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anabundanceofjunos · 1 year

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Staying Inspired in Your Creative Writing: 6 Tips From an Exhausted College Student

If you’re like me, then inspiration comes in quick, intense bursts of what I perceive as “creative genius”. Inspiration is fleeting and all consuming, like a song stuck in your head or a thought you can’t shake. Then, as quick as it comes, it leaves, and suddenly your brain is this barren landscape with the occasional tumbleweed, which can be really discouraging.

So, here are some tips I’ve gathered for getting inspired, and staying inspired.

READ READ READ. If you have had writer’s block for some time, think about the last book you read, and pick it up again. For me, I find that reading published works gives me my voice back; it reminds me of what great writing looks like. Pick up a new novel, maybe from a new genre, and read it. Art inspires art!

When you have one of those big bursts of inspiration, the ones where you cannot think of anything else other than your writing, jot down what sparked it. What kind of mood were you in? Where were you? What were you doing? Etc. I’m not saying you need to recreate your inspiring moments to have another, but this will help you to get to know yourself and what truly inspires you.

If you have been working on a piece for a while, and you’re having trouble adding to it, go back and read the beginning. Remind yourself of where you started, and how you can tie the beginning into your current section.

Write someplace new. You don’t have to buy a seven dollar latte to do this; I mean someplace really new. Write at a library you’ve never been to, or a public park, or behind a fucking dumpster. Write on the train to work or in the back seat of an uber. Get out of your normal writing spaces.

Do something other than writing. Go hang out with your friends, go have experiences, go do something fun that you enjoy. For me, this is going to frat houses and getting shitfaced. I swear to god, parties and club meetings and restaurants are gold mines of inspiration. So are tinder dates. Be wild do something wild. Or don’t. Maybe just go to the grocery store or something. Be gay do crime.

TAKE. OUT. YOUR. HEADPHONES. Be a creep. Eavesdrop on people. Are you at a coffeeshop? Listen to the guy on the phone next to you. Are you walking across campus? Listen to the conversation of the people walking behind you. One of my stories was completely inspired by a conversation I overheard while waiting in line to pick up my Jamba Juice. Inspiration is everywhere, stories are everywhere, you just have to see them. (Obvi, if sensory overload is common for you, ignore this tip)

There you have it! Credentials that this list is effective include: idk I write a lot. I’m an English student in college. I’m a silly goofy guy that likes to write a shit ton. Take from that what you will, and good luck!!

#writing #writing tips #creative writing #nanowrimo #writblr #bookblr #writer problems #writerslife #fanfiction writer

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beesbeesbees · 2 years

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Various things

I’ve once again been falling into the trap of feeling like I need to have something meaningful to say to update here. Like some kind of grand moral to my parables. But there’s just... not always going to be that. My life and my attempts to work on a hobby project are not like, a series of stories for consumption.

So it might be kind of boring but I wanted to talk a bit about what I’ve been doing.

The aforementioned artboard has been getting some big expansions. I added a lot more stuff and organized it.

I’ve been thinking more about what the NPCs in the game will look like. Because there will inevitably be NPCs - to interact with, buy from, etc.

Been getting closer to nailing down the art style. I have a pretty good sense of what I want the girls’ outfits to look like.

Speaking of outfits, feature creep has unfortunately hit me and I am intent on making a dress-up segment where you can dress up your girls. Not only will it give bonuses to various stats, it will help differentiate the girls from each other. And also it’s cute and fun and I want it. Princess Maker and Long Live The Queen both have cute little outfits you can have your daughter wear and I grew up with dress-up games.

Watching more coding tutorials. Struggling to fully comprehend signals and their implementation. Played around with them some more in Godot. I watched this tutorial, this one, and this one as well.

That last one is terrifying because it was saying something about signals only communicating with each other if they’re a child/parent of each other which, I didn’t know, and seems bad? Maybe I misunderstood it?? Question mark??

Something something I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it and also rewatch the video until it sinks into my head.

A lot of fleshing out little details here and there, just thinking about various logistics and nailing things down.

So here’s some things I can share.

I was having trouble kind of putting together in my head an image of what the game’s architecture would look like and how the signals would talk to each other, so I came up with this rough idea using MasterPlan (not a software you need by any means but something I had on hand which worked well for the purpose). I haven’t tried implementing the bulk of this but it helped me kind of think about it better having all of the ideas outside of my head.

When trying to figure out how it would all interconnect, I kept wanting to have something kind of like sticky notes that I could drag around and attach to each other with string like some sort of fucked up gamedev conspiracy wall. This is the second best thing, I think.

And some concept art I did for some outfits:

The colors are very not final, and the colors in the second are specifically for visual contrast.

My notes on outfit design. Basically, an emphasis on the child characters being children and not even remotely sexualizable. This might seem weirdly common-sense to write down, but unfortunately I am painfully aware that certain games in this genre in the past have been... designed, to some extent, for sexual gratification. Including, regretfully, Princess Maker 2 (one of the primary inspirations). There’s horny shit in there like your daughter being able to wear skimpy stuff, work at adult establishments once she gets older, increase her bust size, et cetera. Yeah! It’s nasty! Also the unsettlingly common tendency in newer works to sexualize young or young-looking characters, have them wearing very skimpy things, et cetera. Something something Fate Grand Order.

I abhor this (as anyone with good sense would, I’d hope) and so everything in the game is being carefully planned to discourage that as much as possible. Of course, pedophiles will exist no matter what you do, and some may even prefer the characters to look more childlike. But my goal is to make the game as anti-horny and Wholesome as possible. I’m taking the things that made me love Princess Maker 2 as a child, amplifying and remixing them, while cutting out the things that I find gross.

Some screenshots from my notes where I took a bunch of games from the same or similar genres (Tokimeki Memorial, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side, Princess Maker 2, Cute Bite, Long Live The Queen) and wrote down their stats as well as what raises/drops them. You can see where I inserted screenshots from GameFAQS guides, lol.

I wanted to get a sense of how long it takes to increase stats, how often they’re decreased, how many stats there are, et cetera. Generally just getting a feel for what I did or didn’t like in a game and what I might like to incorporate into my own. I’m thinking 8 or 9 stats for my game so far, including that old classic, Stress. More stats can be fun, but considering we’re going to be raising 3 girls at once, the simpler the better. I might drop it even further, to something like 6 or 7 - we’ll see.

Here’s what I have down in my notes:

I’m pretty set on “Booksmarts”, “Stamina” (meant to represent physical strength), “Creativity”, and “Style”. These feel like pretty good pillars that can create a variety of diverse endings. Less certain on Fighting and Magic, though since it’s taking place in a magical universe it’d be nice to have. Affection I’m not really sure how to handle and it’s kind of a backburner thing. “Evil” would be fun, though I’m not really sure what would increase it yet. I also don’t want to copy PM2 too closely...

That’s it for this post. There’s other little things here and there. I think one of the most important things I’ve learned is to do small steps every day - and I mean REALLY small steps. If you don’t feel up to working on it, don’t, but try to think of one new idea and write it down. And inspiration and come from anywhere. I was reading a manga I liked, it had some nice classical outfits, so I took a picture and stuck it in the reference sheet.

Oh yeah, here’s that. It’s gotten fucking huge, hahaha.

#ppposts #art direction #concept #scope #godot engine

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josiebelladonna · 2 years

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if daveigh/greendruidess/whatever she goes by now is discouraged from writing in the wake of the infamous incident... i want every single one of you to know that i am fully responsible for

my own little world over here because the fact she couldn’t sort out her own shit before she got to writing three years ago has absolutely nothing to do with me and never did, either. i’ve said this before but the only reason i ever bring her up in the last year or so anymore is to make fun of the whole thing. when you’ve been through enough bullshit in life, you learn to laugh at things (and it’s even better if you find the right people to laugh along with).

i mention this because, just out of morbid curiosity just now, i checked her ao3 profile: aside from like loving the dead, she hasn’t updated any of her other wips since february. and my first thought was “wow, that’s... horribly depressing.” shit, i feel bad that i haven’t touched xenon dreams since january and to be frank, i can’t believe it’s been that long, especially with my love of sci-fi and whatnot.

i’ve said this before, too: i do feel bad for her and when this whole thing started, i genuinely didn’t want to go through with it. i think i always will, too (i have too much of a heart, hating is not in my nature, contrary to what she might tell you) and it always kills me to hear about someone giving up something they loved doing because someone else gave them hell of a tongue-lashing. it’s a fear that’s way too common and all too real in the art world, in particular. so many people have given up or will give up because of criticism and it’s something that so many artists fear as well: including me! that was a big fear of mine for years, and in fact, i still feel it. i always clam up whenever i get any comments on anything, not just a piece of art. but at the same time, i also think, wow. your ego was far more fragile than i realized. especially when i remember just how out-of-touch she is.

(and just for some perspective, i consider myself way out-of-touch because yesterday was the first time in... jeez, i don’t even know how long, since i last wandered over to the type o tag just to see what’s going on over there. i’ve been laying low on ao3 lately, aside from the updates and the odd kudos here and there. i haven’t scoured a tag in weeks: writing several thousand words in an afternoon takes a lot out of you and i’ve been focusing on moving lately, so i just haven’t been able to). apparently, she has it in her head that i’m calling people out left and right for stealing, and moreover, she’s addressing me in quite literally the most passive-aggressive way possible.

well... first of all, obviously not. i have way better things to do and it’s really something you have to be on guard for: you don’t go out of your way to scold someone for that, no one does unless they’re actually the victim of it. i’ve lamented how it seems totally bass-ackwards now, that the thieves are the ones to defend and the artist/writer/creator is the one to receive bullshit, and tumblr is an utter bastion for that behavior (why do you think so many artists on here add “do not repost” to their art?), but i’m just sitting here scratching my head at that.

i do remember that chapter of like loving the dead she posted back on my birthday in april, and i have no doubt it was in response to me trying to talk to her last summer to cool things down a bit. the whole vibe of that was she thinks i’m a hater because she’s got a popular fic.

look, there’s a lot of things i don’t like, but i cannot bring myself to hate another person, no matter shitty or toxic they are (and i couldn’t be bothered with things like hits or likes, either, i stopped caring about that during my hiatus and wattpad completely killed it for me).

i actually don’t even hate her at all. i hate that she condones horrible behavior like plagiarism and shameless copying/taking and doesn’t see anything wrong with it. i hate her attitude and how it’s apparently too much to ask of her to throw her weight around (the way she sits in my memory is she looks like regina george in about 30 years but with red hair). i hate how she brags all the time and also her sense of entitlement that’s apparently only gotten worse with time, and i couldn’t help but react to it in the past, either. but as a person, though? no way. you couldn’t pay me money to hate her as a person.

if you ask me, she’s the real hater here. she’s still thinking about that incident and talking about it two years later when there was absolutely no reason to (hell, there was no reason for it six months afterwards). yeah, dead man walking is my side of the story, no doubt about that, but it’s got way more purpose than that: it’s a story that i’ve wanted to write for a long time now and i finally found the opportunity to do so with the events that happened between me and her - i needed a moral or an underlying theme of some sort (it is rated teen and up, after all 😉). she’s just vitriolic and browbeating and projecting onto me, and all i can say is is grudges are fucking stupid.

i got my anger out immediately after it happened through my st. anger drawings, the dead trilogy, and the remainder of my at land’s end series. aside from the odd outburst along the way, i said everything i needed to say and i put it to bed, especially when alex entered my life. i don’t hold grudges, and i’ve never been able to, either.

it literally blows my mind how way too many people on here are like “i have a grudge against this person/i resent this person” and don’t see anything wrong with it. grudges are, at their core, completely petty and pointless and they only end up destroying you, the bearer of the grudge, in the end. really, imagine yourself 5/10/15 years from now, still feeling angry at the other person over something stupid that they let go of right away. you’re going to look so ridiculous and you’re going to wish for that time back, as well. grudges are not just stupid and pointless: they’re sad. like, this is going to be your legacy, man. forget everything else, this is how i’m always going to remember you. was it really worth it in the end? you can’t help but feel bad for the person with the grudge... but you also can’t, because hey, you were the one who stayed angry all this time, not me. i was just trying to live my life, unlike you, letting your anger cloud your vision and swell up your ego to the size of the earth.

when that incident happened (if you don’t know: i was just trying to be friendly with her during anthrax’s livestream from wacken during quarantine - you know. fellow fangirl to another. innocuous fun stuff in a world gone horribly wrong - and over here, she was getting all up in arms about someone annoying and obnoxious, and when she blocked me on here and on wattpad was when i realized she was referring to me), and i looked back on her behavior (which is how i found out her plagiarism in the first place), i saw right away that she’s all-talk and no-walk, but it’s being magnified big time now because she refuses to let go of anger and she’s made it her persona, too. she can go as dark and gothic as she wants: i’m always going to look at her name and think “angry, bitter person.”

i clearly don’t even give a shit about any of this anymore, and i haven’t since the end of 2020, either. i can barely be bothered to go through the type o tag anymore, or any fic tag for that matter because fandom as a whole has followed her lead. aside from things happening on my end, it’s hard to find fic (particularly band fic) on ao3 anymore that feels like it was written from a good place. it’s all clique-y and snide and hard to understand and gives me a headache and i don’t know if tiktokification of everything in existence now is to blame or not.

like i said, if she (or anyone else) throws in the towel, it’s not my call to make and it never was, either. you’re the one driving the ship: i’m just the madwoman in the attic.

#saying this on the heels of the latest couple of chapters of dead man walking #daveighmustaine #xxgreendruidessxx #fanfic woes #fic woes #ao3 authors #text #grudges are dumb #let this be a lesson

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silentexplorer18 · 3 months

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Regarding the future of this blog

Hi folks! This one got a bit long, so I'm putting it under a cut.

TLDR: I've been really unhappy blogging for quite a while, so I'm finally embracing being a messy, multifandom blog that posts things without tagging them well, posts more personal things, mostly focuses posting my own fic on AO3, etc. If you're not into that, feel free to eliminate my presence on your dash. XO -Silent

When I started this blog a few years ago, I was essentially starting with zero knowledge of the social side of the internet. Sure, I'd read stuff on tumblr blogs, but I’d never used tumblr or looked at anything besides what was listed directly on a masterlist. I’d never used other social media sites, either. So, when I started using things like tumblr and instagram and even discord, I was trying to follow along and do whatever everyone else was doing. I tried to post clearly tagged stuff and keep my blog super organized; I posted cutesy photos with whimsical captions; I tried to find my footing in conversations that were hard to follow. But I always felt like I could never keep up. I was trying to follow the motions to make my online spaces what I thought they needed to be, but I never could do the motions quite right, so I kept getting more and more discouraged.

Why am I telling all of you this? Because I think 2024 is the year something needs to change.

I started off wanting this blog to be super pretty and aesthetic. I wanted my fics to be clearly organized and have easily navigable links. I wanted to only reblog fandom-specific things. I wanted to keep everything very on topic. And I wanted to be active in fandom (interacting with other fandom readers, makers, doers, etc.). But in trying to do all of the former, I’ve spent so much physical and mental energy that I don’t have the time, energy, or ability to do the latter. I felt like if I couldn’t do all of that, I shouldn’t do any of it, and, well, that’s plain not true.

The truth is this: I’m messy, and I write slowly. I like so many things, and I actually love to talk a lot. Keeping tags organized is hard and it makes me tired. Posting on tumblr (instead of just ao3) is hard sometimes because it makes me tired. I like talking to people and reccing fics and gushing over art, but I can’t always make it picture-perfect or aesthetic or linked so it’s easily navigable. Life is hard, and using social media should be something fun, not something to agonize over.

So, I’m making some changes:

I’m gonna be posting a lot more. Rambling about life. Sharing writing updates. Making you all privy to my shower thoughts.

But the writing projects I have will still be long hauls. Strap in, folks, ‘cause we’re probably looking at months-long to years-long updates. (Nothing is ever dead, just, you know, aging like fine wine or something.)

I’m not sure how many writing projects will be posted here, either. I enjoy posting on AO3. I like the format. I like the way it works. I like that it organizes everything for me. If I post something there, I’ll obviously share the link here, but I don’t know how many fics I’ll be posting here moving forward.

Also, I’m just gonna start reblogging shit like crazy. Anything! Everything! All at once! The tumblr is my oyster!

Despite reblogging more, I’m just gonna let this blog become more disorganized. If I have the energy to tag stuff, I will, but I think I’m just gonna focus on sharing things rather than sharing things in a way that’s particularly organized.

I’m gonna start reblogging more fic recs here, too (and sharing ones from AO3!). I will, of course, be keeping my fic rec blog, and it’ll get its own small update post, but the goal is to just give myself the permission to be less organized so I have more energy to enjoy and share fic.

Related: the blog might get a makeover. I’m not sure yet because I’ve had roughly the same colors/theme/pfp for all the years I’ve had this blog, so changing it will be hard. (And I have no idea what exactly to change to!) But we’ll see. Ideas are welcome.

I feel a little melodramatic making this big, long post about this, but I feel like the folks that are still hanging around my blog (you lovely, few and far between, who are neither bots nor dead blogs, I adore you all immensely) are hanging around for a reason, and I want to give fair warning that the activity levels here will be changing, the tagging system/findability of things will be changing, the location of fics being posted will be changing. It felt right to warn people so they could unfollow/block if they so desire.

But anyway, happy (late) 2024! I hope this post finds everyone well, and I’m excited to see what the future holds!

-Silent

#silent talks #blog update #this feels so dramatic and pointless to post #but I also just wanted to get my thoughts out there written down #so I could start changing things #because to change something intentionally you must acknowledge what it is you want to change and how #and also I wanted to give folks a bit of a warning to unfollow if they don't like the changes that are coming #because I think I was still trying to hold onto what my blog was when it started #and it is NOT gonna be like that anymore #2024 is the year of being myself unapologetically #and that starts with my tumblr blog

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steam-draws · 5 months

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Announcement:

Alright, I have officially had it with Tumblr not giving a shit about their artists. It is extremely discouraging to share a work that you've worked hard on for hours, days, weeks, or even months, only to get a couple likes. I know nobody is obligated to share every work they see, but small artists like myself rarely get any reblogs at all. I have some followers who add likes to my work but have never reblogged a single thing. Ever. Nobody looks at your likes, and most people have that option turned off. I am done pouring my heart and soul into a piece of art that nobody will care about. I didn’t think this was too much to ask for.

To those few who have supported me and shared my work, thank you so much. I see you and I appreciate you. You’re the reason artists get any exposure (for work that we’re offering for free), and that’s awesome.

That being said, I am moving to Instagram. If I am only ever going to get likes on my work, I might as well move to a platform where that will benefit me. I am not deleting this blog, but I will no longer be posting here for the time being. My other blogs will remain active, but I will no longer be sharing my art there, either.

I love sharing my work with other people; lots of artists do. It’s a very human thing to want to show others something you made that you’re proud of. But trying to do this on Tumblr is just shouting into a void. Tumblr, unlike other platforms, works by reblogs. Likes and tags don’t circulate posts as well as they should. If your work is never shared, no matter how many times you reblog it yourself, nobody will ever see it. That defeats the purpose of sharing anything in the first place. I have been told to just share my work because I’m proud of it, not for any attention. But that is the entire point of sharing it online. Otherwise I would just keep my work in my personal library, never to see the light of day. Wouldn’t you want to show people something you created? Wouldn’t it be discouraging to hear them say, “Yeah, I guess that’s kind of cool, but not enough for me to care?”

I hate having to do this, but my efforts over the years to be seen just haven’t been enough. I can't make anybody understand what this feels like, as much as I’ve tried. Even the PSA posts I’ve shared about supporting artists get more notes and reblogs than my actual art. That doesn’t make any sense. That’s a very transparent way of showing just what one thinks of someone’s art.

If you are still interested in following me, my Instagram name is "steam_draws." It's the same name as this blog but with an underscore instead of a hyphen.

I hope one day smaller artists will get the recognition and support they work so hard for.

~ Thank you for reading.

#artists on tumblr #my post #I might still post the mental health definitions post here though #since a lot of people need to see it #but probably to my main blog

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thefanficmonster · 3 years

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Much Cooler

Corpse Husband & Emma Langevin

Warnings: Swearing

Genre: Platonic Fluff, RPF (Real Person Fic)

Summary: There’s always a certain level of uncertainty when meeting someone you’ve only known online. There’s that sense of insecurity that your relationship with them will never be the same or - even worse - that their view of you might change for the worse. But there’s nothing more thrilling than seeing the person you’ve been talking to constantly for the past however long standing across from you.

Requested by Anon. Hi dear! Thank you so much for your request and I’m so terribly sorry for how late it’s coming out but I hope the fic makes it worth the wait! Lots of love, Vy ❤

“CORPSE! Wake up you famous dumbass!“ is the first thing the poor man heard over the phone at 9 AM on this fine Saturday morning.

It’s more than enough to make him contemplate why he even decided to pick it up in the first place considering he wouldn’t have been very able to participate in the conversation due to his sleepiness. He also, of course, made the mistake of not checking the caller ID which apparently wasn’t necessary considering how recognizable that voice and accent are.

“It’s 9 AM, Emma.“ He states as a tired parent would to a child, “I’m concerned as to why you’re up so early. More so as to why you’re calling me of all people.“

He can practically hear her roll her eyes but he still smirks to himself, knowing she can’t contradict him or argue since he’s completely right with his claims. “Whatever. Remind me to never call you to congratulate you on a milestone again.“

Now that pokes at his attention with a stick. Lately, said attention has proven to be a hibernating bear, leaving Corpse with a lack of interest or motivation for anything but damn if that sentence wasn’t enough to roll him out of bed and hop on PC. “What? What milestone? Subscribers?“

“Nope! You got two million likes on ‘E-girls are ruining my life’! I can’t believe I have to tell you this! Didn’t you notice the numbers climbing?!“ Emma, as annoyed and sarcastic as she’s trying to sound, she’s obviously overjoyed on his behalf and is super proud of him and of the project she luckily agreed to take a small part in.

As his PC boots up, Corpse can’t help but roll his eyes at Emma’s comment, “Well unlike you I have better things to do than refresh a page over and over aga-” His sentence is quickly cut off when he sees the number of likes under the song for himself.

Knowing that he’d find it there didn’t change the feeling of seeing it for the first time at all. It’s so surreal and so hard for his mind to comprehend. Seeing as how little he thinks of himself, his content and his art, this is like his success coming to slap him across the face as if to punctuate to him how wrong that mindset is.

“You know, it wouldn’t hurt if you offered to take me out for at least a coffee to celebrate, bro.“ Emma comments sarcastically, joking only halfway from what he can sense.

He smirks, “Trying to even the playing field, I see.” He replies, referring to the fact that he’s still a faceless mystery to her while her face is literally the cover art for one of his songs.

She laughs but is quick to dismiss his claim, “Nah, I might be a curious and nosey little shit on other occasions, but other people’s privacy is not something I dig my nose into. However, if I were to even the playing field between us it wouldn’t be appearance-wise. More personality-wise. For my sake and yours I choose to believe you are way cooler in person than you are through messages or on a call.”

This withdraws a genuine fit of laughter from Corpse who throws his head back, a few strands of hair moving aside to reveal his shiny eyes, “Well then, instead of giving me the benefit of the doubt, how about we settle it once and for all? Tomorrow? I’ll text you the location.”

Emma’s eyebrows shoot upwards as soon as she comprehends his words and the tone that leaves no room for her to assume he’s joking, “Wait what? How come you’re agreeing to this? And so easily? Nah, this a trap if I’ve ever seen it.”

Corpse laughs yet again, “No trap, Em. I just can’t have you doubting my coolness.”

* * *

The main reason as to why Corpse requested for this meeting to be today is because he feared that if he had more than twenty four hours to dwell on it he’d chicken out. Little did he know it was the same for Emma. Their friendship has only ever existed with the bridge of social media connecting them and they both can’t help but fear the other might not like who they are IRL. They fear they unintentionally become a different person or change things about themselves subconsciously when communicating with people online. Bottom line, they’re scared of letting the other person down with who they really are, unaware that their personalities are most likely the exact same because, as the people who know them can confirm, neither Corpse nor Emma are the type to put on a show in order to be liked. They would rather have no friends because of who they are than have friends and fans of their persona instead of the real them.

And so, while slightly afraid and anxious about this meeting, both of them see it as a relief test to see if the friendship is in fact as real as it’s seemed these past months.

Corpse was the one to choose the location of their meet-up, a location Emma didn’t even think twice about agreeing on, and ever since, they’ve both been counting the hours until their scheduled meeting time. It’s not about impressing each other, at least that’s what they’re both telling themselves, but rather proving to the other that they’re worthy of their friendship. They might throw snarky and sarcastic comments at one another that others would give a side-eye glance to and question if their friendship is real, but they know the dynamic best and they sure as hell don’t wanna lose it or each other.

Best friends are the ones who roast each other after all - you can’t tell me I’m wrong.

The nervous Corpse fidgets with the insides of his hoodie pockets as he waits outside the café, having arrived ten minutes early because he couldn’t stand being alone with his thoughts in his apartment, judging every fragment of himself twice as harshly as usual. Emma, on the other hand, could barely bring herself to leave her home. She kept retouching her appearance, despite knowing Corpse wouldn’t judge her even if she showed up in pjs. To be fair she contemplated doing just that several times because her hair pissed her off enough to get her discouraged on her outfit altogether but she did eventually talk herself into pulling it together. She already knew she’d be at least five minutes late, but once again, she knew Corpse wouldn’t care.

He’d wait, cause that’s the kind of friend he was. Cause that’s the kind of friend she was for him too.

And boy did it take her less than a second to recognize him. She wasn’t even out of the car when she saw him and knew it was exactly who she was looking for. He too, as if with a sixth sense that registered her presence, shoots his head up from his phone to look up at her, their gazes meeting. There’s a brief moment of close-to-shocked silence, their eyes a bit widened as their brains comprehend that they’re within arm’s reach of one another.

That’s when Emma’s the first to break the bubble of awe as a wide grin spreads across her face and she runs to Corpse, wrapping him in a hug before he’s even realized the distance between the two’s been closed.

“Hey.“ She mumbles, her face hidden in his hoodie due to the height difference.

“H-hey.“ He replies, hesitantly wrapping his arms around her too.

“I was right.“ She says once she pulls away, “You are much cooler face-to-face.“ She pauses for a second, narrowing her eyes, “You’d be even cooler if you bought me coffee though.“

Earning a laugh from him, she’s guided into the café by the arm Corpse wraps around her shoulders, telling her he’s get her a milkshake cause he doesn’t want to see her high on caffeine. Needless to say, they both are, indeed, much cooler to one another IRL.

@maat-the-prescriptive @simonsbluee @save-the-sky @itsminniekat @hacker-ghost @bi-andready-tocry @imtiredaffff @jazzkaurtheglorious @hereforbeebo @fandomgirl17 @chrysanthykios @maehemscorpyus @loraleiix @letsloveimagines @annshit @i-cant-choose-a-username-help @enigmaticmaze @divine-artemis @waterlilypat @idontknowwhatthisisfam @evi-ka @classyandfabulous00 @redperson58 @lilysdaydreams @solowheein @mythicalamphitrite @axen-gers @luckygirl144 @nj01 @buddyemily @the-albino-lioness @stardream14 @gdhdkfnn @nomadicgypsyy @preciousskye @fluffysuicideunicornsworld @o-kaelin @manacharlotte @awkward-youtube-trash @lolalee24 @bonky-beerns @meme-lord-and-savior-sebastian @strawbrinkofdeath @teenloves @tams0527 @browneyespinkhair @starstruckllamapuppy @daisychains012 @y0ulooked @tinytacosuitcaseflap @supernatural-is-my-only-life @jula-pauline @melodykitty @just-that-bi-girl @crazybutconfidentaf @lowellshade @alphakees @bellero @weallneednamjesus @starryhanji @boiled-onionrings @husherstan @fockingwhore @melaningoddessthings @prettypastelpetals @haleypearce @godwhyamiawkward @y-napotat @daisychainyoonmin @little-miss-rebel3 @free-wheelin-bi-sexual @redmoon261 @darkacademic2 @wiseflamingoqueen @into-the-end @namikhai-i @nastiablr @thelittleplantlover @mirktuan @dont-hyuck @jjk-bunny @vintagegothlover @easygoingtheatre @itsrandombooklover @miiaivi @emmybaybee @befourgolden @jjk-is-my-shit @eternalteaaars @spacebadgerx @princesslunalight @acequinn14 @samm48 @misselsbells06 @simp-lykawa @fo-love @marishimomura-blog @therealglenncoco @cinnamonbun332 @killtherandomness @sanshinexxxsan @fee-btheweeb @press-lay @cathleenpotgieter16 @jazzydoesstuff @moonlxghtbay @forestrain2000 @hyunjinhugs @blood-of-fandoms @lovellylies @ukiyolixx @simpforhpcharacters @chrisdylan17 @parkerjisung @pedernille @theodonyous @wineandionysus @malfoystilinskii05 @morbid-x @coryisagee @jessewa26 @scoobydooluver97 @mindintheskies365 @raeanneinwonderland @indecisive-empanada @gluttonypalace @loriane2503 @btsiguess-kpop @khaoticbunny @lucidlycactus @smiithys @rottenroyalebooks @kpopgirlbtssvt @fangirl-tc27 @fr0z3n-1 @notmesimpingfortechno @shotarosleftpinky @kunoi-chan @idk-whats-wrong-with-me @yikeroonie @goldenstarofthunderclan @poetry-and-tea @ama-do-writing-stuff @wishbonewolf @emeraldxhope @t0xick1tty @kusuinko @speakyourselfloveyourself @sophia902103 @lo-manburg @classsykittykat @dmgama @depressedpuppythatneedscoffee @btsiguess-kpop @akaashi-baby @gun-jong-simp @geschichtenfee @yerapotato-wp @browneyedgirl365 @thysagclub @sparklycloudnight @helloatomicshadow @queentorresstuff @vtte @val-gal @lucy-bunny17 @aaliyahh0 @katluckybear @boyleanti @straybids @franchesca-791 @cosmicstorm19 @averyisbackinthetrashcan @aomi-nabi @xlanawriter @allensimpsforcorpse @sunnyrae-cessh @ladykxxx08 @meowiemari @renupf @booklover76 @sra-verissimo @beatrhizn @blueberrystigma @beatrhizn

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saltminerising · 3 years

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Running An Art Shop With Minimal Crying 101

Hey y’all, not sure what compelled me to write this Now but I wanted to put together a list of helpful ‘good business practice’ tips for artists who want to start selling commissions on FR and want to build up a good reputation and make bank. I’m not sure if I’d feel comfortable throwing this on the forums personally so here you go, y’all have to look at my stupidly long possibly helpful brutally honest post cuz I don’t know where else to put this.

I’ve been doing art on FR since I was a young teenager in 2015 and through that time I’ve definitely learned some lessons the hard way. I’ve taken on more than I could handle, I’ve let commissions rot for months because I got overwhelmed… you know what I mean. Here’s some of what I’ve learned over the years that’s helped me run a consistently successful art shop for well over a year now.

I don’t have a tumblr and I don’t know how to add a ‘read more’ to a submission, so happy scrolling <3 I apologize for causing some people a very minor inconvenience

-Do not take prepayment for either more than three commissions at a time, or more than the number of commissions you think you can finish within a month or two, whichever is smaller. This is especially true if you’re like me and you have ADHD. Trust me, the more commissions people have already paid for you have piled up in your to-do list, even if they’d only take you 20 minutes each, you will get more overwhelmed and discouraged and people will wonder why it’s taking you so long. Even if you aren’t getting concerned PMs, a lot of people are just too anxious or polite to ask for updates. (On the flipside, if you commissioned someone and haven’t gotten any word/updates in a while, you’re not in the wrong to ask how things are going and when you can expect an update.)

-Full payment upfront is something I definitely recommend for smaller pieces (headshots, sketches, etc) you can finish in one sitting. However- if you’re doing a ref sheet, a rendered fullbody, etc, and you’ll be spending multiple sessions on the piece and getting feedback for it multiple times- split it up, take half upfront and half either after the sketch is approved, or before you send them the final unwatermarked version. I’ve done dozens of commissions like this and never had a problem, personally. There’s a low chance of a customer backing out on you if you’ve already started and sent WIPs because, y’know, sunk cost, and on the other hand it is reassuring to customers (especially if your shop is new) that if you drop off the map, they paid $20 upfront and got at least a sketch, instead of paying $40 upfront for an unfinished piece.

-In the same vein: if you’re doing a large piece like a rendered fullbody, ref sheet, etc, more communication is always better than less! I always stay on the safe side here. Some people will tell you they just want you to go apeshit and do whatever you think will look cool, other people might have much more specific ideas of what they want and how closely your artwork needs to match the image of their character in their head. Send them the sketch and ask them if they want any changes. Send them the lineart and ask if it looks good. If you’re working on a time-consuming painting that will take you weeks to finish, please please please, communicate! Send updates! Your customers will feel a lot less anxious about how long you’re taking if you keep them posted (plus this is just a personal thing but I love seeing peoples’ artistic process, it sparks joy!!)

-If, once again, you’re like me and stuff like painted fullbodies take you so much longer than other commission types- the worst thing you can do is underprice. Let’s say a detailed, shaded dragon fullbody takes you, for instance, 8 hours, maybe longer because you get burned out and can’t finish it in just one sitting, but you don’t think people will buy an $80/8kg fullbody. Do not lower the price you think your art is worth. If fullbodies take you really long compared to other art, or you get unmotivated, just… don’t offer painted fullbodies, or scenes with multiple characters, or whatever. If there’s a form of art you’re capable of creating but it’s faster, more fun, and gets you more money to do smaller things, just do more smaller commissions instead of taking the big ones. This one was a lifesaver for me.

-Once again in the same vein: It is okay to say no. Just because you are physically/artistically capable of drawing a detailed scene of multiple dragons with complex apparel, doesn’t mean you won’t get burnt out or bored. For me, larger pieces take exponentially longer because I just get bored and don’t want to work on them anymore. If someone asks if you can draw something that will require so much of your personal time and effort to go into a single piece, just say no. Sometimes I’ll say yes to some big commissions because I think the character is cool and inspiring and I want to draw them; otherwise, I will admit, I’ve said no to big commissions because I personally found the character boring as hell (though I wouldn’t phrase it that way). And that’s ok!

-If you are going to be really busy in the near future, stop taking commissions. You have finals? Don’t say “sorry if things take forever, I have finals”… just don’t take the commissions while you’re busy. If you have too much on your plate, commissions will just stress you out more, and nobody likes to draw motivated by stress. There’s nothing wrong with temporarily pausing your art shop. Put your mental health first. And if you aren’t able to get commissions done on a regular basis because of mental health, or because you don’t give enough of a shit about other peoples’ characters: don’t do commissions. I don’t mean this in a bad way; I’ve been in that spot before and it’ll just cause more stress and guilt than it’s worth.

-NO PARAGRAPHS. That sounds hypocritical of me writing this lol but do not put long paragraphs in your art shop, ever. I promise nobody will read it. Put your rules, and any other information, in bullet points that are one or two lines. Keep your rules clear, simple, unambiguous and short, or everyone will ignore it and I won’t blame them. Put titles and subtitles wherever you can. If you have a block of text longer than probably five lines, it will be ignored by most people. I have decided not to buy art from people because I didn’t want to have to dig through blocks of text for information.

….so yeah I think that’s about all I can think of at the moment. time to sit back and get yelled at for not being able to shut the fuck up and get to the point lol, hope you (yes you) have a great day c:

#submission #long post #art tag 🏷

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stellarxdeath · 3 years

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Aight fuck it, I got sum things to say. Most of it is anecdotal but here we go

Things I wish I could tell to my younger self about art(and also for young/new artists who may see this)

Getting started:

- Starting art with any medium is going to be challenging, but a little inspiration goes a long way. You wanna draw your favorite tv show character? Maybe an Oc idea? A slice of cake? Doesn’t matter, make that shit your muse and go for it.

- I’m a digital artist through and through, using clip studio and a Wacom tablet. Do you need these things to start? Nope, not at all. I started with a mouse and MS paint. You can do some impressive stuff with just those two things.

- Expectations vs reality is important. Your mental style will be different from your ‘real’ style, and that’s ok! You won’t be perfect when you first start, but don’t let it discourage you.

- Let yourself have fun

Learning/growing your style:

- At first it’ll feel like you’re only a mishmash of styles from artists you like, but soon enough your own style will emerge.

- Tracing is a good skill, but if you don’t want to trace, you can mimic. Watch speedpaints, animations, look at other artists’ work; then replicate that. Your own style will shine through and things you couldn’t draw yesterday can become much easier. I use this myself, personally it’s been super helpful.

- Same face Syndrome is definitely a bit of a roadblock to handle. Instead of throwing yourself in the deep end with a million different face shapes, tweak the smaller things. eyes, hair, even irises/pupils can help two characters stand out.

- Shapes are good, but vague shapes are better. Basically: sketch at least twice. Construct(the foundation of everything), clean up(jotting down the finer details), and then any additions that stand out. It’ll take awhile, but it will help you in the long run.

- Fuck around, combine random things. Mess with colors, mess with proportions. Draw a snake with a chicken head and cat feet, who cares? Get a feel for straight lines, curvy lines, jarring and chaotic lines. Let yourself have fun: electric boogaloo.

Criticism and Feedback:

- to preface this: the main person you draw for is yourself. People liking/relogging is a secondary source of motivation. relying on others to give you the energy to draw is not sustainable, so please, please do what you want to do.

- Receiving critique is not an easy thing to do, especially if you’re on the younger end of the artist spectrum. It’ll feel weird and it might hurt; that’s ok, it’s a sign you care. Be prepared for people to ask if they can critique and for people to not ask and give it anyway.

- Adding to that, there’s probably a knee-jerk reaction to defend your work from criticism. Before you respond to said feedback, take a second to remember that it’s not a personal attack, and that the commenter is simply trying to help.

- “This sucks lol” is not valid critique and can be entirely ignored/deleted.

- You are not contractually obligated to take the criticism! It’s up to you if you’ll use the tips given. You can try them out, and if they don’t work, that’s fine too.

- Remember that you are always improving.

Other tidbits I can’t categorize:

- CHERISH YOUR OLD WORK! please, please keep that shit close to your heart. It’s easy to look at your old art and go “haha cringe”, I’ve done that too, but it’s so important to remember where you started so you can be proud of how far you’ve come! A lot of artists struggle to recognize when they’ve improved, so taking a gander and your old DeviantArt gallery is beneficial.

- for fucks sake please watermark your art. Be it your initials, online name or an icon unique to you. it doesn’t have to take up the whole canvas, but it’s better if it’s somewhere harder for people to erase. Watermarks can protect your art from being stolen online.

- elaborating on the first tidbit: it’s ok to look at your art and be proud of it! Sometimes it can feel like calling your own art good is a sin and you’re a self-absorbed asshole for saying as much, but you have every right to be happy with what you’ve made.

- You don’t have to finish every project you start, Sometimes sketching just to sketch is better than spending hours on a single piece. doodle to your heart’s content.

- Artblock is inevitable, and it’ll suck. But, there’s always that creative spike at the end of the inspiration drought, just embrace the break and you’ll get back to drawing when you’re ready.

- And never work for exposure.

Godspeed younglings, go have fun

#text post #long post #Ghosty's ramble corner #art tips #kinda #art help #lowkey nervous to post this but here we go

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chipper-smol · 3 years

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how did you learn to draw so well? I'm 19 and I feel like I'm way behind everyone else my age with my art, and it's really discouraging.

*rubs my hands* this is a complex question so you guys should prepare for another long wall of text cause here we go

So everyone is different. Everyone has a different drive and collection of feelings in their gut when they draw. We all have different backgrounds about why or how we started drawing. What works for me might not work for everyone else, but hopefully I can help guide you in the right direction.

That being said, i’ve always been an artist like it wasn’t even a decision I made when I was younger I just was. I had big ideas I needed to just GET OUT and so I drew massive stories of stick figures and horses and dragons on towering piles of printer paper. That hasn’t changed, but I can go for weeks without drawing a single thing because I have nothing sparking in my brain but im rambling here lemme get to my points

Everyone is an imposter: No one is ever 100% comfortable with their artistic ability and if they are they’re very likely to be an ass. Go look at the Dunning-Kruger Effect which is a pretty interesting psychological mindset. In a nutshell, the Dunning-Kruger Effect is where a person who has very little knowledge in a skill thinks they are a master at that skill, whereas a person who has is a master in that skill thinks that they aren’t good at all. I still recommend watching the whole thing when you get the chance, its only 10 minutes long.

So where you are right now is the most difficult part of the art process, lemme show you one of my favorite graphs which helped me when I was in spots like you are.

You have two parts to your artistic skill. One is the ability to draw itself and the other is the ability to perceive how good that drawing is! You know whats happening?

You’re growing! You’ve started the next step! You see your art and think it could be better because your brain is more skilled than your hand. So how do you get better?

I could say something like “look up tutorials” “challenge yourself” “do studies” but if i’m honest that advice never helped me, it just made me struggle more, so we’re going to go back to your mindset.

Accept your achievements!

It’s! Very! EasY! To compare yourselves to others! It’s! Very! Hard! To recognize how far you’ve come! Give yourself some credit! Praise yourself! Look at your art and point out what you like about it. We all have a little puppy inside our hearts that just wants to be called good boys/girls. If you don’t take care of that puppy and only give it negative feedback then you’re going to definitely struggle to get started.

When someone compliments you, take it! Don’t try to be polite or say “ah but my lines aren’t that great” or “my colors could be better,” accept it! Some stranger or friend saw how good you are and actually took the time to verbalize it because it meant so much to them! If some stranger on the internet thinks i’m good, then why can’t I feel the same way towards my own art? Trust me, you’ll start feeling more confident. You’ll go from “am I good? :(?” to “I AM good! >:D!”

Get good at what you want to get good at!

I love expressions, subtle moments that speak a thousand words, character flaws and drives, dynamic movement and DRAGONS!! So I drew and draw those things! They make my brain go brrrr

I used to hate drawing backgrounds, but recently I had an epiphany. I can make a background be its own character. It doesn’t make sense typed out but in my brain that association is key. I’ve connected the joy I have with drawing characters to a thing I normally avoid and now I feel a bit more inclined to put in the extra effort. Let the feelings you get when you draw the stuff you like leak into the stuff you don’t like to draw as much and you’ll find yourself growing even more.

What do you if you don’t want to do something in the process of drawing a picture? Say like, lineart?

Simple.

Don’t do it. Skip it. Do what you want instead. Many of my hollow knight art is just sketches, but you guys have seen my fully completed pieces. I cant make that shit every day hell no. I do what I want. I also discovered a new way of shading and lighting that is SOOO much easier than what I was doing before because I WANTED TO BE LAZY!! (put your colors down, select from opaque, new layer, make new layer a multiply layer, gradient tool, use the gradient tool to make one big shadow, erase where you want the light to come from, BAM! SHADING!)

Which leads me into my next point.

Just say Fuck it.

Do you want to draw Grimm in a dress? Fuck it. Do it. If someone has a problem with that then its their problem. They can unfollow you or block you but fuck ‘em. This is your life and damnit you are going to enjoy it. Remember when you were a kid and you just drew? Just draw. Have fun. It doesn’t matter if the hand doesn’t come out right, it’s there and it looks good enough.

Once you give yourself that much needed break, your interest in seeking ways to improve will come naturally. After drawing hands without caring, you might just want to know out of curiosity instead of frustration about how you can draw the knuckles right. It’s a very important mental shift from “I want to be good at art because I have to be” to “I want to be good at art because I want to be.”

Make your art about you and not because of someone else. Be selfish. Be careless. Do what you want and have fun again.

TL;DR Accept that you are better than you give yourself credit for. Your mental mindset is extremely important for your artistic growth. Make your art someone else’s problem and enjoy yourself.

#G muses #long post #ramble bamble #hopefully this helps <:)#Anonymous

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shinesurge · 3 years

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I’ve been holding off on making this post because I wanted to try it out myself and get settled in and make sure everything went okay, but seeing as I’ve gone ahead and updated my site and everything I thought now might be a good time to start talking about this publicly!

If you’ve known me for more than five minutes you know I fucking hate Webtoon, like, a lot. Every aspect of it disgusts me to the core of my being, and while Webtoon is the ugliest version of them the aspects that I hate also extend to basically any comic aggregate site. I hate that they treat artists like content robots, I hate that they treat comic readers like morons who aren’t capable of engaging with complex stories, I hate that they actively try to strip away all the cool parts of indie comics by cultivating sterile and impersonal environments that discourage artistic experimentation and unique expression.

So! I hope you’ll be interested in what I have to say about this new platform that’s (hopefully) going to be out of alpha this summer. If you think you like reading comics on Webtoon, I really encourage you to check out Dillyhub once it launches. That’s the short version, but I have a LOT to say about this! So I’m putting the rest of this under a cut.

Full disclosure, I’m not getting paid or anything for this. The creative outreach at Dillyhub contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I’d be interested in having Kidd Commander be one of their launch titles when they go live this summer. I was hesitant at first, since I actively distrust anything claiming to be For Creators at this point, but they answered my pushy questions patiently and everything seemed on the up and up so I gave it a shot; I’ve been needing a mobile mirror for KC anyway. Eventually they invited me to the alpha creator discord, where they’ve been working directly with all of us artists to improve the platform, and now to be honest I’m REALLY excited for this thing to get off the ground. Nobody asked me to make this post, but since I’ve spent years whining and bitching about how other services do wrong by their creators, I thought I’d talk about this one that’s doing things right.

So, the biggest advantage this site has for creators over others in my opinion is that it. Treats us like individuals, regardless of follower count lmfao. If you’re a new person just starting out with your new webcomic, here’s what webtoon does for you:

Note: you don’t get a custom banner, you don’t even get to choose the solid color it is. That big circle icon is ALSO the image that shows up in searches, but everywhere else on the site it’s a 100x100px square, so you have to choose whether you want it to look good as a giant circle at the top of your comic’s page OR whether you want to look good in search results. Which, by the way, is the ONLY way for people to find you if you’re not partnered. And that’s it! You have no monetization options, you won’t show up on the genre pages, and when someone DOES stumble across your page it looks super unprofessional. Good Luck!

Now here’s my Dillyhub page(s):

You don’t get a static banner and one icon, you get a whole carousel banner with as many images as you want front and center as soon as you get to the project page. You get seven (custom!) genre tags, as opposed to Webtoon’s single tag you have to pick from their list, and plenty of room to talk about your work. The episodes are even laid out better, you get a MUCH bigger preview space to work with and they’re nice and big on the bottom half of the page:

you know, like they’re actually presenting ART lmfao.

That’s already an ENORMOUS improvement, but here’s my favorite thing.

o hm that’s a lot of super cushy settings I have for every individual episode, but what’s that, Episode Type?

LIKE.

listen, i know this is probably a bit specialized if you’re not a comic maker yourself, but this is a HUGE DEAL. You can post vertically OR page by page! You can even post pages two at a time for double page spreads, or so they read like a physical comic book! AND their specs are really open, as long as the file meets the size requirement you can make it whatever shape you want. You don’t have to reformat all your shit to post here!! I posted the entire first volume of KC STRAIGHT FROM THE PRINT FILES in like half an hour!!! The episodes can also be any amount of pages, you can post a single page or an entire chapter all in one go!

So that’s just the project page for the comic, let’s see what happens when I click on my username there.

Each author gets their own unique page (which you can tack a vanity url to!) to present themselves however they want! You always have the banner at the top, but beyond that you have a ton of options. Among other incredibly useful tools that really should just be bare fucking minimum at this point, like the ability to preview your page on different devices, you start customizing your blank page with this set of widgets,

and from THERE you can customize them MORE, you can promote your patreon or your kickstarter or whatever! Having this creator space ALSO means that if you run several comics, or if you want to promote your comic AND your illustrations, you can just separate them into individual projects! Each with their own page! This is also really nice as a reader because you can subscribe to a creator but you can also just subscribe to specific projects, if you don’t want to get ALL of their stuff in your inbox. It’s so good y’all hh.

Once again, all of this functionality is just THERE as soon as you make your account. You don’t need to be “partnered” or whatever the fuck, you don’t need to meet a certain follower threshold to unlock the ability to operate normally. You get your own creator space to present yourself how you prefer, you get pages for all your projects, you can even set up monetization options (and change them for individual pages IN a project) right from the start.

ok ok let’s compare this to my webtoon page

oh that’s right webtoon just puts your greyed out name at the bottom of each comic and that’s it because human beings don’t make this stuff, my bad lol anyway

Other fun shit that Dillyhub does that makes me feel like they’re people who have actually consumed or made comics on the internet at some point in their lives:

-When you log into the “studio” space, you’re in your creator account. When you log OUT of the studio space, it’s like you swap to a “reader” account, where you can access your pull list and comment on things with a different name and profile icon. Again, maybe only cool if you’re a creator, but if you ARE then you know exactly why this is incredibly useful lmao

-You can set up “hidden” projects, so if you only want certain things to be accessible by certain people or to not show up in searches that’s an option! You have SO much control here it’s great.

-The comment section has moderation options GODDD. You also have a real comment space, you know, so it actually encourages building a community (and a rapport with your community, if you like), and you also can just turn comments off entirely if you want! I haven’t used it much yet, obviously, but it’s been made very clear in the discord that artists want better control over their comment sections and the devs have it on their priority list.

-Absolutely every step of customization gives you a preview before it’s live, so you can easily see what these images you’re posting in different places are going to look like before you beam them to your followers’ inboxes. This includes individual episodes!

-This was sort of in one of the screenshots but it’s important so I’m saying it here too: the option to mark individual episodes as mature or with content warnings, rather than having to mark an entire comic as Mature Spooky Scary Content because of one or two pages getting a bit hairy.

This site is only in alpha right now, and it’s invite-only until they get to beta (for creators; anyone can make a reader account! but they haven’t set up a way to browse comics without direct links yet so) but honest to god it’s already blowing every other site I’ve used clean out of the water. And the staff has been really kind and responsive to us proposing fixes or changes! I will always defend individual websites as being the best option for an indie comic, but everybody’s gotta start somewhere and we NEED something that isn’t Tumblr or Webtoon to fill this role; this site feels a lot more like a symbiotic relationship than any of the other staples available for new creators right now. If you’re a comic reader and you want to see your favorite comics on Dillyhub I’d suggest keeping an eye on this site and once it’s live start poking them to look into it, and if you’re a creator follow their social media and hop in when they open up for anybody to join. I would LOVE to see this site take off as a viable option for hosting and reading comics.

Thanks for reading all this! I haven’t quite finished setting up yet, but if you want to poke around a project/creator page for yourself mine is here have at it. As things progress I’m sure I’ll have more to say, but since I’m usually so aggressively negative about places like this I just wanted to give some credit where it was due. fucking finally.

#long post #i want this site to obliterate webtoon so fucking bad lmfao

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clearwillow · 2 years

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You know, it’s not terrible.

I did lose three days because I was working on that massive vision board project right up until the last minute, but it’s not bad for playing catch up to everyone else. You know, as long as you don’t take into account most everyone you talk to is more than halfway done already...

I’m not writing just one thing, btw. This is me trying to get shit done, or at least create a buffer. So far, I’ve finished two Halloween oneshots, written part 8 of 503-B, started on the final part, and written about 2 or 3 chapters of Skinwalkers. I’m on chapter 8 of that.

I think...that’s not too bad.

I’m saying that because I have a stack of other work I’m getting through too, and right now writing is the only “for me” thing I have the spoons for. All of my art spoons are divvied out among everyone else. And when I hit a wall on all that, I’ve got the grayscale abs wip, but it’s a year old and should’ve done been finished.

So if you’re doing Nano and feeling discouraged, hang in there. Look at how much you have written so far, not how much you think you need to write.

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seungminotes · 3 years

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Charming Worries Away

Hello @n8dlesoupguk I was your skz secret santa! I had so much fun talking to you this month and you are so so sweet I wuv you now. I know this is a bit later for you because time zones boo :( but I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed today to the fullest! Hope you enjoy this, much love.

word count: 1.5k

desc. / warning: hogwarts au, Gryffindor!Jisung x reader (no house specified), gender neutral

note: hope you enjoy!

It was already past the newly implaced strict curfew, but you couldn’t get the sound of Jisung’s frantic whispering of enchantations out of your head. There was no doubt the guy was practicing his charms that evening when he skipped supper in the Great Hall, without even giving you the usual heads up when he missed.

You knew his upcoming NEWTs were stressing him out as of late, his Charms exam more than any other, as expected from the forgetful boy. He’d always managed to change up spells a bit, placing emphasis on the wrong parts of words, even replacing some with awfully incorrect ones. You wish you could somehow help the troubled Gryffindor, but you knew Jisung was often too prideful to ever actually accept your help.

Which is why you were currently tiptoeing towards the astronomy tower, exactly where he was to take his exam next week. He’d been practicing there for the past few days, figuring out mnemonic devices he could possibly use from the surroundings to little avail. He was well aware of the great possibility he had in failing this one NEWT and it slightly discouraged him in his hopes of someday becoming a great auror, like the ones he’d see on the daily newspapers the owls would drop during breakfast. Ever since his first year, he’d dreamed of becoming such a figure, having been muggle-born though, he knew there was a lot to learn. But he never thought his forgetful tendencies could ever hold him back this much.

When you opened the creaky door to the Astronomy Tower’s roof, Jisung was sure enough hunched over his Charms notebook that you had binded the week prior, insisting that he stop lugging around and losing dozens of sheets of paper around campus. You had even offered to transcribe them into a separate book for him, worried his awful handwriting was only contributing to his trouble in remembering the right words to charms (though you hesitated in specifying this reasoning). He of course rejected your offer, adamant on getting by on his own somehow.

“Sung,” you called.

Jisung promptly looked up, sighing internally as his gaze was met with your glowing eyes looking down towards him. He immediately took notice of the aluminum wrapped bowl you held, surely from the kitchen you so often would sneak to this late at night with him on weekends.

He stood to take the bowl from your clammy hands, placing it on the roof’s concrete barrier, just at his own chest height.

“It’s late,” he sighed, this time externally, heaving a deep breath after. He wouldn’t normally mind meeting up with you this late, but this wasn’t the time to be fooling around, his Charms NEWT was the very first he was to take next week, he couldn’t risk getting distracted now.

“Benefits of a prefect in training-in-training I guess,” you shrugged before pulling out the badge given to you earlier that night.

Jisung’s face quickly ridded itself of any signs of exhaustion and frustration, his bright gummy smile on full display at the sight. You’d wanted to be a prefect for a while now, and though he never understood why, he was suddenly so full of happiness for you, momentarily forgetting his own worries.

He quickly pulled you into a tight embrace.

“Sneaking out will be a lot easier now huh,” he teased.

“I could deduct points, watch out,” you countered, causing him to scoff with a feigned hurt face.

Your banter soon died down from the news and Jisung’s worries suddenly came crashing down onto him once again.

“I’m gonna fail,” he signed, still somehow maintaining a small smile from before. He knew his dream of becoming an auror was crushed if he couldn't pass this measly test.

“So what if you do?” you stood by him, looking over the roof’s barrier over to the darkness of the Forbidden Forest

He scoffed again. “What do you mean ‘so what?’ I can’t be an auror if I fail, stupid,” he ruffled your hair harshly.

“You could always retake it you know, there’s no shame in it, but Jisung…” you began to reason, but soon trailed off not knowing how to put things into words correctly enough for this conversation to be of any help for Jisung.

“But…” he mocked.

“I probably couldn’t be an auror anyay, right? Are there even muggle-born aurors? Do you think I could make it?” he asked, turning his gaze towards you, surprised to meet your eyes on him again. He was letting his thoughts eat him up now and you of course knew this because Jisung would never voice out such insecurities, he was your token Gryffindor, prideful, strong, self-assured, sometimes cocky kind of Gryffindor, a poster boy for the damn house, though muggle-born.

“Jisung, of course you can make it. You’re Han Jisung, the best seeker Hogwarts has ever seen, the ‘best Defence Against the Dark Arts student’ Snape has ever had, you’re good at everything you’ve ever touched, are you kidding me? I wish I was half as good as you with the spells you can barely cast sometimes and I’ve been in this magic shit my whole life. Are you seriously doubting yourself now, oh so prideful Gryffindor?” Your attempt at reassuring him was not a complete miss, Jisung’s heart swelled at the mention of your admiration for his skills, but that Snape comment did the trick in getting him to show off his bright smile again.

“Snape did not say that,” he laughed off.

“Best muggle-born I’ve ever met,” you mocked in the best impression you could muster, placing that hateful emphasis on the ‘muggle-born’ as your dreaded professor so often does.

“That’s a compliment if I’ve ever heard one, take it or leave it, that’s the best you’re getting from that grinch.”

“I’ll make him give me a better one, one of these days,” he sighed.

“That sounds like my Sung,” you reach over to his hand clutching his notes, gently taking them from him, unknowing of the red spreading all over Jisung’s face at your comment. ‘Your Sung’ he repeated in his head.

“You should eat and get to bed, you’re pressuring yourself too much these days, you’re gonna jumble up your spells in there,” you playfully knock on his forehead.

Your caring nature isn’t unusual, but for reasons unknown to Jisung at this very moment, it makes him nervous. He feels a slight bump in his throat, keeping him from voicing out his refusal at the idea of heading to bed and taking back his book, his nerves are tingling and he feels his heart speed up and his hands begin to clam up as he takes of the aluminum foil of the warm container of food, most likely charmed by you to stay so hot on such a cold night.

You stand so close yet so unaware of the fumbling feelings of the boy standing right beside you, flipping through his notes and once again eyeing his scribbles inscribed messily with the quill he was somehow still so ill-accustomed to.

“My offer to rewrite these still stands, you know, can you even read this?” your eyes narrow to attempt at reading a page yourself.

“I think I can read what I write, thanks,” he awkwardly laughs off, cheeks full of rice.

“Hmmm, I think I’ll do it anyway, free of charge, you won’t even owe me anything, promise,” you insist, watching his head slightly tilt down in embarrassment.

“Jisung, you know that I’m always willing to help you right? You don’t have to ask. I’m right here for you.” you assure him.

‘You don’t have to though,” he explains, sighing once again as he lifts the spoonful of rice to his mouth again.

“Jisung, I want to,” you argue, firm in your words, this time clutching the boy’s arm gently, applying slight pressure to assure him of your presence. Your eyes deadpanned on his, your expression was so serious yet so vulnerable at this very moment and Jisung woud have to be stupid to not realize the implictness of your words.

Jisung’s heart surged at the contact and he suddenly wished he would've just brushed off your offer and let you go through the pain of copying his notes for him.

He was suddenly all too aware of your hand on his arm and the gaze you held so intently on him and the meaning of every little thing you two had ever done together. He wondered how long he’d felt these nerves for and could not pinpoint an exact moment when this increased heartbeat began to feel familiar with your touch. It could have been years ago for all he knew. His thoughts were spiraling way too fast for his comfort.

“I want you to,” he suddenly blurted much louder than he intended to, he realized as he watched you flinch.

“Good,” you meekly responded, taking a deep breath of relief at his anwer.

“Good,” he whispered before slightly closing his eyes with the cool breeze and sighing one more time.

#skz #skz imagines #han jisung imagines #han jisung #stray kids imagines #skz fluff #skz scenarios #stray kids fluff #han jisung fluff #han jisung drabbles #jisung fluff #jisung imgines #jisung #han jisung blurbs #stray kids drabbles

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piduai · 3 years

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this has been on my mind for a while, i feel like at this point women mangaka are generally just better people than their male peers. id love to hear some manga ud recommend by women, or even counterpoints, but series like Dungeon Meshi and Full Metal Alchemist (among others) handle almost every concept way better and with more tact, from writing complex stories and compelling characters, to treating women like people and not literal naked rubber dolls colored in and posed like p*rn

you are so correct and right and speak the truth. female mangaka are superior. the only thing i’d say women don’t do inherently better is technical skill, there’s a ton of men who are very artistically talented, but arts such as drawing and music are sexless because they come from within and aren’t influenced by external factors such as upbringing and culture like storytelling is. everything else though is done better by women.

the problem with female mangaka is that they’re gatekept in the industry big time. if you google ‘top selling manga of all time’ and go to the wikipedia page, there’s only one woman (kimetsu no yaiba) and she’s hiding behind a male pen name just like arakawa hiromi did when fma was publishing. neither of these are a coincidence. women are generally discouraged from pursuing writing, and if they do so they’re supposed to be kept to female-catering genres such as shoujo, josei and BL, which are all much less mainstream, aka much less known and much less money making, than shounen. women having to go behind male-sounding pen names just so men don’t feel emasculated when consuming their stories has been a thing since forever across many different cultures. misogyny is universal.

however since i personally am more into grittier stuff and i love gratuitous violence and other Mature Themes i just naturally gravitate more towards manime with all its faults. my favorite genre overall is comedy though and women ARE much funnier and wittier and more clever. female mangaka also typically avoid drawing gore, which i guess is cultural but a shame.

i’m not a manga person, i prefer watching anime, so i compiled a list of my favorite anime based on manga written by women a while ago. i am VERY picky and nitpicky and very, very difficult to please so keep in mind that the list is not comprehensive in the slightest, it’s just things that i personally liked. there’s tons of non-shoujo stuff written by women that generally have a good reputation (ao no exorcist, gangsta, kuroshitsuji, noragami, d gray man, magi, xxxholic etc etc etc) that didn’t stand out to me at all so again, short as it may be the list isn’t comprehensive in the slightest, i’m sure that people who are more easily entertained than me could come up with much more names. anyway everything else is copy-pasted, i know you know of fmab but it needs to be included because fmab is my favorite series of all times:

anime based on manga created by female writers that is in fact not heterosexual shoujo/BL garbage and i liked (bc i saw a post talking about female mangakas and all of the examples were in fact heterosexual shoujo/BL garbage that i unfortunately do not like and my anime opinions are super important obviously):

fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood (adventure/action) any comments on why fmab is the best product the anime industry has ever put on the market that will not be outranked ever is tired at this point. fmab is a masterpiece through and through. most of the cast including the mcs is male tho, which is sad

saraiya goyou (historical/drama) if fmab didn’t exist it would have been the best title out there. the word masterpiece was invented solely to have a concept to describe it. the ost makes up about 40% of its greatness and was also written by a woman. too bad all the characters are also dudes

acca: 13ku kansatsuka (drama/political) not quite as good as saraiya goyou but from ono natsume as well. pleasant is the word to describe it. relaxing. most of the cast is male.

dorohedoro (horror/gore/comedy) the best title since like 2006. everything about it is great. i don’t have a single criticism and that’s rare. the cast is actually balanced and the Female Characters™ all 3 of them are like, written like people and are also queens

hachimitsu to clover (slice of life) saddest shit i’ve seen in my whole life in a colorful packaging. heterosexual as hell but not in an obnoxious way. cast seems diverse but it’s predominantly male

3gatsu no lion (drama) from the same great umino chica who is a master at writing uncomfortable truths and playing on emotions. she’s great truly, her character crafting is genuine but it gets under your skin, it’s filled with melancholy. 3gatsu is actually better than hachimitsu to clover but 1) i have history with the former so i like it better and 2) it was produced by shaft which is a sin in itself. they did a great job and all, i just hate the studio. has 3 speaking female characters in total but all 3 are great.

hoozuki no reitetsu (comedy) it’s hilarious it’s fresh it’s pretty it’s original it’s creative it’s clever. i love everything about it. the whole cast is male with like 2 exceptions and a rabbit (best girl).

saiunkoku monogatari (historical) i know it LOOKS like heterosexual shoujo garbage but it in fact isn’t. fits the reverse harem trope solely because everyone is in love with mc, but there’s next to no actual romance in it. unironically a feminist power fantasy. i’m still shooketh at how incredibly pleasant it turned out to be. the mc is a young girl but the rest of the cast is almost exclusively male.

arakawa under the bridge (comedy) surprisingly… by shaft again. maybe i am prejudiced. anyway, hilarious to a fault. is technically centered around a str8 romance but it’s not too invasive so whatever. cast is pretty balanced and the women are written smartly.

saint oniisan (comedy) THE funniest thing i’ve ever watched, or nearly. it’s just great. same author as above. cast exclusively male

doukyuusei (gay romance) which i refuse to categorize as BL simply because it’s not BL. it’s a good gay story, arguably the best one yet. cast is exclusively male but i mean lmao

gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun (comedy) straight to A FAULT but funny nevertheless. is, technically, heterosexual shoujo garbage. but SOME heterosexual shoujo garbage can stay i guess. cast is balanced, there’s still more male characters tho

gokusen (comedy/action) which i don’t remember much about except kumiko being best girl and me liking it. if i remember liking it it means it was good overall just not memorable. cast is exclusively male except mc.

kaleido star (sports) which is the ONLY good, or like decent, or like watchable sports anime, the rest don’t exist. not based on a manga but the writer is a woman which is strongly felt through and through. good story about perseverance and will and optimism and competition. cast is predominantly female and all of them are wonderfully written

michiko to hatchin (adventure) again no manga but main writer is the woman known for creating the skating BL people pretend isn’t BL. michiko to hatchin is way better than the skating BL, but i’m just a humble girl. tons of sexy sexy i could have lived without but otherwise good shit. cast predominantly female.

mushishi (mystery/fantasy) mushishi is just unique. it has similar vibes to saraiya goyou and natsume sure, but ultimately it’s one of its kind. it has what ghibli wants. again no criticism about it at all except that it’s SO chill that binging it is super tiring. cast is predominantly male but it has few reoccurring characters so who cares.

natsume yuujinchou (mystery/fantasy) again similar to mushishi but less grim. chill story, the definition of wholesome unproblematic etc whatever kids are into these days. cast predominantly male but not memorable in the slightest

petshop of horrors (horror) watched it a million years ago so don’t remember shit but i do remember liking it. cast is probably predominantly male

sakamoto desu ga (comedy) well THE actual funniest thing i’ve ever watched, it licherally had me in tears, i watched the new episodes like 3 times on the days they came out, including watching them on tv in real time at like 3 am or whenever it aired in shinya. just really really funny. cast predominantly male.

#anon #ppl have recced me dungeon meshi so many times bc it's similar to gk one day...... one day i will check it out #then again ppl also say that vinland saga is similar to gk and boy it is not i fell asleep like 509 times while watching it so

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calciferous-kelpie · 3 years

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Breaking Young Artists ft. Kirby

So I woke up today at 8AM (which is highly unlike me) with the extreme urge to write about my shitty experiences as a young creator online. I’ve never really talked about this with anyone before, at least not to the extent that I’m going to now. But yeah. Here we go. Yay.

Today we’re talking about the Kirby fandom, but it’s okay if you don’t know shit about Kirby because we’re actually talking about fandom gatekeeping more than anything.

Most of you probably didn’t know I was into the Kirby franchise at one point, and that’s completely intentional. I’ve put that part of my life far behind me, and let me tell you, I don’t look back on it with much fondness, despite the fact that I was in the fandom for years.

Here’s one of the many reasons why!

This is JP. My Kirby fan character from forbidden days no longer spoken of.

“Wait, so JP? Like… Jigglypuff?”

Yes.

“And this was your Kirby fan character?”

Yes.

“Oh.”

Yes.

My lack of creativity should be apparent to anyone who looks at this character. JP’s creation is lazy and self-indulgent. She is clearly the Pokemon Jigglypuff with some minor redesigns who was then shoved into the Kirby universe for no good reason.

When I first made her, I had no real intention of explaining why she was basically just Jigglypuff, but as I continued to develop her, I began to consider what it would be like to explain her appearance—to create a story where Pokemon and Kirby both existed together on, like, different planets in a vast universe. She was going to be half Jigglypuff and half… whateverthefuck you want to call Kirby’s species.

You can still find art of her buried deep in my DeviantArt gallery (as well as 21 chapters of a story I will never, ever complete), but I don’t talk about her anymore. And this is why.

It all happened back around 2010-2012, which meant I was about 12-14 at the time. This was back when DeviantArt was still the main hub for all artists (lmao) and tumblr was still kind of new on the scene. A cool new trend popping up in fandom spaces at this time was the creation of “your oc is terrible” tumblr blogs, which—as the term implies—existed simply to make fun of artists who had crappy characters. They would reupload artists’ works and laugh at how lame or unoriginal their designs were.

These people were trend-setters, making fun of cringe character designs before “cringe” was even a word used to describe them. And before you fall for the fun hipster wording here: no, this did not make them admirable. They were, in fact, assholes.

Some of these blogs liked to pretend they “poked fun” in the spirit of “constructive criticism” but very few of these people actually offered anything outside of insults. (Besides, even if their feedback had been constructive, none of these artists whose work they’d reuploaded had asked for this and probably should have just been left alone.)

You can probably see where I’m going with all of this. My art of JP was uploaded to a couple of these “crappy oc” blogs, and I was ridiculed for having dared to create a thing.

I discovered my art had been taken from my DeviantArt gallery and uploaded to tumblr (a site I didn’t even have an account on at the time) without my knowledge. My signature had been blocked out (to protect my privacy I guess??? lmfao) and my work had been openly mocked for the enjoyment of an audience. People complained about my shitty character, saying that she was literally just Jigglypuff dressed up to look like an OC. They rolled their eyes at her name and her appearance. And in no uncertain terms, I was deemed a bad artist and a bad member of fandom—a warning to other new artists of what to never be.

I wasn’t told any of this to my face, of course, which I guess was supposed to be a blessing. Rather, I had the lovely privilege of discovering that people were mocking me behind my back for their own satisfaction. It could have even been one of my friends who had brought my work up for mockery. I’ll never know.

But let me tell you, there’s not a lot that’s more discouraging than learning people are ridiculing you just out of earshot.

I wish I had had the foresight to take screenshots of the posts these people made. To document the insults and the way I was treated when I asked them to take my art down from their blog. Unfortunately, I don’t have that. I was young and ashamed and just wanted the experience to be over with. But you know what? The receipts don’t matter, anyway.

I don’t need to prove that I didn’t deserve that treatment.

Today, I acknowledge that my character was lame and kind of uncreative. But that certainly doesn’t mean that the people who made fun of me were in the right. I had never claimed to be a brilliant character creator—some great example of unique OCs and unparalleled storytelling. And hell, even if I had done that, it wouldn’t have given anyone the right to stomp on my imagination the way these people did. I was just a kid.

It’s 2021 now. I’m nearly 23 years old, and it’s been about a decade since this happened to me. I haven’t thought about this horrible event in detail for some time, but I need you to understand that even when I’m not actively thinking about this, my life as an artist is affected by it every day.

I’m still ashamed to share much of anything about my characters. I still worry constantly that I’m being cringey, self-indulgent, or a “bad artist.” Some days I manage to create with beautiful, reckless abandon, but then when the dreaming ends, I look back on what I’ve created and fuss, and worry, and doubt. (Ever wonder why you rarely see my work?)

I know the culture around OCs online has improved in a lot of ways since the 2010’s, but I still want to put this message out there. I want everyone to know why this sort of thing isn’t okay. I want my history to be documented so that maybe some new, excited artist doesn’t have to go through what I did.

TL;DR:

Never make fun of someone for having an uncreative or “cringey” character. It’s crappy to do to any artist of any age, but especially if you do this to a kid of all people—a young artist who is just learning the ropes and learning to be creative. This shit sticks with a person, and it can and will inhibit their ability to create amazing things in the future. If you put down an artist for being bad at design or being cringey, you are an awful person.

And to the people responsible for putting my dumbass little timmy’s-first-OC on tumblr blogs to be sneered at and mocked, I mean this will all my heart:

Fuck you! :)

#kirby #fan character #oc #fc #gatekeeping #fandom #fandom drama #fandom culture #criticism #hoshi no kaabii #kirby right back at ya #pokemon #jigglypuff #rant #long post #cal screeches #might have to edit this later idfk if it makes any sense

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