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#I also wanted to share a little bit of my art process by showing these sketches
paperclipninja · 2 days
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I'm gonna sound very old person yells at cloud but I don't care, I feel like I need to say this. We all (well most of us) know that messaging Neil with any headcanons/theories/wishes/hopes/dreams to do with the show is a no-go because it could potentially compromise the story he wants to tell or ends up telling. And yes, he is a grown up who chooses what to respond to etc and I think it's wonderful he engages with fans and answers a lot of lovely and interesting questions about his process, writing and journey etc.
However, there is another reason not to send theories and ideas about how the show should go to the show creator in the hope of a response: it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether a theory is correct, or a speculation may or may not play out. That is why fandom exists.
Online fandom is where we all come together to yell and cry and throw around weird-ass ideas and theories and look at art and read fanfic and unite in our love of characters and a show. A huge part of being in fandom, is the way fandom theories become like an understood little bit of fanon lore that some people attach to, others disregard. But it doesn't matter. And part of the fun of fandom, is when a new season or a new episode of the show comes out, you have this collective catalogue of ideas and theories and headcanons and you get to yell and scream, "omg it happened1" or "lol that that thing was ever talked about" or "thank god that theory didn't come to pass".
Wanting to know now (not that we ever will) and not wanting to wait until the next season to find out the answers diminishes the fandom experience. I cannot stress enough how much we are in the absolute peak of the fandom experience right now. The between seasons time is the ultimate time to be a part of a fandom (as I'm sure many people are well aware), knowing there's another season coming energises everyone to create and connect and speculate and it's glorious! I know it feels like it'll be like this forever, but it won't. Next season is the last and yes, there will be a flurry and uptick of all the energy and excitement once again, and I absolutely believe Good Omens fandom will live on and remain active and thrumming. But there won't be theories and what ifs and hunting for clues for the next season, and over time it will dwindle a little and plateau and some people will fall into other fandoms, and while it will probably bubble away, there won't be the anticipation that sits with us now.
My point is, fandom is where we get to throw around ideas and flail and be ridiculous and also serious sometimes, but it's all for us. For the fans. Showing Neil theories or getting in a flap about a particular speculation and asking if x, y, or z might happen isn't just about putting the creator in an awkward spot, it takes away what fandom is about. Just let this time be ours. If you haven't been in fandom before, enjoy it! Don't be in a hurry to seek definitive answers or know things either way.
It doesn't matter if any or none or all of the things that float around end up being correct or incorrect. Fandom isn't about being right. It's about being a part of a community and being able to share ideas and it's about it being FUN.
So TL;DR Stop sending Neil fan ideas because that is for fandom, not for the creator.
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kitty-av · 3 months
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Hello! I got a new sketchbook and I decided to try it by drawing a Danny with my markers. I might try doing something with gouache too, because I honestly really enjoy the process and the look of painting with it.
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I also have some things to ramble about under the line, which isn't strictly dp related, more so me comparing how I work with different mediums and being a little analytical about it, you know, as a treat to my brain because it needs it. •^•
So, to start with the Danny above, it's nothing overly ambitious, I was just vibing, but I think it looks nice. Here's the thing though, it looks weird to me, and the reason, probably, is that the process I use with the previously mentioned gouache doesn't translate well to markers.
Here's the process in question btw, a smol sketch to illustrate the way I work with paint but with markers:
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See, that's a process that's clearly a bit more suited to painting imo. So it looks good but a little off with markers. And it's not just to markers. Here's what I mean:
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This is digital. With the same process.
It's even weirder than the markers imo, but you can still tell that there's a process going on that's shared.
And the gouache version of this process looks like this: this is my most recent painting ( literally yesterday )
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This was done in flat brush, and I think you can clearly see that the process I used across all these paintings started with my gouache work. Which also might be why Danny looks a bit different than them because I had to adjust my process. Rather than starting with colouring my canvas and starting the face with a contrasting colour, both Danny, and as far as I can remember the digital dude, started blank and I had to do the glow effect thing a lot less naturally - especially with the lack of brush strokes. The scratchiness of them is aesthetic. Like, brush stroke and direction is important guys, it adds a lot.
I think if I try to draw this Danny in gouache and explain my process better this would all make sense, but I haven't had the time to get back into art because of uni, and I rather like to. I especially want to try doing digital art again, but I've been doing it so rarely that I haven't really got a process anymore, so I'm a bit intimidated to do anything but portraits.
In any case, if anybody has good Sai brushes that could help me get that painterly vibe there, I'd be very grateful •^•
I want to start drawing and creating things for the Phandom again, but all I have currently are sketches, which I know aren't traditionally the easiest things to interact with visually, especially without colour. Still, I'm just going to share things I make and vibe, I suppose.
I have some interesting designs I'd like to try to make digitally, like that mermaid lady ghost from a while back, and her sister who I decided was Pariah Dark's fabulous ex. Still not sure on Queen's design, but I just want to draw a regal lady.
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Yes, I am dumping previous designs here so I can share them again, partly to remind myself of them without scrolling back my Tumblr for a thousand years.
Also my Bois, the clones, who I still want to write into a story and don't know how, but like - I love them and want to show them to more people.
Well, that's all for now. Hope you all have a good day. •^•>💚💜💚
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vanillabeenflower · 3 months
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My Reimaginings for the HB/HH Rings + Hellborns
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My ideas for a redesign of the setting and its inhabitants to have it make a little more sense! I'll put all this under the cut so it won't be too long on the dashboard:
Okay! So, I've noticed QUITE a few slight discrepancies between some of the rings. I wanted to share how I would do it, based on some critiques I've seen. This is in no way anything negative, I just want to share how I would do it. With that in mind, know that I tend to be a bit blunt with my criticism but know that it's out of me thinking that it would be the obvious option, personally, and not out of any rudeness.
The Flaws
I want you to know that I in no way know anything about demonology, but I do know a bit about Dante's Divine Comedy and the emotions associated with colors. I'm going to go down the list in the show's order, one by one, and then give my versions at the end.
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First is the Pride Ring, where the main cast of both shows reside. Now, I want to point this out: why are ALL of the sinners only confined to this ring? That doesn't even make sense from a biblical retelling perspective. Didn't the entire journey through Inferno show that there were sinners on every level of Hell?
Anyway, first off, I really don't see this as the Pride Ring. I expected this to be the Wrath Ring, which is what I thought until I saw the actual Wrath Ring. There's this thing called "color psychology", which is the study of how colors influence emotions or give clues to the atmosphere of someplace. Historically, purple has always meant royalty and wealth, since it was the most expensive color to dye your clothes in. I think that would be a more fitting color for the Pride Ring. As for the design, It's cool, but doesn't say Pride. It says New York, which I think would be the opposite of Pride.
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Next is the Wrath Ring, which looks great. I have no actual criticism of the ring's design itself since it fits really well. I like the volcanic elements and the fiery sunset sky, and the fact that it's where many hell beasts/animals reside makes sense. Also, it is mainly rural and has fire-related weather (flaming tornadoes) which also makes sense. I have no fixes for this. Good work!
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The Gluttony Ring is the same way. I appreciate the fact that the sky has hexagonal shapes in it (not shown above) and that it's mainly plant life since the actual Beelzebub is an insect, and most people associate insects with being outside. There are a few things I'd change, like pushing the plant aspects a bit and having the buildings look more like various insect nests, not just beehives, maybe a few dens or plant-inspired buildings (I really like how Zootopia's world is built because it was made with the builders in mind: animals. Since they use organic structures in real life for their homes, they made some buildings have a curvature that fit their "ancestor" instincts, it even extended to their cars at one point. I highly recommend reading The Art of Zootopia to see their creative process with a bit more polished language).
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Okay, why did they make the Greed Ring green?? Everyone knows that green is the universal color of Envy, so why is it here? I get that making it green works much better than any other color, and I agree, it does look better, and it's the same color of money, but I have an alternate idea. Make the Greed Ring yellow.
This might not sound like a good choice, but here's my reasoning. I love that the Greed Ring is a polluted, overly industrial cityscape, that fits amazingly. But if you look at real-life smog-filled cities, what color are they?
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Yellow. Or at least a dirty, dark yellow-brown. So what I'm saying is that you don't even need to make it a bright yellow, making it a dark yellow-brown would really show how filthy the Greed Ring is. Also yellow is the color of gold so it also makes sense symbolically.
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I have my gripes with the Lust Ring. Why is it dark blue?? The color symbolism was right there, pink and red are the most associated colors with lust!
However, I do like the fact that it's always night in the Lust Ring, it's very symbolic of the "nightlife" aspect of the emotion. I just don't know why they chose a normal sky color over something else.
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I am a sucker for good color combinations, but I don't really think making the night sky dark blue made sense. It doesn't even have to be a drastic change, just shift the night sky's color to the warmer side a bit. If the ring does have a day and night cycle, and I'm just stupid, make the day go from hot pink to light pink from top to bottom, then have the night sky go from red/magenta to hot pink, with white stars (or just make the sky a lighter version of those two options). It would look mega pretty!!
The Envy Ring is one we haven't seen yet, but I wonder what we'll get since we already used up our green card with the Greed Ring. Someone I was talking about this with said that since the Envy Ring is ruled over by Leviathan, the ring will be ocean-themed and blue, like the ocean. I like that idea since sea blue is, in fact, a real color (and I also think that those 2 twins from the Mammon episode are from there, because of the way they acted and since they are fish-themed), and the theme fits. But the problem is. Sea green is a real color too.
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Wait, this was the Sloth Ring?? I assumed this was part of the Lust Ring because of the colors, and because I was holding onto some hope of the color psychology making sense!
But. I LOVE this ring. The more pastel color of the ring actually relaxed my eyes a bit, which I think was the intention. I love the floating islands and the waterfalls, it all gives off a very relaxing atmosphere. My only design change would be to change the sky to a color like baby blue since blue as a color is actually scientifically proven to reduce feelings of stress and anger.
My Rendition
Now that we have all that out of the way, here's my version of how I would've done things.
I would match the colors of the rings to their corresponding color. I would arrange them in the way that they are in the show, but we'd risk that cool rainbow gem order up top. But if we want to arrange them in rainbow order, they'd be inaccurate to the order of the rings in Inferno (I think??), so you can choose which order you'd like, I'm just doing this for myself. Also I realize that they aren't really based on the nine levels of Hell, but the 7 Deadly Sins, which is fine by me, I find that making more sense.
Red = Wrath (an obvious choice, since red signifies strength, danger, and actually stimulates energy in real life)
Orange = Gluttony (it just makes more sense than yellow, plus if we're assuming the bee motif, it's the actual color of refined honey)
Yellow = Greed (color of gold and matches the smoggy city it's depicted as)
Green = Envy (another obvious choice, plus since Leviathan rules over this ring, it would match the ocean aesthetic as sea green)
Baby Blue = Sloth (soft blues actually cause a relaxed response in the brain)
Purple = Pride (color of royalty, also associated with arrogance and wealth)
Pink/Hot Pink = Lust (OBVIOUS CHOICE)
The Hellborns
Now my headcanons on what the overall citizens of each ring would be. I actually have an idea for slight species dimorphism for all the imps in each ring but I'll have to design that another day. I want my rainbow imps dammit
The Wrath Ring would have the highest imp concentration, with any other demon species being the lowest here. Imps who are born here are red in color, about the same shades of red that we see in all imps in-show.
The inhabitants of the Gluttony Ring should be bug/insect demons since the ruler of the ring is literally an insect. Imps born here are shades of orange.
The Greed Ring would have those shark demons seen in Exes & Oohs, but someone I was chatting with said it would make more sense for all the aquatic demons to be in the Envy Ring, so I don't know. Imps here are born in shades of yellow.
The Envy Ring would have mainly fish/aquatic-themed demons. Imps born here are shades of green.
The Sloth Ring should make the demons there have more themes of ungulates or ruminant animals like goats, sheep, and pigs because Baphomet is not a demon species. Imps born here are shades of blue.
The Pride Ring is where demon royalty mainly resides. Imps are rarely born here and if they are, they're usually born into servitude. Imps born in this ring are purple.
The Lust Ring is where incubi and succubi live (like Verosika). Imps born here are shades of pink.
For Hellhounds, I think they should be found in all rings rather than mainly in the Gluttony Ring. Even though the reason that's where they are is because Cerberus apparently guards this ring is very clever, it doesn't make that much sense. I also think they should all be grayscale and have their eyes correspond to the color of which ring they were born in (I love achromatic color schemes with one bright color to add color to it).
Anyway, those are my thoughts! I hope you enjoyed this interpretation of mine!
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punchliiine · 3 months
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things i've learned through shifting
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i don't know what to post so i thought of posting some stuff that i've learned, improved, and simply practiced through shifting. it's not a lot but it's a lot.
so firstly, i thought of introducing some of my hobbies prior to shifting, and then ones that i've picked up after shifting. and lastly provide any details if needed.
I - hobbies
↳ before shifting
↳ ↳ reading
i've been able to read SO many books in my library wr.
i have a huge list of books that i've put off because of school, but through shifting to my wr, i've been able to finish at least 66 out of 117 i believe?
also i was able to find some of my favorite authors through this, like sylvia plath, mahmoud darwish, virginia woolf, khalil gibran.. and honestly, a lot more, but these are the ones that i remember for now.
↳ ↳ writing
in my native language, i've become REALLY good. as for writing in english it's ?!? but i'm slowly getting there.
not showing off, but i was really good prior to shifting. but now, i've become REALLY good, like now i'm able to touch the soul with my poetry. i also learned some tips for expressing 'my' feelings.
one of them is to think about a phenomenon in nature that resembles how you feel, whether it's by colors, weather, atmosphere, movements.. etc. then write about how each of the elements relate to what you're wishing to express. and ever since i learned that expressing my feelings // painting a scene whilst writing feels so, so much easier.
i guess the same can be used for drawing or painting? so feel free to interpret it in your own ways!
the only reason i emphasized on 'my' feelings was because the things i learnt in there were personal to my learning. before shifting, i had scripted that they would match me and fit me perfectly, so they wouldn't apply to everybody if that makes sense? but if you feel like it fits you, then you're more than welocme to use it!
+ i don't take any sort of credit for it since somebody might've thought of it first, i'm only here to share it!!
↳ ↳ drawing - painting
i was able to experiment freely with color theory, perspective, expressionism, symbolism.. etc. and i was able to find my art style! and practice some others i found interesting.
↳ ↳ editing
nothing to say about this one other than the fact that i was able to experiment with so many styles, and i reallllyyy enjoyed it. i also got to watch some of my old edits that have been deleted. (have been meaning i deleted them) 10/10.
↳ after shifting
↳ ↳ sewing
currently in the process of making a cute pair of opera gloves, idk how to explain it but yk the ones that are pitch black by the finger tips and fade as they go up? those are the ones that i'm attempting to make. and so far it's good!
↳ ↳ crocheting
i've recently made a doll i've found online which looks like little red riding hood, and it's cute. also i'm currently making a chibi jjk cat beanie (sashisu the world!!! ๑ > ᴗ < ๑)
↳ ↳ sculpting
i've sculpted hands, like tons of them. and i've used gojo satoru as a muse for at least 100% of them (i am insane about him)
some appreciation for my muse's hands:
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can we talk about the fact that his fingers are 6 inches anyway!!!!!
II - skills
it's worth the mention that i've become skillful in most of my hobbies "it isn't necessary to become skillful in any of your hobbies for plenty of reasons, but i aspire to!" i'd say intermediate in most, advanced in a few.
also idk if it counts as a skill, but i have become skillful in all of my subjects. like i have become amazing in math and physics thanks to my study wr <3
as for other subjects i've always been amazing, but with math and physics, i've had awful teachers teach me crucial information, so i was miserable for a bit, but thankfully not anymore!
i know i could've manifested it since i use loassumption all the time, but i love studying, so i wanted to go through the whole process if that makes sense? like i didn't wanna take the shortcut (manifesting) + there's no shame in wanting to take the shortcut.
as for real skills.. yeaaah not yet
III - languages
i've become better in korean.. i can sort of understand people when they're speaking? but i can't speak nor write. but hey, at least i'm enjoying the proces, that counts for something!
i'm aware that there are some things in here that i could've gone on the internet and just practiced // learnt. BUT the way i did it was different, i went to a wr where i got to learn all about my hobbies, skills, subjects, and languages and practice freely without any sort of stress whatsoever + occasionally recieve tips and advice. and it was all free and unbelievably fun!!!
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hawkland · 6 months
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Art Masterpost: The Beginning Story by emmbrancsxx0 (@valleydean) Art by sidewinder (@hawkland)
When I saw an endverse story up for claims in this year's @deancashorrorfest — particularly one exploring the beginnings of how it all came to be — I knew I had to get my grubby, greedy hands on it. When I found out it was written by none other than @valleydean, I may have made some hqppy screeching noises to rival Castiel's true voice. Getting to do art for one of my favorite writers is always exciting, if sometimes anxiety-inducing, but I ended up having an absolute blast working on these with Mallory and am really happy with how they turned out. Thank you for being such an amazing partner to work with, and I'm so excited for everyone else getting to read the story now!
Thank you as well to @kingdumbass for organizing Horrorfest once again, and creating one of my favorite little Destiel communities on the net. It's always a ton of fun and I love how you keep the server going & engaging year round.
Some rambling comments on the art & my process below the cut.
As usual these were all done in watercolor with a little bit of black & white acrylic pen work for fine details and lines. I used rough/cold press paper for all of these to keep a consistent feeling and because it's always my favorite for doing any portraits and where I want a lot of blending control.
The hardest thing for me was deciding which of the many memorable scenes and moments I wanted to illustrate in the time I had available. I had a pretty clear vision for the title art early on: to show Dean & Cas at the beginning of it all, with a collage of elements of destruction behind them and doing the title text in the "Croatoan graffiti" style. There were a bunch of different reference shots combined for that one: screencaps from 5x04, a later-season shot of Dean & Cas walking together to get their positions how I wanted, etc. My Cas "face" reference was actually from Stonehenge Apocalypse as I wanted him looking a little more human/hopeful than standard s4-5 Cas as he's pretty low on grace but still has a little "angel mojo" left.
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(As Mallory commented when I shared it as a WIP, "That's a man who's about to be destroyed!" :D D:)
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I'm also really glad I was able to get the painting to Mallory at DC-Con! You can see in the pic that it's pretty big (16"x20") to get all that detail in!
For the next piece, there's a small scene of Dean and Cas on the road under smoke-filled skies, past a "God Saves" billboard that just struck me. I'd just driven out to Pittsburgh and back on the PA Turnpike so used some quick reference snaps I took combined with photos of the hazy skies from the Canadian wildfires earlier this year to get the atmosphere I wanted. I tried to keep some of the same washed-out colors and feeling of the title piece for that, save the color of the sky.
For the rest, I wanted to do one piece each of Cas and Dean at critical moments in their journey through the story. Cas facing himself in the shattered glass of a pharmacy cabinet was a moment I knew I had to try to capture. It reminded me of that amazing shot of Misha in Gotham Knights, with Harvey and the smashed mirror, so that was definitely in my mind as a visual reference.
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Cas himself is a combination of some Purgatory screencaps and some out-of-character Misha pics from here and there to get his hair the way I wanted it to look (even if I ended up painting over most of it with interference silver watercolor to create the effect of the shattered glass. Here's an in-progress look:
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The Dean rooftop piece is one I'd had in my head as soon as I read the passage in the story, but it was the last piece I tackled. The city in flames behind Dean was pretty much done in one shot as a spontaneous wet-in-wet wash...though it was a little eerie and unsettling working on it this past week with current events playing out on the tv while I painted.
Finally, I really wanted to do a piece showing Dean and Cas as they are near the end of the story compared to how they started out. This one came together in a really fast burst of inspiration - I think one day drawing and two days painting because it's smaller than the others (12"x6") and I wanted it to be really close up and intimate. Drawing:
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Poor boys have been through a lot. And it's only going to get worse )-:
Anyway, that's more than enough from me. Have you gone to start reading the story yet? If not, go there now! Bookmark! Read! Leave lots of love in the comments! Reblog and check out the rest of this year's Horrorfest collection while you're there!
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rileyclaw · 1 year
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Hi! I’m a big fan of your art! I draw a bit too, mostly on physical paper instead of digitally, and I was wondering if you had any tips for how to make light really look like it’s glowing. Thanks!
hello hihii!! Thank you sm and for sure!! I don't have any tips for doing it on paper since my only experience in doing anything glowy there is with gouache, which came down to "save your lightest lights for it, halo effect is your friend" but I can def share how I attempt it digitally- mostly with the magic of using adjustment layers! I'll use the piece I did this morning to show:
Starting off with the "flats" or just whatever colours you want to begin with - Flapjack isn't even glowy yet because I haven't turned to the magic of an adjustment layer. I set him and the other "glowy" parts of this to a second layer on top of the rough blockin!
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I set Flapjack's layer to "Add (Glow)"- a setting that's in Clip Studio, and I know it exists on other programs too! Play around with adjustment layers until it begins to glow how you want it to - this is just my favourite mode to use because it's bright and flashy and my moth brain Likes It. (I also duplicated the layer, and set it to a strong gaussian blur for the subtle"glowing" effect around the gold; make sure it's set to the same adjustment layer type !) Then suddenly your bird is GLOWING, Sort Of
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Then I use what little of my brain understands how planes of things react to light and on a layer above the flats, softly painted in the light on Hunter's face in a dark orange colour- not yellow! Then set that layer to "Add" to help bump up the contrast and make it LOOK yellow. I just thought it worked nicer than me just making it yellow and potentially muddying the blockin layer!
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Added a red airbrush around Flapjack to push warmth, doing the same process I did on Flapjack and the scars to the orbs floating around them -- and then, the rest of the piece was just adding the golden swirlies and some sparkles doing just about the same thing!
I hope this helped somewhat!! it's just my method because it's quick and works for Me
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luxqaer · 5 months
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Happy Melly Monday everyone!
Today is yet another commission blog. This time,it is from Issycake again with Hero Melia
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So for this Hero Melia commission, I wanted to show what Melia looks like when she is ready for battle. I already gushed about Hero Melia's design when I first saw her in a previous commission blog, but I have not talked about what got me awestruck by her design, and it is this pose:
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It's just incredibly elegant looking. Like Melia is floating in the air during battle with the telethia-like wings all spread out. It is so glorious, and I wanted to capture that in the best way possible with a full-body render. And I believe no one else can do it, but Issy.
I then asked her back in October of last year when her commissions opened up again if she can do a perspective similar to this Taion art that she also has done:
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She went with it, and we began the process.
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There isn't as much change from the sketch compared to the final product. The only change I mentioned to her was to raise her arms up a little bit higher. As well as the World Ender not taking as much form as of yet.
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Here is the lineart of everything besides the World Ender. As you can see, her lineart is incredibly good. Especially when you look at Melias hair where you can see so much depth in the strands and light reflection. It is so well done.
As for the art itself...
HOLY SH*T THIS IS FANTASTIC!!!
The way Issy colored and rendered her has seen so much improvement since the last commission. From the light shining on her body, the World Ender radiating with power, the telethia wings glowing with brilliance, to the gradient background blending into Melia's resplendence. It was just incredible. All of it was just incredible. So much in fact that I currently still have it as a profile picture on some gaming social media websites.
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And many people believe so too because it has over 4K likes on Twitter a year after the art came out. It was simply incredible from the reception that it has gotten.
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Despite probably one of the best Melia commissions that I have seen, she hasn't been super active in drawing as of late. But she still takes commissions though, so definitely check that out so she can get back to drawing again. Because I believe her potential is incredible.
Well. That is it for today's commission blog! Tune in next week where I will share some pretty silly Melia commissions from an artist that I hold near and dear to my heart. Thanks again for reading all the way to the end!
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peninkwrites · 2 months
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(putting my very long, very personal ramble under a readmore so folks can avoid it) (this won't include any of my plans for going forward or for my writing but I'm not going anywhere so don't worry about that. love to you all.)
A little disclaimer: If you have zero context for what I'm talking about, apologies for not explaining in depth, but this post won't be relevant to you otherwise. All you really need to know is that it seems that Wilbur Soot is an abuser, and Shubble came forward and talked about it recently. He was not named, but from what she shared, I believe that was who she was talking about. I don't say this to speculate, and if you disagree, I'm not here to argue over it, but it's enough for me personally to not to want to support him indefinitely, save for Shubble explicitly saying she wasn't talking about him.
Additionally, these thoughts are some incredibly personal and self-centered rambling. It does not reflect where my priorities lie, with supporting Shelby for coming forward above all else, but other people have said that much better than I have, and this post is really just a place for me to vent some of my feelings.
I prided myself on not falling prey to “parasocial relationships.” I didn’t get invested in the personal lives of content creators, only in their creative works. I thought this protected me somehow. I knew next to nothing about Wilbur Soot’s personal life, but I admired him deeply as a writer and empathized with him as an artist. I projected so heavily onto his character and did so for over three years. When I waited for his final dsmp stream, I felt panicked. Like my survival hinged on how he ended this story, and then he ended it in a way I could live with, and I thought I could go on loving this story and these characters for what they had been, no matter how messy the rest of the endings to follow were. His character was mine in so many ways. He had some of my problems and I gave him some of my own. I used him to process quite a bit. And now that part of myself is irrevocably tainted.
When the stuff came out about Dream, I was upset, but not betrayed. I never followed the creator and he existed only as a character to me. All I grieved then was the community his actions destroyed and most importantly the people he hurt. I planned to continue writing for the DSMP, even as I refused to follow any content involving him. It felt like a pause, not a full stop, while I ensured what I was doing did not show him any support. I also gave that character no pity and therefore the man behind him no pity, I had no personal investment in his character.
Now my response is visceral and bitter and I don’t know how to go on writing, because this character meant the world to me. I don’t know how to write about a character I truly love and see myself in, knowing the person who also loved and saw himself in that character, who created that character, has done horrible things. I don’t know how to write any of these other characters I have loved and cared for for over 3 years because he has poisoned them. All of it turns my stomach now and I feel so betrayed. The thought of his character is tainted because it’s connected to his voice and his face. I cannot separate the art from the artist both because it was the inclusion of the authorship within the story which affected me so strongly, and because there are things within the text that I look back on now and can only see that this person was always this way. I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept thinking of c!Wilbur’s line when he found out about exile, “he didn’t actually hit you though“ and his horror when c!Tommy responded that he had, that for some reason that was the turning point. The implication that it was only crossing that line, that particular type of violence, which made something wrong. Fucking disgusting.
I’ve tried to find another story before now. For the last few years, honestly, I’ve looked for something to latch onto the way I have with this one, but nothing feels the way this did. I know I’ve been clinging to something gone or at least mostly gone, both the community and the story, but I haven’t known how to let go when nothing makes me feel the same way, even when the feeling has faded and changed so much with time. This was never supposed to go on this long. Honestly, the reason I started posting mcyt stuff to my sideblog instead of my main was because I assumed I would get over it in a few weeks, delete the posts, and move on. Three years. 40 works. Over a million words. Just. Fuck.
I loved these characters so much and I’ve wrapped up my writing in them for so long it’s hard to separate the two. At this point, it feels like these characters are what allow me to write, separate from the main story, but a place where I could work things out for myself as a person and try new things as a writer. And I’ve tried so hard to feel the same way about the QSMP, but maybe it’s because we’re out of lockdown so I don't have time to watch much, or I’ve just changed more than I’ve thought, but I haven't gotten attached the way I did even when I look at the stories being built there and can see the heart in them, the storytelling, the care, just as much as the DSMP if not more. There’s no good reason for it, it just hasn’t locked into place the way this story had, having been the perfect storm of circumstances. The DSMP came to me during one of the worst years of my life, and I have loved it so much I miss that time even with all the bad it carried too.
And now this thing I have been holding onto can only make me angry, hit me with grief and disgust. Fuck, the only plan I’ve had for an original novel in years is a loose adaptation of TDDD. My senior thesis was largely a novella about two siblings with a complicated relationship, the older fatalistic, the younger brave to the point of ignorance. So even that original project has poison in it now. All of it, all of my fucking work, all of my growth as a writer, all of my writing for over three fucking years has poison in it.
I’ve felt lost as a writer for a long time and the only thing keeping me anchored was these characters. And I don’t know how to cut them away from myself and I don’t know how to cut him away from what’s left when his writing, his character, undeniably gave me so much of a spark. When I’m happy, I write. When I’m sad, I write. There's so much bad in the world right now, but I could always fall back on writing. And now my main means of escape is the grief. Far more than ever before. I know this too shall pass and all that, and this hasn’t actually stolen my ability to write, but right now it all feels so ruined. I don’t know how long it will take for me to be able to look back on what I’ve made and not feel like this. I'd maybe moved on in some ways, but not all. There was so much left I wanted to do.
If you’ve somehow read this far, know that I love this community with my whole heart. I never quite made friends with any of you, even as I wanted to, and it's felt too late for a long time now. My beloved mutuals (and followers that are mutuals in all but name) I have found so much joy with you, in what all of you have created. I wish I could hold onto that above all else, even if I’m not quite sure how. I’m not going anywhere, to be clear. I won’t delete my blog and fall off the face of the earth or anything. I still love what all of you create and care about, even if things have changed and our interests don’t always align anymore. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to detach this story from the creator, to love any of it the way I did or even love what I myself created again. I don’t really know why I’m writing this or if I’ll even post it except for the fact that you all are the only people who could understand.
Again, this was a deeply personal rant, not a statement about the situation as a whole, nor do I think this situation's impact on me takes an ounce of precedent over the person actually involved. The most important takeaway from this is what Shelby has shared, the importance of believing victims, to do what we can to protect ourselves from abuse that doesn’t seem obvious, and to look out for each other. Take care of yourselves, everyone.
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anystalker707 · 10 months
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From the heart to the blade
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
Pairing: Jeff The Killer x [gender neutral] Reader
Special fic request by @eyed-knife [exception bc he is my brother that loser]
Word count: ~ 1 100 Summary: You're simply obsessed with Jeff, but maybe he doesn't share the same feelings. Kind of content: Explicit violence / Obsession / Gore A/N: Not proofread. (Art Credit)
MASTERLIST
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          The image of him never left your mind, really. He wanted to kill you—that’s a clear fact—, but he didn’t count on the red and blue lights shining into the room through the gaps of the curtains seconds before he could sink his shiny knife into that perfect little neck of yours. As much as he wanted to kill you, it wasn’t like it would be worth anything if he were just to make a quick swing at your neck and not even spend any time observing the beautiful blood spill on the floor. After all, he wasn’t a cheap killer.
What he didn’t count on, however, was the way it would just fucking earn him such an inconvenience. You were everywhere. Weren’t you traumatized or something that he had just killed some people that you knew right in front of you? Spilled their intestines on the ground so carelessly? Hell, you weren’t normal from the very start.
Maybe a trap would work?
The night was illuminated by the full moon, casting light all over the place. Jeff knew you would be there just like every other single time because, now, he made sure to leave behind gentle little tips that he was looking forward to seeing you again.
A sigh escaped his lips, transforming into steam in the cold night air. Jeff tried to polish his knife at least a little bit with the sleeve of his hoodie as he sat on that cold stone bench, making sure it was shiny enough. It’d been sharpened just days before. Perfect for use.
Not a lot of people would show up in such a monotonous part of the city—a park over the desert, troublesome neighborhoods—, so Jeff was sure that the distant sounds he heard were of you approaching. There was no surprise when his doubts were confirmed. He could feel a warm breath fanning over the side of his neck, suddenly sensing that presence right next to him, gaze burning into the side of his head. It was repugnant, but he didn’t think he would have it any other way, with such a precious and careful fan just like you, following every step, admitting all you did for him. How perfect could it be? And also so damn gross.
The corner of Jeff’s lips twitched. Wouldn’t you ever move? Announce yourself? For fuck’s sake.
“So you came,” his raspy voice cut through the silence, hoping you would finally say something.
“Of course,” you scoffed, taking a seat right next to him, grinning wide. Your heart beat in anticipation, the thrill of being so close to him by now. “Who do you think I am? Do you have any victims for tonight? Or are you just finally accepting my invitations to go out with me?”
Jeff scoffed. “Um, a little bit of both, really.”
“And what do you—”
The words died on your tongue the moment that your back met the ground, making you hiss at the pain, your air knocked out of you with the impact. What the fuck was that? Trying to sit up, however, the sharp pain against your neck made you freeze, widening your eyes and finally processing Jeff right there, over you. There’s an arm across your chest along with a knee over your thigh to keep you down along with the knife pressed to your neck. He didn’t even need that, really. You’d just gladly be pinned down by him.
“Give a good reason not to kill you right now.” His voice was low, breath fanning over your face, but the sight of such sleepless eyes gazing at you from so close made your heart skip beats.
“I love you?” You offered your best grin.
Jeff’s face didn’t change, eyebrows furrowed and lips still pursed, even if they were a little off, tugging at some points according to the irregular scars. “A valid reason.”
“Come on!” You sighed, groaning as you rolled your eyes. “You can just— I don’t know, teach me your art of killing... I would do anything to be by your side.”
“Sounds more like a pain in the ass.” He rolled his eyes as well, but it was in a distressed manner. A sharp sigh escaped his nose before he looked again at you. He ran his tongue over the pretty scars gracing the corners of his lips, looking impossibly good the way he delved in thoughts. “I hate you.”
“You hate me?” You chuckled, heart fluttering. “Oh, Jeff, I—”
Jeff’s hand that rested over your chest took a hold of your face instead, digging into your cheeks and pressing them together so your mouth would be open when he kissed you. It was messy, as if to just fill some sort of purpose without caring about its means; he managed to snatch a sound from you when his tongue poked into your mouth, exploring it messily and leaving behind a metallic taste. He didn’t care about you kissing him back either. Not like he made it easy, in the first place, pressing your cheeks together like that. His grip practically hurt.
You gasped for air once Jeff pulled away, a little disoriented after all the kissing. It was way too fucking good, leaving your body all tingly. Before you know it, he is doing it again, nibbling on your lips maybe with a little more force than needed, sending the pain sparkling through your lips now and then, but it all didn’t do anything better than making this sensation stir in your lower stomach.
A shaky breath escaped your lips as Jeff was once more replaced by the cold night air, leaving you there breathlessly.
Jeff huffed, raising his eyebrows as he shook his head. “Sorry.”
“What?”
“You could be a good plaything,” he mumbled as he leant in close, his breath fanning over your face, “but you’re not even that kissable.”
Your eyes widened. “Jeff, I—”
Jeff didn’t care what you would say, but still, the first thing he aimed for was your shoulder, sinking the knife into the flesh with a pleasing sound. He knew that, for you, it would be nothing but an honor to have a slow death in his hands, so he let it happen, making sure he aimed for the less vital parts first in the right place and in the right control; after all, it would be no fun if you passed out in the middle of it, right?
He bit on his lip as his knife pierced through your clothes. Your screams and groans of pain turned weaker each time, but always with that whiny edge that he enjoyed so much and also tugged onto your words whenever you pleaded for him to spare mercy, making that nice adrenaline run through his veins while he positioned the knife right above your chest. The cut was deep enough so he could reach his hand into your torso, soaking his hand with your sticky, warm blood that wrapped itself around your heart just in time to catch it’s last beats.
︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶︶꒦꒷♡꒷꒦︶
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ask-the-ryans · 1 year
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I'm not an expert on character design and this "layout" is something I use amidst all my inconsistency, but here are some things I try to keep in mind. Apologies if this throws you off since I got pretty selective interests, but I still hope this answers your questions!
First I figure out who my characters are, and in this wildly specific case, they're boxers. Everyone knows boxers are muscular, but they have a special kind of muscle.
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One thing you might notice is that boxers' bodies are pretty diverse, even in the same weightclass (take Andy García and Luis Ortiz together, for example), but the things that tie them together are their solid cores -another word to say that their abdomens are strong and shaped like squares- and that their pecs or legs aren't usually very muscular given the kind of sport they're in. Exceptions can happen, but it's generally for stocky/short athletes like Tyson who hold tremendous amounts of power.
Now compare one to a wrestler or a bodybuilder.
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What do we see here? For one, wrestlers got very thick legs and great amounts of their strength go to their upper bodies, so it's easy to see them more as meaty triangles. Then we got the bodybuilders, whose muscles are well-defined, but not very "useful". I'm not saying that they're not strong, but these guys practically dehydrate themselves to show off, so I'd recommend not modelling athletes after them.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I personally like to take in consideration all the little nuances of the human body, so I go over this small process of research. That's just me who'd rather have a more grounded approach, but I encourage you to take creative liberties if reality is stopping you from drawing the next Baki. :)
(Side note, please check out Howard's Schatz's athlete photography. It can give you a beautiful array of examples.)
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Once I figured out what kind of body I want my character to have, I do exploration sketches. It's very fun to hop straight into making an illustration, but I've found said sketches to be very useful because they make me feel familiar with whom I'm dealing with. You might also get a funny face that sticks with your design the rest of it's life (happened to me with Aran's "unibrow" and Joe's droopy face even though they already got a canon design), but beyond that, it's a way to give everyone you draw an identity.
Expressions are another thing. This is more an intuitive act in my part, but you might see that in real life, despite people sharing happiness/ sadness/anger/etc, our expressions are not going to be the same. How do you think an energetic lunatic might laugh vs a mild-mannered scaredy guy?
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Exactly.
When all of that is done, for consistency's sake, I tend to have a ref sheet right next to me when I draw (this involves pulling out pinterest, old art, comics, etc. whatever I got at hand). I've done turnarounds before, but I'm honestly a bit lazy when it comes to that-- so to Joe and Don anon, don't escape from your responsabilities like some people.
⚆ _ ⚆
I think it boils down to treat each character as an individual, taking in consideration things like their profession, nationality, age, etc. You don't gotta have a super expansive biography, but what has generally worked for me is going for a gut feeling of what feels natural and what doesn't, and said feeling has developed over time the more I meet people in real life and study other artists.
(And thank you for the kind words, anon!)
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hunkledunk · 10 months
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This is going to be a bit of a vent but I'm also curious if anyone else feels the same. Please share if you do ❤
Something I've been feeling more and more recently is the drive to be creative, and I'm going to be honest but it doesn't feel good? I've never been that good at art or music or woodworking or textiles or baking or anything expressive, really. When I see someone playing an instrument beautifully, constructing a lovely little ornament, or even just a reference sheet for someone's OC I feel an intense sense of longing.
The only thing I would consider myself notably good at is gaming, and that doesn't really feel like something I can share with people, as in I struggle to express myself with it? I can't show people how I feel by playing a run of Isaac the same way a pianist can with the notes they play. What I feel like I'm missing is the ability to draw a scene and have people see what I'm feeling inside. That sense of understanding that comes with damn good art.
I know the popular response on this site is "do it badly anyway" and I really do appreciate the sentiment but doing something badly just makes me feel truly awful. I can't get around that mental block no matter how hard I try and it's stopping me from practicing any of these skills. It doesn't feel like I have so much space to improve, it feels like I'll always be this bad because I always have been. Regardless of how provably untrue that is it's how I feel.
I want to be able to enjoy the process but that's simply impossible for me right now, not when everything I try ends up worse than I expect. I know it's a problem with my mindset and not a profound lack of talent but it's just as insurmountable a barrier to me. I wish I could play the violin.
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iwanthermidnightz · 5 months
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Just a few excerpts below, but please read the full article, it’s really good!
In their live shows and on The Record, the group take turns singing lead vocals, meaning they regularly get to stand a couple of feet away from the spotlight – which I sense is a more natural position for each of them. “[Touring is] way more fun together, and easy together,” says Dacus, addressing her bandmates. “It’s cute watching y’all have your little bit during ‘Cool About It’, and when you look at each other in ‘Anti-Curse’, I have no choice but to stan.” As a band, they share the weight of responsibility that they usually have to shoulder alone.
The crowds are so deeply engaged, not just because of the emotionally devastating content of the songs, but because of what Boygenius represents. They are a queer-identifying, all-female rock group in 2023, triumphantly landing themselves in spaces that used to be dominated entirely by straight men, such as their Rolling Stone cover earlier this year, in which they playfully replicated a classic 1994 photoshoot of Nirvana in business suits. And it’s not just that: they are rock stars in a very traditional sense – as their bombastic, thrashy live show, replete with stage diving et al, goes to show – who also sing songs every night about how much they love and appreciate one another. “We talk to each other about our feelings and process emotions as adults,” Baker says. “Instead of screaming at each other and throwing handles of vodka backstage.”
The band’s willingness to step up and wade into political issues has further solidified the bond they’ve formed with their fans. Earlier this summer, they performed in drag in Tennessee to protest against the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-drag laws. In May last year, when it was leaked that Roe v Wade would be overturned by the US Supreme Court, Bridgers shared on Twitter that she had undergone an abortion the previous year, alongside a link to a donation page. Young, vulnerable people are seeing their favourite rock band stand up for them – it’s powerful, and the love and appreciation the fans feel for that is clear during the live shows. At concerts throughout the year so far, there have been reports of people throwing things at artists – phones, wheels of brie, their dead mother’s ashes – but at Boygenius gigs, fans throw pink carnations, in reference to a line that Dacus sings in “We’re in Love” (“I’ll be the boy with the pink carnation pinned to my lapel”). “We’ve given a lot of who we are as people in our art, through interviews and social media,” Dacus says. “I think that’s maybe the silver lining of the parasocial relationship; they might want to treat us the way they treat their friends, instead of a mysterious, untouchable, unfazeable, unhurtable thing.”
Boygenius know that they’re speaking to – and at times, for – an underrepresented group, and it’s a point of great pride, a driving force in their work. “Being into our band is a dog whistle for the kind of kid that has similar interests,” says Baker.
“Like a sensitive gay baby,” adds Dacus.
“That is what makes [the job] meaningful to me,” says Baker. “To be away from my family when they need me to be there, to be doing things that I find inane or self-serving. I’m like, ‘Dang, look at all those kids’. Like, actually, there’s 25,000 little gay kids out there who’ve heard us talk about things like: be inside of your life. Pay attention to your friends. It’s worth it to live.”
The group have become the role models they wished they had themselves when they were growing up. “I think that if I had more queer and trans idols when I was younger, it would have felt more normal to me to engage with those things,” Dacus says. “And it’s gotten to the point of silliness, all of our stage antics and kissing at most of the shows, but I wish I had seen playful, joyful depictions of queerness.”
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humanalias · 1 year
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There Are No Gays in Football by Malu 3 (@penaltykeks) with art by alby mangroves (@artgroves) and @mizufae
Bound for Zephyr for the Renegade Bindery book exchange
Words: 212,919 | 662 pages
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Binding this book made me nostalgic. When I was in high school and just getting into fandom and reading fanfic, Merlin was one of the bigger fandoms on Livejournal. I actually have never watched the show, but know a bit about it through fandom osmosis. I went with more of a classic look; I wanted it to look like something traditionally published. The design isn't super eye-catching, but I'm proud how it turned out because I think the overall construction and layout is well done. I wish I had some slightly better photos, because in person I think it looks really nice, but I finished 1 day before the deadline so I didn't really have enough time. 😅
I'd also like to thank @desmothene for advising me on the typesetting for both of my exchange books.
Fonts: Alegreya, Gidole, and Piximisa
Bookcloth: Dark Red Brillianta
(Unfortunately I'm not sure exactly what type of paper the endpapers are. I bought them from a local paper store and I can't find them on another website.)
In regards to the construction, the only snag I hit was with the cases. I somehow managed to get glue spots all over the bookcloth. Once you get glue on the Brillianta it simply won't come out. But, pro tip, if you have some acrylic ink of the same color you can paint over the spots and it becomes much less noticeable. I also had some difficulties with the titles. Lining up the iron-on was annoying, I couldn't tell if it was even and in a straight line. Then I realized I could hold the bookcloth up to the light and see it on the paper side. (I added this picture because the whole process was so fiddly, I want some documentation it turned out okay.)
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I have to give a shout out to this sulphite paper I bought from Blick's. I originally bought it to use on my printer, which didn't work well, at least on my laser printer. But it works super well for made endpapers, with very minimal wrinkling.
I really like these ribbons, I think it gave a nice pop of color, as well as fitting the theme of the story.
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Surprisingly, my favorite part of the typesetting was...the appendix! That's because I found some very interesting notes by mizufae about the background of the fic, as well as the art created for it. Reading it, it made me happy to think about how fanfiction can be so collaborative and creative, and bring people together out of a simple shared enthusiasm.
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I was really struck by this sentence in particular: "I like to imagine that one day I will go mad and print TANGIF out and have it bound as an actual book. Do you realize it's over 200k? That translates to a ~700 page novel." Well, it only turned out to be a little less than that. 😄
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Hi! I read your TMNT 2012 separated au that you made with ellestrade and it really gave me brainworms so I wrote a small one-shot for it! The characters kinda ended up writing themselves haha.
anyways, wanted to share it with you and also make sure that you're okay with it. Not sure how you feel about other people taking inspiration from you ideas, so if you would like me to take it down, just let me know!
Thanks for sharing such fun ideas. Here's the post (I've also tagged you in it but sometimes tags are weird and don't always show. Also its on my fandom specific sideblog, but I am the same person haha)
Gotta love those brain worms! (Ironic statement from a 2012 viewpoint, actually-) HOLY CHALUPA, BRAIN WORMS IN THIS AU UNIVERSE, WAIT WAIT ACTUALLY WAIT-
*background rambles and spazzing*
Okay, I’m back.
I’m always a-okay with whatever fan things anyone wants to create with inspiration from something I made or helped make. As long as it isn’t containing some stamp that says “this I deem canon” when neither me (nor my partner) deemed it canon, no one ever has to worry with me getting upset over some story/comic/art.
I’m going to give some thoughts and I want to disclaimer.
When I discuss my thoughts on your POV of events in the AU, I will never, in any way, intend to diss or attack the story. I think the flow was excellent and Raph’s analysis of the events occurring was intriguing. I loved it! And nothing I say will be a statement otherwise.
But, since I have a distinct inability to keep my mouth shut when it comes to turtles and you asked, I have thoughts 🧐
My brain is now turning and ya’ll have to deal.
Characterization:
Donnie: Much distrust. Much sass. A strong sense of duty to defend his brethren turtles who don’t deserve it but he’s doing it anyway.
Very on point. Much approval 👌
Mikey: Could not be more perfect. I love him. Sweet soul ✨
Leo: He’s a bit less… Forceful. Cold and calculating. Than I envision.
I’d imagine that he had to learn to shut feelings down in order to survive. Fidgeting/smiling/visibly hesitating is out of the question. Staying in Shredder’s graces meant learning to play the game. His silence is what earns Raph the ability to be loud. The only times that he’s himself is when him and Raph are alone, outside of the sight of cameras, or when someone in is danger and fear/fury overwhelms all else. He seems bland to outsiders and it takes the Hamato brothers a while to see that that he’s just a scared little boi at heart that’s just trying his best in a cruel world.
He’s also set in his beliefs, so he’s going to assume that they’re being tormented mentally, if not physically. There’s no place in his mind that wonders if they were actually safer elsewhere.
I do like your POV, though. Plenty for me to play with.
Raph:
He’s ABSOLUTELY the first to question the differences between how Shredder treats them and how Splinter treats their brothers. He doesn’t jump the gun, but as devoted as he is, he’s never really liked Shredder. I love the implications that he’s been filing away concerns subconsciously and his brain keeps poking him like “HELLO?!”
He’s very deep. I can’t decide how I feel about that 🤔
Shredder would have wanted to fan that temper into something unforgiving and vile. Or course, that doesn’t mean he stops being a sensitive soul. It could… Have something to do with Shredder manipulating him into being angry when he wills it (basically all the time) and solemn and still when he doesn’t (such as during lectures, punishments, etc).
His brain registers this situation as one where he’s not meant to be loud and angry, and so he’s kinda… Shut down. Sassy, but mellow. Processing. Adapting. Letting what happens happen because he’s not meant to stop it.
It’s a reason that Leo gets so defensive when punishments come into play. It forces Raph to feel small. It make him vulnerable.
HOLY MOTHER OF MUTATIONS- I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS NEW TAKE ON THE AU @ellestrade TELL ME IF I’M ONTO SOMETHING
Anyway, commentary:
“in one of Takeō's strategy books he couldn't care less about”
It’s like Space Heroes. He claims so and YET he read, recalls, AND clearly has DEBATED the passage so I call sus vibes.
I get giddy when I think of Takeō discovering Space Heroes-
“Junkō and Kōta— or Donnie and Mikey, whatever false name they’d been given—”
My brain made connections. I don’t know if it was intended, but I always believe that they knew them by Shredder’s names through the beginning of season one, end of season one/beginning of season two they were associating them as both, and then by the time that the City is under attack, they’ve adapted to using their real names. (But the Saki brothers still keep their Foot names.)
So, now I assume this is somewhere in that middle plot.
Fun little Easter egg~
“Takeō and Akihitō were the offense, and Donnie and Mikey were the defense” “They held their own. In fact, they dominated.”
I’m in love with Raph’s simple acknowledgment of their roles in battle. It’s a very practical outline of exactly how their dynamic on the field plays out and he's so certain of his place.
On the other hand, I’m a bit uncertain about whether they’d dominate. I do believe that they are trained and can hold their own, but I don’t know about them being as impressive as Raph&Leo, simply because Splinter trained them to defend and Shredder trained them to kill. The Hamato brothers haven’t had much time to practice in the offensive, especially since that’s Leo&Raph’s job. (In non-AU canon, they are all offensive/defensive.)
I think Mikey might learn that kinda strength at the farmhouse after being taught by Leo&Raph, and Donnie will step back from that, finally finding his place not as a fighter/leader, but as a scientist.
Definitely an interesting take, tho 🤔
“Only now does he think that, perhaps, there was a reason their master made their primary weapons blunts and not blades.”
I am chewing on this line so hard. It’s so powerful.
I can’t even tell you why. It just is.
“Akihitō knows that Takeō isn’t lying. He’d already tried to take tonight's blame all on his own shoulders, spare Akihitō of the punishment. But Akihitō knows all his tricks and he won’t let his brother suffer alone. Again.”
100% behind Raph learning to butt in when Leo tries to take the fall as they get older and punishments get worse.
“Seeing the situation, the evidence glaring at him, Akihitō cannot deny that this wasn’t exactly a great sell. Takeō and him are tied to the ground, trying to convince these two strangers that they would be safe with them. That their clan would not hurt them while that same clan was just about ready to beat them to a pulp.”
I was thinking the same thing 🤣
Leo, dude, seriously. Look around. Think for a second. You are not selling your point. You are doing the opposite.
In the end, it doesn’t even matter. Sensei will always find them no matter where they run. It was better to follow than be chased.
SOMEONE NEEDS TO TEACH THESE KIDS THAT THIS IS A TOXIC RELATIONSHIP. YOU SHOULD NOT FEEL MOTIVATED TO STAY WITH DAD BECAUSE HE WILL FORCED YOU TO REMAIN OTHERWISE. BRUH. RED FLAG.
These were Foot Ninja binds made specifically to hold them. Mutant strength and all.
It makes sense that Shredder would make these. But.
But man. He made those. For them.
Takeō tries to take control of the situation again, the bossy oldest sibling coming out in him.
HA. Got him. Leo is Leo in any universe.
“His name is Mikey.” Donnie glares. “The rat is lying and he has—” “Donnie, its fine.”
Absolutely how they view things. Mikey doesn’t care what they think or do as long as no one he cares about is paying the price. Donnie feels it is a manner of principle that they accept logic and truth.
Leo talking over both of them is valid. This kid, I swear.
“Then tell your older brother to shut up about—”
LEO IS IT OFFICIAL YOU HAVE BEEN DISOWNED
“Sounds like a you-problem.” Donnie stands. “Mikey, we saved them. It's time to go.”
Donnie would die for them <3
A hand lands on his shoulder, and he recognizes it. Takeō always knows when to give support. He’s a good brother. He hopes Donnie and Mikey will know that one day too.
OH. OKAY. WELL. 🥺
THOSE FEELS CAME OUT OF NOWHERE-
He loved his big bro sm hjkhkjhkjhjkkjhkjhkjhku
If Akihitō didn’t know any better, he’d say it was longing.
Oh, don’t worry, he is dying to have other people in his life who genuinely care for him, but as long as you guys are with the enemy, you’re a threat to his baby brother and daddy and not to be trusted
And, just maybe, it could be their world too. 
Oh, so that’s what pain feels like. Glad to be reminded.
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hawkland · 7 months
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Art Masterpost: Solitudes
Story by: ilovehowyouletmefall (@angelinthefire) Art by: sidewidner (@hawkland)
It's October and that means it's @deancasbigbang season once again! This year makes for my third time around for the event, although this year I only managed to participate as an artist (I'm still in a bit of writer's burnout since the summer). But, that meant I could put all of my focus and time into doing these four pieces for @angelinthefire's wonderful story "Solitudes." I'm gonna talk a little bit about my ideas and process and share some progress pictures behind the cut in a way that might be kind of spoilery, so if you want, just go read the story now! And then you come back here later to find out more if you wish. All works were completed in watercolor with some digital effects and filtering after completion.
I was really drawn to the imagery of the architectural elements of where the story takes place (an abandoned brutalist mansion) vs. nature and decay...plus the way light and shadow seemed to play such important roles in the visual descriptions. Dean and Cas spend so much of the story separated by supernatural forces even when they are in the same room I wanted to focus on that as well: being so near yet so far apart, not quite connecting or even able to look at each other without barriers.
I started on the banner art right away, thinking of Dean in despair (for reasons in the story) and Cas yearning/wishing he could reach him. Behind them both is the concrete wall covered in mold and moss (which was a LOT of fun to paint). The actual final watercolor painting came out as so:
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(This is one of my favorite Deans that I've painted. His face can be SO hard to get right!)
Working with angelinthefire's suggestions I ran some different digital filters on the photo to desaturate/emphasize the light and dark for the final banner, and then with that in mind tried to keep the other pieces in a similar color scheme and tonal range.
The atrium painting was the biggest challenge. I knew I wanted to do a piece to capture the feeling of the house, the light coming in from an open skylight falling on brambles growing out of an old fountain spot. I was thinking of the Roman villa ruins I've visited combined with some actual Brutalist/modern homes I looked up. My original drawing plan was a bit more complicated and simplifying/taking out some elements definitely makes it more creepy/mysterious looking and less like a funky modern home.
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You can see the vanishing/perspective point is right where Dean is looking at Cas.
The light falling down from above was partially painted with some interference/shimmer watercolors, but I amplified it (along with the shadows) with some digital effects at the end. This was before doing any digital magic:
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Dean reaching for Cas: I made myself so sad working on that piece! It was also quite the challenge to get the likeness right at that angle and do the lighting the way I wanted, so again I used some digital effects at the end to really intensify it. Painting before filters:
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I think my favorite part of that one is how I dry-brushed the ash wings in one shot and they came out just how I wanted! My main reference was, heh, that old classic shot of unconscious Cas being poked with a stick. I used my own hand for Dean's reaching out to what he sees through the harsh angled light.
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The final piece is a direct companion to the one above it, and one I'd been thinking about for weeks, trying to map it out mentally before tackling it. Dean's face can be so much more challenging for me to try to capture well compared to Cas's and I really wanted to get his shock and horror in that moment while also being able to show (the real) Cas in the background/shadows...this was the third drawing pass before I finally started painting it. There's only a light bit of filtering over the final piece to push Cas back in the shadows (I didn't want to do with the paints for fear of muddying the colors...plus I was already painting Cas so small any wrong brush stroke could shift his likeness/expression.)
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Overall I really like how unified these pieces all ended up feeling and I hope they manage to complement the story in a way that it deserves!
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sunbearsophia · 2 months
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it's been so long since I uploaded art to my Tumblr, and since I've made so many pieces for Twitter, figured I would bring them over here, too! Works out better, since I have more space on Tumblr to ramble!
Anyways, I've doodled Eduardo in his later dad years at least twice, maybe even three times on my Twitter, but Laurel, I only ever drew once in her later mum years. So, I decided to draw her yet again to better figure out her design, and since I want to diversify how I draw body types anyways, my mind instantly went to "MOM BOD-"
Anyways, couple of notes of basically my thought process with the whole mum design! ^^
Definitely imagining she's probably in her mid-forties here, with her oldest Emmy probably in college by then and their youngest, Leo, being in middle school.
I definitely think since Laurel carried two kids, she's definitely got more of a pear-shape than she did in her youth, plus a bit of a stomach roll. It probably worried Laurel when she was younger when exercise and dieting didn't change that, but these days, Laurel's gotten past that, with time and self-love, plus an adoring husband who never ceases in telling her how beautiful she is, healing that insecurity and making her proud of her figure. <3
Has plenty of stretch marks, not to mention a leftover C-section scar from when she had Leo. She loves each and every one of them, they remind her of her kids, and she feels like she earned every single one of them.
Age has done nothing to slow Laurel down in terms of energy, however. She doesn't burn out or give up easily, always having time to spend with her husband, kiddos and friends, and still an actress for theatre and film alike. She knows to slow down and appreciate the important things, but she's still got energy to burn and passion to share!
She's perfectly happy with letting her hair grey, not feeling inclined to redye it or changing its color. She loves how it looks, as do the people around her. She does cut her hair, however, preferring the feeling of less hair to deal with, and likes the pixie cut. She just doesn't really need or want long hair for herself! (However, she LOVES Eduardo's middle-aged long hair, it's so pretty and relaxing to brush, especially since he barely brushes it himself lol.)
BODY. MODS. GALORE. I headcanon Laurel absolutely had a ton of piercings in her youth, something that age didn't stop one bit. She also still has matching MLP tattoos with Eduardo, and definitely has more that aren't pictured here. (Might try and design more at a later date!)
Has a million freckles, on her face, neck, arms and torso, and she loves every one of them. Might be a little jealous when she realizes Matt has more than she does, fuckin' MATT lmaooo.
Really loved drawing this piece! I feel like it's great and important to show more realism in body types and diversity in my art, so this was awesome to practice with! Plus, I'm just unbelievably proud of how she turned out! Laurel is such a huge fav of mine, and I definitely plan to make more art of her later years in my hc!
And yeah, def might try drawing Eduardo like this next, since I could use some practice with dad bods, too! Maybe Anna would also be a good choice to continue the mom trend, as well! But yeah, this was a celebration of older, female body types, and it makes me really proud of the final result and just getting to work on it! <3
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