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chubsonthemoon · 3 months

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Happy Binderary 2024!! Kicking things off with the fantastic Never understood a single word he said by dear friend @aboxthecolourofheartache. I had the best time beta'ing this for Box and just had to have it on my shelf! More pics and process info under the cut:

had an absolute blast packing as many easter eggs as I could into this one! it's a roadtrip gone wrong fic heh, so I went for a scrapbook/collage cover made of the same kraft paper I usually use for paperbacks, but left the hinge + spine exposed. I tore each piece from a different sheet of scrapbook paper, so the resulting texture is really fun:

I also went to town with references to some of the events in the story, particularly on the back of the cover. the postcard is probably my favorite element; here are my few first practice runs on scratch paper (along with some of my colored pencil testings for the markings on the map) before I went for it on the real cover!

I repurposed the ribbon graphics I originally drew for another bind (@feralrookie's right where I should be ❤️). the music notes on the first page notate the rhythm of the opening lines of the song the fic is based on, Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World," which I had on loop while I was typesetting this! ("Jeremiah was a bullfrog/Was a good friend of mine.") Box's taste in trigun-themed country and blues is impeccable, and I have a whole spotify playlist made almost entirely of her recs ehe :3

the blank/empty ribbon appears between chapter 1 and the epilogue for story reasons ehe; really wanted to convey the feeling of "where did the music go?", because I also listened to American Pie a lot while making this lolol.

also added little camera graphic at the end, which reminded me of meryl's occupation as a journalist, but the hands/lack of a face holding the camera also gives me the uncanny feeling of being watched/photographed (also plot relevant heh). camera graphic and the house graphic at the beginning are both sourced from Heritage Type's free vintage illustrations, from a series of packs called "Hands Holding Stuff."

the hand holding the house on the title page gave me wolfwood's confessional-on-the-go vibes, BUT it was originally held straight like this:

so I decided to tilt it to give it more of that feeling of instability and "oh shit my entire world is being turned upside down rn god the exits WHERE ARE THE EXITS (there are no exits)" feeling present in the fic :D so I guess it's more of a knives reference?? still, the kind of "what is even going on here?" reaction I had when I first saw it fits well with the title, so I went with it!

and that's it for now!! I'll be out of town for the next week or so, but I have a bunch more projects I'm really excited to share this month, along with some long-overdue author copies that I'm excited to get mailed to their rightful homes!

finally, thank you SO much for letting me bind your work, Box!!! it's always such a pleasure <333

#trigun #vash the stampede #meryl stryfe #nicholas d. wolfwood #fanbinding #bookbinding #ficbinding #binderary 2024 #Never understood a single word he said #aboxthecolourofheartache

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rockethorse · 5 months

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Stocking Stuffer 1/5: A Bajillion Random Painting Recolours

Happy Holidays to all! While I'm proud that last year I finally managed to achieve a longtime goal of sharing a full TS2 Advent Calendar, I'm simply not gonna be able to pull it off this year. Nonetheless, the holidlay spirit has encouraged me to finish up and share a couple of things before the end of the year! I'll be sharing five little gifts over the next few arbitrary days. First up: A BUNCH of Maxis painting recolours.

One recolour each of A/B/C Stroke (yes, I still enjoy playing with these as three separate paintings) using vintage matchbook covers designed by Saul Bass for The Ohio Match Company.

Two recolours +frames for Abstrutionism; "Poppy Cake" by Adolf Fényes (1910), and then this edit of Christina's World by Andrew Wyeth (1948) to include Bella Goth (the original Tumblr poster has deactivated).

A recolour of Anonymous Masterpiece with these two digital paintings by user chestnutroan featuring their farmer Sim and his two alien daughters.

One recolour of the Arghist Soldier with "Friday Nights" by Deborah DeWit (2006), perfect for your novel-enthusiast Sims' reading nook.

One recolour of City Skyline with a fruit & veg painting by Twitter user snail_soup (you can buy a real print of this too if you like it!)

One recolour of the Fourth Element wall scroll with "From Stardust to Stardust - Raccoon" by user ArtOfMienda.

Four Vegetables recoloured with four deliciously juicy tomato paintings by artist Leah Gardner.

Geometry 101 recoloured with a beautiful palette knife painting by Lynn Boggess.

Two recolours of Grilled Cheese (you all know what Grilled Cheese looks like, c'mon); one vintage ad for Hollywood Diet bread which I cleaned/redrew to remove text/graphics, and then "Cloud Rows" by Ivan Eyre (2004).

In The Beginning (+frame) recoloured with "Little Thief" by Courtney / Trash Kitty Art (also available as an affordable IRL print).

Kitten vs. Yarn (+frame) recoloured with this goache painting by user ieafy.

"Until Tonight" by Mark Grantham (2019) slapped on Lady On Red.

Two recolours of Living Room; "Midwestern Summer Fun" by user ink-the-artist (you may wanna zoom in for a surprise), then "Girl On A Swing" (2000) by Andrew Macara.

One recolour of Marketing Print with the Beatles as drawn by other Beatles. I don't remember who drew who because I'm actually not much of a Beatles fan but I thought these sketches were really darling.

In Memory of Johnny Gnome (+frame) recoloured with a piece by Emma Roulette.

A recolour of My First Holiday with art from Twitter user heikala_art.

On Pointed Toes (+frame) recoloured with this digital painting by Twitter user catwheezie.

I fell in love with this Guinness ad so I tweaked it from the photo to fit on the Route 66 poster, then made an accompanying Simlish option.

A single Scruffles recolour (+frame) with this adorable cow illustration by Twitter user poodlewool.

Four recolours of the Sim Noir pop art print; three pieces by Al Parker I found through this Tweet (with some English removed) and then an edit of the original painting to look passingly familiar...

Two recolours (+frames) of Snoozing Enemies; "The Cat on the Pillow" by Adolf von Becker, and "Sleeping Sasha" by Lena Rivo.

Stiller Life (+frame) recoloured with this oil painting of McDonalds by artist Noah Verrier.

Two recolours (+frames) of Stumped Hound; "Shadow" by Tianyi Zhou and "cat falling off table" by user anasauruss.

The Muse recoloured with this Juxtapoz magazine cover by artist Josh Courlas.

And lastly, three recolours of Untitled (the Bella Goth pop art painting) with works by Hiroshi Nagai.

Download All Paintings @ SFS

#the sims 2 #s2cc #sims 2 cc #Stocking Stuffers

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sluttysanemi · 2 months

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Hiiii I wanted to ask if I could get a nude sending fanfic cause I rarely see any like Giyuu x reader sending nudes please!! I would be on my knees begging 😞

:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ

PHOTOS

c/w: suggestive / smut ,, subtle masturbation, sending nudes, established relationship

a/n: ok slut nation. i lied. there was no sanemi snippet. I WAS TIRED!!! and it was my birthday on the 20th, so sorry 4 the late post!

a quick clear-up as well, because someone else had asked, i dont think i'll do nsfw of minors, even aged up. it's jst a bit.. iffy? you know what i mean? cuz u know, what's the age in which its wrong to write nsfw 4 the character, even if its aged up? its sort of hard to explain.. sorry!

An unexpected notification in the midst of silence. Giyuu glances upwards, along his phone, pleased to see your note.

You and Tomioka had recently engaged in a long-distance romance, whilst you had traveled to visit family. Despite the physical distance, the connection with Giyuu stood tightly, as you both took effort to communicate regularly. The prospect of rejoining swelled his heart with delight.

He swiftly taps the rectangular frame of the notification, opening your conversation.

Your intimacy was potent, with many rekindling sceneries of passion within the sheets. This distance had interrupted their romantic endeavors, which rationally irked you both.

You missed one another- both sensually yet emotionally. You wanted little else than to relive those driven moments again.

Your ravenous instincts had triumphed across your thoughts, and you had craved the surge of dopamine that Giyuu delivered.

He was surprised, as he witnessed the content you had sent.

In the dank silence of his room, with his phone a single dimly lit source of light, an energy of lust envelopes his senses, as he gazes at your picture.

His mind becomes graphic, with erotic detail, as he stares at your nude body. His eyes trail over, his thoughts recalling the sensation of your physique whilst you had been together.

He watches your breast, your delicate nipple pointed. The curved shape of your ass, the soft plush of your skin addictive to knead.

His eyes scanned over your text, as you detailed how you had missed him. He knew.

His cheeks tinge in color, as his shaft begins to thicken within the soft fabric of his sweatpants.

His hands carefully trail to his stiffening bulge, palming and caressing in a forlorn attempt to relieve himself. His brows knit closely, as his breath began to stream in uneven layers.

You'd caused something to him. You struck him harshly. You always could. It was the influence you had over him. Despite his best initiatives, he could never withstand your effect. Your impact on him was undeniable and yet so pleasurable.

He gently tugs on the waistband of his clothing, allowing his cock to spring upwards eagerly.

He needed to show your lasting effects on him.

He holds the base of his shaft, his lips quivering as his fingertips grasp the pulsing veins of his eager dick.

Angling his phone near it, he captures a picture of his spilling shaft, illustrating its eager state.

He promptly sends it to you, as he had clarified how much he misses you. Needs you.

He expresses a longing for your presence, desiring deeply, lecherously, to see you once more. His message conveys an urgent desire for your company.

And God, he couldn’t wait to feel your cunt around him again.

To watch your gentle face retort in thrill as he would please you over and over, endlessly.

It tortured him.

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taylor-titmouse · 4 months

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2023 Book Retrospective

it's pretty much the end of the year, and i've never done this before, but i wanted to take a look at what i managed to do in 2023 and share some of my thoughts on it! i published five novellas this year (though i didn't actually write one of them) plus the public release of the demo and first huge update to You're A Mage on Monsterfuck Mountain. that's a lot!

so let's dig into all that. this will contain some spoilers for the books, because it's hard to talk about them without talking about what's in 'em, so maybe check out my itchio first and grab anything you missed! (but also.... perhaps wait until this weekend before you buy anything. shh.)

You're A Mage on Monsterfuck Mountain, released in March

TECHNICALLY, the demo was finished and available on patreon around the end of last year, and didn't become public until I'd finished the garden update, which i did finish this year. and what a massive fuckin THING that was. 60k words! 50 illustrations!! the biggest thing i ever put out and technically finished, and the beginning of a move to being less afraid of writing "weird" sex. there was so much bee sex in it. arguably too much bee sex in it. which i'd left entirely til last to do which meant i was writing nothing but bee sex for weeks.

this was the first time i let myself really indulge in writing dubcon for the bad endings, and it was a lot of fun. very often it was more interesting than the deliberately horny routes, because it meant writing a way to be put in the situation, and also making it hot every time. i'm very much of the philosophy with dubcon that even if the situation wasn't Ideal for the character, they're still going to get good sex out of it. i believe i put it at another point as, i'm here to write the pleasure of helplessness, not suffering. to that point, the dubcon endings for the armor, the dryad, and the queen bee were my favorite bits from this.

the fact i never got a second update out this year is a big regret. i finished a bunch of the routes for it, but ultimately i wanted to have things i could release! shortly after publishing the demo and update, i officially put my webcomic on hiatus so i could focus more on my graphic novel, and also spend more time on my writing. having that extra time is probably the only reason i was able to write as much as i did this year, and i didn't want to spend it toiling away on a serial project i couldn't release for months at a time.

which leads us to the release of my first novella of the year...

House of the Risen King, released in April

now this is when i truly said "i'm just going to write what i think is hot and interesting and not worry about how it's perceived!!" and went whole hog on exhibitionism and monster dubcon cult horror. house was mostly inspired by the ending of Hereditary, and was originally going to be more poltergiesty and played more straight, with vee being harangued by a bunch of horny ghost-demons and nothing more sinister than that. but i've had cult shit percolating at the back of my brain forever, and i wanted to play with ideas i'd first developed in shadow in the shelves with rituals and shadows, so here we are! the scene of hettie fingering vee in the bathtub while vee's god-fucked out of her mind is my favorite.

fun fact, the original seed for this book was actually going to feature max and mortis, my photographer/model couple (that link goes to cohost because i wasn't posting here yet when i was drawing them the most). the idea was they'd go do an urban exploration shoot and mortis would start getting fucked by a ghost while max filmed it, but the more time i spent with those characters the less i wanted to involve the supernatural. which meant i never wrote their book, and had to make a new character to do the idea. and then it wasn't even that idea anymore.

that's writing, folks

Roger Crenshaw: The Dogs at Duskfall, released in June

... which makes it ironic that the next book is one i didn't even write! r/l monroe @mortalityplays has been my friend for years, and was my editor for a long time (until he got a REAL JOB and didn't have TIME to edit anymore. sobs, cries, kicks a stone and walks into the distance). he's also always been an incredible writer, and for my birthday this year i asked him to write me something. i asked with the expectation of a little short story about our old tabletop RP characters, or a fanfic scene for one of my books he'd edited.

and then he wrote me 20,000+ words digging into the character of roger crenshaw and who he is that perfectly summed him up and tied all his stories together, such that i don't think i ever need to write another one. he did it, he wrote the perfect ending to roger. AND he did it using my favorite of his ocs from our tabletop campaign, AND there's some really hot and sweet smut in it. AND HE DID IT IN LIKE TWO WEEKS.

i loved it so much that i asked if i could illustrate and publish it as an official novella, and to my delight he agreed, and it was so so nice to collaborate with him on it. even if it meant beating our heads against the wall for 30 minutes about the placement of certain images on the page.

this was a great tragedy. i'd drawn the vagina one first, but an image earlier in the book had to be moved, which affected the placement of everything else. the vagina image had been perfectly at the start of a new page, and then suddenly it wasn't. so i had to do the penis one instead for better placement. tragic!!!

it's hard to pick a favorite scene in something written entirely, lovingly for you. how can i choose between the characters' pitch perfect semantic arguments on the nature of folk lore, the millenium princess-ass memory hopping, or the really really hot smut? i can't. i love it all. thank you r/l for being so good at what you do and writing this for me, i'll treasure it always.

The Dragon Double Feature, released in May

apparently this came out in may, and not july. i don't know why i've been convinced this came out in july. oh well i can't be bothered to insert it on top of the roger one.

anyway. THIS book. this book exists because i believe at the time i was a bit blocked, and wanted to just write SOMETHING. for a long time i've had the idea of a dragon wrecking a princess' wedding and fucking her in front of the congregation just sitting in my back pocket. it was the 'i know i could just slam this out if i wanted. i don't have to care about it it's just sex and then it's done' fallback idea, and i finally did it!

and then it was too short. i don't like the idea of publishing anything less than 10k words for full price, so i was like. okay. alright. i've always thought fucking an eastern dragon would be hot and have this other idea i was going to use for roger (back when i had an idea for every monster possible for roger), let's just write that. kenta is only kenta because i took a poll for what body type i should pair with a dragon (he was 'big boy', i think the other options were twink, older woman, and average woman). and i was also Really into the movie inu-oh at the time, which is probably obvious with kenta being a blind musician, lol.

the musician and the waterfall was tougher to write because i didn't have a clear vision of how it should end or even how they should fuck (the mechanics of fucking long noodle dragon have challenged me for years) but i'm ultimately pleased with it. it would have been a long time since i wrote something sincerely romantic, and it was nice to go back to it. i'm a HUGE romantic at heart.

both stories are pretty much one extended scene so it's hard to pick a favorite moment from them, but i will say i'm very pleased with how i approached writing the musician and the waterfall, specifically in the challenge i set myself to never use visual description kenta couldn't reasonably guess. writing from the POV of a blind man made me focus in on different senses and ways to describe them.

this book is also, as of right now, my best seller. which is great! i love that for me.

The Dragon Double Feature 2, released in July

okay i guess THIS one released in july.

anyway i got stricken with the curse with this one. a lot of people wanted me to write a sequel, but i wasn't going to. and every time i say i'm not going to do something, i end up doing it. it's so annoying. this one only happened because i wanted to write a SHORT! a SHORT extra for patreon describing kenta and wakatake's first time having sex as humans.

and then i wrote too much preamble describing their time on the beach. and then i got emotionally invested in unpacking their actual relationship, and also added a third character with mrs arakawa, and had to bring it all together into a story that was coherent and had something to say about the way they loved and ALSO ended in a THREESOME because WHATS THE POINT OF INTRODUCING A THIRD CHARACTER if they aren't all going to FUCK TOGETHER!!

it was tough. but i'm really, really happy with it in the end, and think it's one of the best things i've ever written. my favorite scene is definitely them playing with the hermit crab on the beach. metaphors babie.

the gundrid/eveline story is fine too. lmao. i NEVER PLANNED TO WRITE ANOTHER WITH THEM!! i only did it because the idea of publishing a sequel to a story from a double feature without writing a sequel to the other half of the feature was insane. and now eveline and gundrid are some of my most beloved characters, to the point of writing another book featuring them...

The Tenebrous Tower, released November

yet another book i'm pretty sure i was like 'i don't need to write this. this character doesn't work for a story on his own, what am i ever gonna do with him' and then i dumped a bunch of fantasy characters into a jar with him and suddenly i had a story. I ONLY MADE ROMICK BECAUSE I WANTED TO DRAW FUCKED UP WIZARD PORN AND MY ONLY OTHER OPTION WAS A GRANDPA!!!

anyway i started writing it as something to do on vacation, and it was just gonna be a bunch of dungeon bdsm vignettes until i hit on a throughline and suddenly i had a story and an emotional arc and damn i did it again. i did it again. i have a book.

i was expecting this one not to do very well because it had multiple prerequisites, but because i am a master of my craft i made sure to write it so you didn't need to read those. and then people read it without reading those. so it worked out anyway and now it's done just about as well as dragons 2. the people love romick, but they especially love the idea of him being destroyed. maybe someday. maybe someday. (except on patreon, where it's already happened)

the final vignette with the doll is, of course my favorite. i think it was a lot of people's favorites.

............................................

and that's everything i published this year! honorable mention to my novel starbuster, which i'd written most of last year, then spent all of october this year revising with the intent of finishing it, only to run out of steam by the time i was done revising it. so it's exactly where i left it last year. just better written. god it would be nice to finish that fuckin thing next year.

my goals for 2024 are, of course: release more books!! i have a big project i've been working on illustrating for the past month that i'd like to release in january, and i've also been working on a spin-off one-shot with mrs arakawa and an oni. i think this coming year i want to Try to blast through some of the one-off ideas i developed this year so they'll quit banging cowbells in my brain. like the sleeping garden. it makes me insane i never actually wrote the sleeping garden.

anyway if you actually made it to the end of this, thank you!! if you've bought all of these books, double thank you!!! i've been able to pay my rent and expenses just with my adult work this year, and it's been amazing and fun and super fulfilling. thank you for supporting me in 2023, here's to a horny 2024!!

#tt talks writing #taylor titmouse

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nayadefenix · 5 months

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last Hollytober of this month, thank you for following me here, next year there's more. HOLLYTOBER:TAICHI AND BOTAMON.

#digimon adventure #digimon #digimon adventure 02 the beginning #digimon adventure 02 #digimon fanart #agumon #digimon adventure tri #taichi yagami #pixel #brart #pixel graphics #pixel aesthetic #pixelart #pixel illustration #pixel art #hollytober #inktober

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reallyhardydraws · 4 months

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2023.

i hope any of you reading this will forgive the essay. i started posting to this art blog ten years ago in 2013 when i was just at the very end of high school, uploading short animations i'd made for one of my final projects, preparing myself for art school where i was gearing up to become an illustration/animation student.

i went into my art foundation course in 2014, still thinking i was going to be going into storybook illustration or with faint hopes of becoming like a concept artist for game/animation, although even then i'd started thinking about patterns...

and then in 2015 i did go into my BA, going in for that illustration with animation degree that... usually when i talk about it in real life, i say didn't really feel like the best place for me. if i think back, the best things i got out of it were two of my best friends, one of whom is now my partner. looking back on my BA era, there's some bits of sketchbook stuff...

and while i was at university my main fandoms were thunderbirds are go and x-men for a bit... these are from the end of 2015 into the beginning of 2016...

then for a little while i was doing this still sort of pastel-ish lineless situation:

and i alternated between that and this thin fineliner type work (pretty sure all of the linearted pieces were done on paper and scanned, and all the lineless were graphics-tablet-only) - it was in this style that i started to offer commissions for the first time too.

and i also had fineliner-lined work in sketchbooks that i coloured with marker and posca pens, the colours of which were generally a bit more intense just based on not being able to slide the hue/saturation around on paper:

also 2016 was when i discovered the spongebob musical just after it's trial run in chicago (which ended in july of 2016) and i started making fanart at that point... which would have the biggest effect on the way i drew (and i did end up handing in a piece of spongebob musical fanart as one of my art school homeworks lmao)

from summer 2016 until early 2017 things were still quite soft and pastelly in my digital art, colour-wise:

and then suddenly everything got whacked up to 100% on saturation. also i was using the binary tool to give everything really thin pixel lineart for some reason.

then i went on vacation in summer 2017 and didn't draw for maybe a month? just short of? and when i came back i decided to change everything up again... giving characters blobbier, more ugly-cute faces with large squinting eyes and big nostrils and i was worrying a lot less about making anything look smooth, lineart-wise. i turned off the pen stabiliser in SAI and let it wiggle.

then... the spongebob musical opened on broadway in late 2017, i went to see it live in person for the first time... and my whole brain was ENTIRELY consumed by my love of it. i was putting that david zinn inspired pattern explosion into everything, even if it wasn't sbm fanart.

as we go into 2018, i started colouring my lineart. my biggest interest was still broadway musicals (with spongebob at the top of the list)

i think summer 2017 - early 2018 is probably my favourite art era, i was at my most bright and colourful and exciting... although i know in my actual real life i was struggling a lot with my home situation and i had been for some time. art was definitely my escapism back then, and i think a lot of the time i drew really bright, joyful stuff to try and inject that feeling into myself.

as for my university work, i was putting my focus into 3D paper-mache puppets:

and i was also starting to do more repeat patterns, mostly inspired by things around me. i'd learned how to make patterns actually tile and repeat in 2017, so made a few during my time at uni just to accompany some of my projects, but never as the focus of them. one of my university tutors told me that maybe i should put more focus on doing surface pattern, and maybe applying it to textiles, but i said i wasn't interested.

i graduated from my BA in the summer of 2018, and immediately began volunteering at the whitworth art gallery doing anything i could - stewarding, helping with arts and crafts, dancing with families...

in 2019 i was still very colourful... i was trying out more chunky colouring on characters skintones that i think was def inspired by tumblr artist jadenvargen:

but the blobbyness and ugly-cute style of drawing faces was gone by here, and i think... the way i drew characters probably had better *anatomy*, proportions were maybe a bit more realistic...

in 2020 i started adding the black shading to under the chins and some other places on characters' bodies because i started watching the anime my hero academia with my brother, lmao (and i was starting to pastelise colours a bit again, these are the most pastel-ish examples) my lineart has really smoothed back out too, though i never turned my pen stabiliser back on in SAI. i think my hand just adjusted. probably seems a bit insane to miss that, but i do.

by the end of 2020, the almost-year of lockdown over cobid had... made me a bit insane, i think, and i moved out of my mother's house and into a flat with a friend from university.

in 2021 i think things were much the same... i think from this point on is where things have sort of settled. i don't want to say stagnated, but i do think things have been very... like this for a while.

2022 - got the most exciting examples out...

also i was very into these little frames in 2022.

and then on to 2023! in 2022, i did begin trying to shift gears a bit -- hoping to put more energy into sewing and making products (like my tutor has suggested back in uni, even though i'd really resisted the idea.) i sold at a few in-person markets during winter of 2022, but got disheartened by the amount of money i had to sink in up front to sign up for a spot...

which has made me VERY grateful for the people who have supported me via online sales. it has really helped me stay afloat in 2023 - AND it has felt more wonderful than i can describe that there have been people interested in my work... especially when a lot of it has been my original designs, rather than the fanart that i expect a lot of people initially followed me for.

i've also... in the past 2 years... branched out a bit more when it comes to 'being an artist' - and have had the opportunity to deliver arts & crafts workshops with local refugee & asylum seeker support charity, afrocats. it's taken me to their home base in a church to hotels across the city where asylum seekers were temporarily placed while waiting on their new homes, and of course to my beloved whitworth art gallery, where we welcomed visitors from all backgrounds: from the typical white middle class visitors the gallery usually expects, to all the refugee visitors coming into the space for the first time.

and through my volunteering at the whitworth, i showed up so often they decided they might as well pay me. so i've also become a facilitator of... creative play sessions, my favourites of which have been outdoors. monthly, year-round, we have 'outdoor art club', where i get to paint with mud and make potions from leaves with kids & families - here you can see me tell you a little bit about it in this video below with 'crempog' a puppet character that makes videos about activities for kids and families around manchester (my bit starts at 01:10 although i am in the intro and thumbnail haha)

youtube

and then of course the summer 'PLAYTIME' activities we've had the past two years: scrap studio in 2022, and play market in 2023. it's the best freelance gig ever -- just to hang out and encourage families to be creative and have fun.

youtube

in working more in these new avenues... outside of being - as i've called myself for a long time - "an internet artist"... i've found myself more interested in this sort of thing. in being a "real world artist" too. in doing surface pattern design, and being a workshop facilitator, i find myself wanting to put more energy into these sorts of projects.

in 2023 i've also dabbled a little bit more in youtube videos! i have had a channel for a while and have made videos in previous years, but 2023 has been the year i've done the most in. admittedly most of them haven't been about my art, and more just like... random things that interest me (the spongebob musical in particular) but i've really been enjoying video editing. that's kind of an art form too, so i'm including it here!

moving forward, want to keep putting even more of my energy into other things. my shop, with a bigger range of products to offer. workshops in real life, where i can make a difference.

as for my art blog... i feel like i've done the least drawing in many years in 2023, and... well, things have been weird and complicated for a bit in my real life. i hope to draw for fun a bit more again very soon, and to return to doing things in more of a wild and crazy way, to be more creative and exciting with the way i draw things. still, here's some of my favourites from 2023:

thank you so much to everyone who has borne witness to my art journey this past decade!!! i hope you will stick with me, who knows, maybe for another 10 years if tumblr holds out. especially a big thank you to everyone who has ever commissioned me, or bought anything from my store, you literally keep me able to make art at all and i cannot, cannot, cannot overstate how much it means to me.

i'm moving homes soon, possibly into very cramped temporary conditions for a little while before HOPEFULLY starting my real life with my partner. if i can take one more moment to plug my work, then [here is a link to my online shop] and [here is my ko-fi page too.]

cheers, cheers, cheers!

- LOREN 🌈🍍🎉

#also: i did post. monster high and steam powered giraffe fanart on my main blog when i was in high school #in 2012/2013 it seems like i did absolutely LOADS of fanart for both of those fandoms but didn't cross-post it to my art blog #and uh. well. i'm not about to do it now hahaha

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writingquestionsanswered · 6 months

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how to avoid writing quirky and stiff characters/dialogues/storytelling and sound natural, or you know human-made

Three Steps to Telling Authentic Human Stories

1 - Be an Observer of Humanity - Being a writer is all about being an observer. We can't tell storieYs without first observing the people, situations, and elements that create stories. So, pay attention to the world around you. People watch. Interact with family and friends. Ask questions. Read human interest stories. Read short stories, fan-fiction, books, graphic novels, comic books... whatever piques your interest. Play video games that feature human stories. Watch documentaries about people and life. Watch TV shows and movies. Really pay attention to people and characters, learn what drives them and what's going on inside their hearts and minds, observe how they interact with each other, and how they converse with one another. If you're at a loss, you're not doing these things enough.

2 - Know Your Characters - Another critical part of being a writer is learning how to create realistic people from the ground up. This goes beyond just knowing what a character looks like and what their personality is like. This also includes knowing their internal conflict, what past experience or emotional wound led to this internal conflict, and how their internal conflict has led to their life/situation not being as good as it could be. You also need to understand how all of these things (past experiences, emotional wound, internal conflict, personality, present situation) impacts not just the emotional journey of who they are at the beginning of the story, but the emotional journey they'll take as they experience the events of the story. In other words, you need to know how all of these things affect the choices they make, and how the events of the story influences their change (for better or worse) or influences them to change the people/situation around them.

You also need to understand their goal (what they're trying to accomplish), their motivation (why they want to accomplish their goal), and what's the best/worst that can happen if they do or don't achieve their goal (what's at stake.) Part of the process of developing your characters may also include research into various things, like your character's mental health or neurological wiring, how their past experiences may have affected them, how certain personality traits can influence behavior and what people do or don't do, etc. Just bear in mind that everyone is different, and there's not just one way to portray any type of person. The research just gives you the knowledge you need to make the best creative decisions for your characters and story.

3 - Help Your Reader Know Your Characters - Once you know all of this about your characters, you have to let the reader know. You can illustrate who your character is--their personality, thoughts, feelings, relationships with others, life situation, relevant likes and dislikes, etc.--by showing their behavior, how they interact with others, the relationships they have with other characters, and what they think and feel. You can also weave in back story to clue the reader into the character's past experiences, the event/s that had the most influence on who they are now, etc. And, finally, you can illustrate their internal conflict by exploring their thoughts and feelings as it relates to that conflict. All of this can be accomplished through a relative balance of exposition (explaining things), action (things happening), and dialogue (conversation).

Happy writing!

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thefalloutwiki · 6 months

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All Roads: New Vegas Strip

Pictured: An illustration of the New Vegas Strip, as depicted at the beginning of the All Roads graphic novel.

You can read more about the New Vegas Strip here:

https://fallout.wiki/wiki/New_Vegas_Strip

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northgazaupdates · 4 months

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14 January 2024

Journalist Mahmoud Abusalama interviews Sabrine Ayesh, also known as Umm Ahmad. She describes the crushing series of losses which she has suffered at the hands of the IOF. A full English translation by Instagram user faridaek is posted under the cut, but it is graphic at times and very upsetting, so use discretion. Her husband was murdered in the 2008 war, and now in 2023 all of her children and her expected grandchild have been martyred, and her home destroyed.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mahmoud Abusalama (@almajd_free)

instagram

M is for Mahmoud and U is for Umm Ahmad

M: We start this segment with a new story, one that illustrates how grief may ease for a day, only for tears to flare up anew. We share the story of Sabrine Ayesh, known as Umm Ahmad, who lost her husband in a previous Gaza war. This recent conflict has brought on further tragedy, robbing her of the majority of her family, including two young men and her pregnant daughter, who was in her seventh month. And the story doesn't end there - her house was also destroyed. Umm Ahmad, may God reward you for your loss.

U: Thank you for your efforts.

M: Could you tell us what happened?

U: My story began at 25, a time when life was beginning to brighten for our small, happy family. Then, unexpectedly, the War of Al-Furgan in 2008 happened, and we were shocked by my husband's martyrdom on the tenth day of the war. He was my rock, support system and foundation of my life. We had three children: my daughter Aseel, then 6; my son Ahmad, 4; and my youngest, Abdul Rahman, just a year and a half.

U: At the start of this war, my only daughter Aseel had just celebrated her 1 year wedding anniversary and was 7 months pregnant, and we were overjoyed for her. Her life was just starting. But the war in North Gaza was vicious and relentless. Aseel and her husband evacuated to Deir al-Balah, given that the Israelis had said it was a safe area.

M: Because Deir al-Balah was considered safer for a newlywed in her seventh month of pregnancy...

U: Yes. She was our pride and joy, my eldest daughter, a new bride, and pregnant. She relocated there on a Saturday, the tenth day of the war. But merely a week later, the house adjacent to hers was bombed. She was martyred on Thursday the 19th twelve days into the war. But merely a week later, the house adjacent to hers was bombed. She was martyred on Thursday the 19th, twelve days into the war. This was our first true heartbreak. They tried to save her unborn child but couldn't as the baby was expelled from her stomach because of how severe the bombing was.

M: The baby was expelled from his mother's womb, you mean?

U: Yes, from my daughter's womb. We buried her in Deir al-Balah because it was too difficult to bring her back, although my daughter herself had wished to be buried with her father in the Fallujah cemetery, but her dream went unfulfilled. She was martyred and joined her father. Her death was the first shock. Then on the 18th of November, precisely on the 1 month anniversary of my daughter's martyrdom, my son Ahmad, who was 19 years old, and my son Abdul Rahman, 17 years old, were martyred when the occupation bombed an area that was deemed safe.

M: Both were martyred at the same time?

U: At the very same moment. What made their death particularly hard was that the ambulances couldn't reach the area they were in due to how dangerous it was. So my sons were just left lying there, on the street, unable to be reached by anyone for almost a week, until the ceasefire happened.

M: So you're saying their bodies were left in the street for a week?

U: Yes.

M: And the area was still besieged by the occupation tanks.

U: Yes. The occupation tanks were still surrounding the area we were in, and may God preserve our dignity, there were many dogs roaming around the area as well. Then, after the ceasefire, we were able to bury them. We found my son Abdul Rahman with his grandfather right at the doorstep. But thank God, by the grace of our Lord, the body was as it was, not eaten by dogs or anything like that. And we buried him quickly; I couldn't even say goodbye to him because it had already been a week since his death. We were then shocked to find that Ahmad's body was missing. We spent the entire ceasefire period, a full week, searching for his body among the rubble. We learned that on the day after, 11 days since he was martyred, on the last day of the ceasefire, a group of young men who had come to collect firewood found him. The occupation's bulldozer had scooped up my son Ahmad, may God have mercy on him, and thrown him on a pile of rubble, buried in a way that only part of him was visible. Thankfully, the ambulance and civil defense came and retrieved his body.

M: So even after he was already martyred, your son's body was crushed and thrown in with the rubble of the destroyed homes?

U: Exactly. And that was the hardest thing for us. The bigger catastrophe for us was not knowing where my son was whether they took him or not. But thank God we found his body, and I couldn't even say goodbye to him either. Now I don't know where my children are buried, I didn't see their graves because the occupation's bulldozers and tanks were stationed in Beit Lahia, in our area. After the occupation entered the area, I don't know if the graves remained as they were or not. I mean, I'm waiting for the war to end so I can see.

M: So, we're talking about a mother of two martyrs who didn't say goodbye to her sons and doesn't know where their graves are.

U: Yes. I'm waiting with bated breath for the war to end so I can look for their graves and see them at least. I mean, I didn't even bid them farewell, and they weren't buried next to their father, neither my daughter nor my two sons. Thankfully, before the war, I had posted on Instagram saying that my kids are now the mountain I lean on. But now, that mountain is gone. I'm truly exhausted and broken. These three children, I was eagerly waiting for when they would grow up and become young adults. They had a good life and were very kind and affectionate with me, but thank God, may they be with our Lord in paradise. In this situation we're living in, I no longer worry about them now, they're in a safe place, it's the place we're living in that isn't safe. Now they've joined their father and sister, thank God. God willing, we will reunite in the highest level of paradise. But my story doesn't end there either. On the 55th day of the war, my house, which was filled with warmth and memories with all of my children, was bombed. Every corner of the house tells a story and holds memories of my children, I could still hear their voices in that house. I hope the war will end peacefully, so I can visit my children's graves and see my daughter who was buried in Deir al-Balah, because I don't know if her grave is still there or not. Is the grave still as it was? Will we find it intact? At least when I'll see my daughter's grave, l'll be able to find a bit of relief, I can talk to her, and she can talk to me. God willing, after the war, I'll be able to find some reassurance. I still can't bear the agony of separation, the pain of parting with my children. Yes the war is incredibly brutal, but the pain I live with every day, the agony of separation, my memories of them, are even more brutal. May God strengthen our hearts and give us patience.

M: May God have mercy on them. This is one of the many testimonies of the occupation's massacres. We speak of a martyred father, his martyred sons, a young woman in her seventh month of pregnancy, and the fetus in her womb killed due to Israeli targeting. A story recounted by Umm Ahmad about her children and her life in the Gaza Strip.

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art · 2 years

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Creator Spotlight: Pablo Lobato

Pablo Lobato was born in Trelew, Patagonia, Argentina, in April 1970. He studied graphic design at Universidad Nacional de La Plata, as well as Painting and Engraving. He moved to Buenos Aires to work as a graphic designer in the editorial field. After five years, he got bored and decided to give one more chance to his true love: portraits. Represented by Anna Goodson, he started working as a collaborator in magazines and newspapers: Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Wired, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, and The Village Voice, among others. His work has been featured in Illustration Now Vol.3 and Portraits! by Taschen editorial. Lobato has taken part in numerous collective exhibits in Argentina, the United States, Italy, Chile, and Portugal.

Check out our interview with Pablo below!

Can you take us through a day in the life of working on a project like Wendell & Wild?

I worked on this project during the lockdown because of the COVID pandemic, so I was home all of the time. My days consisted of zooms with director Henry Selick, work, play with the kids, work, make dinner, watch a series on Netflix, work, and more work. While everyone was trying to figure out what to do with their free time, I was working like never before.

What was the inspiration behind the character designs in Wendell & Wild, and which character was the most challenging or interesting to develop?

Each character was inspired by different people or things. Wendell and Wild are caricatures of Keegan Michael Key, and Jordan Peele. The inspiration for Kat was a blend between the Afropunk movement and ancient African masks. Manberg could be an Israeli Marlon Brando.

What do you wish you had known when you first started out creating art that you know now?

How to be a character designer!!! This was my first time, so I had to learn in the process.

What is one habit you find yourself doing a lot as an artist?

I find myself looking for new things all the time, finding new directions to go in, and making mistakes.

How many unfinished/WIP pieces do you have? Care to share a sneak peek..?

Hundreds!!!!!

How has your style developed over the years?

At the beginning, my work was very sketchy—very rough. Then, I started using the computer, and everything was cleaner and more geometric. Now, I think I’m going back to more organic shapes.

What does your work set up look like?

It’s a mess. Please don’t ask me for pictures. I will never show it.

How has technology changed the way you approach your work?

It was a big change when I first started using the computer. But technology keeps growing, and I’m using the same old software as 20 years ago.

Who or what on Tumblr inspires you and why?

I appreciate the diversity that Tumblr has. Thousands and thousands of different art projects popping in front of your eyes. It’s like a brainstorm on your screen.

Thank you so much for stopping by, Pablo! Check out his work with Netflix’s Wendell & Wild over at @netflix!

#creator spotlight #artists on tumblr #pablo lobato #wendell and wild #netflix

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