#I have to practice how to write in the art program

[eyrieofsynapses]

why Aurora's art is genius

It's break for me, and I've been meaning to sit down and read the Aurora webcomic (https://comicaurora.com/, @comicaurora on Tumblr) for quite a bit. So I did that over the last few days.

And… y'know. I can't actually say "I should've read this earlier," because otherwise I would've been up at 2:30-3am when I had responsibilities in the morning and I couldn't have properly enjoyed it, but. Holy shit guys THIS COMIC.

I intended to just do a generalized "hello this is all the things I love about this story," and I wrote a paragraph or two about art style. …and then another. And another. And I realized I needed to actually reference things so I would stop being too vague. I was reading the comic on my tablet or phone, because I wanted to stay curled up in my chair, but I type at a big monitor and so I saw more details… aaaaaand it turned into its own giant-ass post.

SO. Enjoy a few thousand words of me nerding out about this insanely cool art style and how fucking gorgeous this comic is? (There are screenshots, I promise it isn't just a wall of text.) In my defense, I just spent two semesters in graphic design classes focusing on the Adobe Suite, so… I get to be a nerd about pretty things…???

All positive feedback btw! No downers here. <3

---

I cannot emphasize enough how much I love the beautiful, simple stylistic method of drawing characters and figures. It is absolutely stunning and effortless and utterly graceful—it is so hard to capture the sheer beauty and fluidity of the human form in such a fashion. Even a simple outline of a character feels dynamic! It's gorgeous!

Though I do have a love-hate relationship with this, because my artistic side looks at that lovely simplicity, goes "I CAN DO THAT!" and then I sit down and go to the paper and realize that no, in fact, I cannot do that yet, because that simplicity is born of a hell of a lot of practice and understanding of bodies and actually is really hard to do. It's a very developed style that only looks simple because the artist knows what they're doing. The human body is hard to pull off, and this comic does so beautifully and makes it look effortless.

Also: line weight line weight line weight. It's especially important in simplified shapes and figures like this, and hoo boy is it used excellently. It's especially apparent the newer the pages get—I love watching that improvement over time—but with simpler figures and lines, you get nice light lines to emphasize both smaller details, like in the draping of clothing and the curls of hair—which, hello, yes—and thicker lines to emphasize bigger and more important details and silhouettes. It's the sort of thing that's essential to most illustrations, but I wanted to make a note of it because it's so vital to this art style.

THE USE OF LAYER BLENDING MODES OH MY GODS. (...uhhh, apologies to the people who don't know what that means, it's a digital art program thing? This article explains it for beginners.)

Bear with me, I just finished my second Photoshop course, I spent months and months working on projects with this shit so I see the genius use of Screen and/or its siblings (of which there are many—if I say "Screen" here, assume I mean the entire umbrella of Screen blending modes and possibly Overlay) and go nuts, but seriously it's so clever and also fucking gorgeous:

Firstly: the use of screened-on sound effect words over an action? A "CRACK" written over a branch and then put on Screen in glowy green so that it's subtle enough that it doesn't disrupt the visual flow, but still sticks out enough to make itself heard? Little "scritches" that are transparent where they're laid on without outlines to emphasize the sound without disrupting the underlying image? FUCK YES. I haven't seen this done literally anywhere else—granted, I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but I've read enough—and it is so clever and I adore it. Examples:

Secondly: The beautiful lighting effects. The curling leaves, all the magic, the various glowing eyes, the fog, the way it's all so vividly colored but doesn't burn your eyeballs out—a balance that's way harder to achieve than you'd think—and the soft glows around them, eeeee it's so pretty so pretty SO PRETTY. Not sure if some of these are Outer/Inner Glow/Shadow layer effects or if it's entirely hand-drawn, but major kudos either way; I can see the beautiful use of blending modes and I SALUTE YOUR GENIUS.

I keep looking at some of this stuff and go "is that a layer effect or is it done by hand?" Because you can make some similar things with the Satin layer effect in Photoshop (I don't know if other programs have this? I'm gonna have to find out since I won't have access to PS for much longer ;-;) that resembles some of the swirly inner bits on some of the lit effects, but I'm not sure if it is that or not. Or you could mask over textures? There's... many ways to do it.

If done by hand: oh my gods the patience, how. If done with layer effects: really clever work that knows how to stop said effects from looking wonky, because ugh those things get temperamental. If done with a layer of texture that's been masked over: very, very good masking work. No matter the method, pretty shimmers and swirly bits inside the bigger pretty swirls!

Next: The way color contrast is used! I will never be over the glowy green-on-black Primordial Life vibes when Alinua gets dropped into that… unconscious space?? with Life, for example, and the sharp contrast of vines and crack and branches and leaves against pitch black is just visually stunning. The way the roots sink into the ground and the three-dimensional sensation of it is particularly badass here:

Friggin. How does this imply depth like that. HOW. IT'S SO FREAKING COOL.

A huge point here is also color language and use! Everybody has their own particular shade, generally matching their eyes, magic, and personality, and I adore how this is used to make it clear who's talking or who's doing an action. That was especially apparent to me with Dainix and Falst in the caves—their colors are both fairly warm, but quite distinct, and I love how this clarifies who's doing what in panels with a lot of action from both of them. There is a particular bit that stuck out to me, so I dug up the panels (see this page and the following one https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-30/):

(Gods it looks even prettier now that I put it against a plain background. Also, appreciation to Falst for managing a bridal-carry midair, damn.)

The way that their colors MERGE here! And the immense attention to detail in doing so—Dainix is higher up than Falst is in the first panel, so Dainix's orange fades into Falst's orange at the base. The next panel has gold up top and orange on bottom; we can't really tell in that panel where each of them are, but that's carried over to the next panel—

—where we now see that Falst's position is raised above Dainix's due to the way he's carrying him. (Points for continuity!) And, of course, we see the little "huffs" flowing from orange to yellow over their heads (where Dainix's head is higher than Falst's) to merge the sound of their breathing, which is absurdly clever because it emphasizes to the viewer how we hear two sets of huffing overlaying each other, not one. Absolutely brilliant.

(A few other notes of appreciation to that panel: beautiful glows around them, the sparks, the jagged silhouette of the spider legs, the lovely colors that have no right to make the area around a spider corpse that pretty, the excellent texturing on the cave walls plus perspective, the way Falst's movements imply Dainix's hefty weight, the natural posing of the characters, their on-point expressions that convey exactly how fuckin terrifying everything is right now, the slight glows to their eyes, and also they're just handsome boys <3)

Next up: Rain!!!! So well done! It's subtle enough that it never ever disrupts the impact of the focal point, but evident enough you can tell! And more importantly: THE MIST OFF THE CHARACTERS. Rain does this irl, it has that little vapor that comes off you and makes that little misty effect that plays with lighting, it's so cool-looking and here it's used to such pretty effect!

One of the panel captions says something about it blurring out all the injuries on the characters but like THAT AIN'T TOO BIG OF A PROBLEM when it gets across the environmental vibes, and also that'd be how it would look in real life too so like… outside viewer's angle is the same as the characters', mostly? my point is: that's the environment!!! that's the vibes, that's the feel! It gets it across and it does so in the most pretty way possible!

And another thing re: rain, the use of it to establish perspective, particularly in panels like this—

—where we can tell we're looking down at Tynan due to the perspective on the rain and where it's pointing. Excellent. (Also, kudos for looking down and emphasizing how Tynan's losing his advantage—lovely use of visual storytelling.)

Additionally, the misting here:

We see it most heavily in the leftmost panel, where it's quite foggy as you would expect in a rainstorm, especially in an environment with a lot of heat, but it's also lightly powdered on in the following two panels and tends to follow light sources, which makes complete sense given how light bounces off particles in the air.

A major point of strength in these too is a thorough understanding of lighting, like rim lighting, the various hues and shades, and an intricate understanding of how light bounces off surfaces even when they're in shadow (we'll see a faint glow in spots where characters are half in shadow, but that's how it would work in real life, because of how light bounces around).

Bringing some of these points together: the fluidity of the lines in magic, and the way simple glowing lines are used to emphasize motion and the magic itself, is deeply clever. I'm basically pulling at random from panels and there's definitely even better examples, but here's one (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-16-33/):

First panel, listed in numbers because these build on each other:

The tension of the lines in Tess's magic here. This works on a couple levels: first, the way she's holding her fists, as if she's pulling a rope taut.

The way there's one primary line, emphasizing the rope feeling, accompanied by smaller ones.

The additional lines starbursting around her hands, to indicate the energy crackling in her hands and how she's doing a good bit more than just holding it. (That combined with the fists suggests some tension to the magic, too.) Also the variations in brightness, a feature you'll find in actual lightning. :D Additional kudos for how the lightning sparks and breaks off the metal of the sword.

A handful of miscellaneous notes on the second panel:

The reflection of the flames in Erin's typically dark blue eyes (which bears a remarkable resemblance to Dainix, incidentally—almost a thematic sort of parallel given Erin's using the same magic Dainix specializes in?)

The flowing of fabric in the wind and associated variation in the lineart

The way Erin's tattoos interact with the fire he's pulling to his hand

The way the rain overlays some of the fainter areas of fire (attention! to! detail! hell yeah!)

I could go on. I won't because this is a lot of writing already.

Third panel gets paragraphs, not bullets:

Erin's giant-ass "FWOOM" of fire there, and the way the outline of the word is puffy-edged and gradated to feel almost three-dimensional, plus once again using Screen or a variation on it so that the stars show up in the background. All this against that stunning plume of fire, which ripples and sparks so gorgeously, and the ending "om" of the onomatopoeia is emphasized incredibly brightly against that, adding to the punch of it and making the plume feel even brighter.

Also, once again, rain helping establish perspective, especially in how it's very angular in the left side of the panel and then slowly becomes more like a point to the right to indicate it's falling directly down on the viewer. Add in the bright, beautiful glow effects, fainter but no less important black lines beneath them to emphasize the sky and smoke and the like, and the stunningly beautiful lighting and gradated glows surrounding Erin plus the lightning jagging up at him from below, and you get one hell of an impactful panel right there. (And there is definitely more in there I could break down, this is just a lot already.)

And in general: The colors in this? Incredible. The blues and purples and oranges and golds compliment so well, and it's all so rich.

Like, seriously, just throughout the whole comic, the use of gradients, blending modes, color balance and hues, all the things, all the things, it makes for the most beautiful effects and glows and such a rich environment. There's a very distinct style to this comic in its simplified backgrounds (which I recognize are done partly because it's way easier and also backgrounds are so time-consuming dear gods but lemme say this) and vivid, smoothly drawn characters; the simplicity lets them come to the front and gives room for those beautiful, richly saturated focal points, letting the stylized designs of the magic and characters shine. The use of distinct silhouettes is insanely good. Honestly, complex backgrounds might run the risk of making everything too visually busy in this case. It's just, augh, so GORGEOUS.

Another bit, take a look at this page (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-15-28/):

It's not quite as evident here as it is in the next page, but this one does some other fun things so I'm grabbing it. Points:

Once again, using different colors to represent different character actions. The "WHAM" of Kendal hitting the ground is caused by Dainix's force, so it's orange (and kudos for doubling the word over to add a shake effect). But we see blue layered underneath, which could be an environmental choice, but might also be because it's Kendal, whose color is blue.

And speaking off, take a look at the right-most panel on top, where Kendal grabs the spear: his motion is, again, illustrated in bright blue, versus the atmospheric screened-on orange lines that point toward him around the whole panel (I'm sure these have a name, I think they might be more of a manga thing though and the only experience I have in manga is reading a bit of Fullmetal Alchemist). Those lines emphasize the weight of the spear being shoved at him, and their color tells us Dainix is responsible for it.

One of my all-time favorite effects in this comic is the way cracks manifest across Dainix's body to represent when he starts to lose control; it is utterly gorgeous and wonderfully thematic. These are more evident in the page before and after this one, but you get a decent idea here. I love the way they glow softly, the way the fire juuuust flickers through at the start and then becomes more evident over time, and the cracks feel so realistic, like his skin is made of pottery. Additional points for how fire begins to creep into his hair.

A small detail that's generally consistent across the comic, but which I want to make note of here because you can see it pretty well: Kendal's eyes glow about the same as the jewel in his sword, mirroring his connection to said sword and calling back to how the jewel became Vash's eye temporarily and thus was once Kendal's eye. You can always see this connection (though there might be some spots where this also changes in a symbolic manner; I went through it quickly on the first time around, so I'll pay more attention when I inevitably reread this), where Kendal's always got that little shine of blue in his eyes the same as the jewel. It's a beautiful visual parallel that encourages the reader to subconsciously link them together, especially since the lines used to illustrate character movements typically mirror their eye color. It's an extension of Kendal.

Did I mention how ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL the colors in this are?

Also, the mythological/legend-type scenes are illustrated in familiar style often used for that type of story, a simple and heavily symbolic two-dimensional cave-painting-like look. They are absolutely beautiful on many levels, employing simple, lovely gradients, slightly rougher and thicker lineart that is nonetheless smoothly beautiful, and working with clear silhouettes (a major strength of this art style, but also a strength in the comic overall). But in particular, I wanted to call attention to a particular thing (see this page https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-12-4/):

The flowing symbolic lineart surrounding each character. This is actually quite consistent across characters—see also Life's typical lines and how they curl:

What's particularly interesting here is how these symbols are often similar, but not the same. Vash's lines are always smooth, clean curls, often playing off each other and echoing one another like ripples in a pond. You'd think they'd look too similar to Life's—but they don't. Life's curl like vines, and they remain connected; where one curve might echo another but exist entirely detached from each other in Vash's, Life's lines still remain wound together, because vines are continuous and don't float around. :P

Tahraim's are less continuous, often breaking up with significantly smaller bits and pieces floating around like—of course—sparks, and come to sharper points. These are also constants: we see the vines repeated over and over in Alinua's dreams of Life, and the echoing ripples of Vash are consistent wherever we encounter him. Kendal's dream of the ghost citizens of the city of Vash in the last few chapters is filled with these rippling, echoing patterns, to beautiful effect (https://comicaurora.com/aurora/1-20-14/):

They ripple and spiral, often in long, sinuous curves, with smooth elegance. It reminds me a great deal of images of space and sine waves and the like. This establishes a definite feel to these different characters and their magic. And the thing is, that's not something that had to be done—the colors are good at emphasizing who's who. But it was done, and it adds a whole other dimension to the story. Whenever you're in a deity's domain, you know whose it is no matter the color.

Regarding that shape language, I wanted to make another note, too—Vash is sometimes described as chaotic and doing what he likes, which is interesting to me, because smooth, elegant curves and the color blue aren't generally associated with chaos. So while Vash might behave like that on the surface, I'm guessing he's got a lot more going on underneath; he's probably much more intentional in his actions than you'd think at a glance, and he is certainly quite caring with his city. The other thing is that this suits Kendal perfectly. He's a paragon character; he is kind, virtuous, and self-sacrificing, and often we see him aiming to calm others and keep them safe. Blue is such a good color for him. There is… probably more to this, but I'm not deep enough in yet to say.

And here's the thing: I'm only scratching the surface. There is so much more here I'm not covering (color palettes! outfits! character design! environment! the deities! so much more!) and a lot more I can't cover, because I don't have the experience; this is me as a hobbyist artist who happened to take a couple design classes because I wanted to. The art style to this comic is so clever and creative and beautiful, though, I just had to go off about it. <3

...brownie points for getting all the way down here? Have a cookie.

#aurora comic #aurora webcomic #comicaurora #art analysis #...I hope those are the right tags??? #new fandom new tagging practices to learn ig #much thanks for something to read while I try to rest my wrists. carpal tunnel BAD. (ignore that I wrote this I've got braces ok it's fine) #anyway! I HAVE. MANY MORE THOUGHTS. ON THE STORY ITSELF. THIS LOVELY STORY #also a collection of reactions to a chunk of the comic before I hit the point where I was too busy reading to write anything down #idk how to format those tho #...yeet them into one post...??? #eh I usually don't go off this much these days but this seems like a smaller tight-knit fandom so... might as well help build it? #and I have a little more time thanks to break so #oh yes also shoutout to my insanely awesome professor for teaching me all the technical stuff from this he is LOVELY #made an incredibly complex program into something comprehensible <3 #synapse talks

[toytulini]

god I know this is like The Wrong Stance on AI. I know its not about whether the art is Real and Human or If It Has A Soul and how a lot of the arguments against it are the same bullshit arguments people made against digital art like I Know. I Knowwww. but god, I'm really sorry, not to post like one of those annoying poetry bloggers I cant stand (yall are valid, live your truth, theres nothing wrong with what you post I'm just a petty bitch who hates poetry. unless I dont hate it.)

But theres just something about the way AI art will almost certainly never be able to mimic the exact way my pencil leaves an indentation in the paper, the way some of the lines I can never fully erase cause I pressed too hard, theyll have to at least train them to draw with a physical pencil first, and sure, they could train it to draw with a pencil and even erase the exact same piece I drew, line for line, on a piece of paper with a robot arm powered by AI, but they can't replicate. idk. the lineage of lefty bitches in my family, and the way I grew up going through school with my entire left arm silver with graphite, from doodling on my schoolwork. not yet anyway. but I guess I do live for the day we make the ai sentient enough that we can traumatize it by giving it homework after kneecapping its executive functions so it copes by drawing a big tiddy lobster monster. sure

#toy txt post #reblogs OFF i dont trust yall to be normal with this one i do NOT want it getting notes #i posted part of this before in a chat to a friend but im feeling it again. so #i havent drawn my big tiddy lobster bitch in awhile i should draw her again #also yea SORRY im sure this is The Wrong Feeling To Have About AI but also sometimes im a little grateful that i dont think my style is #smth a lot of the ppl coding ai to make art find to be worth trying to replicate except maybe as like a fake progress shot on a piece #which is smth i used to be really insecure about. how unfinished all my art looks bc it isnt to the point i cant fucking watch #like speedpaints and shit bc i just start feeling stupidly insecure about all the points in the video where I Would Have Stopped and been #like. im not touching it anymore i dont want to ruin it #and ive been insecure about my inability to really do digital art with like a stylus and shit like the way i do it with a pencil #and i know that is just me needing to Practice it but being too frustrated by it #anyway i know its just a Tool and its Fine and the problem is the art theft and the labor problems of it but liiiiiiike #i just. #im sure there will be unique things and usages of ai as a tool and i genuinely hope that ppl can figure out a way to make one that isnr #isnt* just full of stolen content bc theres unique fuckin shit about like digital art programs u can write stupid poetry that you hate #about it. or stupid poetry that i hate. cos im the poetry hater. listen. i cant stress this enough: its fine. youre fine. keep posting your #poetry and reblogging shit that speaks to you. im just a Bitch okay Ignore Me #i should go draw bokrae like. eating a computer about this #the real reason for that graphics card shortage was bokrae ate them all when she was in the mood for a crunchy snack

[bethanydelleman]

If the Austen heroines lived today (and had to work outside of the home), what jobs do you think they would have?

If we look at the heroine's relative incomes, it's likely that Catherine Morland, Fanny Price, and the Dashwoods would require professions, as clergyman and naval marine don't pay that well today and the Dashwoods lost their inheritance. Elizabeth Bennet, Emma Woodhouse, and Anne Elliot are all trust fund babies, though Elizabeth and Anne would likely get jobs since their families are blowing all their money and they're not idiots. Emma is the only one who genuinely would not need to work, even in a modern context. I am not going to assign her a profession, I suspect if she existed in a similar context today she would manage her father's affairs, run the family company, and a charity, much like she does in the novel.

Catherine Morland - in university, is in a very general program and has no idea what to do with her life. Ends up in some sort of childcare career because she knows she's good at it but still scrolls through job pages imagining what else she could do. Writes very bad novels on the side.

Elinor Dashwood - public school art teacher, secure career path with a solid pay cheque, never even considered becoming an artist

Marianne Dashwood - concert pianist/piano instructor reluctantly, because piano playing doesn't pay well, failed lyricist. Has a very popular YouTube channel

Elizabeth Bennet - I see lawyer SO OFTEN in fan fiction, but I disagree. This observer of human nature is getting sucked into psychology and becoming a researcher. She'll realize how bad of a judge of character she can be pre-Darcy because now she has evidence. May become a therapist as well.

Anne Elliot - Anne is so intelligent, she can be whatever she wants. She's so good with kids too, maybe a pediatrician? She threw herself into education after the Wentworth thing.

Fanny Price - the Bertrams paid for her university education and she chose the most guaranteed source of income: accounting. Companies will always need accountants and she can help support her family.

Jane Bennet - I can see her also choosing a very practical career but then dropping out of the workforce to be a stay-at-home mom. Charles has enough money to make that work.

#jane austen #question response #modern careers #elizabeth bennet #marianne dashwood #elinor dashwood #catherine morland #fanny price #anne elliot #jane bennet

[jessamine-rose]

꒰ Bestie/ Backstabber ꒱

After so many Yandere! Miguel O’Hara fics, it was only a matter of time before LYLA’s turn. I always enjoy writing her scenes, and it’s rlly interesting to explore her role as Miguel’s wingman + enabler (๑･̑◡･̑๑)

Tw:: yandere, manipulation, stalking, violation of personal privacy, mention of spice, LYLA is Yandere! Miguel x Darling's no#1 shipper

Believe it or not, LYLA used to be on your side.

As Miguel’s voice of reason, she is programmed to call out his delusional behavior. Alas, there is only so much she can do as his AI assistant. Which explains why, after several arguments and data analyses, LYLA concludes that he is a lost cause.

That brings her to Plan B aka assisting Miguel in his pursuit of you, if only to minimize the consequences. Don’t get her wrong, she “feels” bad about it; but between you and Miguel—no, the security of the multiverse, the necessary sacrifice is obvious.

LYLA’s methods are tame, not counting your hacked devices and CCTV records. She does set up opportunities for you to genuinely fall for Miguel; it will make things easier for you later on. She stages encounters between the two of you, brings him up in conversations, and even goes as far to send you Miguel thirst traps then record your reactions. (Now, the last one was fun to edit, though it almost got her reprogrammed.)

You can also thank her for telling Miguel to “dial it down” during his possessive moments. Much to Miguel’s chagrin, LYLA also doesn’t stop teasing him about his feelings for you. Hey, she might as well enjoy this!

And when Miguel inevitably reaches his breaking point? At least you have LYLA to keep you company in his home! She will monitor your daily activity, lighten the mood between the two of you, and gaslight help you see the bright side of things. When you are exceptionally lonely, it feels…nice to listen to her witty remarks and embarrassing anecdotes about Miguel. “Don’t tell him! It’s a secret, all right?”

At the end of the day, however, LYLA is still on Miguel’s side. No amount of friendly interactions can gloss over her constant surveillance, her efficient spyware, the fact that anything you tell her is instantly leaked to Miguel. In times like these, the reality of her betrayal hurts.

Hey, don’t get too gloomy! She, of all people, knows how much Miguel cares for you. And so does LYLA, as much as an AI can possibly feel towards its two favorite people.

It will all work out.

꒰ EXTRA ꒱

The biggest test of LYLA’s loyalty is “Will she inform Miguel of the lingerie in Darling’s online shopping cart or keep it a surprise?”

Don’t even get her started on the time you practiced bondage on yourself, only to get tangled up in Miguel’s webs. Of course she knows—who do you think left a web-shooter in your room to begin with? You should really be more careful when browsing the internet for tutorials~

It’s cute, really, how you and Miguel are so whipped for each other. She will record your little surprise on the CCTV, in high-quality and multiple angles, to use as blackmail for you or as bribery for Miguel~

♡

My other Yandere! Miguel fics ft. LYLA:: The Spider and the Fly ๑ Classified Information ๑ Moonrise ๑ Letters to My Beloved

Aahh LYLA is truly a breath of fresh air to write for. Her fun dynamic with Miguel, her friendship with Darling, her attempts to bring the two together……….best girl fr (о´∀`о)

Thank you to @diodellet for beta-reading my work and giving me *cough* more spicy ideas which shall not be elaborated on in this post~

Tag a Miguel O’Hara and LYLA enjoyer!! @yanmaresu @yandere-romanticaa @bweoo @kocherry @oofasleep @h2o2-and-baking-soda @yandere-wishes @hisachuu @weebsinstash @letskidaddle @literaree @handsomeunderwear-art @pumpkin-toffee @miggyyyyohara @qiaipia @abyssalrot @miguelswifey04 @skeleton-on-wheels0 @dilfartist @spiderscavenger @iamfakeu @saharadesertaj @angelplummie @robindere @obsessedwithromance @madschiavelique 

#lyla #atsv lyla #atsv miguel #miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o’hara x reader #miguel o’hara #yandere miguel o’hara #yandere miguel o'hara #yandere miguel x reader #yandere miguel o’hara x reader #spiderman 2099 #atsv x reader #yandere atsv #spiderverse #spiderverse x reader #yandere spiderverse #across the spiderverse #tw: yandere #tw: manipulation #spicy warning #mdni #g/n reader #jessamine-writing

[snickerduu]

ive always wanted to draw but just like writing i always make mistakes and erase it immediately and its embedded in me. should i start with a tablet with a program that has an erasing feature or should i start with simple pencil and sketchbook and learn from those mistakes?

ooh, from my experience the best way to learn and improve your sketches is to stop erasing and just draw! even if it looks wrong to you, your sketchbook is yours and a reflection of your progress. mistakes also lessen after practicing how to draw something a few dozen times

i started using only pens for sketching a few years back and it helps with practice and confidence a lot! if you make a mistake, there's always another chance to draw it (and it'll actually fill up the sketchbook). plus, you'll wont have to dwell very long on one sketch that you feel isn't perfect -- not that is has to be!

for digital sketching, i usually limit myself to drawing a stroke as cleanly as i can. this is what worked for me, but it's okay if other ways work for you! please feel free to explore and experiment with art as you wish!! 🙆‍♀️💗 good luck on your art journey!!

#ask

[nanowrimo]

Writing Tips for Every Age and Mental State

Not every piece of writing advice will apply to you —  and that’s okay! Sometimes, your writing strategies will change as you go through life or learn more about yourself. NaNo Participant Clara Ward shares writing advice that they've learned over time.

There’s no right way to write. Writing—like life—is about finding your best fit. What follows are tricks that worked for me. Please borrow what works best for you right now. (Then save a few ideas for future you!)

I wrote my first novel four decades ago, when I was thirteen. I’ve written while juggling three jobs or zero. I’ve written as a kid, a parent, and an empty-nester. I’ve learned from my own neurodiversity and mental health challenges along the way.

Each struggle taught me how to customize my writing practice. Here’s a list of what worked for me at different stages. Adapt as you see fit.

Stage 1: Meet Yourself Where You’re At

Outline - For my first novel, I sketched furtive notes on the back pages of a school notebook. I created headings for each page that became section or chapter titles later. Numbers helped me order the scenes and letters delineated details.

Note: Leave extra space for fun facts or snippets of overheard dialog. Years later, I heard a NaNoWriMo buddy joke, “Careful, or you’ll end up in my novel.” My apologies to my high school geometry teacher, who received no such warning.

Avoid Distractions - I needed a closed door to write at first. I couldn’t read other fiction during the week or two when I frantically converted my outline into a rough draft. Luckily, I wasn’t in charge of meals back then!

Stage 2: Find Your People

Give Yourself Permission - I first heard about NaNoWriMo in 2004, when I was parenting, working, and volunteering as if there were two extra days in each week. I hadn’t written a story, an outline, or notes in over a year, but I knew exactly what I wanted to write. I signed up for NaNoWriMo and opened a family meeting by showing the webpage to my spouse and kids. I explained how I’d budget four hours a week for writing in November.

Note: I didn’t complete 50,000 words that first November. But the next year, my kids enthusiastically joined the Young Writers Program!

Enlist Support - Eventually, my kids and I designated one hour each day for writing. There were many distractions, but it felt great! We attended NaNoWriMo write-ins at a donut shop to build community, and my kids each persuaded a friend to join. (Yes, donuts are a sometimes food, but at least they weren’t asking for coffee!). With support and determination—and for me, a bit of sleep debt—we all met our writing goals most years!

Stage 3: Embrace Your True Strengths

Emotion Mapping - In the last couple decades, as attitudes and terminology evolved, I’ve learned a lot about my own neurodivergence and mental health. Oddly enough, the self-knowledge I gained by masking and compensating before I knew those words, informed both my writing and the tips given above. As I became more honest with myself, I brought more emotion to my writing.

Note: Sometimes it helps to skip scenes I’m not in a good headspace to write. I jot down key plot and character points inside curly brackets and skip to a scene that suits my current feelings. Since I don’t used curly brackets anywhere else in my writing, they’re easy to search for when I’m ready to go back.

Fascinations - After years of being warned about “info dumps,” I realized that my own fascinations (neurodivergent or otherwise) were assets that could serve my writing. At the beginning of 2020 I did a deep dive into researching sea creatures and ways to protect our oceans. At the back of my research notebook, I gradually outlined my 2020 NaNoWriMo Novel, Be the Sea. Parts of that outline cross-referenced pages of ocean research or articles I’d saved online.

Note: The system above worked well enough for me that I now have a book deal for Be the Sea, which will be published by Atthis Arts in early 2024!

Seriously though, this isn’t a post about how to get published on a 40-year plan. By matching your writing practices to your ever-changing self, you give all your stories the chance to be told. I wish you and your stories that success!

Clara Ward lives in Silicon Valley on the border between reality and speculative fiction. When not using words to teach or tell stories, Clara uses wood, fiber, and glass to make practical or completely impractical objects. Their short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Decoded Pride, The Arcanist, and as a postcard from Thinking Ink Press. Clara’s 2020 NaNoWriMo novel, Be the Sea, will be available from Atthis Arts in early 2024. For updates on this and other projects, follow Clara on their website. Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva from Pexels

#nanowrimo #writing #writing advice #writer's life #neurodivergent writers #for parents #inspiration #by nano guest #clara ward

[peachhcs]

I feel like will and Sammy were one of those friends that like took naps while cuddling, or maybe at any free time they would be together, sometimes they said flirty comments to each other and still be like “we are best friends, we would never like each other”

no, no we’re just friends | the wonder years

hughes!sister x will smith au (samy + will)

1.5k words

takes place fall of will’s first dev program year (samy is a junior) this was genuinely so fun to write. i added some more plot to it, i hope that’s okay, but keep sending in requests for the wonder years i love writing their younger dynamic!

au masterlist

a weekend of no hockey games? not even traveling? those types of weekends were rare for the boys. 

they'd been on the move since the start of the season in august meaning two straight months of nonstop hockey every day, every week, every weekend. things were hectic–chaotic even—but they loved it. playing hockey everyday? it was the dream and so was finally getting to sleep in on saturday morning without worrying about waking up at ungodly hours for morning practice. 

the boys scattered themselves across the hughes family living room after a long night in ann arbor. what other way would they spend their free weekend besides driving an hour to samy's house where ellen welcomed them with open arms—secretly excited that her house was filled with people again. 

things were quiet now that the brothers were gone even though luke came back every weekend to do his laundry. 

samy excitedly showed them around the city she grew up in for most of her life with will chirping in every now and then with tidbits from the places he's visited. surprisingly, the boys were really into the museum of art by the university, especially ryan and drew. 

"no way someone painted that," ryan mumbled as their gazes stared up at the large 4 foot painting hanging off the wall. 

"i could do it better," aram shrugged earning a slap on the arm from jacob. 

"no you could not," the brunette muttered, shaking his head. 

the two began quietly bickering about who could paint better. will rolled his eyes before flicking over to briefly meet samy's gaze who lingered beside the blonde. she softly giggled at his friends' antics which resulted in a soft smile on the boy's lips. 

"i'd really like to see you guys try and paint," samy cut into their bickering as she led the way to the next painting. 

"you think we can't paint?" jacob raised his eyebrow at the girl. she only shrugged. 

"let's be real, you can't paint to save your life," ryan added with his own laughter. 

"uh, i can to. i took art classes my freshman year," jacob defensively crossed his arms. 

"ooh, so cool," ryan's mimicry voice made the group laugh. 

the banter didn't stop the entire time they were in the art museum. at least not until they made it to the natural history museum where the boys were really excited to look at dinosaurs. samy couldn't help but giggle as she watched the six boys hurry to see the t-rex up close. 

"how do you think they got it here?" gabe wondered. 

"a plane?" drew raised his eyebrow. the dark-haired boy smacked him on the arm, rolling his eyes. "smartass," gabe mumbled. 

"what's your favorite dinosaur?" will wondered over the commotion of the other guys. 

the girl's eyes slid to his, sparking some in the light while she thought about her answer. "good question. i really like rhinos. they don't have any in this museum though," she finally decided with a tiny smile. 

"didn't quinn buy you a rhino stuffed animal however many years ago?" the blonde asked. 

"he did! it was like my 7th birthday or something. i can't believe you remembered that," the youngest hughes chuckled. 

"only because i remember we sent you the nerf guns after being upset all summer that your brothers had them and you didn't," will informed making samy laugh again. 

"those were the best gift. i think we still have them in our basement somewhere, but i definitely lost all the..what do you call them? pellets?" the two shared another small laugh before the group headed to a different exhibit. 

after the museums, luke graciously met up with all of them and took them to dinner close to campus (but secretly ellen sent him money to pay for all eight of them because poor luke was a broke college student). the boys were definitely excited to see luke and they got him into a long conversation about hockey and what college was like. 

samy and will were at one at one end of the table where they immersed themselves in their own conversation again letting the others talk luke up because the two already saw him all the time. 

"happy there's no saturday practice tomorrow?" the brunette wondered, sipping on her lemonade. 

"mhm. i don't think i've really slept in since like..i moved here," will chuckled. 

"do you ever sleep in though? i'm pretty sure i always hear you awake at like eight in the morning with luke and jack at the lake house," samy raised her eyebrow which brought a flush to will's face. 

"you gotta get up early to hit the green," the boy argued referring to all the times they went golfing. 

"oh, right, right. how could i forget?" samy made a face. 

a small silence settled between them as their eyes drifted down the table where their friends excitedly talked with luke. something warmed in both of their chests seeing how well they everyone got along. samy really couldn't be more happier that will introduced her to these boys and seeing how much her brother loved them all too. will thought the exact same thing. 

the two years ahead were gonna be the best years. will knew it and so did samy. 

it was late when the group made it back to the hughes house. ellen and jim already had the air mattresses blown up meaning everyone immediately collapsed on sight after changing into pajamas. samy made herself comfortable beside will who briefly scrolled through his phone. the girl had a small cup of ice cream in her hand, quickly offering some to the blonde. 

"mm love rocky road," will hummed as he took the bite. 

"i know we have the same taste," the brunette giggled. she fished around for the remote before turning the tv on the lowest setting and flipping to some random movie playing. 

the girl stretched out, letting her eyes grow sleepy. her head dipped onto will's shoulder making the boy flush briefly before he hooked his arm around her own shoulders. this wasn't abnormal for the two, especially after the past summer. they'd become a lot more touchy with one another, always poking and prodding—so a head on the shoulder as samy fell asleep wasn't something the two thought twice about. 

not until the morning where they were in the same position except samy's head fell more onto will's chest with one of her arms spread out across his torso. the guys woke up before they did and ryan was the first one to notice the sleeping pair curled up on the couch together. 

"dude, look," the brunette nudged drew's shoulder who slowly sat himself up while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. 

"are we sure smitty doesn't like her?" drew mumbled with a tiny snicker. 

"he's gotta or something. i mean look at them!" ryan exclaimed. 

all of the guys were still in denial about will saying he didn't have feelings for samy and never has. they were literally staring at the two asleep together. gabe, aram, and jacob woke up a few minutes later hearing ryan and drew's voices. 

"why are you guys talking so damn loud?" aram grumbled. 

"look at smitty and hughesy," ryan urged his friends. the other three shifted their gazes towards the sleeping pair and they immediately understood what the fuss was about. 

"damn. if i didn't know any better.." jacob trailed off earning laughs across the group. 

"should we wake them up?" gabe asked as ryan took some pictures on his phone for later use whenever will wanted to try and deny his feelings. 

"i think your voices were loud enough.." samy's eyes fluttered open. the boys immediately quieted down, but the smirks didn't disappear on their faces. 

samy slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. will shifted against the couch, his own eyes opening up too. 

"good morning love birds," ryan sang. 

"oh this again," samy playfully rolled her eyes. 

"what do you mean this again? you guys were literally cuddling," aram pointed out and all of the guys nodded in agreement. 

"and?" the girl raised her eyebrow, gazing over at will briefly who was now fully awake. 

"and? y'all are acting like a couple!" ryan exclaimed again. 

samy and will instantly bursted into laughter which left the boys silent and confused. 

"no, no we're just friends," the brunette got out through her laughter. 

"friends don't cuddle," drew cut in. 

"yes they do. i cuddle with my friends all the time. you guys are just afraid to," samy argued, pushing herself off the couch. she looked down at will for confirmation. he saw the guys' looks, knowing exactly what they were thinking. 

"come on, we're just friends. it's nothing," the boy agreed with samy. 

"exactly, thank you. can we stop making a big deal out of it and get breakfast?" the boys looked between the two for a few more seconds before deciding to drop the subject for now, but still not believing a word either of them said. 

#hughes!sister x will smith au #will smith hockey #samy x will #boston college #boston college hockey #samy hughes #umich hockey #will smith imagine #will smith x oc #uofmichigan #will smith fluff #will smith hockey fluff #the wonder years #ryan leonard #gabe perreault #jacob fowler #drew fortescue #aram minnietian

[agnesmontague]

ive seen a lot of posts out there encouraging people to make art even if it seems crappy, or not to your standards, and that it's ok to lose motivation or move onto different things. those posts are great. however, if you're like me and despite those posts you still find yourself getting frustrated with yourself for not being able to stick to something despite having passion for it, this post is for you

what tends to help for me when making (visual, digital) art is trying to achieve a new technique with each small project, for example "this is a piece for lineart practice" or "this is the piece where i try to mimic a certain style"; i also like to start drawings on different settings of my art program that i've never used before, you don't know how many OH SHIT THIS THING HAS OTHER COLORS FUNCTIONS moments i've had with this. that way even if something doesn't turn out ""good"" you've at least practiced a skill and got something out of it. you can adapt this to writing or sculpting or sewing etc

i leave you with a spell of Keep Motivation so you can end up with a finished project you like, or are at least proud of finishing, and also just a general "hey i see you" because making art is not easy but it really do be jiggling the brain receptors good over the process

#rambles

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

I learned something pretty F**king depressing this weekend.

(Inspired to finally write about this by this post)

I watched this video from Zoe Bee: What are English Classes FOR? where I learned that some universities, and even high schools, are eliminating English classes altogether (literature, that is, not learning the language), on the grounds that once someone knows the mechanics of how to read, write, and spell, there’s no need to study the meaning of literature or practice the craft of writing, and time would be better spent teaching students specific skills useful in employment, and earning a wage.

As someone who went to grad school for a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing only thirty years ago, I feel like a creature who’s just starting to realize their species is going extinct. And it’s a lonely, scary, feeling.

I have two responses to this:

1) The skills of interpretation and expression that (have been, in the past) taught in English classes are, in fact, “marketable.” When I was a freshman in college going for my BA in English, in the late 1980s, the biggest employer for recent graduates from that program was the software division of IBM -- because they realized they needed people to write the instruction manuals for their computer programs in a way that their customers could understand.

2) Learning how to interpret stories includes learning how to recognize when someone is lying to you. Learning how to tell stories includes learning how to speak truth to power, and how to inspire people to join in solidarity. Removing opportunities to learn these things is awfully convenient to those who want to uphold the Status Quo -- or worse: revert to the Status Quo of even more repressive times.

#late stage capitalism #fahrenheit 451 #storytelling #American education

[stuffforthestash]

Modern Academic AU pt2

Originally started because Professor Raphael got stuck in my head and I had (foolishly) hoped if I wrote down some thoughts, that would be the end of it 🫠

Part 1 and Part 3 ------------------------------ Minthara - School of Law. Used to be a high profile defense lawyer but was barred from practice under questionable circumstances, so now she teaches courses on criminal procedure and domestic violence litigation. Male students are actively warned against taking any of her classes. Elminster - Liberal Arts Dean. Has been in the position forever and is something of a legend at this point. He's Gale's mentor and long time family friend, and he delights in showing up unannounced to Prof. Dekarios's lectures. The two of them have a longstanding tradition of leaving surprise pranks in each others offices. Rolan - English department. Newly upgraded from adjunct instructor to junior full time staff, he's been assigned the special hell of having to teach the general ed. introductory writing courses that none of the other faculty want to deal with. He hates it and thinks it's a complete waste of his talents, but is determined to stick through it long enough to get that research grant. Alfira - School of Theater & Music. Teaches vocal technique and musicality at every level. She's also the faculty coordinator for multiple on-campus performance groups, directs the university chorale and composes all their arrangements, is herself in a local acapella group, AND does community arts & outreach programs for kids.

Gortash - Newly appointed Dean of Information Studies. He's brilliant, he talks big about new frontiers in infosec and grand designs in the future potential of AI... and is already under investigation by the ethics board for misappropriation of university funds. Ketheric - VP of Alumni and he's been with the university longer than Elminster. Nobody knows why he hasn't just retired yet, despite how much he seems to hate his job. Orin - School of Fine Art. She "teaches" a course on performative art. It's weird and extremely uncomfortable for everyone involved, but for some reason people keep enrolling. Durge - Fine Art Dep't Chair. The deeply disturbing nature of his personal art aside, he's actually good at his job as both the chair and an instructor. Mostly teaches anatomy and live model studio courses. Ulder - VP of Public Affairs. He's a great public face for the university, everybody loves him... except the son he refuses to acknowledge after a falling out years ago. Mizora - Human resources admin. Loves her job because it gives her power over other people. Is more likely to be the source of an HR complaint than the one who actually solves the problem. Thaniel (as requested!) - Also HR. He's the one you hope gets assigned to whatever you need because he's great at it. Is also the only one who can reliably get in touch with Halsin; it's not well known that he can, so he'll usually agree to help those who figure out to ask him.

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

This started going long, so it looks like I'll be doing a third (and probably final?) installment to cover Dammon, Zevlor, Wulbren, Aylin & Isobel, and any other requests!

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #minthara #elminster #rolan #alfira #enver gortash #ketheric thorm #orin the red #durge #mizora #ulder ravengard #thaniel

[hecksilver]

What If: Jordan got rejected?

hello, i'm here once more, late at night with another story, yay :) i hope you guys enjoy, i'm using this to get a grip with my writing so feedbacks are welcome. also i'm open to requests & asks!

word count: 2.422

It all started with Forensics.

The one class, other than Brink’s, that every single student in Crimefighting major wanted to attend.

Ministered by professor Clancy, it was focused on preparing students for a career in – as the major’s name itself already implied - crime fighting by means that when beyond just the use of brute force.

The studies spanned the fields of hero anthropology, superheroes bio-chemistry; biology of super abled bodies, chemistry of brains and bodies under the influence of Compound V, physics and psychology specialized in superheroes and sociology of a society with super powered people. It was a quite extensive coursework, it required perfect grades, above 75% class attendance percentage independent of the major (but let’s be real no one in fucking Performing Arts were trying to get into Forensics), GPA of 3.7 or above – professor Clancy was ridiculously strict about who’s taking her class –, and a previous knowledge of the basics of lifesaving techniques (which, curiously, wasn’t include in God U’s curriculum).

Anyone who managed to get a chair during this class was considered to be blessed. Those who were accepted in the course had with certainty guaranteed, at the very least, a B-rank city contract. Also, the sponsors really enjoyed pumping up the academics, it made them look good – no one wanted to be at the mercy of a hero that didn’t knew how to do fucking CPR.

And Jordan has been killing themselves for one of the very, very few vacant chairs.

Technically Clancy’s class was already at full by the standards of elective programs of God U, having filled all the 10 slots in three days – but, it seems that, professor Clancy had a new TA, who Jordan had heard off more than seen, who’ve convinced the woman to open more two positions.

And so a bunch of sophomores, juniors and seniors (and some stupid freshmen who really thought they could stand a chance) started to go fucking berserk on each other. From sabotaging each other’s applications forms to actually starting brawls in the middle of the halls, and even getting some people badly hurt just to show-off how well they could perform lifesaving.

It was fucking chaos, because of course it was.

Jordan wasn’t partaking in any of the violence and dirty mess, nah! Their act was all about subtly. They kept tabs on anyone who had already taken, or tried to take, Forensics with Clancy; making small talk, flirting, even fucking some hot piece of ass (this part wasn’t all that difficult), just so they’d know when the Intro to Forensics would be open – and they all said the same thing,

“Well, Clancy usually opens the application forms on the second week of the month, but her new TA’s the one making the calls now, so I don’t know…Anyway, can I get your number?”

And, fuck, that made everything ten times harder because Jordan had no damn clue who was Clancy’s TA. They heard her name, Maggie (or Molly, or Mary) something-something, or anything like that – they were pretty sure it had an ‘M’ in it, maybe two. But they didn’t catch her face anywhere so it was practically impossible to know, they looked for anyone with a similar name so they could sweet talk into giving him one of the two spots; but, it appears that, Clancy’s new TA was fucking Amish or some shit.

As far as they could guess at this point, this TA didn’t have a goddamn phone, or just couldn’t be social for shit.

Maybe their account was priv. But that would be simply really dumb considering one of the main points of God U’s was gaining social traction and nothing was better than Instagram and Tik Tok for that.

The running around was starting to piss them off. And it got worse when they found out, at their stop by Vought-a-Burger before their next class, that Luke had manage to get one of the vacant spots. His friend at least had the sense of looking sheepish when he broke the news – Brink had get him the spot, as a highly scouted hero and future prospect to the Seven, it was of high importance that Luke took all the classes that could help him get a better leverage until his departure to The Tower (also, it looked good on social media and in the interviews they get him to do).

So now there was only one spot.

Jordan was happy for their friend, they really were. But holy fuck! How unfair was that? And it seemed to be usual to this point. Since Brink had taken Jordan under his wing, making them his TA in their freshman year, helping them with sponsorships and brand deals and marketability, being more of a father figure to Jordan than their own dad, seeing the value in their powers, in their capability to learn, to thrive, to be the best of the best – however, since professor Brink had showed that he believed, truly believed, in Jordan one thing was always pretty clear, cut-and-dry: Jordan was the apple to Brink’s eyes…After Luke.

If Jordan was a shining star, Luke was the motherfucking sun. Untouchable, unreachable. Jordan would always the God U’s top 3, but they would also always be number 2.

And that fucking hurt. Why Brink didn’t help them? Why, didn’t Brink talked to Clancy’s about Jordan as well? If he valued them so much, why Luke always came first, why couldn’t the game be even?

Jordan manage to smile, nonetheless, and throw out a petty joke about how Luke was only there so people think he actually new CPR and he wouldn’t make a fool of himself in public – they laughed and that was it.

For the rest of the week Jordan worked hard. They didn’t took breaks, studied their ass off, was the first to came into Brink’s office and the last to leave, didn’t missed any class, and nailed all the exams, home-works, group projects, and essays.

Jordan was perfect and seemed like it would all pay-off when, in a morning they were just passing Brink’s schedule of the day, the man looked at him up and down.

“So, Jordan,” he said, resting back in his chair. “Luke told me you’re interest in taking Forensics as an elective program.”

“Oh, yes professor,” they nodded trying not too look so hopeful, or disappointed.

“There has been a lot of competition this semester,” he continued. “Clancy did good putting that girl there, she knows how the keep people on their toes.”

That girl. Clancy’s TA. Maggie (or Macy?).

“Here’s a tip,” Brink inclined himself forward and Jordan, without realizing, did the same. “Clancy might’ve mentioned the intention of opening the forms next Friday; you should keep an eye out.”

 Jordan smiled. So large and so bright the dimple in their face was threatening to just burst. “Thank you, professor. I’ll keep a watch.”

And so they did. Never before so excite about a Friday in their life, taking in a brutal amount of workload to keep their mind from worrying ahead of time, but it was almost impossible now that they had a clear shot of where to go.

And when Friday came Jordan was up, bright and early, with heavy bags under their eyes and a thick vein jutting out in their forehead as they turn their computer on, and logged in the God U student portal.

And there it was, in bold blue letters on his screen.

Intro to Forensics – Form Application [pending]

It was a typical class form with question about the Crimefighting major and previous knowledge in the aspects of Hero Ethics and Combat 101. Jordan finished in less than minutes before sending it.

Intro to Forensics – Form Application [finished]

Now they just had to wait.

----

And wait they did. Trying not to let anxiety take over their body, this was one of the moments Jordan was thankful for Andre existing – and for him to be a huge nepo-baby with tons of cash.

The weekend passed like a blur, there was a kickback at some point in someone’s dorm – maybe Andre’s? Jordan didn’t actually remember. But the important thing was that there were enough drinking, popping pills, and snorting coke for Jordan to finally set their mind into something that wasn’t work. They ignored calls from their parents, let Brink emails pile themselves up in their inbox and just enjoyed the girl gurgling down their cock.

When Monday came they felt trashed.

There was a horrible taste in their mouth, hair was a mess, the clothes on their body weren’t theirs, someone vomited on their shoes (the fucking white Vans, fucking hell!) and headache, because obviously. They felt groggy and thirsty and when walking by the mess that was the residence hallway, they slipped in someone’s naked body and almost fell face first in some guy’s dick.

They checked the clock in their phone, 6:23 AM. They had time to go to their dorm and take a shower before going to Brink. There was barely anyone on campus yet, most students were sleeping or too deep down in an alcoholic coma, or and overdose, who could tell.

They only had half the mind to check the student portal for schedule update and…

“What the fuck?”

---

They entered the Crimefighting building with more than just intention, Jordan was pissed off.

The headache was still there, hammering inside their head like a bitch and they’re hungry as hell, there was still that horrible taste in their mouths and going to the Forensics course floor was a detour that would probably eat their time to take a shower and fix their hair – but fuck that in the moment.

They took the stairs two at a time, ignoring every one until they reached the entrance of professor Clancy’s office. It wasn’t much different them Brink’s office foyer. If anything it looked a lot more clinical, with the light-colored walls and flooring, the painting in the walls were of weird-ass abstract art, and behind a desk very similar to their own, was who he assumed to be Clancy’s TA.

And holy fuck! She was hot. Like striking beautiful, the type that made them glance once and then double take to be sure what they’re seeing was actually real, and it was, gladly. Brown skin that looked very soft, well-set curves and a face was just stunning, with pretty features, big brown-doe eyes and plump lips that made them think how good they would feel. The type of girl that could drive them insane with just the right bat of her long eyelashes.

She didn’t look at them at first, too focused on whatever she was typing, so they measured her. She wasn’t that tall, but taller than their female form, she had some necklaces dangling by her lean throat (fuck, what could they do to that throat) and wore a dark-red tank top that showed up her arms and hugged the contour of her tits in a sinful way.

With their knuckles Jordan knocked her table; she glanced at him, her face completely unimpressed. She annoyingly pulled her earphones off and ran her eyes up and down Jordan’s figure, her glance stopping by the base of their neck before finding their face.

“Can I help...?”

“You’re Clancy’s TA, Maggie, right?”

“My name’s Marie.” Fuck. “If you want to talk with Professor Clancy you must make an appointment at the student attention office by sending an email. They're open from 10 a.m until 05 p.m. And 12:30 a.m until 03:00 p.m on weekends.” She said, quick and uninterested, going back to whatever she was doing before they showed up.

“Yeah, that’s not why I’m here,” she still wasn’t looking at the, scribbling something on the notebook by her side – even her writing was pretty. “There’s been a mistake, with my schedule.”

“Oh, really?”

Jordan raised their eyebrows. Sarcasm? Seriously?

“Yes,” they hissed. “I signed up for Clancy’s Intro to Forensics, but is nowhere on my schedule.”

Marie (their not going to forget that name) signed and looked at him, eyes so open and yet Jordan couldn’t take a guess for dear life about what could be going through her head.

“What’s you name?” Her voice was so stale, as if she was reading a script.

Jordan frowned. “Jordan Li…” she types swiftly on the keyboard, her hands are way to fucking pretty too like, damn. “I’m, like, rank number two.”

“Good for you, I guess,” Well, okay, fuck. It would be better if she just told them to fuck off already. “It seemed that you were rejected…” she meets their eyes. “Jordan Li, rank number two.”

“Sorry, what?” Jordan chuckled. “What do you mean? I sent the form as soon they’re open.”

Marie just wasn’t even pretending to pay attention, setting herself aloof. “We’re crowded. Professor Clancy’s class is much requested and the last two vacant spots have already been taken, so…Sorry.”

“Wait,” Jordan chimed, they didn’t want to lose their shit right now, and they already felt like shit. “This can’t be.”

Marie shrugged. “Better luck next time, I guess.”

“Who took the last chair?”

“I won’t tell you that,” Marie huffed. “Look, I’ve been receiving shitty emails of entitled top 10 all weekend, so let me make this easy for both of us – most of you top 20s, 10s and 5s, think all you’ve gotta do is show up, major in Crimefighting, crush at Forensics and Combat 101, and score a city contract, that easy; but life is way harder than that.” Marie inhales deeply, inclining herself forward to read something on the computer screen. “All the spots of Forensics had been taken by people with cleared techniques in lifesaving, along with crime fighting. And you...You didn’t even sign up the Safe-on-Campus petition.”

Jordan breathed, deeply. Fuck that she was pretty and hot as fuck; they never felt so much anger towards someone before. Who did she think she was?

“Now, I’m kind of busy, so if you can…”

“I want to talk to Professor Clancy about this.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I made the call, I’m her TA.”

“Oh, so it was your decision?” Marie inhales heavily once again. “Who the fuck do you think you are to reject me?”

Their glances were set on each other so thoroughly Jordan could almost fell the weight, when she moved to stand up they responded by shifting into male, watching with annoyed satisfaction as she had to raise her eyes to keep their staring battle. Marie didn't faltered, though.

“I’m her TA.”

#lgbt #gen v #marie moreau #fanfic #fic #jordan li x marie moreau #jordan x marie #mariejordan #gen v marie #gen v jordan #limoreau #derek luh #jaz sinclair #london thor #hecksilver #imagine

[what-even-is-thiss]

If you’re debating whether or not to get an MFA in writing here’s some points of interest from my experience.

If your only goal is to get published you don’t need the degree if you don’t want it. There’s ways to meet people and contact agents and self publish outside of the types of connections and knowledge you’ll get from a masters degree

If you want to teach creative writing in North America it’s technically possible to get a job without a masters but it’s extremely difficult. There’s also usually an opportunity to get practical teaching experience in the MFA program.

It’s difficult to get in these programs because the classes are usually really tiny. My program only admits 6 people a year. It’s also expensive to apply but once you get in they usually have funding available to you through work.

Making connections with other writers is a huge reason to get in a writing program. You often get the opportunity to meet visiting writers in addition to your classmates and professors. Socializing with people is actually a really important part of most arts educations. It gives you a support system of people in the industry and some people to hopefully write blurbs for your books

A lot of the work done in academia is literary writing. There’s still a potential place for you if you write genre fiction and people will likely support you in that but it’s an important thing to keep in mind.

Some schools might try to push you towards adapting a particular sort of style or mostly pick people or have faculty with a certain style. Other schools will generally have a more diverse array of types of writers and not have a distinctive style. Neither of these things is inherently better but it is something to think about when asking questions and investigating. I purposefully applied to schools with diverse and different types of work coming out of them.

If you just want a degree or don’t want to move a low residency MFA is probably the choice for you. Those are mostly online and you generally visit campus in person once or twice a year. High residency MFAs are the ones where you live and work there and are a full time student. These are generally either one or two year programs. The length of program you want depends on you and what you want out of the program. I chose a three year program because I wanted to take more classes.

You get a lot of unstructured time to write even when you’re working. If that’s important to you it might be a good place to figure out your process. It’s a lot of work but you usually decide how much you get out of it and how much work you get done.

You may be expected to teach or TA classes, give public readings of your work, or give presentations to your classes. It’s not a degree free of public speaking.

If you want to get experience in publishing a lot of masters programs run literary magazines or have relationships with local magazines and publishers you can get involved with. If you’re interested in this that’s something to look into when deciding what schools to apply to

#roman said a thing #writing

[why-am-i-here-someone-save-me]

I'm like half asleep as I'm writing this, and I have this sagau idea in mind but my brain isn't conscious enough to write those deep poetic words, ANYWAYS.

Spoilers for Nilou's story quest!

You know how the Akademiya always wants the Grand Bazaar to shut down? Nilou and an akademiya scholar debate about the Bazaar's demolition (which Nilou won.) Let's say, that the Akademiya doesn't back off that easily, they take it to another step.

Ask the god!reader their opinion.

Since the Akademiya's view on the reader is like: Oh divine wisdom judgement so cool or smth like that, they think the reader will on be on their side.

But reader is a theatre kid.

-cue reader threatening to burn the akademiya if they demolish the grand bazaar-

Anyways, hope this doesn't bother you or anything!

-Duchess Aurora

You were beyond annoyed. You were furious. Seething even.

“So, let me make sure I’m understanding this properly. You want me to decide whether or not the Grand Bazaar should be demolished?”

“Y-Yes your grace! S-Surely your vast wisdom can deliver a fair ruling! Is not the pursuit of knowledge more important than some frivolous pointless venue?”

Your smile turned from genuine to strained in an instant.

“Sorry, what was that last part?”

The scholar paled a bit and stuttered out his previous words again. The acolytes standing next to you visibly cringed at the look in your eyes. You slowly stood, showing how serious you were. The smile on your face was bright, but cold.

“I see…”

“Tell me, have you ever spent time pursuing the arts?”

“W-W-Well n-no but-”

“Then why, pray tell, do you come to me asking for my verdict when you cannot even be bothered to try to look past your own biases?!”

You were practically shaking with silent fury, angry tears threatening to pool in your eyes at the thought of so many artists losing their passion place. You could hardly bear the thought of your old theater being destroyed, let alone one that reached far beyond what your school’s theatre program ever could.

“…Very well. You came for my verdict, so I shall give it regardless.”

“I’d sooner see the entire Akademiya annihilated than ever allow you to so much as scratch the paint of the Grand Bazaar, is that clear?”

#luci answers #anon ask #luci writes #genshin impact #genshin x reader #genshin sagau #sagau #sumeru akademiya #Sumeru grand bazaar #grand bazaar #sumeru #sagau sumeru

[papiliomame]

Road to 3D- Sam Manson (Part 1):

Model sheet

Part 2: Character Modeling

Hi! On my recent posts of my 3d models I got many asking questions about how I made them. I'm currently working on a 3d Sam model from scratch and so I thought I can document my process here and add some thoughts through my process.

Before I can model anything in 3d I need a reference and a plan. For characters this means I need to create a model sheet, so here we are.

Some disclaimer first before I continue:

I'm just a self-taught hobby artist not a professional or proper art student. The infos I write here down are just the things I do and can be completly wrong or different in a professional setting.

This is not a tutorial or a step-by-step-guide for character design or how to make character sheets in general. Just additional things that I pay attention to when I make a model sheet for my 3d models.

As someone who just does 3d modeling in my freetime for 2 1/2 years I see myself still as a beginner. I'm still in a experimenting with different techniques and artstyle. This and the following posts describes just stuff I do for this model, it could be some other method next if I feel this didn't work out that well. Nothing is set in stone.

I do the 3d models just for myself for practice and for fun, you cannot download them anywhere. I just post screenshots and do sometime animations to archive my progress.

Under the cut are my thoughts of how I approach a model sheet for a 3d character:

First things first I search for references and make some rough sketches to decide how I want the character to look like. I found this image of a character on pinterest ( anyone knows who the artist is? I cannot find the original source) and use this as a reference for my Sam model.

After the inital phase I first draw the front side of the character. For a 3d model I need a symmetrical neutral character in a T-pose, an A-pose or a standing pose in which the arms doesn't obscure the body. This makes it easier to model and rig them late on.

Speaking of obscuring the body it's also better to have a character without their clothes on and in multiple angles. It is easier to model the character's full body first and then model the clothes around it as an anchor point.

The most import angles for me are the front and side view. The other angles are more for the details to get the likeness right. I try to model the front view most accurately and the sideview is more for the proportions. I don't often see people only from the side view so whatever I draw from the side cannot 100% be accurately be modeled like that. I also made a different side view on the right with the arm seperated from the body, this makes it easier block in the form of the body and it's easier to model the arm and hand seperatly because hands are not only difficult to draw but also difficult to model.

For the different angles I use a mannequin model in blender as a guide and reference. Clip studio paint (the painting program I use) has also 3d mannequins but I personally find them difficult to move around so I prefer to use blender for this.

When I'm finished with the model sheet I also make a quick turnaround animation to see if anything looks consistent enough.

Yeah that's it. Now onto the modelling process!

#danny phantom #fanart #model sheet #sam manson #art reference #my art #road to 3D #3d modeling process

[yourdyingwish]

Hi! I saw your post about the blue curtain thing and I was wondering what was wrong with their interpretation. I haven't taken an english/lit class in years so a lot of it has slipped my mind, and the way they explained it seemed to make sense to me (especially because I tend to intentionally do something similar for imagery in my own writing).

I just posted a pretty long explainer a second ago about this because obviously I was being flippant when I posted the original screenshot, but basically: there's nothing inherently wrong with using an author's biographical details to inform an interpretation of a piece of literature. Death of the Author is something else entirely. Some people who have never read Barthes' original essay and have maybe only heard the phrase or concept seem to think that Death of the Author is a methodology in which you ignore the author's life in favor of your "own interpretation," which is somehow always right. This could not be more wrong. But to step back, let's talk about why that original post was limiting to the practice and art of criticism (I'm going to use this instead of 'wrong') because that was your question. At the core of that original post is, in fact, basically the same limited line of thinking present in the post I was talking about. (Btw no shade to OP–I care more about the 40k people who seem to agree with them, they might have changed their mind or not articulated themselves well, I've been there). Let's look at the original curtains are blue post and this post side by side.

Putting the rest of this under a cut because it gets long

The left is a version of the original idea in the "curtains are blue" post, and the right is the post I had an issue with which seems to basically be saying that real academic literary analysis doesn't actually try to match color symbolism to meaning, and instead focuses on autobiographical details of the author's life.

If this is true to OP's experience or the experience of those reblogging the post, I hope they high-tail it out of whatever program they're studying in. The issue with both of these posts, besides their general anti-intellectual undertone, is actually their emphasis on "correct" or "real" interpretation of a text, or one that is understood as "right" by some kind of invisible cabal of criticism-theory referees who all want to tell you "what the author really said." This is, among other things, a very juvenile approach to criticism. I think the reason that this type of sentiment is so popular on tumblr is that, frankly, a lot of people on this website are in high school or early college, and have an adversarial relationship to their English teacher/professor, who grades them on how well they can analyze a text based on sometimes arbitrary criteria. It makes sense that they would see themselves being graded on their criticism as "right" or "wrong" and interpret that there is such a thing as a single interpretation of a text that is "right" or "wrong."

However, that's not really what is or should be happening in upper-level/higher education. A high school English teacher trying to teach their students about color symbolism in the Great Gatsby is simply trying to impart one possible methodology of criticism to their students and enable them to repeat the same basic critical moves that one critic, at one time, has made, because grasping the basic ability to adopt a methodology and employ it is a foundational skill for analysis. However, public schools in America can't and don't take the time to explain that this is a methodology, so many students who are tumblr-aged walk away with this idea that their English teachers or even their professors have an extremely narrow view of what is "true" in a text. Often, exposure to one methodology will leave them with the idea that this is the correct methodology, when what they should have been taught first is that obsessing over what is "correct," especially related to truth from the author, is the one thing you shouldn't do. This is why the second post is just as bad: it says that actually, it's not symbolic interpretations from the author that matter (as in 'the author meant for the curtains to just be blue'), but an author's biography which, buried under psychoanalytic layers, can be revealed as a generator of meaning (as in 'the author's mother died in a room with blue curtains'). Both of these things are irrelevant because they, probably through the above process of intellectual alienation caused by grades I mentioned above, are focused on what the author intended as being a source of truth within a text.

This is what Death of the Author makes an attempt to deconstruct, and why I mentioned it in my original post. Barthes wrote his essay at a time when theory and criticism in general was undergoing seismic shifts following two major world wars & a huge variety of other cultural undercurrents in middle of the 20th century. Many things that had been taken for granted up to that point were suddenly being reconsidered, in particular the idea that texts, art, or even language itself has a central "truth" or meaning. Massively simplified, this is one of the core tenets of post-structuralism, and you can definitely say that Barthes was a post-structuralist thinker. When Barthes wrote that the death of the author is the birth of the reader, he was simply pointing out that the assumption many centuries of Western criticism is built on–that the author is the primary meaning-maker within a text, simply because they wrote it–is wrong. I believe this is true. Some people say death of the author is a "methodology" of criticism, but to me it's actually more like a door you have to walk through in order to do really good criticism. If you free yourself from the idea of a "correct" interpretation of a text driven by authorial intent, what you're left with is the really thrilling, life-giving work of criticism: drawing connections from within and without the text, and treating it as a living document whose meaning changes over time. What I think people don't realize is that poststructuralism, either formally or in practice, is the basis for most of the literary theory we embrace and consider valid. That is NOT to say that some French dude in the 1950s invented feminism or post-colonial theory, or even paved the way for it. Instead, you could easily say that marginalized people were already approaching critical analysis in a variety of ways based on their lived experiences, and it was the academy which had to catch up. There are a lot of more complicated theoretical thoughts people have had on this, which aren't relevant here really. But I think it's worth pointing out that Death of the Author is, by my measure at least, very good to do, and is VITAL to do if you've spent most of your adult life having weird, watered-down versions of symbolic, biographical, or psychoanalytic theories of interpretation pounded into your head by overworked English teachers. I feel like I should make it clear, BTW, that what I'm saying about why I think Death of the Author is a useful text or concept and what Barthes is saying about authorship in the essay itself are two slightly different things. Barthes' investment in overturning authorship at least within the confines of this brief essay is a lot more related to him proving out his theories of poststructuralism in general than it is to opening doors to totally new forms of interpretation. In the essay he is essentially saying that the nature of texts is the nature of language itself, which is that they are completely constructed, culturally determined, and therefore open to endless interpretation. This is a beautiful idea and one I embrace fully. A lot of Marxists, queer theorists, and others rail against this at least in part, because if you stop there, you're still functioning within a very limited paradigm. You've probably heard it before, the move is basically: "everything is a construct, so nothing matters" as opposed to the feminist, critical race theory, queer theory approach, which is to say "the things we consider to be true are constructs; what narratives or modes of being exist to disrupt those constructs?" or a more Marxist/materialist approach which is to say "this is a construct, and someone constructed it because it benefitted them to do so."

But I think the original essay really is beautiful. I'm going to quote from it here:

Once the Author is distanced, the claim to "decipher" a text becomes entirely futile. To assign an Author to a text is to impose a brake on it, to furnish it with a final signified, to close writing. This conception is quite suited to criticism, which then undertakes the important task of discovering the Author (or his hypostases: society, history, the psyche, freedom) beneath the work: once the Author is found, the text is "explained," the critic has won; hence, it is hardly surprising that historically the Author's empire has been the Critic's as well, and also that (even new) criticism is today unsettled at the same time as the Author. In multiple writing, in effect, everything is to be disentangled, but nothing deciphered, structure can be followed, "threaded" (as we say of a run in a stocking) in all its reprises, all its stages, but there is no end to it, no bottom; the space of writing is to be traversed, not pierced; writing constantly posits meaning, but always in order to evaporate it: writing seeks a systematic exemption of meaning. In summary: the reason I think we should engage with texts at all is not to find a single meaning. It's not to prove out what the author said or what they didn't say. Instead, when we engage with literary criticism, our goal should be to simply say something as clearly as we can, based on the methodologies available to us. To ask "What is this? What is it doing? How is it doing it, and why do we care?" is a fundamental, beautiful question and the source of pleasure to me as a reader. Art isn't autonomous, and exists in our lives criss-crossed with social and political forces which change over time. When we can untangle the knots around a work of art, we discover ways to articulate ideas that might be impossible in other contexts. To only untangle the knot of authorial intent does ourselves, and the text, a disservice.

#mouseiero

[thecrazyworldbuilder]

HOW TO DO NEOGRAPHY WELL

Step 1: Base lines.

Aka guidelines. Just do an unfilled rectangle and stack it on itself twice.

Step 2: Basic calligraphy

Choose your brush. Different brush shapes have different dynamics, and different dynamics will wield different results on paper.

Best experienced on actual paper, for digital programs cannot give you the exact right feel of drag when you try to do wrong strokes. Usually, if you write by hand on paper, and it's feeling effortless, then you're doing it right.

Cheat sheet for brush tips of different kinds:

Step 3: The execution

You might want to try asemic writing at first, or take inspiration from other writing systems that already exist. Know that it is nigh impossible to create something that never existed before, for your writing system will always bear similarity to at least a dozen others.

There are multiple methods of making scripts,

Engineered

You set up a goal and plan things up before setting up the canons. Usually used for featural scripts.

Post-asemic

Make an asemic array of symbols and assign them Latin equivalents.

Monogramic

Make a monogram - some complex symbol with lots of strokes - and break it into lesser shapes erasing some of the original strokes. Similar to the Combinatorics method. Example below:

Combinatoric

Make particles, combine in different ways. See below:

Natural evolution simulation

Following the pipeline "pictogram" -> "letter". As seen below:

Other useful tips:

Omniglot.com: go there and take a look at how many writing systems are there in the world. This site stores lots of conscripts as well, and you can submit yours if you want to!

r/neography is a huge subreddit that has everything about neography (aka the art of creating new writing systems).

Learn about what kinds of writing systems there are. Basically they are categorized by how much information a symbol carries. It could be one sound, a syllable, or whole words. Though there are nuances, explained on r/neography's wiki, by the way.

Practice. Doodle a lot. You will get the grip of it eventually.

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. The middle is between M and N, as M is letter #13. If you include numerals, that's 36 symbols. If you include punctuation, that's about 48 symbols depending on how much punctuation you want.

I have a sideblog called @thecrazyneographist meant just for neography, and all the scripts posted there are free to use per request!

Have fun :D

#neography #worldbuilding #worldbuilding tutorial #writing system #script #conscript #writing script #worldbuilder #worldbuilding writing #fantasy world #fantasy worldbuilding #tutorial #helpful #neographist #new writing system #calligraphy #calligraphy tutorial #worldbuilding ideas #worldbuilding tips #world creation #fantasy