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robin-buckely · 1 year

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Coloring Tutorial

Hello, this tutorial is for the wonderful @djoharrington and those of you wondering how I colored this set. I’m going to be talking about how to color the first gif only to keep this tutorial from getting too long. The other two used the same coloring method with only minor adjustments made to keep them looking similar.

Yes, this scene really is that dark before coloring.

Quick notes on what I’m using:

mpv player for screencapping — not mentioned in tutorial

Photoshop 2021 for editing

I mention mpv player because I’m giffing 4k, and it’s one of the few players I’ve come across that take continuous caps that don’t end up looking washed out. It makes for easier coloring.

This is me coloring literally any Upside Down scene:

Step 1: brighten the hell out of this gif

You can use a throwaway layer to get you started. I used an exposure layer (which I eventually kept and adjusted during the original process of coloring this scene) with end settings of: exposure at +5.25, offset and gamma correction at default.

Now we can see all the beautiful details of Nancy’s face. Well, most of them.

Step 2: photo filter layer 1

The way I offset this horrid blue tint they use for Upside Down scenes is a photo filter layer (several for this particular scene). For now, just the one. Put this below the exposure layer!

This brings a bit of color back to Nancy’s face and warms up the blue tones that are so prevalent in Upside Down scenes.

I don’t change the blending mode, opacity, or fill, just keep as is.

Step 3: curves layer 1

I clicked around a lot with this layer. Mostly in an attempt to get rid of the blue and adding more color to Nancy’s face. Didn’t get the result I was looking for with this layer until I added other layers. But I managed to brighten the gif a little more and add some contrast.

Step 4: hue/saturation layer

Put this layer below the photo filter layer! I used this layer to balance out the colors I pulled from the curves layer. Brought back some warmth/purples by adjusting cyans and blues.

Step 5: selective color layer 1

Ended up a little more purple than I wanted with the hue/sat layer, so I used a selective color layer (set between the hue/saturation layer and the photo filter layer) to get rid of the purple by, again, adjusting cyans and blues.

Make sure to have “Absolute” marked!

This is better! There’s a lot more color that isn’t blue in Nancy’s face now that I can work with and manipulate.

Step 6: color balance layer

This one goes on top of the curves layer (should be the topmost layer at this point). Only adjusted Midtones and Shadows, adding a little more red and yellow in her hair and face.

This looks a lot more natural. Now we just have to brighten it up again.

Step 7: exposure and curves layer 2

I don’t touch the RGB mode on this curves layer. I mostly adjust the Red, Green, and Blue modes by adding a little more red and green while sliding the bottom corner on Blue to add more yellow to the shadows.

Technically, I could stop here if I wanted, but the purple is still pretty prominent in the gif, especially in Nancy’s eyes, and it’s hard to adjust that without adjusting the color of the entire canvas since there’s movement in this gif. If Nancy were more of a still subject here, then layer masks are an option. Alas…

So I adjust the colors and try to get rid of the purple. The gif as a whole kind of looks washed out as well. I want more color here.

Step 8: photo filter layer 2

I set the opacity to 55%. I want warmth, but not too much.

Step 9: selective color layer 2

This is where I end up seeing the most change. Even small adjustments go a long way here.

It’s mostly the cyans, blues, and magentas which makes sense given how overwhelmingly blue this scene was, then almost overwhelmingly purple as I started making adjustments. Red and yellows are important for anything to do with the face and hair. This is where I add a more “natural” shade to Nancy. Literally anything that isn’t fucking blue is an improvement to me at this point, given how it started out.

Blue is back in the background where it belongs and not in Nancy’s face.

I think this is where I originally stopped. Like this looks pretty good to me, but I also wanted to make sure the other two gifs could be colored similarly, and they were for the most part. But there was only so much adjusting I could do to Nancy’s face in the third gif without adjusting the entirety of the scene (and set), so I had to go back and adjust her here to get a similar coloring.

(A lot of this set was back and forth, adjusting the colorings until they matched. It took so long. Especially with the stupid Upside Down visual effects in the background. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so there were a lot of minor adjustments and a lot of nitpicking until I ended up with a result I liked.)

So last and final step.

Step 10: selective color layer 3

I ended up adding more red to the face, hair, and shadows to keep the first and third gif similar in coloring. And this is where we get our final product.

And the side-by-side comparison again.

Anyway, here you have it. This is the end of the tutorial. I can in no way guarantee that this method will work on other Upside Down scenes (trust me, I’ve tried), but hopefully you’ve learned something!

And hopefully I’ve explained myself well enough that you can apply this :)

#text #photoshop #tutorials #coloring tutorial #gif tutorial #photoshop tutorial #*tutorials #Stranger Things #djoharrington #requested

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bixcaleen · 10 months

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I would love if you could give some tips on making blended gifs with two dominant colors - for example your friends cheesecake set. I would love to make like that but I have no idea were I’m going wrong

friends cheesecake set

hi!! blending is honestly so hard to give tips on bc it's so dependent on the scenes but i can try! below, i link some tutorials that i have used and try to explain the methods i personally use :)

btw this is very image heavy with gifs as visuals to try and explain my processes!

the tips i give assume you have basic giffing knowledge and at least some knowledge and experiencing of both blending and coloring. if you have any questions on anything i explain, please don't hesitate to come ask!

firstly, here are some very very helpful general blending tutorials that i have used in the past: this one and this one go pretty in depth (both by the lovely @yenvengerberg.

secondly, here are some coloring/color manipulation tutorials that i love:

general color manipulation (different methods) again by @yenvengerberg

manipulating the background by @fionagallaqher

coloring gifs for rainbow sets! by @rhodeys

now, as for combining the two techniques, i use trial and error. again, both blending and coloring are very fickle and the methods can change based on the scene i'm using.

there are two ways that i blend gifs with two dominant colors:

color the gifs separately and then blend

or blend the gifs together and then color the whole gif

first method: color first and then blend —

i usually use this method for gifs with little movement and where the colors can be easily manipulated (see the coloring tutorials i referenced above).

an easy way to tell what colors are dominant in a gif, go to the hue/saturation adjustment and turn saturation all the way up to 100.

for instance, this gif of anakin has little movement and i can see the background has hints of blue.

this gif will be easy to manually color on its own, seeing as i can use selective color and brushes to color the background. here is the same gif but now i have colored the background, and i used the method outlined in this tutorial:

NOW, moving onto the second gif. the second gif/scene i chose also has little movement and a background that can be easily manipulated:

using the same method as the first gif, i'll now color this padme gif on its own.

TIME TO BLEND!!! after converting the two gifs to smart object and putting one on top of the other, i set the top object to screen. for this example, i put the padme gif on top of the anakin one. this is what the blended gif and my layers panel looks like:

now, i'll create a layer mask on the padme gif and get rid of any parts i do not want or expose any areas of the anakin gif i want to see.

next, as you can see, the left side of padme's face is purple and pretty transparent. so in order to make it more visible, i will add a blank layer in between the two smart object and use a black brush to paint the areas i want to see (see this tutorial!!)

and here is the final blended gif:

now, you can totally stop here, but for me, it's pretty purple-heavy and i'd like to see some more orange. so i simply take an orange brush and color some areas i'd like to add more orange, and then set the layer's blending mode to color.

and HERE IS THE FINAL PRODUCT!

second method: blend first and then color —

i usually use this method when at least one of the gifs/scenes i want to use has colors or a background that is difficult to manipulate. or sometimes i do this because i just don't know what i want my coloring to look like and blending first gifs me a better sense of the whole gif.

there are two different ways you can blend first and then color. using the brush tool or the gradient tool.

brush tool:

using the brush tool is the best method when there is little movement and when you have distinct subjects to color around.

for instance, this gif of rhaenyra. while there is little movement, the background is a similar tone to her skin so it would be difficult for me to use selective color.

i could possibly use a brush to color the background, but i do not know how that will blend with my other gif and i don't know what coloring will work best overall. this is why i want to blend first!

and now for my second gif. similarly to the rhaenyra shot, the background of this alicent shot has very similar tone to alicent's skin color, so selective color would not work:

TIME TO BLEND!! i do the same thing as the last method (placing one smart object on top of the other) and this is what it looks like:

following the same steps as last time, i erase what i don't want and paint over areas i want to be more visible. this is what i came up with:

because there is that orange light on the left hand side of the gif (on rhaenyra's side), i decided to play into that and go with orange as one of the colors. sometimes the color scheme i go with depends on the colors i find in the gif bc that's just easiest!

now is when i use a brush to color the background! i color the left side with an orange brush and set the blending mode to 'color':

for the second color, the background on alicent's side is kind of neutral so i'm going to pick any color i want! i decide to go with green bc that is her color lol, and i do the same method, coloring with a green brush and setting the blend more to 'color'.

this is what i came up with:

you can totally stop here, but i like adding colors to the bottom, orange on the right and green on the left, so it kind of ties it all together.

HERE IS THE FINAL PRODUCT! (notice how in the bottom left corner, there is some hints of green. similarly for hints of orange in the right corner)

gradient tool:

another tool i use is the gradient tool (not to be confused by an adjustment layer).

this tool is really good for blended gifs that have lots of movement or where there are subjects that are difficult to draw around with a brush.

for example, this blended gif of yennefer has lots of movement so the brush tool may not be the best method.

here is where the gradient tool comes in! i add a new layer and draw a gradient in the direction i want. this is what my gif and layer panel looks like:

next, i change the blending mode. this heavily depends on the scene and also what looks good to your eye, but i usually alternate between 'overlay', 'soft light', or 'color'.

for this gif i chose 'overlay' and this is what it looks like:

again, you can stop here...BUT i want to go back in and intensify the pink/purple color at the top in the white areas. to do this, i am going to use a large soft brush and paint areas, setting the layer's blending mode to 'color.'

HERE IS THE FINAL PRODUCT:

and those are my methods!! if you made it this far, thank you for reading and following along. i hope that this was at least somewhat helpful and huge shout out to @yenvengerberg who's coloring and blending tutorials basically taught me everything i know.

if you still have any questions at all pls feel free to hope in my inbox :D

#ps ask #ask #anon #userabs #usermorgan #tuserheidi #useraish #rogerhealey #usershreyu #userkosmos #angelblr #tuserabbie #userelio #*tutorial

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datesinredink · 2 months

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Yan valkyrie(ensemble stars) x reader who designs characters. Specifically shu, because they would totally design outfits together.

Not gonna lie when I first read this ask I misread and thought you wanted a darling who designed OUTFITS because I was kinda tired, but upon rereading I quickly became very excited because I’ve actually designed characters for a school play before!!! This was fun to write, thanks for the request!

Yandere Valkyrie x reader who designs characters

Mika

He’s really curious! He thinks what you do is super interesting!

Now I think both Shu and Mika would help design characters with you (specifically the outfits), but the kinds of designs they do well with are likely fairly different even with some overlap because of how long they’ve worked together and grown with each other. Mika probably does better with brighter, contrasting colors- his fs1 and 2, both of which I think he designed himself (though I could be wrong about his fs2, I know for a fact he made his fs1) he makes use of bright color combinations that Shu tends not to (though you can correct me if i’m wrong) like the orange/teal combo on his fs1 and the purple/teal combo on his fs2, though admittedly it’s less noticeable there because they’re more evenly blended together. His fs2 also has plenty of brightly colored accessories, like the paperclips, gems and gummy bears. Overall, he seems really good at designing things with lots of colors/patterns that usually come off as strange to most people.

Moving on from the impromptu short outfit analysis, he’s gonna try to use this somewhat shared hobby of yours to try and get closer- what do you expect. He’ll ask a lot of questions about what your thought process was, and probably start incorporating any kind of advice or methods from you into his work.

It’s been mentioned in the enstars stories that Mika likes horror, so he’ll be particularly excited if you usually design horror characters, maybe even a couple of monster designs, and he might even try to help out- both to improve his skill in designing and to spend time with you.

He already would’ve asked for your input whenever he was designing outfits even if you didn’t do character design, because he asks for your input on almost everything he does (almost like an uncannily clingy puppy), but since you DO like costume/character design, he asks for your opinion twice the amount he would’ve- good luck honestly, I think I’d go crazy.

Takes everything you say about his designs to heart and works your advice into the outfit he’s working on to the absolute best of his ability even if it was just an offhanded comment without a lot of thought put into it.

You’re his darling! His inspiration! Of course he takes your opinions seriously!

Design something specifically for him and he’s absolutely over the moon- his darling designed something for him!

Hope you know how to take a compliment… or a tsunami of them.

Goes over every detail in it at least 5 times and probably puts it in a shrine somewhere- and yes I do think he’s the type to keep a shrine of his darling.

Definitely makes a couple of designs for you, and makes a few into actual outfits when he has the time, adding whatever accessories were part of the original sketch as well

His designs tend to be a sort of fusion between yours and his aesthetics- teal butterflies and ragged teddy bears intertwined with whatever you like.

He might try making matching outfits or accessories for you and him! He thinks it makes you two look like a couple, even though you aren’t dating yet.

I don’t think Mika currently makes characters in canon, just outfits, but he’ll probably start coming up with a few so he has more stuff to talk about with you and bond over.

Please, please him for his work! It would mean the world to him! He just wants your attention…

Shu

He probably also thinks what you do is interesting, but obsesses over it to a lesser degree than Mika.

He’ll definitely do better helping with any fantasy/royal/generally fancy designs. He uses lots of a red-ish maroon-ish color in the Valkyrie stage outfits and his winter/fall casual outfit, and a general red in his fs1, so it seems like he’s more comfortable using shades of red in outfits. There are also a decent amount of intricate details in what I assume are the stage outfits for Valkyrie, for example the Acanthe outfit alone looks like it would’ve been hell to make (though I don’t have any experience with making outfits right now, check back in a couple years and I’ll probably be able to confirm) due to all the lace and frilly wavy details- I don’t know how he keeps his sanity together at all honestly. Of course, he also does well with steampunk aesthetics, as seen in, once again, the Valkyrie stage outfits as well as the steampunk outfits for Valkyrie that you can buy in game.

Anyway, he’ll ask if he can make some of the outfits you came up with, and if you let him, he’ll spare no effort making sure it’s perfect. After all, it’s for his beloved muse!

I’m sorry if you really hate standing around and being examined for long periods of time, because you’re gonna have to do a LOT of modeling for it- there’s gonna be a lot of adjustments to how it fits you so hopefully you can entertain yourself without losing your mind.

I also hope you don’t have much planned for a while during this process, because he won’t let you leave while he’s working on the outfit and having you model it. Say goodbye to the plans you made with your friends, because Shu expects you to stay with him throughout the whole process of sewing your design, and he isn't willing to let you say no.

That aside, he definitely knows a lot about clothes and fabrics, so he’s really useful for pointing that kind of stuff out. Also since he’s gonna end up making a few of your designs, you’ll be able to take a picture of yourself for reference in whatever pose you’re trying to draw the character in! That’s a pretty good deal if I say so! (then again I’m also terrible at imagining how clothes fold so I might be a little biased)

He’ll also offer plenty of constructive criticism, and it’s nice to have an honest, structured opinion of your work rather than nothing at all, even if he does tend to be a little harsh about it. After all, it is Shu, even if he is obsessed with you- don't expect him to do a full 180 in his treatment of you.

Will probably end up flipping through your sketchbook for inspiration to use in his designs, whether you give him permission or not. He just has to know what aesthetics appeal to you, what colors you prefer, your favorite types of clothing… then a while later he gives you an outfit totally tailored to your tastes and while he talks about his thought process while making it, you have to wonder how he figured out so many of your preferences. oh well, he’s always been observant. Maybe you just mentioned most of it offhandedly at one point at one point and just didn't remember..

#yandere enstars #shu itsuki #mika kagehira #enstars x reader #...I am NOT looking forward to seeing this one in the shu and mika tags ngl #everytime I see my work in a tag I cringe and scroll faster hdhnfinr

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clambuoyance · 2 years

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how the fuck do you do your shading im so in love with the softness of it

Omg ty I actually have a couple different methods? Depending on the amount of effort I feel like doing

1. “quick” method

For when I’m not feeling up to rendering and want to do smth quick, I just lay down the flats, use a normal and multiply layer combo for simple shading, and then I make a layer where I paint two colors (pink n purple in this example). And then blend them together w a brush and use Gaussian blur (basically a manual gradient), then I usually set that to overlay or soft light etc. The photos above are before and after I apply Gaussian blur

2. Half (?) rendering

For this one I follow the same steps but instead of simple cell shading, I merge the multiply layer down to the flats and just start adding some more shading before applying the gradient layer again

3. “Painterly”

For ones like this one though, I usually put down flats, throw around some shading and colors using various layer modes, then merge them all into one or two layers and just start painting it as if it were traditional. So for these the gradient layer usually comes into play at the beginning rather than the end

There’s a speed paint for my timkon painting(the hug/second one) if u want to see what that’s like in action

Hope this helps

#clam answers #art tip

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jewwyfeesh · 8 months

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To The Gentle You 5

Writer: Mitsuki

Character(s): Narukami Arashi, Kagehira Mika

Translated by: jewwyfeesh

CN Proof by: stcrfeesh

Arashi: Oh my, I was going to name it after Mika-chan, but ‘Naru-chan Blend’ has a nice ring to it too ♪

Season: Summer

Location: Garden

[A few days later]

Mika: Ehehe, a two-person tea party with Naru-chan~ How excitin’ ♪

Though, why did Naru-chan suddenly invite me to the garden for tea? Could it be related to what yer brought up just now? The one about ‘a gatherin’ of witches’?

Arashi: Ufufu, any witch’s gathering will be held in a dimmed prop room, illuminated with candlelight. There are no mysteries in this bright and sunny garden.

If Mika-chan’s interested in such witch’s gatherings, I can extend an invite to you in the future ♪

Mika: Ngah~ If Naru-chan’s really a witch, my role’s surely that of a crow familiar, or maybe a livin’ doll?

Arashi: None of the above~ Mika-chan’s my best friend ♪

Mika: Ehehe~ Naru-chan’s also my best friend ♪

Arashi: Here. Mika-chan, please have a seat and let me pour you a cup of freshly made special floral tea~

I made sure to add some lavender and chamomile into this blend! They’re known to help soothe the nerves and relax the mind. Come on, try it ♪

Mika: Thanks Naru-chan! Then I’ll just help myself~ Gulp, gulp…

Ngah~ It’s real delicious! It feels as though there’s many fragrant flowers bloomin’ in my heart… Naru-chan’s real amazin’ ♪

Arashi: Ufufu, good to know that Mika-chan is enjoying it ♪ To be honest, I am only showing you what I had just learned from Hajime-chan.

Hajime-chan explained that the ‘FLAVOUR’ members would come up with names for their own special blends. Examples include ‘Shinonon Blend’ and ‘H Blend’[1], amongst others.

Am I supposed to come up with a name for this flower tea? Since it was especially made for Mika-chan, maybe you could suggest some ideas as well.

Mika: Ngah~ If we use the original creator’s method of comin’ up with a name, how about ‘Naru-chan Blend’?

(Though, whatever’s that ‘H Blend’? It sounds kinda sus…)

Arashi: Oh my, I was going to name it after Mika-chan, but ‘Naru-chan Blend’ has a nice ring to it too ♪

Mika-chan, you need to go have a good rest after drinking my ‘Naru-chan Blend’, okay? Don’t let me down!

After all, Mika-chan looks very pretty, but I wouldn’t be able to stand it if you were to have dark eye circles everyday, or harm your skin for love.

Mika: Is this ta say that Naru-chan’s been worryin’ for me all this time? ‘m sorry, I was too fixated on makin’ this present for Naru-chan…

Arashi: Hm? This velvet box delicately wrapped with a ribbon… is this a gift from Mika-chan? Is today some sort of holiday or anniversary?

Mika: Ahaha, it’s just that it was completed this mornin’, so I wanted to hand it over to Naru-chan as soon as possible.

Arashi: ——Oh wow, what a beautiful brooch!

Every tiny purple petal has the same crystal-like transparent quality, yet they still maintain a distinct winding grain pattern…… To be able to achieve such a result, I presume Mika-chan put a lot of thought into making it?

Mika: Mngah~ Although I couldn’t buy the brooch we saw in the store an’ gift that to ya, I had instead thought of makin’ a brooch that’s specially designed for Naru-chan…

Arashi: So what Mika-chan’s trying to say is that… the reason for you being unable to sleep well these few days, and refusing to tell me what you were up to… was because you were trying to make this brooch to give me a surprise?

Gosh, you… why are you always doing things that make me emotional?

Last year when we were working in the flower shop together, Mika-chan suddenly gave me a bouquet of flowers, and I was so touched I nearly cried!

Mika: Eh?! I- I- It wasn’t my intention to make Naru-chan cry~!

Though, I did find inspiration from that memory… fresh flowers are bound to wither and die, unless they were preserved in their most beautiful state.

I wanted the flower I gift Naru-chan to never wither, so I chose to make a flower that will last forever. Crystal beads were glued to’ether to form its shape, then sprinkled with tiny li’l elegant gemstones… As long as Naru-chan likes it, then that all that matters~

Arashi: How could I not like it? This brooch is full of Mika-chan’s sincerity. In addition, it’s the only piece in the world that’s uniquely mine; I feel like showing it off to everyone!

Also, the purple shade of these flowers were deliberately chosen to match that of my eyes, right? No matter what outfit I’m to pair it with, this brooch will definitely become the finishing touch that will showcase my personal flair and charm ♪

Mika: Ehehe~ Naru-chan, if ya keep on praisin’ me like this, I’m gonna end up blushin’ from embarrassment~♪

Arashi: Ufufu, in my opinion, Mika-chan deserves to be praised by everyone~ If not, he’ll always think that he’s inadequate, and that won’t do!

Time does fly, huh. Somehow, it always feels like it was only yesterday when I met you. In the blink of an eye, we’ve already experienced so many highs and lows together.

The Mika-chan from the past was a child whom others would worry over rather easily. Because of that, I couldn’t help but to care about you so much, wishing that you’ll find happiness.

So, Mika-chan, as long as I can see this beaming smile of yours, I already feel very satisfied and happy ♪

Mika: “After gettin’ to know Naru-chan as a friend, every day of my life has always been very happy”… ‘m not sure if Naru-chan still remembers me sayin’ that.

Up till now, this sentiment has never changed.

That’s why I hope that you’ll be able ta fulfil all of your dreams and aspirations, so that the Naru-chan I know now will be even more happier than the Naru-chan I first met… It’s only after Naru-chan has also obtained happiness, that I’ll be able to wholeheartedly smile ♪

Arashi: Ufufu, to put it simply, we’ve gotten ourselves caught up in a loop of happiness. Come on, Mika-chan, let’s show our happiest smiles together… ♪

Mika: That’s good~ and in times like these, we should take some photos as keepsakes, right?

Arashi: My my, Mika-chan’s learnt how to take the initiative? That’s right, we should take a photo together to record each fleeting moment of happiness ♪

Mika & Arashi: Yeah~☆

Mika: Ehehe~ Naru-chan’s photos turned out real good, I’ll be sure to treasure this forever!

Translator's notes:

[1]: They are referring to Tea Club - FLAVOUR here. Shinonon blend was created by Shino Hajime, and H Blend was created by Tenshouin Eichi. I believe you can find out more about the H Blend from the story associated with his 4☆ FS.

The card name is New Blend Release, and the associated story is "An Afternoon in the Garden".

← Chapter 4 | ES x LC Masterlist

#enstars translation #fragments of light and shadow #to the gentle you #narukami arashi #kagehira mika

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whats-up-with-webam · 11 months

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The Writhing Tentacle - End of Arc

Lana stood on the top of the tall apartment building, perched atop a ventilation unit that hummed as its fans spun. She peered into the street below, her eyes glaring and unblinking behind her mask. Across the street, the Church of the Writhing Tentacle were leaving their congregation location, talking excitedly as they dispersed across the sidewalk. As usual with the people of New York, they made no action to look up and took no notice of her, despite her relatively bright, green suit. From her position, she could see inside a window located higher than the others, where she watched as Jack Arvad bid farewell to his followers from his position at the front of the room.

It felt like an eternity as she lied in wait. Each step that the dwindling mass of followers took seemed to take minutes, and felt even longer for them to leave from the front of the building. As the cultists walked, they removed and promptly concealed their purple robes, and seamlessly blended in with the moving crowds of the New York city streets. It made Lana’s skin crawl. How many times had she walked past one of these cultists on her way to work, or stood in line waiting to order food?

The movement of Jack Arvad spurred Lana into action. She swung across to the top of the other building, keeping a keen eye as Arvad entered the same door he led Jacob Eichorn through just a couple days ago. She repeated her method of entry from that same day, climbing through an access point to the ventilation shafts through the roof. She repeated her prior movements from her memory, until she could hear speech coming from down below.

“And the rest of them are ready?” Asked the recognizable, deep tone of Jack Arvad’s voice. It sounded smug, calm. Prepared.

Lana silently pushed open a grate on the ventilation shaft, crawling along it and onto the ceiling high above the two figures below. Just as she had witnessed before, rows and rows of large glass pods with suspended humanoid filled the room, with only the center of the room and its large, now glowing circle being clear of the machines. There, on the edge of the circle, Arvad spoke to the man who Lana only saw the back of when she first entered this room.

“Yes sir. The other twelve subjects are suspended and awaiting the final piece of the puzzle.” He spoke with what seemed to be a German accent, and more so than that, Lana noted that sections of his body were covered in all different kinds of fungus. “The final pod awaits you, sir.”

“Ah, excellent. Wish me luck, Lucas. Tonight, we change the fabric of reality forever.”

So Arvad is this “final piece of the puzzle.” Ok, Webam, time to put a stop to… whatever this is. Lana hopped down from the ceiling, landing in the middle of the circle and standing in Arvad’s way of the finally, empty pod.

“Sorry, guys, but this puzzle is gonna be missing a piece.” Lana stood defiantly. A moment of silence. Now two. They were just staring at her. “Geez, tough crowd.”

“Spider-Woman?!” Arvad cried, whirling around at the sounds of her voice.

“Jackson Arvad! I’m afraid I‘ve got to rain on your parade. I like reality just the way it is.” Lana gestured to her entire surroundings. “Also, my name is Webam, thank you very much.”

“You insolent fool! Show some respect to the Tentacled One’s most trusted prophet! My efforts will not be stopped by some teenager!” Lana rolled her eyes from under her mask.

“Wow, you even talk like a cartoon villain. Any chance I can listen to your evil monologue?”

In an inhuman motion of speed, Jack Arvad flashed with a bright light, speeding towards Lana. She responded by attempting to throw up her hands to fight back, but it proved to be meaningless when Arvad ran through her body. WIthin a moment, a solid hand grasped her by her neck, tightening and lifting her up into the air.

“Gladly. You see, Webam, many years ago I was a lowly scientist, doing pointless work for a company that was knowingly harming its employees in the name of greed. But one day, I was caught in the middle of a tragic accident…” Lana felt herself launched forward, hurtling across the room. A sickening CRUNCH resonated through the room as she impacted one of the tubes. Her body exploded with pain as she fell to the ground.

“I was caught in an energy surge from a machine of my own design. I was given the extraordinary ability to control the molecules of my body! But more so than that, Webam, I saw the face of a god! She was beautiful. I have never seen such a woman in my life before. And in that moment before the surge ended, she told me that we could rewrite reality, together, if I just helped her arrive in the physical plane…”

Arvad looked down at Lana, who by this point had slowly returned to her feet as her healing factor worked its magic. He scoffed, turning away from her. He strolled over to the empty tube among the others around the circle, promptly opening it, and getting inside.

“If you’re going to get in our way, then you need to be disposed of. Do it, Lucas.” From inside the capsule, Arvad’s voice was distant through the purple liquid he was now suspended in. Lana’s spider-senses began ringing like crazy, prompting her to turn back to Arvad’s assistant just as he flipped the switch. A loud buzzing began, as one by one, each tube began glowing bright. From the control panel, “Lucas” approached, stripping his lab-coat off and tossing it aside.

“Apologies, Webam. Please understand, this is not personal. I am merely doing this for science.” Underneath the coat, more and more patches of fungus-covered skin were on his torso, all glowing ethereally. As Lucas approached, he began grabbing random bits of metal and wires from around the lab area. “They call me the Mycologist. They call this because many years ago, an ancient fungus sprayed its spores in my face while on a research exhibition. It granted me such accursed knowledge, but also amazing power.” Lucas’ hands and the materials he held began to glow exceptionally bright. When the glowing dimmed, Lucas held a large sword that crackled with electricity.

“What the-” Before Lana could get a word out, The Mycologist lunged forward swiping furiously at Lana.

“Listen, dude-” Dodge under a side-swipe. “I’m all for freedom of religion-” Jump, to the left, jump again. “But I draw the line at kidnapping and human experimentation!” Lana shot a line of web at the control panel, vaulting over to it and studying the switches in front of her. “Why does your boss want to rewrite the universe anyways?”

“Empty words from an empty man!” The Mycologist laughed, lumbering his way back towards the control panel he started at. “If you ask me, the man is mentally unstable. Filled with anger and lust, he just follows his base instincts. But me?” Lana reflexively jumped backwards as her spider-senses rang out like a fire in her head. The Mycologist’s weapon came down on the control panel. “I want to test the very limits of what science can accomplish.” Lana lunged forward, her foot connecting with The Mycologist’s face, sending him stumbling back a few feet. He merely laughed. “A valiant effort, Webam! But with the control panel destroyed, the process is unstoppable! Soon, M’rakthantar will be summoned!”

The Mycologist dropped his blade, strolling over to the opposite side of the circle, and began to watch.

“If you must know, Webam, I wasn’t always like this.” Behind him, Lana was desperately inspecting the control panel, desperately fiddling with electronics she didn’t understand. “As I mentioned, I was just a researcher. I went all over the world, inspecting flora and fauna. Oh, the rush I felt when I would discover a new species! It was exhilarating!” Sparks flew as she ripped apart wires and destroyed panels. But nothing seemed to stop it. “Then, one day, in the forests of my home country, I stumbled upon a deep cavern, full of fungus that glowed the most beautiful of colors. Streams of purple water with seemingly magical properties that flowed through the winding paths of the earth. And I got too close. Their spores were released into my body, and as a result, I was forever changed.”

From the center of the large glowing circle, a purple mass of light began to appear. The Mycologist rose, his arms outstretched in anticipation for the arrival.

“It was there in that cave I discovered a pantheon of deities lost to time. Among them was M’rakthantar, a tentacled deity that represented science and its advancement! With such a being by my side, I will surely be able to unlock the mysteries of the universe, and perhaps even further beyond!”

Lana began to swing around the room, inspecting every inch she could see as closely as possible. There had to be a weakness, a flaw in the design somewhere. As the old saying goes, magic is just science not understood yet - at least she hoped so - so surely there was a source of power. As she watched the events before her, it suddenly clicked in her mind, the one detail that had seemingly been so innocuous before.

From the mass of light, several purple tentacles suddenly shot out, writhing and wriggling, feeling around the room, grabbing anything it touched and pulling it into its center. As the tentacles swung and collided, what looked like the distinctive features of a head and shoulders appeared from the top. At its appearance, the tentacles immediately sprung themselves on the thirteen tubes surrounding it. They wrapped around them and crushed them, dragging the unconscious bodies with them.

“Thirteen superpowered beings! With my powers of fusion and my knowledge of genetics and biology, I created thirteen perfect specimens to act as the conduits I needed to bring forth a god! The thirteen powers culminate to bring you to fruition! Come through, M’rakthantar! Accept these sacrifices and we shall satiate our endless curiosity, together!”

With several loud CRASHES, the blinding light the room had previously been filled with began to flicker with instability. The floor of the lab became soaked with purple water, as the remaining six tubes were drained of their insides. The Mycologist screamed, turning to glare Webam, who was clung to the opposite wall.

“Little trick I learned in high school. Spark plugs are great for an improvised way to shatter glass. Thankfully, you had plenty of parts lying around.” Lana crossed her arms, looking victoriously down at her enemy. “Sorry, Princess Toadstool, your god is in another castle.” With that, the glowing purple light, along with the figure and the tentacles, dimmed and vanished, leaving behind the lab, cold and silent, save for the dripping of purple water.

“You have no clue of the enemy that you- MMPH!” The Mycologist began, before his mouth was promptly webbed shut. Lana spit out another string of web at his back, picking him up off of the ground, wrapping his torso and leaving him hanging from the ceiling.

“That should wear off in a few hours. In the meantime, the police are on their way here, if they’re not already outside. You and Arvad are going away for a long time.” Lana descended from above, hanging upside from one of her webs. She winked. “Later, Fungal Infection!”

With those parting words, Lana swung back up to the ceiling, and climbed back through the vents.

#spidersona #spidersona oc #spidersona ask #whats up with webam #ask webam #webam #spidersona ask blog #ask blog #ask-blog #writhing tentacle arc

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chappelroans · 2 years

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I have a question! If you don’t mind. I love your gifsets, they look amazing. I was wondering if you would be able to provide tips on how to overlay multiple scenes and still keep both scenes looking clear and detailed despite overlapping?

hi! im going to turn this into a tutorial (which is probably more long-winded than you were looking for but oh well). if you're confused about anything just lmk!

(this tutorial is estimated at intermediate level. it is under the assumption that you have basic gif making understanding)

we are going to be working with two gifs of greta (my beloved). try to pick lighter/medium light gifs until you start to feel more confident with coloring

these gifs have no color, speed, or anything added to them, so this is your absolute baseline gif

go ahead and group each gif's layers into one. to do that, go to the toolbar above: select - all layers - group all layers (if you are using a mac you can hit command - shift - G). name them whatever you want, but make sure each gif has a different group name because we are going to be stacking them and it will get confusing if they're both Group 1

once the layers are grouped, we are going to go to the timeline of one gif, click the icon with three horizontal lines, click select all frames. it should highlight all of your frames in blue.

then you are going to click the same icon on the timeline and select 'copy frames'

next you're going to move into the next gif you want to use and follow the same process (timeline icon - select all frames) the only thing different is that you are going to select paste frames instead of copy frames!!!

click on 'paste over selection' and hit OK

your toolbar to the side should look like this, with group 1 and group 2 together. once they are together on the same tab, you can rearrange them however you want.

next, go through your normal editing process. i'm putting what i used below

now we are going to get into the actual blending. this took a little bit for me to learn but i followed tutorials similar to this and now i'm fairly comfortable with my process. everyone does it differently so feel free to workshop it!

go up to your toolbar on the lefthand side and grab your dotted ellipse selection tool (should be around the crop button). draw a circle around your gif (you can do whatever size you want; sometimes i only do a person, sometimes i do the entire gif. doing the entire gif allows you to erase more if you want to)

then head up to the toolbar at the top and hit select - refine edge - and then fiddle with the settings until you like it (it really doesn't matter that much just go with your gut tbh)

after you hit OK, head down to your workspace on the right and at the bottom there is a circle inside of a square. this is a mask and it's super important for blending. click it. now you should see a vector mask on top of one of your groups of choice (mine is on group one)

now it's free time! use your eraser tool to make your masked gif more transparent, or use your paintbrush tool to bring some areas into focus. i use large eraser and paint brushes with low opacity and just click and drag until i like what i have

next, before we go forward, we need to make sure our 2 separate groups are actually 1 group. to do this, you're going to use the same method from earlier (select all layers - group layers or command - shift - G). now it should say 'group 3'. that's perfect.

now, go back to that horizontal icon in your timeline. find 'convert to video timeline' and it will change your individual frames into one long gray bar. we do NOT want it to be gray, so to change that and make it editable we scroll up to the top toolbar, find 'filter', and click 'convert for smart filters'. this will turn your timeline purple. that's perfect! now its editable.

now we want to change the frame rate (otherwise it's gonna be super slow and laggy). go back to that timeline horizontal icon (man i use this a lot more than i think...i need a new name for it) and there should be something that says 'timeline frame rate' or something similar. when you click it, you're going to see a pop-up that asks the fps. change that baddie to 10 (it will probably be at 30 before you change it...that's gross don't keep that)

now we can sharpen! sharpening is SUPER important and its what makes the gifs crisp, even when on top of each other. besides coloring, sharpening is the best thing to do for great quality.

at the top, find 'filter'. scroll down to 'sharpen', hit 'smart sharpen' and my personal settings are on the right there. use them if you want, they're a pretty standard setting that i actually got from other users

now your gif is super crisp!!! the BEST thing to do now is change the image size. this is going to make it a little bit sharper and more defined since we are reducing the size but keeping the sharpened settings. you must always do sharpening before image resizing to get the best gif results.

(as a final touch to keep speed correct, i will save the gif and then reopen it, change the timeline speed to .05, and save again. if that's confusing just lmk)

and voila! you're done! this is the final gif. she's clear, she's crisp, she's beautiful. we love.

#ps tutorial #photoshop tutorial #tutorial #asks #long post

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eldritch-muppetshow · 2 years

Text

playgroup au fun facts bc i’m too lazy to draw art for it today

vicki

- small. she’s like 4 and a half so that’s a given

- sorta-friends with digit, but also finds him kind of off-putting sometimes.

- generally the voice of reason, since she doesn’t like getting in trouble/her friends getting in trouble. unfortunately, she tends to get brushed off as a little kid who doesn’t know any better (more in a “don’t worry, the big kids know what they’re doing” way than a teasing way though)

- constantly wants to help kermit (ie. carrying his backpack, retrieving toys for him), even though kermit obviously doesn’t need her to do this (he does find it sweet though).

leon

- i know this isn’t shown in canon (since it’d be impractical, expensive, and probably wouldn’t look very convincing), but he can change color like an actual chameleon! it’s all just varying shades of purple though, and he can’t blend into his surroundings (as much as he wishes that were the case)

- also friends with digit, but mostly because digit is naive/spacey enough to easily go along with whatever scheme he’s come up with for the day. most of these schemes involve trying to make money (think ed edd n eddy). these usually don’t make him anything, both because the other kids generally don’t fall for it and because they’re little kids in a playgroup, they’re not gonna be carrying money around.

lindbergh

- i’ve already told you pretty much all there is to know about him generally, but i will add that his method of “fixing” things involves smacking them with a plastic hammer. if it’s a “complicated job” he’ll hit the thing with other plastic tools too

digit

- the reason he’s constantly spacing out, not registering what people are saying to him, and absentmindedly touching things is at least partially because he has an awful sleep schedule. he knows about the Forbidden Early Morning Shows that no one else at the playgroup does (the shows that air at the ungodly hours of the morning). he’s pretty energetic when he’s actually rested

- a huge sci-fi nerd. the other kids barely heard him talk until kermit mentioned sci-fi movies in passing, at which point digit perked up and wouldn’t stop talking.

- the only kid who fully knows how to use the tv remote (although their caretaker limits the amount of tv they can watch to get them to play outside/with each other)

#playgroup au #muppet babies #the jim henson hour #the muppets #muppets #not using bullet points bc they’ve glitched on me a couple times

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meringuejellyfish · 2 years

Note

Hiya! May I ask how you plan out your color palettets? They're so vibrant and purple :3

i must start this off by saying that where ive gotten with art thus far has been mostly through bullshitting and just messing around. and i wouldnt have it any other way. like yeah its good to have a basic understanding of color theory and what not but ... heres what i do :^9

most of these apply to digital art specifically ... so keep that in mind

-one way that i sort of got an eye for picking colors was through creating a basic color palette, filtering it to my liking, and working from there.

(layer modes here were ‘lighten’ and ‘saturation’ over that, but thats not really important + the names of layer modes/blending modes/what have you differ from program to program)

i found this to be a lot more enjoyable than coloring a piece with a basic palette and putting filters over it, and like ive said it gave me an understanding of how colors work together in ways you wouldnt expect. any of the colors in the filtered palette may look odd on their own but work well all together. this is just a really good way to start with working with more interesting palettes, and i still find myself doing this from time to time. since most of my focus has been on cooler palettes, ive been thinking about doing this method to get some warmer palettes to work with and attempt to understand those.

-on the topic of filters, theres absolutely no shame in using them to your advantage. filters are cool and fun to mess around with and i dont understand why some people are so stingy with them. even though i dont do the previous trick as much these days i still like messing around with filtering an otherwise finished piece. i drew something recently which looked so much more fun and vibrant after upping the saturation, and typically i like to put ‘brightness’ or ‘luminescence‘ filtering over a drawing. like i said ... just mess around from time to time and you’ll figure out some cool things you can do.

-never underestimate the importance of the color of a background/lineart/any other element of a piece. a colored background can heavily alter the mood of a piece. and if you do lineart, think about changing the color of it (typically i do a dark purple or blue because i think it looks nice :^9) and also consider filling in a subject in a piece with one color before coloring over it with the actual palette, your ‘underpainting’ if you will. even as someone who doesnt use this for painting, i find that this still helps me.

- substitutes !!! think about using blue in place of black, cyan in place of white, and so many other possibilities. and on another note, dont be afraid to use pure blacks and whites in palettes, not everything needs to be soothingly pleasing to the eye. there are no limits to what youre “allowed” to do with art. even though i typically use a dark purple and what not, sometimes i experiment with black lineart, and i find that it looks very striking. just dont lock yourself into a certain way of always doing things

-im sure this doesnt need to be any longer ... final general notes of mine are .. dont be afraid and hold yourself back from trying out “weird” palettes, sometimes an experiment turns out and sometimes it doesnt. the biggest mistake you can make is stifling yourself in fear of making something “bad”, just go crazy. and remember that youre learning even when you arent drawing, consider collecting artwork from others with palettes that inspire you and putting it all into a folder that you look at from time to time, and take note of how others go about things. every artist has inspirations, and mine are a huge part of where ive gotten with art and the things i want to continue to experiment with.

like once said in sonic adventure 2 .... live and learn everybody

#asks #my apologies for only now getting around to this one :^9 and for somewhat going off topic #i love talking about art and always enjoy being asked about it ....#hope this helps even a little bit u.u

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erensproudsimp · 3 years

Text

Celestial

Armin Arlert x reader

⚠ Sexual Content Ahead ⚠

Content Warnings: sort of public sex?, Cunnilingus, vanilla sex, masturbation, a lil bit of fluff too

Summary: A date with Armin at his family owned theater, Armin makes you feel like the luckiest girl alive. *cough*y'all bang too*cough*

word count:3.4k

Also, fanart is by atosaido on insta.

Gazing at the sunset at the horizon spreading its rich hues of red blended with orange, purple and cimsons into the grateful sky when you heard your phone chime. The name on the notification itself was enough to pull the corners of your mouth into a smile. Gently you placed the book that you were reading on the table to grab your phone and unlocked it to see the message. It was from your boyfriend, Armin. Your heart swelled reading the contents. Armin requested you to get ready for a date that he was coming to fetch you in like an hour, however he didn't mention where he'd be taking you. Not giving yourself a chance to try to assume the location, you looked at the time. It was currently six in the afternoon, plenty of time to dress up until seven.

Clothes thrown all over your room, scavenging the closet you were having trouble settling on an aesthetic for your outfit. Since Armin was the type of person to take you to places that could be either cosy or extravagant or both, you made up your mind to a dark academia getup. A brown checkered mini skirt complimented with a beige sweater seemed to be quite perfect for the date. Your hair straightener was heating up while you were doing a light make up. Ten minutes later you were ready. It was almost seven as you went outside to wait for Armin's car to pull up to your apartment.

A fresh chilly wind brushed against your face pickling your nostrils but it brought you out of your daydreams to your senses as you felt alive and connected to reality. You rubbed your nose for warmth with your sleeve when right at that moment a white BMW. You swore your heart leaped in your chest upon seeing him. Like a happy puppy running to its owner, that's how Armin saw you when you were running in your boots to him. Throwing your arms around his neck, you jumped for a hug. Armin being quite well-built was able to handle your weight as he lifted you up to spin you around.

"Ahaha y/n I'm so glad to see you," Armin's voice muffled against your hair.

"Me too Armin, me too," you replied pulling back to make eye contact with him.

You had no idea how Armin liked you saying his name, especially when you were screaming it.

"Let's get in the car shall we? It's getting a little chilly," Armin said opening your door to let you in. You gave him a light smile for his chivalry. Closing it after you sat, he went to take his place in the driver's seat.

"So, are you going to tell me where you're taking me?" you asked him.

"Hmmm, nope," Armin answered bopping your nose with his index finger, "I'm keeping as a surprise till we reach it, besides I think you'd probably guess it with the route we're taking."

"Well then, let's see if I guess it right. Let's go!" you excitedly shouted.

Analysing the passing buildings and blocks, a light bulb went off in your head.

"Wait, are we going to your family owned theater?" crossing your fingers you questioned.

"Heh, you've got a good memory," Armin smiled over to you one hand on the steering wheel, the other on your thigh rubbing small circles.

Shrieking in happiness, you couldn't help it as that theater was nothing but a comfort place for you. Pressing the button to pull down the transparent glass, you let the cold wind hit your face making your hair fly, a smile stretching your mouth aware that this was going to be a good night well spent. Across the seat, Armin admired you for a while before pulling into the parking. How he wished he could keep looking at you forever. You were like drugs to him, no matter how much he consumed of your presence or just you in general, he's never satisfied.

Before you could get out, Armin came to your door to open it, extending his hand. Taking it, he pulled you closer to him, faces millimeters away. Smiling against his mouth but you didn't kiss him. Instead, you placed your finger between your lips, "Quite a gentleman, aren't you?"

"Only for you my love," Armin replied dragging you to the theater's entrance.

Hand in hand, you both ran to the magnificent creation that was the building. Nobody was in sight signaling you that you two were the only beings present in that place. The only sounds that could be heard were you and Armin's giggling and the rustling of the trees with the wind. The moon was shining so bright in the sky lit up by thousands of stars. It's brightness was the same as the one Armin brought in your life. He was your sole source of joy alongside the reason why you adored being alive so much.

"You really like the night sky, don't you?" Armin asked as he looked at you staring at the moon.

"A lot. The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I could die happy."

Your heart felt lighter than air at his answer.

"Before we go inside, mind if I blindfold you? I don't want to ruin the surprise," Armin requested holding up a black cloth.

"Sure thing," you replied as he tied it lightly so as not to hurt you.

Rather than taking your hands to guide you inside, Armin choose an easier method which was to carry you in his arms. At first you were bewildered but then when it hit you, it didn't really faze you as he was always doing sweet unexpected actions like this. He treated you as though you were the most precious thing to him, which you in all honesty were.

While he was walking to take you to the destined spot, he couldn't stop himself to gaze at you. You gave so much meaning to his life and to every little thing to him. From the feeling of the first sunlight hitting his skin, he was reminded of your warm smile to the moonlight illuminating the dark sky, he thinks of the way you bring him positivity even in the toughest of situations. He couldn't be in anymore bliss as this was the definition of heaven to him. Your arms wrapped around his neck for support, he was carrying his literal embodiment of happiness.

Gently putting you down, he asked, "Are you ready?"

"I'm more than ready!" mirthfully you exclaimed.

"Okay then", Armin said removing your blindfold, "Ta-dah."

At that moment, you couldn't decide whether you were more likely to smile because of what you were seeing or more likely to cry because of what you were seeing. Your mind chose the later as tears started to run down your cheeks.

"He-Hey, don't cry, why are you crying?" Armin confoundedly wiped your tears with his thumbs as he cupped your face.

"Did you do all of this... for me?" sniffing you looked at him.

"For who else did I do this stupid? Of course it's for you y/n", he beamed.

Apart from the usual dark room with a dark vibe like a traditional theater has, for this date, Armin had set up projections on the ceiling. And it wasn't any type of projection, it was the space scattered all across the white roof.

In awe, your eyes widen at the celestial beauty in front of you. Stars twinkling like little fairy lights, even a nebula in vivid details. It doesn't stop at that as there were loads of other spatial phenomenons occurring. Not only did Armin set up a picnic on the stage but beside it was also a mattress big enough to accommodate both of you to 'stargaze'. The fabric set with Ratatouille in a bowl, a bottle of red wine glimmering under the light and various pastries sat in soliditary splendor in the middle of the wide open space which was the stage.

"I feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have you Armin", you said sitting on the cloth spread on the wooden floor.

"No, I feel like the luckiest man to have the most perfect woman," he corrected you as he was pouring some wine into your glass.

Red tinted your cheeks.

"Cheers ?"

"Cheers," you raised your glass to clink with his.

This night couldn't be any more flawless.

A nice dinner in your favorite place with your favorite person, what else could you ask more?

As soft as clouds, the mattress sunk in with both of your weights. The wine coursing through your veins served as intoxication transporting you into this realm of abstractional interstellar.

Still mesmerised by the exquisite visual that resembled as though some heavenly artist had crushed crystals into his paint and then colored the cosmos with the finest of brushes, it didn't even compare to the beautiful man on whom you were laying on. Your hand on his chest, head on his shoulder, Armin held you so close to him as though you were going to disappear if he looked away. The blues and purples of the projection caressed his face.

Moving strands of your hair away with his finger, Armin asked, "What's the matter y/n?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering how pretty you are."

"I-I thank you," Armin blushed.

Gosh he was so cute.

Lifting yourself up, a frown on Armin's face at your action but then replaced by a astonishing look when he realised that you were straddling him. You had no clue of what you were doing, maybe it's was the wine or maybe it was just your desire for him, nonetheless, you craved his touch.

Your soft skin reflecting the light of the led made his fingers curl with the urge to stroke it. To his surprise, you grabbed his hands and placed it on your thighs revealed with your skirt lifted up. A light squeeze was given to them as Armin began stroking with his thumb waiting for your next move. The light illuminating from your behind aligned your figure making you appear as an angel in Armin's sight. Running your index finger from his cheekbones to his lips, you neared your bodies to press your boobs on his chest as you kissed him. His left hand dragged up your flesh to grab your ass while the right one entangled itself in your hair pulling your faces closer. Lips overlapping each other as you fought for dominance with him. Though Armin seems like a very sweet guy but looks may deceive, well, not completely. In bed he's like a cocktail, a combination of gentleness like flavored syrup or juice and of roughness like the alcohol in the drink.

Pushing your hips to his pelvis area, a groan leaving his lips cued you to further tease him. Up and down you grinded on him. Breaking the kiss to pull back, Armin went lower to your neck to pepper small kisses all over your sensitive skin, all the way to your jaw, your cheeks, the corner of your mouth to back on your neck to suck on your sweet spot. A light pain accompanied with pleasure made a tiny 'ah' leave your lips as he was marking your body. This only turned Armin more than he already was the moment he saw you.

Bringing his face back up , you collided your lips to his, more passionate than before. Sloppily you unbuttoned his shirt.

Abruptly he grabbed your back to switch positions with you. His chest now exposed was in front of your eyes. Removing the fabric off his body, his muscles shined in the light. This man was built like an art piece, his chest sculptured like the Greek soldiers.

"Allow me to be the one to please you," Armin's breath tickled your ear.

Feather like touches brushed your throat down to between your breasts to your stomach through your clothes. He took all the time in the world to appreciate the fact that you were with him and for him. You've probably never experienced such tenderness before meeting Armin. While making out with you, he his hands underneath your sweater to cup your boobs unaware of the dampness pooling between your legs.

With a swift motion, Armin took off your sweater and threw it across the stage. Black laced bra covering your breasts made you look more lustful. Armin's breath hitched in his throat.

"I don't think I'd ever get enough on beautiful you are y/n, everytime I undress you, it always feel as though it's the first time", he breathed.

You tugged at his belt, unbuckling it.

"Then show me how much you want me," you swiped your thumb over his lips.

Armin smirked. If looks could kill, you'd probably be dead by that.

"As you wish my lady."

Armin's big hands stroke your curves, brushing his lips from your collarbones slowly down your bellybutton but he didn't kiss your skin until he pulled down your skirt for your damp fabric to come in view to him. His soft lips didn't hesitate to press against your core.

"Ah- Armin-"

"You look so hot making that face, baby," Armin replied mouth still on you, you felt the vibrations of his voice through your underwear giving you goosebumps.

Armin dragged his tongue from the buttom to your clitoris, sucking on it making your underwear even wetter.

"Does this feel good?"

"Hmmm yes~," you reached out to grab his hair.

He chuckled at your reaction and proceeded to remove your last piece of garment. Your entrance dripping with anticipation, Armin gulped hard.

Like a wild animal out of cage, Armin attacked your pussy with his mouth. You leaped at his rough action and gripped on his hair for dear life as it seemed like this man wasn't going to leave you until he's had every part of you. Out of nowhere, Armin stuck his tongue into you making you arch your back. Thrusting it in and out of you, he gripped your hips in place so that you wouldn't squirm away.

"Gosh you have no idea how good you taste y/n," Armin panted sending chills down your spine.

Your tiny little pants and moans only fueled him to gain speed as he flicked your pearl in his mouth with the tip of his tongue.

"Oh-ah-Armin- Don't stop I'm close ~"

Taking your words into command, Armin didn't cease until you gasped and released everything in his mouth.

He swallowed every single drop of you as though it was his last time drinking any sort of liquid. While he was licking his lips to consumed everything he removed his pants as you were catching your breath. His dick sprung free from his cage, tip leaking with precum.

"May I?"lining his dick in front of your cunt he asked for consent.

"Just fuck me already Armin."

Slowly, Armin stoked it on your wet folds to lubricate it for it to enter more smoothly. Wet sounds of both of your excrements mixing filled the theater.

"Fuck you're so tight,"Armin groaned in his first thrust into you,"Are you okay baby? Do you want time to adjust? "

Still panting over his big size you nodded your head, your arm covering your eyes.

"It's okay love, take your time," Armin gently moved your hand away from your face to stroke your cheeks.

"Okay, you can move now," a minute later you told him.

Intertwining your fingers, Armin held your hand while the other held for support on the bed, Armin began to move.

With the projector in the background, this moment seemed so magical.

"You feel so good y/n arg-"

You hummed still doused in this dreamy state. The world around you blurred as the only thing visible in your peripheral vision was paradise. You could feel him moving so slowly between your walls, each of his popping veins so clearly. With time passing, your need for him grew bigger.

"Please go faster Armin."

"Anything for you," he replied as he picked up speed, this time more rougher on you.

Skin slapping, you arched your back, this time Armin slipping his hand on your back to make your bodies touch each other. Chests rising and falling rapidly, you brushed Armin's hair from his face to see his expressions better.Face twisted with pleasure, this man was so attractive.

It wasn't long until you felt the knot building up in your stomach.

"Y/n I'm-I'm close"

"Me too Armin, please cum with me"

Eyes boring into yours, Armin didn't hesitate to go even more rough with you.

Bending down Armin kissed you as he released his hot fluids into you.

"Are you okay? I hope I didn't hurt you my lady," Armin moved your hair away from your sweaty forehead.

"No Armin, I know you could never hurt me, that's why I love you."

"I love you too y/n," Armin kissed your nose.

Helping you to get up, he took some tissues from the straw bag in which he carried all the food in. While you were tying your hair into a ponytail, Armin wiped his cum from your body.

"I'm sorry I made such a mess on your beautiful skin y/n."

"Armin, why are you even appologising for this, please don't ," you giggled then grabbed his hands and kissed them.

Inhaling a deep breath, Armin got up to fetch your clothes and helped you wear them.

"Let me drop you home okay?" he carried you in bridal style to the car due to your legs shaking and being unstable. Throughout the whole voyage back, you just wished this night could last forever but alas reality is a bitch. His hands warming your thighs till his car reached your house and he took you to your bathroom to help you get into the bathtub.

Not wanting to hold him any longer, you reassured him that you were now okay and that he could take care of the theater to clean it for business the next day. The thought of people coming to a place where you and Armin banged without them being aware of it brought all the blood to rise up in your cheeks.

Parking the car, Armin entered the building with the scent of sex still lingering in the air. Taking care of all the stuff on the stage and cleaning it, he went to remove the projectors. Out of the blue it clicked in his head. Security cameras. Heaving a sigh of relief that he recalled this crucial detail, he rushed into the surveillance room to discard of the recordings for the night. However, before he did that, he did in fact consider to watch it. Debating in his head like attorneys in a courtroom he finally yielded to looking at them. He didn't even play the video that he was already blushing redder than his blood. Pressing the play button, he sat down on the wheelchair.

Holy shit did he not regret watching it. Even in bad lighting, you looked so hot on camera. It felt illegal for Armin to be doing whatever he was doing then.

"Ah-ah Armin-" you moaned his name and that awakened something in him or more like that hardened something in him.

"Fuck," he whispered under his breath.

From his pants, he could see the lining of his growing erection but he tried to ignore it. Eventually it began to feel a little painful from the restriction of release. Giving in into his urges, he unzipped his pants to let his dick breath from its suffocation.

He hissed as he spread the oozing precum across the tip looking himself eating you out. With his face buried between your legs, at that moment he couldn't clearly see your facial expressions compared to now.

The way your breath got stuck in your throat, your mouth made an 'o' when you tried to control your moans. The next time he was going to make love to you, he's keeping in mind to prevent you from holding back the sounds you make as he wants to hear each and every one of them.

Stroking his shaft up and down just like he's thrusting in and out of you, his motions rhythmic, he threw his head back on the chair hearing your sweet voice resonating the room.

Sinful.

To his shock, he came at the exact timing he came within you in the recording. Letting his actions absorb, still drown into the cloudiness of his mind, Armin couldn't wait for the day he could at last marry you.

Without further ado, he deleted the clips after he sent them to his phone as a token.

End.

Thank you for reading this. :)

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spellfist-3d · 4 years

Photo

Guide to that elusive “PS1-pixelated-lowpoly”(but not really)

With the videogame playing population growing up we've finally broke from pixel-art nostalgia into the broadly called "low-poly" nostalgia. On closer look this broad categorization gets further described as “PS1 pixelated textures low-poly”, which is a bit better, but still is a really broad and a pretty wrong description of this style that’s so dear to a plenty of game-playing and game making individuals these days. I’ll try to dive into some of the technicalities and examples of this style in the attempt to find it’s characteristics and some actual technical requirements to meet this style.

Let’s start with the obvious, calling it PS1 low-poly is wrong, mostly because the same games were release on Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and PC. More so, games released later can be put into the same category, plenty of NDS or PSP games fit into the same style and adhere to the same economy principles. The only real surface level thing unifying these games is the game size, that is, the games came on CDs. The advent of a DVD format really changed up how the games look, so the graphical style we’re talking about here is called CD-3D in smaller circles.

First let’s look at the games that fit the criteria would give you some information to describe the style, textures are obviously small enough to have visible pixelation (hidden by texture filtering) and models are obviously low-poly (that is around or less than 500 triangles for a character), but let’s see what doesn’t seem so obvious. Here’s Spyro and Crash, fan favorites

Both games check both points we’ve noted before, but what’s not obvious to an untrained eye is that these games both extensively use Vertex Color, the thing you’ll notice more and more in other games we’ll talk about. Vertex Color is absolutely simple, each vertex of a mesh can be assigned a RGBA value and they’re then linearly blended with other vertex colors. Notice how in Spyro the yellow and purple light is placed on places where texture is repeated, following that you can eyeball where the wireframe is and then you’ll see that the vertex color is used to simulate lighting. Crash himself is filled with Vertex Color, it’s a cheap way to avoid using textures, while having some control over the color of the thing, instead of it being a solid chunk. If you search-engine around you can also find some really fascinating notes on the development of the original Crash and the tricks they’ve pulled! The more ingenious way to use Vertex Color is to take a look at Spyro skyboxes:

Notice how the clouds are diamond-like in shape and are linearly gradiented to the next point in the wireframe.

Vertex color was used extensively and fell off with the increasing complexity of the meshes, delegated mostly to technical masking of stuff like foliage, it’s still a powerful tool for lower triangle counts.

Textures

Now, let’s talk about the textures. Pixelated textures look nice and crisp these days, at the age of 1080p being the norm, turning texture filtering really makes the games look crisp and feel right

Quake 1 is a perfect example of CD-3D style, often undeservingly forgot in discussions about this style.

But this makes us forget that the textures were often authored with texture filtering in mind. Careful step gradienting to make textures seem smoother after being filtered is a craft in itself.

Texture filtering is not bad in itself, some games look better without it these days, because of the display resolutions, but it’s still a valid tool to apply, it can help push low-res texture a bit higher and produce a softening effect make those 4 pixels into a round circle or improve a visual effect.

Of course, some games took a deliberate approach of avoiding smudged look, like Megaman Legends, for example.

Via a very deliberate texture economy and unwrapping the developers were able to produce very crisp and pixel perfect textures (slightly warped by the infamous PS1 rendering), that look absolutely astounding when you render the game in a modern resolution. Pixel-aware UV Unwrapping, is being used in most games that are considered the pinnacle of CD-3D style, this technique is so powerful, that it was used to great effect in PS2 era games, PSP games and even modern games like Guilty Gear (for a different effect though). Let’s take a closer look,

As you can see, our character is unwrapped in square pieces in such a way that a straight line on a texture will produce a straight line on a model. While Vagrant Story is an absolutely perfect in execution of this technique, it’s also used in a same way in Megaman Legends

While I couldn’t find a reliable tool that works with modern 3D modeling software to allow pixel perfect alignment, just using a UV Checker will produce great results. This method also requires some thought put into your topology before unwrapping, but it’s strong point is that you can make changes into your unwrapping and geometry easily, making little tugs won’t break the whole thing.

As you can also note, Vagrant Story textures are authored in a single atlas, while Metal Gear Solid separates this atlas into smaller chunks like this:

Allowing for easier unwrapping, since you can unwrap into the full UV space and then change the size of the texture to scale your results. The other important thing is that you probably want your characters in a T-pose when you’re unwrapping, since this allows for easier use of normal based unwrapping, considering your model would be authored with 4 to 8 sides for limbs and torso it could be box unwrapped and then tweaked for optimal results.

Silent Hill 1 used the same technique, and is also regarded as one of the best looking PS1 games.

While this is the best practice for this kind of look, it’s absolutely not required, Quake 1 used a really loose flat unwrap:

But it’s still looks bloody amazing in the end.

While the topic of using UV Unwrapping for crisper result is endless I’d also love to bring your attention to a certain Jet Set game

It also uses the same technique as Megaman Legends, but it tops it off with some cel-shading, producing crisp, stylish and iconic look.

Here’s some technicalities: Character textures are usually 256x256 for main characters, 128x128 for other characters, character usually have ~100-120 colors per full atlas. MGS breaks down the atlas into chunks so each chunks is usually 8 colors. So when authoring textures, make us of Indexed Color image mode or Save for Web.

Now let’s move from character textures to

World textures

Universally regarded as best looking CD-3D games share the same trait, not only the characters look amazing, but the environments too. Despite hard limitations, the environments look very much affected by lighting. A lot of the times this is achieved with this one simple trick that was only improved with modern technology. That is, a lot of the lighting is baked into the textures

While this limits you on the amount of lighting scenarios or makes you produce more same-ish assets this certainly elevates the look. While nowadays baked lighting is not something that exciting, it’s also being done on a separate “layer”, so there’s no need to make a separate texture for every lighting scenario, however the resolution of a lightmap should not be higher than your texture, to not produce a cheap and uncanny effect. You still want to bake some fake lighting into your texture, which contradicts the rules of PBR, but since you’re not using normal maps, rules of PBR should not apply in the same way.

The other important tool to use, is the one we’ve talked about, that is, Vertex Color. Vagrant Story uses to great effect, while it’s environment textures don’t have lights baked, they use vertex color extensively to create a variety of moods and lighting scenarios.

Using best texturing practice, Vertex Color and making sure your lightmaps are matching resolution to your textures will produce the best results.

Now let’s talk why I don’t advise using a lot of normal maps for this style. The simple answer, it’s somewhat difficult to produce a normal map that will work with an unfiltered look, but it’s somewhat manageable to do it if you’re using texture filtering. The issue arises when you try make your normal maps unfiltered, this will make your result either a mess or a bunch of visual noise. If you’re trying to make sharp pixel-perfect textures and then will try to make normal maps to match you’ll get very harsh results. The only way I can see it working somewhat nice is to make a normal map that’s less detailed and then use it texture filtered to give some volume to your objects, while not trying to chase pixel details.

The suggested method is to do a rough sculpt -> bake it down -> use ambient occlusion and other masks to author a texture map with more details. Then use a detailed texture and less detailed normal map for optimal result.

As a closing thought, let’s talk about the

Meshes

A lot of the time you can visually trace the wireframe of things, this makes it easy to pin the style as “low-poly”, but how lowpoly it really is?

Characters in Vagrant story average 500 triangles per character. Characters in MGS go from ~450 for minor characters to ~650 for major characters. So 500-600 triangles is a solid baseline for a main character in a third person game.

This limit brings out some great restriction for every aspiring 3D artist. You have to know your limb deformation techniques (search-engine “Limb Topology” and browse around the polycount wiki to find some great examples and deformation ready examples), but as you might’ve noticed, some games decided to not wrestle with skinning and deformation and straight up detached the limbs or even made their characters out of chunks. This is perfectly noticebla if you compare the OG Grim Fandango and the remaster, where they botched the shading and you can see the bits in all of their glory.

Another easy example is Metal Gear Solid. Characters arms are separate from their torse, but this is covered with other geometry or they’re of the same color and shaded closely.

This way of doing it was used in a number of other games and allows for unlimited range of motion, while not looking weird.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of adding more triangles and loops, but if you’ll follow the rule of “if it doesn’t add to the silhouette, you don’t need it”, you’ll keep to the style. Zoom out often and if an edge doesn’t add anything from the distance and is not critical to the deformation in a character, you really don’t need it.

These principles are so solid they’ve been alive for decades, in fact, one of the best looking PSP games “Peace Walker” sticks to these principles very closely, for example this soldier is just around 1500 triangles

Spilling out of the “low-poly” territory it’s still made with the same economy principles used in CD-3D style, making use of every bit of texture and every triangle available.

Here’s another game of Metal Gear variety, Metal Gear Solid 2 is a direct heir to the design philosophy of MGS1, perfectly pixel-aligned unwraps allow for crisp detailing:

Another honorable mention goes to Animal Crossing on Nintendo 64

Animal Crossing combines meshes and sprites masterfully, uses pixel-aligned UV unwraps and makes up their own trick when creating landscape.

By unwrapping the repeating texture on each triangle of a hexagon they create these smooth patches of sand without the need for big or unique textures. It’s only 64x64 and 9 colors, but the mileage you can get out of it is insane!

And this honestly sums up the CD-3D style perfectly, it’s the style governed by economy. There’s no need for insane textures for sharp lines, and millions of colors for smooth gradients. Now of course all of these are not rules, but recommendations, you can certainly bend the rules and improve on some aspects. Before we go, here’s some more pictures to get you inspired.

#playstation #psx games #psx #nintendo 64 #low poly #3d #retro aesthetic #pixelated #gamedev #dreamcast #cd3d #retro

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ajokeformur-ray · 2 years

Text

A Wife's Lament: Deleted Scene & Continuation (exposition my beloved😭)

Forrrrr @daincrediblegg, who got the privilege of hearing me mutter to myself while I worked on this. I couldn't think of a good place to put this scene so it got 'deleted' but I dug it up before it fully decomposed and gave it just enough life to get it posted before it died again.😂😂😂 I love you muchly babe!😘😘😘

Hours passed and the golden sun sank below the horizon. As if the sky was bruised did hues of purple and blue merge together, blending and creating a deep colour which soothed the ache in your soul and made it a little easier for you to breathe.

The worst was over now; Father Paul had made it over the rocky terrain and now was he enjoying the unsteady downward decline of a man who had nowhere else to go. He had made his bed and now he had to lie in it, but he had never counted on you being there beside him, under him, where you had been for some hours. He was the only weighted blanket you had, and indeed did he ground you just as much as you ground him. Instead of the feel of you pressed against him, however, it was more so your very existence which kept Father Paul tethered to his own.

How could he question the Lord’s judgement after He had seen fit to bring the two of you together? It was something which Father Paul pondered over often, long hours into the night spent with you asleep beside him, his arm curled around your shoulder and your body tucked into his side. His hand rested in your dark hair, fingers sweeping across the crown of your head; royalty were you. Father Paul knew he should not question God’s methods, but he still did.

How could he not, when it seemed as though the love the two of you shared was simply too good to be true?

When at last, at last, had the full body spasms ceased, the trembling had calmed and the roaring in his ears, the pounding in his veins, had slowed to a stop once more, you knew that he had crested above the horizon just as the sun had sunk below it; a creature of the night was he. You stayed with him, you stayed, just as you had promised, just as you always would, and the heat of your fingers in his hair was ever present. You were ever present, within him, around him, above and beneath him… you were everything, everywhere all at once, and you were the greatest miracle in his entire existence.

It seemed as though Father Paul was at a loss for words now that he physically felt better, though spiritually and emotionally was the worst still yet to come. He felt comfort and relief in the fact that he had you, however, and his arms tightened around you; an involuntary flex of his muscles at the mere thought of losing you in any kind of capacity for even the smallest length of time. “Please stay by my side,” he muttered, and you waited for the recitation of that childhood prayer to continue, but when he lifted his head from where it had been burrowed in the warm crook of your neck, his dark eyes alight with his inner fire, you realised that he was talking to you, now.

“You never had to ask me,” He could hear the smile in your voice and it made him weak in the knees, though laying down was he. Oh, but it made his heart swell in his chest, though it had not beat for such a long time, and he leaned further still so that he could press a kiss to the very tip of your nose. “I’m staying. You’re a good man, even if you get waylaid sometimes. It happens to the best of us.”

Father Paul nodded, exhaled shakily, and then he seemed to fall into you once more, nestling down to get some sleep. He was sweaty, the wound in his hand caused by the rosary still uncleaned, still weeping in places, and he needed a shower. Food.

He needed a lot of things, this you both knew, but what Father Paul needed more than anything was you. His wife. He needed you to stay beside him, to guide him, to keep him on this side of the line, to love him, to listen to him and to cherish him, so that he could do all of the same things for you and together would you lead each other down an unmapped, as yet unknown path.

Your eyes slipped closed, the two of you got comfortable under the covers and ready to sleep; even if you had only been awake a few hours you were just so tired and Father Paul had been awake for much of the night and now for the entire day, too. Sleep was what you both needed, and you listened to Morpheus’ call as you followed one another into slumber, for nowhere could you go where the other one could not follow.

Some more hours later, when the evening turned into night and he was quite sure that he was safe to leave the walls, a man with chaotic dark curls slipped out of a crevice in the walls which even you had to look for sometimes, and hovered at Father Paul’s bedside, eyes assessing your positions to see if there was a place for him.

Another dark set of eyes opened and over your head did Father Paul look up at Bruno. “it’s okay,” The Priest whispered, “There’s always space for you. You know that. Come here, get settled with me.”

Awkward limbs tried to fit together without waking you, blankets were lifted and shifted as Father Paul tried to nudge you over so that Bruno could climb into bed, and together, they managed to work it out without waking you.

Or so they thought.

When they stilled and their breathing settled, you lifted your head to see that Father Paul and Bruno’s hairs had melted together on the pillow and even if it had been in the light of day, you still would not have been able to work out which strand belonged to which man. But you didn’t care - all was right with the world for this one moment, and your eyes slid closed, answering your body’s call, lulled there were you by the loves of your life.

Oh, what a big heart you had.

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lazuli-bloom · 3 years

Text

Roses and Styx

Chapter 2 – The Man In The Rotting Suit

Beetlejuice x Reader

Word Count : 5051

You get to go home early, which is nice. Now if only you could shake that guy from the graveyard. It doesn't help that no one else is able to even see him. There has to be some way to get rid of him, right?

Last Chapter | Archive | Next Chapter

--=--=--

Deep breaths. Inhale through the nose, and exhale through the mouth. You're fine. Just ignore the man grinning at you seated in your passenger seat. Everything was normal and fine. He's not really there.

"So, where to, babes?"

You sucked a long sharp breath and glanced over to the delusion. He definitely looked at home in a graveyard, with the patches of moss on pale skin and sporting a frayed suit coated in dirt and grime. The man flashed you another grin showing off sharp teeth that likely have never seen a toothbrush.

You pinched the bridge of your nose and ignored the apparition while you get your shitty car started. A few minutes later, the car clanged and sputtered awake. You shoot whatever was in your passenger seat a glare before pulling out of the small lot and headed home.

The man next to you groaned after you passed the first stoplight. You glanced over to him. He crossed his arms, and wore a frown on his face. The green color in his hair dulled from when he was in the store. His tone looked to be a more purple hue.

"Come on, babes, I know you can see and hear me!"

You stayed silent and tapped your fingers on the steering wheel while stopped at a red light. He was right—much to your vexation—you could perceive him. In more ideal circumstances you'd seek professional help from a doctor or therapist, but that costs money. So you're forced to bank on the hope that ignoring the delusion makes him disappear.

He huffed and pouted more. "You have no idea how long it's been since anyone could see me. I ain't leaving so soon."

You press your lips tighter into a line and kept your eyes on the road. His peculiar wording bounced around in your head for the next few stops. Soon that bled into playing the events of the funeral. He was there, bugging the mourners and going unnoticed.

"Fine. What are you?"

You catch the dimmer purple wash away from his hair and brighten to a vivid green.

"Aw babes, I knew you'd come around!"

"Please answer the question."

"Oh, and so polite! Alright sweets, since you asked so nicely; I am a ghost!"

You spared a glance over to him as you turned onto the dingy road leading to your apartment. The skeptic in you wanted to counter and say that wasn't possible, but you doubted voicing that would magically make your unwanted passenger disappear.

"Alright then, mister ghost, why are you following me?"

"Already told ya, you're the first breather able to see me in a long time."

"So, are you planning to haunt me? Make my life worse than it already is? Because so help me god I'll kick your ass straight to Hell if you try."

You parked your car and turned, giving him a pointed glare. His citrine eyes lit up as his grin stretched so large it threatened to split his face.

"Feisty! I like that in a breather."

You grumbled under your breath and looked around the parking lot. Your car was one of maybe four parked there. There weren't any milling tenets out, either. Nevertheless, you weren't keen on staying out in your car the entire day talking to a ghost.

"I'm going inside. If you want to follow me, then you're going to have to answer my questions. Got it?"

"Anything you want, babes."

You breathed out through your nose and unbuckled yourself. As you stepped out you caught sight of the ghost floating out the front of your car where he waited for you on the curb. He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he rolled back, putting his weight on his heels. The ghost flashed you another grin, and you doubted any good could come from this.

No second guesses or weaseling out by that point. You told him to follow you as you made your way to the apartment. Up the flight of stairs and to the end of the hall, you were almost home free.

"Parker!"

The harsh rasp of a smoker shouted at you. Every fiber of your being tensed up, and you fought to put on a smile in front of the dragon. She marched up to you with narrow eyes locked on you.

"Hi Donna."

"Who the hell left your apartment yesterday? I swear if you're smuggling a roommate in there I'm going to raise your rent."

"That was my friend, Sam. They're moving and stopped by to say goodbye. Wait, how did you know Sam even visited? Didn't you go out last night?"

"I got complaints about you."

You keep your mouth shut for the moment. This was a conversation you preferred not to drag out. You simply nodded to her as you carefully thought over your next words.

"Sam only dropped by to say goodbye."

"And who is 'Cassie'?"

You tensed up to the point your muscles could turn to stone any minute. Your nails dug into the palms of your hands and you struggled to keep up a friendly act.

"They're a co-worker."

Donna huffed at you, followed by a sneer showing off tobacco-stained teeth. She waved you off and turned, pulling out her smokes as she left. Donna uttered an insult your way before descending the stairs.

"Ain't she a delight."

You whipped your attention to the gravelly voice and found the specter with narrowed eyes pointed at the landing. His brow and nose scrunched up as he glared and you noted odd flecks of red in his hair.

You got your keys out and unlocked your door. "She's a bitch, but this apartment was the best I could afford. Easier to just grin and bear it."

"You know sweets, we could help one another with our problems." He said. You raise a brow at him before you stepped into the apartment. While he didn't exactly need you to, you stepped to the side and held the door open for him. "Babes, you are adorable. I'd give ya a big ol' 'thank you' kiss if I could."

"Please don't," you said, closing the door.

He let out a hardy laugh and then winked your way. You frowned and leaned against the wall with crossed arms. He scanned over the apartment while you studied him. The ghost's ragged appearance gave the impression that he recently crawled out of the grave. His pale skin grew bits of moss that blended into his hair. Dark rings circled his amber eyes. And a layer of rot and grime coated his odd frayed suit.

"Like what ya see, sweets?"

Heat rushed to your face, and you furrowed your brow at that. "You could use a bath."

"You breathers and bathing. What's even the point of it?"

"Health. It cleans away dead skin, and any diseases stuck on you, helps with sore muscles and aches, and can just help improve your mood overall."

"Shit. I didn't expect you to actually have an answer."

"Had one or two school wide lessons back in high school telling the kids that body spray was not a substitute for a shower."

He blinked at you. He shrugged a moment later and took a step closer, with his hands behind his back. "Anyway, back to my point. I think we can help each other out."

"How?"

"You and me could get rid of that awful hag! Decapitation, eaten alive by rats, electrocution, I'm open to suggestions!"

"Real casual with murder, huh? Yeah, no, not interested."

"Wait! Okay, it doesn't have to be murder. I could scare her so bad that she runs off and never comes back! We can workshop that later. But first I need you to say my name!"

"What would saying your name do to 'help'? And I don't know your name, you never said it."

The nameless ghost rolled his eyes and heaved out a sigh. Did the dead still need to breathe? That didn't seem right.

"Right now I can't affect much of anything. You saw how that guy walked right through me, right?"

You nodded.

"But if you say my name three times, I get my powers back and won't be stuck being invisible." There was a certain excitement in his tone when he said that. One that lit up his amber eyes with... something.

Your lips twitch downward as you mulled over his words. He said earlier you were the first person to see him in a long time. How long you couldn't be sure without asking, but truly any stretch of time sounded so lonely. However, you couldn't just let him have free range to do whatever he pleased. He already proposed murder as means of dealing with your landlady. This ghost could be impossibly destructive if unleashed.

"I don't know. How can I—"

A vicious yowl made you jump. It came from the other side of the wall.

"Shit!"

You rushed around the corner and opened the bathroom door. A white blur ran past you to the underside of the coffee table. Aqua colored eyes glared at you, only to shift focus in the ghost's direction.

You ignored that for the moment and instead turned your attention to the bathroom. The smell hit you first, the acrid scent of cat piss. You groaned as you looked over the state of the bathroom. The toilet paper shredded in tethers on the cheap linoleum, food and water bowls flipped with contents scattered, and a yellow puddle next to the litter box. Fantastic.

"Why was your cat locked in the bathroom?"

"I'm pet-sitting for a friend, and I can't have pets in the apartment," You said while you dug out the cleaning supplies from under the sink. "I'm keeping him mostly confined to the bathroom, so it's not obvious a cat's here for two weeks."

"Why are you pet-sitting if you can't have pets here?"

"Because my friend couldn't board their cat anywhere else. They promised me a couple hundred bucks to do it too, so I bit the bullet."

"If you're hard up for cash, I know an easier way to get it."

You glanced back at him with a raised brow but kept quiet to focus on cleaning. A minute later, once cleaned of Rigel's mess, you tossed the toilet paper in the bathroom trash and asked, "And what method would that be?"

"Just taking it! I won't get caught, babes, and even if I did, there's nothing a breather could do about it. Come on, all you gotta do is say my name three times in a row!"

You stay quiet for a minute as you washed your hands. You dried your hands and turned to face him, saying once more, "I don't know your name."

"Well, I can't say it."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I'm cursed. I can't say my own name."

"Is it... Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Sweets, that hurts. You really think my sexy self could be that little imp?"

"Well, other than taking more shots in the dark, how else would I figure out your name?"

"We could..." He trailed off, scratching the stubble on his chin. His face lit up a moment later as he said, "We could play a game or something so you can figure it out!"

His grin stretched wide as he wore an earnest hope on his features. It was rather sweet, strangely enough, and made the notion of turning him down seem harsh. You mulled over your decision. While you didn't want to say no, you weren't keen on agreeing either. If you said yes, he'd expect you to say his name afterwards.

"And if I figure out your name, then what? Setting you free doesn't seem like a smart idea."

He instantly deflated when he heard that. Smile gone, brows furrowed. Even the vibrancy of his green hair looked like it dulled to a blueish purple. He looked crushed, and knowing you caused it struck you with a bit of guilt. You couldn't blindly trust him, but you didn't want to see him so hurt.

"Look. We just met. How do I know I can trust you?"

"Cause we're BFFFFs Forever!"

"B-F-F—... You want to be friends?"

He nodded vigorously, with a glimmer of hope rekindled in his eyes. Your guts twisted into tighter and tighter knots the longer he gave you the lost puppy look. If he truly was alone and unseen for any stretch of time, then desperately wanting a friend made sense. And for whatever strange reason, you were the one able to see him.

"Okay. I'll make you a deal. We can be friends, but I won't free you until you've earned my trust. If I feel like I can trust you by the end of the month, then I'll say your name."

His grin reappeared, showing off sharp yellowed teeth. His hair also grew to a vibrant green. "Aw babes, you're the best! We are going to be great friends!"

You gave him a half smile, finding his excitement endearing if not a tad contagious. You finished up with cleaning the rest of the mess, and while doing so, you threw out a few more guesses of what his name might be. They were all wrong, but "Cthulhu" got a laugh out of him.

Once done with tidying the bathroom, you check on the furball under the shoddy coffee table. The devil cat hissed at you and swiped a clawed paw at you for daring to get so close. His eyes were thin slits and seemed to shift between yourself and somewhere behind you. You followed his gaze and landed on the ghost. You even asked him to move and the cat's gaze followed him.

"Huh. Looks like Rigel can see you."

"Rigel?"

"The fuzz-bucket of pure rage over here. His name is Rigel."

"Like the star in Orion?"

"Yeah, actually. The bright white star, that's why Sam named him that."

"Do you know any other stars in Orion?"

"Not off-hand. Why?"

"Eh... can't say."

You raised a brow at him. You wanted to find out the other stars in the constellation after he asked that—but with no internet access at the apartment or even a smartphone, you couldn't do that. All you owned was a cheap little prepaid flip phone straight out of the early aughts.

You shrugged it off and made a note to search that the next day on the store's computer. In the meantime, you sat down on the couch, kicking your shoes off to pull your feet up too. You didn't want to take the chance of that cat getting ballsy and going after you.

"So Mr. Whatsyourname, how am I going to figure out your name?"

He floated down to the other end of the couch and shrugged. You pressed your lips tight and hummed in thought as you worked out a means to find out his name.

"Well, playing twenty questions is getting us nowhere. Then again, throwing out random guesses isn't how you play that, but whatever. You can't spell it out, can you?"

"No, I suck at spelling it. And I can't, cause that would count as telling you it."

"Hmm, do you think you could use pictures to 'spell' it? Like using—a fly, a car, and a dog, to get the result of a flying carpet?"

"That might work, but I can't affect things, babes."

"But I can. Give me a sec, I'll get some paper." You rushed off to your bedroom and come back with a pencil and sketch pad. You took your seat back on the couch and turned to sit side by side with the ghost rather than facing him. "Alright, you tell me what shapes to draw."

You flipped to a blank page, skipping the older pages filled with various sketches and doodles. Once you got to a clean page, you held the book at an angel he could easily see.

The first thing he said to draw was a rectangle, a narrow one standing upright. Then a shorter and much thinner one at the top of the first. Followed by a third the same size as the second but connecting with it at an angle.

"Is that a juice box?"

"Nix the box."

"Juice?"

He nodded with a Cheshire grin. "Great! Now draw a circle on the front of the box."

You did so, as well as draw the six lines going out from the circle like he asked.

"Bug?"

"No, more specific. Draw lines on it in a 'T' shape."

You drew the segments on the bug, which gave it a distinct head and a line along its back. You look over the drawing and ask, "Is it a beetle?"

"Yes!"

"Beetle... juice?"

"Yes! You got it!"

You hum to yourself and look over the picture more. Such a strange name. Was that his name in life, too? Or did he get a new name upon death? Does everyone? Can you choose your name?

"I can see why your name's Art."

You shook out of your thoughts and jerked your head to the ghost—Beetlejuice—sitting beside you. You huffed a small laugh and closed the sketchbook.

"That's not my name."

"But that guy at the store—"

"I don't put my real name on my apron."

"Okay, Parker—"

"Not my name either."

"What? But that bitch called you Parker."

"I don't want people knowing my name. So, I don't give out my real name."

"Not even to your BFFFF Forever?"

"How about instead of telling you, you try to guess it? No hints either."

Beetlejuice groaned and whined at that, but you didn't budge. You instead gave him a sly smile of your own. He puffed out his cheeks and glared at you, and you did your best to not break into laughter. How was that disheveled ghost able to look so cute?

"Babes, tell me! You know my name now, I want to know yours."

"I had to play a game to figure out your name, only fair you have to do the same to learn mine."

"I'm cursed though. I can't say my name. Well, my middle name anyway."

You blinked and tilted your head as you processed his last comment. His middle name? How odd. You shrugged at him and said, "You can either try to figure out my name or maybe if I end up trusting you, I'll tell you. But for now, you don't need it."

"Then what the hell am I supposed to call you?"

"You've been doing just fine with nicknames like—babes, sweets, and breather."

"Fine. But I want to know your name at some point."

"When I'm more comfortable, it's a personal thing. What about you, though? Can I call you by a nickname?"

"Sure! You could use—sexy, or handsome, or hot stuff."

"Or none of those," you said, shaking your head. You did your best not to crack and laugh. "How about Beetle, or Bug? Simple and sweet."

"You think I'm sweet?" He asked with a purr that caused your face to burn.

"I think you're weird, and strange, but not the most terrible at least."

"I'll take it!"

There was that bright smile again. Wide and full of sharp teeth. This ghost was a very perplexing being. The more you saw his smile, the more your own lips curled into a smile of your own.

"Okay, so if you're going to hang around here, we should set up some ground rules and get other things squared away. Like—I don't want you going in my bedroom unless I invite you in and stay out of the bathroom too."

"Aw, that's no fun."

"Do you sleep or anything?"

"I can, but I don't need to. Same goes for food when I'm not stuck being invisible."

"Can you affect anything while you're like that? Lights? Electronics?"

"No. The air gets cold around me. Other than that, can't do much of anything while invisible."

You nodded with a small frown. That must be so boring—stuck watching the world go by, unable to affect anything or even seen by anyone. That experience didn't sound pleasant. As much as you wanted to keep a low profile, you couldn't bear to be that level of unnoticed.

"Well..." you said, getting your thoughts back on track, "If you don't need to sleep, what do you want to do while I'm asleep? You want me to set up a movie for you in the living room? Or I guess you could go snoop around the other apartments and see what everyone else is doing. Lord knows there's always someone awake in this place no matter the hour."

"You're giving me a free pass to spy on your neighbors?"

"You said you can't affect anything other than making it cold, so I don't see a problem. Hell maybe if you annoy enough people with cold spots Donna will have to deal with a bunch of complaints. Maybe she'll even waste money trying to fix things, that'd be fun."

"We are going to be such great friends."

You huffed out a small laugh. As strange as he was—and maybe a little too gung ho with murdering your landlady—Beetlejuice seemed like he would make for... interesting company.

You checked the time on your phone. Five in the afternoon. Only an hour left of your shift. Well, if you hadn't left early. You tossed your phone on the coffee table with a clatter. Your action earned a venomous hiss from Rigel.

"So, um, if you don't need to sleep but can, do you want me to set up the couch as a bed? I don't have anywhere else to set one up and if Donna thinks I have other people living here, she's going to be pissed."

"Good thing I'm dead."

You pursed your lips and rolled your eyes. "Well yeah, technically. Existing here then, which dead or alive; you do exist. And that would still piss off Donna."

He huffed and narrowed his eyes, but glanced away from you. "I know you said you want to trust me first, sweets, but I could do a helluva lot more than just annoy her with cold spots. Just give me a chance!"

"I don't know... I don't like her but I don't think that would be a good idea." You sat looking blankly at the couch cushions as you hummed in thought. Even if he had good intentions going in—or more accurately, intentions that benefited you—things could go wrong and land you in a worse spot. Good intentions paved the road to Hell, after all.

"Babes, please, I'm begging. Ya gotta let me do something! I can even hold back on hurting her if that's what you want! I'll just scare the shit out of her!"

You thought over the proposition, and it sounded enticing. You tapped a finger against your cheek as various scenarios of Donna, scared out of her mind, played out. "That does sound fun, maybe later—Wait! It's October!"

"It is? Huh. I thought it was still July."

"Wait what? How...?"

"When you've been around for over a millennium, you stop bothering to keep tabs on time."

"A millennium? That's, holy crap. Okay, I have questions, but first what I was originally saying; It's October. So that means at the end of the month is Halloween. So, what if, if things go well and I trust you by then we plan a big scare for this All Hallows' Eve?"

The ghost shot up, bouncing on the couch. The sudden movement freaked out Rigel enough for him to scurry off to another hiding spot. "Hell yes! Babes, you're the best!" This ghost vibrated with barely contained excitement and you could have sworn he was glowing green.

You held up your hand to hold in a laugh. Beetlejuice radiated a pure joy that was not only endearing but also infectious. While precious to see him so happy, you asked him to compose himself and sit. Incorporeal or not, it’s difficult to carry a conversation while a ghost jumped on the furniture.

He sank back and sat on the couch, though he chose the arm of the couch as his seat. He faced you, still sporting a grin and vibrant green hue, and you couldn't stop smiling at this happy dork. Wanting to keep your discussion going, you cleared your throat and picked things back up with a question.

"You said you've been around for a millennium. So does that mean you lived during the... eleventh century?"

"I was around then, but I've never been alive. I was born dead."

"Born dead? Do... you mean like a stillborn?"

"Not in the way you're thinking. I'm a demon straight from Hell."

"You're a demon-ghost? Ghost-demon?"

"Both, yeah. But enough about me, as great as I am. How'd a pretty little breather like you end up in this shitty apartment?"

You frown and grabbed at your sleeve, not wanting to look him in the eye anymore. "It's kinda complicated and I don't want to go into all of it. I'm just... scraping my life back together and this place is the best I can afford right now." You stayed quiet for a moment before looking back at the ghost. The vibrant joy on his features faded drastically. Guilt stung in your heart for dampening the mood and offered the best masking smile you could muster. You weren't sure it looked all that convincing.

Beetlejuice stayed quiet a moment longer before a smirk pulled at his lips. "Well, now you know who you can call if ya need help dealing with a few problems."

"The ghostbusters?" You asked and cracked a genuine smile.

"Pff. Them? Nah, babe, the ghost with the most! Just gotta say my name three times, spoken unbroken!"

The self proclaimed "ghost with the most" puffed out his chest in a bid to look impressive. It earned a soft chuckle out of you.

"I'll keep that in mind."

A low growl filled the room. Heat seared your cheeks as you wrapped an arm over your stomach. Lunch wasn't as filling as you had hoped. You sighed and stood with a stretch. If you didn't make dinner soon, you'll end up nauseous from hunger later.

Your new familiar spirit stayed put sitting on the arm of the couch. However, when you glanced back at him, his head turned around to face you. It unnerved you, and the longer you looked at him the worse the feeling got.

You shook it off as best you can and headed to the fridge, which hid behind a wall jutting out to separate the living room and kitchen. And right then doubled as a divider that blocked you from view of the couch.

Once you dug out the mixed vegetables from the freezer, you turned and caught sight of a large blur on your counter. You seized up, knees locking, and heard a loud laugh bellow out.

"Aw babes, you should've seen the look on your face."

Beetlejuice wiped away some tears, then snapped his fingers. You blinked a few times, unsure what to think of seeing your face on his body. He twisted his—your? features into an expression of shock before cackling. Your mouth hung open, but you couldn't find any words. So you just shook your head and carried on making dinner.

As you worked on getting your dinner prepared, you pick back up the conversation. You and Beetlejuice took turns asking questions to get to know one another. Beetlejuice opened by sharing about his banishment—no clear details, just stated the fact it happened. He also said he got a kick out of the spread of the bubonic plague through Europe.

You grabbed a bowl and poured in your steaming dinner. The savory flavoring of the noodles mixed with the thawed vegetables and wafted in the air. Once you turned the stove off, you sat back on the couch. In between bites, you divulged a few minor details about yourself, like how you've worked for Mr. Turner close to a year and a half, and your hope to one day work in a haunted house attraction. That topic piqued Beetlejuice's interest.

"So, you get to scare people. As a job?"

"Y-yeah. I've thought being a haunted house actor could be a lot of fun. But there's no acting job close enough willing to pay the rate I'd need to make it worth it. And it's seasonal. So it's gotta stay a dream job."

You ate your noodles and mixed vegetables, allowing the specter to take over the conversation and regale you with various stories. One of his stories got you to laugh so hard you ended up swallowing wrong. It took a minute of coughing and sputtering before you stopped choking on your food. You cleared your throat with a short groan and fought to stop laughing.

After you finished dinner, you checked the time. It wasn't too late, but with everything that happened, drowsiness gnawed at the edge of your mind. You tapped your fork against the rim of the bowl as you walked through the mental checklist of what you needed to do before bed. Beetlejuice asked what you were doing and frowned when you told him.

"You're going to bed already?"

"I have work tomorrow and you gave me a few good scares today. I'm getting tired."

He pouted, but you noticed he cracked a smile, hearing that he scared you. You rolled your eyes and got up to put your dish in the sink. When you returned, you pulled several movie cases and set them on the coffee table.

"Pick whichever one you want, I can put it on for you before I go to bed."

You give him a small smile and leave to get ready. A few minutes later, once in your pajamas with your teeth brushed and the cat wrangled back into the bathroom, Beetlejuice picked out a movie. You got it started and tidied up the couch for him.

"You don't have to clean on my account, babes. I don't mind the mess."

"I don't mind, you're my guest, and I want things to be nice." You said and gave him another smile. "G'night, Beetle. See ya in the morning."

#beetlejuice #beetlejuice x reader #musical beetlejuice x reader #roses and styx #my writing

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goldrogerstits · 4 years

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How to edit and color manga-caps

This is a tutorial on how I personally color and edit manga caps in photoshop. I’ve done my best to explain my editing and coloring process but English isn’t my native language so please excuse any grammatical errors! Anyway, let’s get started💛

Clean-up

First of all you need a clean manga cap to work with. Start by erasing the parts of the image that you don’t want to keep and redraw parts if necessary. In this case I erased the speech bubble and redrew parts of the sparkles surrounding Komurasaki. Try to stay consistent with the artists original style If you redraw parts of the image as it will be very noticeable if you’ve strayed too far from the original style. I recommend that you study the line width especially and try to emulate that!

Then level the image as seen in this tutorial by @aldiwali, by leveling the image you erase some of those grainy dots surrounding the line-art. I’ve also found that it helps darken the line art! When you are done with clean-up separate the line art from the background. I’ve already made an in-depth tutorial how to do that (and erase more of those grainy dots) so I’ll link that here: X.

Once you’ve cleaned your manga cap and separated the line art from the background you can start putting down your base colors and flats!

Coloring process

Start with a simple base color for the skin, I usually go for #9e7e7d as that will give the skin a nice warm tone once your done! Then make a copy of your base layer. Go to your copy of your base layer, right click and create clipping mask and color it with something more akin to an actual skin tone. Combine the clipping mask and the copy of your base layer, then lower the opacity to your liking, I usually go for around 85% opacity.

This step is very unnecessary and you don’t need to actually do this (just a normal skin-tone as a base) but I do it out of habit. If you look at some of my older stuff it’s way more noticeable (see example down below).

If you use this method please be aware of that it does tend to lighten colors so I don’t recommend that you use this method for when you’re using darker colors.

BONUS TIP for when you’re coloring: Make a color palette! I try to keep track of what colors I use for different characters but it’s easy to get a bit lost so I actually made a little color palette as a reference for myself. That way I can easily keep track of what colors I like to use for a base and for shading.

Anyways.... back to the actual tutorial! Time to color the rest of the image! Try to get some good reference pictures of the character/characters (preferably something that was colored by the actual artist) if you’re going for canon colors. I usually play around with hues for a bit before I’m happy with results! For example I gave Komurasakis red dress more of a purple/pink undertone to make it work better with her fan and the flowers in her hair.

Try to divide your colors into different layers to make the shading process easier but don’t make to many separate layers as that can get a bit confusing! I try to divide my layer based on color and placement!

If you’re not using a reference for what colors you’re going to use I recommend that you at least follow a color scheme. Try to find colors that work with each other but still contrast each other. A lot of people will be looking at your graphics trough their phone and a lot of details will be lost so by making your colors contrast each other you keep some of clarity! I’m not saying that you shouldn’t use colors that are very similar but you should keep the format which your graphics will be looked at in mind.

Anyways now that we’ve colored everything we need to add color to the parts of the line-art that aren’t supposed be black, in this case we need to add color to the hair, lips, fan and dress. Go to your line-art layer, right click, make a clipping mask and then you can color the line-art. Your layers should look similar to this:

Make a base which you can work off later as seen below.

I usually color everything first and then I refine the outlines with the help of the eraser. Try to keep the width of the outline consistent with the rest of the line-art, otherwise it won’t be as seamless. (I did’t outline her hairline as it’s very “feathered” and I wanted to keep that feeling, but I usually outline the hairline too)

You don’t have to separate each color into its own clipping mask as that isn’t going to make any difference when you shade everything later. Now time to add the line-art to the hair!

Line-art

I do recommend using some sort of drawing tablet to make your new line-art. It’s not that isn’t possible to do it without one but it’s a bit tedious to it with a mouse or touchpad.

If you use a drawing tablet use a brush that allows you to control the stroke weight of the brush. I usually go for one of the default brushes but I’m sure that there are a tons of fun brushes out there to play with!

Create another layer just above your manga-cap, this is where we’ll draw the new line-art! Try to follow the “flow” of the original line-art. In this case it’s fairly easy for me to see where line-art would fit naturally thanks to the way Oda choose to illustrate the “shine” on Komurasakis hair!

Look at the area that I’ve encircled, it’s easy to imagine that that’s where Oda would have chosen to add the line-art if he hadn’t colored the hair black. If you can’t find any of these spots try to find a few references for how the original artist does the line-art when it’s in full color. For example I used the cover of volume 92 to get a feeling of how I wanted my line-art to look.

Basically try to find what makes the original artists line-art distinct and copy that for your own line-art!

After I’m done with my line-art I go back to the black base and fill in some of the empty spaces that were left by the artist for clarity. Like the gap between the line-art and the deep purple parts of the her fan. When your happy with your base and line-art you can start shading!

Shading

(Before I start shading I generally color in all the stuff I left out like her eyes, makeup and the shine on her hair. I also decided to outline her eyebrows.)

Let’s start with shading the flats! Add a clipping mask to your layer and set the layer style to multiply. The amount of layers I use differ from color to color but I tend to stick between two our four layers of shading. When you’re shading use a color that is soft but with enough contrast to your base so it doesn’t blend into it. I generally use a color with a warmer tone to shade but the you can play around with colors and tones to add different effects.

Create a clipping mask and set the layer style to overlay or soft light to highlight certain areas with a lighter color. I tend to play around a bit with the opacity before I’m happy the results. When you’re finished with shading the flats you can start shading the base!

It’s basically the same thought process as before, just add a clipping mask your base layer and set to multiply! Your layers should look like this:

And that’s it! We’ve shaded everything and we’re basically done! There’s just a few more minor things to do.

Details / Coloring the line-art

I like coloring the line-art as it gives the graphic some extra color. To add color to your line-art just do as we did before. Make a clipping mask and color the lines, simple as that! Try to use colors that are dark enough that the line-art isn’t lost.

I did some finale clean-up, colored the sparkles surrounding Komurasaki, added som motion filters to that, fixed the background and that’s that! We’re done! That’s how I edit and color manga-caps! I hope this helps! I might have gotten lost on a few tangents so please feel free to ask questions if you need clarification on anything💛

#gahhhh I hope I spelled everything right #anyways I hope you guys enjoy this #this isnt the only way to color #and edit manga caps its just the way I do it!!! and im not a professional or anything I simply do this because it's fun!#tutorial #coloring tutorial #coloring #manga coloring #manga #one piece #op #shonen jump #opgraphics

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