#I tried to shade them in the art style of their universe but kinda gave up 💀 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mandoposting · 2 years

Note

1, 9, 25 for art asks?

1. Compare your first and last pieces from this year! Where do you think you improved?

Oh wow. Yeah, definitely got more confident in my style and pushed myself to finish more pieces. So many of my previous works just sit unfinished, but I finished SO Many this year I honestly struggle to believe it sometimes. Also became more confident in my ability to draw from memory! Wolffe was drawn 100% from memory, whereas the Mandos were all referenced in some way. And while my recall isn't great, I'm happy with where it is.

9. Explain the process behind one of your pieces, if you remember!

Putting this under a cut because it ended up getting quite long :')

Whoof, OK. Let's give this a shot! So this piece is one that isn't perfect by any means, but definitely had the most planning put into it!

I knew exactly how I wanted it to look, but I knew it would be trickey to execute because of how tied to background elements it is, which I struggle to integrate with the main characters a lot. So I thumbnailed several variations on the pose and placement and ended up combining the results of two into the final piece.

Obviously these look like uhhh shit, but I just wanted to rough out the basic elements.

Then I gathered some references of the Havoc Marauder's interior and this Black Series set of props!

Then I basically traced over the traditional sketch, adjusting any wonky anatomy that I saw and tried to make it as readable as possible while maintaining a kinda sketchy look that I like.

Then I generally like to have a looser approach to how I drew backgrounds so I basically freehanded the rest without line art, just kinda blocking in color and refining them until they look right. With this one however I did end up going over the panels with lines because of how geometric they are. I remember constantly checking references to make sure I was getting all the buttons, all the little details, all the right shapes. What was also fun to experiment with was how to make the buttons glow! I ended up going with an airbrush layer of colours with an Add (Glow) layer on top that I slightly motion blurred. I really like how it came out!

I then colored in The Fellas. What's quite fun about Bad Batch armor is that it has a bit more texture to it than reg armor, so I gave the armor its own noise layer to emphasise that, as well as just generally scuffing it up.

After that it was pretty much just messing around with blending layers and such to get the nice darks and glow effects in the ship. I did play around with giving each character their own glowing rim, but it ended up being more distracting than anything, so I just outlined the lineart in white where the highlights should be.

And that's it! I hope that was interesting.

25. Did you have any art goals coming into the year? How far did you achieve them?

I did indeed have art goals this year! As with most years, my goal is to complete more pieces. Lineart, color, shading backgrounds, the whole lot. And this year it the first year I've really done it! Which I'm super happy about. Another goal was to do more non-fandom art, but between university work and the stuff I made for here, I didn't really have time! While I am happy with the pieces I made for university, I wish I had done more non-fandom art outside of it. But doing fandom art makes me happy, so I'm still glad I did it! Balancing I guess.

Thanks so much for the ask!

End of Year Artist Asks

#this was so fun! thank you sm #really happy with what i did this year even if it isnt all perfect #asks #ask games

10 notes · View notes

abyssmail · 3 years

Text

Caerul Design Notes,

because I’ve actually put a lot of thought into creating Caerul’s aesthetic and I’m lowkey really proud of it. I won’t get into her actual character concept/personality/backstory/etc. since this got super long, but this is how/why I made the choices I did with regards to her name and visual design!

▶ Caerul’s color scheme started off way bluer (hence the name “Caerul,” from caeruleus/a/um - “blue”/“cerulean”/“azure”/“of the sky/sea” in Latin) and less saturated, but when I gave her a (dead) twin with a red theme, I wanted them to look more alike and made both of their hair purple (although I haven’t actually done more than sketch Roseus before... he’s got purple hair and red eyes). Purple’s my favorite color, and unnatural hair colors don’t seem to be uncommon in Orth, so why not, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ The red elements in Caerul’s design are meant to represent her honoring Roseus!

All of the base colors I use when drawing Caerul! They all end up looking a bit darker once they’re shaded though.

▶ As well as shamelessly using one of my favorite Latin words (I’m a Classics major, okay ;;>~>), I also tried to pick a name that sounded similar to the ones that already exist in-universe. This was actually fairly tricky, since as far as I can tell the names in Made in Abyss have a WIDE variety of influences. Some of them seem passably Japanese-sounding (Riko, Jiruo, Kiyui, Nanachi) disclaimer I bring dishonor to my ancestors and know 0 Japanese so this is just about vibez, others seem Western-ish (Reg, Nat, Lyza, Prushka). Some are fairly whimsical (Shiggy, Maruruk, Mitty) while others are more mysterious and fantastic (Any of the White Whistles besides maybe Lyza). The only common thread I could really settle on was a general fantasy feeling to all of the names. I tried to capture that nebulous vibe with Caerul’s name, although with something so vague and subjective it’s pretty much impossible to say if I was entirely successful. I named her siblings afterward with other Latin color words and ended up with a RGB theme lol.

▸ By the way, “Caerul” is pronounced “KAI-rool.” It rhymes with “Hyrule.” The ae diphthong makes an “eye” sound in Latin #TheMoreYouKnow

▸ “Caducalae” is a portmanteau of “caducae alae,” literally “falling/doomed/futile wings” in Latin (again), playing off how pointless it is to be able to fly when the Curse of the Abyss is a thing. Originally, they weren’t supposed to work at all outside of the Abyss, but I decided that was boring for crossovers/other verses so I scrapped it. I’m not too happy with the name since it doesn’t fit the naming scheme of the canon relics (there is no precedent at all for gratuitous Latin in Made in Abyss, which is a good thing because it’s overused in fantasy, but Latin was the only thing I was good at in high school sooooo... ^^;), but I didn’t like any of my other ideas that much, either. “Wings of Futility” feels more canon, but it’s also kinda depressing :/

▶ I’ve mentioned before that Caerul’s build is based off of mine for art reference purposes (it’s convenient to just look in the mirror while making the pose I want =w=)b), but another reason she’s so short is that I didn’t have to make the caducalae quite as big since she’s smaller, so she can actually go indoors if she’s careful.

▶ Long hair isn’t super practical with mechanical wings with lots of bits for it to get caught in, but Caerul idolizes Lyza, so I left her hair as long as I could reasonably get away with.

▶ I heavily referenced the canon Made in Abyss character designs for Caerul’s clothing so she would fit into the world, but made some alterations to make everything more personal to her and accommodate for her wings. In general, I lightened everything up, since she takes a bunch of short, quick trips rather than lengthy expeditions. Her gloves, for instance, are loosely inspired by the ones we see many delvers wearing in the manga/anime, but are less heavy-duty and are convertible mittens/fingerless gloves for better dexterity with handling letters and such.

The best close up of the gloves I could find was actually a screenshot of the aftermath Reg & Riko’s orb piercer encounter, but I didn’t want to have to tag this for gore, so you get Lyza ^^; There’s a filter over Caerul here so you can see the glove better which is why she looks kinda washed out :/

▶ Her coat is heavily influenced by Jiruo’s, since he’s the only Moon Whistle we’ve seen in canon.

yeah, uhhhh, sorry to yoink your style my dude ^^;

▸ Caerul’s has a different color palette, a simpler lapel border, an extra set of outer pockets, and three separate panels in the back that button around her wings so she can put it on! I haven’t drawn it, but her shirt works similarly.

This is my favorite detail about her design tbh... it’s just really satisfying what a logical solution it is for some reason??? the original doodle is off rotting somewhere in my Modern European History notes, but I tried to recreate it just as sloppily here =w=)b

▶ Caerul’s corset isn’t just a painful fashion choice - it’s actually meant to be a(n admittedly heavily stylized) brace for her back against the weight of her wings.

▶ Since Caerul can’t wear a backpack with the wings, I had to get creative with storage options for her. In addition to an undetermined number of pockets on the inside of her coat, I gave her these two pouches on her thighs to carry more stuff.

I wonder how buff your quads could get carrying a significant amount of weight there...

▸ Messenger bags don’t seem super practical for delving, so I didn’t design a specific one for her to carry all the time, but Caerul does use them on occasion. Even with that, though, she still has far less carrying capacity than the average delver, which is a problem she has to deal with when carrying out her duties!

▶ The wings/caducalae were by far the most difficult part of designing Caerul, and it took several redesigns over 2+ years before I was finally happy with them. Their first design was deliberately far simpler in the interest of having to draw them a zillion times, but they ended up clunky and unwieldy looking:

chonky o~O

▸ The final design is MUCH more of a pain to draw (in fact, a lot of the time I cheat and just copy and paste them from drawings I’ve already done), but I think it looks much sleeker and more “functional”.

I also got better at making my diagrams look slightly more authentic ;0

▸ I knew I wanted jetpack-style thrusters to be a component of the wings to somewhat justify the shit I wanted Caerul to be able to pull with them (especially to eliminate the need for accounting for the damage landing suddenly could do to her ankles), but incorporating them proved to be one of the biggest problems of the design. At one point, they were going to have a whole separate attachment point on her back, but I finally just made them an offshoot of the first “joint,” as you can see in the final design.

A really messy intermediate caducalae sketch. The weird double pentagon shape was meant to be the part of the relic actually fused to Caerul’s back, but I scrapped that too when I scrapped the separate limbs for the thrusters.

▸ Speaking of the joints, they’re all balls so they can rotate all over and I don’t have to fuss too much about how they move. Likewise, the frame is metal, but I treat it like it’s kind of flexible, so Caerul can “flex” the wings open and closed. These wings are hard enough to draw period okay I’m giving myself every excuse to be inconsistent af on purpose.

▸ The caducalae have some “bonus” features that I’ve sketched out, but that Caerul hasn’t unlocked yet, and won’t for a while.

owo what’s this?

▸ For the wings, I think my biggest inspirations were some of the mechier Cardfight!! Vanguard dragon units (although I don’t remember which cards specifically) and the energy wings on the ninth-generation knightmares in Code Geass R2.

I’ve made a lot of OCs, and since I don’t like to use faceclaims, I’ve done a fair amount of character designing. I don’t think I’ve ever spent as much time or had as much fun with any of them as I have with Caerul, though! OCs aren’t always super well accepted in fandom roleplay, but the Made in Abyss community has been super welcoming and I’ve had a blast. Thanks for listening to me gush about Caerul if you got this far, and thank you to everyone who’s interacted with her!

The original sketch of Caerul from back in 2017. How far we’ve come :’D

#miscellaneous info #mun art #appearance #ooc #((no one cares lol))#((but I had fun putting all my thoughts down in writing ^^;))#((also! the full version of the new caerul art from the promo!))

5 notes · View notes

notjanine · 3 years

Text

2020 in books!

the only kind of new year’s resolution i made as a naive baby last january was to try to read 40 books for the year. (i read 37 in 2019, for context.) well, with all of my commuting time eliminated and an increased need for immersive escapism, i ended up surpassing that goal three times over lmao (thanks library ebooks!)

idk how to summarize my year in books in a way that makes sense but

(f) = fiction, (nf) = nonfiction, (p) = poetry.

books that rewired my fucking brain:

braiding sweetgrass by robin wall kimmerer (nf)- GOD?!?!?! good. dr. k is right. ostensibly a book about plants, but actually a book about shut up and go outside. consumerism and capitalism are doing their damnedest to fuck you up, but you can just choose to value different things. take care of yourself by taking care of your environment. etc etc.

wasp by richard jones (nf)- lissen. when i got this book, my wasp-phobia was so severe that i had to put it away face down on a high shelf because there are wasps on the cover and i couldn’t bear to RISK even GLIMPSING them. now i am like... a wasp evangelist. (also due to the bugs 101 course on coursera it’s so good.)

wag by zazie todd (nf)- i have a dog, but i am NOT a Dog Person (i.e. i love my dog, but please keep yours away from me, thanks.) this book helped me understand my little guy better, plus it gives actionable tasks and activities to do with and for your pup! plus, y’know, learning about things you’re scared of helps to lessen that fear. i’d recommend this to anyone who has, wants, or regularly interacts with a dog.

a closed and common orbit by becky chambers (f)- is this series complete fluff? absolutely. am i fundamentally different after reading this one? maybe.

the best we could do by thi bui (nf)- this is so far outside of my personal experience but somehow still made me come to peace with my relationship with my mom?? and it’s barely even about that?? idk. this is probably objectively the best book i’ve read this year.

books that were just fun as hell:

mexican gothic by silvia moreno-garcia (f)- this book made me YELL out loud

death on the nile by agatha christie (f)- i grew up on agatha christie shows, but never actually read her before this year! she really was That Bitch. read this before the movie comes out

cosmoknights by hannah templer (f)- i read this in one sitting through the worst headache i’ve had in years. it is a goddamn DELIGHT. this book has everything: spaceships. mech suits. fighting the patriarchy. a perfect otp. fun art in bright colors with clean lines. onomatopoetic WAPs from before the song gave that hilarious context. 800 lesbians. this is an antidepressant in graphic novel form.

stiff by mary roach (nf)- ms. roach is like the 4th most represented author on my bookshelf because she 1. stays writing about shit i’m interested in and 2. manages to talk about gross and ridiculous things without resorting to sensationalism. it takes skill to write a hilarious book about corpses.

black sun by rebecca roanhorse (f)- excellent sexual tension between a horny siren pirate and a hot doomed... monk, kinda? set in the pre-columbian gulf of mexico with magic and shit.

cuisine chinoise by zao dao (? n/f)- this graphic novel about chinese food history/mythology is BEAUTIFUL.

the color of magic by terry pratchett (f)- you’d think a hardcore douglas adams stan would have gotten to this sooner, but no, i had to date a nerdy white boy to get here. it’s fun though! i’m not gonna read them all, but this one was good. bonus: contains one (1) great himbo.

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir (f)- like 500 pages of action and mystery and jokes and space necromancy. harrow the ninth gets a special mention bc it has a meme reference that took me out so hard i had to close the book, lie down, and groan for an entire minute before continuing.

other minds by peter godfrey-smith (nf)- i love octopuses. on one tma bonus ep, jonny sims says that if a creature can choose to do evil, then it’s a Person. octopuses are People. but anyway frfr this has an explanation of the evolution of consciousness that is cool af. (this one is much better than the other recent popsci octo book which i will not name out of politeness.)

the perfect predator by steffanie strathdee and thomas patterson (nf)- i read this bc my microbiology prof recommended it and it’s cool as heck! it’s got adventure, drama, mystery, Science-with-a-capital-S. i’m biased bc i’m a bit of a microbes nerd, but i had a blast with this. (but only bc we know going in that everything works out okay; if i hadn’t known that, i would have been TOO stressed!)

books that were a little less fun but still very readable:

my sister, the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite (f)- i couldn’t find this as funny as other people bc i, too, have a beautiful sister who’s an insufferable narcissist, so it hits a little too close to home, but. it is a wild ride.

piranesi by susanna clarke (f)- idek what to say! i went into this one blind just bc it had a cool cover and title, so i guess i’d recommend that for other people too.

the sixth world series by rebecca roanhorse (f)- monster hunting! a post-apocalyptic take that doesn’t feel tired.

the shades of magic trilogy by v.e. schwab (f)- easy escapism. some ideas feel a little first draft-y, but idk, it’s also a pretty simple premise (which isn’t a bad thing). it’s a decent urban fantasy set in ~georgian?-era london. very actiony. suffers from a bit of i’m-not-like-other-girls disease, but i didn’t even notice until book two or three, so.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones (f)- starts off a little ??? (and reeks of being Written By A Man) but picks up. the pacing’s great and there’s just a super fucking cool monster.

robopocalypse by daniel h. wilson (f)- this reads like a tv miniseries so much that i can’t believe it isn’t one yet.

confessions of the fox by jordy rosenberg (f)- not my usual cup of tea, fiction-wise, but still compelling. a fresh take on the white-male-english-professor-self-insert? but not insufferable. gets weird!

spinning silver by naomi novik (f)- rumplestilstkin, but make it interesting! a great, richly-told fairy tale, but like, large scale. good to read on a cold day while you’re wrapped up in a blanket with some hot tea.

interior chinatown by charles yu (f)- compulsively readable. a couple things bugged me, but not enough to make me dislike it. a fun companion piece to how to live safely in a science fictional universe. i like this guy’s style.

cannibalism by bill schutt (nf)- COOL. mostly covers the animal kingdom (fun), spends too much time on the donner party (less fun), ends with a SPICY take on prions that i cannot get out of my head!!!

buzz, sting, bite by anne sverdrup-thygeson (nf)- BUGS! broad but not overwhelming, neither dumbed down nor overly scientific, short enough to finish in a day or two. recommend this to literally everyone.

books that made me want to read everything else in the author’s ouevre:

the time invariance of snow by e. lily yu (f)- this FUCKS but it’s too short!!!

an unkindness of ghosts by rivers solomon (f)- okay this book is SO good and so well-written and interesting and blah blah blah all the good things, but... the whole time, i was just like?? why???? why is this what you’re choosing to write about??? (i did also read the deep and blood is another word for hunger after this one, and i did like them both, especially the latter, but i think they can do better! like i think they could write a perfect book and i am gonna be *eyes emoji* until then.)

the space between worlds by micaiah johnson (f)- a fine debut novel, but i want to see her do something a little more... idk, refined? i think she overreaches here, like it’s a little... idk looper? this is how you lose the time war? there’s a better comparison, but i can’t think of it, but you get the idea. and then halfway through it shifts gears to mad max. there’s something weird about one of the central relationships, like it’s not complex enough to take as long to resolve as it does. idk idk. there are just a lot of little nitpicky things. it’s not bad! but i think she can do better and i look forward to finding out.

postcolonial love poem by natalie diaz (p)- thinky! like i tried to read this before bed, but it’s not the sort of thing to parse out while you’re falling asleep, it requires more attention than that.

books that Learned Me Somethin:

smoke gets in your eyes by caitlin doughty (nf)- i am a self-professed death obsessed weirdo, fascinated by death and mourning, but i didn’t know all that much about what happens to a body between the dying and the funeral! this book isn’t big, but it covers a lot and doughty’s writing style is engaging and honest. it’s very memorable.

queer by meg-john barker and julia scheele (nf)- i’m gonna be totally honest and say Queer Theory is above my intellectual pay grade, but this book takes you by the hand and explains the basics.

vitamania by catherine price (nf)- LMAO my fellow americans, never take a supplement. this book is great and well-researched, but normal folks don’t need to read it, just listen to season two of the dream podcast, which definitely cribbed from this.

vegetable kingdom by bryant terry (nf)- this is a fine cookbook, my favorite of his that i’ve read so far. gets a special mention bc i had a religious experience just reading one of his kohlrabi recipes. absolutely gutted that i didn’t have an opportunity to try it this year, since the pandemic put the kibosh on all family bbqs.

the best american food writing 2020 edited by j. kenji lopez-alt (nf)- this really is just a great collection.

are prisons obsolete? by angela y. davis (nf)- yes.

i moved to los angeles to work in animation by natalie nourigat (nf)- before reading this, i had basically zero knowledge of how the animation industry works. now i know like three things.

the secret lives of bats by merlin tuttle (nf)- BATS! okay this book is more about the adventures of being a bat scientist than it actually is about bats, but there are bats in there. insectivorous bats basically shit glitter, you should know this.

books from valuable perspectives:

hood feminism by mikki kendall (nf)- a breakdown of who’s getting left out of feminist spaces, why that’s happening, and why it shouldn’t be happening.

all you can ever know by nicole chung (nf)- a (transracial) adoptee’s take on adoption and learning more about her birth family. the personal storytelling of this one really stuck with me.

motherhood so white by nefertiti austin (nf)- a single-mom-by-choice’s take on the foster system/adoption process. walks you through some things i always wondered about and some things i wouldn’t even have thought about.

this place by kateri akiwenzie-damm et al (? n/f)- i, like a lot of non- native americans, only know that history in broad strokes. getting this many highly specific stories in one dense and beautiful book felt like a lucky find. and taking that perspective into the future in the context of that history is v good.

empty by susan burton (nf)- eating disorder stories are important to me bc i care about food so much. this one is so relatable- not in its specificity, but rather its generality. it’s easy to empathize with her perspective because it’s like, Oh, i don’t have that exact problem, but i struggle with different problems in a very similar way. (feels like the opposite of roxane gay’s hunger, in a way.)

obit by victoria chang (p)- this exploration of grief is... woof.

short story collections are hard to evaluate bc you’ll never read one where every single story hits but i generally enjoyed these:

a thousand beginnings and endings edited by ellen oh and elsie chapman (f)

how long til black future month? by n.k. jemisin (f)

her body and other parties by carmen maria machado (f)

books i revisited:

the broken earth trilogy by n.k. jemisin (f)- i read the series backwards this time and like... i can’t really find any faults in these books, man. they’re just the best.

everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too by jomny sun (f... but is it really?)- half of this book’s sales are from me buying it for other people bc it’s the only way i know how to say i love you. i reread it every time just to make sure it still feels right and it always does.

other honorable mentions:

white is for witching by helen oyeyemi (f)- not to pit two bad bitches against each other, but this book does what akwaeke emezi’s freshwater was trying to do. it’s a little weird, a little haunted, a little of a lot of things. read this only in the dead of winter. (and with stephen rennicks’ score for the little stranger playing in the background.)

homie by danez smith (p)- there’s a lot going on here, but this just made me crack a smile a couple times in a way that no other book of poetry has ever done.

the murder of roger ackroyd and murder in mesopotamia by agatha christie (f)- That Bitch!

blues by nikki giovanni (p)- she sure has some Things To Say

the three-body problem by cixin liu (f)- interesting concepts, but... idk something’s missing? felt weirdly soulless to me. i’m probably not gonna read the sequels. but it did make some points!

the sisters of the winter wood by rena rossner (f)- i’m a slut for shapeshifting, okay. but this is a good fairy tale, it works!

parable of the sower by octavia butler (f)- i read this in march, when the pandemic was just kicking off and boy that was not the right time. def my least favorite of hers so far, but an octavia butler i don’t love is still better than a hell of a lot of other books. no idea when or if i’ll get to a good enough headspace for the sequel.

faves:

saturnino herrán by adriana zapett tapia (nf)- i got to learn new things about my mans and see some of his paintings i’ve never even seen online! GOSH.

on food and cooking by harold mcgee (nf)- yeah yeah, i’ve already mentioned this book half a dozen times on here this year, but i don’t care. this book lives off the shelf in my home bc i reference it like every other fucking day. this book is a part of me now.

#long post #final total for the year will be 120 by the end of the day!#and i had a pretty good hit rate. would probably recommend at least half #and only outright hated four

5 notes · View notes

mysticsparklewings · 5 years

Photo

Commission: Magician Tarot Card

Between school work and other IRL stuff, I have been chipping away at a couple of commissions I got recently; this is one of them! Here, the commissioner wanted to see my take on the "Magician" tarot card for a potential tattoo design. I actually ended up having a lot more fun with this than I thought I would! I've only looked into Tarot Cards before as they relate to the traditional card suits, and otherwise have only really seen them in passing. So going into this, I did at least a little homework to better understand what I was being asked to create. In that vein, this ended up being a sort of chance to experiment for me, as I've always felt that tattoo designs universal have a certain "look" to them, and I wanted to play with accomplishing that, on top of keeping in lime with the themes and ideas of the original card, while, of course, still making it my own. A quick Google of "Magician Tarot Card" turned up a few different variations that all seemed to have a few key similarities; the position of the arms, a red cloak and white clothing, the magician holding a wand, the infinity sign over his head, flowers, and so on. Likewise, I tried to keep most of the prevalent features right off the bat. I also investigated the Wikipedia page for a little more background on the symbolism and discovered that the arm placement did have significance, so I kept it for the most part, but I did my best to add more movement to it, as the original seems uncomfortably stiff to me. And from the very beginning, my take was that he's the magician he should look magical, you know? So I tried to bring that into the mix, too. As it turns out, normally there is a table in front of the magician holding objects that portray the four different tarot card suits. Said suits seem to have a bit of variation, depending on the deck, but I went with the ones I thought I could make work the best: Wands, Sword, Coins, and Cups. I didn't want to just set the things on a table, as that seemed boring, so I tried to incorporate them in other ways. He's already holding the wand (which I based on the design of a baton since that seems to be what it's like in the original), so check that off. I added a sword to his belt, as that seemed like almost a natural/obvious choice and makes visual sense. The coins and cups were a bit trickier, but I had the idea to incorporate the coins into the "magic" flow I had in mind for the pose, which I think worked out quite well. The cup really got me though. After thinking on it, and deciding on the inclusion of the flowers--which are, specifically, roses and lilies as part of the original symbolism--it just kind of clicked that the cup could be holding some flowers, and from there it just kinda worked out as a way to "close" the remaining open corner. And I snuck the infinity sign in as more of a diadem rather than just floating over his head, which I thought was quite clever. I also ended up doing the rose border as a way to give it the "card" feel without specifically tying it down to an actual rectangle or card template. I debated on adding the "The Magician" Signifier somewhere but ultimately decided against it for the same reasons. Also, I tried something different with the shading to make it more dynamic, a bit more realistic, as that was my intention with the art, to begin with. It's kind of similar to what I did on my OOTD: Witch Socks, and I think it ended up really working out. However, I also tried coloring only in Grayscale/Black and White first, then going back in with color. That's something I don't think I've ever really tried before, and it was interesting...I think it also made the process go a bit faster, but that's up for debate since I didn't time myself. The lilies gave me a bit of trouble, as I wasn't sure how to get their shape across properly in this semi-realistic style without going to stylistic or too realistic, but I think what I ended up with turned out okay. On that note, originally all the floating flower petals were going to just be red rose petals, but a few of them really got lost and the lilies looked out of place, so I went back and made a few white to offset the balance and tie the lilies back in, and I'm very glad I did! And when I was adding color I also tried to stick to a limited color palette so I wouldn't spend too long on it or get carried away, so while there are a few pops of different colors here and there, I stuck primarily to red, white, and gold for the majority of the piece. Additionally, from the beginning, I wasn't in on the idea of adding a lot of detail to the face, and that led me to the decision to make the eyes glow, which also ended up being the light source that I based the shading off of. It also kind of ties into the halo-like impression I got from the infinity sign in the original version of the card, I think. Did I mention that I did the whole thing in Photoshop? I spent a painstaking amount of time trying to keep the lines clean/smooth. This was another experiment; one that would not have been possible without the new CC addition of the "smoothing" tool or my drawing tablet. I will say though, it did really make me miss my free trial of Lazy Nezumi, a third-party stabilizer, to the point I think I might try to save up to purchase it going forward. (Or, you know, I'll be less of a lazy potato and go back to using Paint Tool Sai when I want perfectly clean line art). Really though, I thrilled at how the finished piece came out with the shape of the cloak and the visual movement...there are things I'd spend another several hours tweaking if given the opportunity, sure, but overall I'm quite proud of this one. And the commissioner liked it, which is the most important thing. I have a couple of quick/smallish pieces on the back burner, but I wanted to get at least one commission done & posted and the other one started before I posted those, just so my lovely commissioners don't think I'm shirking my responsibilities. But I should be posting at least one in a day or two to keep my art flow up in the meantime. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble | Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

2 notes · View notes

simpcitybaby · 7 years

Text

Spells Galore

Prompt: “I’m going to need you to put pants on before you say anything else.”

A/N: This was a request! If you ever want to request things, go ahead. I wrote this on mobile so it probably sucks and I also didn’t proofread so there’s that.

Carlos x Reader (I tried to make it gender neutral)

Warnings: A bit sexual towards the end

Mal loved using her spell book, it was obvious to everyone who crossed paths with her. Sometimes she used it for good and sometimes she used it for bad but she mostly used it for her amusement. Casting minor spells on her friends was an often occurrence, mostly spells were put on Carlos. He was always the victim because Mal knew that he’d be okay with it, the kid was a total sweetheart or a bit of a pushover either one works. Carlos had a massive crush on you, (Y/F/N). Obviously you were as oblivious as oblivious gets and you thought that Carlos just acted flirty towards everyone. You weren’t one of those people who thought, “He could have anyone in the school so why would it be me?” You prided yourself on the fact that you didn’t let a boy determine your self worth. (A/N: never let a boy determine your self worth cause all of you guys are amazing.) However, you were completely smitten with the white-haired boy and you spent most of your free time with him. Today, you were meeting up at his dorm room and then taking Dude for a walk. On your way to Carlos’s room you ran into Jay, “Hey (Y/N)! You headed to see Carlos?” He wiggled his eyebrows as he smirked, seeming suspicious. “Yes actually. We’re going to hang out for a bit.” He nodded slowly before finishing with a quick, “Enjoy yourself!” You stared at him as he ran down the corridor with a little kick in his step. ‘That was weird’ you thought as you approached the door and knocked. “I’m coming! Hold on a second.” Shuffling and banging could be heard as things were getting put away, the boy never being prepared for company. You took this time for a quick once over of yourself, making sure that everything looked good. You smoothed out your Greek styled dress that resembled your mother’s, Megara. Your dress was the prettiest shade of (F/C) that matched perfectly with your skin tone. You weren’t necessarily a demigod but you did have heightened abilities in the arts. You could sing, dance, act, draw, you name it. In fact, that’s how you met Carlos. It was the VKs first day at Auradon and the two of you kinda ran into each other. Well then again, he ran into your locker door while you were getting your script for the school musical. ~ Flashback ~ Why were there so many books in this locker? Rummaging was what you were currently doing, in search of your script for the school’s musical. You huffed, this action blowing a strand of hair out of your face. Why were they still giving out textbooks when the internet was accessible? You were pulled out of your thoughts when your locker swung back at you and a pair of feet knocked you off of yours. A boy with white hair was lying on the ground and rubbing his forehead. He had a red, white, and black leather outfit on with a freckled face. He was gorgeous to say the least but he obviously wasn’t from Auradon. “Are you okay? You hit the locker pretty hard.” His eyes turned to slits as he glared at you, “I’m fine. I’ve always been fine and I’ll always be fine.” You furrowed your eyebrows as you stood up, lending him a hand. “I see that you can handle yourself. My name is (Y/F/N) and I’d be more than happy to help you around if you need it.” His mouth was agape as you continued, “I’m usually in the auditorium and if I’m not there I’m probably in the library. Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to see you around.” You picked your script up before closing your locker and heading down to rehearsal. Once you were out of sight Carlos half smiled and he went to find you later that day. When he did find you he quickly apologized for his behavior when the two of you first met. He explained how moving from the Isle to Auradon was a big change and he’s never been around good people. He told you how he thought that everyone here was going to be stuck up but that you changed his mind since you were so nice to him. “Oh yeah, also my name is Carlos De Vil and I really hope that we can start over.” You smiled and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. ~End of flashback ~ The door swung wide open and revealed Dude as well as the ever so charming Carlos. Something was off though and you couldn’t quite put your finger on it. The room was clean and it had nothing to do with the room. “Your outfit looks really nice today, (Y/N).” That’s when you realized that Carlos was wearing a solid (F/C) jacket with gold detailing. He wore solid black jeans and he resembled you as a whole. “Look at you! You look completely different but like good different.” He smiled at your compliment and laughed to himself. He knew that (F/C) was your favorite color and you had gold details on your dress so he incorporated it into his outfit that Evie created. Carlos chose to dress like this because it made the two of you look like a couple and you thought the same, obviously not minding. “I missed you, y'know.” You made your way over to him and wrapped your arms around his neck while his hands found your waist. “Did you now?” You could hear the smirk in his voice as you rested your forehead against his. His lips made their way towards yours at an agonizing pace. Right before his lips touched yours you whispered, “Let’s take Dude for a walk.” You pulled back and lead Dude out of the door leaving Carlos hot and bothered. It’s not that you didn’t want to kiss him, you were nervous. His intentions weren’t clear and you didn’t want to get your feelings hurt if he didn’t like you back. You were sure that he wasn’t the type to lead a person on but you can never be too safe. Your mom taught you a lot about judgement and boys, to which she made sure to notify you of the time that she gave her soul to Hades for her former boyfriend only to have him leave her. Right as you were about to turn the corner you were pulled back by your waist. “You should’ve waited for me.” Carlos growled and made you blush. “I’ll be sure to wait for you tomorrow.” “We’re doing this tomorrow?” He tilted his head “If you want to…” You trailed off before you began walking again with Carlos in tow. His childish demeanor returned as he stuttered out, “Of course I want to!” You grabbed his hand, dragging him with you. “Let’s go before Dude pees on the carpet.” The two of you walked around and talked about school, food, cars, Dude, and relationships. “So what are you looking for in a boyfriend, (Y/N)?” Carlos looked at the ground as a faint blush arose. Unknown to you, Mal and Ben were overhearing your conversation which fueled the gears in Mal’s mind to start turning. “Well… I like boys who are sweet but will stick up for me when I need it, but I’m also independent so I don’t need him to handle things 24/7. I admire someone who likes the simple things in life and doesn’t try too hard. I especially like boys with white hair and big brown eyes. Overall, I’d just be happy with a boy who loved me for me.” Carlos perked up a bit when he heard you talk about the white hair and brown eyes, two things that he had going for him. The kid was hopelessly in love but he was too afraid to ask you out. He thought that you could find someone better than him, a prince that could sweep you off of you feet. He feared that a God or Goddess would come down and strike him for your love. You had a handful of people on different universes pining after you to which you paid no mind because you wanted Carlos. The conversation flowed back and forth the whole way to your dorm. “I like going on walks with you, maybe we should make this a daily thing.” He hummed in agreeance as he rested his head on your shoulder, squeezing you as tight as he could. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, you disappeared into your room. On the walk back to his dorm, Carlos ran into Mal. “Hey Carlos! I just made this smoothie and I was wondering if you could give it a try.” Carlos smiled before graciously taking the smoothie that was laced with veritaserum. Mal conjured it up using her spell book and it would make Carlos uncontrollably spill out the truth about his feelings for (Y/N). “This is really good Mal! I love strawberry banana!” A surge of electricity went through his body before he said, “Y'know Mal, I’ve never really told anyone this before but you’re really pretty. I have my eyes on (Y/N) though.” She smirked before snatching the smoothie back, saying a quick thanks, and retiring to her room. It was the next day and Carlos was acting funny. He was uncontrollably telling everyone the truth and he would forget that he just did it right after. You went to his room around the same time as yesterday and knocked on his door. Carlos opened his door within seconds and said, “(Y/N), I’ve been meaning to tell you this for the longest time.” You grabbed both of his hands, urging him to continue. He pulled his hands out of your hold and announced, “I’m in love with you and I want to fuck you, there” he pointed to his bed, “there” pointing to his desk, “and there” and then he pointed to the bookshelf in the back of the room. “I used to steal things when I was back on the isle but I gave that up when I came here. I’d gladly steal your heart if you’d let me. Before giving you a warning his fingers hooked into the belt loops of his pants and he began sliding them off, leaving him in only his boxer briefs. Let me tell you, boxer briefs outline everything. “Shit!” Your hands immediately covered your eyes as you turned to face the door. “I’m going to need you to put your pants back on before you say anything else!” “What? Why are my pants down?” He immediately pulled them back up and began apologizing. His half naked figure was fresh in your mind and you wouldn’t complain if you saw it more often. “Give me some time to recover because you just said that you’d fuck me in various places of the room, confessed your love for me, and then proceeded to pull your pants down and if I’m honest, I’m kinda shaken up.” You blushed as he took your hands away from your eyes. “I meant what I said y'know.” He stared into your eyes while talking. “About you wanting to fuck me on the bed, desk, and bookshelf?” He blushed and let out a chuckle, “Well yes but I’m a teenage boy, (Y/N). I was also talking about the part where I said that I loved you.” You smiled your award winning smile that Carlos loved before hooking your fingers into his belt loops and pulling him close, no space being left between your bodies. “I love you too. I also wouldn’t mind the sex part but maybe after we date for awhile, yeah?” He nodded his head so fast that it made you kinda nauseous. “So what you’re saying is that you’ll be mine?” You bit your bottom lip and neared his before whispering, “If only you’ll be mine.” Before you could pull away like you did the previous day, he smashed his lips onto yours in a hungry manner. A bit into the kiss he started to kiss you softer and with more passion. You slid your tongue on his bottom lip and deepened the kiss while your tongues battled for dominance. You groped his butt to mess with him and he smirked into the kiss. Both of his hands cupped your butt and pulled you into him which made you let out a soft moan. “How about you take a seat on the bed and we can discuss the handbook. Lon- OH SHIT CARLOS WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Jay’s eyes widened as Lonnie’s hand covered her smile and giggles. “My eyes! My innocent eyes!” Carlos pulled away before teasing, “What do you know about innocence, Jay?” You and Lonnie shared a smirk and then laughed in unison when Jay said, “Oh shit, you right dude. You got me there.” Mal, Ben, Evie, and Doug ran into the room a bit out of breath at that. “We heard screaming!” Ben breathed out before he was met with the sound of snickers. “Well it looks like the spell worked.” Mal whispered under her breath but Carlos caught it. “You spelled me?” A nod was sent his way when she responded with, “Yup. You’re really fun to mess with. At least this spell benefitted you unlike the other ones.” He quickly agreed and pulled you closer, kissing the side of your head. You were on top of the world because you had it all. Your friend group was amazing and reliable, Carlos liked you back and now you’re dating, school is good, and life is just great. Who knew that a boy revealing his undying love and lust for someone would score him a partner. ~ Fin ~

#carlos de vil x reader #cameron boyce x reader #carlos de vil #carlos de vil imagine #descendants x reader #disney's descendants 2 #disney's descendants

309 notes · View notes