#also emphasising the fact i did this with no sketch

[abanjoplayingplatypus]

Idk if its smth I've mentioned before but my nans a watercolour artist and today she tried to give me a lesson on different coloured lighting and painting without a sketch and whatever :)

Not completely sure I did what she wanted well but I DO now have a painting of the island of lost dakotas

#ignore the fact that i dropped water right in the middle lmao #also emphasising the fact i did this with no sketch #like im PROUD #milo murphys law #mml #island of lost dakotas #fanart #painting #watercolour

[sanctus-ingenium]

u guys wanna see more WIPs... similar to the last post, here are Some WIPs

all of these were started in sai before going on to procreate. before going back to sai again in the case of the strength card

so Blue Sky/Out Of Time... yeah it’s extremely self-explanatory, it’s very obvious what this scene depicts and i’m sure everyone gets it (this is a joke i’ve had multiple people dm me asking wtf this even is). the one element that absolutely NEEDED to be there was the LED digital clock with a bullshit time on it, and i decided to replace it with an AIRE warning sign instead and put the LED readouts in the bg. the warning sign in this setting serves the purpose of informing ppl when there are hostile faeries around. i knew what the colours would be from the beginning, but it took a bit for me to realise what sort of shading style i wanted (it took forever). but i did know i wanted to contrast the very sketchy black void against the cleaner and almost cartoony/comic book style rest of the drawing, to emphasise the fact that the foreground sky and background void are made of two very different things. again i used a colour shifting brush to quickly make all the shards of sky different colours, but originally i planned to have some of the shards be dark or night time (with stars or the moon etc). unfortunately it didn’t work, it was too dark and pascal got lost against it.

My Eyes Are Up Here is pretty obviously the exact same scene with the same character, in the same field, but with a different sort of atmosphere. i sketched this in sai then did the final in procreate. originally it was going to have a black background

i really like this version tbh but the blue works better. i think he looks good against dark backgrounds where it’s kind of hard to see wtf is even happening there

so about the neon signs..... i’m well aware that the sketch has way more promise than what the final ultimately was, and that’s because i found that i didn’t have the technical or artistic ability to pull off the complex neon signs like i wanted to. i couldn’t get it looking good enough so i had to scrap them. but these signs will be back, i want to draw them properly and do them justice. the gif was unplanned too but i thought it would be fun to have the flicker be very intermittent so that if you scrolled past it you might not even realise, or you’d have to stick with it just to catch it looping. i used GIMP to make the gif and change the frame rate, and this actually took a very long time because i had to preview it over and over. anyway if you WERE to get lost in the púca’s field, in this story, you would see neon signs like this encouraging you to follow them.

Strength is actually the last drawing i ever made that ended with a paint-over in sai, and the oldest drawing here. as such i actually don’t think it’s representative of my current ability but i do have a soft spot for it for sentimental reasons lol. the reason for the paint-over in sai was because i drew this at a time when i still did not trust procreate to be able to place the level of finish on it that i wanted

the background took me a thousand years to figure out. literally it was so annoying that i considered scrapping it for something simpler. but the idea was for it to be a kind of fairytale-ish lost in the woods sort of look while also appearing like the blood vessels around the human heart. the branches were also supposed to be heart-shaped in cross-section but i spent so long zoomed in painting them that i forgot to zoom out to see if all those fine details were actually visible, and it turned out they weren’t. i was disappointed that i couldn’t get félix’s tattoos to look right but that’s what i get for making a character with shit tons of both tattoos and body hair. i also got rid of the foreground branches really soon because they weren’t adding anything and muddied up the readability of his pose

the swan is from a daemon au and bears no relation to my other swan characters. i just like swans a lot

#this again!

[randomyuu]

so hold my hand (consign me not to darkness) [1/4]

Ah, yes. The fic that made me realise I’m in desperate need of Cursed Spirit Gojou in my ever-growing favourite GoYuu tropes.

Content Warning!

Major Character Death. Other characters are disrespectful to the corpse.

I highly suggest you read the fic first, or just the fic, since I don’t think I was properly able to adapt it into drawings. While I managed to use roughly two weeks of on-and-off planning, researching, and storyboarding, I only had a full week to finish it. You can read more of my thoughts below the comic if you’re curious.

Title: so hold my hand (consign me not to darkness)

Author: qalb_al_louz

It’s ongoing, and as of this drawing, the fic is in its third chapter. While this is (sexually) SFW, always be mindful of the tags! Please keep yourself safe and sound.

Please read from right to left, and enjoy!

You can only upload 30 images in one post, huh Damn, I gotta divide it into parts

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Alrighty, I'll put my watered down unhinged thoughts below. No extra drawings down there if you're curious haha (unless you want to see the storyboard and the characters' full body character sheet, lemme know). You can skip the stuff underneath the Keep Reading for all parts.

This fic had me grinning from ear to ear every time I read this. The atmosphere, how it goes from POV to POV—of pure fear and panic—and the peak excitement I got when Yuuji properly meets Gojou, like brooooo 😭

Gosh I cannot emphasise how much I love this fic. I’ve always been wanting to make a whole comic out of it, especially since it was 2 chapters and it doesn’t look like the author will update it, but it just… kind of forgotten ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

But then the author posted a new chapter and I told myself this is a sign I should really start.

also goddamn I was so naive to think I can tackle 2 chapters as comic—no I was in fact cannot

The moment I laid my eyes on the first paragraph, things were portrayed very vividly in my mind. The panel, the angle, Gojou's head rolling down... I was like, hell yeah. Then I continued reading and I finally succumbed to my desire to draw this out.

At first I want to adapt this into a vertical format like those manhwas. However the longer I try to learn and storyboard it... I am simply not yet comfortable with it, especially for such a big project. Even the 1st storyboard starts vaguely vertical before the panels quickly crammed into that B4-B5 format lol. The first sketch estimated 69 (heh) pages for 90% of chapter 1. I said "no" for my own sanity and fully focused on the usual manga format and it was narrowed down to 60. Still a lot though, quantity and time-wise. So with a heavy heart, I can only do the majority of chapter 1 :”) I really really want to draw Sukuna talks back to Gojou—do you have any idea how good that scene was??? Gojou tried so hard to restrain himself, he’s so other I love him 😭

Due to the sheer length of this comic (I'm still in disbelief), I have limit lots of things, and that includes the drawing. If you've seen my other JJK fanarts, they are more rendered than this one. Well, this one is purely sketched with the help of the eraser to tidy up some lines. This is also the first fanart that I did purely on Photoshop, so I can control the typesets and drawings in one place. Usually, I use Photoshop for panels and typesetting and Krita for drawing.

I don't really like Photoshop's brush, but it did really well in curbing my perfectionist tendencies, so that's good.

It's also been quite a while since I draw in general (sobs) so... yeah, you might find differences, or not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

I know setting is important, but maaan I genuinely won't miss rereading chapter 83-93 with a heavy focus on background and character locations. I just want to read the action and dialogue😭 However continuity is really important. But my spatial intelligence is almost non-existent even GPS sometimes can't help me. All I'm saying is that if you find some silly drawing mistakes, do forgive me ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿I only drew all this in a week because otherwise I won't have another chance to complete this.

Well, lots of things I won't miss from this project, but haha let's talk about the characters instead because holy shit what was I thinking, starting this year drawing this many characters in the same project??? I have never drawn anyone here except for Yuuji, Gojou, Nanami and Megumi. I don't think I've ever drawn older Getou before. I already forgot how to draw my boy Yuuji and I gotta draw all these people???

This is what you call making a bad decision, kids. Don't do your "drawing warmup" after months of not drawing and tackling a project of a scale way bigger than you've ever tackled before.

Thank you for reading this far! I hope you find my complaint entertaining! But make no mistake, I genuinely still love the fic. Drawing this, even with all the headaches it gave me, only makes me adore this fic even more.

Thank you very much to each one of you who follows and leaves comments and tags on my silly art—it never failed to make my day :D And I sincerely wish this one also made your day or even made your minute! I'll see you in the next part!

#yuu's art #jjk-fic-fanart #jjk-ship #五悠 #goyuu #goyu #5u #gojou x yuuji #shibuya arc #shibuya arc canon divergence #lots of characters on this one #kenjaku #chousou #mahito #jogo jjk #gojo satoru

[notecapn]

Itto looks like the type to say “hubby” unironically, love this guy

uh, my first concept of Heizou from arranged marriage au by @throwingstuffhere, thank you for inspiration there!

design explanation under the cut

uh.. look, character design is hard, and this is one of the first ideas i came up with after staring at Kamisatos for a while. this will change, if i ever do this again

there was this reddit post about Ayato’s design and how it was majorly inspired by Japanese Meiji era clothes, worn by both nobility and samurais, it is here, if you are curious

here, my main problem was, well, Heizou is decidedly not a samurai, so a lot of design choices for Kamisato siblings or even Thoma wouldn’t fit, he needs more space to move

so the liberties i’ve taken here (in this iteration, again, if i decide to work on this more i most likely will change things i didn’t do enough research for it to be any form of final design), i took Ayato’s design and adjusted it:

instead of Ayato’s coat, which will constrict his movements, flail around and overall be very impractical, here he wears a cloak, which is easy to remove and put it back on (and i imagine he’d flick the cloak dramatically); the Yashiro commission crest on his back

instead of the tight western trousers he’d wear hakama pants (or something along those lines), which also allows him more freedom

now, like Ayato, he’s also wearing kimono, but after sitting on it i’ve started to lean towards a western shirt under, but those tend to be tight as well, so cropped? Heizou doesn’t tend to worry about propriety and it wouldn’t be visible anyway, so that might be one of the changes i’d make 

unlike Ayato who wears at least four layers of fabric, Heizou would have at most three and that’s counting the cloak

to emphasise the fact that Heizou is a part of the family, but is distancing himself from them, I’m giving him clothing of similar style, but slightly different colour scheme (i know this image is not coloured, bear with me): 

Kamisatos’ accents colours are deep blues, purples, golds. well, in Ayaka’s case, it’s more pink then purple, but I’m wilfully ignoring that, now it’s light purple

Heizou in this au might wear gold and purple, and burgundy (or maybe orange-ish brown like his shorts from his og design) as “his own” color, so he fits in, but also not really

every Kamisato (Thoma, obviously, included) has their visions motif in their clothing (or, well, their main outfits ig, i didn’t look at Ayaka’s new dress): so Heizou’s most likely will be on his cloak, like Thoma or Ayato, or his pants, like Ayaka’s dress. which also could tie into his character arc, if it comes to that: Heizou accepts his role and instead of the burgundy he’d wear his vision’s blue-ish green, so his colour scheme is closer to the siblings

did you know that inazuman designs tend to have a lot of rope and ties? well, i didn’t until before i started this thing, so naturally this design is too simple for Inazuma and genshin in general, so it needs more work

also i made his hair a bit less unruly then i would normally do (not that anyone could tell) and he doesn’t have the tie 

actually nvm here’s the “canon” Heizou in my style

and if the lineart looks like shit, here's the sketch

#genshin impact #arranged marriage au #shikanoin heizou #technically kamisato heizou #kamisato ayato #arataki itto #ayahei #i swear im not insane #this is literally me learning how to lineart in csp haha #genshin fanart #as much as i love itto i was not ready to draw his whole design #i suddenly remembered why i stopped drawing huh #turns out art is time consuming and im a senior in uni figure that #notecapn art

[kuroshitsuji-igurisshu]

Illustration of Rich Black

𖤐Hello everyone Kuronians𖤐

Today I would like to tell you about the illustration Yanuzza did for the 15th anniversary of the series. The illustration in question was presented as the official visual of the Rich Black or the magnificent exhibition that perfectly summed up every facet of the work.Being a very complex illustration, that is probably why it was simplified in the G-fantasy magazine while still bringing the same atmosphere.In addition, the illustration we see in the magazine was the first idea she sketched, whereas, the Rich Black illustration she came up with by modifying the initial idea several times.

Dwelling on Rich Black's illustration, we are immediately catapulted into a gloomy and cold atmosphere, where the figures of birds flying away certainly do not help to make this illustration more welcoming.We can say that the scene takes place on a chessboard where we notice the two protagonists in the foreground. Sebastian, and especially 'Ciel', are wearing very peculiar clothes, so peculiar that our attention lingers only on them.

Apparently Sebastian's tailcoat looks like the usual garment he always wears, but when seen up close, one can see that behind the back it has a black lace embroidery depicting a horned skull crowned with beautiful lilies. Just above the swallowtails one can see another lace decoration containing two buttons.The trousers, seemingly innocuous, have a side band with lace encrustations forming the Roman characters XV or the number fifteen.

If Sebastian's look amazed you with its elegance, that of 'Ciel' is undoubtedly on another level. Starting from the jacket, you can see some very peculiar brooches, in fact each of them represents an arc from the manga. They are all placed on the jacket, except for one, namely the brooch that specularly represents two identical skulls. This brooch represents the Blue Memory arc and happens to be placed on the shoe. At first glance it might look like an anti-brother gesture, but in fact it is anything but, because in non-verbal communication it is the feet that are the most truthful body part. If we do not like someone unconsciously when they come towards us to talk to us we will not tilt our foot towards them, symbolising a kind of 'non-acceptance' rather we will turn away or something. Perhaps with this gesture Yanuzza wanted to emphasise the relationship he had, and has, with his brother, because despite everything he will always remain a part of him.As with the butler, we have the same skull motif with lace lilies on the jacket of the human puppy. The illustration, or rather, the clothes are so well-rendered and detailed that it is easy to get lost in the details, such as the dark train of 'Ciel' ending in skulls.

Nevertheless, this is not the real message of the illustration, because the interesting part is behind it. It will not be very easy to explain this also because the illustration is so complex that it is not really easy to see the pawns. Yes, the pawns. Behind Sebastian and 'Ciel' there are several white pawns, not random pawns, this because we saw them in Emerald Witch where Yanuzza associated the colour white with the enemy.

White pawns

Bishop = Joker

Knight = Undertaker

Pawn = Doll

Queen = Victory

In between Sebastian and 'Ciel' we can see a strange pawn, this because it is missing a piece. The pawn in question is actually that of Undertaker, the horse, whose head they 'decapitated'.On either side we can see the pawns associated with Joker and Ciel in a strange pairing... Joker is on 'Ciel's side, while Ciel on Sebastian's side. Indeed, our count has exterminated the Noah's Ark Circus and surely Joker (perhaps Polaris) will want revenge. As for Sebastian, well... he's the cause of Ciel's death and I don't think there's anything more to add. Behind the human cub is the queen's pawn, obviously associated with Victoria, but unlike the side pawns, it seems to be going the way of the horse, since it's in an unsteady position that suggests an imminent crash. Even its position does not seem coincidental, considering the great power Victoria has over 'Ciel'.

The scenario of this illustration almost seems to announce a battle, a battle that 'Ciel' will face head-on and with confidence given the way it is drawn. For the first time, we have a young man with his legs spread wide apart, in a commanding position of confidence, as if marking territory. Perhaps later Yanuzza will show us a new 'Ciel'? After all, he still has to take back his villa.

Even in this illustration we have two readings: the first is on the two protagonists who, with their peculiar clothing, not only distract us from everything else, but also bring attention to the essence of Kuroshitsuji, giving us a broad vision of the series.The same vision we had in Rich Black where each story arc had its own corner with exclusive panels, unpublished plates and more.The second reading is in the background and, unlike the first, here we do not have a focus on the series in general but on what could be a hypothetical future of the events of the manga.

If you are curious to see more of my posts, you can find me on IG as Kuroshitsuji_itaru 😈

#black butler #ciel phantomhive #kuroshitsuji #manga #sebastian michaelis #yana toboso #illustration #twisted wonderland #phantomhive twins #earl phantomhive #kuroshitpost #black butler soma

[mimjandoodlesstuff]

April Fusions haha

They kept rotting my brain for a hot second so I started writing up concepts myself, but then this ask properly sprung me into action. @bluepeachstudios you've done it again with the hinting!

I suppose the only really interesting things about these takes are how I named them. I already have a fusion storyline planned for my own TMNT iteration, and the Turtles fuse with April in it so I combined their names there. I didn't want to do that again here, so instead I took a more unique approach. I named them after each of the Turtles' VAs' birthday months (because, you know, April). I mean, why not utilise canon/meta/out-of-universe facts for a project like this? I can't do this for my own characters. I did have two rules in place in case any of them overlapped, of which I was forced to use one.

May

May is probably my least favourite out of the bunch. There's really nothing about her that screams Leo besides like- a shell, blue eyes, injuries... It's probably therefore not surprising I drew her first, so I really didn't know what I wanted to emphasise and so on. I should probably have had her face the camera more to get a better sense of her jawline. Make sure to make it nice and boxy lol

The plastron pride flags are demigirl, aroace and lesbian. While I do in my heart of hearts believe Leo has a not insignificant crush on Captain Ryan, I still wanted our gal to be a flaming lesbian despite that lol.

March

March was incredibly fun to draw, and not just because @bluecookiesabi is an absolute joy to hang out with (thank the heavens for Discord streams!). I just really like drawing more feminine characters. I had most likely already sketched both May and March before I found the ask so I didn't know March is agender, but I don't think that's a problem at all. Agender people are allowed to be feminine, after all. And I don't consider Donnie to be some pinnacle of masculinity to begin with.

I figured, since the fic tags state that Donnie's autistic here, I'd give March just fluffy socks and slippers to keep dust and dirt from their feet for sensory reasons. That is definitely not projection on my part.

They're kind of giving 2003 April vibes with their hair in a bun. That was a happy accident which I'm really glad I kept to.

January

January is just green April. Hers and Mikey's designs are already so incredibly similar in-canon I'm convinced she'd look pretty much exactly like him had she been mutated into a turtle. I didn't even feel the need to open January's eyes since they'd just be the same shade of blue more or less.

I don't have much to say about him other than she was fun to draw. Gymnastics poses are honestly kind of therapeutic to draw. But also, how are they able to make that pose? The answer is simple: January is just built different.

I also labelled xir as only aroace since I don't know what you have planned for Mikey.

September

I'm really happy with how he turned out. While sketching I couldn't get the pose really working but once I did she really came together. I'd say September is the only Fusion (besides maybe March) that actually looks like the people he's made up of merged. Raph's stocky build fits April surprisingly well. And the choice to give her April's kunoichi getup but tattered was a really good idea in my opinion, and I'd like to give @pechtothevoid the credit they are so deservedly owed for that idea.

While not fic accurate at all, I had such a difficult time coming up with a good weapon for September. Who knew combining sai with tessen would be difficult? So instead I gave her a boomerang, which reminded me of Sokka, so I just straight up gave him Sokka's boomerang. I like the idea of her, upon fusing, just snagging Sokka's boomerang from the Mae Whitman-verse and using it as a blunt force weapon. I wanted to in a similar vein give him the One Ring from the Sean Astin-verse, but I couldn't get that to look good no matter how I placed it.

I like the name rules I came up with. Basically, since I didn't know in which months any of their actors were born in I had to come up with a replacement idea for naming in case any of them happen to overlap. The first rule was that if Rob and Greg happened to share a month with anyone else, the Donnie and Mikey Fusions would automatically get assigned December and May respectively. If Seth or Sean were to have overlapped with anyone, Leo's and Raph's Fusions would get the/a month whose first letter is the closest to either character's first name. March and January checked out, but since Seth and Sean are both born in February, I was forced to assign Leo and Raph May and September each. Small price to pay, honestly.

Tcest DNI and NO REPOSTING. Both groups can go die UwU

#mimjan draws #mimjan draws fanart #do not repost #tmnt 2012 fanfic #tcesters leave or you will mutate into car bacteria #once again did 'Fusions' eat any semblance of braincells I have #it's such a good fic and trope though so who can blame me? #and trying to combine characters that are completely different animal species and sexes into one was unsurprisingly really difficult #but a fun challenge in creativity and problem solving #I should do these kinds of projects more often. they're fun #even if the lack of clear sex characteristics in the Turtles' designs infuriated me #I seriously had no plastron shape to mess around with and make more androgynous smh #they didn't even look male in the show itself since they're flat/convex so I had to mess with the Fusions' plastrons in some other way

[storytime-reviews]

Romantic Comedy Book Review

With a series of heartbreaks under her belt, Sally Milz - successful script writer for a legendary late-night TV comedy show - has long abandoned the search for love.

But when her friend and fellow writer begins to date a glamorous actress, he joins the growing club of interesting but average-looking men who get romantically involved with accomplished, beautiful women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch, poking fun at this 'social rule'. The reverse never happens for a woman.

Then Sally meets Noah, a pop idol with a reputation for dating models. But this isn't a romantic comedy - it's real life. Would someone like him ever date someone like her?

Rating: ★★★ 1/2

So my main problem is that there were some aspects of this book that I loved and some that I really didn't like, although I will admit that the narrative gets better along the way. Most of my issues with Romantic Comedy occurred in the first third or so, so it's surprising that I actually continued with it. I guess you could say that I saw some promise in it, and I am glad that I kept going.

Something that stood out to me with the first third or so of the book, much of which occurs at the studio in which Sally works as a comedy writer (clearly inspired by Saturday Night Live) is that for a book about a comedy writer, Romantic Comedy is just not funny. That's not to say it has to be, the problem is that this book is definitely trying to be, and it just isn't. Especially when it focuses so heavily on the comedy sketches at the beginning. I also didn't like how Noah spoke in that first pitch meeting, it sounded so fake, like when you can tell a character is written because it just doesn't feel realistic.

Sally is incredibly preoccupied with the appearance of other women to the point it's incredibly noticeable and felt uncomfortable for me to read. In using her point of view here I understand it's meant to get the point across that she's different, and really emphasise she's not someone that a musical star would typically fall for, but it felt like too much. Something else that just didn't work for me in this book is how some of the 'issues' mentioned feel very performative, especially with the two white main characters discussing racism and BLM protests.

However, once Romantic Comedy switched to the emails format, I found myself enjoying this book immensely. It was fun to be a little bit different, and a great way to showcase the perspectives of both Sally and Noah and get them interacting a little more directly. I loved this approach because it allowed them to develop their banter and chemistry and kept it interesting as they dealt with constant miscommunication, defensiveness and jealousy issues.

Their interactions feel realistic, especially the ways in which they respond negatively and then have to work on their communication to address their feelings. Of course they make plenty of mistakes and assumptions about each other, but I loved watching it play out as they struggled to stop letting their own issues impact on the other person. There is plenty of chemistry between them, especially in those emails. In fact, I think Sittenfeld did her best writing with these emails than in any of the other scenes.

Sally in particular gets combative and aggressive when things get real and become emotional, and I love it so much because it makes her real to me. Because this is exactly what I do. So as much as some aspects of her characterisation drive me nuts, there are other parts like this that make me so glad I read this book until the end. The characterisations of both Sally and Noah are deepened throughout the narrative and pulled apart and put back together. What I also enjoy about their relationship is that they call each other out on their shit.

Warnings: sexism & misogyny, references to racism, references to drug use and addiction, references to eating disorders and suicide, sex scenes

#booklr #romantic comedy #curtis sittenfeld #tbrbusterchallenge2023 #bookbanditchallenge #reading #books #book review

[sarambcreates]

Hand and Eye: Final decisions before the making of the publications

Today we had group tutorials where I received a lot of feedback and suggestions from my tutor and classmates. I showed up with the dummy publication I did the day before, as well as an experimentation I did on procreate of what the first two pages could possibly look like. On the left I used the exact page of digital sketches I did of the fish, and changed the colour and added the waves in the background. I chose orange as it is quite contrasting, and blue to make it under the sea looking. I also felt like it complimented with my intention to give the first few pages a peaceful/children’s storytelling atmosphere to then be interrupted by the turn at the end. I also hads to thicken many lines in order to make the shapes pop out more against the patterned background, and it ended making the skitches also more three dimensional due to the differences in line weight. The white lines did look a bit off, as they felt like they were disrupting the fish sketches, so I decided to use the white form the paper as a third colour and use it on the highlights of the fish, in order to give depth to the sketches, as well make the pattern and fish be in more visual harmony. The second page were new sketches based on photos I did in the aquarium, and since they were not such rapid sketches like the first ones they look neater and more refined, so I already know I will have to refine the original ones as well. While not ready, I tried to centralize the fish I chose to be the main character, but not touching the dividing line as when the publication opens it might be a bit curved and the reader would see it a bit distorted. 

when I added waves and colour

when I added line weight 

experiment of first two pages 

Feedback I got from tutorial:

- colours are good choice, vibrant and achieve my intention to make it peaceful looking

- use fo white for depth was also a good choice and effective

- My reflection on the dummy publication where I realised that the shark scene has to be the very last page and isolated by itself is a good choice, it helps create the surprise of the turn of events

- It was pointed out that I did not include the wave pattern in the page where the fish enters the castle, and it was a good thing to think about. I realised I did not because he was indoors and not in open water, but it does break the fluidity of the patterns and disrupts the overall underwater setting. I need to think about whether I won’t use it in order to emphasise its an enclosed, isolated space from the open body of water of the sea, or if I should include it.

- I brought up my doubts about the composition of the final page and my initial idea to have the point of view of it to be from within the sharks open mouth, and make the focuse be the fish’s reaction, vs the fact the fish would look awkward from that perspective. I was suggested to go back to somewhere I can see this fish in person in different perspectives, or even change the type of fish I chose for the main fish

Following said suggestion, I went to a fish store and took several photos of a fish as it moved, in order to capture several angles. I ended up changing the fish type as I do not know the name of the fish I used originally, as well as the new fish being very interesting to look at and therefore draw. It would make it easier for this fish to be recognised as the main character from the very first page where there are so many fish. With these images I went home and sketched that fish in several different perspectives:

After drawing I finalised that it was a good decision to change the main character fish. The several different angles creates movement, and even having the option of opening its mouth or not adds a sense of personality and expression to the fish, which I can manipulate to add the fish’s emotion as part of the narrative. Given these decisions I can finally start making the final outcome.

[dawnmarshalimekaraca]

Character Sheet Process- The Leader

I decided to redo my sketch before moving to the linework. I didn't want to have to figure out details as I went along, especially since I was doing multiple views.

I decided to change the cloth around her middle for a loosen belt/scarf. As I mentioned in my other post, I really wanted her to look like a priest or a shaman so I added a lot of different patterns and textures and layered her clothes a bit more.

After that, I moved onto the line work. This part was extremely time consuming for me since I never put this amount of detail into clothing and so, trying to keep the line art clean took me a longer time than usual.

While researching different clothes from around the world I discovered that tassels were seen as high status in royalty, military and church dress code, and so I added some as well. These really tied the design together and gave it that religious look.

I also added some fringe on the scarf / belt around her waist. Details like these make a lot of difference in the finish product.

The second most tedious part of the project was when I added the flat colours, There were a lot of little details I had to make sure I wasn't forgetting to colour but in the end I am very happy with her colour scheme. The blue-ish greys work very well with her skin tone and the silver accents.

While I didn't add a lot of detail and rendering into these character sheets since I was going for a specific style, I still really wanted to emphasise the silver details and jewellery all over her clothes.

Having had characters in past projects with similar shiny, metal details, this was pretty easy and straightforward to figure out.

I had a bit of a hard time trying to make the glass on hear look transparent and so I decided to look up a tutorial. The artist in this video demonstrated how glass reflects colour and how to render and highlight glass in order to make it look transparent and glossy.

I started with the base colours. I tried to use multiple shades of blue and show how the glass is supposed to be clear and pieces of glass that are more far behind can be seen through the ones in the front.

This was not easy to doe due to the fact that I worked on a small scale, which made adding a lot of details very difficult, especially in such a crowded area on the design.

After that, I started to use warmer mid-tones and colours from her complexion to show how the glass reflects her skin and her surroundings.

I also very subtly did that with the jewellery around her neck since it was closer to her face I figured some of the reds would show on the metal as well.

I finished by adding some blood at the base of the glass and sliding down her checks. This gruesome detail really accentuated the fact that this glass is supposed to be deep in her skull and eye sockets.

After that, I moved onto the rest of the body and shaded the clothes . This was fairly easy since there weren't many tension points on her clothes and the material was mostly dropping down which meant not many folds would form aside from where her raised hand would wrinkle the sleeve.

I also added some simple highlights around one side of her body which made the sheet look a lot more professional. I find myself doing this with all my art now and it gives a very cartoony yet professional effect.

[jjyusmile]

enchanting | hwang inyeop

pairing: badboy!hwang inyeop x {gender-neutral} reader

genre: fluff, suggestive

warnings: suggestive nature, alcohol, an almost accident, fwb if that makes you uncomfortable!

word count: 5.1k

taglist: @katinthemoon

A/N: happy true beauty season finale day! I hope you enjoy this dedication to our favourite second lead <33 give inyeop lots of love on his socials because he deserves it!! 

»»——————————-——————————————-««

you couldn’t help but think to yourself.

was it the way he walked? the way he held his head so high that his fluffy hair almost touched the clouds? was it the way he thought the world revolved around him? his cocky aura screaming ‘look at me! look at me!!’?

and yet, he was nothing like you had imagined. saying that second “yes” completely warped your world – how much longer can I stick to this friend with benefits thing?

the thought spurred a memory of how you first met. somehow… you ended up in his clutches. he was the boy who wandered the corridors, his disciples in toe, and nobody could touch him. except somehow… you did. well, kind of.

you remember it clear as day. it was a thursday night, your fluffy socks rested against the hard wood of your coffee table in front of you as you chatted on facetime to your parents. when your stomach grumbled, so loud that maeum, your fluffy chow-chow, lifted her head from against the armrest with curiosity as to wear the sound came from. such inquisitive eyebrows for a nonchalant pup that barely batted an eyelash unless you were filling her dinner bowl.

“even we heard that…” your dad’s smile filled the screen, a light teasing in his tone. you thought to yourself when the last time you ate was… it hadn’t been today.

“why don’t you head out and grab something good for yourself from the convenience store? I know you don’t cook for yourself, my baby.” your mother’s disapproving tone caused your eyes to roll -- miles away and she still nagged about the fact you ate nothing but instant noodles if you could be bothered.

“okay, ma. I’ll go do that. thank you for your concern.” short and snappy, your patience wore thin. probably because she was right and you were absolutely ready to devour some food.

a few air kisses later, and you were gliding the zipper up to just beneath your nose, the sherpa material insulating all heat it could as you brace yourself for the bitter cold. maeum’s tail wiggled excitedly in anticipation, her harness wrapped snuggly against her fur. “come on then,” you giggled at the way she span around energetically as you unlocked your front door. she practically knew the route to the convenience store by now… for a 6-month old chow, she was very intuitive.

out the door. down the hall. press the call button and wait for the elevator with patience. get into the elevator (you had to carry her if it was too busy but she didn’t mind too much). leave your apartment complex and turn left and keep going until the bright lights of the store appeared with a ‘fresh food prepared daily’ sign like a saving grace.

the owner didn’t mind of maeum came into the store, often bending down to give her treats and pets. maeum always leaned into anyone’s affection. it was her favourite time of day.

your airpods blasted your hype playlist, something you did when you needed self-reassurance. walking out of the store, maeum in toe, you rummaged through your bag of snacks, pulling out one of the many samgak kimbap you picked up. the crisp evening put you off sitting outside with a hot meal, plus maeum would attract too many people for your isolated personality to handle. the coo’s and aww’s often got worse as the night went on.

it wasn’t too long of a journey home, but something about the evening air caused you to walk slower and appreciate the serene surroundings. high school kids stumbling out of the noraebang that you often frequented in your days. being drunk on sugary snacks and endless cokes while you sang your little heart out. the snack in your hand tasted almost nostalgic as you remembered the nights you sat for hours outside the convenience store, hoping a kind stranger might sneak you a bottle or two of soju. those were the days you had friends to hang out with, but since you moved closer to seoul for university, they hadn’t bothered to keep in contact. you spent your days sitting alone in class, hoping your professor wouldn’t tell you to pair yourselves up. you were the only person that sighed in relief when they mentioned that they’d pre-assigned partners.

a low growl sounded over your music, with maeum halting in her tracks. it was only as maeum barked so loudly that you paid attention to what was happening. the bike headed straight for you. the rumble of its engine overwhelmed you as you realised you had stepped into the road without checking for oncoming traffic. yelping, you jumped back, pulling maeum abruptly, just quick enough for her to be missed. but it sent you flying onto your ass, a dull throb aching at the impact.

“are you okay?!” a shout from the direction of the motorbike filled your ears, the engine shutting off and footsteps getting closer.

“I’m fine,” you huffed, using your arms to twist your body with difficulty. your tailbone really throbbed as your face morphed into instant regret. you were turning to face the person clad in a helmet and biker jacket that hugged their body tightly in the frosty air.

“umm - I wasn’t talking to you.” you could just make out their eyes in the gap, slightly squinted in apprehension. when they turned their attention to maeum, you realised that look wasn’t for you. maeum, who sat sweetly with her tail wagging, front paws perched on their knees began to lick the helmet off them, only finding purchase in the gap that showed their mysterious eyes. traitor.

it was only when you heard the low chuckle that your attention turned back to the owner of the bike, heart stopping in its tracks for a small second. they reached out to ruffle the abundance of fur that framed maeum’s face, carefully checking for any scrabs or marks from the almost accident.

“hey there, friend! i’m sorry I almost hit you,” their tone emphasised the frown hidden by their helmet. it was only then did they reach up to lift the helmet off their head. and the breath you were about to let out hitched in your throat.

this mysterious biker wasn’t a stranger. he was the notorious bad boy that walked your universities halls, his minions in toe and never batted an eyelash to anyone who showed an interest in him. the one whose name you feared would be called out after yours in pairing for a class project. the one who probably didn’t even know you existed.

he was hwang in-yeop. and your bulging eyes that almost fell out of their sockets told him that you knew that already.

but, little did you know that the moment his leg flung off his bike to check you were okay, he realised who you were too. the one who sat at the front of the class with their pencil knocking in a continuous rhythm against the desk, a sound he realised rang inches louder in his mind compared to the rest of the class. he noticed the way your eyes glistened as you focused on what your professor was saying. he also figured out you never paid attention to anyone else, you sat alone with no intention to allow anyone into your bubble unless they were forced to. he actually hoped his name would be called out after yours.

his question of concern died in his throat when he saw it was you. those glistening eyes still sparkling despite the obvious annoyance in your expression. so he trailed off to pay attention to the adorable fluff beside him, luckily he adored dogs.

your embarrassment flushed in the apples of your cheeks, the heat almost melting the rim of your glasses that rested against the bridge of your nose. “maeum - come on, leave him alone.”

you lifted yourself up, trying not to show the pain. gathering your spilt snacks back into the bag, you stood up stretching your legs. but it difficult not to look at inyeop. his head was tilted slightly as he gazed up at you, this time the apprehension focused on you. was he concerned? he should be! he almost knocked you over!!

quickly, he stood himself, handing maeum’s fallen harness back to you.

“thanks,” you took it back quickly.

“you’re welcome.” his attention was still focused on maeum, who was jumped up at the bag in your hand hoping there was something inside for her.

the silence was excruciating. in the two years you’d known each other, this was the first time any contact had been made. and it was almost unbearable.

“uhhh- thanks again, sorry we almost got you into an accident,” you tried again, reaching into your bag to pick out a snack to give him as a peace offering. although he annoyed you, you realised you should’ve been looking where you were going - at least for maeum.

he took the can that laid flat on your palm slowly, afraid you were just teasing. but you let him take it without reluctance.

“do you- uhh…” he started.

“hmm?” your head raised sharply to turn your attention to him, the snacks in your bag long forgotten.

“do you… do I.. know you?” he tried again. if he was nervous, you could barely sense it. although he was stumbling over his words, his eyes were narrowed in scrutiny, analysing your every feature. he knew exactly where he knew you from, the flick of your pen ringing in the back of his mind. any excuse to keep you beside him longer.

“probably… you’re in my criminology class. although I doubt you’ve ever actually paid attention to anything in that class, let alone me.” 

he scoffed, eyes rolling up into the heavens. you really were bold. “that’s quite the assumption.” a smirk so prominent it has sketched its way into your brain, all the way down to the subtle shading of the dimples that outlines the corners of his lips.

you ignored him, focusing on maeum for a moment as she sat beside your feet in a fluffy ball, eyes glittering expectantly at inyeop. you followed her gaze, landing specifically on the creases that lined his eyes as he analysed you. you huffed. “which way are you headed?”

he tilted his head to look over your shoulder at his bike sitting idly on the side of the road. “well, before I was interrupted I was on my way to a party.” and then his eyes met yours. “why? do you want to come?” his signature smirk appeared, the one you caught glimpses of every so often.

you hesitated, the thought of being anywhere remotely sociable filling you with dread. you became nervous in seconds “I- uhh. I was going to say I’d treat you to dinner because of the accident I almost caused…” you were shy, you admit. he couldn’t understand how someone who can barely look him in the eye could be so bold.

your offer caused his heart to do a single backflip; that was more of a reaction than any other, he couldn’t recall this kind of reaction from anyone else. to say the least, he was intrigued by the person who sat at the front of class. “do me a deal.” 

“hmm? a deal?” shimmering eyes, etched into his mind.

“you treat me to dinner, and I’ll take you to the party.”

he was met with silence, searching your eyes as you lulled over the thought in your head. right now?

it was almost like he could read your mind. “we could make it a recurring thing… you can make up for me almost hurting not only you but this gorgeous ball of fluff” your heart leaped when he crouched down to rub between maeum’s ears with affection, even more so when he looked back up at you. “… and I’ll teach you how to be sociable.”

“oooh! kinda like a friends with benefits thing?!” you grinned, excited by the fact that you may not have to feel so alone anymore.

his grin widened at your exclaim, certain you weren’t sure exactly what you had just said… “sure… like friends with benefits… are you in?”

and that was how you ended up in the clutches of the notorious bad boy. 

»»——————————-——————————————-««

those around you witnessed a flourishing friendship; you were attached at the hip. your five o’clock walks by the beach were met with his bubbly personality, maeum pleased with having someone else to chase the waves with. you finally had someone to sit beside in class, his signature smirk plastered on his face as the whispers of students wondered who on earth their designated bad boy was sat beside.

it got to the point that you remember the little things. he always ordered extra cheesey tteok because you always added extra onto your own. you packed extra heat packs when you knew he’d be joining you. he started turning up three minutes early because he knew that was how long it took you to get from your apartment to the lobby, where he’d be waiting for you with an extra coffee for you in hand. he knew to wear an extra sweater to the party because you always left without a jacket and would complain of the cold despite the countless shots you had consumed. you noticed that when his foot began to tap as the horrifically drunk girl in front of him continued to run her hand down his bicep, he wanted out, so you always stepped in to play the jealous ex.

as the little things  continued to build up, your feelings flourished alongside them.

not that you ever did anything about them.

until one night it was clear that things weren’t as they used to be. inyeop had dragged you into an unoccupied room at the party, away from the sleaze who was hitting on you.

“what the fuck are you doing?!” you cursed, something you didn’t usually do. it must’ve been the alcohol that coursed through your veins, and the slight haze that the drunk guy’s breath washed over you.

“what am I doing?! what were you just doing out there?!” he grabbed your arm again, you swayed slightly, trying really hard to focus on his eyes.

you smiled at his tone, it was flittered with desperation. “why… what was I doing?”

he couldn’t fight off the annoyance that washed over him at the light smirk that graced your lips. you had been spending far too much time with him, his cockiness was starting to rub off on you.

“you were literally throwing yourself all over that guy!! everyone was watching you!!!” although he knew you weren’t stable on your feet, he shook your shoulders with emphasis.

and the moment you may have changed everything. his face was so close to yours that you could feel his exasperated breath against your cheekbones.

“were you watching?” you shot back.

his eyes widened so much his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. “what…”

it came out as a whisper, so quiet you almost didn’t hear it. his eyes began to glisten, the only hint of innocence he could ever show. you turned his world upside down more than he could have ever imagined.

“I was just having fun, yeop.” your taunting was over.

his head shook abruptly like he was trying to shake the thoughts from his mind. your finger reached up to tap the tip of his nose, the bright smile forming on your lips was impossible to not mirror.

he sighed drastically, a giggle escaping your throat. “can we just go back now… I’ll drop you home. I want to see maeum.”

 and like that, you were being dragged out of the house quicker than your feet could keep up. along the way, he had slid his leather jacket over your shoulders as he always did. the walk home was silent as you matched your steps along the path. the low hum of the city began to sober you up, inyeop quietly singing to himself.

since that first party on the night he almost crashed into you, inyeop made it a habit to walk you back. at first, you thought it was because he parked his bike outside your apartment complex. you soon realised there was a caring side behind his bad boy facade that kept everyone else hooked. they clearly didn’t see the soft bean that was for your eyes only. he had become your best friend, and he cared about you just as much as you did him.

he sensed your aura change from beside him, head turning to see the smile light up your face. “what are you grinning about?” his own lips quirked in response to your happy expression.

“not much… just remembering the night you almost sent me and maeum flying.”

he halted abruptly. “hey! you admitted that night was entirely your fault!”

you held your hands up in mocking surrender, “okay! okay… I did admit that…”

he went silent for a moment. and then said something that shocked you; not because of ill intentions, but because you finally realised that that night didn’t just change your life.

“I don’t regret it.”

his eyes were genuine. and you returned the small smile he offered in silent appreciation for one another.

and then the heavens opened.

the mad dash to your apartment was filled with laughter and shrieks from you both. feet slapping against the puddles on the ground as you passed through the lobby doors. your hair clumped in damp strands over your eyes as you began to ring out your damp clothing. inyeop’s jacket became heavy on your shoulders.

“you can’t go home in that. come up for a minute while it settles and you can dry off a little.”

his eyebrows wiggled suggestively in response earning a shove from you.

maeum was overly excited to see inyeop. almost as if you were scotch mist. as he crouched down to give her affection, you headed for your cupboard, pulling out a couple of warm towels for you both to dry off.

you found inyeop lying on his back by the front door, shoes half off with maeum lying on top of his chest giving him her utmost attention. he was mumbling away to himself and giggling.

“what are you laughing about?” the towel landed on his face, earning a scowl from his raindrop stained face.

he then started laughing to himself again.

“what?!” you exclaimed.

“nothing!” he defended, the smile still evident on his lips. you waited, eyebrow raised in questioning.

“it's just… what you said down there got me thinking about something.” you waited again, the silence beckoning more of an explanation for his madness.

he shrugged his sweater off, pulling it from the scruff of the neck over his head. one small flutter.

he proceeded to rush the towel through his hair, biceps flexing in the process. two small flutters.

the whole time, his eyes never flickered from yours. it was the ultimate taunting staredown that caused the third flutter.

you broke the silence first. “thinking about what?”

he neatly folded the towel and placed it over the back of the chair to dry off, his hair sticking up in all sorts of directions. in two quick strides, he was stood in front of you, toes touching and fingers reaching for the dry towel you held tightly in your clutches.

quietly, he ran the towel through your hair, careful to focus on drying it completely so that you didn’t get a cold. from just below his chin, you had the perfect view of his features as his eyebrows etched in concentration. you were dying to know what exactly was going through his mind. you cleared your through in an attempt to drag him out of his thoughts.

“well. downstairs you said something that reminded me of something you said before.” you nodded, indicating for him to elaborate. “when we first met, the night you walked out into the road. you asked me if we could be friends with benefits.”

a deep pink flushed in your cheeks as your hands flew up to cover them. his eyes met yours as the embarrassment washed over you. gotcha.

“I did not say that?!” you tried but the bellow that came from inyeop proved just how much he was enjoying seeing his best friend squirm. he knew back then exactly what you meant, but the thought that anything more could ever come between you haunted him since that day.

“that was what… half a year ago now. you were so innocent back then.” his hands dropped from drying your hair, but not within brushing under your chin quickly in taunt.

you were annoyed. you knew inyeop enjoyed teasing you but surely this was too far. your thoughts drew back to early that night when he pulled you away from the guy you had flirted with because you saw him watching. when you teased him, it was the only time you’d ever seen him hesitate. and you enjoyed it.

“I’m not innocent anymore,” you taunted. eyes narrowed into your own, inyeop focused on read your thoughts as he tried not to react. but he couldn’t help it. for the last few months, you played with each other until you almost crossed the line. but the thought of crossing the line, even just once, left a dull burning in his stomach.

“is that right?” he retorted, eyebrow raised as his face seemingly inched closer to yours.

“mmhm.” it was all you could say. your nose filled with the cologne he was wearing, it was a mix of warming vanilla, swirls of cinnamon and just… him. “how enchanting,” you muttered lowly, he didn’t hear anything.

he was too focused on the way your eyes flickered between his, searching for some kind of each. you were in the same position, you always were. seeing which one of you broke first. but he also knew it would be him. so then came his next words.

“okay… prove it.”

a gasp escaped your throat, a mixture of shock and a sudden craving for touch. “what?” it came out as a whisper.

“prove you’re not innocent. maybe we can expand on that friends with benefits deal we made.” he wasn’t holding back. he had done for far too long, constantly tiptoeing on the tension that could light up this entire apartment building.

your fingers inched closer to him, both for support in your knees that were about to buckle, but also with the overwhelming desire to make contact. his white tshirt clung perfectly to his torso. one night couldn’t hurt.

“okay,” you agreed. but held your hand up to his face quickly to stop him from leaning in. “but! it’s a one time thing. you said you could teach me things so we’ll treat it as that.” excuse after excuse poured out of you before you could stop it, fear that your feelings would multiply the moment his lips met yours.

his lips quirked slightly as he nodded in agreement. but as soon as he got a taste, it was like something was yelling from within, a burning desire that laid idly for so long threatening to overflow. his fingers grappled at the curve of your jaw to keep him grounded. your own pulled at the hem of his shirt, a silent begging for the moment you had both thought about but never acted upon.

your body flushed against his, he barely let go to pull his shirt over his head with one hand, the other planted in a grip at your waist. your lips parted momentarily only to be chasing after one another the moment the white material met the floor. he guided you blindly, knowing your apartment by the back of his hand, your lips locked in a desperate embrace.

the moment your knees hit the end of the bed, you fell backwards hitting the comforter softly. inyeop stood over you, quietly taking in your appearance below him. his eyebrow quirked with his signature smirk making an appearance.

“you sure you just want this to be a one time thing?” his fingers traced up your thigh in taunt.

you groaned and pulled him down to you, “shut up.”

and the night went on, whispers of affection, lips tracing across the plains of each other's skin as he showed you how the gods lived, and you proved to him your innocence melted away at the flick of his fingers. you decided then that you were wrong. it couldn’t be a one time thing. because the moment his lips reached for your own, any unease washed away as you were met with the melting pools of his eyes. 

this was something only the two of you shared. the subtle touches and flirtation from the previous months finally adding up.

the clock flashed in the darkness, indicating that you were approaching the fourth hour of the day. inyeop’s fingers traced down your sides subconsciously as he pressed delicate kisses into your shoulder. you had laid in silence for what felt like hours, basking in each other’s warmth and sudden bursts of giggles as you reached for each other. you were wrapped up in everything about him - his delicate touch, his intoxicating scent, his plush lips that barely left any part of your body untouched.

it was him that broke the silence, pulling you to turn into his embrace, noses brushing as your heads rested against the same pillow. “that was fun.”

you giggled against his lips, his bluntness causing flowers to bloom in your chest. “it was.”

he exhaled slowly, fingers coming up to push your bangs away from your eyes, fingers grazing over your eyebrows. he realised his fingers moved subconsciously to smooth out the frown lines that were usually there… but were far from it in these early hours of the night.

“what do you think… about all this.” he questioned, hoping you didn’t regret the last few hours.

“it was… interesting.” you giggled as the worry on his face faded at your response. “we could… uh- make it a thing.”

“a thing?” he wiggled his eyebrows for the second time that night, suggestively hinting to you.

“yes, a thing.”

“like.. our thing?” his the pads of his fingers wandered the high points of your cheeks until he met your lips, brushing over them nonchalantly.

“sure. our thing.”

he was mesmerised by how your lips moved under his touch, silently scolding himself for not being this bold sooner. you were merely adding another layer onto your friendship, no strings attached.

but his eyes focused solely on your lips, the way they curved when you smiled, only at him. “how enchanting.” he whispered.

and that was how your arrangement began. best friends outside of these four walls. best friends with a twist the moment you stepped in through the door.

 you often found yourself making excuses to remain in your apartment. simply sitting together and reading was enough for you, subtle touches coming with time as you tried to focus on the page in front of you.

but, trying to get his attention once he was engrossed in a book was difficult. you never expected the so-called bad boy to be a softy for mysterious quests and fending off evil. then again, that was one of the raging stereotypes inyeop constantly diminished. 

maeum rested her head against his shoulder as she laid across the top of the sofa, tiny beige fur tickling his neck as she stretched out but he didn’t mind. maybe if you gave attention to maeum he might get a little jealous?

your intense stare, that was supposed to be for her, was often warped by the way his eyebrow quirked at a funny line, or his jawline sharpening abruptly as he stretched his neck from sitting in the same spot all day. his fingers grazing your ankle didn’t help the situation at all. until he caught you staring.

he lifted his head that was previously buried in Legends of Condor Heroes, his hand falling to his lap as he turned to you. his head hit the back of the sofa when his gaze pooled into your own; they glistened, his eyes, something it took you a long time to notice. he’d tell you it happened the moment you said yes… but you’d argue that it was there all along, the walls he built up disguising it from the world.

“what are you looking at?” he quipped, eyebrow raised as a subtle smirk rested on his lips. the way the corners turned up right at the edges formed a fuzzy feeling right in the pit of your stomach. and that’s why he did it - inyeop lived for the reaction he got from you.

“nothing,” you turned your head back to your own book. legs sliding back to your chest as you wrapped your arms around them; your chin rested against your knees while you tried to focus on the words on the page. you had his attention now – bingo.

a sudden jolt almost knocked you off the plush cushions, inyeop had lifted your feet to drape them back over his lap “where they belonged”. the novel he was so concentrated on before was now placed neatly on the armrest, the dog-ear bookmark on the corner resembling maeum’s. a small smile washed over his features when he realised what you were doing, fingers reaching up to tuck your fallen strands behind your ears. you weren’t expecting it; he barely flinched when he pulled you closer. you could see why everyone at school constantly stared, he wasn’t on the weaker side. it was growing more difficult to fight off the rush of emotion that came over you and swelling in your chest each time his eyes crinkled, intensely gazing into your own; his bad boy persona was diminishing little by little before your very eyes.

this arrangement made subtle touches toward each other a very normal thing. you found it difficult to keep your hands to yourself, especially in public. moments as you were walking down the street, your fingers would gravitate toward his.

“hi.” the crinkles around his eyes becoming deeper as he smiled. “someone wants attention.”

“aren’t you supposed to be going on a date soon?” you quipped, remembering that he wasn’t just yours to share.

he hummed, finger coming to his chin exaggeratedly as he stared off to the side in pretend thought. he did, but he knew where he’d rather be.

in response, your book was flung across the room, but not before he delicately folded at the corner of the page you were on. his fingers gripped onto your waist as he inhaled slowly, eyes wandering over your features like it was the first time he ever saw you. 

“fancy a quick one?” that signature smirk was hard to say no to.

»»——————————-——————————————-««

A/N: part 2? ;)

#hwang in yeop #inyeop #hwang inyeop fluff #hwang inyeop suggestive #hwang inyeop angst #han seo jun #han seojun #true beauty #true beauty seojun #second lead syndrome #hwang inyeop #hwang inyeop au #hwang inyeop fic

[omniversalobservations]

Darth Vader Meets His Match (2012)

The title for this has a double meaning. First because I think the two characters would be fairly evenly matched in a fight. Second - because of the parallels between the character design - both are shiny black evil monsters. So I've emphasised this in the composition and lighting. I also picked up on a few helpful comments about the 'gritty' feel of my last piece - so I kept a limited colour palette for this one too.

I've drawn Darth Vader attempting to use his 'force choke' on the Alien queen (would that work?). I did this intentionally because it's an ambiguous pose. I wanted him to look like he might even be reaching out to the Alien - perhaps sensing a kindred spirit. I thought that added something to this as a piece of 'art' that would be lost if this was just another battle scene.

This is an original depiction of George Lucas's and HR Giger's characters. My initial sketch for this was drawn on a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 using the bundled Photoshop Touch. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the digitizer pen is - and the fact that you can export PSD files to complete your work is great too. I finished the piece in Photoshop using a Wacom pad. I used Google Sketchup to build a 3D wireframe for the background which I then imported to Photoshop to colour.

I'm really, really pleased with this. Hope you like it too!

Source: DeviantArt

#unofficial #Star Wars #Alien

[imcryingbuckets]

My Whole Heart "Hates" You. chapter two!

Yay! It's here.

ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31072760/chapters/76820876#workskin

tw: swearing, that's about it

word count: 2,069

summary: Violet and Bill get into quite the childish argument, and Violet can't seem to stop blushing around him. But it's probably the room temperature or something, right?

Chapter 2: Room Temperature

Thankfully, I make it through the rest of the pitch meeting without getting any further flustered and/or distracted by Bill staring at me (what is his problem with that? He’s clearly trying to get under my skin and it is definitely not working at all, not even a little bit). However he did snicker when I stumbled over a word at one point, which was a bit petty and reminded me of why I dislike him so much.

But the meeting eventually came to an end which leads me to where I am now, sitting in front of my computer screen staring at a blank document, trying to think of how to start one of the sketches I pitched (I didn’t intend to write it when I pitched it, but I think Bill saw this and decided that he was going to be oh so very enthusiastic about it and now I have to).

As I watch the cursor blink on and off the screen, I hear a knock at the door for the second time today. It was much slower and reluctant to how Aidy knocked earlier, so I knew it wasn’t her. Thinking that it was maybe Kyle or Pete, I shout my permission for them to enter, almost cheerfully (the fact that I can’t think of how to start this stupid sketch idea, which will probably be cut, is making me quite reasonably stressed).

The door glides open to a reveal a 6 foot tall man stepping into my office; a man that I really did not want to see again today, let alone speak to.

“Well if it isn’t Violet Fay!” He exclaims while shutting the door behind him. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen and tolerated you.”

He adds the last bit with a smile and crosses his arms, I’m assuming he was trying to be playful and funny but it just irritated me. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“You act surprised to see me? My name is on the door you just walked through, Bill.” My comment probably also irritated him in return, as he rolled his eyes at this.

He sat down on the couch in the corner of my office, without asking, by the way.

“Oh yes, have a seat why don’t you, make yourself at home.” I say whilst trying to act like I’m highly concentrated on an old script I opened so that he maybe doesn’t bother me as much.

He ignores my comment and instead says, “Lorne says we should work on that sketch together since I was so ‘enthusiastic’ about it in the meeting. Didn’t think that would come ‘round to bite me in the ass.” He says the word ‘enthusiastic’ whilst making air-quotations with his hands.

“Well seeing as you acted that way just to spite me and put me through hell with a shit sketch idea, I think this is adequate punishment for you.” I type a few random keys on my keyboard just to make it look like I’m doing something and add, “Although I would have preferred it if it didn’t include me, tolerating you isn’t my ideal Monday morning.”

He laughs at this. I was being genuine. “Why do you talk like that?” he giggles. The sound of him giggling I swear-

“Talk like what?” I reply as I’m honestly confused with what this man is hinting at.

“All posh with all these fancy words, like ‘adequate’ and ‘preferred’” He adds those last words in a British accent, which really pisses me off.

I glare at him as I turn away from my computer, “I don’t speak ‘posh’ at all. We’re not all from Oklahoma, Hader.” My anger towards him begins to flourish and my skin gets hot.

He scoffs at this, “Whatever Fay.” I think he ran out of things to say because he starts to restlessly fiddle with his shoelaces.

For a moment I watch his hands, carefully playing with loose green threads of his laces, but I pull my eyes away and look back at my screen.

“Look, if you’re not going to help me write this sketch, I suggest you piss off.” I comment, opening up the blank document I close earlier.

He stands up and shoves his hands in his pockets, “Fine then, I’ll go see what Kate’s writing. Not like I wanted to sit with here and write your shitty sketch idea anyways.”

He exits through the door and slams it, and for some reason, my blood boils at this. Why is he so childish? He’s 40 for fucks sake, grow up, Bill! I know the idea wasn’t that great, but why put it so harshly?

I yell, “Oh, fuck off, Bill!” after him, quite loud so he could hear me through the door. Not the cleverest comeback but I’m so worked up that I just needed to let it out as soon as possible. I don’t normally shout in the office either, except on the rare occasion where there's an incident with a spilled cup of hot coffee. But I feel like it’s excusable because of Bill.

He opens the door again to show me his middle finger and exclaim, “Fuck you too, Violet!” before he slams the door shut again.

In the limited number of seconds that the door was open, I caught a glimpse of Pete standing behind Bill, looking severely confused and honestly a little scared. Seeing his face kind of made me realise how childish and petty we were being, but my anger still persisted nonetheless. All over one comment I made about Oklahoma, jeez.

I return back to my screen, and surprisingly the frustration inside of me managed to conjure up an idea for the sketch. At least two good things came out of that argument: 1. I finally figured out how to start this damn sketch, and 2. it feels really fucking good to shout at Bill.

******

I finally finish the sketch, and after checking the time I decide that it’s probably a good time to get lunch before I fall down a writing loophole again (next thing you know it’s been 6 hours and people are starting to head home).

As I’m walking into the breakroom, I see everyone crowding around a couple pizza boxes. Great timing on my behalf. Kate’s standing in the corner of the room holding a paper plate with a slice of greasy cheese pizza.

“You’re an angel, Kate.” I say before taking the plate from her hands and indulging.

“No problem, Bill bought some for the whole office.” She says this with a wink, suggesting that she’s hinting towards something.

“Ugh, why’d you give me tainted pizza?”

Before Kate could reply with anything, Bill shouts from across the room, “You’re welcome, Violet!”

Arrogant twat. I say this to myself as to not cause another screaming match, but flip him off with my middle finger and a roll of my eyes, just so he knows where I stand.

Unfortunately for me, he winks at my actions and I feel a wicked blush creep up on my cheeks. He thinks I’m joking.

Worse, Kate catches the redness growing across my face, and decides to delightfully point it out.

“Are you blushing? Oh my god, Vi, do you like him?”

I look around the room to see if anyone heard her, god forbid, quickly seeking out Bill’s face in the small crowd as him having heard her would have been the worst case scenario. I thank the heavens that no one did, seeing them continue their conversations without batting an eyelid.

“I absolutely do not like him, Kate.” I say with a heavy load of disgust laced in my voice. “I can barely stand him, and he feels the same.”

“Then why are you blushing?” She pokes my cheek with her finger to emphasise her point before I swat her hand away.

“I’m blushing from…annoyance, or something. I don’t know maybe it’s the room temperature. It’s definitely not Hader.”

Neither of us are completely convinced at my statement, but thankfully she drops the subject and continues to eat her pizza.

I obviously don’t like him. Clearly. He is loud and obnoxious and irritating and I think the thing he does with his hands when he’s nervous is utterly stupid.

For the rest of the day, I’m in a bit of a stale mood but I manage to get quite a lot of scripts done by 7 o’clock, which makes me pleased. But before I get the chance to switch off my computer, I hear a knock at my door. And, of course, enters Bill.

I mutter a Dear God as I distract myself from his face by looking at the pen lid that was dropped and never picked up.

“Hey, Violet.”

“Bill.” I continue to stare at the ground, reluctant to look up.

“So, Lorne mentioned that he wanted us to at least write one sketch together.” He sees my annoyance at this and says, “I know, I know, I’m unbearable, but boss’ orders.” He ends with a shrug and a raise of his palms as if to say ‘hey, don’t shoot the messenger’. He goes on, “I was thinking we could stay behind for a bit, try and write something without ripping each other’s heads off.”

I sigh and raise my head to finally meet his eyes, getting lost in them for a moment. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid.

“Um, yeah sure, okay. If Lorne says so I guess we have to.” I want nothing more than to go home, put on my comfy pyjamas, and snuggle with my sweet little ginger cat, but I figured it’s best to just agree seeing as it was ‘boss’ orders’.

“Rad,” Rad, radical, fuckin’ surf’s up dude “okay so I have to go do something real quick but I’ll be back in like…” He pauses to look at his watch, “45-ish minutes?”

“Yeah, sure.” I say with a nod of my head, not really interested in having a lasting conversation with him, and a little bit distracted by his eyes, that are still staring at mine, to do so.

He leaves, muttering something that resembles an ‘okay’ or a ‘goodbye’, I wasn’t paying too close attention. He shuts the door behind him, quietly this time.

Re-opening my word document on my laptop, I begin to make brief lists of new sketch ideas that could probably work at some point. I figured I might as well get some extra work in if I’m going to have ’45-ish minutes’ to spare in the studio.

I type and type and type and type, until suddenly its 8pm. Hm, he should’ve been back about 15 minutes ago now. I brush it off though, he probably just got caught up with whatever he was doing. As much as he is an annoying twat, he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to stand someone up. Especially if it’s work related. Especially, especially if it’s Lorne related.

******

Well, I guess he is the kind of guy to stand someone up, even if it is work or Lorne related, as the clock just turned 10pm (three hours since he left). Either he has a terribly bad concept of time, or he’s just a dickhead. I’m going with the latter, regardless of what the actual reason is.

I decide I’m not going to stay a minute longer, not when I could be watching true crime with my cat at home, and so I switch off my computer and pack up my things to head back to my apartment.

I leave the office feeling a little foolish as I thought that he actually wanted to work on some scripts with me. When in reality he probably only wanted to play with my head and piss me off further.

As much as he annoys me, (and I mean he truly, truly annoys me) I was hoping that tonight would be a good opportunity to find out if he had any nice qualities about him, something that we could agree on. But instead, he successfully manages to do the opposite and make a fool out of me. And tomorrow, himself too, as I’m seriously going to lay into him with my pent up anger the next time I see him. (Within reason of course, I don’t want to lose my job any time soon).

#bill hader #fanfic #bill hader x reader #bill hader x ofc #snl fanfic

[oytnp-moved]

Just a little thing I was inspired to write by this post

also here's the song i had stuck in my head while writing it because of the painting im working on irl :)

TL;DR fully grown man calvin f.ischoeder makes a nuisance of himself because his spouse is trying to paint instead of kissing him

Griffin startled as a glass of water entered their vision. They stared at it for a moment, uncomprehending, until it jiggled slightly, ice cubes tinkling against the sides.

"Oh." They slid their paintbrush to sit between their middle and ring fingers and accepted the glass gingerly, taking an automatic sip. "Thanks love." They turned their head a little as their husband pressed a kiss to their cheek.

"You've been at this for hours," he said, a hint of a whine in his voice. "You should take a break." He kissed them again on the jaw.

"I'm in the zone, Cal, I can't just take a break," they scoffed. Calvin grumbled wordlessly, snaking his hands around Griffin's waist and pulling them back against him as he moved his lips to their neck. "Calvin I'm holding paint," they warned, gesturing with the palette in their left hand. "I'm gonna get paint on you."

"Mmhm." He nosed at the spot where their neck and shoulder met, placing another soft, lingering kiss there.

"Calvin you're wearing white."

"Mmmhm." He slid one hand up their chest and hooked a finger into the neck of their ratty old t-shirt, pulling it aside enough to expose new shoulder real estate to cover in kisses.

"Calvin."

"Hmm?"

"Cal."

"Mmn." Dissatisfied with what he could reach from his current angle, he shifted his grip to their hips and spun them around, drawing a yelp from them.

"Calvin!" Griffin held their hands as far away from Calvin's body as possible, meeting their husband's charming grin with an unimpressed look. They sighed, a smile creeping onto their face despite themself, and rested their forearms over his shoulders carefully. "Are you really this desperate for my attention?" they teased.

"I think you know the answer to that," he responded primly, his fingertips dipping under the hem of their shirt, tracing lines on their back.

"Big bad Mr Fischoeder can't handle being apart from me for a couple hours?" They kissed him briefly, chuckling when he chased their lips. "So needy."

"Well, don't go spreading it around, but I happen to rather like you," he murmured.

"Luckily for you, my love, I rather like you too. In fact it's why I married you." Calvin's face softened as it always did when they mentioned being married - it had been several months since the ceremony and he still felt giddy at the thought of being their husband. He leaned in slowly, wondering whether they were done teasing him. When all they did was stare at him with fondness in their dark blue eyes he closed the gap, kissing them deeply.

"Okay, darling," said Griffin after a long moment, pulling away a little. "Am I going to get to drink the water you so kindly brought me, or are we just going to stand here making out until I pour it down your back?"

"Oh! Yes, right, of course." He withdrew somewhat sheepishly, allowing Griffin to put their palette down and take a drink, gaze shifting to their canvas. Their mouth thinned into a line as they became immediately lost in thought.

Calvin observed them fondly. As much as he loved seeing them dolled up, always wearing extravagant, fashionable outfits regardless of their suitability for the actual occasion, there was something intimate about getting to see them relaxed like this. Their hair was pushed back from their face by a headband, the glasses that they only wore at home were slightly askew on their nose, and their outfit was nothing fancier than a threadbare shirt and jogging bottoms, both splattered with old dried paint.

He absolutely adored them.

"So, how goes the art?" Their canvas was mostly layers of dark blues, purples and greens, amorphous shapes, and one solid neat circle of black.

"Fine, fine. Just thinking about what I have to do, what order I need to do it in." Their paintbrush drummed nervously in the air, flicking spatters of alpine green against the hardwood. Calvin prudently decided not to mention it, instead looking around at the sketches taped up on the walls, trying to get an idea of what the finished piece would look like. Unfortunately the abstract squiggles of colour and pages filled with gesture drawings of pigs didn't help him much.

"Well I… suppose I'll get out of your hair," he said begrudgingly, stepping close to place another lingering kiss on their cheek. Griffin looked at him with a surprised expression.

"You don't have to leave if you don't want to, darling." They leaned into his chest, seemingly to emphasise their words. "You're welcome to stay and watch me paint - can't promise it'll be entertaining, though."

"If you're sure I won't be bothering you." He tried and failed to keep a grin from spreading across his face. Griffin shook their head, draining the last of the water and setting the glass down.

"Here." They turned to a nearby chair, speculatively eyeing the pile of paper, pencils and paints on the seat - then swept it all onto the floor. "Sit yourself down. In fact," They glanced at Calvin as he sat, crossing his legs just so. "Would you sing me something, since you're here?"

"Oh, well, if you insist," he said brightly, doing a miserable job of containing his excitement. "Let me see…"

Griffin returned to their painting as he mused over his song choice. Before too long their brush strokes were accompanied by Calvin's rich voice, then almost subconsciously by Griffin's own, softly singing along with the songs they knew. As the day lengthened, the pair sang the painting into shape, and Calvin thought it looked beautiful.

Griffin thought it looked just okay, but that's artists for you.

#if ur curious in my head cal picked something by sinatra or cole or smth like that #bc 50s love songs are my favourite like they just GOT IT. the yearning. the joy. the rapture. they Got It folks. #calvin tag #im out here allowing myself the fantasy of being loved 😳😳😳😳😳 #A Content

[periwinkle-pencils]

How to Pick and Use Colour in Your Art

rainbow

We all know the feeling of dread that kicks in when you finish your line art. You’ve spent hours meticulously sketching your art out, then cleaning the sketch up and getting it perfect, only to hit a blank when you have to add colour. There are hundreds of colours to choose from, each of them with varying saturations and intensities that could totally change the mood of your art. You add the wrong shade of red to your art and it totally changes the feel of the piece and you have to start over. Colours are difficult to pick, and difficult to make look good. I personally struggle with colour palettes, but I’ve found a few tricks that make it a lot easier. Those tips are what I’d like to share with you today in this blog, so keep reading to check them out!

Take from nature

Nature has some beautiful colours, so why not use them? Take some pictures of the fall trees, the flower fields, the setting sun, whatever looks nice! Make sure to be careful though, as sometimes even natural colour palettes can look cluttered. Avoid using things like rainbows as colour palettes, and try not to use pictures off the internet, as the colours might be altered and it might not look as good. Once you have your picture, take the colour that shows up most and make that your main colour. Then find commonly reoccurring colours and use those as your secondary and tertiary colours. Then, BOOM! You have a colour palette!

Lower the Saturation

Having bright and vibrant colour palettes can be great and super fun, but you can’t make them too bright. Make sure you don’t over-saturate your colours, or you’ll end up hurting your eyes. You can desaturate your colours by adding a little black or white to them. This will make the colour less intense, and spare your eyes from agony. If you want a vibrant colour palette, don’t use super bright colours. Use complementary colours like pink and light green. Put them near each other, and they’ll pop out and look more vibrant. If you’re confused, there’s more about colour theory in the next section.

Colour theory

Having good colours is important, but knowing how and where to use those colours is just as crucial. That’s where colour theory comes in. Remember back in fourth grade art class when the teachers would talk about warm and cool colours and complementary colours? Yeah, that’s colour theory. Well, kind of. To sum it up, warm colours are red yellow and orange, and cool colours are blue green and purple. Greys can be cool or warm too. If a grey has a red undertone it's a warm grey, and the opposite for blue. Warm colours are better if you want to have a warm environment, like a fireplace or a summer’s day. Cool colours are good for cold environments like snowy tundra. If you want to show a warm place near a cold spot, like a log cabin in winter, you can use warm colours for the inside of the cabin and cool colours for the outside. This will make the inside feel warm, and the outside feel cold and treacherous. The contrast between the two colours will further emphasise this, and make it feel more alive and interesting. 

Colour wheel

In colour theory, there are also contrasting and complimentary colours. Take a look at a colour wheel. Draw a straight line from one colour to another. Those colours are complementary. For instance, blue and orange are complementary. Complimentary colours next to each other look very vibrant, and will pop out. If you use them too much though, it will hurt your eyes. Make sure to use them sparingly or turn down the saturation if you use them unless you want to hurt your eyes. You can use complimentary colours to bring focus to something. For instance, if you want the focus to be on a character’s eyes, you can use purple as a base colour and add yellow highlights to make it stand out. This will bring the focus to the eyes of the character.

This video does a really good job at explaining colour theory!

Just ditch the colour entirely!

If you’re having a lot of trouble with colour, and it's getting to the point where it isn’t fun anymore, just go monotone! Monotone colour palettes take a lot more skill to convey emotion, but they can be very pleasing to look at. The key is adding just the right amount of grey scale. Don’t totally go black and white, use some greys and browns too. Warm browns can add just the right amount of colour to your piece. You can also add some warmth to your blacks and whites by using a very dark, or almost black, red or an off white. This will save you the trouble of a colour palette without causing hindrance to your piece. In fact, it could make your piece feel old or graceful, like an ink written letter from the 1800’s! If colour isn’t your strong suit, then improvise and find something that works better and is easier for you! Here’s a monotone colour palette that looks really nice!

Colour is really fun, and can add a lot to an artwork, but it can be really tough to find a good palette. Hopefully my tips have helped out, even a little bit. If they haven’t, please tell me what you struggle with in the comments, I’d love to help! If I did help at all, please feel free to leave a like or tell me what you liked about my tips. I’d love to hear how it helped!

#colour pallette #How to pick a colour palette #colour #colours #how to pick colours #art #arts #artsy #creative #colour schemes #colourtheory #picking colours #how to #tips #tips and tricks

[loveinthetvworld]

2020 art review! i think i got better at colours this year. thanks for sticking with me, let’s keep on keeping on in 2021! fighting✨

some rambling under the cut~

i know creativity has been rough on many people this year what with Yknow, Everything, but ngl being furloughed for the first half of the year really emphasised how much working full-time drains me of any energy i have to create. i did so much shit!! even if i didn’t post it all, a bunch was sketches or writing and notes for stories, i just like...had the time and energy for it. mad lol. capitalism. my work hours have mostly gone back to normal at this point though so i have less of it. ah well.

as i said, i think i got better at colours this year. i’ve never been confident in colour picking and always worried that everything is too bright or clashy, but i’ve just ended up kinda...embracing that. we love eyeburn! the more the better! that’s an aesthetic that i love anyway, so i’m pretty happy to make peace with it in my own work. there’s actually a piece i did this month that is for a gift exchange so i can’t post it, but i think it really shows my growth as an artist this year, in colours and composition. can’t wait to post that!

i’ve also gotten more comfortable with lineart again. i went through a big phase of just HATING it and not being able to do it at all, but now we’re friends again. i think a lot of it has to do with the fact i Finally dug into clip studio’s downloadable brushes, so now i have about a million brushes at my disposal. there’s always something fun to try out!

as for 2021....i’d like to work on illustrating backgrounds more. more fully illustrated scenes! i’ve also always wanted to get some sort of grasp on sequential art, so i’d like to study that at some point too. never been able to wrap my head around structuring comic pages haha i think i definitely need to practice and look at some resources for it.

okay that’s all, if you even read this then thank you lol. here’s to more vocaloid fanart and incomprehensible oc posts in 2021💕

#art review #art meme #2020 art meme #2020 #last time i will use that tag O_o

[johannestevans]

An Ao3 conversation about portraying Theo’s autism in Heart of Stone.

MY TIP JAR           BUY HEART OF STONE

Just thought I’d post this here as well as on Ao3, as I imagine it will be of interest to some people!

cmt015 commented:

Hello,

I just saw your reply, and even though the story is finished and you are well past chapter 4, I wanted to reply to this thread. I didn't say it in my original comment, but I am a cis female diagnosed with autism (high functioning, so formally diagnosed as asperger's.)

Part of the reason I was surprised that you had Theo lie is because autistic people are stereotypically known to be truthful and/or blunt, and confused by dishonesty. That is not true in my case, however. I am quite good at masking, to the point that people to whom I tell my diagnosis are surprised and doubtful of its validity, and I can very much tell a lie, or obfuscate. So don't mistake me; I am not critical of your decision to give Theo higher-functioning masking skills, but I was surprised that you did not follow the typical autistic symptoms to the letter. I found Theo to be much more relatable than most other fictional depictions of autistic characters, because he did not display many of the obvious tells of most autistic people, like stimming and conspicuous communication difficulties. You crafted a more subtle depiction of autism. I know this question is very broad, but I cannot think of another way to phrase it: how did you decide upon how to depict Theo's autism? What research led you to depict him the way in which you did? Are there autistic people in your life from whom you took inspiration? It seems to me it is somewhat rare for neuro-typical authors to write autistic characters, so what prompted you to depict an autistic character? I think you wrote (somewhere, I cannot recall) that you are ADHD but not autistic.

Also, it occurred to me after writing this that you never confirmed that Theophilus was the autistic character; if I am wrong and you intended for another character to be autistic, then I will be very confused, and slightly embarrassed!

Anyways, since you have finished this story at the time I am writing this, I want to say that I enjoyed this story very much, and I was eagerly reading each of the updates as they were released.

My response:

Honestly, there's a few things that go into it - I'm ADHD, and while I'm not on the autistic spectrum myself, there's definitely elements to the autistic experience that I share in common as someone with ADHD - hyperfixations tend to be shared between us; focus issues; sensitivity to certain sounds, textures, and other stimuli; and also difficulty with some social cues. There's definitely other things that are shared in common with those experiences (and that's not thinking about a lot of people who are ADHD and autistic), but like, those are definitely the ones I thought of most - because I sometimes find it quite difficult to get on with NT people, I would say the vast majority of my social circle is made up of other people with ADHD, and autistics. Not because I'm trying to like, exclude NTs? Just that, you know, autistic and ADHD people are just easier to vibe with, because I think we tend to share a framework of processing stimuli and information, and therefore communicating.

So that's definitely a big element to it, just having a lot of friends who're autistic and thinking about that, but I think a big thing I wanted to do with Theo was to kind of... emphasise the differences between how he and Henry process the world around them, but also the similarities - both Henry and Theo are actually quite inquisitive people who ultimately, I would say, are defined by their love for humanity? Theo meets someone and immediately feels the need to draw them or sketch them; he's utterly obsessed with the ways people move, talk, express themselves, the clothes they wear, the work they do, and in contrast, Henry meets someone and immediately wants to know everything about them that they might be willing to reveal - he asks dozens upon dozens of questions, he tries to extrapolate more about them based off those questions, etc. So they're coming at it from different angles, informed by the way they think from the POV of ADHD and autism respectively, but the core of the passion is the same.

I think that Theo struggles a lot with a lot of social interactions, and takes quite a long time to warm up to someone - especially because I think consistency is a big part of that, and the fact that Henry is so incredibly consistent in his style of communication, as frank and blunt (and loud) as it is, is a big part of why they engage so well with one another; I also think that eye contact is something that doesn't come to him naturally, and that's not something he really feels is a problem from his own perspective, but contributes to a lot of people struggling to connect with him. I guess part of the subtlety in my portrayal, if you want to call it that, is that a lot of Theo's autism is being written from his own experience rather than from outside perspectives, and the only person that is commenting from the outside is Henry, who is coming from an ADHD POV.

In regards to stimming etc, I definitely feel there are some textural elements Theo probably leans into - there's his fingers constantly tapping (which I imagine he does quite hard at times, so there's a pleasant percussive pressure against his fingers), but I do feel like he'd get a lot of satisfaction out of certain textural things. Thinking about Theo getting a beard is a nice one because I can imagine him stroking his beard a lot because of the texture of the hair, coarse and rough and dragging over his skin and stuff, and so on.

I do definitely feel like there's some elements to Henry and especially Theo's portrayal that were informed by the 18th century period - obviously, there's not gonna be a diagnosis of anything for either of them, so instead the way they experience the world just seems, in their eyes, to be part and parcel of the way they experience life, and there's no reason to think that there's something "wrong" with them, or even anything particularly different between their experiences and the experiences of anyone, beyond the basic differences between individuals. I think that's part of why it's so much easier for him to mask? I wrote a short story called In Perpetuity, which is from Marcellus and Genesius' POV in the 21st century, and talks a LOT about how as vampires they're really struggling with overstimulation from electronics, low-frequency sounds, etc etc, and I definitely think Henry and Theo are gonna experience a lot of that as the decades tick past, you know - I do think there are specific struggles and benefits that we get from, for example, electronics, public transport, the internet, etc etc, that Henry and Theo are going without in this story, and they might come into more later on.

Like, Henry would adore a fidget spinner, Theo would no doubt be delighted with certain sensory stim toys, but also like... I think Theo especially would struggle a lot with constant stimulation from screens and noise in public places, from bright lights in stores and certain restaurants, and so on, and I think they'd both be really sensitive to those awful high-pitched hums you get from some electronics (like fridges), and I think those would contribute more to him being a bit shut down in the 21st century, whereas overstim is... not non-existent, but not quite as overpowering in the 1700s.

Sorry for the massive essay! I just have a lot of thoughts on this subject, haha. Thanks so much for your comment, and I'm really glad you've enjoyed Heart of Stone! <3

#as defined by dictionary #heart of stone #theophilus essex #henry coffey #autistic characters