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seattlesellie · 10 months

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i want abby to shove her fingers in my mouth when i talk too much 😇

- 🪻

mmhm, u really get me ♡🩷💕 p.s don’t like don’t read <3

˚୨୧⋆｡ she’d be sitting on her black leather work-chair, attentively reading through some paperwork. she’s been stressed out— like, really stressed out, and you could tell by the way her eyebrows furrow together, and by the thin line that forms right in between them. she taps on the wooden table three times before flipping a page, and hums quietly, followed by a hushed mumble.

you waltz in the living room and you’re giddy and scatterbrained, and as much as abby loves it, as much as abby loves you— she can’t deal with it right now. she has to work.

you sit on her lap— and she has to suck down on her creeping smile because she’s busy. she’s busy and the little wiggle that you just did when you sat right on her thigh isn’t helping at all.

“was thinkin’ sushi for dinner?… or…” you gush before stopping mid-sentence. you begin toying with her neatly done braid, and continue. “ooh! or maybe you could cook me something?”. abby doesn’t respond, and abby smells of pine and citrus and it makes you dizzy, and it distracts you from your famished thoughts, so you kiss her right beneath her earlobe. she hums, and roams her eyes over the paper. she’s not reading anymore— you always render her a mess.

you remove your soft lips from her skin. “or we could order some takeout?… or i could cook for once and make us super delicious mac and—“

“baby, i’m working” she sounds so serious, but she looks so… amused. you can tell she’s biting on her cheek, you don’t need to mutter a word when she looks at you like that. “mhhm… you smell so good…” you murmur, and your eyes widen. she really does. “mhm…” she nods her head, and straightens her back. she has to keep working and you on her lap like that? again, not helping.

“i’m just starving…” you rub her shoulder whilst readjusting yourself on her lap. she looks so incredibly sexy with her eyes all focused like that. also, you really are starving. when you plant a little kiss on her cheek, she knows you’re energetic and you’re not going to stop. she slowly caresses on your stomach, upwards to your chest. “an— and yesterday you said you’d…” her hand is right beneath your collarbone now, making you slightly shiver. she traces little circles the more upwards she goes, “you’d— uhh… cook for me, s’—“ her thick digits are on your chin now, merely hovering above your lower lip. “so, you should keep your promise an—unghh!“

it takes you by complete surprise, and you don’t even have time to react before her fingers enter your soft lips. the saliva is pooling down on the bottom of your mouth and you can taste her flesh,, salty and abby. “abb— uh” you try and mumble but it’s incoherent and messy and slobbery. you can’t really see her face, but abby’s grinning.

“i told you i’m working, sweetheart”. when your mouth closes around them, she shoves her fingers in deeper, nearly making you gag but not quite.

“are you going to be quiet, or am i gonna have to keep ‘em there?” abby mutters sternly. she clicks on her pen two times before you answer. “mmh auhg—bby”

she sighs deeply, and ts’ks. abby shoves them in deeper and you can’t help but suck. “thought so” she says, and you smile sheepishly, as a small droplet of spit runs down the corner of your lips. she moves backwards, takes you by your chin and makes you face her. “are you liking this?” she smirks, furrowing her brows. “mnuh—uh” choked up, you lie and shake your head.

“oh baby… but i think you do…” — abby likes it just as much, you can tell because her thighs clench.

“i’m keeping ‘em in there, babe”, her words are stern but laced with honey, they come out soft and airy.

you nod your head, slowly, looking at her through wet eyelashes, and teary eyes. when your head budges, she stirs her fingers as well, as if she has taken over your movements.

“say yes abby” she commands.

you can’t— though, you can’t speak with her fingers down there.

“es— awhbby”

“aww…” she coos, and wipes a tear that fell down on your cheek. you almost gag, but she’s ever the sweetheart and pulls them out for a mere second, before shoving them back in— startling you.

“that’s what you get for being so damn distracting” she’s so smug.

when abby goes back to her paperwork— she realizes she just made it worse. she couldn’t focus before and she sure as hell can’t focus right now.

˚୨୧⋆｡

#ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 🪻 anon #abby anderson x reader #abby anderson smut #abby anderson #abby x reader

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buggzincognito · 8 months

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Riled Up

Spencer Reid x Reader

Summary: The BAU is currently on a case in Colorado, Reader and Spencer are stuck in the same room, will they be able to keep it cool?

CW: One Bed Trope, Mutual Pining, Canonical Violence, Friends/Coworkers to Lovers, Hand fixation, future Smut, Dom!Spencer Reid, praise, Spencer loves to tease reader, pet names like “angel” and “sweetheart” reader gets Spencer “worked up” *insert wink*

You and Spencer were really good friends, just that, friends, and despite his adorable smile, angelic face, and irresistible body, his fingers in particular…ahem, that had to be enough for you. You guys were coworkers and have a really good relationship; you didn’t want to ruin that just for him to reject you and make things weird. Pretending you weren’t pining after one of your closest friends was fairly manageable…

Until now.

“Bad news everyone,” Hotch started “We’re gonna need to pair up for the next few nights. The hotel doesn’t have enough room for all of us.”

Everyone started getting into their pairs. Hotch and Rossi, JJ went with Prentiss, Morgan with Garcia, so that leaves… aw man.

“Guess that leaves you and boy wonder, huh sweet pea?” Pen said with a wink.

Spencer looked excited. He nudged your arm with his and said with a giggly smile “What can I say? We make a good team”

“You bet we do” you feigned a chuckle.

As much as you adore that tall, lanky, ball of sunshine, sharing a room with Spencer was not going to be easy. What if your feelings take over? No no no, Totally nothing wrong with sharing a bathroom with the unrequited love of your life. Totally won’t be eating away at you and pulling at your heartstrings. It’ll be okay though, you’ll stay professional and just stick to your bed and keep as far away from his as possible. You got this.

You trudged closely behind Spencer to the door of your room, he fumbled with the keys in a way that should not have been as entrancing as it was, and he unlocked it. Spencer did a quick scan of the room and was shocked by its small size.

“Uhm” he said your name with hesitation.

What’s that about? “Yeah, what’s up Spence?- Oh”

One bed. One fucking bed.

Spencer admittedly freaked out a bit.

“You know what? I can just sleep on the floor don’t worry, you can have the bed, I’m sure you’re tired.” Spencer was always sweet like that, putting you first.

“Spence, don’t sleep on the floor, and you worked just as hard as me.” you were gonna regret saying this, “It’s a big bed right? we can probably share if that’s okay with you. It’s not like we’re gonna get much sleep on this case anyways”

Spencer’s face grew red and he was looking anywhere but at you “Yeah, I mean if you’re okay with it, you make a good point, we can share.”

“Okay cool cool cool, do you wanna shower and then we can go over the case?” Your eyes were lingering on Spencer’s digits tapping rhythmically on themselves, if he noticed he didn’t make a comment.

“Yeah sounds good, you go ahead first.”

On your way to the shower, all you could think about was sleeping in the same bed as Spencer, sharing a room would’ve been hard enough, but a bed? You’re not sure you’re gonna make it.

You couldn’t focus on the shower either, mind still focused on the tall lanky and sweet guy like, 30ft away from your naked body, it was driving you wild.

After half an hour of wiping the grime off of your body, you finally feel clean. You reach for your towel to dry off- or you try to. It wasn’t there. Oh fucckkkk you left it out there.

You crack the door open as little as possible “Uhm Spence, I left my towel out there could you get it for me?”

“Y- Yeah of course!” You hear him semi-shout.

About thirty seconds later you hear a knock on the door and when you open it, a purple towel attached to Spencer’s hand is presented to you.

“I couldn’t find yours so.. you can just use mine.” His face was looking away from the door entirely and even his eyes were closed.

You managed to mumble out a thank you and take the towel from his hand.

You dry off and dress in your favorite graphic t shirt and a pair of boxers that make your ass peak out ever so slightly. In your defense, you thought you would be rooming alone. They’ll be covered by the shirt, right?

When you exit the bathroom you see that Spencer already set out the case file and you smell your favorite take out food.

“You didn’t eat all day so I thought you should eat!” he said in a bit of a high pitch. “You need the energy you know- Not that you’re out of shape or anything!”

Fuck him for being so goddamn sweet and considerate. Fuck him for making your heart melt.

“Thanks Spence, that’s really sweet of you.” despite your heartache, he always knew how to draw a smile out of you.

Spencer beckons you to sit down at the small coffee table the hotel provided.

“Spence, I thought you were gonna shower”

He started fidgeting with his fingers. and you’re eyes were glued.

“Well, I wanted to eat with you, but I didn’t want you’re food to get cold,” you’re getting a toothache, “plus I can shower later, we should work on the case before it’s gets too late.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Spencer and you went over the case for about an hour or so, but it was hard to focus when all you could look at was Spencer’s beautifully sculpted hands. You yawn.

“You know what it’s getting late, we should head to bed.” Spencer interjected.

“But it’s only…” you check your phone. “…uh 3am”

“Precisely. Ok so, I’m going to take a super quick shower and I’ll be right back, don’t worry about waiting up for me!” and he was off.

You were out the second your head hit the pillow.

When Spencer came out of the bathroom, he cleaned up a little bit, turned off the lights, and got tucked in at a respectable distance, and he tried to doze off into a slumber.

Until he woke up 30 minutes later with a tent in his pants.

He initially thought it was because he was laying 1 foot away from the love of his life, but upon further inspection he realized it was because the love of his life was burrowing into his chest and dry humping him in their sleep.

“Mmph~ Spencer” you whined while rubbing your barely covered core against your roommate for the next few days.

Hearing his name on your lips sounded like an enchantment. Spencer had no idea what to do, so he just.. scooted away.

But of course you gave a dissatisfied whine in your sleep, moving closer to him and this time gripping onto him like a vice.

Spencer Reid is many things, but an assaulter is not one of them, you clearly weren’t letting up though, and you wouldn’t stop moaning his name. So he decided to give you an acceptable amount of attention to your neck and face in order to calm you down, praying you wouldn’t wake up.

He peppered kisses along your jaw and right behind your ear and he whispered.

“It’s okay angel, go back to sleep.” and by magic, you were out.

And as Spencer said goodbye to the last of his pride when he waltzed into the bathroom to take care of himself. He vowed that he would tease you ten times as much as you did him tomorrow.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The next day you and the team were at the victims house investigating. You and Spencer were in the attic, looking at the victim’s belongings.

You two were shuffling about the cluttered space with barely any room. You keep catching him staring at you but when you look, he just smirks and goes back to his business, leaving you all riled up. Was he doing that on purpose?

What was even weirder is that Spencer I hate physical touch Reid kept finding excuses to touch you, like holding your hips when brushing past you in a narrow hallway or brushing his thumb over your cheek because “you had something there”. And now while you’re trying your best to focus on your job, your brain is yet again occupied by this fucking prick.

Spencer calls your name

“Can you come over here real quick? I need your help something.”You went and kneeled down next to him.

“So Im pretty sure we could find something useful in this chest, but it’s locked. Do you think you can open it for me?” You listened intently, while his gentle fingers danced along to an absent rythme and his eyes wandered your body, making you heat up.

“Y-Yeah no problem!” Is there something on your shirt or-

“Reid! Come here real quick!” Morgan shouted from below.

But Spencer’s gaze never left your figure, he just picked up where you left off.

Spencer said in a more sultry voice than usual, eyes filled with…want? “I knew I could count on you sweetheart,” he began to rise, “such a good girl for me hm?” and he took his leave.

What the hell just happened?? As confused as you are you’d be lying if you’re heart wasn’t beating out of your chest and the tingling sensation between your legs was nonexistent.

When Spencer returned, he acted like nothing happened and just…kept going on with his day? Were you imagining things?

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

After a long day of work you guys finally made it back to your hotel room. Spencer was currently in the shower and you were using his absence as an opportunity to read your…explicit book.

When Spencer exited the bathroom however, he was wearing grey sweatpants and the most well fitted shirt that perfectly displayed his slender figure. That’s it. You died. You died and this is heaven.

You were entranced by his figure you didn’t even notice him sit on the side of your side of the bed.

“Whatcha reading?” he rested his head in his hands.

“You uh, you probably wouldn’t have heard of it.” That’s believable right?

“Read it to me.”

“What?”

“Read me the part your on,” Spencer repeated himself. “Please?” he flashed a grin and how could you resist?

“Okay…” you swallowed your pride. “He never knew how badly he needed her until she laid in front of him, bare body on display. He took his time tracing the curves of her body and peppering kisses to her freckles… That’s when he knew, he had reached heaven.” You dared not to look up at Spencer.

“That sounds…beautiful.” he started. “By the way, i have a question for you, been meaning to ask you this actually.”

Your ears perked up, “Yeah what’s up?”

“You look at my hands a lot, Why is that” Spencer tilted his head a bit. He already knew the answer.

“Uhm…” You were speechless, what were you supposed to say to that??

“They look…pretty.” You managed to mumble

“I think you look pretty.” Spencer patted his lap, motioning you to mount him.

You were entranced, how could you say no?

Spencer started tracing circles into your hips with his thumbs. and brought his lips to your ear

“You know, I’ve always known how much of a fucking whore you were for me sweetheart,” he whispered. “But I didn’t do anything about it, to stay professional.” he gripped your ass, invoking a gasp out of you. “You though, my beautiful angel, had no problem grinding your pussy into me and whining my name the second you got the chance hm?” He looked at you and his gaze softened. “Tell me to stop and we can pretend this never happened. I won’t be mad at you I promise.”

Despite the tent making itself known to your core, Spencer still prioritizes you. But still, “Spence, just kiss me please.” you were desperate.

He wasted no time pressing his lips to yours. He tried to be gentle, but how could he when you were just so needy?

You were grinding your core onto his and moaned into his ear as Spencer placed lovebites all over your neck just to sooth them with a lick of his tongue. He flipped over so you were laying on your back, caged beneath him.

Spence nudged at your shirt, eyes pleading for permission. You nodded, thinking he was going to take it off, but he dragged his fingertips along your abdomen and only lifted your shirt so it scrunched up just above your chest. You squirmed, hoping to achieve some friction from his knee between your legs.

Spencer peppered kisses along the center of your body, starting at your sternum, and working his way down to your belly button, to right above your your shorts, and then she pressed a hickey into the space, being sure to emphasize his tongue, causing you to whine. He did it another time just to achieve that reaction again.

Spencer rose up to your level and placed your chin between his index and thumb. He kissed from your jaw to the skin under your right ear and asked “Can I taste you, angel?” it was clear from his voice that he was restraining himself.

“Please Spence…need you.” All you could think about was him touching you.

Spencer placed a kiss to your mouth. “Oh you pretty little thing, I’ve barely touched you and your brains already mush?” Spencer removed your shorts. “That’s alright love, I’ll do all the thinking for you, you just focus on feeling good for me okay?” He positioned himself between your legs and pleased to find your lack of underwear.

“You were just waiting for me hm? Were you that ready to just whore yourself out for me?” Spencer licked a stipe down the center of your folds. “Fuck , you taste amazing” You shivered.

Spencer flicked his tongue on your clit, earning him a shriek. He wrapped his arms around your thighs and put his mouth on your clit, sucking and licking like it was the only thing he knew how to do. You rocked your hips as best as you can into his face. He moved lower and swirled his tongue into your entrance, collecting all your juices and making you scream. As he tasted you, his nose would brush against your clit. The sensation became too overwhelming and you were about to climax, but he pulled away. You sobbed and pleaded for him to keep going.

Spencer looked up at you, lips swollen and eyes full of lust. He kissed you passionately, the taste of you still lingering.

Spencer put two of his fingers against your lips.

“Suck.”

You happily obliged.

“I figured since you like my fingers so much, I should use them hm? Does that sound nice, love?” You hummed around his fingers and nodded eagerly.

“Thought so.” he smirked and removed his fingers from your mouth.

With his body caging yours, he reached his wet fingers between your bodies and spread your wetness around your folds, making you whine.

“Spencer, stop teasing.”

“You teased me first,” he entered two fingers into your core. “forgetting your towel so I’d have to give you one, do you know how hard it was for me not to waltz into that bathroom with you and make you mine?” Spencer began to curl his fingers inside you. “Prancing around in those slutty fucking shorts, you wanted to rile me up huh? That get you off, sweetheart?” He found your g-spot in record timing, your vision went blurry. “Not to mention last night, when you were so desperate for me that you started rubbing this pretty pussy on me, and moaning my name from those pretty lips.” Spencer went rougher. “You made me go into the bathroom to take care of myself when i could’ve just filled you up instead.”

“Mmph S-Spence” your voice was shaky, you were so fucking close and then..

He pulled away again.

“Nononononono” you were clawing at his hand and canting your hips, trying to get some friction.

Spencer tsked at you. “Awww,” he gave you mock pity. “Does my angel wanna come? Would you like to come around my cock, sweet thing?”

You were crying at this point. “Fuckfuckfuck, need you inside Spence.”

He thrusted his clothed cock against your pussy.

“Now that’s not how you ask.”

“Spence please…Fuck me”

Spencer began to pull down his grey sweatpants. “There you go, that’s much better.”

Spencer’s cock so big you didn’t know if you’d be able to take it all. He must’ve seen the worry in your face because he swooped down and kissed you.

While he was kissing you, Spencer lined himself up and put himself in you so slowly. You whimpered into his mouth and right before he was all the way in, he almost pulled out completely, before slamming right back in at a rough pace.

“G-God, you feel so amazing, angel.” Spencer was death gripping the headboard and your waist while he was pounding into you.

You were chanting his name and various pleads, you weren’t sure for what, but it just felt right.

Thrust, after thrust, after thrust. Spencer was pussydrunk.

“Fuck, do you hear that? You’re making such beautiful sounds, is that all for me?”

“Only you” your eyes were closed and you were so fucking close, your release washed over you faster than you expected. Spencer just kept going.

“Walls squeezing so tight fuck” You mewled and wrapped your arms around his neck.

“Where do you- mmph- where do you want it, love?” Spencer groaned through his sentence.

“M-My stomach” Spencer pulled out and obeyed your request. Your foreheads rested against each other.

You fell asleep under him.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

When you woke up, you were cleaned and clothed. Spencer’s arm was draped over you and his face was burrowed into your neck.

This was right.

#spencer reid smut #spencer reid x reader smut #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #criminal minds smut

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shadesofnavy · 9 months

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I have nothing to do as of now so I'm going to show you the agonizing self-taught process of how I draw digitally on my beloved unreliable slow Windows 10 laptop and rusty old Wacom Bamboo Tablet.

The process begins when I take ten minutes to load and open a new Autodesk SketchBook page. Once that finishes loading whenever the hell it wants I’ll play around with whatever size I want with the canvas and background color (usually I use gray or dim tones so that I don’t blind myself, but if I’m lazy I won’t even bother with the plain background color on the first layer). I usually only use three tools: Inking pen, hard eraser and airbrush at lowest opacity for lighting. But that’s for fancy drawings with effort, today we’re pulling a zero effort sketch Starting with a gray background, on the second layer I’m just gonna go ahead and start the questionable sketching process

we got our himbo and ladies’ bases. after that we go ahead and yet again take another ten minutes of aggressive sketching and constant ctrl + z clicking for our second base on another layer, completely ignoring the front view perspective from the first base and giving derpy expressions

after that we go ahead and do the third outline on another layer, finally giving some clothes to these frisky cats and dog while contemplating whether or not it should be the finished outline.

after a moment of staring at our current disaster and taking a break to touch grass and inhale humid air, we’ll get back to trying yet again another outline on another layer, hoping Pico will no longer be as miserable because of the depressing korean drama ost playing. as you’re beginning to notice each previous layer fades like keith’s braincells

by now you’re probably confused as to why im only sketching the same fucking outline over and over again and so this is what we end up with and start to fill in with a darker shade of gray because its cloudy and gloomy today. thankfully the 2000s spanish rock pop music came on so not all is bad

add the finishing lighting touches on the same low-capacity fill layer using the alpha lock thingumabob and bon appe-fucking-tite, thanks for taking the time to scroll through this and consider leaving a “what the hell” in the asks <3

#shitpost #friday night funkin'#long post #fnf boyfriend #fnf pico #fnf girlfriend #fnf bf x pico #fnf bf x gf #fnf bf x gf x pico #bf x gf x pico #fnf bf #fnf gf #im gonna go sleep now bye #this went from semi serious to ... crap #art

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99yikes · 2 years

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Hi! I’m a beginner artist when it comes to digital art and was wondering what app and brushes do you use for your art, or maybe if you have any tips on digital art. I figured I’d ask you since your art is so cool and looks so nice!

aksjskdjf hello there! thank you so much for the compliments, i'm flattered!! my art is super sloppy, but i'm happy you like it (꒦ິ꒳꒦ີ)♡ i'm honestly a little embarrassed to post this cuz i'm pretty much still a novice at digital art stuff, so there are probably better/more concise ways to go over all this, but i'll gonna try my best anyway!! sorry if i ramble ;;

to answer your questions, i use procreate! i'm also pretty lazy and i don't really like to switch brushes often, meaning i work almost exclusively with the 6B Pencil. i sketch with it. i line with it. i even color and render with it sometimes. i knew when i got into digital art i would want to use a textured, pencil-like brush bc my favorite artist did and i always loved the way it looked.

here's an example of just how excessively i use it lmao (with some Pro Tips™ /j):

but ! because i use it so often, i've made some minor adjustments to the brush -- not enough to warrant calling it a completely different brush, but enough that there's a noticeable difference between the original and what i use when actually drawing.

personally, i like a tapered end when sketching and lining so i gave it a little fall off and adjusted pressure taper settings, and i also appreciate more control (less loose/shaky lines bc a pen tip on a glass screen is SLIPPERY), so i upped the streamline setting too!

here's a look at what settings i tweaked if you want to try it out yourself:

other brushes i tend to use are:

Round Brush for coloring. very super mega basic, but easy to work with!

and it's worth mentioning that lately i've been using Baskerville to line things! i used it in this itafushikigi piece. it gives me a lot of control and it's very tidy so i like it (bˊᵕˋ)b

and that's...really it lmao. of course these are all default procreate brushes. no matter what program you use, i just recommend testing out different brushes and adjusting settings until you find what works for you! you can always reset to default if you dislike it and duplicate the brush if you adore it. you can also download other brushes, but i don't have much (read: any) experience with that 💃

other tips would just be get familiar with your app and practice as much as you can. i'm very much a "pick one thing and draw it a million times" kind of person bc repetition gives me an opportunity to work on things i want to improve. 'if i draw yuutafushi enough times, eventually i'll perfect how i draw them' -- that kind of mindset?? idk if that method works for everyone, but, y'know...having a muse helps ;;

digital art was like a whole nother ballpark for me and i felt like i had to relearn how to do everything, so don't feel discouraged if your traditional art abilities don't immediately transfer over! it just takes time to get comfortable with it. drawing with your finger on a screen vs a pen on a tablet vs a pencil on paper are all very different experiences and there's a learning curve for each!

anyways, i hope that helps a little. sorry this is super long! good luck on your digital art journey ❤️

#asks #long post #if u see typos i'm sorry lmao

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silverskull · 5 months

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What made you start writing fanfic?

MS QUESERAONE

These asks do not always appear on my phone, and it sometimes takes me loading coal into the engine of my laptop and then navigating to tumblr dot com to find them...

I started writing (terrible) fic as a teenager back in my Stargate SG-1 days, because I fell in love with Sam and Jack, and had only recently discovered that you were allowed to imagine scenarios in your head and not just say your prayers when you went to bed at night. (I also had a brief Pokemon phase, but I’m not gonna even bold that one.) That fic all disappeared in a Blue Screen of Death home PC crash back in the day, and I gave up on investing effort into digital files until I had a more reliable backup plan. Despite that, I recently discovered (and discarded, with love) pages of A4 notes I wrote in secondary school that were actually just Harry/Hermione or Sam/Jack fic starters. Love the dedication - in fountain pen, no less! - from teenage me!

After college, cue LiveJournal! And Fringe! And community fic prompts! I loved it so much. I definitely wrote 3 solid fics for Peter and Olivia back then, but I was very at sea in real life, and I didn't keep it up. I uploaded them to AO3 in recent years, and I’m glad they’ve been saved for posterity. That show was very important to me too.

After LiveJournal died/sold out to the Russians, I gave up once again, and didn't even really read fic in any of my following fandoms. But then came The Pandemic, and Lockdowns, and lots and lots of time to rewatch my favourite shows, and my brain decided to fixate on The Rookie and Lucy and Tim. I am not sorry. I was struck with the disease and forced to stay at home and go on my little mental health 2.5km walk loops, and my mind started to suggest that I could write fic again. That I'd done it before. That the brain pictures could meld into a story, and that fic archiving (with the advent of AO3) was a lot more reliable.

So, a few lockdowns later, along came "In the Hole Together", a spec-fic for 422 that was founded on fan-detectivery and paracetamol. And when people actually got interested, I thought this was something I might be able to do.

AND THEN THERE WAS ACTUAL 422.

And "Roots Won't Keep Me Warm" was born.

I've never ever written something so long, so detailed and so intense, and it became a personal challenge as much as a dedication to the readers that were following along. The only two rules I've set for myself since then are 1) Don't try to use song lyrics as titles anymore, Sil, and 2) Always finish a multi-chap.

The way my brain operates, I can only work on one fic at a time, so I never have written WIPs hanging around (though I have many, many head-plots, and some of them are even stored as bullet points in a google doc...). I hope that the one thing I will always do is finish out a fic to its conclusion, as it is absolutely an undertaking I most appreciate in the authors I love.

I had some extra time this (northern) summer (personal reasons) to devote to ChenfordWeek and finish my second Big Long Fic ("Shadows of Deception"), but it hasn't been sustainable since then, and it makes me very, very sad. I have been so harassed and harangued with real life, that I could barely even Do Imaginations for Chenford, and - to be frank - that has been critically depressing. It always has for me, since the days of SG-1.

I love writing fic, and I hope never to turn it into a job rather than a hobby, because that has never worked out well for me in the past. That said, I have you, Ms @queseraone, to thank for getting me to sit down and face the music this Christmas/Winter/Holiday season, and actually write some new Chenford content. And it is h a r d. It is hard to do the thinking and the linking and the typing. It is hard to find the time and the will and the motivation. It is hard to have a plan and then another plan and then discard it all when you actually sit down to type. But I am really happy to be doing it. I really am.

And I can’t wait for @chenfordsecretsanta to arrive, and to share in the joy of a whole batch of new fics in our little fandom! To have something to look forward to that is closer than February 20th. To have someone believe in me enough to persist in prodding and poking me into committing to this challenge.

So thank you. Thank you, and I love you, and I appreciate you.

💖

#fic #ask and answer #personal

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michellemisfit · 11 months

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So I’ve had a pencil piece sketched out for May @shamelesscreatorsnetwork for… well, pretty much the entire month! And every time I decided to work on it I found 200 things that needed to be done first (clean my room, tidy my desk, organise my art materials, sharpen all my pencils, hoover, cook, do laundry…), and whenever I did actually sit down I would get all my pencils ready, all my reference pictures, the sketch… and then I’d look at it for a while, before putting it away again, promising that *tomorrow*. It’s late now, anyway. And the light is fading. And someone is going to interrupt me soon because it’s dinner time, so starting isn’t really worth it… but tomorrow! Tomorrow I will totally work on it.

So I built up this anxiety, over this drawing. The sketch is good! I really really like it. I think y’all will like it. …but what if I screw it up? And also, what do I even want to do with it? Like, full detail pencil? Coloured pencil? Cartoon-y felt tip pen? If I can’t decide then I’m definitely gonna screw it up, right? Right??

So that’s the anxiety spiral that’s been going on in my head over this drawing.

Today started off just like that. I had 3 hours before the next thing on my schedule. And I decided I was going to finally do it! And then I went and had breakfast, cause breakfast is important. And then I tidied away all my other art materials, because our holidays are over soon, and I need to start packing. And I put on laundry. And I folded some clothes.

And then I just refused to continue this… stupid game of chicken I was playing with myself. I took photographs of the sketch as it was, and if I’m gonna fuck it up, then so be it. I can just post the sketch. Or do something digital with it. Or, hell, I can redraw it from the sketch. I can do whatever, because anything is better than what my brain is currently doing to me.

So I put pencil to paper, and I started shading. And you know what? It’s going to be just fine…

Turns out I haven’t forgotten how to use a pencil.

And I want to beat myself up for it because ‘oh my god I could have been done with this weeks ago if I wasn’t being so bloody stupid about it’… but no. I refuse. Shit in my brain went weird. That’s true. And I did always know that I hadn’t actually over night lost the ability to draw. But that doesn’t make the anxiety I was having less real. And acknowledging that is important, because I’m not often good at being kind to myself. I’m trying. Just like with the drawing, it’s one step at a time, right?

I guess I just… wanted to share that.

~~EDIT~~

It is done

#shamelessnet #Mys art #anxiety #Mys stuff #sometimes my brain goes weird #and that’s okay #it happens #and it’s okay to give myself time to work through things #but sometimes I also just really need to tell myself to get the duck over it and get the duck on with it #not everything I create has to be perfect because I’m sure as hell not perfect #And. That. Is. Okay.

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solfirafira · 1 year

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💛

OOH thank you for the ask <3!!!

I think my best skill lies within calligraphy and lettering!! I developed the interest back in design college and really fell into a love for typography and letterforms. I’ve always dreamed of working to improve myself as a type designer and hope to open up a type foundry of my own someday and pour over the intricate details of letterforms and publish my own typefaces :>

A Quick Lesson in Typography

Here’s a way to flex your design knowledge on twitter and elsewhere. Y’know that thing that people call “fonts”? Well, if you wanna get technical, designers actually categorize them with terms like type families, type faces, type weights, etc.

“What’s the difference?!” you may ask. I’m here to tell ya :D

-----

A type family refers to the style (Arial) and all of its weights (Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic, Black) and sizes (12pt, 15pt, etc.).

A typeface (or font family) is similar to font, but only pertains to weight and style. → Arial Regular is a typeface. Arial Bold is a different typeface.

In the digital world, a font pertains to the software we install and use.

So when someone says they’re using the Arial font or the Times New Roman font, technically they’re actually using a typeface, not a font. It’s become such common usage though that when we hear it, we more or less know what you mean :)

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Another detail that can help separate you from the masses is understanding kerning and tracking. Moreso the first one as opposed to the latter.

Kerning is the spacing between each letter.

Tracking is the spacing between each word.

If you are dealing with a paragraph, you’re working with its tracking. If it’s one line, presumably a header of some sort, you’re kerning it. The best way I can explain it is essentially designers will invert the text in their brain (aka look at the negative space) and adjust the text letter by letter (or line by line) until it looks right.

For your purposes, I’d say focus on learning how to kern your headers. Most people aren’t working in book publishing so you don’t need to worry about tracking.

Here’s a fun visual way to try it out yourself!!

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For me, my nerdiness doesn’t stop there. Oh no. There’s a whole dictionary list of specific terms that I love to scrutinize and dig deep into.

Now THIS is my jam. This is the stuff I spend my spare time diving into, and it’s the nitty gritty of what makes up a letter. Letters are beautiful, and the people who work on them spend a lot of time perfecting them until you get timeless typefaces like Helvetica and Garamond. I won’t spend too much time on these, but this is a great place to start if you ever wanted to make your very own typeface. There’s also so many little tricks that designers have made to make a letter look just right and it’s just so cool !!!!

------------------------------------------------------

Anyhow, so little rabbithole led me into exploring calligraphy (yes, I have quite a number of fountain pens and inks) and the lettering community on instagram. Combined with paperquilling (another little hobby of mine, maybe I’ll talk about it if someone sends me another of the 💛 in my ask), the work that I’m most proud of is this one!

I think taking something made digitally and in 2D and bringing it into a 3D environment is an interesting culmination of everything we’ve learned so far. This whole thing started with calligraphy and typesetting on paper way back when, and now everything’s gone digital, it just feels right to combine the paper and typography medium and bring them to life in a new and different way!

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Also this too! Yes it's a Harry Potter themed series (fuck JK Rowling). Custom typeface, loosely based on Abril Fatface and Playfair Display for an elegant yet magical vibe!

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This one that I made for a friend a hekkin long while back and is more along the lines of the “classic” paperquilled lettering works that you see on instagram.

I’m not gonna lie, it’s been a while since I’ve made something like this but at some point I was working on an unfinished piece for Kiryu Coco when she left Hololive. Maybe I should finish that.. 😂

In any case, hope you enjoyed my little ramble! I also hope I didn’t bore you to death with my meanderings haha

Thanks again for the ask!!

#design #typography #paperquilling #lettering #calligraphy #graphic design #fira tips

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caltropspress · 9 months

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RAPS + CRAFTS #15: Duncecap

1. Introduce yourself. Past projects? Current projects?

Hey, I’m Duncecap. I've been writing and producing hip hop music since I was 15. I've also been shooting and editing videos since I was a kid.

You may have heard some of my projects released via Backwoodz Studioz (miserable then, Go Climb a Tree). You may also know me from crazy performances in NYC with the group we are the karma kids. Some of my albums from that time are Human Error and Rapping is for Idiots.

In terms of upcoming music - exciting new stuff is coming! One forthcoming album is chiefly self-produced, one of them produced entirely by Steel Tipped Dove.

Also I have a “secret” side project - experimental ambient music under the name Depression Naps. That will probably come out this year. I need to figure the release out ASAP though.

2. Where do you write? Do you have a routine time you write? Do you discipline yourself, or just let the words come when they will? Do you typically write on a daily basis?

I usually write on the move; I’m listening to music, I have thoughts, and need something to do - it goes together perfectly. I write on walks, taking the subway, in a car. Physically moving is definitely not a rule though. I also write while procrastinating at home on the couch, or sitting with a coffee outside, in a diner is fun, etc.

No routine time per se - I’m ready to write on a moment's notice and usually do it that way randomly throughout the day, every day.

3. What’s your medium—pen and paper, laptop, on your phone? Or do you compose a verse in your head and keep it there until it’s time to record?

I used to write in a pocket-sized notebook all the time. Writing on paper really sets some immediate boundaries with space and even the speed which you can physically write. Lyrics get crossed out then circled or rewritten and crossed out again. Sometimes you can’t read what you wrote.

Now I write on my phone. It’s faster, more legible, and with infinite space - but it’s easier to get carried away with overwriting. I’ll drop anything to write an idea down. I’m somewhat of a compulsive idea hoarder, I don’t want to let a good idea pass.

I would love to be able to be the type of person that could fully write songs in my head but I got a lot of other things going on in there too and I get distracted easily. Freestyling is fun but I’m gonna need to write down anything I want to remember.

4. Do you write in bars, or is it more disorganized than that?

For most of my life I would write bars in long sentences, but in the past couple years I’ve noticed I’ve been breaking up my lines into halves or down to single words rather than bars. I call it my 'poetic style' on account of how it looks on the page but also how my delivery changes when I write this way. It helps me get more granular conceptually and with the rhymes too. I enjoy the end result and my voicing in that style. Projects I’ve written in this way are Genuinely Sad Songs and miserable then and the new stuff.

Writing can get pretty disorganized regardless of medium too, but I try to run a tight ship. Disorganized writing in a digital space might look like several versions of the same lyrics doc or alternative lyrics in the same space as the original one.

5. How long into writing a verse or a song do you know it’s not working out the way you had in mind? Do you trash the material forever, or do you keep the discarded material to be reworked later?

Depends on the strength of the original writing, the context, and how much time I want to spend editing it.

Sometimes it’s 4 bars in or less I might know. Sometimes, there’s one line in an otherwise great verse that I’m unsure about and everything past that one line feels off. Sometimes I write a whole verse and return to it thinking, “Maybe this isn’t the angle.”

Digitally, I never throw anything away. At this point I’ve embraced it, although it does weigh me down a little bit. I would love to cull the “good stuff” and start fresh in my notes app, but at this point it might take longer than it’s worth.

Occasionally, a verse gets lost in the ether or I cut a song and I can reuse the verse elsewhere or break it down for parts. Most of the time what I write is tailored to a special concept or nuanced emotional expression. It gets tricky to go back and plug old writing into those pieces and I tend to start over in that case.

That isn’t to say that I don’t find old verses I can match up to new songs - but it doesn’t always feel good. It shouldn’t matter honestly, but something in me says: start fresh.

Though looking through searchable results in my notes app can jog my brain and get the gears turning - it’s like a mood board but with elements I created.

6. Have you engaged with any other type of writing, whether presently or in the past? Fiction? Poetry? Playwriting? If so, how has that mode influenced your songwriting?

Poetry - yes. It very much influences it. This is where my writing started as a pre-teen and I still write poetry and infuse it into my music.

Screenwriting - yes (I want to write more scripts).

Fiction - as a child I did write stories pretty frequently and had a bunch of little one page stories with cover art and stuff. The last long form narrative prose I wrote was a kind of memoir in college while locked out of my dorm. I wrote it all on a Blackberry phone.

I journal too when things are rough and want to reexamine something I know I will want to reflect on in my life. A lot of times in the moment I’m experiencing it, most likely in a way to detach.

I’m trying to think how these different mediums might specifically affect my songwriting. Poetry and journaling, for sure. The only thing I can think about for screenwriting is sometimes I will write dialogue in my songs but I don’t really clarify it as such. It’s more like internal dialogue. Sometimes I dub or adlib those lines if it’s crucial to communicate that it's another character besides mine in a song. Those moments of pseudo dialogue reminds me of the flow you can enter when writing a scene in screenwriting software - so maybe that's the link.

7. How much editing do you do after initially writing a verse/song? Do you labor over verses, working on them over a long period of time, or do you start and finish a piece in a quick burst?

For me, it matters the song I’m writing.

Sometimes I will write a verse about literally where I’m writing or I will write a song as a way to work myself through an emotional event. These kinds of writings I try to preserve for the integrity of that moment in time and where I was physically and/or emotionally.

For more pre-conceived and intentional concepts I will painstakingly edit them until they feel right. “Did I structure this in the most elegant way possible?” “Am I communicating the concept clearly and cleverly?” Etc.

Those same kinds of quality controlling conditions happen regardless of how I’m writing, but there’s a bit more forgiveness in favor of earnestness when I get more personal on tracks.

8. Do you write to a beat, or do you adjust and tweak lyrics to fit a beat?

Both, it depends on the situation and how I’m feeling.

A lot of stuff on miserable then was written as poetry first and then fit to beats. Same goes for the Genuinely Sad Songs EP. I would also record freestyles to those beats and then decode the nonsense lyrics and tones or use the rhyme patterns I established.

Most other times I would say that I write to the beat while taking some breaks listening so it doesn’t get too repetitive.

9. What dictates the direction of your lyrics? Are you led by an idea or topic you have in mind beforehand? Is it stream-of-consciousness? Is what you come up with determined by the constraint of the rhymes?

Many times I write to sort myself out, so it’s stream of consciousness while I’m overanalyzing the very stream of consciousness I’m writing. This is where I get more introspective on songs. I’ll be led by trying to find an “answer” to what I’m feeling while making it structured and rhyme.

Sometimes I look around the notes app for thought starters and when navigating that labyrinth I’ll be reminded of concepts I meant to write about later. I'll match up themes to new production to see if I can make my life a little easier if a theme or lyric doesn’t come to mind inherently for a song. This ends up being very satisfying since the piece ends up being planned out a bit more but with minimal effort.

Rhyming does force some rules on your writing but you get used to navigating that. I wouldn’t say that rhyming would constrain a song from being made but it does make creating a song more of a puzzle - which is a lot of the fun.

10. Do you like to experiment with different forms and rhyme schemes, or do you keep your bars free and flexible?

I like to experiment with rhyming. I get bored with keeping the same rhyme scheme for a whole verse while other times it’s the thing that drives me. When you have the same scheme for a whole verse you get to play with the audience's expectations. If you're rhyming and the person you're with finishes the line for you - for me, it can be a sign that you're too predictable of a rhymer. But if you want to be optimistic, you can see that as a sign that you are a good songwriter. It really depends on what you are trying to accomplish at the time.

Sometimes rhyming doesn’t cross my mind at all and other times I’m trying to rhyme each word in a sentence to its parallel word in the subsequent line. Other times my lyrics are more melody driven and that takes a burden off of rhyme all together, or at least modifies expectation.

I have always been fascinated by rhyme and its predictability. I love hearing wild tongue twisters that I still can’t guess the ending rhymes for. Rhyming is such a unique tool that you can subvert expectations very easily with. I find myself using an A B A B rhyme pattern pretty frequently. It’s a nice way to balance the “shock value” of non-rhyming but also getting rewarded with a rhyme. It’s also a good fall back if you are freestyling and forget to rhyme.

11. What’s a verse you’re particularly proud of, one where you met the vision for what you desire to do with your lyrics?

Here’s a couple songs where the concepts were pre-determined and I’m proud of how the final product met that initial vision:

“Under the Hood” (feat. Fielded) || Go Climb a Tree

I had the title and knew I wanted to write about how things in life are many times antagonistically assembled or precariously produced - and then presented as clean, polished or well-thought out products. And how fragile it all is even after it’s released.

“Well oiled machine in the shippiest shape, / One domino is all the difference it takes.”

“Definitely” (feat. E L U C I D & Quelle Chris) || Rapping is for Idiots

I asked them to write as busy/unreachable rappers and I was supposed to be the desperate collaborator. Everybody nailed it and the video came out great as well. It’s extra gratifying to piece together a concept track with multiple folks on a record.

In terms of one verse to point to - there’s this verse I’m especially proud of from this upcoming Dove album. It hits hard but is also very on-point conceptually. It’s an example of one of those titles or concepts I’ve had floating around in my notes app for years and then it finally fell into place when I heard the right beat at the right time. The song is about the over-abundance of, well, everything and how overwhelming life can be in the current zeitgeist.

12. Can you pick a favorite bar of yours and describe the genesis of it?

I always used to have this question answered but the answer would change every year or so when I wrote a new project. I use writing as a means of self-discovery and the growth is never over. I don't think it'll ever be easy for me to settle on a favorite lyric because as soon as one is out of my system, I potentially don't relate to it anymore if it’s married to a specific emotional incident. Instead I go, “Oh, yeah I did a good job explaining how I felt at the time,” but it doesn’t feel as electric anymore to me in the present.

Despite that, I’ll answer the question. Here are some old standouts, I wouldn’t say I have a favorite though:

“Being self aware is not the same as trying to do something [about it]” (Bad Breath [’Toid Up])

The genesis being to have a way to remind myself and others that just because you know you are a little fucked up doesn’t mean you are actually being productive or healthy about it. Worst-case scenario it’s a negligible position to be enabling yourself but with a false sense of security.

The song “Rocks in Your Shoes” is mostly a free-write but has bars I’m proud of that satisfy both an introspective/punchy appetite:

“I talk like a parrot with a TV in the room”

“I like the way my mouth dances when I spit a tune, / My bars are choreography for my lips to move”

I dunno!

13. Do you feel strongly one way or another about punch-ins? Will you whittle a bar down in order to account for breath control, or are you comfortable punching-in so you don’t have to sacrifice any words?

Do I whittle a bar down for breath control? Yes. That usually comes in the initial writing phase but doesn’t stop there.

A lot of people, including myself, will practice their flows under their breath if they are in public or a room full of people. It’s a little odd to go full volume in those situations. Personally, I’ve found that practicing quietly like that can be misleading when it comes time to record.

Recording a demo is important. Most of the time I will face the reality of my breath control in these recordings then listen back and whittle down some more or change phrasings. Or I learn I hate a lyric the instant I’m forced to say it out loud or in front of people. The actual recording after the demo is always much more confident and polished. I either try to demo first or perform it live first before I record. Sometimes you write the verse and immediately record and land the first take, punching those always feels sacrilegious but you gotta do what you gotta do.

I usually try to deliver verses in one take when I record. In my head, if you are planning to perform your material live anyway, it makes sense to learn it as you will perform it live.

That being said - sometimes stylistically you might want to punch a lot or the take was perfect except for one moment. I’m more than happy to punch in those instances. I used to be more stubborn about not punching-in but when you are working with other people’s time it doesn't always make sense to deliver things in one take but it’s usually very satisfying.

14. What non-hiphop material do you turn to for inspiration? What non-music has influenced your work recently?

Musically - ambient music! I have always listened to “relaxing music” since I was a kid because I have always had anxiety. As I’ve gotten older that expanded to more experimental music, noisy music. Field recordings and ambient tones have been very inspiring to me the past couple of years.

I've been working towards bridging the gap of my “beats” and sonic experimentations for a little while and will be releasing a new ambient project this year (2023). I also recently produced an EP for someone while practicing this same type of experimental production processes.

Outside of music I would say film! I use a lot of filmmaking language in my writing because that's just how my brain works. It’s also a clinical way to describe things visually.

Also, I’m inspired a lot from my surroundings and experiences. I try to pull songs from my life and the characters I see or interact with. You can turn anything into poetry and I try to.

15. Writers are often saddled with self-doubt. Do you struggle to like your own shit, or does it all sound dope to you?

Dude. Self-doubt all day. Imposter syndrome all day. “I suck.” etc. I usually briefly fall in love with whatever new music I’m making and then get more distant to it when I begin something new. Recently, I was head over heels with a new song, then a day later my certainty of its quality was subverted by my silly brain.

As I get older I’m learning to appreciate my music more. I used to be the guy to delete music after publishing it but that isn’t sustainable nor fair to listeners. Combating self-doubt will always be a journey.

16. Who’s a rapper you listen to with such a distinguishable style that you need to resist the urge to imitate them?

All of them? Sometimes I hear a beat and think of people I know that could potentially feature on the track with me - or even famous rappers - but then I decide to have no features on the song. In those cases I worry that I might sound like whoever I thought of initially. When that happens I share a demo with friends and it’s usually just in my head.

I’m not sure this has happened to you, but there’s those moments where you strike gold while writing and realize, “Oh…this is just [famous song]”. I’m paranoid of that happening. Sometimes I won’t listen to new projects immediately if I'm already in the middle of writing something - that way it doesn’t rub off on me subconsciously.

Funny enough though, I think hip-hop is pretty forgiving of that kind of thing in the right context. So many artists pay tribute by flipping famous lines or flows and putting them in their own songs.You don't see nearly as many cover songs in the genre as in others but see more reworkings, references, and shout-outs.

I mean if you are biting someone's style completely that’s a no-no, but I’m not concerned about that happening.

17. Do you have an agenda as an artist? Are there overarching concerns you want to communicate to the listener?

My goal is to be financially stable off of video and music alone.

In terms of projects, collaborations, etc. - I will always want to work with talented people and especially ones that have vision or challenge me to think outside the box. Connecting with other artists will always be a big part of music for me.

Content-wise, I want to keep experimenting but also take myself more seriously and write less about emotional/personal issues as my default. Mental health issues are important for me and listeners tell me my words have helped them. That’s why I still do write this way and partly why I started writing that way too. If any of my experiences and learnings can help people in the same spot it’s a win and very rewarding. It’s just as validating for me to hear people relate to my writing as I’m sure it might be for a listener to hear someone describe how they feel.

I have always been an impulsive writer and I imagine that won’t change. I can say, though, that the more I work on myself the more my growth will reflect in my writing.

RAPS + CRAFTS is a series of questions posed to rappers about their craft and process. It is designed to give respect and credit to their engagement with the art of songwriting. The format is inspired, in part, by Rob McLennan’s 12 or 20 interview series.

Photo credit: P Squared

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hasarjunadoneanythingwrong · 10 months

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do you mind if i ask what tablet do you use? and if you practice drawing digitally more than traditionally? i’m trying to get into the habit of drawing after seeing your art!! you always feel like you’re having fun 💪💪💪

I’ve been meaning to answer a similar question i got ages back so I’m just gonna answer this rn!!!

I use a Wacom Cintiq 16-that’s one of the tablets with a light up screen you can see the movement directly on as you draw, vs a tablet that’s blank where you have to sync up your movement with the computer screen that I used to use (there’s nothing wrong w that and those tend to be a lot cheaper, but I personally find it really hard 😭) there’s a lot of options out there though-you can even get special pens that let you draw using your phone (or draw with your finger on your phone, though mine is a bit too small to really do that well w how clumsy I am tbh…or maybe that’s just quitter talk!)

As for the art program, what I personally use is krita. Before that for this blog I used photopea, which is a free brower based program that’s an almost 1:1 copy of photoshop, but it had a major issue where if the internet went out you couldn’t use it and if your browser crashed there was no way to recover your work. Krita is also completely free, and while I’m by no means an expert at all I’d say it works well for how I use it! (Though I really should be learning more about some of its other functions)

I’d like to get clip studio if only for the brush capabilities but my laptop is slowly dying and I don’t really want to buy new software until I have something new

I also do do traditional! At this point in time it’s nothing more serious than ballpoint sketches with most of my serious work being digital, but at point I took irl traditional art classes so I do have some background in it. It’s good to practice a variety of art styles anyway, but I like to sketch through the day to occupy myself. I have whole sheets of doodles that none of you have ever seen bc they’re traditional and not really worth taking poor ipod photos just to spam here (seriously, I have stacks of the stuff)

#I love to draw despite my recent semi break (I say having just busted out another comic)#I feel like I’m plateauing a bit…maybe I should change some stuff #or actually learn krita. imagine #my asks #side note: I love my tablet but don’t feel like you have to get a fancy schmancy one #I just draw enough that it was worth it compared to my old one #+I have sync issues anyway #diff people have diff abilites in that regard

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fishstickfeind · 1 year

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(tw rant)

wait a min... I think I just realized something...

Since I'm shit at digital art, I know I can never animate.

If I want to animate, my brain says: "YOUR DIGITAL ART IS BAD, YOU CAN'T ANIMATE S H I T!"

And I love the fact other people are better digital artists than me- I can't draw perfectly. Can't do line art, nothing.

Guess I'm gonna stick to traditional and gacha club if I can't do great digital art...

*sob*

-Mocha, 12/4/22

Hey, tell those mean thoughts to silence themselves!! Now I might entirely understand your situation, but from my experiences with trying out digital art it is.. a big change. For me at least, it was incredibly troubling and it is what made me stick with traditional art! But if I get a drawing stylus for my phone for Christmas I may continue it! But you will get better with practice!

For me it almost felt like drawing with a new type of pen or marker! It’s a very different feeling and can take a lot of adjusting, but as cheesy as it sounds, just practicing it until your hand is used to the feeling you’ll be drawing just the same!! Not to mention finding a good line to draw with and coloring and everything is different with it! I think in the short period I did digital art I have one good art piece I enjoy

And let me tell you, animating is a nightmare. Like I can’t stress it enough, it is just terrible. And I don’t say that to deter you from doing it! But especially with all the different mechanics it takes to learn and frames and techniques, any form of animation whether 2d or 3d is really tough and also takes a long while to get accustomed to and do learn how it works.

I very much believe in you! Art is already hard and completely changing from traditional to digital can be just as, if not more changeling! But I’m sure you can become just as great as who you look up to, if you already aren’t there yet!

#you got this dude!#its one of those things that take weeks and long periods of time for improvement!#a bored multifandomer

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grandpa-cephalopods · 1 year

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[Hello! Thank you for sending that message to me in english. I barely have an understanding of the Inkish language the past owner has been faxing to me, and I don’t have access to the translation tools to understand. Based on the hints I’ve received, I’m assuming they (and you) are contacting me from another world!

Who are you? I’m assuming you aren’t one of those Inklings I’ve been sending pictures to. Could I have your name? I’d like to send more messages your way, if you’re open to being pen pals!]

“Huh. ...You gonna give god your name?”

“I dunno, it’s why I kind of wanted your take on this, baby bro.”

“I’m not- ugh. ...Well, I feel like we should at least give them an answer.”

“You think?”

“I mean, are you just gonna drop the fax back at the shrine after making me waste an ENTIRE NIGHT looking up god’s digits? I’ll kick you out of this chair if you try that.”

“Alright, alright. ...But I’m giving them your name, too.”

“Fine. ... It might be beneficial to give them the whole truth. Or at least- some summation of this Earth. The Metro details-”

“... No, I’m not comfortable enough sharing that yet, we don’t know their deal. I don’t think ‘Hey, my baby bro and I reanimated corpses out of bloody soap’ is the right foot to start with. We don’t know if they’re even human yet. This could be a Salmonid signal-jacker”

“Hmmm... Well, I WANT to believe it’s human.”

“I do too, but I’m gonna see if I can get more information out of this god than they can us. See if I can out-wit them into revealing themself. So far, the ONLY leads that this guy’s legit is he talks about other universes so casually, and his number doesn’t match anything on this earth.”

“That is true... Well, call me when you get that reply, I’m going back to Splatfest.”

“Make sure Sweet loses for me, baby bro~”

#tartar #gideon #lore

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jade-everstone · 1 year

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The yearly tradition returns: 2022's Summary of Art!

And hey, I did something a little more design-y than my past ones! Will admit it was a bit tricky to fit each month's pics into the frames this time but I'm glad I tried a different look than usual

thoughts on each pic + reflection on the web + how I want to handle art going into the new year below:

January - Iri Intro!

From a somewhat short-lived thing I wanted to try out: Doing sketches of OCs just to serve as an introduction reguardless of quality. The good thing is, because quality's not a factor I can do these whenever in whatever format or polish. I just prefered doing larger pics this year

Febuary - A 'Cereal' Debate (comic short)

Ok, but she's got a point when you think about it.

From a comics class I took spring this year. The only prompt was "conversation"... well, heated debate in this case.

March - The School Mystery (comic short)

Another one from that Comics class and goddamn I think the panel featured here alone is one of the hardest things I drew that semester. That's pen and ink with minimal digital edits and damn hoping one day I could somehow make a longer comic with a similar style bc it was really fun to ink honestly.

April - The Fish Project

JADE WITH THE FRESH SALMON???? REAL!

Ok but for the real context, this was an April fools project I had in the works since 2021. I turned all my active art accounts at the time into an OC Fishing irony page and sent Jade, Iri, Risa, Jpeg, and both Prisma's on a fishing trip. Not sure how I'll top that in the future... I'm not revealing until April >:)

May - MOONROT

May was when I redesigned & revealed Io to the public! They got a bunch of art this month, but the CN challenge art is my favorite of all of them.

Huh. Suprised I didn't immediately burn out because that semester was extreme in terms of work. I guess wanting to draw Io was that strong.

June - Life, After Wither

A pre-Artfight 2022 pic: I was Team Wither! I like doing splash pics for my own page for Artfight and this stayed my main banner for just about most of the year.

The mini-story I made up for this is these three teamed up across dimentions or something to visit this forest.

July - In the Studio, fr

I don't normally do post-Artfight related pics, but Moog ended up getting the most attacks this year and I wanted to give her an extra pic based on it.

Seems she kept a souviner from the forest in the last pic.

August - B-Hold! The Portal King!

For Clockday on Newgrounds, Strawberry clock the portal King himself!

Kept getting swept up with other things to jump on Newgrounds events, I wasn't gonna miss one of the bigger ones!

September - // DIRECTION //

(outside of being gay for the robot-) I just wanted to draw Alia tbh. With a similar energy she had in her older art too.

October - HELLSPAWN

ABSOLUTELY NEFARIOUS HALLOWEEN PIC!!!

Featuring Io's true/original form + their 'powered-up' state

November - The Fowl Pest (Mock-Cover)

The last two are for my Digital Illustration class. This one is a mock-book cover based on a worldbuilding project of mine (still need to organize it before sharing).

Though tbh if I do want to do more art for said project I might go tra-digital or use a grittier style. During crit I was told this looked "middle-grade"... when the world is "older-YA/Adult"... still like the pic, but damn.

December - Lan Party!

*Sigh* Always wanted to go to one of these! But alas, me and my irls are all busy these days. This is based off a different project I'm working on.

I ended up debuting some different designs for my OCs for said project (notably; Iri, Risa, and Human!Midi) but separate pics for them will have to come next year. In terms of digital lineart, this was the most intense I did this year (traditional lineart comes easier to me than digital).

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So... 2022. Jesus Christ

This year was rough for me on things personal, and things non-personal. I mean jesus christ every other week something came out that was hostile to artists one way or another on top of some rough patches in my life. I don't want to jinx 2023 or leave things on this note though...

I think my biggest takeaway from this year is I need to rethink a lot of things. How I want to do art, where I want to go, or even my 'digital wellbeing'. This year, I realized keeping art a Hobby or staying "part-time" (as in small gigs & private comms only) might be healthier for me in the long run. I've already had my doubts with a lot of "professional" practices when I was shooting for it (a tl:dr it felt like "no fun allowed" half the time). But realizing how horribly i've treated myself and my art with this chase? That was another thing.

I think i've done a lot of strong pics compared to past years. Especially in terms of backgrounds and not being afraid to draw them (though I could always use more practice, lol). But I've also come to terms with I've been affected by social media without realizing it and how it hurt how I do art. Basically, for the past two years I've been working under the fear of being boxed into doing one thing. Be it fanart, genres, etc. To the point I stopped doing things to force a "brand". Specifically, I stopped doing fanart unless it's oc-centric. I hid straight-up fanart, and started getting irrationally upset over the metrics fanart gets over my original works.

And I hate it. I hate how I let myself judge the value of my work over "numbers and engagement". I hate how I boxed myself in trying to avoid being boxed, because of chasing this corporate measurement of worth. And most importantly, I hate that I nearly forgot that I enjoyed making fanart, because of some dumb culture caused by social media numbers and algorithms. I'm exhausted. So for 2023, I think I want my main resolution to do better with my online life & how I treat myself and my art. I want to pull away from social media a bit more (ironic considered i just came back here heh), spend more time on the slower web & offline if possible, and break that cycle of letting numbers judge my self-worth. And maybe help others do the same. It's much easier said than done, but I don't want to do nothing about this toxic hellscape that is how art is treated online, I want to do something even if the only person I directly help is myself.

And for what it's worth, focusing on my site so far has been cathartic. It's somewhere I can set up my art, projects, weird shit, etc. on my own terms, how I like it. It's quieter over there. And I'm glad I kept working on it beyond just a "portfolio site".

But I guess I have all of 2023 (and what's left of 2022) to process that. For now, I could use some extra time to pretty-up my website some more and take a few more naps before the year ends.

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extra note: this post is a (slightly modified) mirror of a post over on the everlogs:

Website Version Here!

#art summary #art summary 2022 #2022 #2022 summary of art

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mrssansserif · 2 years

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Okay so I’m actually really REALLY excited to post this. So I’ve been getting into digital art, still using my phone AND I used my finger again to draw this XD I need to get a pen seriously. But anyway I drew this lovely little girl, our eldest twin Ares!

I did get some help from this imagine I found on google, I used the face and hair outline:) (I dunno if that’s aloud, if not I’ll delete the post😥) but here it is ! I found the image on anime outline.com, go check them out! They have loads of helpful tips. Credits to them!

Everything else is me though :) I worked really hard on this and now I’m gonna go cry because my hand is sore 😖

Anyway! I hope you like our special little girl! I’ll try to do her twin next ;)

Enjoy~

#undertale #machine tale au #original au #Ares #original oc #best girl #just like her mommy #thank you animeoutline for the help!#I suck at drawing😑

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trinrose3 · 2 years

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What got you into art? Would you say you're satisfied with how far you've come as an artist? How do you usually go about things like art block? Is there any advice you have to new artists? Do you have any tips on drawing POC/larger people since most art tips are usually focused on skinny white cishets?

hate to give the stereotypical “always been into it” answer but that is pretty much it lol. I drew a lot when I was LITTLE little especially cause my mom didn’t want me watching too much tv lol. Eventually I guess I just…forgot about it?? Until about like 8th grade when I found a sketchbook and started drawing stuff if me and my friends and out characters and realized how much I loved it again.

I would say I’m satisfied! Up until college I was almost completely self taught (I did have an art “teacher” after school at one point but that was for painting mainly not illustration). Sometimes I see how good some of my classmates are and feel a bit jealous ngl but than again I’m competing with a bunch of rich kids who are usually benefiting from SOME form of nepotism so…

IDK how art block goes for everyone else but for me it’s when I can’t seem to draw “correctly” or in a way that I deem at least somewhat decent. I don’t stress about it TOO much cause I know this is part of the process of “leveling up” a skill. It’s called conscious incompetence(?) and is typical in a skill building process. I typically don’t deal with the “idk what to draw” kinda cause my solution is always Amelia lol. At that point I keep trying till I get a break through and/or leave it alone. I also like to change the brushes I use when this happens or go to my sketchbook. This usually helps cause your brush can give you a whole different style even when it’s digital which can help break out of a funk by giving you an out of the box opportunity.

general advice for new artists: don’t clout chase. I know it’s tempting. I’ve been there and honestly it drained me emotionally and felt like something I enjoyed was becoming more of a burden. It gave me guilt everytime I tried to draw something that wasn’t fanart and while the reaction that I got was motivating and satisfying in the end I realized I stopped making art for myself and that *I* wasn’t enjoying it as much anymore. You’re the ONLY person you EVER need to satisfy when it comes to art (bar the people who are commissioning/hiring you, their satisfaction is just as if not more important). EXPERIMENT!! A lot of artists in the beginning are GREAT at this but the more they become aware of their skill(not talent! Talent isn’t real!!) the more afraid of stepping outside their comfort zone they become. But like a REALLY cheap and tiny sketchbook and carry that around with you! If you want to experiment and try something new do it in there! Use pens only in it too it’ll make you more confident and precise with your line art and for god sake stop the chicken scratch (repeating various lines to make one solid one this is not the same as sketchy line art) also you do NOT need a perfect circle or a ruler and in fact it’s best to avoid both of those things! It doesn’t look natural or organic (unless of course that’s the point lol)! Gonna also cover some general tips in my guide that I’m making lol.

I do! I’m gonna add a bunch in the guide that I’m making :}. Took a small break cause I’m at the boring part now aka clean up and boy do I fucking hate clean up lol. Of course the most important and universal tip every artist gives besides practice is to use a reference. If an artist ever tells you to NOT use one or that it’s “cheating” don’t listen to them and don’t trust any other tip they give henceforth, they’re just mad that they can’t do observational art :). Also just listen to poc and larger people. Please. It’s not that hard. If someone says that your doing something offensive or incorrectly it’s not an attack on you as a person or artist. Also learn what stereotypes and characatures are made in art of these specific groups so you know what to avoid!

#Art tips #long post

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