#also once again this is long! thank goodness for readmores!

[adyophene]

Hello ! I just have a little question, how do we start drawing ? I want go draw but idk how to start- any suggestion ? Or, if for starting it's better to do it with tutos, any tutorial to recommend ?

Have a great day !

Oooh, this is a tough question to answer! I suppose one the best pieces of advice I have is to figure out, before anything, what you are hoping to draw. What style, what tones, what media.

I have a feeling this might get long, so I will throw the rest under a readmore.

For me, when I started taking my art a little more seriously (I never went to art school or anything) I just focused on finding both tutorials on the fundamentals, and finding tutorials that focused on the aspects of art that interested me, which were animation and cartooning!

They go hand-in-hand, after all, and you'll find you end up honing in on the tutorials that coincide with your interests! IE- I ended up doing a lot of figure, and expression drawing because they would help me express emotion and movement better! I also spent so, so long just training my hand to be a bit more confident with drawing steady lines just because I loved the look of clean line-work!

So try to identify what your personal draw towards art is! By doing both something you like, as well as focusing the basics, I found that, at least in my personal experience, it put me in a positive feedback loop where I could keep seeing results in exactly the type of art I was interested in! And, once you start to feel confident, that is when you start adding in little bits of study from fields you might struggle with! A 90/10 split on what you're comfortable with and then what is new is usually a good way to go about it! Weirdly enough, though I don't watch him, I saw that the youtuber pewdiepie actually had a really good set of videos where he started from being a complete beginner and improving his art over 100 days. I believe its an absolutely great watch for a new artist, because he really does a great job in showing what a brand new journey into art can look like, and explains what he thinks each day. I think my favorite line was, 'after 24 days, I was finally having fun' because that can really sum up the new artist experience. It will absolutely be a slog at times, and can be really disheartening, but when you start to see progress, becomes so, SO fun.

Here is the link to the first vid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLEudGbxQk and his second https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDtQTTAogk

ALSO- this was just the first video that came to mind because I watched it recently. I would recommend finding other videos about people learning to draw, or doing 30-100-365 day challenge videos. As for my personal favorite channels for art tutorials (though keep in mind, I haven't watched them in a few years ;-;, I need to study again);

There were a number of others that I wish I could link as well, but I am struggling to remember them. I hope any of that is helpful. My own art journey has been very long, and non linear, and I have to say, I'm not even satisfied with my own art! Its a endless mountain to climb, but it is so worth it to do! And lastly, I want to say thank you so much for sending this ask, you've made me dig back in to artists I used to study, and made me want to really focus back in on my own improvement!

#not art

[ritens]

dd2 has me doing mental gymnastics bc I don't really like interacting with canon all that much in ANY setting (nervously looks at wf, the chosen operator thing sucks, dont come at me).

puts this under readmore bc the ramble got too long oops just quickly going over Rau's story to see what canon events even tie in there at all.

It's just unfortunate timing in an unfamiliar place. Rau happened to be in Melve with his family, passing through really. Dragon makes a feast of his heart, he gets treated and dragged to Vernworth with strangers wanting to put him on the throne but he runs off because it's all too fast paced for him.

Disa does what Disa does best which results in Rau being enslaved on the Volcanic island with his memories missing.

He escapes the place, thank you Rook and goodbye Rook. Nobody picks him up from the griffon landing area and he simply wanders off on his own. (rather he wanders off BEFORE the soldiers arrive)

The guy spends a week trekking through the forests until he ends up in Vernworth again where Brant finally gets his hands on the stray Arisen to fill him in on his supposed duty.

Raures summons a mangled pawn at the big riftstone in the city and ends up leaving the thing alone at an inn for days to let him recuperate. During this time Rau runs the infiltration tasks in the palace for Brant.

Once Lane is good enough to walk, they set out for the Nameless Village and never return to Vernworth again. The pawn has his claws in the Arisen and does his best to distract the hero from his charge.

And the rest just doesn't happen for Raures. He sticks to his wandering lifestyle like he did with his parents before the Dragon scorched them and ate his heart.

They visit the Sacred Arbor at some point and travel to Battahl through illegal means. They assist those in need along the way because Rau is a stouthearted, kind man (if a little blind).

Brant is hot on their heels at times, exasperated beyond measure. Lane distracts him too by sending him the wrong way, but keeps Rau in the dark about the matter.

The pawn also murders Ambrosius on the beach as he detects the kind of energy is hidden in the small blue crystals. Better safe than sorry is the excuse he gives himself.

The (severely incomplete) bestowal of spirit was a mistake when it comes to Lane's OG master, Amaury LMAO he literally got all of the worst traits from the prick before the good ones could come in. Lane's learning those on his own now, through life experience. (((Exercises his sliver of free will to be a little bitch)))

After an unmentionable amount of time Raures loses his spark and is forced to retire as a New Arisen is made to pick up his slack and continue the cycle in his stead. He is devastated by the fact as the fog is lifted from his mind and realization finally washes over him.

He then notices that the pawn he adopted is still sticking with him despite his lost status. They have a falling out when Lane comes clean about his past and his motives and the role Rau unknowingly played in them.

Upset, Rau then FINALLY makes way to Vernworth to see if he can aid in any way. And Lane is left at Rau's cabin in the woods to think things through.

---

Raures is very dutybound so his initial reaction to Lane's manipulation, betrayal even, was very negative. But he eventually takes pity on Lane and goes to fetch the pawn before he can answer another Arisen's call and travel beyond the rift for good. Rau imagined himself in Lane's shoes and figured he would've done the same if he were in the such position.

Lane can no longer sense Raures either so their means of communication has got to become more direct too. It's difficult but they'll make it work.

---

Pathfinder is a tricky obstacle though I'm still trying to figure out what to do about that bastard. Rau does probably heed him. And he can very easily tell him that his pawn is corrupt and is getting in the way of his charge but there are many former Arisen who failed... How did they manage??? (or rather not manage)

#dd2 ramble #arisen-rau #pawn-lane #THANKS ALTO FOR THE FUEL.. i keep coming back to edit this rip

[axewchao]

Space Orcs AU yet again, because I wanted to tweak Dal a little bit, wanted to draw his dog again, and draw B-Junes again, all in one go owo)b

And also wanted to make another space background, thanks to Mario RPG. Stars are pretty...

Anyway more tidbits under a readmore, here we go!

Bowser Junior

During an experiment that Iggy and Ludwig were performing in hopes of improving the travel speeds of their spaceships, an accident caused all eight members of the Royal Brood to be pulled into multiple wormholes and scattered across the cosmos. Junior ended up on a planet filled with Dino Piranhas, and struggled to survive until a trio of strange, squishy creatures found and seemingly adopted him.

While Junior tried keeping his distance out of fear that these squishy folk were actually kidnappers, it didn't take long for his curiosity and need for comfort to overpower any of his fears. He bonded fastest with the purple-maned one; often riding piggyback around the ship or curling up next to him and his fuzzy friend when it's time to sleep. He turns out to be a quick learner when it comes to their languages, easily figuring out short sentences in English and, by courtesy of the red-clad one, several curse words in Italian.

Dalex

A fifteen-year-old human who was snatched in the dead of night while taking his dog out for a late-night bathroom break. Despite his near-overwhelming fear, he teamed up with Mario and Luigi to hijack the ship the three of them were imprisoned on, successfully taking control of the newly-dubbed Starship Mario. It takes a while for Dal to actually warm up to the Bros., but regularly talking about their respective families helps him avoid cracking from under the stress and homesickness.

After rescuing Bowser Jr., Dal becomes the turtle kid's primary caretaker, along with some of the younger Koopalings once they too are found. Before meeting Iggy and subsequently getting a translator built, Dal taught Junior how to speak bits and pieces of English, and can understand his words better than Mario or Luigi. Think of it like "babysitter learning a kid's speech patterns while other people still hear gibberish."

Viridi

Dal's loyal companion and fuzzy baby child. He was abducted alongside his owner and stayed as close to Dal as possible during both their confinement and eventual starship takeover. 'Distraction' was the name of this dog's game, barking at their captors with varying degrees of success during the fight. Hard to tell if they'd never heard a dog bark before or they were actually scared by it, but they got an old-fashioned Mario Bros. Beatdown regardless.

Compared to all the other "crewmembers," Viridi's the most calm, even excited about what awaits them on their new journey. He likes the odd scaly child; those claws give the greatest scritches he's ever gotten in his life (sorry Dally). Of course, being excited and curious isn't always a good thing, as Viridi's go-to method of following his nose can lead to trouble. Of all the times to lose the leash, it had to be during a space adventure... =_="

#Super Mario #Mario Space Orcs AU #Bowser Jr #Real Worlder!Dal #Dalex Rathmore #Viridi Rathmore #the idea of Dal wearing an old hand-made cardigan was too cute to pass up #his grammy-gram made it and now he wears it constantly ;w; #honestly just wanted a slight difference between him and the other RW!Dal #just so it's easier to tell which one's the victim of an isekai (because getting warp piped to the Mushroom World can count as an isekai)- #and which one's lost in space- #axewchaoscribbles

[lostacelonnie]

how would honkai 3rd play out if otto was wearing cursed long shoes that gave him an ungodly urge to kick people on the ass and he had to fill a one kick per arc quota and he couldnt take the shoes off because he was cursed into liking them

FIRST OF ALL this is literally my favorite ask i've ever gotten so thank you. second of all i hope you dont mind how chaotic this is but i literally wrote everything down exactly as it came to mind, didnt proofread before posting, and also i barely remember half the older arcs. third of all this is a long post so readmore blast 💥

where dreams began + the end of destiny: im sorry but i genuinely dont know what he was even doing during this time. im just gonna say if any anti entropy personel was caught by schicksal they were just unfortunate enough to be the victim.

under the falling sky: you know that scene where he fucking shoots hua. when shes Not Quite Dead Yet he kicks her to add insult to injury

from the deep ocean: once again, i have zero recollection of what he was doing. does he even appear on screen? oh wait yeah in that one bubble universe where he has an orphanage or whatever. good lord i have no idea who that guy would kick. weren't theresa and children the only people there? oh i dont remember this part of the story At All. wait wasnt there a scene where joachim got mad at him or sth? for killing his father? well there you have it. out of character for that particular otto but it's time for a child to get punted

a shooting star streaking across the night: clueless. any suggestions welcome. perhaps void archives gets it, as it is the only one consistently around otto

elegy to yesterday: during world serpent's attack on the divine key testing site, otto Sees His Chance and disguises himself to infiltrate the battlefield for the sole purpose of kicking someone. all the valkyries present know its him bc of the ridiculous shoes but frankly they dont care bc hes a good distraction

here lies bellflower: yet another arc i dont remember. just like, In General. other than the parts bianka was in [yes i am a parody of myself] and the general gist of what happened. so idk </3

taixuan dream: he kicks senti in self defense. moments before being strangled

remaining flames: not really in this one is he. WAIT ACTUALLY NO wasnt his consciousness attached to some random HoD puppet to get the core???? then i guess he just kicked another one and nobody cared bc HoD puppets are just Like That

thus spoke apocalypse: as recompensation for all the confusion earlier, he gets to kick a lot in this one. first of all the false god otto boss fight is different, adding an attack. The Kick. second of all, while fighting in the space near the imaginary tree, he can finally kick as many of them as he can

following his death, afterlife-otto has to defend himself from the angry mob of all the people that died because of him Somehow. and so he gets to kick people until someone inevitably steals the shoes from him in order to reverse the roles. this goes on for eternity. The End

#asks #Do I Even Tag This. #yeah i will #honkai impact #otto apocalypse

[shiny-miltank]

why hello old friends, you’ve found me once again (it wasn’t a secret really lol). to start off myello. sorry for disappearing off the Mewcrew blog. It gets all kinda wordy so it’s under a readmore.

Long story short I suffered from a mental Illinois(tm) spiral of depression, work exhaustion, undiagnosed/untreated adhd and big time imposter syndrome + burnout. Zoom into today I’ve been in therapy for my big time sads with some new perspectives and management, got some adhd meds, my job quit on me (long story) so now I’m slinging it freelance artist style and seeing how it goes, and back with family cause living alone was expensive and very Not Good for my brain it turned out. Still working on new changes and learning about the anxious smorgasbord up in the head.

Now there’s still no guarantee? That Mewcrew stuff is going to come back in full force like it did. Im still trying to like it again cause I do miss them. It took a long time and effort just to draw them for the wips I got going in the bg after like the three years leaving. Tbh the blog became something I didn’t want and instead of casual, low effort, funny not serious Just Roomates on misadventures in a pink void comic it became long hours of planning and plotting and rendering and feeling it wasn’t enough with my nasty soup of brain ick continuing to make me feel bad for not keeping up with a constant pace and comparing my work to the artists around me (again it was my brain funguses making reality hard-no one else. The artists around me back then were legit the nicest peeps around-still are). I’m also still really nervous and anxious around big communities that seemed to have sprung up HELLO ALL OF YOU LOL. I remember when it was just three of us xD And I still have to sit with my imposter syndrome and understanding I have things to offer that people do want to see and to stop anxieties from comparing my work to others.

So for now if I am posting Mewcrew stuff it’s mostly going to be here on my main from now on and not an individual blog (me figuring it’s just a lot of effort to keep up with so many blogs and logins, I think any new project or direction I go is just gonna be slapped on my main from now on. The less effort the better for my energy.). It’ll be sporadic and in a much different direction that was more akin to what I wanted it to be and much more casual comedy (or my flat sense of humor-I’ll laugh at knock knock jokes fr) slice of life with very little, even parody “plot”. And most of it until im comfortable with releasing complete mewcrew/mewtwo content will be on my patreon with again spurts of it here on tumblr and on my other socials. And if any of you come into my inbox saying I’m paywalling my own content AGAIN I will come for your kneecaps no joke you are NOT entitled to my work ESPECIALLY when this is now my main form of income. Anything on my patreon is /extra/ and early works and for peeps who choose to/want to and or capable of supporting me. That was literally the final straw that made me take a step out way back then: there’s still somebody behind the screen please remember that. This is just for my anxieties and getting comfortable with my characters again at a slow pace👍 I do miss everyone I use to interact with and want to be part of the bigger community here that’s sprouted up. Just gotta walk slowly with my social anxiety and other things first.

Thanks for reading and choosing to stick around if you do!

#lechetxt #lots of brain soup problems here #but hello again pals 👋 it’s been awhile! #and hello to new folks 👍

[harpywritesfic]

wip tag game!

yay i love these! i love talking about my wips (this is the only way some of them will see the light of day) so thanks @space-mermaid-writing for the tag! this is also a good push to go in and organize my megadoc a bit.

RULES: Post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then tag as many people as you have WIPs. (i don't even know that many people so no :))

Most of my longer wips are in their own documents, but the smaller ones live in what i call the megadoc. basically it's all of them in one big house until they're grown enough to move into their own place. I usually separate them out once they break a page and start getting unwieldy. trouble is, the whole thing is unwieldy now that it's so large. seventy-five pages of wips. i'm not counting the really small ones bc all they are are snippets.

under a readmore because there's 40

Independent fics:

Occupational hazards (snail mail exchange fic)

Three for the price of one (nsfw, aka the tentacle fic)

Hacked your phone

Masters of communication

You need to eat

NOT dating

metal and bone (whumptober 2022)

thread and blood (sequel to metal and bone)

Megadoc fics: (newest to oldest. newer is better)

ANOTHER self-indulgent fic

Battle of the proposal dates

Harpy has a headache

Wow! An abandoned wip!

Stop breathing i don’t like it

Dirt nap averted

He’s just like me fr fr

Drpepperony tag team

Car rides are for the uninitiated

concussion roomate

Uh. praise kink (nsfw)

owie

Dum-e is now an ESA

Cat Curse

Dead rats

The old sex pollen thing (nsfw)

Now you care?

Pre dawn breakdown

truth or dare without the dare

Prompt #1257

My own prompt :)

prompt 1229

BTHB: chronic pain

donut ship has dry ice

road rash and bruising

BTHB- twisted ankle

silly string

what is love? baby don't hurt me

ily, goodnight

hazy

alien flu

stephen got kidnapped again

long day

blood magic

good boyfriend

teatime

hacked ur phone

i don't know

have a seat

feel free to ask for more than one!

i'm tagging @darkkitty1208 and@hithertoundreamtof23! no pressure ofc :)

#harpy's wips #tag game #ask game

[sapphicdib]

You have my interest in your damn hands so I will give more asks cause I am loving this au of yours. How absolutely horrified must Moon feel watching Sig and Pebbs just slowly lose themselves (also Sig's snapped neck), and most importantly..does Pebbs rot travel succesfully :)?

WAH YAY THANK U FOR LOVING IT!!! I’m so happy that ppl find this interesting and it’s been so fun to answer asks !!! I’m putting this under a readmore cuz it gets a bit dark towards the end, (plus it’s really long and i don’t wanna clog the dash) BUT THANK U!!!!

Now that I’m not drunk I can now provide art too!! I realized about 50% of the way thru this drawing it’s basically that “aren’t you tired of being nice? don’t you just wanna go ape shit?” meme LMFAOOO

Moon is incredibly horrified. She was so happy when she noticed Pebbles’ overseer in Sig’s can more and more often, her brother and girlfriend are actually getting along? Working together? Shes been trying to get them to quit bickering pretty much since Pebbles was put online, this is great! Unfortunately they were working on some pretty fucked shit and by the time she found out it was too late.

Unlike Suns, she isn’t angry at them for going to such drastic measures. She knows it was an incredibly fucking stupid thing to do, and was kind of selfish as it’s now affecting everyone, but she almost understands. Almost. If anyone in the local group is going to be convinced to “join them”, it would be Moon. And that’s Not Good when she’s the local group senior!

Like in game, she is incredibly stubborn and hell bent on talking them down with words rather than by force. Her kindness will once again be to her detriment, and by the time she puts her foot down, it’s pretty much too late. And she’s tired. I haven’t solidly figured out the ending yet, but she either stalls and stalls on breaking the bridge between her and Pebbles until it’s too late and the rot spreads (hmm, wonder if that was intentional or not?), breaks the bridge and has to watch her partner and brother crumble, or accept Sig’s offer, which is looking more and more appealing as the cycles go by. Watching this play out is horrifying, perhaps if she joins them she’ll eventually become a mindless husk too, incapable of remembering/processing the pain that the situation is causing her?

The WORST part is that Sig and Pebbles never try to hurt her. Sure, they LOOK scary and say creepy things, but never, not once, do they lay a hand on her (at least violently, Sig still hugs her and holds her until it’s pretty much impossible for him to do so). Even with Suns, when Sig grabs him before they break her neck, it was a gesture more of [shaking his shoulders to get them to think clearly] rather than an attempt to hurt Suns, though Suns didnt to see it that way (through no fault of their own, I mean, Sig looks terrifying). Suns avoids Pebbles for the most part but if they did visit him, Pebbles would be kind to them. Pretty much until the end there is still a piece of them shining through, that’s loyal to their friends, that has convinced themselves that “this is the best way and I want my friends to be free like me too”.

I still haven’t decided what Moon (or Suns, or Wind, or Innocence, etc) are going to do in the end, but honestly every single outcome has such a wonderful amount of angst >:3c so we’ll see!

#HEHE TY FOR THE ASK!! #I HOPE THE ART IS OKAY LOLZ #my art #rw #rot au #letters

[godbirdart]

first off, i just want to say that i love your art, you are a huge inspiration to me and i love how expressive your characters are! would you have any tips for someone trying to grow a following from their art? specifically within the furry community ideally. im just not sure where to start

i hope youre having a great day!

thank you so much!!

okay i gotta preface this with: i have been doing commissions for over a decade. everything i say here i've been doing since roughly 2014, but my career as an artist didn't really Take Off and become reliable until 2019. success isn't immediate. some artists will grow faster or slower than others, not every tactic is going to apply / work for every artist; and that's okay. just keep pushing yourself and adapting and figuring out what works for You!

i’m putting this under a readmore as it got a bit long. every time someone asks me for advice on professional Anything i always write up a five page essay despite trying to bulletpoint it oof

post on multiple platforms and keep them all updated. i’m putting this one in bold because it is possibly the Most Important thing. we’re all watching twitter sinking over there, and many of my mutuals there were floundering because they hadn’t established themselves on any other social media site. i strongly recommend three or four socials minimum. my main four sites are tumblr, deviantart, twitter and toyhouse. furaffinity is also good. inkblot and artfol are new and i use them frequently as well. if you don’t like posting manually to every site each and every time you post art, Postybirb exists and is what i use to crosspost all my art to most of my socials at once.

avoid venting a lot on main. we all have frustrating days where our art isn’t getting the recognition we hoped, or we’re feeling petty about a controversial topic or the latest drama. it happens! it’s okay! however, many people just don’t like seeing dozens of negative posts on their feed. most people will sympathize, but if your negative vents are constantly clogging their dashboard they’re not gonna stick around.

shamelessly self promote yourself. reblog your own art. retweet it again. repost it. mention your other socials. we live in a world of timezones! when you post art, only a fraction of your audience is going to see it. i recommend reblogging / retweeting one to four individual pieces periodically over the course of a day and change it up each day. you can also repost your own work into photosets and title it “recent commissions” or the something like that.

don’t hide your linktrees and carrds. seriously! the amount of times on twitter i went to try and follow someone on another platform only to find they had no carrd or linktree link,, it is infuriating. put your socials link in your bio or pinned or SOMEWHERE readily at the top of your profile that’s easy to spot.

if you’re offering commissions, make a telegram channel or discord server for your announcements / openings.

post regularly. this one is a lot harder for artists that don’t make a lot of content, but posting even a status update once or twice a day can go a long way - especially if you’re on twitter with that platform’s hideous algorithm. alternatively as i said earlier, just retweet/reblog your work a few times a day and you should be good.

art trends are cool and fun and an easy way to get your work seen by others. see a “draw your sona in this outfit” meme? go, have fun with it. this one’s a bit tricky as timing is everything when it comes to ~trending~ content, so try and draw quick. that said, it’s never outdated to drawover reaction memes with your fursona.

try not to clog your socials with memes and shitposty images. this one is directed at twitter specifically. with twitter moments now gone, your media tab is the last way for people to hope to find your work organically on your profile without having to use the twitter search. they can’t get invested in your work if they can’t find it!

it’s okay to change course if you’re not vibing with where you’re headed. if you want to move onto a new aesthetic - that’s fine! you may lose some followers if they don’t click with your new vibe, but you’ll inevitably gain some new ones.

avoid frequent name changes. so many of the artists i follow have changed their brands / urls over the years that i don’t recognize them anymore.

tag your work properly. on tumblr, the first five tags on the original post are the tags your work will pop up in in the search feature. make those first five tags the Most important ones; example: #furry, #anthro, #art #fursona etc. twitter’s algo seems flip-flop if it likes tags or hates them. if you see a tag trending, repost your art in a photoset with the hashtag in the post [example: if #pokemon is trending, repost some of your pokemon fanart with the hashtag in the post body]. if the tag isn’t trending,,, i’ll be honest it’s a gamble if twitter likes your post or not at that point. i have no advice for that hell algorithm.

hosting raffles or doing a mini art request event [example: “leave a ref and i might draw your oc”] is good for traction while simultaneously giving back to the community + your audience a little!

try and reply to / like comments on your work. it’s not required per se, but it’s good to express gratitude.

engage with other members of the community. comment on other peoples work. like it. retweet it. follow other people. obviously don’t be disingenuous about it, but this is what the professionals call ~networking~

don’t compare yourself to others. this one is one you have got to keep in mind constantly. you’re going to find 17 year olds with huge followings and 30 year olds that are doing professional industry work whose level feels alien and almost out of reach. if you’re not doing as well, don’t let yourself get discouraged. we all gotta start somewhere!

related to the above point: be nice to your followers. venting on main about not having the same audience volume as others can come off as a huge middle finger to the audience you already have.

gaining a following takes time. unless you get a really lucky break, it’s going to take a lot of work and self promotion to build up your brand.

slap your name on everything. i mean it. any art you do - sign it. watermark it. people can and will share art in telegram channels and discord servers, and if the art interests someone they can easily source it back to you if your name is on it.

you can buy adspace. if you’re catering to a furry audience specifically, you can buy adspace on furaffinity pretty easily. inkblot i believe also offers adspace for artists though i haven’t looked too deep into it. this is really a “if you’re okay burning money” situation, as the huge chunkk of internet users have adblockers now and it’s a gamble if people will see or even click on your ad.

just have fun and do your own thing. you can hop on trends and draw art that caters to your audience’s tastes, but don’t forget to draw what YOU want and what YOU’RE about. Draw what makes YOU happy.

hope these help!! ;w;

#long post

[mokutone]

🌿🌱 Mokutone Masterpost 🌱🌿

Hi! Welcome. This post will function sort of as a FAQ and will be updated as such. You don't need to read it, but if you've had these questions, here are my answers:

"Do you take Commissions?"

Not yet! I do, however, have a Ko-fi, where I'll do some little thank-you doodles!

"Do you have a shop?"

No, not at the moment! I am considering it though...

"What materials do you use?"

By far the questions I get asked the most are about this, so this will get very long and I'm going to put it under a readmore. I will address the papers, inks, watercolors, dip pens, brushes, and other materials that I have used.

I also answer questions about my materials under the "my ninja tools and scrolls" tag, and give art technique advice under the "my jutsu" tag. Yes it's silly, but this is a Naruto art blog. this is what we all signed up for.

Mostly, this will be a list of my traditional materials. I will address the paper, pens, inks, and various types of watercolor that I use!

📄 PAPERS: 📄

—Strathmore 400 Series Heavyweight Drawing Pads 100lb/163gsm. (these numbers refer to the weight/thickness of the paper. thicker paper is less likely to buckle) ———> This paper is extremely cheap (a 9"/12" pad is often under 10 dollars), takes inks EXCELLENTLY, but it's a much lighter paper, and it will buckle under watercolor. For this paper, it's good to only paint small sections, to paint very slowly, or to paint with the paper taped down to another surface.

—Fabriano Hot Press (Hot Press means the paper is smooth, not rough) Watercolor Paper, 140lb/300 gsm ———> I use this paper the most because it's fairly cheap to buy in bulk, while still being good enough quality that my picky watercolor teacher approved it, Lol. I can usually find a 9"/12" block of it with 50 pages for about $20 if i look hard enough—and the paper is hardy enough that if I'm careful, I can paint on both front and back of the paper. Bad for archival purposes maybe, but great for having fun and not spending more money. [Example]

—Vision Cold Press (Meaning the paper is rough and textured) Watercolor Paper, 140lb/300 gsm ———> My watercolor teacher said this stuff was garbage, but...I don't really care! It is DIRT CHEAP and YES it buckles a little despite being thick, and YES it feels like cardboard in your hand, and YES it ONLY comes in coldpress, but the texture is grainy and even and nice... and like. when I say dirt cheap I mean dirt cheap. I used to get the 6"/9" 30 page pad for like 6 or 7 bucks. [Example]

—Arches Watercolor Pad/Block, Hot Press, 140lb/300 gsm ———> This is that expensive shit. I got a pad of it for a class back in college, and I dip into it now and again—I also bought a little bit more when there was a sale recently, a 12 page. It's 100% cotton, and it takes pigment based watercolor REALLY well, but it's not so good about dye based (I'll discuss the difference between those later) [Example]

🎨 WATERCOLORS: 🎨

DYE BASED:

Dye based watercolors, because they are based in dyes instead of pigments, are not lightfast. They are not archival. If you expose them to sunlight, they will begin to fade, and some will fade rapidly. That said, if you hoard your art in a dark place once you've documented, go hog wild! The fact that they're all liquid already makes them really easy to use.

—Ecoline Watercolor [Liquid] ———> These are a little watery, but they are cheap and easy, and I used them for the majority of my early watercolor art on this blog!

— Dr. Ph. Martin's Radiant Concentrated Watercolors [Liquid] ———> They are expensive, and sold in small quantities. They are, however very bright, like that label isn't lying! They're super concentrated! I have not actually run out of any of the ones that I bought (at a store closing sale bc otherwise they're too expensive lol) because they only use a small amount at a time

— Dr. Ph. Martin's Synchromatic Transparent Watercolors [Liquid] ———> They are also expensive, and also sold in small quantities. They aren't really made for paper either. They're fine. Probably not worth it though!

PIGMENT BASED:

—Black Sheep Art Supply's Pans And Half Pans! [solid watercolor] ———> These have been very enjoyable for me to work with!! They're very bright, affordably priced, and the paints are from a small business, as well as being handmade and from the first Black-owned art supply store. I've had wonderful experiences ordering from this store, and I wholeheartedly recommend them!

[EDIT: apparently the shop is on a break or something! oh well]

—Dr. Ph. Martin's Hydrus [liquid watercolor] ———> These are liquid watercolors, like the dyes, but they are archival and somewhat light-fast, which means they can be exposed to moderate amounts of sunlight without fading. I haven't gotten to use them much yet, but they seem fine. You do have to shake them a lot to mix the pigment in. They can also be a little difficult to rewet, and may appear somewhat flaky.

—Turner Professional Artists' Watercolors [tube/semi liquid] ———> These are watercolors stored in tubes, you know, the traditional way! I used these for class, back in college. They're cheap, but well pigmented as far as cheap watercolors go. If you're really on a tight budget, this is probably the best pick.

—Holbein Artist' Water Color [tube/semi liquid] ———> My best friend (the one who got me into naruto!) gave these to me! Usually they can be very expensive. They're very high quality, and gorgeous. I'm so enamored with them and touched by the gesture that I use them very rarely, I don't want to lose them! They're special to me!

✒️ INKS: 🖋️

I only use permanent inks which will not bleed (much) when water is applied, due to working in watercolor. This list will reflect that

—Dr. Ph. Martin's Bombay Black India Ink ———> I use this the most frequently. It's a little shiny, but not too bad, and it is completely waterproof once dried. Of the Ph. Martin inks, it's the cheapest by far, and a 1oz bottle (which lasts me months) can be found for about $5. —Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star (Matte) Ink ———> Very waterproof, does not shine much at all. If you record your art with photography rather than scanning, this may be useful to you! Unfortunately, it's about $10 a bottle. —Dr. Ph. Martin's Black Star (Hi-Carb) Ink ———> Very waterproof, very shiny. I don't use this much because I don't like my ink to shine, but it can be very nice with the right application. Unfortunately, it's also about $10 a bottle.

—Yatsumoto Sumi Ink ———> you can get this stuff cheap. Like, you could get a 12oz bottle of it for like $12. That's very cheap. Unfortunately it's not completely waterproof, and if you agitate (rub the brush vigorously) over the ink, it may seep into the watercolors. If you're careful though, this won't be a huge problem. It's also good for ink-only work.

—Liquitex Acrylic Ink ———> This is also very waterproof, but it also takes longer to dry than the other inks, so I find myself smudging it a lot. It's also about $7 for a 1oz bottle, but about $20 for a 5oz bottle, so if you're committed to the ink, it can be cheap to buy in larger sizes.

—Diamine Registrar's Blue-Black Ink ———> Expensive. Really more of an interesting find than a practical ink for me. This is mostly waterproof, but a very thin ink, and you can feel the nib get scratchier when drawing with it. That's not a bad thing, it's just a textural thing. It's produced in a similar way to medieval inks, with iron and oak-galls, and because of this it has some interesting properties: When first applied to paper, it's a pale or sky blue, but it darkens rapidly as it dries, becoming almost black over time. It runs the rusk of corroding metal pen nibs due to its chemical makeup, and so nibs which use this must be washed extra thoroughly.

✍️ PEN NIB HOLDERS: ✍️

—Speedball Sketching Pen Set: ———> Easiest to get your hands on. Comes with two nib-holders and 6 different nibs to try out, available at most art stores, and usually around $10. It's also not bad quality—I don't use the tiny little nib-holder any more, but I use the standard black one all the time.

—Tachikawa Comic Pen Nib Holder, Model 40/ Model 36 ———> My Favorite. Thank god it has a little rubbery thing around it, because I grip pens hard 😭. It is able to hold standard-size AND small-size nibs. Occasionally, I find that some "standard-size" nibs might not fit, but I've never had this issue with the small size nibs.

Honestly, those are my favorites, but it's really hard to go wrong with pen nib holders. If they fit comfortably in your hand, and they hold a nib, they're good!

🖋 NIBS: ✒️

Nibs are difficult to acquire. They can be expensive too.

— Speedball ———> If you want to get a variety of nibs to experiment, this is my first recommendation. They have a wide variety of nibs to experiment, and find out what your favorites are.

—Tachikawa Pen Nibs ———> They've got less robust options than Speedball, and a little more expensive too, but they're very good nibs! The G-Nib is the standard nib used in comic making, and especially for lettering. It's a very stiff little nib, so it doesn't flex too much. This makes it pretty reliable, and especially good for lettering/writing.

—Manuscript Leonardt Pen Nibs ———> A lot of options for everything from caligraphy to cartography to sketching, also a little expensive—what is notable is that their pen nibs tend to be on the more flexible side, allowing the artist to get a lot of line weight variance. This is bad for lettering, but fun for drawing! They also have pens shaped like hands. Neat.

—Brause Pen Nibs ———> These were always super expensive where I was. I got a few. They come in this dorky plastic case with a sliding top, and I kinda wish they didn't bc that's a whole lotta plastic for something that coulda been stored in cardboard or paper, lol. I now use the cases to hold perfume samples. They're good pens, they're just expensive and the packaging is dumb.

—Whatever the hell is on Etsy. ———> People love to sell vintage things on etsy, and pen nibs are no exception. Often, you can find random samplers of pen nibs, or collections of pen nibs for sale. Sometimes you can find a whole box of one kind of pen nib, often times with a lot of nibs in it. I once bought one of these for like $45 and i don't even regret it because it's got a shitton of nibs and I realllly like using them. It will literally last me the rest of my life.

🖌 Brushes: 🖌

I don't have a lot to say about brushes! Ultimately, if it makes a mark on paper, and you like the mark it makes...I think that's a good brush.

I've been told you should go for ones which hold a shape, I think, and don't spread out in a big puff. Ones which use animal hairs are apparently best, but they are also very expensive. Generally, with watercolors, you will want to use "round" brushes, especially for beginners. If you want to experiment, I recommend Filberts, but there are also sword/dagger brushes if you're painting something like grass. Mostly I use:

—Creative Mark Mimik Kolinsky: ———> As the name implies, these are meant to mimic (synthetically) brushes made from Kolinsky fur. These are nice and I like them. They're cheap, but hold their shape well, and feel good in the hand. —Creative Mark Mimik High Performance Synthetic Squirrel Hair Watercolor Brushes: ———> What a name. I find these to be just as good for me as the Mimik Kolinsky, but a little bit cheaper. As long as ur careful not to treat them too roughly you'll be fine.

—Princeton Watercolor Brushes ———> Good. Expensive, but good. They have a variety of synthetic + natural materials, they are well made, if you have a little money to throw around + want a brush which will preform very well but will not destroy your bank, this is a solid brand. I've used ones from their Velvetouch, Mini-Detailer, and Heritage collections before, and enjoyed them all very much.

Additional Supplies:

—Porcelain Palette ———> I highly recommend using a porcelain palette instead of a plastic palette, both because I like to cut down on plastic when I can, and because the porcelain palettes are just....so much more convenient. The glass-like coating means that they will be easier to clean, whereas all of my plastic palettes over the years have gotten permanent stains. They're a little harder to accidentally knock around because they're heavier, which probably isn't a problem for most people, but I can be kinda clumsy. I can't tell u the number of times I've sent a full plastic circle-palette of watercolors flying lol

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

a flower, returned (Clio/Aria)

A scene that takes place just after Aria is brought back to Daybreak Town by Clio, who wishes to finally reunite her with the piece of herself she had kept safe all this time. (1293 words) This piece is part of the Darkling AU, and directly follows my previous piece of writing for this selfship. Originally written for a "Welcome back kiss" prompt.

Tag list: @starlit-selfships | @edencantstopfallininlove | @yoomtahsgf | @sunlight-ships | @dragonsmooch | @thatslikesometaldude | @artificervaldi | @keyblade-ships (to be tagged in future work, please see this form!)

(Anyone is welcome to comment on and/or reblog my work, as long as my DNI is respected! A transcript of the document is under the readmore.)

The late morning sun had filled Clio's bedroom with light and warmth in the time since she had left it, but her first act upon getting back was to go over and pull the navy curtains closed, letting soothing shade settle over the space instead. Aria had kept close behind her the whole time, not only to hopefully be safer if she happened to be spotted on the way back, but also to simply appreciate the feeling of finally having someone else close by again.

"You can just sit down on my bed if you want." Clio was saying. "You look exhausted."

"Oh.. Thank you.." Aria quickly came over to perch on the end of the bed, watching as the room became darker and subsequently much easier to see in. This was her first time being invited into Clio's bedroom, so she was taking time to examine her surroundings - it was an open and spacious room with ample wardrobe space built into the wall near the doorway. A jewellery stand adorned with a number of pretty accessories stood on the dresser, and a many-flowered jasmine plant was growing in a terracotta pot sat next to it. It was this that she was staring at when Clio finished closing the curtains.

"I picked that one up from a shop not too far from here, back when I was out with some of the others." she explained, speaking up to fill the silence once she saw where Aria was looking. "I read that they don't like too much sunlight all at once, so I put it on the dresser in case today's mission took a while, and.. I mean, I don't want to jinx it, but it seems to be doing pretty well where I've left it!"

"Yes." Aria stated. "Constant light can be damaging in excess."

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know what this flower means, would you?" Clio asked casually, knowing the affinity she had always had for flower language.

There was then a long pause.

"..I can't remember." she admitted, and looked awfully downtrodden at the fact.

"Oh, that's alright!" Clio smiled to try and ease tension again. "It might say in the book I got, actually, so- don't worry!"

This did little to reassure her partner. "..I should be able to remember. No- I should be able to know. It's.. not good that I can't.."

In return, Clio couldn't help but be confused by her wording. "You should be able to? Did the.. do you think the darkness affected your memory?"

"Less memory, more.. instinct." Aria stated. Then she stopped. A lump caught in her throat, and Clio could see tears starting to form in her eyes again.

"Ari.."

"I have already lost so much.." she began to mumble, voice wavering now as she brought a clawed hand to where her heart would be. "I don't want- I refuse to let anything else of what I am be taken away. Whether by darkness, light, or any other aspect."

Clio opened her mouth to speak, but found she could not find the right words, so she settled for coming over and sitting on her bed next to Aria instead.

"..It'll be okay." she tried again. "You're back in Daybreak Town now."

"..A world of Dandelions, now." she muttered back. "The darkness was not safe for you, and it took something from me. But now, I fear the light here is not safe for me, for how much of it's present here."

Clio couldn't help but feel sad again at that, and reached out to take Aria's hand again, gently running her thumb over the hard parts of her claws, painfully aware of how cold she now was to the touch. In return, Aria simply leaned over to rest her head on Clio's shoulder, away from the spikes of her armour, tilting her wing to embrace her, trying to sense what warmth she still could.

There was a long, but not uncomfortable, silence as the two sat there together side-by-side.

It was Clio who spoke up again to break the silence, as a soft thought settled in her mind.

"Hey, um- There's something I've been meaning to give back to you."

"Mm..?"

Aria tilted her head in confusion as she watched Clio get off of the bed again, this time moving to the table right beside it. On it lay many items one would expect to find in such a spot - an alarm clock, a glass of water, a small pile of scrunchies and hairbands - but also a crown of clovers, woven together in a delicate yet strong wreath that Clio could gladly put back on her head now that she no longer needed to wear her helmet. However, before she did that, she set about dismantling her regalia, removing pieces of it one at a time and carefully setting them down on the floor away from Aria. Finally, her upper half was free of it, showing off her arms as all she was wearing underneath was a black short-sleeved shirt.

Even so, as she turned around, it could be seen that something was still fastened to her chest, right over her heart.

The flower still held the same softness and health as it had when it was gifted, all that time ago before the war - that much could be clearly discerned from the soft shine of its five pale pink petals. Two green leaves curled out from underneath the petals, one sitting just on top of the other, both pointing downwards like overlapping clock hands.

It was not just any cherry blossom, though that was clearly evident from its size - but above any other ways it stood out, it was her flower, a part of her still wholly untainted and free of the weight that the realm of darkness had worn the rest of her down with. A part of her willingly given up to someone who did not even know its true meaning, yet accepted it and treasured it for what it still was - who yet accepted her and treasured her for who she still was - nevertheless.

"You kept it.." was all that Aria could say, taking in the meaning of what she saw with an aura of what seemed like disbelief. She tentatively stood up from the bed to try and get a closer look.

"Of course I did." Clio said reassuringly, lifting the flower from her chest so that it could be put in its rightful place. "It was all I had left of you, and it was a promise that you would come back - so, how could I have not?"

"You really- I- I don't know what to say-" Aria's voice was now shaking with emotion, but she was interrupted when Clio reached out and pulled her cold body into an embrace, carefully placing the flower back where it belonged in the process with her other hand.

There was a moment of pause, as the flower settled back and found the rest - and then all Clio felt was a veritable glow of warmth and love as she held Aria close. She gently eased out of the hug, but only to get to be able to look down and see those catlike eyes of bright amber staring up at her - those eyes that held a visceral, and powerful, and yet no less adoring sense of life behind them now. Despite what the realm of darkness had done to her, and turned her into how she now appeared, no part of her seemed monstrous, anymore.

With a relieved and loving smile, all she could do was lean down and give her girlfriend a kiss on the lips.

"Welcome back, Aria."

#heart of the void #creations from the void #selfshipping #OC selfshipping #selfship: of flowers unchained (clio/aria) #of flowers unchained: darkling aria AU #love: crown of clovers (clio) #self‑insert: darkness' champion (aria) #of lux and daybreak (union x) #of hearts and friendship (kingdom hearts) #previous pieces #anyone is welcome to comment on or reblog my work as long as my DNI is respected #delayed echoes #I saved this one instead of actually putting it in the queue oops #I hope it's okay to reupload like this #sorry that i haven't really been around today

[pawbeanies]

mm, i wonder what would happen if i caught you touching yourself. seeing you all flistered and embarrassed and trying to hide it, but i just come closer. i tell you that since you've been a naughty pup, you clearly need someone to give you directions. i direct you onto your pillow and make you hump it for me, encouraging you with praise and kisses to your neck and telling you how you're so cute when you're like this, your highness. I'd keep the pace, telling you when to slow down and when to speed up, and when i think you're ready, i hold a vibe to your dick, making you needier than ever. you keep trying to cover your face with your hands, but i hold your wrists in my other hand, showing that im bigger and stronger than you and growling that i want to see your pretty expressions. you'd be all flushed and whiny and embarrassed and so lovely. you look amazing when you put on a show for me, your highness. you call me mean and a bully, and you tell me to stop, but i shush you because that doesn't sound like your safe word. if you really didn't want this, you would have locked the door, right? you're so cute when you pretend that you dont like this, when you act like i can't see how turned on you are. when you whine at me and tell me you're close, i figure that you've been good enough, so i continue. i tell you to not hold back, to let it happen, to go ahead and cum for me, your highness. youve been such a good boy and youve earned it

-🌹

mmMM whining?? whining.? mean? mean..???!? this one is so mean nooo... so mean so cruel..... i will. be cursed to think about this forever now mean mean mean. pulling out the readmore bc i am also very flustered about it

ghh brain melting at this one for real i like gasped. when i saw it... unable to hide from you and hgh. hh. i'd try to hide my face and look away so early on you'd have to keep me from hiding my face even as early as you coming into the room... ugh i'd be so embarrassed to be told to hump my pillow it's not. fair... you'd get to watch me bite my pillows and whine when you tell me to slow down, but i don't think i'd be able to at first.. i can be!! a little spoiled and disobedient when i want to be. but i don't think i'd hold out very long with you there

whining and squirming under you with my wrists pinned down is soo so. so much. going from calling you mean and a bully and telling you to stop to whining and looking up at you with needy doe eyes like?? please?? pleasepleaseplease? sorry for being naughty i'll be so good now, please?? finally melting and crumbling and crying a bit and going thank you when you give me permission... weh. maybe offering to take care of you once i can think somewhat straight again.. or maybe just presenting to you so. you can have a turn next

crawlijg under the covers this one was so good. thank you i will now proceed to explode forever

#asks..?!?!?! #🌹 anon #meannn MEANNN meann nn. whining. #actually biting my pillows hgh. whine #embarrassing..... SO embarrassing but also so. really good #ny brain is gone... its goneee #things that will fuel my dumb dog brain fantasies for. ever

[gauntletqueen]

You've talked positively about 2 before, but what about the rest of the Rayman series?

I have a long history with the Rayman series! So I'll put it under a readmore

I used to play Rayman 1 a lot when I was little, but never beat it because it is Bullshit. You need to 100% it in order to get the ending. Not the "good ending" or "best ending" but ANY ending at all. You're not allowed to fight the final boss unless you've collected every collectible and some of the levels later on get Pretty Bullshit afhhgasf That said, the visuals and music for it are wonderful! And most of the levels, with their slow, careful platforming, are very fun and unique even today. I think, anyway.

Let's also include Rayman 2: The Great Escape, which is one of my all-time favorite games! I own like over 10 copies of it across several platforms (PC and 3DS are the best ways to play it btw) and have beat it more than any other game, easily (Sonic R runner up) It more or less reinvented the world from the first game, giving clearer lore, and a more mystical, immersive feeling to the fantasy world. The characters are endearing, the gameplay is tight and makes it super enjoyable to run through the fluid level design. Also the soundtrack is REALLY GOOD!!!! (Some of this might be nostalgia speaking but also I think I'm right probably)

Rayman M is FUN I love the music and visual design of the levels. It's not like. Good. Per se. There's basically no way to catch up once you're behind in a race, and the arena mode is pretty awkward, but I have a soft spot for it :>

Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (which I'll be streaming on the 21st for charity!!) retains a lot of the cool mystique and creative fantasy from the first game, along with expanding on the wonderful artstyle. It's VERY 2000's with making Rayman more rugged and quippy, but not to any degree that really ruins the character. I like it a lot!

Rayman Raving Rabbids makes me Sad. It was supposed to be so much more than just a wacky minigame collection. Many of the minigames are fun! And if this was just a little spinoff from the main Rayman series it wouldn't be that bad. However, this marked the beginning of the death of Rayman as I knew and loved him. From this moment on, we just got more Raving Rabbids games. each subsequent installment focussed less and less on Rayman, until he was removed entirely, and wouldn't appear again until many years later. I was extremely saddened by this and hated the rabbids for a long time as a result.

Rayman finally made his return in Rayman Origins, which is critically acclaimed and the first thing that comes to mind for many people when they think of Rayman. I was Extremely Excited when it was announced, and like the previous games, the visuals of the game are beautiful. The gameplay is also fantastic, but I actually hate the story and how it portrays the characters. The game sends many mixed messages about what it wants to be, where it fits into the series, whether it's a sequel of a reboot, it's a mess. I was worried about where the series would go from here.

Rayman Legends validated my worries, by being even nicer to look at, more satisfying to play, and even worse in terms of story. The most half-baked setup for a story with no payoff. But hey it does have the music levels and those are the best so. I guess it evens out. (fun fact even though I don't like the two most recent games, I still 100% them ashfhgaf)

(bonus round) Rayman Adventures is like random small Rayman Legends levels but on mobile, they did a great job of fitting the controls to just sliding and tapping the screen, it was quite fun actually

Thank you!! Hope this was fun to read cause it's a lot hsafhgafs

#Rayman

[addiehour]

personal thoughts on the staff post about the situation. under readmore + rbs turned off bc this is more for my archival than anything else

one thing that immediately stands out is the lack of clarification on the ban.

The reality of predstrogen's suspension was not accurately conveyed, and made it seem like we were reaching for opportunities to ban trans feminine people on the platform. This is not the case. The example comment shared in the post linked above does not meet our definition of a realistic threat of violence, and was not the deciding factor in the account suspension. [...] Transition timelines are not against our community guidelines, and weren’t a factor considered by the moderation team when discussing suspensions and subsequent appeals. We do not take action against content that is related to transitioning or trans bodies unless it includes violations of the Community Guidelines.

so what was? if it wasn't the transition timeline (which was repeatedly removed due to 'violating community guidelines', including after appeals) or the threat (which tbf i didn't assume was, on its own, the reason for the ban-- matt always cited it as 'one example'), then like... what exactly was?

the same (second) quote also re-asserts something we already knew. yeah, no duh, the concept of a transition timeline is not against community guidelines (tho it's worth mentioning that jv, an ex-employee, did refer to it as though it was equivalent to a sex worker posting an ad for their onlyfans.)

See, I don't think trans accounts here gets banned more often than, let's say, sex workers accounts. Because for Matt / moderation policies, posting a pic of your body to show up how your transition is going to your friends is the same than posting a picture of your body to promote your onlyfans. The context, the intention, doesn't matter much to them, the action is what matters. And of course, for a lot of trans folks here, their body is a very important topic to talk about, to show, to be proud of … but people like Matt don't really understand (or care) about the difference between that kind of self-expression and posting a thirst trap.

ftr, the above was posted before jv had seen the post in question (afaik), so they couldn't have known it was shoulders-up, but like-- this is still a drastically incorrect way to frame things. & transmisogynistic! like, first of all, if trans accounts don't get banned more often than sex workers... so what? they're not all sex workers, and even if they are, as long as their accs don't break guidelines they shouldn't be banned AS OFTEN AS "sex workers" (unclear if jv means sex workers or accounts specifically used for sex work).

it's also ridiculous because people post ootds all the time. people send photos of themselves in clothing made by artists on tumblr all the time, saying 'thanks for the [clothing item] it looks great on me!' i have never seen any of these threatened w community labels. objectively speaking, a trans woman saying 'look how my body has changed' in a FULLY CLOTHED transition timeline is not calling more attention to her body than a cis woman saying 'look how good i look in these jeans.' &, again, even on accounts by (e.g.) cis lesbians made for thirsting over each other (/pos) i fail to see any action being taken against (again, clothed) posts like 'i hear you girls like butches in flannel' or w/e. this is just obviously not true. moderation is not viewing all posts displaying people's bodies equally. (& tbh i disagree that you can linearly describe transition timelines as 'calling attention to the user's body', but like, whatever atp.)

furthermore, txttletale explained:

she was banned because her account was under a unique amount of scrutiny and subject to a mass harassment campaign and yes, that scrutiny came from the controversy around her transition photos.

so idrgaf if staff tells us more than once that she wasn't specifically banned for transition photos. that's like, not even the issue here. she has at least once had her account mass reported for posts like that to the point that she had to email and get it back, but even if it's not specifically over those pics, 1) they're still a major factor 2) wtf was it then lol 3) WHY DID THEY GET TAKEN DOWN.

bc nobody has managed to correctly address thus far why they continued to be consistently removed even after the appeals were re-considered by tumblr staff. i've seen some people posit that it was bc of the harness, which like. 1) i have not seen these labels on historical pride photos featuring harnesses, nor should they be used in those instances 2) whoah maybe that should be in the guidelines then!

like i get why they don't want to get into the reasons behind everybody's bans but at the very least maybe clarify your rules so trans people can better plan their posts for their audience.

Last year, the "mature" and "sexual themes" community labels were erroneously applied to some users' posts. An outside team of contractors tasked with applying community labels to posts were responsible for this larger trend of mislabeling trans-related content. When our Trust & Safety team discovered this issue (thanks largely to reports from the community), we removed the contracted team’s ability to apply community labels and added more oversight to ensure it does not happen again. In the Staff post about this, LGBTQ+ staff pushed to be more transparent but were overruled by leadership. The termination of a contractor mentioned in the original ask response was for an unrelated incident which was incorrectly attributed to this case. We regret that the mislabeling ever happened, and the negative impact it has had on the trans community on Tumblr.

...so there have been multiple transphobic moderation issues. awesome. others have pointed out that it's not clear based solely on this whether the contracted team is still on the job and what they can do (since this doesn't say they were fired or even removed from moderating, just that specifically their ability to apply labels was removed.) and the complaints of transmisogynistic application of community labels haven't disappeared, so this also seems like a failure to address the issue.

When it comes to the experience of trans folks on Tumblr encountering transphobic content, and interacting with bigoted users, we understand and share your frustrations. Tumblr’s policies, and Automattic’s policies, are written to ensure freedom of speech and expression. We prohibit harassment as defined in our Community Guidelines, but we know that this policy falls short of protecting users from the wider scope of harmful speech often used against LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people.

also disappointing as a response. excuses the way the policy is written while also acknowledging it "falls short." if it falls short, it needs to be fixed, unless the right of terfs to post about how trans women are rapists supercedes the right of trans people to exist unharassed on this platform. as many have noticed, tumblr doesn't even have a policy against misgendering, which even twitter had at some point.

they proceed to say that going forward tumblr staff is doing xyz, which tbh i'm not even responding to here bc i doubt any of that is going to happen. the existence of the post itself verifies that what trans people at tumblr want has no bearing while matt is ceo.

...ok wait i lied.

Reviewing which of the tags frequently used by the trans community are blocked, and working to make them available next week.

imo, even if there are literally thousands of tags to look through, staff needs to have someone sit down and look through all of them. this puts the burden on the community to report these things AGAIN, which is not long-term feasible or fair. just go through the tags you're blocking and figure out which are fair to block (i.e., "pro ana" "ts porn" etc.) and which aren't (not just tags like "tgirl" but "nsfw art" because nsfw art IS NOW ALLOWED LOL).

idk most of my own thoughts boil down to txttletale's tags:

it is not a very meaningful gesture but it is all that the people makign it are actually capable of so dunking on it seems lazy

it doesn't mean much and most if not all of it is stuff we already know but what else can trans staff do. i'm mostly bothered by the implication in the post that they CAN do anything when we know based on everything leading up to this and this post itself that this is not the case. ofc i think it's incredibly brave of trans staff to do ANYTHING, but still, this is capitalism & modern tech. my hopes are not particularly high.

other people additionally pointed out that this post fails to:

specify that the moderation issues primarily apply to TRANS WOMEN (not lgbtq people in general)

& specify whether there are trans women/transfems working @ tumblr (they consistently just say 'trans people' which like. alright 'trans people' are very often transmisogynistic. but it does seem tho that there are transfems there so probably just wording.)

address the numerous bans of other trans women since avery

& the previous 'unexplained' bans of black and palestinian bloggers

& the entire system for 'report sexual content' which, when spammed, explodes a blog on the spot with no explanation to its owner

& the fact that matt followed avery to twitter to list out her sideblogs

REINSTATE AVERY'S ACCOUNT. lol.

anyway. a few notable responses, as of 2/24/24.

mostly positive:

(one) (two) (three) (four) (five)

mostly critical:

(one) (two) (three) (four) (five) (six) (seven) (eight) (nine) (ten) (eleven) (twelve) (thirteen) (fourteen) (fifteen) (sixteen) (seventeen) (eighteen) (nineteen)

(jv's notes plus reddit corpospeak 'translation') (more of jv's notes) (staff member echo's response) (jv's update on matt's lack of response)

(ex-staff member lara's response)

meanwhile, matt has been silent, after politely declining an invite to pissvortex's live chat & having his wikipedia page changed to say he died feb 19 in a "car hammer explosion." truly incredible

#bentxt #. once again reblogs off/under readmore bc this is really just for me to keep everything in one place #. so. #tumblr

[the-100th-witch]

my unemployment is gonna be running out

Some ramblings under readmore

I've been blessed to have it for 7 months and not have to jump around random jobs. The area I'm living in is also not really fruitful with jobs that aren't retail/fast food. I do have the option of temp jobs (through a temp agency) and if i hit a road bump (not passing this test again although i have a good feeling i'll pass) I can just do that for a bit (and not commit to one job lol I did that last time and that was bad even though i got money it was a very toxic place).

I have my test on Oct 6th so hopefully i pass and can get substituting started. I think there is still a wait period from the time i pass the test to when i get the official certification and all that. I just want this certification bc

1) good for a year and can be renewed ( the process seems simple enough)

2) I can make my own hours so i can choose to work 7 days a week or just 1 day a week etc. I plan on working a lot but if I have to get my teeth fixed or other things i can just not agree to any jobs which is ideal right now. If i move in the near future I can just not accept any work lol

3) I can get back into the teaching environment and apply for community college teaching jobs once im feeling ready. I can even get into a teaching credential program if i want (to teach lower grades) but i dont know..but it's an option. I know i wanna teach but it's been so long (3 years) I just dont want to disappoint anyone or let myself down (and then go into a depressive state like no thanks!)

This was the original plan (well kinda I wanted to start teaching at a community college level right after college but it was 2020 lol that wasnt happening and it's been so long that i kinda dont feel comfortable jumping back into teaching at that level quite yet. That's my goal for 2024) and I'm glad I took the time to get back on track this year.

I should be fine though since I'm living at home and havent touched my savings at all.

I chose to not get another job right away bc i tend to get side tracked and consumed with whatever job i have. I wanted to get this test out of the way and yea i failed it like 2 times (technically 3 times lol) but i know that if i was working it would have just put it off to the side again.

I was also getting my health back in check and now im focusing on my teeth so that was time well spent. Stuff i usually put off bc im too busy at work or never got the time off lol

I talked to my mom and she just said "well that flew by! You should be okay even if by January since it's literally right around the corner" so at least there's that. I was helping my family this whole time so im glad i was somewhat useful while they helped me during this time.

But I have been feeling ready to get back into working and working on moving out lol probably wont be able to do that until AFTER i get a new car bc my current car is on it's last leg i think. The security of having this permit will allow me to work anywhere (well...nearly anywhere but from what I'm reading i can transfer the permit or at the very least go to a state where the CBEST tests scores (that never expire) are accepted and maybe just re-apply through that state. It's a little all over the place) but it's a security nonetheless. Kinda like the temp agencies are for me since I worked a lot of data entry jobs and office jobs. I just want to get back to teaching since i dont like the office environment i like the academic environment

So, overall it could be worse.

I've been feeling depressed lately but I'm surprised at how well I'm taking this news. I thought I would be all upset and stuff but I think since i was only 2 points off from my last score I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Just gotta power through and pass this upcoming test!

#personal #unemployment #i could file another claim but i honestly don't see a need too #plus i can just get a temp job since I'm so close to passing this test #just gotta stay on track

[m1d-45]

Hey I love your writing!!!!!! whenever I see it on my dash I always get ready to read another banger!!!! Btw idk if you have any opinions on Xiao but DID YOU SEE HIS RECENT TEASER??? THE ANGST THE SADNESS!!! SO GOOD any thoughts? Spare thoughts? 🥺

I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT XIAO YOU HAVE NO IDEA

i haven’t seen the trailer but i watched it rn for this ask and oh my GOD

ranting under the readmore bc i am having EMOTIONS

(oh and thanks for the compliment!! lovely to know i’ve created something you enjoyed <33)

i have an ask i’m 100% gonna use as an excuse to do a character study on him because he’s… he’s so…. ough…

‘an instant of negligence, and it will turn me into one of the monsters i swore to purge’

aisdnekdfn i have NO IDEA what this trailer is abt bc i am not a xiao haver (started genshin mid his last banner, by the time i knew what i was doing it ended) but he…. ough…. he’s so afraid of himself just because he does his job i- ‘you became the very thing you swore to destroy’ type beat but this time it’s sad and tragic because he truly believes himself to be something dark and prone to shattering, cutting through the ones closest to him, not the typical ‘i’m better than i was then’ mentality that usually comes with this trope!! he treats himself like a live bomb and he’s so terrified that the weapon he uses to defend will turn on those he loves-

i can GUARANTEE he left bubu pharmacy because he didn’t want baizhu / qiqi to ‘waste’ medicine on him because he probably feels a sense of obligation about it, it’s his burden to bear and not one they should shoulder for him (it isn’t he deserves a moment of peace and a break from his never ending duties xiao pls be kind to yourself)

‘it’s good to take the mask off once in a while, even just for one night’

i have NO IDEA why venti’s here but he is so right. also related but venti and xiao need to be friends. i don’t know about their canon relationship bc i have neither of them but… ugh…

venti clearly has issues for a variety of reasons, notably being afraid of being a tyrant, and his near need to not be overbearing meshes so well with xiaos fear of poisoning those around him… they both cope in horrendous ways but like…. god… emotions in the club tonight…

like…. the two of them, sitting on the roof of the inn, watching the sun rise. venti has a bottle of dandelion wine and xiao has a lukewarm, untouched plate of almond tofu besides him—verr goldet brought it to him but he hasn’t brought himself to have it yet. he’d sat himself up there around midnight, venti joining him not an hour later, but only a few words have been exchanged. venti said hello, xiao asked why he was here. he had shrugged, popping the cork on his wine easily, settling down with a slightly exaggerated sigh, “same as you, i suppose. caught up in a memory that won’t leave.”

xiao winces, slightly, almost embarrassed he was seen through so easily, but venti doesn’t press it. he knows the feeling, the oppressive weight of failure weighing on him just as strongly as it does on him. he feels bad that somebody so (comparatively) young has to experience so much tragedy and loss, but…

he glances at his vision, the glass reflecting the moon.

the two sit for what most would consider far too long in silence, only the occasional slosh of wine passing between them. memories weigh heavy on nights like these, and neither is quite ready to address it yet.

venti starts, his voice far dimmer than usual. a long-forgotten name falls from his wine-soaked lips, wrapped gently in eons of affection. he’s repeated the story of the ‘nameless bard’ a thousand times, always on quiet nights like these ones, with only the stars as his witness, but… surely an audience of one doesn’t hurt.

besides, he thinks bitterly, the sweet wine not doing much to take the edge off his mood, it’s not as if anybody else remembers.

the silence once again stretches, but it’s only a few moments before xiao speaks up, his voice uncharacteristically soft. he does the same, repeating the names of the ones he’d lost, and the wind picks up slightly, as if carrying some of the weight for him. he glances at venti, but he’s looking at the roof tiles, allowing him the moment—the memory—to himself.

he feels odd, telling stories of bloodshed and broken bones after such a soft friendship, but whenever he pauses for a moment too long, a soft breeze brings him the smell of cecelias, and the words he was looking for are found.

he feels lighter, slightly, for having shared, a small chip of his self-imposed burden lifting. normally, he’d probably feel guilty for dumping this out in the open, but the night is warm and he doesn’t find himself minding the company all that much.

the night passes, spent in a comfortable, nostalgic quiet. xiao’s plate is clean, now, and though the texture of the dessert is off and his lip curls, it’s still as sweet as usual. venti’s bottle is similarly empty, hardly a drop left inside the stained glass. the cork is lost, having fallen somewhere, and even in the growing light of dawn, neither can see it. if they do, they don’t reach for it.

venti sighs, not one of contempt or regret, but of sorrow. sometimes he wishes there were more hours to the night.

xiao watches him stand, with little intention of following. he should probably get up as well, stretch so his arms aren’t too sore when he goes out later to clear out demons…

barbatos offers his hand. after a moment, the last yaksha takes it.

#m1d : [chats] #< line is REALLY blurring here #m1d : [secrets] #< anyway #not intended to be xiaoven but i understand if that’s how you read it /gen #xiao is my little babygirl i wanna give him a kiss on the forehead and a night well rested #also this explains all the stuff on my dash abt qiqi carrying xiao lmao #was confused as hell ngl #also BAIZHU CRUMBS?? pls mhy let my boy out of the basement #he needs to be a catalyst user and changsheng (his snake) needs to be the catalyst. poison damage #/hj but also not

[mossible]

MOSSIBLE YOUR INSANE I LOVE YOU BUT YOU ARE INSANE!!!!!!!

That. Was so far the angriest I've ever seen these old men in any of the fics I've read featuring them.

The way the entire conversation/argument with pearl and marina started extremely one sided from marinas pov, because Octavio has heard this moral dillema about the octarians' authority over their lives multiple times before, he's become bored and numb of it.

Completely unfazed. He completely believes he understands this problem the most.

But only when Craig arrives did the conversation became so much more angry and petty and relentless. Because they lived through what caused this entire argument, the great turf war.

THEIR DIALOG AND JABS AT ONE ANOTHER WERE SO PERSONAL AND REAL IT HURTS.

You describing it as "an old language the audience don't understand" Is EXACTLY what it is.

God I hate it when old people have history /j

WHY ARE THEY LIKE THAT?

Just. The way this entire conversation escalated was . Just. UGH PERFECTION I LOVE THAT ANGST.

I'm so glad that this entire chapter was conversation heavy. It was so especially well written and captivated me the entire time. I couldn't imagine how long the brainstorming sessions for this chapter were!!! You chose all the right words and the characterization for pearl, marina, callie, all of the characters, agent 8!!!!- were so, so, good.

You knocked it out of the park, man!!!!!!

Holy shit!!!!

I find it suitable that callie was the one to let Octavio out.

She is objectively the most genuinely good person in the room. She is also the only one who truly sympathizes with Octavio, without any conditions or ill intent. Being the only one who actually lived along side octarians for a while. To fight for them the most.

She's also the only one in a while to befriend Octavio. And understand him.

Which is why she without falter let him go so willingly, cause she completely trusts despite everything, he loves and prioritizes his people above all else and what the best for them.

Speaking of empathizing with Octavio, I was so happy seeing someone point out the fact that Octavio took it upon himself to take care of and keep hundreds of thousands of people alive, UNDERGROUND. FOR DECADES.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW BIG OF A RESPONSIBILITY THAT IS?

He had to clean up the mess left behind after the great turf war, and then get ready to take control of how little him and his people have.

I'm honestly surprised Octavio hasn't snapped completely under all this pressure. Hardy old man. Fighting for his life every waking hour.

People so often throw away that aspect of him! How much he cares for his people, despite how much trouble that gives him! And this chapter did a really good job at presenting that part of him in his dialog!

I might be rambling a lot, but this chapter is just- so goddamn impressive!!! Oh my god mossible!!!

Keep up the good work!!!! Me and my sister are cheering you on!!!!

P. S... Hint for next chapter? Once again any form of hint will be fine

i am well aware that i am insane dont worry <3 the inner machinations of my mind are an enigma that nobody understands (ok nobody but like my gf and my longtime besties but still. twisted freacking cycle path over here)

thank you so much for the ask again omg!! along with putting this. long ass response under a readmore, i'll also requote everything i address here bc there is a Lot. if i don't address anything, assume that me not commenting either means that you nailed it right on the head, or that i would be spoiling y'all if i did say anything ;)

…because Octavio has heard this moral dillema about the octarians' authority over their lives multiple times before, he's become bored and numb of it. [ ] Completely unfazed. He completely believes he understands this problem the most.

this certainly will neither be the first nor last time i do this, but i am always tapping the silly little tag on ao3 that says 'unreliable narrator.' esp when it comes to how octavio acts in regards to things that he may seem familiar with to the reader! this man has been alive for over 130 (slutty, slutty) years, and has governed his people for only a little less than that. things that very obviously pose problems and challenges for those under his rule may often go entirely overlooked, both from his own prideful nature, as well as simply from an unwillingness to change his formula that has already worked for a century now. after all, if these so-called 'flaws' had been in his system since the beginning, why did nothing as detrimental as the inkantation happen BEFORE now? huh? what does marina know that octavio doesn't? (a lot. she knows a lot, for the record.)

I'm so glad that this entire chapter was conversation heavy. It was so especially well written and captivated me the entire time. I couldn't imagine how long the brainstorming sessions for this chapter were!!!

again!!! tysm for your kind words omg!! i'm glad i was able to get my points across soundly and that the change in structure paid off. was very very worried about that for a while before i ended up biting the bullet and just final-checking and posting it without more agony LOL

would it surprise you if i admitted that… not very much brainstorming was needed? i mean, obviously yes i brainstormed for this chapter a ton! but, i wasn't exactly in very much need of thinking of new ideas when it came to writing everyone interacting. when stuff like that (as in dialogue and interactions and the like,) comes into play, i often find myself getting carried away with both writing it and simply stringing the cohesion of the scene along, without even really realizing it ?? tbf, i'm one of those people who thinks at like a mile a minute, so by the time my body catches up to my brain to express what thoughts i have going on, i usually miss a few crucial words or phrases in my hurry to share said thought as quickly as possible. when i write without a concrete deadline, like i am now with cracked snowglobes, i'm able to elaborate WAYYY more on my process and be much more thorough with it all. …at the cost of chapters topping 10k words on occasion. another thing i will say about the brainstorming bit, less about the process and more about my inspiration for chapter 4, is that uh. ok the origin of it is kinda funny so, dissonant melody, right? i'd assume most people reading this ask answering questions about my cuttletavio fic of all things have probably read it? (if not, go give it a read here and follow the author here!) i adore dissonant melody! it's genuinely what got me back into brainrotting over these two little old awful men and inspired me to write this fic! hell, i've even referenced some bits from it here and there in cracked snowglobes and. sort of followed a lot of what it established! but. i always felt that marina had a lot more she could have dug into when it came to her seeing octavio again. we know that she worked very closely under him while back in the domes, to the point of "earning multiple commendations," assumedly from the man himself! however, i absolutely do not blame DM's author for not digging more into their dynamic, as it was intended to be an octavio and cap'n origins comic, rather than a solely octavio-centric origins comic. that, and around 2018 when the comic was first posted online, the fandom had… a bit of an issue when it came to incorrect details about the nature of octarian society running rampant in our collective knowledge. (a whole lot of us were under the impression that all of the octarians were mind controlled, and that marina had a much less… positive, we'll say, opinion of her former ruler.) so, what better opportunity to write what i'd like to see of that reaction than in my fic? it sure helps what development octavio's gonna have to go through before some of the stuff i have planned can come to fruition, after all ;)

I find it suitable that callie was the one to let Octavio out. [ ] She is objectively the most genuinely good person in the room. She is also the only one who truly sympathizes with Octavio, without any conditions or ill intent. Being the only one who actually lived along side octarians for a while. To fight for them the most. [ ] She's also the only one in a while to befriend Octavio. And understand him. [ ] Which is why she without falter let him go so willingly, cause she completely trusts despite everything, he loves and prioritizes his people above all else and what the best for them.

i won't pick apart this bit too much, because most of it is absolutely spot on! but i will point out a couple things, just to give you some food for thought. while, yes, callie did spend a lot of time with the octarians, by no means does she have as much experience with the conditions of the domes as marina and eight, who were both born and lived most of their lives there. think back to when octavio brought up who was currently in control of the domes in his absence; the council. while callie was present long enough to empathize with the people she met while on tour, by no means could she have fully undertaken the magnitude of troubles that they faced down there, let alone understood octavio's own defiance when it came to all of marina's gripes with how he governed the place. similarly, think back to when freeing octavio even got brought up in the first place! who was the first person to openly admit that she was on the side of letting him out? who was the first one to state her hesitation? callie and octavio are friends, the latter said so himself in his internal dialogue, but they do still have some core differences that put them at odds with one another. as much as callie may trust him, she struggles to fully commit to her stance until she receives support from marie. she's on octavio's side, but only under certain conditions. at least, that's the case for now. who knows what could happen the next time they meet!

ok ive written you like 1k words alone just for these responses, so i'll end this here. but ! thank you again for the ask, and for your next chapter hint; you're going to be seeing some familiar AND new faces next chapter! which ones? i'll leave that up to your imagination :)

#cracked snowglobes