#and i like to compare and contrast my ocs with other characters a lot

[elio-monroe]

i love the father basil stuff bc its pretty warm and fuzzy mostly. a few spicier bits here or there but basils is typically getting enjoyment. gives me a good break from alperen, who only gets consensual sex as a treat and noncon and torture the rest of the time

[tinyetoile]

Yknow I just realized that none of the shapeshifters spawned by Senshi lasted until the final round, which makes sense since he's known the group for the shortest amount of time

[sabertoothwalrus]

your character designs are incredible! do you keep anything/any thought processes in mind as you draw fanart vs how you draw ocs?

OOOOOO what a fun question...

I'd say my general thought process about how to build a new character-- figuring out who they are and what they do and what they're like-- is all pretty much the same across the board. The main difference between designing fan characters vs original characters is how I answer those sorts of questions.

For original characters, it can be almost overwhelming because I get to choose everything. I can make everything perfectly suited to my own tastes, except I have a broad range of things I like, and my tastes change constantly FJHFHD so depending on the project, choosing a more specific direction helps narrow things down.

Here's some old ocs I redrew recently. They're from an old story I'm not planning on revisiting, but it was about an art student, her little brother, and some grim reapers. Can you tell who is who?

I wanted the alive characters to have a lot of Opposites from the reapers. Warm vs Cool colors. Round vs Angular shapes. I wanted the reapers to look skeletal and sickly looking, and it was important that they all had some kind of hood. They needed to wear black & grey, but their colors still needed to be interesting, so they're all tinted with a color (one is sort-of blue, one is sort-of red, one is sort-of purple).

The story is more serious, so it felt appropriate that the characters were more realistically proportioned compared to some of the cartoonier designs I tend to do. They're still heavily stylized, and I tried to push myself to go harder on the shape language and Appeal™.

For fan characters, it's actually a lot of fun because so much of the work has been done for you. The more source material you have to work with, the less you have to come up with.

So, an example I'm going to use is Hugh Dini, a character I came up with as part of a fan concept for a new entry in the Ace Attorney series.

Phoenix Wright's daughter, Trucy, is a magician. She was 17 in her last appearance, and my fan concept takes place 7 years later, so she'd be 24. I decided she'd have a boyfriend who is also her assistant, and went from there.

I knew Hugh was going to be a defendant, which according to Ace Attorney rules means that he'd be falsely accused of murder. I needed to create a guy who was sympathetic, someone that you'd WANT to help prove his innocence.

What I did was reference existing characters from the games who fit similar archetypes and took a lot of design cues from them. I also referenced characters like Fukuo from Kiki's Delivery Service, who is a delightful himbo wifeguy that looks a little intimidating but is actually just kinda shy. And then I looked at actual photos of stage magician costumes for additional inspiration. THEN I go back to the source material to compare design details I want to add (ex, Hugh's high collar, his cuffs, the collar, the cape being turned into fringe on his jacket) and see if it already exists somewhere. No point in reinventing the wheel if I don't need to!

I wanted him to be like a "sexy magician's assistant", which I thought was a funny contrast to his restrained demeanor. He needed to be flashy, but not TOO flashy that he'd upstage Trucy. And additionally, since this is a game series where the characters are mostly seen from the waist up, I tried to keep his most interesting details in the top half of his design (but honestly in hindsight, I could have given him more. like Zak Gramarye's thigh-strap belt bag, perhaps).

Some other things I like to do when creating fan designs is to "roleplay" being the designers of the source material. If concept art is available, I reference that. I like to find the design quirks the character designers favor, and use them to make my own designs more convincing. If I'm designing something for, say, a european tv show that came out in 2005, I'd refer to the fashion and design tendencies that were most prevalent in the culture then, because that's what the actual character designers would have been most inspired by. But I'm not perfect, I'm gonna have the biases of an american lesbian living in 2025 no matter how hard I try LMAO

Hopefully I was able to answer your question!

[leidensygdom]

Your drawings are amazing! <3

I have a half orc OC, do you have any advice to not make her look shrek ish? I know orc’s and ogre’s are different but I want my OC to stand out a lot! Your half orc drawing I saw is so beautiful!

Uuuuh, I guess it all depends in which direction you wanna interpret orc! I think a lot of orcs end up looking a bit... Shrek-ish because of the exaggerated proportions. In truth, most orcs are depicted with extremely square jaws and really pronounced underbites.

Here's a WoW orc, a BG3 orc, and Shrek- Who doesn't actually have any sort of tusks or underbite, but does still have a pretty exaggerated mouth size compared to the rest of the face. The sort of really short and wide nose (which makes a contrast with how much of the face is taken proportionally by the mouth) does also contribute to the look. Wide noses can be used, but some orcs tend to push the shape of them making the bridge length incredibly short, specially based on the other proportions in the face.

It's also kinda important to acknowledge that the way orcs have been drawn and depicted in many shows, games and such come from a uh, kinda... Racist caricature perspective, almost. They're one of those fantasy staples that kinda has a finnicky history

And like, you really don't need to base your orcs on the usual ways they've been depicted! No Shrek needed! You don't need to give orcs an underbite! That the magic of designing your character. Tusks can work perfectly fine with more human-proportioned jaw.

This is super messy, but if you have somewhat curved tusks, they can poke out of the lips without needing the underbite at all. There's a few artists who have done much better tutorials on this than I could- You may wanna check this one from @douradart !

[quibbs126]

…Okay, you may end up seeing these drawings yet again on a later date

I finished the page, which was small at 500x500 px, but I wanted to make the page bigger. I did that, and I drew one new thing, but now I don’t know what else to draw on there. So for now, I figured I might as well post the original full page right now

Yeah, sorry for the laziness

This is the other sketch I finished on there, for those curious

Anyways, so yeah, this new style practice I’m trying

The original page I tried these out on is this, which also isn’t full, but I thought trying it out with actual characters instead of just random poses and shapes would be better, so I switched over to Cookie Run characters

The method is still a work in progress when it comes to all the shapes and the red sketch layer

I suppose what I should do now is try drawing a bunch of different Cookies that have different body shapes, so that I have practice with that. As well as maybe attempt some full body ones

I suppose you can suggest some if you want, considering I don’t know who to draw other than like, Hollyberry or Avocado, since I should try drawing large but not buff characters here. But I should also probably draw more skinny, and also chubby

But on to what I actually drew

So I already talked about Peach Blossom and the top Dark Choco drawing prior, so no real need to elaborate

The Dark Choco and Dark Cacao one was me drawing them in their younger forms to see how they compare. Not for any sort of study thing, but just in a symbolic sort of way. Since they’re so similar looking

I think I had a lot more fun with Choco, especially his hair. I remember Cacao being mostly annoying for his weird cloak thing that I don’t understand

The hand pose was ass though. I knew the general idea of what I wanted, that being them with their hands over their swords, but I was struggling to figure out how to draw the hands. Not to mention I had to change the pose from the red sketch because the swords were further down than I put them. I still don’t think I did the pose exactly correct, but screw it, it’s good enough

I’m also noticing that Choco looks way lighter in skin tone compared to Cacao. Like yeah, I know he’s normally slightly lighter, but it’s far more noticeable here. I’m pretty sure it’s because I used Dark Choco’s ToA colors here (bc they work better with my black lineart), which are slightly lighter, as well as just that Dark Choco is wearing much lighter colors while Dark Cacao’s are relatively darker. So maybe it just makes them contrast more

I liked drawing them, but I also did basically do the same body type 3 in a row, so I should probably draw different characters

Anyways, let’s talk about that extra sketch

So for those who likely don’t remember, that there is an OC of mine called Prickly Pear Cookie

I made her entirely on a whim one day, and she doesn’t really have any character or story, just vibes, but I really like her design and wanted to draw it again

I probably should give her some sort of bra though. The shirtless chest looks cool but in my opinion sounds really uncomfortable without at least that

I did originally draw her with the green skin, but it looked weird so I shifted it to more of a yellow so it looks more human

Honestly I really like how she turned out

But yeah, I think that’s about it for now. Just wanted to show this

[artbyblastweave]

My sense of what Crossovers are for, conceptually, the thing they do that other works can't, was entirely formulated by my early-childhood exposure to Kurt Busiek and George Perez's seminal 2004 Marvel/DC crossover JLA/Avengers. Like most stuff Busiek writes it's a love-letter, and part-and-parcel with its status as a love-letter was that he took the time to render the horror and bewilderment that the respective teams had upon encountering the status-quo of their counterpart's setting. The JLA encounter the anti-mutant hysteria, the supervillainous fiefdoms like Latveria, figures like Hulk and Punisher being allowed to roam free, all those tonal hallmarks of Marvel, and they come to the conclusion that the Marvel Universe is hanging on by its fingernails and that the Avengers are somewhere between in over their heads and actively negligent. Meanwhile the Avengers explore the shiny, forward-thinking, optimistic DC universe, encounter the ubiquitously positive reactions they get from people on the street just for visibly Being Superheroes, see things like the Flash Museum and the Hall of Justice, and Captain America comes to the conclusion that the Justice League obviously must have led a fascist takeover of America. Then they hit each other a lot. Anyway, if you're writing a crossover between two works and you want me to care at all, you need to meet the JLA/Avengers Bar. When a character from one work is placed in the context of another work's setting, what commentary on the original work is that character in a position to provide through their outlook and worldview? What insight, in turn, can their commentary provide on on the assumptions and conventions of their native narrative? Have all characters involved experienced enough of the events of their own work that they've actually got something to compare and contrast with, or is the crossover occurring so early in one or more of their respective timelines that you're basically dealing with OCs due to the butterfly effect? Are you actually acknowledging the different properties as discrete narratives that are abrading each other in interesting ways, or are you for the one millionth time reimagining Izuku Midoriya as a native resident of some other setting (seemingly decided via roulette wheel?) And of course, are you correct in your assessments of how these are bouncing off each other? How many times am I getting hit with "They would not fucking say that/react like that/understand their new surroundings in that way/go five minutes without trying to disembowel this fan-favorite character from the other work that you've decided they're getting along great with?"

[rojaceartandgaming]

Archie Sonic VS IDW Sonic (and a minor analysis of Scourge vs Surge and Kit): Both are Great, y'all are just comparing apples to oranges

I see a lot of people comparing the story and plot points of the Archie Comics and the IDW comics a lot and... I guess I can see why, but I think it's an unfair comparison. The comics are a lot different tonally and set out to do different things and sure, some of the writing nowadays is better and people love to clown on Ken Penders' writing but... things are a lot deeper then that.

This is gonna be a long post of media analysis so... here's a line break. I'm not trying to start a fight, I just love both comics and want to ramble.

Now, I love both comics a lot. I have a lot of nolstalga for the Archie comics as they were the first really story driven Sonic media I had ever seen. The comics I started with reading were around the first bits of Ian Flynn's run (though I jumped around a lot, give me a break, I was like seven) and honestly? I loved it! I couldn't get enough! Sonic was awesome, I loved the original world and characters, and I think the whole roboticization plots (and Bunnie might've inspired my very first OC who I still have to this day) were incredible!

As for the IDW comics, I got into them earlier this year. By this point, I was a college student who had basically lived through the recent dark age of Sonic and only started to have faith in the series again thanks to the movies, Sonic Frontiers, and Sonic Prime. But even so, I had just become dissatisifed with the writing in Sonic games. Something that probably wasn't helped when, in highschool, I finally picked up my first 3D Sonic game which was... Sonic Forces on switch. The wasted potential that was that game deserves its own post, both for the story and the gameplay. One of the biggest issues I had with Sonic for the longest time was the stories just... sucking, or not utilizing characters well. Story is the most important thing to me for games, so seeing awesome characters like Blaze, Silver, Shadow, and Metal Sonic - my favorite character of all time - be used as cameos or one note villains sucked.

Suffice to say I love Sonic X Shadow Generations, but that's a post for another day.

Finally, out of curiosity, I checked out the IDW comics and god, they were a treat. After being starved for good characterization for most of my time with Sonic? It was incredible. Older characters getting their chances to shine, a plot that does refer to Forces in a way that makes sense - a devastating time that still effects the plot now what with Whisper and Mimic's plot! - and newer characters that are stellar, especially when it comes to villains. Starline is by far my favorite villain from these new comics, though Clutch has turned out to be really cool too. But the stars of the show are Surge and Kit, I won't argue about that.

But the thing that makes these comics both great - that I don't see anyone talking about - is the fact they're meant to handle things differently. The Archie comics started in a time when Sonic didn't have that much coherent plot in the West, so SATAM Sonic, The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Underground had to make it up as they went - some shows were darker, proceeding to come up with characters like Sally or concepts like roboticization, whilst others were more slap-stick heavy. Those contrasting vibes were stuck in a blender and out came the Archie comic which... did definiately have its problems. I won't deny that. But they were given free reign to go wild with Mobius - eventually having to integrate things like arcs for the Adventure games but handling it well - and they made some incredible lore! The alternate dimensions, the new characters, the devastation that came with the Eggman Empire, and the echidna's deep lore - I hate Ken Penders too, y'all, but I miss echidna tribe lore so much. It was so cool istg.

Hell, villains could be dark as hell - and it makes sense. In the older cartoons and in these comics, Robotnik was a lot more sinister when it came to his portrayal. And I like that! We don't see that as often nowadays. Other villains and rivals are cool as hell too (I mean, look at Doctor Finitevus' design ALONE) and yeah, I say that extends to Scourge too. I'll get into that in a minute.

Sure, Archie Sonic was a mess, but once you accept the absurdity it's not that bad, especially post issue 160 and ESPECIALLY after the reboot. It's a darker story with good lighthearted moments that outweigh the bad, in my opinion. It set out to make its own story, and it did whilst incorporating characters from the games as well as it could.

IDW Sonic, on the other hand, came in 2018 - we know who these characters, they've had a lot adventures, good and bad! Eggman's not as villainous as he used to be, sure, but that's in line with the games too. He's not a one-note villain whose only personality is an evil laugh, and I love it! Honestly, I'd argue this is the best interpretation we've ever gotten of Eggman, especially when we get to the added depth of the Mr. Tinker thing and the fact he only reverted back to villainy thanks to Starline! And frankly, everyone who acts like Sonic working with Eggman in the Riders arc is a new thing... it's not. It's happened in the games. It happened in the Archie comics when dealing with Knuckles as Enerjak. Just... cope. Deal with the fact that Eggman has depth now. Stop complaining. Please.

The IDW comics are more lighthearted, better written, and are more grounded in this post-Forces world. It can be dark as hell though, clearly - I don't need to get into the Metal Virus arc for y'all to know how good it was. Hell, Surge and Kit being stuck in a cycle of abuse is really, really grim and I hope things get better for them.

Now, I see a lot of people comparing Surge to Scourge and... I'm sorry, that's my biggest issue with the comparisons between the comics. Yes, they're both green and designed after an old debug menu glitch in the classic games. But they have more depth then that. This video here -

goes into Scourge's character really well! Honestly, he's really compelling - the worst version of what Sonic can be and an intentionally pathetic foe who's almost doing too much on purpose to prove a point. He's a jerk, he's intentionally edgy as hell, he's almost pathetic as a villain and... that's the point. He's Sonic at his edgy worst, if he was a massive jerk. Sonic is Scourge if Scourge had some decency, and it's super compelling to read about.

But that's not who Surge is. She isn't an alternate bastard version of Sonic from a different dimension. Surge and Kit are the products of Starline's obsession with Eggman and overcoming Eggman. They're the products of Starline trying to take out Eggman, Sonic, and Tails and crafting "replacements" for them whilst completely failing to understand each character and their dynamics with each other.

Eggman is reckless, sure, and doesn't have a real scientific method, but he's always looking forward. The next invention, the next plan, the next action. That's what brings about Starline's demise.

Sonic is rash and reckless, sure, but he respects others and especially his buddy Tails. And Tails isn't subserviant to Sonic or 100% blindly loyal to him. They're equals - no, they're brothers. But Starline didn't see that, and for a good chunk of the beginning of their arc Surge and Kit aren't healthy for each other.

But they're all they have left.

These two are tragic characters. They have no past, no origins that they remember. All they have is each other, and the personalities and abilities Starline gave them. They're tragic characters that deserve so, so much better and frankly? Even though I see a redemption arc in their future I can see them being more like Shadow rather then Sonic and Tails 2.0. Antiheroes, not symbols of everything good in this world. And that's a good thing! They have depth, and I love it.

Archie Sonic and IDW Sonic are different beasts entirely, and that's okay. They don't need to be compared so harshly, because they both have their merits.

IDW Sonic could never tell the story of a character like Scourge, and Archie Sonic couldn't tell the story of Surge and Kit. And that's why I love both comics. They're distinctive!

[cheriemariii]

part 5/5 of that fuckass sihjr yuri au look book ⁉️ (4)

(yeah anyways this is oc x canon content, which is practically part of this aus canon,,, just a heads up there,,,)

haruhiko

-office siren!!!!!!!!!!!

-(i was tempted to also describe hatori as office siren back when i made that other post. and perhaps it also counts but its just very different??????? like hatori is supposed to resemble a very normal office worker (which she is...... allegedly), whereas haruhiko looks like she literally owns the company (shes getting there)).

-also kind of inspired by bayonetta yes thanks for noticing :)

-usually very feminine, a little bit in contrast with usagis more androgynous style (like it is mostly a matter of personal style, but in a way its also like an allegory to how haruhiko seems to be confined by her role within the usami family while usagi managed to escape it and make a name of herself, and so haruhiko disproves of usagis “breaking of gender norms” or whatever bc its a reflect of that freedom she just will never seem to get???? or something like that lalalalalala)

-she wears skirts most of the time. *obviously* never anything above the knee ofc bc she! is! a! proper! woman!

-(you know, for someone who really likes drawing mini skirts and long legs and shit,, most of my au characters seem to be allergic to the idea of wearing a mini skirt kshfksjfkdhfksj)

-so she only wears pants when she has to be in construction site (which is not very often bc she is more into the design part of the process). and when she is there shes not like breaking any safety rules,, but she does look a little off.

-always (ALWAYSSSSS) dresses in dark colors, namely black, red and purple. Its sober and appropriate and shit, but also I feel it gives her and miwako this sort of darker mutual aesthetic that I kinda like? its like a couple of vampires except none of them would ever go full goth, one bc daddy fuyuhiko would never allow it and the other bc she cannot dedicate more than 5 minutes to her looks

-loves lace. But not only as in tiny details here and there, I mean full pieces of fabric covered in black lacey flowers (that's kinda what I was trying to convey with the third look but idk if it worked jdhsjdhshs)

-rather subtle but still very obviously expensive jewelry. Just a friendly reminder that she is rich :)

-very dark makeup also (at least compared to others(?)

-short hair bc its easier to style and take care of. i also like to think of it as an allegory to her more neat and composed self (for the sake of societal acceptance), in contrast to miwako very clearly no longer giving a shit about that which also reflects on her messier hair GOSH I LOVE HAIR SYMBOLISM

-very tall but not as tall as her sister (just like in canon). she does not make a big deal out of it bc she is very mature, but it is secretly a bit of a pet peeve for her

- bad enough myopia for the glasses to stay on most of the time. ig she does has the resources to get eye surgery… but i dont want her to =)

miwako

-youd think that since this is an oc were talking about she shouldve be a lot easier to design bc its not like i can go very ooc with a character *i* invented… but you’d be wrong

-she was actually one of the hardest ones to design for some very strange reason xd

-so one of her main things design-wise is that she looks like an engineer (?) because she is one,,

-this is such a funny statement tho bc i literally study in an university thats exclusively degrees focused on exact sciences and engineering… and so far in the two and a half years ive been there i have never seen a single woman, be it a student or a teacher, that looks anything like miwako kfkhsjhsjd like not even the less girly girls dress like that

-on the other hand tho, easily more than half of the male population dresses just like that,,, so ig miwako is more like the butch engineer representation we didnt know we needed? or something?

-and ik that concept is supposed to sound like super hot but unfortunately to all of us miwako is kind of a loser u_u

-aywayyyyyyyys….. wears button-up shirts almost religiously; usually the kind youd find in your dads closet, but significantly smaller. the very few times she is not wearing one of those she is wearing a turtleneck bc god forbids she shows any more skin that that

-thermostat is very fucked up as well so virtually all of the time you will see her with a sweater or a jacket or a cardigan or whatever she found in her closet that morning

-almost exclusively dresses in dark, very muted colors, mostly bc she just hates calling any sort of attention onto herself

-i also remember as i was designing her that she kinda started resembling will graham to me???? it wasnt even intentional but i cant unsee it now kjskjgkajfk

-(what if will graham was a lesbian,,, the lives that would change,,,,, )

-average height, if only sliiiiightly taller than that

-very skinny. obviously not chiaki levels of skinny, but skinny enough to create some sort of complex (she actually kinda resembles misaki in this regard………..)

-long curly hair that she doesnt pay much mind in styling. i already explained that symbolism

-has dark hair just like haruhiko. i know this is like incest to nakamura, but i kinda just really like how she looks with dark hair??????

-the big ass glasses are more than a design choice. they are because she has very very bad sight and zero sense of aesthetics (amazing time to fall for an architect......)

-its also not very obvious by just looking at her from afar, but she is kind of supposed to resemble edgar allan poe??? you know with the droopy eyes, quite pronounced eyebags (that i forgot to draw xd), dark messy hair, that ever-lasting serious and kind of melancholic expression…..

-this does indeed have an explanation. i dont wanna get too much into miwako lore here bc theres too much to be said and maybe i should make a post about that (eventually……), but long story short miwakos frustrated dream is to be an horror writer (remember how haruhiko used to undermine usagi for being a writer?? well this kind of originated as a sort of “karma” for that bc wouldnt it be suuuuper funny if haruhiko winded up dating a writer xdxdxdx) (the horror thing on the other side is like a way for miwako to embrace the ~darkness~ within. by darkness i mostly do mean unresolved childhood trauma. and also homosexuality). and so i chose edgar allan poe bc i feel miwakos writing style would resemble his, and also he has like a very recognizable aesthetic that i thought would be cool to reference through miwako (???)

-(in my mind this whole thing sounds very cool bear with me)

ok that was all like and subscribe for more yaoi man lesbianism thx bye :)

[basil-does-arttt]

haiiiiii hello you gorgeous herb

character asksssss for the schwalbes the beautiful surgeons they are.

let’s go with 2,3,5 (or at least bird type for this one) aaaand 20.

stay frosty!!

HELLO JAY!!! 2: How long was the process before the character reached its final version? (or a version that would be clearly recognizable as the character?)

Not that long actually. Started with her acronym and a concept of a medical replika... drew her reference, and that was pretty much it. And thats the case for pretty much all of my ocs... well my Replikas at least. Ofc i'm still developing her a little but, specifically who her Gestalt was, but she's pretty much finalized. When i make ocs i tend to already have a solid idea of who they'll be, what their personality is, what they look like, etc... so i don't do many concepts or anything before finalizing the design. Maybe thats bcs of how long i've been making ocs, or maybe i just have a weirdly vivid imagination who knows lol. 3: What was the first thing you decided on, the character's name, appearance, personality or their role in the story?

Name! Her role at the same time was decided as well i guess, and then her personality and appearance. 5: How did you choose their name and why? Was it simply based on vibes or is there any specific meaning behind the name? Are the reasons behind their name different in- and out of universe?

Like i said before i started with her acryonym and went from there. I know you don't have to match the bird to the acronym nessecarily (cough my fear units) but i do like to try and get it as close as i can. So i chose Schwalbe, because i ended up with the acronym SCBR. In universe.... uhh i don't really have a reason for her being a Swallow :3 20: Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favourite scenes, anything you've been waiting for a chance to ramble about

No full drawings but i do have some sketches between her and a EULR assistant, Pollen!!

Pollen likes to get on her nerves... a LOT. because she thinks its funny. and also she has a thing for Schwalbe when she's mad. That second sketch i thought was funny bcs when Schwalbe doesn't have any cases to work on for extended periods of time she's put into stasis. A deep sleep basically. And some more art! this time, concepts of her Gestalt >:)

Evelynn Sato. A vinetan soldier added to the team last-minute as a field medic due to her having studied medicine back home and being at least mostly competent in treating wounds efficiently. She was from Kitezh originally. Surrendered to invading Nation forces when her hometown was invaded and went to Vineta as a refugee, enlisting in the military shortly afterward as she didn't see many other options. Learned english from one of her fellow soldiers and thats where she got her australian accent from. She volunteered to become a Neural Patten Donor in the hopes she could secure funds to rescue her family from Kitezh and bring them to Vineta once the war was over; she did not know she would never see them again. She was a quiet woman, a loner and kind of an outcast. Constantly on edge, stressed, homesick. But she always tried her best to help her fellow soldiers, and others in need. (even maybe a couple of imperial soldiers here and there.. which got her into some hot water, oops.) But yeah... Schwalbe's Gestalt was an imperial! At least, she was born an imperial and was converted to a loyal Nation soldier. begrudgingly. I find this history compared to Schwalbe's undying love and loyalty to the Nation an interesting conflict.. ofc Schwalbe doesn't know of her Gestalt's past and neither does anybody else; its very conveniently not mentioned in her classified documents that her Gestalt was an imperial, only that she was a soldier so she doesn't need much to be kept content and happy in her work. Also, the contrast between Schwalbe's neat-freak nature and obsession with hygiene, cleanliness and protocols, and Evelynn having to perform all her procedures in muddy, dirty, contaminated scenarios with sometimes less than ideal materials and just pray the soldier she was treating didn't end up dying of an infection later down the line.

[diggitydoggo]

Beta Daisy and Dandy

I've actually been drawing Daisy for a while so I thought that I should at least dump all the old art somewhere. Time for a trip down memory lane!

First ever drawing

Ah yes. When I promised myself not to make anymore OCs cause I already had a whole bunch of fnaf ones. So much for that.

Her colors used to be a lot less saturated which in my opinion didn't fit in with such a colorful cast. There are some parts of her outfit I kept like the overalls and her shirt. I just changed the sleeves so it actually looks like she's wearing gloves like I intended. Her attitude is pretty much the same.

Doodles!

Fun Fact: Her Halloween costume is just her dad's old clothes.

He was also supposed to be dead.

Still gay as fuck

Next are drawings I made for old tiktoks of Daisy!

(If you wanna find them then my tiktok is linked in my bio)

"Maybe he's blinking when you're blinking."

Second time ever drawing Julie! This is when I started to lean into my more cartoony style for Daisy. She still never trusted Wally.

"You're not my friend!"

Finally leaned away from so much orange. I really liked playing around with Julie's design since she gives off Mable (Gravity Falls) vibes when it comes to fashion. Always wanting to change it up.

"Don't start picking fights with my costumers!"

First time ever drawing Howdy! Really wanted to emphasize how tiny she is compared to him.

"Have you been there the whole time!?"

First Wally drawing! Sneaky little guy. Definitely wanted him to look more off-putting in this one. And new Julie outfit! This one was a little Minnie Mouse inspired getup. I also like the idea of Julie's hair always being really big.

"I know saying someone looks gay is 'wrong' BUT LOOK AT HIM!"

First ever Dandy doodle! This was after I made his beta design and wanted to tease him a little since beforehand I never actually mentioned Daisy even had a brother. Speaking of which.

Dandy!

He used to actually be more two-faced and mean. Heck he wasn't even supposed to be living in the neighborhood originally. His appearance would've been exactly like those episodes in kids shows where a new "perfect" character is introduced but is mean behind closed doors to a certain character and the one character that doesn't like them gets brushed off as "jealous" but then it gets revealed they were bad the whole time to the others, then cue the group hug apology. Basically he would've been a meaner and more manipulative version of Daisy. Someone that really brought out her insecurities. Someone that loved being the "Better Daisy" Which is ironic considering he got replaced with a better version of him. As for his appearance I was trying to go for a more city-like look in contrast to Daisy's rough and tumble country vibe. But after a while to me it didn't feel "kid's show" enough.

Pets

I completely forgot about this drawing so I'm adding it a whole two days later. But yeah they canonically have pets. Daisy has a flytrap she named Gertrude and Dandy has his pet mouse Mortimer.

Last drawings of Beta Daisy

Some things really never change.

Well that's all of my old drawings of these goobers (Yes I only made three drawings of the old Dandy) It was nice looking back on some old memories. It's been a fun eight months having these two idiots live in my head.

[enden-k]

NOW THAT SOMEONE ELSE BROUGHT IT UP YES there's very peculiar things in the artstyle, one being obviously the eyes (both on doodle (unserious) and rendered (serious) artworks) The eyes are very distinctive to the character! They add so much to them!! Forever gonna be obsessed with how they are drawn

Azai feels a lot like a predator in like, immediate danger kind of way. Saran feels more ominous, looming, the tentacles dont really add much to that (despite the amount of eyes, funny enouhj) but rather, it's thanks to him often being drawn with his eyes closed and smiling (Which fits their characters!! Azai is dangerous, yes, but Saran is worse now, and he is after Azai, and Azai doesn't realize it yet!. To quote you, he's making use of every blind spot to crawl closer to Azai and get what he's after)

Even from child Saran, he just feels like he's constantly scheming lol. The danger is high but may not be directed at you (Saran) vs feels like if his eyes fell on you, its because you fucked up (Azai)

Others like Vika or Luka (who have this ethereal look to them usually) feel a lot more, i would say open? But also feel like their eyes are rather empty compared to the vibe the other two give off?? Half the time Vika's eyes give off a vibe he's not quite there (disconnect between body and person. Which is literally what the parasite caused) that is fascinating! I would argue he feels more present in artwork where the character has his eyes closed/his face is not shown at all. It's incredible!!

For Luka it's a but softer, but its a similar sensation. It feels absent too but more in the way a person can be when they're deep in thought. Ivan's eyes I refuse to look at enough to analyze properly lol. Your art style highlights a part of canon that unnerves me lol. I think it might be due to the red dot in his eye but his eyes feel too focused? He has one feet in each side at the line between devotion and obsession

He and Saran are always looking, but funny enough despite the amount of eyes Saran has, Ivan beats him in intensity

(I am slowly making my way through the other OC's so review pending on how their gaze feels too. I will say now that the vampire guy whose name i cannot remember currently for the life of me feels skittish. Which, he's drawn skittish, so that tracks. He feels like he's one thing going wrong away from a meltdown lol. Highstrung)

The second thing is, on those that are rendered, colors!! The pallette usually skews towards colors that are more contrasting (WHICH IS LOVELY), and that pattern even sorta follows to the black and white pieces because you will have things that are glaringly stark (/pos) against the white background. Looking at other's quick doodles and black/white pieces, that contrasting feel seems to be unique for yours (fun thing to look at, it seems that some characters are less prone to looking that way (softer, thinner lines, less blocks of contrasting color more gradients that tend to melt into the background color))

Third thing is hair. So soft. Lovely. I haven't been able to pinpoint what it is exactly (maybe it's that messy-like appearance? Like, it doesn't FEEL like messy hair (there's Saran's bed hair for comparison lol) but there's something about it. It eludes me. The closest my brain is getting is "uncanny perfection/natural mess". If that were a scale the hair would be firmly on the natural side

I just like the vibe hair has in your style. Very fluffy

(The bonus thing is expressions. Goes with what I said about the eyes, but the expression (both face and body) tie it in as a whole. Their body language is really good. I find particularly pleasing the way confidence is portrayed through some of the actions (it shines a bit more in the NSFW blog) or the pose. Beautiful)

(This is just me going on a tangent about a particular variant of all of the above, but in the Bonus to that mini comic about Vika being insecure in how he will change while Saran remains the same, the way Saran wraps his arms around Vika and the style changes to something a bit more goofy (reflecting how Saran starts acting to cheer up Vika) is very neat to me. I think about that a lot. It screams safe)

-eepy 🦜

Sorry for the long rant lol

OMGGG WAAAHHH read it twice and held it close

i dont even know what to say but its crazyyy how you figure them all out just by how i draw their eyes etc, im always unsure if i can get atmosphere or vibes across properly but waaa

even vin (you corrected vampire to elf later so i understood u meant him) who i showed maybe like once or twice since i didnt post much of that old project you got right, yes hes always on the verge of snapping and breaking down akjsbck

dont apologize for the long message!!! love all ur messages honestly, im gonna save this fr sob

[my-favourite-zhent]

Writer Interview

Tagged by the lovelies @commander-krios here and @coreene here

Tagging: @dustdeepsea @thisaccountisagainstmywill @fistfuloftarenths

@littleplasticrat @captainsigge @grossestjay

Questions under the cut!

When did you start writing?

I suppose depends what counts? Where I went to school we did creative writing as early as six. The first stories I remember were Halloween stories I wrote with very unhappy endings.

Writing purely for myself maybe not till high school? I dabbled in a little fanfiction and then didn't touch it again for years and years and then suddenly BG3 and Rugan happened, smdh.

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

Just like Krios I enjoy horror novels, although I actually prefer horror as short stories/novellas. If you look at my spotify history you will see a lot of NoSleep podcast and Knifepoint Horror so its definitely a running theme. I could never write horror though, would spook myself too much. I did rather like the tiny horror story in one of the books in Baldurs Gate.

I also enjoy reading low fantasy (low magic, more grit, considerably plucky, ensemble casts) which I think comes across in New Tricks, but in contrast the stories I read have very minimal if any romance.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

Nope, as much as there are many writers I enjoy and at times think "I wish I were that talented" I also don't wish to be a perfect copy of anyone's style because what's the point of that?

I suppose if it was something more like "as funny as so and so" or "world-building on level of such and such" then probably Pratchett, Rothfuss, Sapowski or Glen Cook?

I will literally write anywhere, a lot of my ideas pop-up while daydreaming and I have to get them down when they happen or I won't remember clearly later. So at my desk, in bed, on the couch, on the train, standing in the shoppe, literally anywhere.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Consuming other media. Books, TV, movies, podcasts, etc. Seeing a scene or circumstance and imagining how the characters I write would react under similar circumstances.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Hmm hadn't considered it before but I guess so far: grey morality, class differences (this likely due to my muse being Rugan) and overcoming betrayal? I suppose the last one surprises me a little, I think I might just like the angst of it.

What is your reason for writing?

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

I mentioned earlier I haven't touched personal creative writing since high school, although I did consume fanfiction on occasion. I originally returned due to a frustration at the lack of Rugan content. I wanted to consume, but at the time there wasn't much, compounded by the fact that I did not have an AO3 account at the time so of the few that existed I could only see half. So I started by writing how I thought getting that drink at the Elf Song might go.

After that I got a bit attached to the OC and was inspired by the works of @dustdeepsea to write something with a little more emotional depth. I was prone to daydreaming these sorts of things before but I never put pen to paper till now.

I'm happy any time someone enjoys my work, but I suppose the best comments are when the reader notices the characterization I've been trying to get across. It makes me feel validated that I'm able to write certain qualities without (hopefully) being too on the nose with it.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Me or my writing? Myself, hopefully reasonable and open-minded. My writing, I hope they find it funny and exciting in turns, I hope it makes people feel some sort of emotion even if negative rather than being boring. I hope the world I've tried to piece together from bits of Forgotten Realms lore feels consistent and cohesive, that the rules and stakes make sense.

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Similar to Krios I think my dialogue comes across the best of all my writing, and it certainly feels the easiest to get down.

How do you feel about your own writing?

It seems to change by day and chapter. There are some things that when I write I'm quite pleased, and then come back a month later and am quite embarrassed by. Other things I didn't like originally but actually enjoy quite a bit on reread. I find myself having to just post things I'm unhappy with at times otherwise I won't get on with the story. I jokingly tell myself "we'll fix it in post!" and I have slowly begun some edits of early chapters so it's not a complete lie.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

It's mostly what I think the story needs at the time. There are times where I feel "augh we've been on this mood/theme for too long, the reader will get bored" but I try to reframe it to myself as "is the pacing good? is this scene necessary right now?" and that helps me make a decision that is hopefully a bit more objective. Sometimes we need that information for later, sometimes we don't. I have been known to go back and adjust a thing here or there if the current chapter is missing a bit of set-up and will continue to do so until the story is over. I'm treating it all as a work in progress.

Thanks for reading this far!

[prismatoxic]

So like,why do you ship Laios and Chillchuck? This isn't anon hate it's just a ship i never really thought about and now I'm curios and I like hearing people rant about their blorbos

for many reasons! but let's start at the beginning, shall we?

i didn't know dungeon meshi existed until early february. i'd seen some media for it in the past, but didn't know any of it was related nor was i interested enough to dig further.

the very first fanart i ever saw for dungeon meshi was this one (it was on a different site though):

i didn't know who the characters were, but the dynamic spoke to me. it reminded me of two of my partner's OCs that we've been shipping together for nearly ten years: a big buff blonde guy who loves animals and seems stupid but is just socially stunted, and a short aggressive rogue with reddish hair and brown eyes who doesn't take other people's shit and is damn good at what he does. yes, it's that specific. these are them:

even without that foundation to work on, though, chilaios interested me. i love size differences and i love ships between nice guys and angry guys. that said, i mostly put it out of mind after nick's first fanart, but it posted some more not too long later which got me thinking about it again...

and by then more people were talking about dunmeshi because the anime was getting underway. i spotted chilchuck and laios in posts about the series and realized that was where they were from, and that there was an anime, as well as a manga. that was all i knew, but their dynamic was intriguing me more and more, so i told my partner about it and said chilchuck and laios reminded me of harry and jeffrey and showed him some of the fanart. neither of us tend to start new media very often (i'm significantly worse about it, it takes a lot to get me to try), but eventually i looked into the series and found that the anime was brand new (5 episodes at the time) and the manga was completed. both of those facts were ideal for trying to get into it.

we didn't start watching until the week episode 9 came out, not for lack of interest but because there just wasn't really any incentive to get a move on. by then we'd both recognized that we'd be insane about chilchuck in particular, because we love his character type and he's very, very cute. and we were right! you could practically hear the canned audience applause when he showed up onscreen the first time.

we didn't watch all 8 episodes in one sitting, but we did watch several of them, and i think it was clear to us both that chilchuck and laios absolutely had a fun dynamic. eventually we'd go on to read the entire manga, and we're fully caught up on the anime, watching the new episodes every thursday.

the basic thing i like about their sort of setup is the way laios respects chilchuck and never doubts their relationship, while chilchuck is frequently aggressive and critical but staunchly sticks around and keeps helping anyway. it says a lot about them as friends: laios isn't worried that chilchuck actually hates him, and chilchuck's actions speak louder than his words, always staying and doing the best he can even if he complains. he wants what's best for laios, even if he never says it, and laios trusts him completely.

i love that chilchuck cares even if he pretends he doesn't, and i love that laios has utmost faith in him. i love the little intricacies of their individual backstories and the ways they compare and contrast. i love the way their personalities collide, independent of their existing relationship (as in, i'd ship them even if they interacted less). i love their size difference. i love them individually, as really well-written and fascinating characters, and i love thinking of new ways to pair them together and seeing what everyone else does with them. i love chilaios!!!! it makes me very happy and they are a perfect ship for me.

look at that. goddamn. the way the shot lingers. the way laios grips his hand. 10/10 effervescent would ship again

[ballcrusher74]

WOOOHOOOO IM ALLOWED TO ASK ALOT OF QUESTIONS YIPEEEE!!!!!

▪︎Do you have any fandom ocs but ARENT lethal company that youd ever like to talk about :0?

▪︎What ever happened to Jawbreaker's (your sona) homeplanet after he left, I remember the story was he was exceptional but insubordinate so like, did anyone get fired for letting that guy just scramble away

▪︎who is your favourite oc presently! :3 and have you any miscellaneous facts about them?

▪︎what's in the gyatt folder

▪︎ since Metronoia (I hope I spelled that right from memory) is a dimension/reality hopper, how does other realities effect his state of being, has there ever been a reality the guy found unpleasant or dare I say scary‼‼‼‼‼‼‼😲

CRAKCING FINGERS. YUES. I LOVE BEING AUTISTIC ABOUT MY OWN CHARACTERS.

Yes, I do ! I have some roblox ocs, two being for the game Regretevator ! Broseth is just a completely original guy that I had created based off one of my avatars, and Gamma Ray was kinda ... a shameless semi-self insert character to be buddies with one of my favorite characters in game (Mach)

I also have this guy, Tixton ! Based off the now deceased roblox currency, he was apart of a friend roblox oc group called Investors ! There's a long story to it all, but Tixton's whole deal was him being an undead ghost guy that was so hellbent on the idea of being alive again (he died with the removal of tix, and was young when that happened) that he basically tried to steal someone's body. I seem to have a liking for making undead / weirdly semi-undead characters, huh

Moving on from roblox, here's Bumbo ! A guy that was originally made for a fanbase I really don't wanna name, but has now been converted into a BBIEAL / Baldi mod oc ! Originally I was gonna kinda leave him the dirt after leaving aforementioned unnamed fandom, but my boyfriend helped me redesign him for his own Baldi mod / fangame ^_^ <3 Now he is my bumbling sweet baby boy

Now moving to . Ourple FNF ... ? There was this guy I created, Aerguhbee ! Though, I very much fell off of keeping up with Ourple / FNF stuff in general for a lot of reasons, I still kinda like this guy. He had a bit of a sloppy story, and it never really was even completed, but from what I remember- he was a trapped soul within a security monitor, killed in his place of work as a nightguard. The monitor served as an eternal purgatory for him called 'Moire Edge'. He was able to manifest a form outside of the monitor in order to lure others into his forever limbo, under the guise of becoming friends. If anything, I might just bring back this guy as a wholly original character since I do still kinda fuck with him

And, before going onto the next question (FINALLY), I'll throw in a bonus : Deacon originally wasn't LC related ! He was a Toontown : Corporate Clash oc, which is such a MAJOR contrast compared to how he is now LOL . I don't think he really had much of story when he was a TT:CC character, besides the fact of being secretly miserable about his job, but I think that's really it. I'll admit I kinda miss his really bright yellow, but I am so much more happier with him now (featuring my toon sona / oc in the last pic but this ain't about him)

As for Jawbreaker's home planet, they most likely are continuing on their lives as normal. Metsu probably does wonder where he went off to, but hey- not their problem anymore. As for what happened to the guards that failed to capture him again after his prison escape, they most likely were shattered (killed) and their resources recycled

THIS IS A TOUGH ONE. I think it's also just because all my original ocs are very personal to me and I genuinely treat them as parts of myself segmented into their own stories and worlds. Though, if I really have to pick one, I think it would be my art deity guy- which, I am kinda getting tired of just saying that, so I'll just say his name : Abstrakt Mondrian. He is very much an oc of mine that I hold close to my heart, especially considering his story deals with grief, and it almost sounds stupid to say he is an oc of mine that has helped me through a lot ? Also, design wise, I just really like him. Like, I'm not fucking joking when I say that I've had this guy for 4-ish years and his design has barely changed at ALL . It's crazy

Metanoia jumping to different dimensions does very much fuck up his appearance, and there have been a couple places he's found very dissatisfying or horrifying ! These dimensional distortions don't last whenever he exits the dimension that causes it, but it's not that pleasant for him in the moment. These distortions can range from very minimal things, things he can handle, such as a simple change of colors or height, to distortions that almost make him unrecognizable and feel uncomfortable in his own body. Here are some quick examples I did of those !

( Btw, distortions can be fucking crazy. The main thing about them is they could be literally any style and still work, so if anyone wants to take a crack at one you can literally go insane and do whatever LOL )

[oratoful]

🌈w/ finnian

It has been months since you've asked this and I sincerely apologize for not getting to it in a timely manner. I've been thinking a lot on it though, especially since developing my little guy.

🌈- What does this oc like and dislike about themselves?

Finnian is a complicated little critter. One of the major themes of his story is the fact that he allows insecurity and spite to rule his thinking and acts based on emotion rather than logic, something that sets him off from his sister. For one thing he likes about himself, there are a million different dislikes to counter that.

I'd say the one thing he genuinely likes about himself is his appearance. He knows he looks nice and dresses nice to accentuate that. He enjoys his body, his face, practically everything about himself physically. He enjoys his voice, how he annunciates words, how deceptively soft it is. He enjoys his wit. He isn't as smart as his sister (and he damn well knows that lmao), but he knows he's still able to catch people off-guard with spontaneous moments of calculated thought.

He enjoys how easily he can make jokes, offer someone a warm smile, his ability to brush anything and everything off as if whatever situation happened was as mundane as swatting a fly. He enjoys how opposite he is to Albert, how they're both two sides of the same uncanny coin. One of them is robotic and comes off emotionless and the other comes off as too emotional, too giddy, too excitable. It amazes him how similar, yet worlds different they are once you compare and contrast their traits

putting dislikes under the cut since it's internalized ableism stuff mainly

As for dislikes... the one thing he has grown to hate above all is simultaneously his body— moreover his disability. Finnian is my character who ended up being more of a commentary on internalized ableism and how it can take precedent over any logical thought when you allow those harmful viewpoints to cloud your mind. To some extent, he feels like his disability is almost a punishment for being allowed to live. He doesn't remember it being as bad as it is when he was younger. Yes, he still needed his crutches and braces, but the pain— he doesn't remember when the pain and lack of balance started getting worse. He hates how he's grown up, his lack of ability compared to his peers. To some degree, he hates his sister being in a better state than he is. How come she gets to live in a baseline while he has to deal with unpredictable nonsense? (Of course, Aly has a large slew of issues but it's coming from looking on surface level rather than acknowledging those)

He despises being looked down on, being seen as clumsy or weak. He has a bad habit of filling in the blanks of what people are thinking about him whenever he stumbles or ends up wincing over his back. He assumes they're looking at him in pity, or maybe contempt. That Monsieur Le Bel hired him out of the goodness of his heart rather than his skills. One of his worst habits is working himself to the point of being stuck in bed because he refuses to take breaks he needs. Why would he? His peers don't need breaks therefore he doesn't either.

[vacantgodling]

re. about

you may call me: ren, renjamin, rimz, r.a.a, or vacant

refer to me with he/him pronouns (masculine nicknames like ‘king’ & terms of endearment like ‘dear’ or ‘sweetie’ are also good. just nothing overtly feminine like ‘queen’ is the gist)

i am 26 and my birthday is october 2

i am black, transmasc, neurodivergent, and queer (achillean or yknow gay if you want to be specific. i’m a fag ok.)

as a psa: i don’t care if minors follow me but i’m not your parent so proceed at your own risk.

aside from writing i like: playing video games (mostly overwatch, my special interest for a ridiculous amount of time. but also, legend of zelda & the sims), drawing (when it’s not annoying me), gothic literature & older books with flowery prose, the colors pink, black & gold, history, anime (older anime+demon slayer really), and i’m learning japanese (to the best of my ability. むずかしです)

re. wips

find a list of all my wips HERE! i work on them sporadically when inspiration strikes. find a wip sampler where i show off a piece of prose from the work to give you a sense of its vibe HERE!

if you’re interested in being on my taglists, fill this form out!

my 2023 year in review!

also, for ease of access: current tag games i’m doing (i want to keep track of it this year)

last line tag 2024

wbw 2024

ask games 2024 (general)

tcol character tournament!

re. connect

here are other places you can find me:

bluesky || cohost || pinterest

my partner yves and i make stories together, which is here -> @mothgrudge (i also rb a lot on @babylonsfalling)

i have a discord so if we’ve spoken feel free to ask for it (however i don’t really do servers. maybe one day, but for now no)

maybe this year i’ll work on an actual website & i’d love to make a youtube where i just talk about shit so… maybe, we’ll see...

re. navigation

talking -> musings and personal thoughts

about renjamin -> insight to me / who i am

ren analysis -> when i get meta about my wips

ren mix -> a treasure trove of my music taste

ren polls -> any polls i make

ren reads -> for my ramblings and analysis as i try to get back into books

friends tag -> talking with friends or boosting my friends work

others work -> boosting other writeblrs work

hall of fame -> praise / things that make me happy that i want to keep

ren writing -> all of my writing in one place

ren poems -> all of my poems in one place

short stories tag -> micro or flash fiction bits and bobs

ren art -> all my art

q eh you eh -> queue

sex mention -> tag for any sexual content.

worldbuilding -> all of my worldbuilding notes across all my wips

ren hot cakes -> specifically for my overly opinionated opinions

to read -> others works that i need to get around to reading

rens ocs but sims -> for when i make my ocs in the sims lol

ren plays -> me talking about video games but it’s usually overwatch

ren is jopping on main -> for the rare occasions where i talk about kpop

character stats -> when i decide to compare and contrast my ocs to see trends

ren rabbit hole -> i like history and mythology and the ancient world and i Will ramble about it