There’s nothing to tell,” (y/n) speaks for him, shrugging her shoulders with the lame answer.  “We’ve never done anything like that” 

“Yeah, we’re just friends,” Megumi confirms, and his tone is so genuine it almost stings (y/n) to hear it.  “You guys are ridiculous.  You’re all friends.  Are you hooking up all the time?” 

Yuji frowns as he hangs his head, bored by the answer.  “No” He mutters.

“Salmon!” Toge cheers, making the group break out into laughter and teasing again.

Their little makeshift party kicks back into gear and it seems the attention shifts away from Megumi and (y/n) quickly as everyone fights to make the funniest comment.  It takes a few minutes of cackling laughter before someone mentions the game, and Megumi is daring Panda to dance to the first song that comes on shuffle to his playlist.  Panda dares Yuuta to wrestle Yuji.  Yuuta makes Nobara tell the group she uses box dye for her hair.

The game continues on without a hitch, as though everyone had forgotten the detour they’d taken with Maki’s turn.  At least, the rest of the group had.  Megumi couldn’t help but tap his finger against the side of his plastic cup with anxiety.  The worry of the subject being brought up again made the tips of his ears go hot.  He knew he needed to forget it like everyone else had, but no matter how hard he tried, as soon as (y/n) was in his peripheral vision, the burning returned in his ears.

(y/n) put most of her focus on her drink.  And when it was starting to empty, no one batted an eye as she swiped the handle of rum from Nobara’s grasp and poured a healthy amount over the half-melted ice.  She too was trying to push past Maki’s question but not due to any sort of embarrassment.  Sure, it was a bit awkward, but she could live with awkward.  It was something about Megumi’s reaction that had gotten under her skin.

He’d seemed so uncomfortable, so annoyed, so repulsed by the line of questioning.  As though the thought of kissing her made him want to stick his tongue out and gag like a child at vegetables.

Am I vegetables? She wondered to herself as she watched the remainder of her ice melted into the alcohol, watering it down to a light brown color.  Am I so repulsive? 

Did drinking ever help anything, or anyone ever? No.  She knew that.  But right now it was the only thing keeping her mind cloudy enough that hopefully her discomfort and hurt wouldn’t shine through on her face.

It worked to some degree.  With half lidded eyes and a lazy smile she laughed along as Yuji admitted Taylor Swift always hypes him up for big missions, and Nobara alluded to having a crush on someone in the room.  While everyone seemed to move on, she just couldn’t get past the rock in her gut that was her pride being swallowed whole.

At some point the game of truth or dare subsided into a game of quarters.  (y/n) vaguely recalled tossing a few and having to drink down a few cups of beer, but the taste grew sour in her mouth, and she found herself bowing out once Yuuta and Maki got deep into the competition.  The others seemed to swarm them, taking sides and chanting loudly at them.  Sometime during that was hyping up, (y/n) found herself slipping out of the room and into the kitchen.

To her surprise, Megumi was there, a bag of chips in his hand.

“Oh, ‘gumi!” (y/n) beamed as she made her way over to him, taking the snack right of her hands to help herself to some as well.  “I didn’t even notice you left” 

He chuckles, stealing the bag back.

“I told you I was stepping out,” He reminded, her mouth making an ‘o’ shape as she made out a hazy memory of that happening when Maki had taken to throwing coins at Yuuta’s head to throw him off.  “You didn’t want to get caught up in the quarters tournament?” 

“It’s a tournament?” (y/n) mumbled to herself, blinking a few times to try and remember what events had transpired while she’d been lost in her thoughts.  “No, no, I don’t think I could keep up,” She answers his question sheepishly.  “Maki was getting a bit aggressive.  When I left I thought she might start straight up punching him” 

Megumi laughs a little louder this time.  His face is pink, and his long eyelashes hang heavy over his eyes.  (y/n) finds herself getting a little cloudy in the head again.  A lazy smile stretches on her face as they continue to share the bag of chips.  It was a family size, but she was pretty certain they’d finish them off before their friends even realized there were chips.

“I only play those games when there’s teams,” Megumi says, the gush of laughter that comes bubbling out of him likely due to the THC slowly flooding his system, but (y/n’s) no better because she’s giggling solely due to the fact he is.  “Being an opponent to Maki hurts too much” 

They’re both reduced to giggles, the snack between them forgotten as they’re taken over completely by them.  This continues for a few minutes, until Megumi’s stomach hurts, and (y/n’s) wiping tears out of her eyes.

“By the way,” He starts to speak as his laughter dies into breathless gasps.  He waits until he’s relaxed enough to continue.  “I’m sorry about earlier” 

A strange, electrical sensation courses through her, buzzing over her skin with a warmth that leaves goosebumps.  She feels as though someone had surged her with a static manifested shock.  Odd.

Was he sorry for the embarrassment? She wondered.  Or could he be sorry for the way he reacted?

“Oh, right,” She mumbles, not knowing what she was supposed to say.  Her face feels warm.  Her stomach feels fizzy.  Must be the beer.  “You don’t have to apologize” She finally settles on what she deems to be a safe answer.

“I should,” Megumi shrugs, ducking his head to peek into the near-empty bag of chips.  He rummages around for the last few salty snacks.  “It was pretty awkward,” 

(y/n) nods her head, finding a sudden interest in the tiled floor.  She thinks if she looks at him while her mind is warped with the thought of kissing him, she might just faint.

“We’re good, right?” He asks, noticing the way she was starting to dodge him.

“Yeah” (y/n) says, giving him a brief smile before putting her attention towards making another drink.  She’s debating on asking him what he’s sorry for, why it is he feels the need to apologize.  Her vision blurs as her focus is interrupted.  She’s staring into the cup of ice she’d gathered for herself.

Megumi raises a brow as she watches her stand at the counter, staring down at the ice.  He can’t tell if she’s lost in thought or if her buzz was getting on top of her a bit.  Either way, it was concerning.

He drops the bag on the counter, before reaching his arm out and setting his hand on her shoulder.

“Hey,” He calls, and waits until she looks up at him.  His eyes flicker over her features quickly, trying to determine if she was too out of it, and needed to turn in for the night.  He can’t tell.  “Are you good?” 

(y/n) gives him a small nod, before letting out a slow exhale.  She may as well ask, she figures even if bringing up the subject makes it even weirder, they could both sleep it off, and never bring it up again.

“Weird question,” She turns to him, and Megumi drops his hand.  Her mouth opens and closes a few times while she works up the courage to speak her mind.  “Am I vegetables?” 

With furrowed brows, Megumi huffs out a laugh, finding delight in the bizarre question.

“Vegetables?” He repeats, staring at her in the hopes she’d provide more context.

(y/n) cringes, and tries to backtrack while her face grows hot.

“I- I don’t know… do you think kissing me would be awful?”

The question hangs in the air as Megumi’s eyes widen, properly frozen.

Awful? That word in particular plays in his head on a loop.  When he realizes he’s been silent for too long, he shakes his head as if it could erase the word like an etch-a-sketch.

“Sorry, I guess I just got curious,” (y/n) goes back to mixing her drink.  “You seemed… upset… earlier” 

“Well, yeah,” He breathed out.  “Felt pretty personal, why wouldn’t I be upset?” 

(y/n) didn’t say anything, just grabbed a straw and swirled it around in her cup to properly mix the rum and coke.  He watches her carefully, trying to wrap his mind around her nervous intrigue.  Why was she asking this? What was this about?

“You’ve never thought about it?” She asks, looking up at him now, as much as it made butterflies flutter in her stomach, she wanted to gauge his reaction.

Currently, he looked perplexed, as though her question completely ripped the rug out from under him.

“Thought about it?” He’s repeating her words again, totally lost.

“Yeah,” (y/n) nods her eyes growing wide as she stares up at him.  

Just as he tries to get himself to stop holding his breath, she’s stepping forward, close enough he has to crane his neck to meet her gaze.  His lips are pressed together tightly as his eyes widen completely.  He doesn’t blink as he stares down at her.

“You’ve never thought about us? Kissing?” 

Her words are a little awkward, which he chalks up to her inebriated state, but her question is clearer now.  He can’t doubt what she means by it.

“N-no! Of course not!” 

He laughs off his anxiety, hoping that it helps him to come across as nonchalant as he can.

(y/n) blinks, a furrow forming in her brow as she takes a small step back.  There’s a flicker of emotion in her expression, but Megumi can’t quite place what it is.

In all the time he’s known her, he can’t remember a time she’s looked at him like… this.

“Don’t be ridiculous.  Maki’s getting to you,” He doesn’t know what he’s trying to fix, but he knows he’s got to find the right thing to say and quick, because she’s deflating in front of him.

What was this? Annoyance? 

“She probably heard us betting on her and Nobara and wanted to get under your skin” He explains away the tension from earlier, although he doesn’t have any clue how to explain the current tension.

(y/n) doesn’t say anything.  She picks up her cup, eyeing the half-melted ice with a frown.  But it wasn’t due to her watered down drink.

The way she’s starting to shut him out has something nagging in Megumi’s chest.  What had he said? His brows pinched together as he watched her shoulders sink.

“(y/n)-?” 

“You’re right,” She turns to him suddenly, with a smile he can see right through.  “It’s ridiculous” 

His lips part, but he can’t think of something to say before she’s walking out of the kitchen with her drink in hand.  

Megumi could be dense, but he wasn’t an idiot.  He knew he messed up.  (y/n) wouldn’t walk away from him if she wasn’t upset, and he knew he’d really upset her.

But she was upset… because he’d thought the notion of them kissing was ridiculous? 

His heart stuttered in his chest, and he looked down at himself at the peculiar sensation, as if he would be able to see the organ pumping through his shirt.

Had he… royally fucked up?  ___

(y/n) had watched the game of quarters turn everyone into sloppy drunks until their little get together finally began to die.  Panda was passed out on the floor, Yuuta and Toge were fighting for space on the couch, and (y/n) was pretty sure she saw Nobara hastily dragging Maki off down the hall towards her room.

You owe me a twenty, ‘gumi, she thinks with a fond smile as she hears the girls’ giggling die down the further they left.

“Hey,” 

She jumped at the sound of a voice behind her, but relaxed to find it was only Yuji.  He smiled sheepishly.

“Sorry about truth or dare,” He tells her, bringing a hand up to the back of his neck.  “I mean, I figured that was gonna happen, but, sorry if it made things weird between you guys,” 

(y/n) looked away, her eyes landing on the couch, where a fussing Toge as he tried to get comfortable against Yuuta’s shoulder.  Yuuta was dead asleep, neck craned over the back of the couch cushion with his mouth hanging open.  Toge eventually huffed and slumped down, fatigue winning over comfort as his limbs hung awkwardly over the rest of the sofa.

“But to be honest,” Yuji chuckled through his words.  “I didn’t think it’d be a big deal! I thought you guys have been hooking up this whole time”

That had (y/n’s) attention snapping back to him.  Her eyes were round with surprise, assuming at first that Yuji was just messing with her.  But the smile on his face was genuine, and he shrugged at her like he really was sorry for the awkwardness.

“Why?” She mumbled out the question.

“Why what?” Yuji repeated.

“Why did you think we were hooking up?” She clarified, smacking his arm to get him to focus.

“I dunno.  You’re really close, I guess.  You stare at each other a lot, and he doesn’t hit you when you call him ‘gumi,” 

(y/n’s) brows crinkled as Yuji seemed to have a never ending list of good reasons for his assumption.

“When you fall asleep during movie night, he always covers you in a blanket.  And he always sits next to you.  Last time I tried to sit next to him he said he wanted space, and to sit on the side with Nobara.  Then you showed up and he moved right over so you could sit next to him,” 

If her eyes weren’t already popping out of her head, (y/n) was certain they were about to.  Every word Yuji spoke, she committed to memory, even in her hazy mind, she tucked each one away like precious treasures, gifts.  

“Yeah I figured friends that close must’ve toed the line-” 

“Tell me more,” Darting forward, her hands curling around Yuji’s arm, startling him, but he relaxes when he sees the look on her face.

Adoration, excitement, Yuji notes.

“What else?” 

He stammers, not meaning to hesitate, but her sudden curiosity caught him off guard, and it took him a moment to catch up and recall more instances of Megumi’s special treatment for (y/n).

“I- I mean I don’t know what there is to tell that you don’t already know,” He laughs nervously.  “Honest, I thought you already did,” 

Still, she presses forward, her eyes pleading with him silently.

“He pretty much only laughs at your jokes,” He scrambles to think of more examples.  “He requests you as his partner all the time- even when it hurts my feelings- and- hm, I guess he talks about you a lot too.  You always come up in conversation somehow, now that I think about it.  I think that-” 

“Thanks Yuji,” (y/n) cuts him off with a bright smile, and squeezes his arm before she lets go of it.  “I really appreciate it!” 

She’s turning around and taking off before Yuji can say anything, or even understand what service he’d provided that seemed to make her so elated.  Had she really not known how much Megumi cared for her? She treated him the same, so how could she be blind towards it? 

It was true, (y/n) hadn’t known any of these things, and maybe she had been a little dense, and maybe her feelings were a little hurt in the kitchen earlier.  But at least she had the comfort of knowing however complicated her feelings were for him, at least now she knew that Megumi did care about her, deeply so, apparently.

And whether or not that would come to break her heart, he was unshakable, and he would be the one who eases her mind through it all.

As she made her way back to her room, that fact really settled in her mind, and eased her heart.�� The question of how Megumi really felt about her could be answered another time.  She was comforted now.

“Wait, (y/n)!”

She’s just about to reach for her door when her name is hollered down the hall.  Despite the sudden noise jolting through her ears in an otherwise silent corridor, she doesn’t jump or flinch as she turns to see Megumi half-jogging towards her.

She gives him a warm, drunken smile as he approaches, turning away from her door.  He approaches her in an instant, practically towering over her, but his closeness doesn’t render her shy, this time.  His piercing gaze doesn’t make her want to look away.  She stands before him happily, proudly, and she looks at him with the same sentiment in her eyes.

Truthfully, Megumi had a speech.  A long string of words that he’d replayed in his head for the last half hour.  All the right words, too.  This time he’d say what he really meant, what was really on his mind, even if his thoughts and feelings weren’t shared, he was going to be honest with her.

But now he’s standing before her and she’s looking up at him expectantly, and all thoughts fly right out the window.  She’s knocked the air out of his lungs and the words out of his head.  This wasn’t a new occurrence.

“Of course I’ve thought about it,” Is what he says instead of what he’d prepared.

She blinks, and he can’t tell if she understands that he’s referring to their last conversation, so now he’s stammering as much as his heart is in his chest but he doesn’t care.

“I’ve thought about kissing you everyday for the last- for however long I’ve known you for,” He’s talking faster than she’s ever heard him before, but she catches the important bits.  “Honestly I don’t think I’ve been able to stop thinking about kissing you-”

Before he can continue rambling, she’s talking over him.  She’s quieter than him, having had the wind knocked out of her from his sudden confession, but as soon as she speaks he’s clamping his mouth shut, eager to finally know her response.

“Well do it then” 

It’s so soft even a whisper would have yelled over her, and she thinks she might have to repeat herself, when Megumi’s surging forward.

His movements are fast, like he’s racing against time.  But despite his rush, his hands are gentle as they slide over her jaw, thumb briefly stroking her skin- a feeling he’d wanted to indulge himself in for as long as he could remember, since before he could even understand why, he’s wanted to smooth his hands over her rosy cheeks, always wondering if they felt as warm as they looked.  They were.

She’s just as fast to close the distance between them.  She’s a bit wobbly as she stands on the tips of her toes, but she has her arms around his neck to keep her steady, and even as she’s practically falling into him, he has a hold on her that she knows won’t waver.

And then his lips are slotting over hers.

It’s a hurried kiss, full of long-awaited desperation, and longing.  Megumi kiss is certain, as if he’s always known just how to kiss her.  His kiss is passionate, the taste of rum and grenadine ever so present on her lips is nothing short of addictive, and his desire to kiss them until the flavor takes over his tongue burns hot.

She’s shooting forward, trying to get impossibly closer to him, hoping that tangling her hands into his hair will do the trick.  For a short moment, it’s close enough, but soon she’s too settled and is pushing closer again.  Megumi has to drop his hands to her hips to keep her from knocking both of them off balance.  He grips them firmly, his fingers splayed out as far they can, desperate to touch as much as they can.

Even as they’re pulling away, panting, a few more kisses are stolen as they do.

Swollen lips are the first thing he notices.  And soon after it’s hooded eyes as she stared up at him under heavy lashes.  Her eyes are still a little red, and Megumi thinks it might just be his new favorite time to stare into them.  That might just be because of the weed in his system, too.

And then she’s giggling.  Cheery and sweet, the sound makes his head foggier.  His lips curl into a lazy smile as his hands cradle her face again.

Her face mirrors his, eyes crinkling at their corners so much he blurs before her.  She doesn’t care.  She couldn’t contain her happiness if she tried.  But why would she?

“Every day, huh?” She asks, a fit of giggles erupting from her chest as she watches Megumi fluster, the rush of adrenaline finally beginning to subside.  His face warms and his fingers twitch on her hips, just a little, but his grip tightens enough for her to notice.

“Somethin’ like that” He mumbles, and (y/n) finds it cute that he’s growing bashful now.

“So… you wanna hang out?” She asks, her fond smile turning into a bright grin as she nods her head back towards her door.  Megumi follows the motion, as though forgetting they were still in the hallway.

His eyes light up when he looks back at her again, nodding his head as he uses one hand to slide her door open, before pushing her backwards into the room.

“Somethin’ like that” He repeats in a lower voice, reaching behind himself to slide the door shut again. ___

a/n: aaaand now i wanna write a spin the bottle fic for yuuta :) party games mini series coming right up lmfao

xoxo ~ jordie

#fushiguro megumi x reader #megumi x reader #friends to lovers #megumi fushiguro x reader #fushiguro x reader #megumi brainrot #fushiguro megumi imagine #fushiguro megumi scenario #megumi imagine #fushiguro megumi x reader fluff #jjk #jjk x reader #jjk fluff #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jjk x reader fluff #megumi x reader friends to lovers #fushiguro megumi x reader friends to lovers

[forecast0ctopus]

Any advice on drawing McCoy? I’m not used to drawing ancient wrinkley bastards (affectionate) and it’s surprisingly tough v-v

FOR SURE lmao i made. a diagram. just a warning that i am going to be irritating and long winded because u just hit a topic i really like sorry lmao

so first off i did some traces just to show whats there vs redraws to show my interpretation

ive said this on other asks but again jsyk, tracing isnt bad!! its a tool. theres some stuff with intellectual property and whatnot but using tracing to study shapes and forms is a really valuable practice.

also just taking some time to learn facial structures and anatomy is super useful, reading what bones and muscles are where and how they interact with one another. taking this info and staring in the mirror and moving your face around and thinking about it. just really furthers understanding of how the face works. trying to sound normal about this but i love anatomy and motion and physics and whatever

anyways im going to go through all the numbered points so there's no confusion. 1. forehead lines - self explanatory. more prominent when brows are raised 2. crows feet - at the outer corners of the eyes, more prominent when smiling or squinting 3. nasolabial folds - the folds that go from the corners of the nose to the corners of the mouth. more prominent when the mouth is wide, like smiling 4. brow furrow - self explanatory, most prominent when brows are furrowed. mccoy tends to have two right next to his eyebrows, kirk has one in the middle. everyones face works different lmao 5. chin crease - caused by how the chin and lower lip interact. 6. nasojugal groove - start from the inner corners of the eye and can extent over the cheeks. everyone has these and idk why people dont like them i think theyre really cool!!!! but Society. i guess. :/ 7. eye bags - caused by the skin sagging beneath the eyes. mccoy isnt even that old in tos i think hes meant to be mid 40s by the end of the 5 year mission, hes just got really prominent eye bags lmao 8. idk what the name is for these, but when the mouth is wide and pushes the skin to the sides, these folds sometimes form outside of the nasolabial folds 9. philtrum - the groove above the upper lip. i dont usually draw this but mccoy's struck me as prominent enough that i usually draw it on him 10. masseter - the muscle that moves the jaw up and down. its a pretty rugged muscle and while i wouldnt say mccoy's is especially prominent, it kind of extends that nasojugal groove from certain angles/positions 11. orbicularis oris - mouth muscle, usually easier to see when lips are pursed or frowns are pulled. mccoy's is pretty prominent from 3/4ths or side, his mouth tends to protrude in profile 12. this isnt a muscle but more of a line defining the planes of the face, but since i drew it i felt i should explain lmao

a few points:

im an animator i tend to exaggerate and emphasize certain things so i usually make him more square.

i like to combine eyebags and crows feet for brevity/flow, same with nasojugal grooves, eyebags, and masseter lines. my approach is always subject to change based on pose, expression, reference image, etc.

i take out details that i deem redundant or cluttering and keep what details i need to make things feel Right

all this info is applicable to any character of any age, its just in how you apply it and facial proportions that willl change how old a character is perceived to be

there's a lot more with drawing a Character rather than an Actor, just because the features are there doesnt necessarily mean things will feel correct? its very much in the mannerisms and poses and expressions

i only went over my approach to his likeness but not really body type or posing or anything idk if u want that i could always try to answer that later haha

_______________

anyways all that info kind of exists nebulously in my brain while i draw its not like im sitting there thinking Must Draw. Nasolabial Fold...... i jsut do what feels right with the visual info i have. also i love specificity in faces.... i dont like to be a hater but when every character is drawn the same it pisses me off a little lmao. so

also dont take my word as The Only Way to do anything i just draw how i like to draw and no one should feel like these are things that Must be done to be a good artist or anything do whatever the hell u wanna do

#anyways my apologies that was. a lot #it will happen again if asked of me. #anon #ask #everyone has this stuff going on with their face and its really cool but capitalism and the beauty industry and whatnot #have been rotting peoples brains since the moment they came to be #the more u look at and appreciate how ur skin an muscles and bones interact with one another the more fine u are with your own face #trust me #because its really cool. like mechanically and stuff #idk if its like theraputic or something but maybe it is or maybe i think about it all way too much #how i draw #ive got some other similar things under that tag i think pertaining to merlin but still similar info

[a-butterfly1]

==✦NINJAGO AU MASTERPOST✦==

This is an AU I've been working on, I will actually work on it on writting ( on AO3 ) instead of making a comic/manga because I tend to procastinate when it comes to drawing panels ( if you have been keeping up with other pojects of mine you would know this), hopefully I will keep this updated.

==❤︎CHARACTER INFORMATION❤︎==

Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon

Age- 1000+ (immortal) Height: 5'8 (1,73m)

Lloyd has lived many years, of course, now he's immortal, he doesn't have much of a choice but to continue living on. He was many things throughout his life: a bratty child, a son, a master, a hero and now he's nothing more than a myth, while still a part of ninjago history many actually question if he ever really existed or not. He ostracized himself from society for a reason, after all,- it's painfull to make relationships when they are so short lived. He is considered a god by many, but he denies that being the case, maybe the embodiment of the balance between good and evil but he wont try to call himself anything more. Lloyd now lives with the spirits of his family with the occasional visits from Morro and Garmadon, his father.

==꒷꒦︶︶꒷︶︶꒦꒦︶︶꒷꒦==

Jay Walker

Age- 1000+ (spirit) Died at 115 Height: 5'10 (1,78m) Status: Nya's husband

He was a man of the spotlight, he shined brithly- TV shows, TheyTube channels, he was knowed worldwide. Not that he minds the retirement, he lived his life; he had two beautiful twins with the love of his life, Nya. He died happy, even if he was the last one to die, 3 years after Nya had passed. His last years were spent with Lloyd. In his many years in the Ninja team, he's come to realise he doesn't exactly have the same type of strengh like the others so he created a different weapon one that creates iron alloy strings, that resemble spider webs. He also practiced racing with his wife in his free time and created all kinds of machines and weapons which ranged from house equipment to ninja tech, like mechs, weapons and transport.

==꒷꒦︶︶꒷︶︶꒦꒦︶︶꒷꒦==

Kai Smith

Age- 1000+ (spirit) Died at 95 Height: 6'2 (1,88m) Status: Skylor's husband and Nya's bio brother

Kai was a little bit of an influencer in his younger years, but as the years went by he settled more into being a family man with his wife Skylor and his little girl. How did he become a spirit? Well it was his idea; well his plan was to become immortal like Lloyd but he was intersected by Morro, so he opted for the second best option: giving his powers to Lloyd, so even if he was dead he would be with Lloyd through his power; what wasn't part of the plan was he actually becoming part of Lloyd as a spirit, not that he is complaining, he got what he wanted in the end; and since he was the one that piched the idea to the ninja, he just involved them all into the mad plan- one that Lloyd was unaware of. He trully is a mad man, no one, and I mean, no ONE, puts themselves between him and his family, the last person who did so, is no longer amoung us, the last thing they saw was Kai becoming a demonic ball of flames.

==꒷꒦︶︶꒷︶︶꒦꒦︶︶꒷꒦==

Nya Smith Walker

Age- 1000+ (spirit) Died at 112 Height: 6'0 (1,83m) Status: Jay's wife and Kai's bio sister

Nya, famous racer, only had to step down from the hobbie/carrer when she got into a small accident, while she wasn't gravelly wounded that was enough for her to be proibited from competitive racing. From that day on she still raced but became more of an idol than a racer per say. She ended up working on engineer projects, solo or with Jay, mostly out of boredom. Now, since she is dead, she has more free time than ever, and uses it to learn and explore every digital corner of the internet, catching a few criminals in the way. Many say she is mystical and her strengh is as crushing as the waves in a storm can be, yet calm and relaxing as the days in the beach, others, like the Ninja themselves just see her as they're beloved sister.

==꒷꒦︶︶꒷︶︶꒦꒦︶︶꒷꒦==

Cole Brookestone

Age- 1000+ (spirit) Died at 87 Height: 6'8 (2,03m) Status: Vania's husband

Cole, King of the Kingdom of Shintaro, Husband of Queen Vania, father of the prince of Shintaro, and our beloved cake lover, sadlly passed away early, well earlier than his siblings at least, the unknowed illness that had taken the life of his mother had decided to claim another. Cole fell gravelly ill, bedridden in his late stages of life. Bedridden in the castle, he invited Lloyd over for most possibly a final goodbye, although he didn't think that Lloyd would stay around the whole time it wasn't completly unexpected, right there he was the first one to execute Kai's plan, and the first to discover the side effects of the plan; from then on he was part of Lloyd and made sure to let the others know of the end result.

==꒷꒦︶︶꒷︶︶꒦꒦︶︶꒷꒦==

Zane Julien

Age- 1000+ (nindroid) Height: 7'0 (2,13m) Status: P.I.X.A.L's husband

Caretaker of the rest of the Ninja team and their children, especially since those little kids sure liked uncle Lloyd a whole lot and would visit constently. He stayed with Lloyd in the monastery alongside P.I.X.A.L and Morro (who visits soo much he pretty much lives there, has a room and everything). Him and Lloyd share house chores, and Zane is in charge of looking at news around ninjago, to ensure it's safety, as well as helping in some researches since Lloyd is only one person and can only intake soo much information at a time. He is the only one that hasn't partaken in Kai's plan, since there is literally no reason to, Zane obviously doesn't die of old age, one may claim that he could possible get rusty and need repairs at some point but Lloyd and P.I.X.A.L are always around is any issue is to come.

==✿ADDITIONAL INFORMATION✿==

The Ninja team, many years after most of the team's death, has move the location of the monestary far away from the main ninjago island, and instead now lives in a far away island that Lloyd created west of Ninjago city, around the middle of Ninjago and the dark island (thats has been sealed away by Lloyd). The reason for that change is because of something rather strange, it's not just to ensure Lloyd's ever soo wished isolation but also because a merchant had attented to buy the place, with the intention of turning the monestary into a tourist attraction. Lloyd got a bit peeved and decided to pick up the mountain where the monestary was on top of and relocated it;

The only reason the Jay was living with Lloyd in his last moments, was because he genuenly belived he would miss the mark to execute Kai's plan, because he belives himself to be quite clumsy and distracted; either way he didn't miss it and now is with the rest of the team (which is a way to say that he can now torment the Ninja forever);

Lloyd has a cute nickname for all the Ninja's kids, and spoiled them to no end (he is the fun uncle who takes everyone to Disneyland), he calls Kai's daugther "munchkadee", Jay and Nya's twins has "Starlight" and "Moonlight" for the girl and boy respectively, and Cole's son is "Duckling";

the age diference of the Ninja are, from youngest to oldest: Lloyd - Nya - Jay - Kai - Cole - Zane ( to say, with maybe the idea of the 1 season, Lloyd (8->15) - Nya (15) - Jay (16) - Kai (17) - Cole (18) - Zane (30-40? he is old);

(conceivable for change) As of right now, Lloyd's power is one that could rival gods, the source of said power is something OP is still considering but the possible main reason might be related to "source dragons", has to why the other Ninja's had powers even after having kids is related to Lloyd giving them an artifact that has their specific element embodied into them (the artifacts are not phisical and can only be visualised when the Ninja have already passed, the artifact will most likely have the form of a card); (the reason of this possible change is the development of the plot of "Dragons Rising").

#i've finally been able to show you these guys #still working on them but i'm very happy to give you guys some insite on my ninjago au #ninjago au #ninjago fanart #ninjago #kai ninjago #kai smith #cole brookstone #cole ninjago #ninjago cole #lloyd ninjago #lloyd garmadon #jay walker #jay ninjago #zane julien #zane ninjago #lloyd montgomery garmadon #nya smith #lego ninjago #my art #butterfly's art #reference sheet #spirit ninjago au #art

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

Aita for not making any of my characters, that I have to crank out daily, pansexual/polysexual/omnisexual specifically and only making them bi?

🏳️‍🌈👶🏼 so i can recognize this later lmao also I'm not panphobic or anything, this isn't about the validity of the label, pan is fine.

So i (20snb bi) have a project I'm working on where I take all the characters from a specifc media I'm into and pair them up with each other to make every possible ship kid from every possible ship(excluding characters who are kids themselves or are related or something, that shit is gross). Basically taking every character and pairing them up with another and creating a kid I think they'd have. Its a big project with lots of characters and I'm easily over 400 at this point. I really enjoy this, even if I'm not even 25% complete.

However I set a schedule for myself that at least one ship kid needs to come out each day which, considering I draw them, color them and give them some development and some even have siblings, (The refs themselves easily take me an hour to an hour and a half) I have to make lots of them quickly to keep up with my daily grind. I've been doing this project for over a year and although it's stressful, I can get them out quickly with breaks for myself.

Their character sheets all have some pretty basic info like their name, gender, pronouns, personality and more but it also includes their sexuality/orientation. I have a pretty basic list of options for what their sexuality will be: straight, lesbian, gay, Enbian, bi, Aro, ace and aroace with a few random things like polyam, WLW and a good amount of the something-loving-something/juvelic terms. I did this because, well, there's not many entirely unique orientations outside of them and although I love mogai/xenogenders and complex identities, I dont want to potentially drag up discourse or bring problems to my budding art blog over it. Its just not worth it to me to turn something I really care about on its head, even if I like microlabels.

In this case, I'm using bi as an umbrella term as most of the other terms share the same definition with slight variations in wording or action but not much difference in practice. We all like everyone, it's basic stuff. However, apparently this is a problem.

I've gotten one or two anons asking me questions about my guides asking some kind stuff like is this lesbian ship kid a butch or femme or Is this picture of them now or just at the age you put on the ref and other harmless stuff. Then things got rude with some Nbphobia but thrice now I've gotten asks:

1. Asking snarkily if im a panphobe

2. insulting me for not specifically writing pan or Omni and just writing bi.

3. Saying that I "clearly dont care about pansexual representation." Then brought up how my primary oc is native american so i clearly care about representation but that oc used to be a sona and I'm native?? Its confusing. (And Lowkey racist shit to just assume any native character is a "diversity quota" character instead of just a person existing but I digress-)

Im not pan, im bi so ig these people assume I'm not cool with pan people which isnt true? I have nothing aginest them, they are just pretty similar and I dont feel like it matters if they are specfically bi or pan or poly or any other label. I don't go into details like that for any other sub-group, not even pronouns and I included combinations and some common Neopronouns. I understand the importance of representation but my project has less than 50 people looking at it every day, Im not netflix or something. I'm one guy on the most LGBT blogging site with a big project and very little audience, I'm not showing people who wouldn't already know what pan is that pansexuality exists.

This project isn't that deep considering the characters in question aren't human/dont have human characteristics.(no it's not hazbin/helluva) Also ive never spoken about lgbt discourse or stated anything remotely close to it beyond the guides just passively having characters who are an LGBT identity. I've not even mentioned all the potentional orientations they could have so I'm not sure where/why this came up in the first place. The most politcial things ive said are calling out a creator in my fandom who outed themselves as a transphobe and mentioning im pro-palestine. That's it.

I mean this is pretty low stakes, I can just block these people and be done with it and this some seriously online shit but I just wanna check.

Am I being an asshole for just writing bi instead of specifying their mspec label because I have to produce characters quickly and I don't see enough of a difference to warrant a change/specification that would ultimately slow and clog an already stressful and complex project?

I dont think I am but idk lol

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[writing-with-sophia]

How to get into the mind of a character? Honestly this can be for your OWN character or a fictional character. I'm wanting to write for characters- headcanons and fanfictions- and I'm so afraid I'll write them so uncanny to how they actually are.

How to get into the mind of a character?

To get into the mind of a character, you have to understand that character, believe in that character, and even "live" the character's life. But we all know each individual is different, and we cannot live different lives. A normal person who grew up in peacetime cannot fully understand the hardships of a warrior, and a doctor cannot know the thoughts of a mafia boss.

So, how can writers create believable characters? How can they possibly offer a believable soldier, cop, detective, alcoholic, or any given character type if they themselves haven't lived as them? How can they possibly offer a believable character in a situation that they've never been in?

Here are some tips you can use to get into the minds of characters:

Tip 1: Observe real-life people

To create well-rounded characters, observe real people around you. Pay attention to their behaviors, mannerisms, speech patterns, and thought processes. Take note of how they express emotions, handle conflicts, and make decisions. Drawing from real-life observations can add depth and authenticity to your characters. You can also search for novels and movies with different themes, study how characters with different pasts, biographies, occupations, and personalities act, behave, gesture, and speak. The best way is to prepare a small notebook and a pen so you can carry it with you wherever you go.

Tip 2: Create a detailed character profile

Develop a detailed character profile that includes information such as their age, background, beliefs, values, goals, and fears. Consider their relationships with other characters and how these dynamics influence their thoughts and actions. Delve into the character's past and explore significant events that have shaped them. Consider their upbringing, traumas, successes, and failures. These can provide you with a roadmap for understanding the character's mindset.

Tip 3: Use internal monologues and journaling

Imagine the character's internal thoughts and dialogues with themselves. Consider what they might be thinking in different situations, their hopes, dreams, and fears. (And why do they dream of that? Why are they afraid of that thing? What in the past made them afraid? Always asking questions.) Writing internal monologues or journal entries from the character's perspective can help you delve into their mindset and gain insight into their unique voice.

Tip 4: Consider their external influences

Characters are influenced by their environment, culture, and society. Reflect on how external factors such as family, friends, societal norms, or even the story's setting impact their thoughts and behaviors. This will help you portray their worldview more accurately.

Tip 5: Study the source material

If you're writing about an existing character from a book, TV show, or movie, immerse yourself in the source material. Pay attention to their dialogue, actions, and interactions with other characters. Take note of their personality traits, motivations, and backstory. This will help you develop a strong foundation for understanding the character. For example, recently I suddenly became interested in Nightwing (do you know him? Nightwing from the Batman series!), and I wanted to write a few short stories about him. So I found all the comics and movies that featured Nightwing and watched them one by one. I don't take notes because I have a pretty good memory (especially for characters I like), but I still recommend taking notes on special things to note.

Tip 6: Practice free writing

Set aside time for free writing exercises where you write from the character's point of view. Allow your thoughts to flow without judgment or editing. Just write, write, and write. You can reread and make corrections after you're done. Remember to gather your posts in one place; otherwise, you'll lose or forget them (like me!).

Getting into the mind of a character is an ongoing process that requires continuous exploration and refinement. The more you invest in understanding your character's thoughts, feelings, and motivations, the more compelling and authentic your writing will become.

Additionally, you can read my articles on how to write an effective character here:

How to create a superbad villain

How to make a villain's appearance memorable

Basic questions for your character

Describing a villain's appearance in a natural way

Create an effectively past for character

Common character motivations

How to create a good main character

How to avoid the instance where a secondary character stands out more/ is more lovable?

Character flaws

Writing a good Anti-Hero

Character positive traits

How to write an elderly main character?

Protagonist who is a ballerina

How to write a believeable egotistical character

#writerscommunity #writers #writersociety #writer things #writeblr #writers on tumblr #on writing #writing #creative writing #writblr #writings #writer #words #write #writers and poets #women writers #ao3 writer #amwriting #author #writers life #female writers #writing stuff #writer stuff #writing resources #writing requests #writing reference #writing rambles #writing romance #writing a book #writing community

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

so 96% of you wanted to see me do a redesign of mermista. and while i can draw, i've been stuck in an art block so i opted to just draw over her current design. i don't hate all of it so i'm not changing everything.

let me go through the complaints i do have about her design.

first off, she does not look like royalty in the slightest. she just looks like some girl who likes the color blue. even the gold accents don't really help. i'm not saying she has to walk around in a gown and tiara but at least add something to her design to indicate that she's a princess?

secondly, those clown shoes are NOT IT. who even thought of that? they look uncomfortable and ridiculous, and doesn't make sense for her character design.

those sleeves/armor (??? i honestly don't know what those are) and gold gauntlets also do not look practical in the slightest. they look like they'd be a hindrance for a swimmer. and guess what, she still has them in her mermaid form.

the OG mermista design wasn't the greatest but at least it looked like she could swim comfortably.

so my objectives were:

give her outfit a more streamlined look so it would make sense for her powers

make her look like actual royalty and not some girl with a cool color palette

expand more on the indian-inspired design and reflect that in her usual outfit, instead of putting her in a saree-inspired dress for one episode and calling it a day (i say saree-inspired because it's not really a traditional saree, but more like a modern and slightly western rendition)

i made two versions of her redesign - one with a dupatta and one without. the dupatta, i understand, could be a hindrance in certain situations but i just wanted to give an example of how to take inspiration from a culture instead of just using it for brownie points. a dupatta is something indians would wear with their casual attire, mostly with salwars, unlike sarees which are generally reserved for special occasions (there are sarees that are casual wear, but they're still not the most convenient).

secondly, i gave her a headwear inspired from desi wedding attire and older indian tiaras. mind you, indian tiaras themselves are a lot more complex and beautifully crafted, but 1. it would take me ages to draw all the details and 2. i figured mermista would go for a simpler look, especially when she's not at her palace. also, while indian headwears are usually made with gold and jewels, i gave mermista's headwear pearls because.. pearls, oysters, ocean. mermaid vibes.

i changed the shoes and gave her a pair that are inspired by water shoes. i know that she would transform into a mermaid while swimming anyway, but these still look more comfortable without serving clowncore.

i replaced her gold accents with silver because the gold doesn't really mesh well with the teal, in my opinion. while indians are known for their love of gold, a lot of people nowadays opt for silver, because it is less expensive and more compatible with casual wear.

i highlighted the fishscale pattern in her outfit since you could barely see them in the original.

i gave her a bindi and the necklace that 80s mermista wore, as a tribute to the OG show, and the design is complete. i know that some of these may not be the easiest to animate but if they could animate perfuma's cape thing, entrapta's hair and a hundred different outfits for catra; this design is just child's play.

let me know what you think of the redesign and if you want me to do the same for the other characters!

#spop critical #spop #spop criticism #spop discourse #she ra #spop redesign #character redesign #character design #mermista #mermista redesign

[bearsbeetsbeskar]

Restoring the Roots (Joel Miller x Therapist! reader)

Chapter 1: Pre-Contemplation

Chapter 2 here | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | main masterlist |

Pairing: Joel Miller x therapist! reader, post outbreak Rating: none, will be changed to explicit in future chapters (slow burn, eventual smut, age gap) Summary: Life after moving to Jackson looks drastically different for Joel, survival mode is over and now he and Ellie can finally put down new roots. Ellie adapts easily but Joel finds himself struggling to settle into this new life, in more ways than some. At Ellie and Tommy’s insistence, Joel begrudgingly finds himself in therapy to try and work through his struggles but what he encounters is more than just painful memories and deeply rooted trauma. A/N: I cannot say enough thank you's to the number of lovely humans who encouraged this idea and supported me as I embark on my very first fic! And what better Pedro character to be the guinea pig for this idea? Lots of this story draws on my personal knowledge as a social worker, as I am working towards becoming a certified equine assisted therapist. Consequently, there are lots of horsey terms, therapy terms, and vivid descriptions of trauma at certain points. Feel free like, comment, or reblog if you enjoy it :)

Taglist (for now): @beskarandblasters, @pr0ximamidnight, @theewokingdead, @atinylittlepain, @prolix-yuy, @swiftispunk, @harriedandharassed, @amywritesthings

If anyone wants to be on the taglist please let me know! If you don't want to be on it then also let me know lol.

~~~~~~~

You sat up taller in your chair, arching your back and rolling your shoulders in an effort to stretch out your spine, exhaling softly as you heard the cacophony of crunches and protests from your muscles. You had been hunched over your notepad for over an hour, eyebrows scrunched together and your mind running on autopilot, as you caught up on client notes that you had fallen behind on for the last couple days. The downside of having a small therapy practice, hell any therapy practice, was that there was a never ending litany of documentation to fill out. Seeing as you were the only therapist in the tiny commune of Jackson, there was never a shortage of clients and consequently, never a shortage of session notes that you had to write. 

“Hun.”

You hear your name spoken in a warm tone from behind you. You barely look up from the page as you try to rewrite the word ‘diagnosis’ after what feels like the fifth time. The word has basically lost all its meaning at this point. 

“Honey, c’mon, the sun is about ready to set and you can wrap that up tomorrow.” The cover page to the notepad closes on top of your hand and you look up to see your assistant, Tracey, giving you a knowing look and then glancing towards the front of the office. You follow her gaze to the front windows and take in the deep ember orange hue washing over the business faces and windows on the opposite side of the street, signaling the end of another day. Sighing softly, you lean back in your chair and cross your arms over your chest with a frown. You know she’s right and yet you still have the same dispute every day. 

“Trace, you and I both know that if I don’t get them done today, they will just be added to tomorrow’s to do list, besides this is the last one I swear,” you say to her with a smirk, as if she has not heard that excuse before. 

You were never the kind of person to half-ass your responsibilities at your job, including client documentation, even if there was no longer any governing body or association to uphold professional social work standards. You did your job with integrity, even the mundane administrative tasks that involved more writing than actual talking with clients. Tracey knew this of course, it was something she admired about you, how suited you were for this line of work. It was clear that you cared deeply for the clients that you supported. But it doesn’t mean it was not a fight when the end of the workday rolled around and she had to tear you away from your desk and practically shove you out of the office door. 

She rolled her eyes at you and her lips curled into a small smile as she headed towards the door with her coat and bag in tow. “Promise me you will at least be out of here before the night patrol starts?” She points her finger at you as she stops just ahead of the door. You nod and wave her off as you turn your focus back to the notepad, smoothing your palm over the words etched into the cover ‘Restorative Reins.’ 

You had only been in Jackson for roughly over a month, though it felt like much longer. Much like everyone else who had survived the outbreak and came to find refuge in the small settlement after the world went to shit, you were grateful to accept any basic decencies of normal life that were afforded to you. Warm meals, warm showers, hell running water in general was a miracle in and of itself at that point. So when you actually arrived in Jackson, you were dumbfounded to see how much normalcy surrounded you. Children running and playing in the streets, storefronts of various thriving businesses, sheep being rounded up in a nearby corral - hold on, a fucking MOVIE THEATER? 

While it took some time to grow out of the perpetual fight or flight mode that you were entrenched in from life on the road, you did eventually fall into a good pace in Jackson. Especially after getting involved in the community and taking up the job as the local therapist, you had never been busier, and you loved it. 

The world felt unflinchingly obsolete post outbreak, but being able to support others with their mental health never failed to bring you joy and an unshakeable sense of purpose. You wanted to help others as they navigated their pain and broke down the mental blocks that entrapped them in their trauma. You wanted to help them realize the innate strength that they possessed. Sadly, you never got the chance to practice long term, as you finished up grad school just before the outbreak happened. But that didn’t seem to matter now as you had an endless stream of community members that you saw on a weekly basis at your practice, all with their own pain and struggles, seeking support.

It was crazy to think about the short period of time that had passed since you started at the job, how much you had done for the residents, how much more that you wanted to do. You were pulled from your memories when the office phone rang, internally groaning as you looked at your watch.

4:58 p.m. Of course. 

Steeling yourself you picked up the phone, praying that it was a quick call.

“Restorative Reins Practice, how can I help you?” you answered.

“Oh! hi ma'am,” a warm, mellow Southern drawl greets you on the other end. “Are you the local therapist that has been helpin’ folks out around here with their mental health?”

"That's me,” you reply warmly, “what can I do for you?”

The man hesitates briefly, “Well, I was uh wanting to know a bit more about the business I guess, how the therapy process works, fees and stuff for someone who was interested in getting help. Not me though, it’s not for me, it’s for my brother, Joel. My name is Tommy by the way,” he mentions quickly. 

“No problem Tommy, I can explain the basics to you including the different types of therapy I offer and how the process works,” you reassure him. You explain to him the different services, how the equine therapy worked, walk in hours, session lengths and so on. 

“I should probably mention that my brother ain’t keen on getting help and reaching out to others when he needs it, he’s too damn proud to acknowledge it, so he really doesn’t think he has any issues and thinks everything is fine… but he’s having a real tough time settlin’ down here. He’s so haunted by his past and he’s been acting differently lately, more temperamental, well, more than usual,” Tommy adds. You smile to yourself and nod, as you’ve had many clients before who were stuck in similar struggles and closed off to therapy initially.

“I can definitely understand that,” you sympathize with him. “It sounds like your brother has been through a lot and you just want him to get some support, which is great. Therapy isn’t for everybody but I have worked with many individuals like him who were going through similar situations, and they found great success.”

“That’s great to hear. That’s all I want for him is to get some help,” Tommy states.

“Now with that being said,” you continue, “therapy is voluntary, I cannot force someone to attend, but if your brother would agree to a consultation with me, I could chat with him more about where he is at, the kind of support he could benefit from and go from there. No pressure to commit to anything,” you propose to him.

“Hmm, I think he could be persuaded to try that, now that you mention it like that,” Tommy chuckles, sounding pleasantly surprised. 

“Awesome! You can tell him to stop by the office any time and we can discuss it more. We’re open from 9-5,” you tell him, silently relieved that it was an indeed quick call. He thanks you and hangs up. 

Something else akin to curiosity creeps into your mind as you recount what Tommy briefly told you about his brother. Maybe more so intrigue. You wonder how resistant he is to therapy, what happened in his past to hurt him so deeply, but you catch yourself before your thoughts run away from you further, either way you look forward to helping another person in need. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tommy, I swear to god if you bring up this damn therapy shit again, I won’t hesitate to shoot you next time we’re out on patrol,” Joel growled through clenched teeth, as he walked away from his brother into the kitchen of the house. 

“Boy, it ain’t like I never heard that before,” Tommy quipped sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he followed Joel into the kitchen, pausing in the doorway as he leaned against the frame, hands shoved into his pockets. He observed his brother's rigid stance, the tightness in his shoulders, as Joel stood over the sink, looking out the window. 

This felt like the umpteenth time that Tommy had broached the subject of Joel getting help and talking to a ‘shrink,’ as he dismissively described it, for the issues that he was struggling with. Joel was fine. He didn’t have any fucking issues. He was doing just fine and didn’t need some professional to scrutinize him, reduce him to his vices, and open old wounds from his past life. He was encouraged to go to grief counseling after Sarah died but by some grace of God, or whatever godforsaken omnipotent entity existed at that point, the outbreak occurred. Forget mental health, physical health and survival became the only focus.

Tommy exhaled softly. “Listen, I'm only suggestin’ it because I care about you. Ellie cares about you. You both have been through hell and back in the last year, I mean shit, we all have. But it seems like everything y’all went through is still affecting you, holding you back from letting your guard down and settling in here,” he states plainly, sadness lacing his tone. 

“That’s bullshit Tommy and you know it,” Joel snaps, turning to face his younger brother and leaning back against the counter, arms crossed in defense. His gaze narrows.  “I go out on patrol don’t I? Pick up extra shifts wherever it’s needed, help out with the contracting jobs, go out with Ellie in town.” Joel stood up taller, puffing out his chest, challenging his younger brother. Tommy shook his head, running his hand over his face with an exasperated expression. Heaven forbid Joel did anything for himself that did not involve contributing or providing for someone, period. He just couldn’t shake that from his identity, and it broke Tommy’s heart as he watched his brother’s stubborn pride, ridden with guilt and trauma, swallow him whole. 

“Man when are you gonna fuckin’ do something for yourself Joel?!” Tommy asserted, his frustration reaching a boiling point. “Forget the damn commune, forget the community, forget Ellie for a sec and think about the last time YOU did something for yourself, the last time YOU reached out for help goddamnit.” He pushed off the doorframe and crossed the threshold of the kitchen as he strode towards Joel.

“You’re not on the run anymore brother. You don’t have to just survive. You can have a life here. You can sleep without keepin’ one eye open and relax without lookin’ over your shoulder. Don’t you want that? Don’t you think you deserve that?! Don’t you think you deserve this?!” Tommy said as he gestured around the cozy kitchen and fixed his older brother with a pleading stare. 

Joel’s eyes widened as he tried to step back, the edge of the counter biting into his lower back as he took in Tommy’s weary face, the pain in his soft brown eyes, mirroring his own. His younger brother rarely raised his voice anymore. The outbreak took its toll on his hot headed temperament that never seemed to simmer down, even after he was discharged from the army. Joel knew that Tommy cared about him, hell he knew how deeply his brother loved him, after all they had respectively been through in the last twenty years, it had to be serious for him to raise his voice. 

Joel opened his mouth, ready to bite back but his brother raised his hands in the air in surrender, “Look, this is the last time I will bring this up, I swear. But yesterday I called up the therapist in town who’s been helpin’ folks out, and asked her about the therapy process and she seems real nice, and supportive. She said you could come in for a consultation and talk to her and see if you’re interested,” Tommy said quietly.

Joel’s gaze narrows as he scrunches his eyebrows together in incredulity, “You-”

“I had nothing to lose Joel. Absolutely nothing. And neither do you,” Tommy cuts him off, raising his chin in defiance. “At least go talk to the therapist, if you don’t like her or you’re not feelin’ it, then I’ll drop it and let it go. Okay? The office is on the main street, just beside the clothing store, adjacent to the stables and they’re open everyday from 9-5.” 

“Jesus fucking Christ Tommy,” Joel leaned back as he looked up at the ceiling, wishing it would collapse in on him. Gotta love that brotherly love.  

“Look I should be getting back now, Maria will be waiting for me. Here’s the number and address for the business. I’ll see you around okay?” Tommy patted through his pockets and retrieved a small piece of paper with writing scribbled on it, placing it on the counter beside Joel. He gave him a last placating look before he walked out of the kitchen, the front door closing behind him with a soft click. 

Joel pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled sharply before turning back around to look out the kitchen window. He hung his head in defeat, rounding his back as he rested his elbows on the counter and glared into his matte reflection in the sink. He didn’t need any help. He was doing fine. He’s still upright and breathing, with blood coursing through his veins isn’t he? Albeit, he's not jumping out of bed like a sprightly thirty year old anymore. His knees pop and crackle when he gets up from crouching over machinery for too long, his joints protest the next day when he pushes himself too far, moving slower than usual on job sites. 

Hell, even his memory is starting to get cloudy around the edges. If it weren’t for Ellie some days, he’s sure he would leave the house without pants on, what with her always reminding him where things are in the house, special events that are coming up in the community that he forgets about. He had been a bit more snappy than usual, as Ellie so lovingly pointed out one day, but that’s nothing compared to his normal demeanour. 

“You’re becoming a grumpy motherfucker y'know that? Jeez, who shit in your cornflakes this morning?” She grumbled at him with a mouth full of cereal, after he snapped at her reminder that it was parent day at the local school. Parent day, P.A. day, Joel hadn’t dealt with any of this shit in over twenty years since Sarah was in school. Even then he managed to swiftly neglect many of the parental events, seeing as Sarah was the perfect student, with nothing but glowing reviews from her teachers. The fact that Ellie was going to school amidst a fucking apocalypse was enough for Joel to be content. 

But still, he’s doing fine, right? Just fine. 

“Maybe talking to someone that’s not related to you would help you, y’know? Being able to talk about shit that you can’t talk to me, or Tommy, or anyone else about you know?” Ellie proposed to him later that night.

As luck would have it, she was already home when Joel and Tommy spoke in the kitchen and she had heard pretty much the entire conversation. And like Tommy, she only wanted Joel to get support because she cared about him. 

“Think of all the shit that we went through in the past year, forget the infected, and the raiders, and FEDRA, and almost dying,” she casually listed off on one hand as if she was reciting a grocery list.

“There's so much shit that we’re both carrying with us, demons from our past, and it’s gotta come out one way or another. Look, therapists aren’t there to judge you, or analyze you,” she continued, “they’re kind of like a sounding board for you to bounce your thoughts off of, and they help you process shit you’re going through. You never know unless you try it,” she said matter of factly. 

“Like Tommy said, you got nothing to lose man. Plus the whiskey and pills will only help you numb reality for so long, you’re gonna go insane eventually,” she said, fixing him with a knowing look as she leaned back into the couch beside him.

Joel just grunted in response and frowned. Damn this kid for being too insightful for her own good.

Ellie might be young but she most certainly wasn’t naive. And as much as Joel would have liked to assume that her easy transition into life in Jackson was on account of her youthfulness, it really wasn’t. It was just the fact that she had never known a normal life, as heartbreaking as that was. She never had the chance to experience such normalcy before everything turned on its head. But she developed friendships with a few of the other teens in the community, namely one girl Dina, who she hung out with after school, went to the movies and other community events with.

She didn’t have to actively try to fit into Jackson, she just did. Joel would never acknowledge the pangs of jealousy he felt gnawing at his insides when he saw her getting on so well, but it didn’t mean they chipped away at his morale any less. 

Ellie smirked at his lack of response, knowing he was mulling it over in his mind. With the relationship they had developed over the past year, she was grateful to be able to talk to Joel and actually get through to him.

“Damn maybe I should be a fuckin’ therapist, that was good advice wasn’t it?” she grinned at him, elbowing him in his side.

Joel snorted and shook his head. “Christ, I must be losing my mind for real this time if you’ve got me considering it.”

“Now c’mon,” she wiggled her eyebrows at him, “you owe me at least a few games of Boggle for that pep talk,” she said triumphantly, holding up the weathered board game that was on the coffee table.

#joel miller x reader #joel miller x female reader #joel miller x f!reader #joel miller x therapist! reader #joel miller x you #joel miller smut #joel miller fanfiction #the last of us fanfiction #tlou fanfiction #joel miller #the last of us #tlou #the last of us hbo #equine assisted therapy #equine therapy

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

i understand that its cool to receive fanart, but ur really lenient about people who draw these characters thinner than they really are, and as a steven universe blog with art that is really respectful about bigger bodies its really disappointing to see u supporting these people skinnyfying fat characters

Here's the thing about your message:

It assumes everyone drawing bigger characters skinnier is doing so with fully acknowledged malicious intent

It assumes that openly shaming people for it will fix the problem and make them draw fat characters 'properly'

I'm going to be completely honest with you for a moment.

I'm a teacher. I teach kids from ages 8 to about 15 (currently I'm teaching younger grades, but I've worked a lot with the older demographic as well.) So take what I say with the comfort that I at least know a little bit of what I'm talking about.

Why does this matter? Because a lot of the fanart that is gifted to me by this community comes not from adults, but from children. Sometimes, they're teens who have been drawing for a few years! Sometimes they're younger kids who have only recently begun to develop their skills.

Here's the reality - drawing bodies is hard. ANY bodies - skinny ones, fat ones, unusually shaped ones. In order to get good at it, you have to draw them a lot! And in order to draw, you need to find ways to practice. Usually, this happens by the budding artist looking around at other artists and copying them. Or looking at tutorials.

Here's another reality - unfortunately, the majority of art online, the majority of tutorials online, don't touch on drawing larger characters. They simply pretend it's not a thing. Finding references to larger people can take work! Getting started drawing larger people if you only have skinny-people references... is hard!

You know what doesn't make it easier? Getting shamed and told off by another artist for drawing characters 'too skinny'.

I teach English to students who have never learned English before. From 8 year olds to 15 year olds, you know what the one thing that remains constant is? Learning happens best through kindness and positive reinforcement. Not through shame and grabbing the child's attention and smearing it in their mistake like you're punishing a puppy that peed on the floor.

In fact, yelling at people of ANY age about their mistake pretty rarely gets them to stop making that mistake. What ends up happening more often is that they end up hating that activity altogether.

There's a reason I consciously and indiscriminately reblog all sorts of art - all of it has something that the artist excels at. Do all of them have great body proportions that are correct for the character? No. Some art is clearly made by people who are not used to drawing anything except super skinny characters!

But all of them ARE kind enough to read my comic, which I try to fill with body types that are diverse, true to the show itself. And that, in and of itself, is exposing them to art styles that don't have to over-rely on anime or CLAMP-esque noodly kids that look like they just popped out of Wonka's Laffy machine.

So yes, maybe they draw Steven or Rose too skinny. But they're also looking at Rose and Steven and clearly find them adorable, and maybe someday, they'll try something different for a change. It's not my job to rub their nose in the fact that they haven't gotten the chance to experiment yet. It's also not my job to ignore them if they don't have the 'correct' proportions, because like it or not, that's also punishment.

I do make it my job to try to reblog the fanart I see and promote it, because getting positive reinforcement and being encouraged to continue to experiment with art is what will make kids and teens AND adults confident enough to go beyond the socially-accepted weight-limit for MCs.

I know it can feel demoralizing to see a lot of character with your body type erased and made skinny as if that's a 'prettier' version of them. But 90% of the people drawing Steven skinny aren't doing it because they hate you. It's because they haven't been told it's ok to draw characters chubby. Or fat. And the unlearning part of that sort of thing is a process that needs support, not shame.

I don't expect you to be kind if you're hurt by that. You can react any way you want, and anger is a healthy emotion in this case.

But if you want ME to react with malice on your behalf, then I'm afraid I won't. I have another job to do, and that job is teaching with kindness.

#chekhov answers

[inkabelledesigns]

Belladonna Nightshade - Halloween Dark Fairy

Base Doll: G3 Twyla from Monster High Clothing Pattern: Dollightful's Asymmetrical Dress (read to the end, I have notes about this)

Happy Halloween everyone! Since becoming a doll customizer, my Halloween dolls are usually related to my favorite indie horror game, Bendy and the Ink Machine. However, seeing as I've completed two Bendy dolls already this year, I felt it was time to give myself a break and try something a bit different. My friends over in DollyAnna's Discord server wanted to do a collaboration, so we decided to all make some Dark Fairies for Halloween!

Belladonna Nightshade is a mischievous fae that loves to play tricks and tempt mortals. That said, she's easily bribed with a sweet treat or two, and will usually let you be if you have a little candy or pastry to give her. I haven't decided what I want to do with her yet in terms of a story, but there is a part of me that would love to have her in my Equinox story.

When you consider the fact that most of my other Halloween dolls are black and yellow, it's no surprise she ended up super colorful. XD Would you believe this is my first doll with rainbow hair? Yeah neither did I, but she is! Part of my style is having really colorful and vibrant dolls, it surprises a lot of people that I've never done a rainbow before, but honestly? I'm glad to have finally tackled one! I'm also glad to have worked with another G3. Twyla is very near and dear to my heart, and I was so psyched to work with her mold! You can't see it in any of these photos, but I used glow in the dark varnish on her eyes and neon markings, so that her eyes still glow like the original. I will say, this doll has a lot more acrylic paint than my others, just by the nature of I don't have any pencils in neon colors. It was nice to get the practice in, I feel more confident than I did before in my brush skills. It was also nice to have a doll with dark scleras for a change! I haven't done that since I made Dreamer, it's surprisingly fun to draw on!

I was inspired by a LOT of different things with this one, and I went back and forth on my concepts a lot. Black light skeleton make-up, butterflies, fairies with non-traditional wings, candy, jesters, these were all sources of inspiration, and I think most obviously of all, Dollightful herself. This wasn't intentional, but I ended up using a doll of one of her favorite characters, with a lot of saturated colors which we know she loves, and even her dress pattern! I've been wanting to make this garment for ages, and finally I had a reason to try it!

So those of you who know how this pattern works are probably asking "Kat, how did you make this fit a G3? This dress is supposed to fit a G1 Monster High doll!" Believe it or not, Requiem Arts has a method for easily adjusting G1 patterns to fit G3 bodies. It's as simple as scaling a pattern up to 104% and printing it that way. It's meant for her garments, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work for other doll patterns. So I tried it with Katherine's dress, and I'm happy to say it worked out just fine! I think I probably should have adjusted a bit more on the skirt though. This outfit is essentially two pieces, and the skirt with all the ruffles is a little tight around the booty, it could have used a little more sizing up. So if you own this pattern and want to try this yourself, do keep that in mind!

Do let me know what you think! I had so much fun working on Belladonna, she's so vibrant and fun, I wanna try more fairies like her someday. I also need to try using props more. I got these pumpkins and hay bales on sale, and it was fun using them to craft a little temporary set for photos.

#dollblr #doll customization #doll repaint #ooak doll #halloween doll #doll custom #custom doll #monster high g3 #monster high g3 twyla #monster high custom #monster high g3 custom #monster high repaint #doll photos #doll photoshoot #doll photography #ooak #monster high ooak #longpost

[kozachenko]

She's been rotating in my head like a microwave recently and I just needed to draw her again

Artists note:

I wasn't really happy with the way I drew her in my style, so I decided to try drawing her again, as well as doing some more experimentation with my style.

(Also pardon how tense Zanmu looks in this lmao, Hisami probably pissed her off that day lol)

as I was drawing her, I recently went to the (now finished) Touhou wiki page for her and wanted to capture the graceful side to her character as well. I was also inspired by that one tier list of the different ways Touhou characters refer to themselves in Japanese, and Zanmu refers to herself the same way old people do (lmao) so I added some white hairs and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. I could've gone a bit harder on the wrinkles but I imagine she's probably aged gracefully. I also wanted to include some of the red eyeshadow that I see in other peoples art of her because it looks nice.

Also, I've recently been trying to improve upon the way I draw different body types with women, because I would sometimes make the shoulders too wide and it wouldn't look right. I feel like I've gotten better at that with this drawing.

I also wanted to practice drawing clothing folds as well as gaining a better understand of how her outfit works.

One last thing to note, the vibes for Zanmu in this piece were inspired by Renata Glasc from LoL (I don't play league I just like Arcane and animation and character design analysis videos for it).

Also on the topic of characters Zanmu reminds me of, she reminds me of ToTK Ganondorf for some reason maybe it's the horns but like, I haven't finished the game so no spoilers. Also, I think I brought this up in a previous post, but she reminds me of Meruem from Hunter X Hunter and Hisami reminds of Shaiapouf, like especially with the latter, those two have the same vibes.

#touhou project #art #fanart #touhou fanart #touhou 19 #zanmu nippaku #zanmu #unfinished dream of all living ghost #also pardon the lack of an interesting pose #just needed a pose to focus on the way the sleeves fall

[loriache]

Thistle & Senshi: Missed Connections

continuing my thistleposting... here is my manifesto for thistle and senshi: friends. In another life 😥

For one thing, they've been unknowing cohabitants for most of senshi's life. thistle doesn't think much of the non-golden kingdom residents of the dungeon, of course - he considers them trespassers and thieves! but there is a difference between trespassers and thieves who mind their own business, and even help keep other adventurers out (he obviously knew about and tolerated the orcs), and trespassers and thieves who make a mess of his dungeon (hateful, to be killed).

which I can't blame him for!

Based on what it looks like when marcille became the dungeon lord, we could assume that creating a dungeon is super easy - just rely on the winged lion for everything! But we see in thistle's flashbacks, that isn't how he did it.

Thistle did a lot of the work of building the dungeon manually. Perhaps because he was trying to build a sustainable dungeon, that could support a large population of living people - who he was invested in surviving themselves, not being replaced by puppets by the demon. They need a functioning ecosystem!

Of course, this is all pragmatic. After working on it for so long, I am sure Thistle is attached to the dungeon and its ecosystem, but more as a means to an end than for its own sake. As we see from the way that Laois defeats him, Thistle isn't really interested in monsters, and doesn't really understand the value of food...

Though I think he once did, and the fact he doesn't anymore is more down to the lion's interference than anything.

Senshi is attached to the dungeon's ecosystem. It's his home, even though he lost his family there, and he's come to care about it in its own right.

There are aspects of it he finds distasteful or dislikes, such as the immortality spell. But overall, if he had a chance to talk to Thistle about his hard work building up and maintaining the dungeon, he'd be greatly appreciative of it - this is his home, and it's a place that Thistle made to be a home.

In fact, Senshi (and the orcs) have been willingly living in the dungeon. Whereas the people that Thistle created the dungeon for have to be kept there by force. I doubt it's something he'd be easily appreciative of, but it's something, isn't it?

I also think it's incredibly cute that they both keep diaries.

Senshi's diaries have drawing, Thistle's have poems... they're both artists! Thistle with his music & Senshi with his cooking, they both have arts that they share with others to make them happy, and art that they keep to themselves.

Based on the diaries, including the ones in the complete Adventurers Bible..... it doesn't seem like Senshi ever learned Thistle's name! This makes sense since they really don't have much interaction - mostly Thistle talks to Laios or Marcille.

I don't think it should have gone any other way, since they're the protagonists and foils, but I do think in a more chilled out setting, Senshi and Thistle could get on.

Like Izutsumi, Thistle's a bit of a brat.

(I love him)

He probably had good table manners once upon a time, but I reckon he is very out of practice.

And we see he isn't in the habit of sharing:

Senshi would disapprove!

Senshi's desire to get everyone living well can be a bit overbearing. He already cleaned Thistle's kitchen for him!

But like Izutsumi, Thistle is another character that Senshi's habit of assuming non-dwarves to be children would be appropriate for. He's much older than Senshi, yeah, but his maturity levels seem to have stagnated along with his physical form in some ways. I doubt that anyone has treated him like a kid since way before he became a dungeon lord. The humans around him didn't understand his age, we can see that from the responsibility Delgal puts on him!

I think it would be good for him to have a person in his life who treats him like a kid, after he's had to be an adult so early and have so much responsibility for so long. And I'd like him to sit down and eat a delicious meal.

Sometimes that does happen! But Senshi would have done better </3

Thistle's ending is sad, but it's cathartic and makes sense. After being consumed by the winged lion, I doubt he'd be able to persist for a little longer, like Yaad - why would he even want to?

But I do think it would be nice if he could have met new people, formed new desires outside of his codependency with Delgal, and eaten a meal together with new people. Senshi could have helped him with that, if he had had the opportunity.

#senshi #thistle dungeon meshi #dungeon meshi manga spoilers #dungeon meshi meta #dungeon meshi #senshi of izganda #sissel #i'm serious about the spoilers. big spoilers.

[pebblume]

I never realized how liberating writing fanfiction would be. I hadn’t written creatively in years. It’s been so long that I kind of forgot what it felt like. The childlike rush of pouring your heart out onto a blank page, not caring about the results as long as you were having fun. I’ve tried writing fanfic a couple of times, for different fandoms across the years, but never finished anything I was really happy with, nothing that I felt comfortable sharing with the world. But something just clicked for me this past week. I realized how much fun it was to stretch out my writing muscles, to get inside the heads of my favorite characters. I realized that it didn’t have to be perfect to be worthy of being shared and loved by others. I realized that I had so many stories inside myself - more than I thought possible. 

But perhaps what I’m most in awe of is fanfic readers. The people who read my work and leave kudos and bookmarks and comments - one word comments, sweet comments, silly comments, paragraph-long comments. I love them all. I used to be afraid of leaving comments on AO3, afraid I wouldn’t have enough words, wouldn’t have the right words, to depict how I felt. But when I felt firsthand how much those comments meant to me I started leaving more and more of them, spreading a digital paper trail of love to all my favorite authors. More and more often I recognize the profile names and images in my comment section and think, Hey, I know you! Now I’m not just a guest on AO3, or a passive reader. I belong here. 

I won’t lie and say I don’t miss drawing a bit, my previous creative outlet. There are plenty of drawings inside me too, itching to be realized. I really just don’t have the time for two time extensive hobbies, not when I need to balance school and practicing and little things like sleeping and eating and relaxing. I miss it, but not as much as I thought I would. There’s a level of investment to sharing a story online that feels…special. When I post my art, I get engagement, and it feels nice, but ultimately, most people are only spending about ten seconds looking at the work I spent eight hours on, if that. When someone reads my fics, we’ve now spent time together. You’ve lived inside my head for a bit, made it your home. It’s about feeling seen, I think. Writing makes me feel understood in a way visual art sometimes doesn’t. It makes me feel vulnerable in the same way performing music does, but less exposed too. It’s interesting to me. 

The only downside, if you can call it that, is now that the writing bug has infected me, I’m finding it harder and harder to stop. I’ll have an idea and then suddenly five hours have flown by because I’m on a creative streak and I just want to write one more idea down, which turns into two, and so on and so forth. I dread stopping, because what if I forget something? What if I get into a writing block later? Suddenly I have people who want to read the things I write and I want to provide it, I really do, but I also have responsibilities. I say, as I write this, ignoring my audition tomorrow afternoon. 

I still have a bit of embarrassment attached to fandom works. When I tell acquaintances that I like to draw or write, I rarely tell them I mean fanart and fanfiction. As if loving something that deeply, that sincerely, is inherently shameful in this age of irony and soulless remakes. Especially when my interests usually consist of media marketed towards children, nevermind the fact that it has more emotional maturity than most ‘adult’ works. But I’m trying to get better about it. A lot of my closest friends know about my hobbies, and some I’ve even let see my work. It’s terrifying but also giddying, seeing them like an art post or comment on a fic. After all, to reap the rewards of being loved, one must submit themselves to the mortifying ordeal of being known, or something like that. 

I realized today that I’ve written over 30,000 words in the past two weeks about about two characters who don’t belong to me, but whom I’ve made my own.

And I’ve never felt happier

#some sily thoughts i had today #might delete later #fanfiction #ao3 fanfic #archive of our own #ao3 writer #writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #fandom #the mortifying ordeal of being known